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In August 2024, scholars at a Xiamen-based think tank published a paper urging Beijing to immediately establish a shadow Taiwan government on the Chinese mainland in preparation for a full takeover of the island. “It is imperative to prepare a plan for the comprehensive takeover of Taiwan after unification,” they said. The scholars were writing at a fraught moment for Beijing.Only months earlier, the anti-China Democratic Progressive Party had taken office after a third consecutive presidential election win. Unusually for a Chinese publication on such a sensitive topic, the paper made several frank admissions: that opposition to unification within Taiwan…

With the sale of its civilian activities, the Rheinmetall Group has reached a milestone in its strategic realignment. Rheinmetall and the Munich-based industrial group AEQUITA have now signed a purchase agreement that paves the way for the future of Rheinmetall’s former Power Systems division under new management.  For some time now, Rheinmetall has been focusing on the rapidly growing business with military customers and security agencies, while at the same time expanding its technological portfolio into the domains of air, sea and space. Since last year, the Group has been in talks with potential buyers for its civilian business, which…

Building on the operational heritage of the legacy OPAL, the Next-Gen solution introduces AI-enabled decision support, enhanced manned-unmanned teaming capabilities, and real-time multi-domain operations, while building on a proven operational foundation already deployed across a broad range of platforms, including fighter jets, UAVs, naval vessels, and command centers, with seamless interoperability with NATO standards, including Link-16 OPAL-NG will be demonstrated for the first time at ILA Berlin at the Company booth Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is unveiling OPAL Next Generation (NG), the latest evolution of the Company’s airborne decentralized battle management solution for 6th generation platforms. Building on over a…

Report June 5, 2026 • 11:07 am ET Print this page By Alexis Harmon and Reed Blakemore This report, the first in the Redefining Resilience series of publications, examines demand-side innovation for critical mineral supply chains: the set of strategies that reduce how much of a constrained mineral an economy requires and expand the range of viable supply options. It argues that critical mineral supply chain policy has a structural blind spot. It has been organized around the question of where materials come from while largely ignoring an equally consequential set of questions: how much of these materials economies actually…

The House Armed Services Committee advanced a defense policy bill Friday that would authorize the largest defense budget in history — $1.15 trillion — and gives military service members a 5% to 7% pay raise, depending on their rank.In a marathon markup session that lasted from Thursday morning until 12:00 a.m. Friday, committee members debated and passed nearly 600 amendments and the bill language of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.The committee approved the proposed legislation in a 44-12 vote. It now proceeds to the House floor, where it is expected to be considered in mid-July.House Armed Services Committee…

Credit: Griffon AerospaceDefense Feeds – Washington. The Griffon Aerospace Secures $68M Contract for Outlaw Gen 3 Drone award highlights the Pentagon’s growing reliance on affordable unmanned systems as modern warfare increasingly shifts toward mass-produced, attritable drones capable of operating in contested environments.Griffon Aerospace has received a contract worth nearly $68 million to supply the newly revealed Outlaw Gen 3 unmanned aerial system, marking the first publicly disclosed connection between the platform and Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led military campaign against Iran. The contract signals growing military interest in low-cost drones that can support reconnaissance, strike coordination, electronic warfare and other…

The UK Royal Navy (RN) is progressing plans to undertake flight trials of a jet-powered Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) from a Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carrier by the end of next year. Speaking at the Defence Leaders CNE 2026 conference in Farnborough on 20 May, Commodore Steve Bolton, Deputy Director Aviation Programmes and Futures, said Project Vanquish was a joint endeavour with the Royal Air Force (RAF) to demonstrate a fixed-wing short take off and landing ACP to inform development of the RN’s Hybrid Air Wing concept. The Hybrid Air Wing, which envisages the transition to a largely uncrewed Fleet…

House Republicans axed a provision to the annual defense policy bill that would have ended the Trump administration’s practice of using the military’s uniformed lawyers from serving as immigration judges and special U.S. attorneys in Democrat-run cities.Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo, proposed the amendment during the House Armed Service Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday afternoon. The provision would have amended U.S. law to clarify that the judge advocate generals corps could only be assigned to military-related duties. Republican lawmakers, including HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, ultimately batted down the provision in a 31-26 vote, according to the…

U.S. forces conducted an interdiction of the sanctioned stateless oil tanker Davina overnight in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command said on Friday.Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran’s sea trade while Tehran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle ​East Gulf.U.S. forces have intercepted multiple commercial and oil tankers in the Indian Ocean in recent months.“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Indo-Pacific Command wrote in an X post.The…

Credit: Defense FeedsDefense Feeds – Washington. The U.S. Navy Prepares Marauder MR-001 Drone Vessel for Sea Trials milestone marks another significant step in the service’s effort to integrate autonomous platforms into future maritime operations as the Pentagon accelerates development of unmanned naval technologies.The Marauder MR-001 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) is scheduled to begin sea trials as part of a broader U.S. Navy initiative aimed at evaluating how autonomous ships can support future fleet operations. The upcoming tests are expected to provide valuable insights into the vessel’s performance, operational reliability and potential role within an increasingly networked naval force.As global…