Budget, Policy & Operations

Questions still hang over the implementation of NATO members' increased defense spending goal.

Speaking to the Defense Commission of the Spanish Senate, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said that Spain is budgeting €1.375 billion for the TAI Hurjet buy.

Japan’s Board of Audit raised concerns over the low operational reliability of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft.

Air-launched hypersonic weapons in both glide and powered forms are back in favor.

Sweden is mulling the transfer of its civilian search and rescue helicopter capabilities to another government department.

MightyFly has demonstrated autonomous flight, loading and unloading as well as load balancing during a demonstration of its Cento uncrewed logistics aircraft.

Switzerland has begun negotiations with the U.S. over a potential $1.3 billion increase in the price of the country’s new fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35s.

Diehl and Sener have struck an agreement to work together on projects such as remote carriers and hypersonic weapons technologies.

Israel’s 12-day operation against Iran provided a master class in gaining control of an adversary’s airspace and, with U.S. help, what can be done afterwards.

The UK committed to F-35A nuclear-capable aircraft and joined others in Europe in signaling a greater burden-sharing role in NATO.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Proposed cuts to stealth fighters and attack helicopters could drop U.S. Defense Department aircraft procurement to modern lows in fiscal 2026.

The USAF will pay the bill to modify a Boeing 747-8 obtained from the Qatari government into a temporary presidential transport aircraft using diverted funds.

The Pentagon’s minimal budget request for the U.S. Navy’s next-generation fighter will keep the program limping along as it awaits a decision on its future.

The U.S. strikes on Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Enrichment facility were 15 years in the making.

Continued, extensive cost growth was a main driving factor in canceling the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail for the U.S. Air Force despite previous efforts to lower costs.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 budget request carries the imprint of recent conflicts, with a big investment in air and missile defense systems.

After having demoed the ability to target high-altitude balloons using fighters, the French Air and Space Force will test the capacity at even higher altitudes.

Can the French-German-Spanish fighter development program be saved? The next few months could be decisive.

Three GOP lawmakers introduced a new measure to authorize a series of new procurement and development efforts for the Golden Dome missile defense shield.

An accurate assessment of the performance of the Boeing GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator in its combat debut in Iran could take several days to complete.

The U.S. followed Israel in striking Iranian nuclear infrastructure, launching the largest B-2 raid ever and dropping its biggest conventional bombs. Listen as editors assess the operation in Iran.

The UK's plans to buy a fleet of F-35As to carry out NATO’s dual capable aircraft nuclear mission have made headlines in the country.

Sweden's new fleet of Saab Gripen E combat aircraft will be built largely without reusing components from earlier models of the fighter, FMV says.

The UK is providing Ukraine with additional surface-to-air missiles, paid for with the interest from seized Russian assets.