The Space Force wants new capabilities that can operate in cislunar space, the vast area between Earth and the moon. 

Here’s exactly what the service is looking for: Five space vehicles, each requiring a spacecraft bus and carrying an unspecified U.S. government payload along with a mission management system and telemetry, tracking, control and communications capabilities.

The program, known as the “Cislunar Space System,” could deploy by 2029. There’s more detail on the Space Force’s official notice to contractors, published this week.

The timing of the notice is noteworthy. Last month, a Russian satellite flew within 85 feet of a key U.S.-Finnish radar satellite that aids the Ukrainian military, sparking fears that space combat may soon be a reality. Top Pentagon officials say they were closely tracking the Russian craft.

U.S. adversaries China and Russia, core members of the Axis of Authoritarians, have had a “no-limits” partnership for four years. And it has now extended to the development of advanced weapons.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz dives into the startling revelations that China and Russia are building deep bilateral exchanges for defense industrial production and joint supply chains. That’s according to a new report from the nonprofit group C4ADS.

Chinese-Russian cooperation involves joint work on advanced conventional weapons using China’s technology and industry. That work helps support Moscow’s wartime need for military dual-use goods, manufacturing and intellectual property, the report said.

Joint research and development also is assisting Chinese and Russian state-owned defense industries to validate advanced weapons designs and bridge gaps between design and production. A third area of weapons collaboration involves academic contacts between China and Russia.

Threat Status Special Correspondent Joseph Hammond has another troubling report involving Russia — specifically the Kremlin’s advantage in uranium mining. Russia’s position in uranium mining is substantially greater than production data suggests and could expand sharply over the next 15 years to as much as 36% of global uranium resources by 2040.

Uranium is the most widely used fuel for nuclear power plants. And, of course, it’s also a key component of atomic bombs.

Uranium mines — and who controls them — have become a huge priority for the United States and other growing economies after years of war in Ukraine and months of conflict in the Middle East have ratcheted up concerns over the global oil supply. Governments in the U.S., Asia and Europe facing soaring electricity demand increasingly view modernized, state-of-the-art nuclear power plants as stable, even environmentally friendly, alternatives to oil.

Mr. Putin’s Russia has about 8% of the world’s uranium reserves and produces about 8% of the world’s nuclear power. But Russia has been quietly extending its control of global uranium reserves beyond its borders, Mr. Hammond reports. 

Mr. Trump may be entering his lame-duck period, but the president doubled down on his longstanding commitment to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

He teased a “big, beautiful agreement” that would involve not just Kyiv and Moscow but also “all of Europe.” It’s not clear exactly what that means.

The president’s remarks come as his administration prepares for another round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to represent Washington at the talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country wants explicit security guarantees.

China has developed a familiar, disturbing pattern. It acquires foreign technology and reproduces it domestically. Then it begins mass production. A top-down economic system provides subsidies to reduce manufacturing costs, while Beijing directs state-owned enterprises and domestic firms to adopt Chinese technologies, creating an initial market.

Producers can then expand production and improve their products through widespread use. And then, as costs fall, Chinese companies become more competitive internationally, challenging Western producers without comparable support.

Derek Levine, a professor at Monroe University and the King Graduate School, detailed that pattern in a new column for The Washington Times. He argues that artificial intelligence could be the next example, with U.S. companies leading innovation but ceding actual market dominance to China.

“As Chinese models gain traction among American businesses, developers can expand market share and improve their products through widespread use. America could continue leading in AI innovation while China increasingly dominates its commercial applications,” he writes. “Time is running out. Once China dominates emerging industries, reclaiming those markets could take decades, if it is possible at all.”

• Nov. 10 — China, America and the Fragmentation of the Global Economy: A Conversation with Aaron Friedberg, American Enterprise Institute

• Nov. 10 — 2026 Homeland Security Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Nov. 10 — Elisabeth Braw on ‘Undersea War’ and the Battle over Cables and Pipelines, Atlantic Council

• Nov. 16 — The Black Sea Blueprint for Taiwan: Lessons in Asymmetric Naval Warfare, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Nov. 17 — Special Threat Status Event: The Golden Age of Space, Threat Status

• Nov. 18 — Rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom and Reindustrializing America, Hudson Institute

• Nov. 20-22 — Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, HFX