The Karansky Quarry in Donetsk, which locals call the “Chinese quarry,” offers a clear example of a growing trend: Chinese companies are helping to build and sustain the occupation economy in parts of Ukraine seized by Russia.

Threat Status Special Correspondent Guillaume Ptak, reporting from Kyiv, delves into the issue and all of its geopolitical implications. At least 17 Chinese companies are, in some form, tied to activity in the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine. Their activities include supplying mining equipment and construction machinery, providing telecommunications and financial services, and supporting transport links and infrastructure.

And here’s the kicker: Beijing has not even formally recognized Russia’s annexation of Crimea or its claims over the four additional Ukrainian regions. But on the ground in occupied Ukraine, China is deepening its economic ties to the Kremlin.

Here’s the reality behind Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement this week that the U.S. will license Ukraine to make its own Patriot missiles: Actual production in Ukraine could be years away.

And there are a host of reasons for that, reports Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward. For starters, the two primary U.S. defense contractors that make the Patriot system, RTX and Lockheed Martin, have not yet formally partnered with Ukrainian businesses to build production facilities on Ukrainian soil.

Any Ukrainian production lines also would face the same industrial base challenges confronting American weapons production. Here’s one example: Patriot missiles rely on solid rocket motors. As international demand for air defense capabilities has increased, the single U.S. source of ammonium perchlorate — a critical chemical in solid rocket motors — has been squeezed to maximum capacity.

There’s also the fact that any Patriot production facility built in Ukraine would immediately become a high-priority target for Russia.

The Air Force scrapped promotions for 135 airmen this week after a testing error led to incorrect scores. Military Correspondent Mike Glenn is tracking this story, which has a silver lining for the other 135 airmen who were initially told they failed the exam but will now advance to the next rank.

Air Force officials explained that they used the wrong answer key for the Specialty Knowledge Test, or SKT. The service then rescored all 2,285 airmen who tested for promotion to technical sergeant using the corrected answer key.

Officials acknowledged how unusual — and painful — the situation is.

“We owe it to those affected to address it immediately,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe said in a statement. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted.”

There’s still more to unpack from this week’s provocative test flight of a nuclear-capable, submarine-launched Chinese ballistic missile. National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz dives into the specific flight path of the missile, which Taiwanese officials say was a JL-2 underwater-launched missile.

Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the Taiwan National Security Council, posted a map of that flight path on social media. It shows the missile was fired from a submarine in coastal waters off the southern Guangdong province coast and flew southeast over the northern tip of the Philippines into the South Pacific.

Along the way, the missile passed south of the U.S. island territory of Guam, then north of the archipelago nation of Palau and near the microstate island of Nauru before landing in the ocean. 

There’s little doubt that the Pentagon and its defense industry partners lead the world in weapons innovation. But in the 21st century, that’s only one piece of the battle. The actual manufacturing of those weapons and systems — and the overall strength of America’s defense industrial base — is equally important, if not more so.

Retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness, the CEO and founder of Iron Liberty Group LLC, explains why in a new column for The Washington Times.

“The lessons from Ukraine, the Middle East and the growing competition with China are becoming increasingly clear,” he writes. “Military strength in the 21st century depends not only on possessing the world’s most advanced weapons but also on the ability to produce, replenish and sustain them at scale.”

• July 14 — Strategic Landpower Dialogue: A Conversation with Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• July 14 — The Fiscal 2027 Defense Budget: How Much is Enough? Brookings Institution

• July 14-17 — Aspen Security Forum, Aspen Strategy Group

• July 14-15 — Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Sen. Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania Republican, U.S. Army War College

• July 15 — The Future of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East, with Rep. Mike Lawler, New York Republican, Hudson Institute 

• July 22 — Expanding U.S. Investment in the Western Hemisphere, Atlantic Council 

• Aug. 4-5 — Air and Space Force Procurement Conference, American Defense Alliance