The Department of Defense, seeing the tactics of warfare being redefined in Russia's war against Ukraine, understands the U.S. must evolve, strengthen and advance the American drone industrial base to keep up with the changing threats. The Threat Status team takes a deeper look at what the defense industry is doing to meet the demand to keep our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines equipped with the latest technology.
Drone strikes killed more than 1,000 civilians in war-torn Sudan in the first five months of 2026, a senior United Nations official said Monday as the unmanned aerial vehicles turn the conflict deadlier for civilians.
The U.S. Air Force has lost nearly 1/3 of the available fleet of critical Reaper drones in Middle East conflicts since the start of the Trump administration, including more than two dozen in the Iran war.
Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward spoke with Dan Wright of Armada and Tyler Sweatt of Second Front Systems about the race to bring secure, AI-powered computing to the front lines, and why distributing that capability around the globe may be one of the most important defense investments America can make.
Ukraine is considering a step that would have seemed politically radioactive before the war: legalizing private military companies to turn the country’s unmatched experience of modern warfare into an export business.
A “golden age of private capital” is driving the development and production of the small unmanned systems key to the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Initiative, a top Defense Department official told a major military conference Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that its air defense detected and destroyed six hostile drones over the past 48 hours.
The latest trends in weapons technology are showing that low-tech, easy-to-obtain, disposable arms can confound even military superpowers.
While Russia still holds the initiative in several sectors and continues to pour men, drones and artillery shells into the fight, Ukrainian soldiers say Moscow’s assaults are increasingly being disrupted or destroyed before they can reach their positions.
Ukraine has emerged from what officials have said was its most challenging winter of the war with a stabilized front line and an air defense capable of knocking down the vast majority of incoming Russian drones, Kyiv’s top diplomat said Monday in Brussels.
The United Arab Emirates said Friday its air defense systems were actively intercepting Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, one day after the U.S. and Iranian forces traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to be a major attack after Moscow spurned Kyiv’s ceasefire earlier in the week and tension mounted over safety at Russia’s upcoming Victory Day celebrations.
As the Middle East crisis chokes global oil supply, Russia is cashing in — raking in a record $9.7 billion a month in energy revenues. Foreign correspondent Joseph Hammond explains how Ukraine is fighting back.
Another oil facility deep inside Russia was reportedly on fire Wednesday following what Ukraine’s president claimed was his country’s latest long-range drone attack.
Ukraine used interceptor systems to shoot down more than 33,000 Russian drones of various types in March, a record monthly figure since Moscow launched its all-out invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine’s defense minister claimed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is asking Ukraine to help develop a “drone armada,” as Warsaw builds one of Europe’s largest and most modern military forces since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
The Navy is developing weapons and other military systems to be deployed inside shipping containers and used on both drone ships and traditional warships, according to Navy officials.
The Pentagon on Tuesday provided more details about the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027, with officials calling it “a generational investment” in the U.S. military.
Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday.
An effort to ramp up U.S. weapons production and build more ships, planes and drones will require a massive upfront investment, President Donald Trump’s budget director told a House committee Wednesday.
Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing allies’ help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia warned that European sites that make drones and other equipment for Ukraine were “potential targets.”
Ukrainian military personnel have shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.
A prototype of an autonomous fighter jet designed and built by General Atomics crashed in the California desert on Monday during takeoff, the company said in a statement.
Russia launched a drone attack against targets in Odesa, killing at least three people and leaving thousands without electricity after a power substation was struck, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
Ground operations in Iran could put U.S. forces directly in the crosshairs of Iranian drone swarms at a moment when American troops may not have the equipment needed to handle the threat, former defense officials and military analysts say.
A drone maker backed by President Trump’s two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.
A recent swarm of drones that intruded on an Air Force nuclear bomber base in Louisiana remains under investigation, the Air Force Global Strike Command said.
From a wartime factory floor to targets deep inside Russia, Ukraine’s homegrown drone and missile industry is quietly reshaping the war.
On the fringes of the U.S.-Iran war, a lone British destroyer arrived off the coast of Cyprus this week to help defend the drone-struck, strategic island in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The night air in eastern Ukraine is crisp, and a myriad of stars scatter above a small crew of soldiers watching for Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia launches in waves.
A U.S. industrial base built on complex precision weapons and solid rocket motors is starting to look elsewhere as modern conflicts demand high-volume, low-cost tools.
Unidentified drones were spotted hovering over Fort McNair, a military post in Washington that houses top Trump administration officials, the latest in a string of strange drone sightings near military sites worldwide.
Just weeks into his tenure as defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov is already signaling a shift in how Kyiv plans to manage the war against Russia: less bureaucratic oversight, more data-driven management and a new emphasis on leveraging Ukraine’s hard-won expertise in defeating Iran’s Shahed drones.
The first combat deployment by the U.S. of a one-way attack drone — a weapon reverse-engineered from an Iranian design and turned back against Iran itself — marks a milestone in Operation Epic Fury.
Dr. Amos Fox, managing editor of Small Wars Journal, joins the show to talk about the true value of technology on the battlefield and whether the U.S. has become too enamored with drones.
The conflict in the Middle East is shaping up as an ultramodern war of attrition, with Tehran betting its scattershot regional attacks will force the U.S. to overextend air-defense capabilities, leaving Gulf state allies vulnerable to Iran’s drone swarms.
The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, according to members of Congress, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.
Almost a year ago, in March 2025, Russian officials announced plans to build a large-scale drone factory in neighboring Belarus, presenting the project as a step toward strengthening the “national security and the economy” of Moscow’s closest ally.
The Army is investing heavily in a strategy that will team soldiers with autonomous drones on the battlefield, with the goal of leveraging next-generation technology to save American lives, the U.S. Army’s chief technology officer said in an exclusive interview.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems President Dave Alexander takes National Security Editor Guy Taylor inside the company’s Secure Advanced Manufacturing facilities in Poway, California, for a wide-ranging discussion on the history of the Reaper, Predator and Sky Guardian drones. (Feb. 12, 2026)
An internal Chinese military report has revealed that the People’s Liberation Army is placing a heavy emphasis on waging advanced air war using stealth, drones and high-technology weapons.
The Pentagon allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use an anti-drone laser earlier this week, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to suddenly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
U.S. Navy efforts to deploy large numbers of drone weapons advanced this week with the disclosure of a coming autonomous warship and a new undersea drone.
Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace, the Trump administration said, leading to the sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday morning.
I’m Guillaume Ptak, Ukraine correspondent for the Washington Times. You are watching exclusive footage from my recent trip with a Ukrainian drone team on the Southeastern Front.
