⏱ 7 minute read
PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – TRUMP 47? The Pentagon has awarded the long-awaited contract for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter jet, known as NGAD, to Boeing, now called the F-47.
The sixth-generation fighter, which will replace the F-22 Raptor, is designed to face China. It will have “state-of-the-art stealth technologies [making it] virtually unseeable,” and will fly alongside multiple autonomous drone wingmen, known as collaborative combat aircraft.
“There’s never been anything even close to it, from speed to maneuverability to what it can have [as] payload.”
“America’s enemies will never see it coming,” Trump added.
F-47 was born out of secret x-planes built by both Boeing and Lockheed in their quest to win the manned tactical fighter component of the NGAD initiative.
AND JUST TO BE SAFE – Trump has announced that any new F-47 fighters sold to allies will be deliberately downgraded by 10%, citing potential future changes in alliances.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:
HOMELAND SECURITY
The Pentagon’s intelligence and law enforcement arms are investigating leaks of national security information. Personnel could face polygraphs in the latest such inquiry. (RELATED: US War Plans Shared With Famous Journalist?!)
First deportation flight of illegal aliens lands in Venezuela from US, after it agreed to resume repatriations.
Why 2 Navy destroyers are being sent to patrol near the southern border.
Destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) will deploy shortly to support NORTHCOMS’s border mission.
Secret Service wants to replace its 7.62x51mm M110 designated marksman rifles with a new gun firing the 6.5mm Creedmoor round that would offer greater range, improved accuracy and better terminal performance at long distances.
Air Force and the Navy memos warn troops to watch their political speech online and in person, even mentioning Uniform Code of Military Justice violations for certain violations.
Elon Musk visited the Pentagon for briefings that sparked debate after unsubstantiated reports that he would be given an overview of US war plans with China.
Greenland’s prime minister slams ‘highly aggressive’ visit by US officials, including second lady Usha Vance, plunging relations to a new low after Trump vowed to annex the autonomous Danish territory.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
The Pentagon’s DEI purge: Officials describe a scramble to remove and then restore online content.
US POWER OVERSEAS
SECDEF Hegseth is scheduled to visit the Philippines, in first stop on first trip to the Indo-Pacific next week, for talks that will include jointly facing Chinese aggression.
The Philippine and US militaries kicked off joint exercises involving a combined 5,000 troops on Monday, days before Hegseth was set to visit the country.
WHY? CHINA? Army will not conduct a live-fire operation of its Typhon Mid-Range Capability missile system, during exercises in the Philippines this spring. (RELATED: US Enemy Caught Creating ENORMOUS Vessels To Change The Game)
Coming right after the epically named all-caps VIKING NEBULA bomber mission earlier this month, US Air Africa, based in Europe, recently began another exercise named — Turbo Weasel.
Kadena’s US Air Force Base, Japan, should receive its first F-15EX fighters in spring 2026.
CHINA THREAT
US must develop measures to counter Chinese military AI, ranging from intelligence gathering and command and control to autonomous air combat maneuvering and advanced loitering munitions — this includes a doctrine of AI counter measures, or AICM, to blunt China’s AI systems.
TO FACE CHINA – Aussies buy $125 million worth of Mk-48 heavy torpedoes to ‘deliver a critical boost’ for the country’s Collins-class submarines to help counter ‘future threats.’
Tensions rise as Chinese coast guard set a record for the longest continuous presence inside territorial waters claimed by Japan around the Senkaku Islands, in the East China Sea.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
A US delegation led by real estate tycoon-turned-diplomat Steve Witkoff has begun a high-stakes meeting with Kremlin negotiators in Riyadh to get a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
EU leaders are endorsing a plan for a combined $866 billion European rearmament effort, though some political fissures appeared.
How realistic is a French nuclear umbrella for Europe? Instead of a destabilizing wave of nuclear proliferation in Europe to deter Russia, relying on existing nuclear capabilities on the continent — particularly France’s nuclear arsenal — could be the solution.
Satellite imagery confirms that ammunition and weapons storage bunkers at Russia’s Engels Air Base, housing bombers, were destroyed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Thursday.
NATO warships in Mediterranean Sea for Exercise Dynamic Mariner / Flotex 25, a large-scale multinational maritime drill to enhance Allied naval cooperation, operational readiness, and NATOs ability to secure critical sea lanes.
IRAN THREAT/ISRAEL WARS
Israel kills key Hamas leader being treated at Gaza hospital.
Hegseth beefs up Middle East warship presence with 2 aircraft carriers to be there next month while US increases strikes on the Yemen-based Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.
Increasingly advanced Iranian-provided technology used by Houthis against ships in the Red Sea is raising the chances of a successful strike on US forces.
US approves first sale of laser-guided precision rockets to Saudi Arabia for an estimated cost of $100m.
US should provide Israel with its new Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) cruise missiles to bolster US-Israeli deterrence against Iran.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
North Korea is using its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test weapons it could deploy against the South in a future conflict.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court reinstated Prime Minister to the post of acting president, striking down his impeachment as he pledged to steer Asia’s fourth-biggest economy through a US “trade war.”
SPACE THREAT
Launch delays hamper Space Force’s near-term experimentation program for its next-generation GPS satellites.
Space Force will add 100-plus satellites in 2025 to boost resilient network, nearly doubling the previously known number of USSF spacecraft.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
UK and US launch counter-drone Project ‘VANAHEIM,’ aimed at improving Counter-Uncrewed Air Systems (C-UAS) operations, with a focus on detecting, tracking, identifying, and neutralizing Class 1 drone threats.
WHY? The US has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan’s former US-backed government.
As Somaliland recognition talk picks up, Mogadishu is reaching out to Elon Musk, and religious conservatives, as US reviews its Horn of Africa policy.
Imprisoned Istanbul mayor declared presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections.
US MILITARY
National Guard appeals to anti-corporate Gen Z in new commercial. As those born between 1997 and 2012 have reached adulthood this decade, they’ve made it clear they don’t want to be stuck in a 9-to-5 grind.
To amass cheap rockets, the Army has chosen Anduril Rocket Motor Systems to develop a new 4.75-inch solid rocket motor for long-range precision rocket artillery.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: War-Torn Country Presents $24 TRILLION Opportunity To Trump
Why cant F47 be multi service role see F4, A1 Skyraider, B66/A3 from Cold War?