As Trump’s Gaza Ceasefire Moves Ahead, Challenges Remain

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Trump is declaring Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip over and has barreled ahead toward larger goals — arguing that the fragile ceasefire is a chance to bring a lasting peace to the greater Middle East. But Netanyahu is still talking up Israel’s military might.

Trump has vowed to ensure that Israel recognizes it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms” and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.

Trump’s ‘shock and awe’ foreign policy achieved a breakthrough in Gaza – but is it sustainable? Trump will visit Israel and Egypt this week to oversee the initial implementation of his Gaza peace agreement.

Complex issues remain. Israel and Hamas moved ahead with the first step of the Gaza ceasefire agreement by freeing hostages and prisoners, raising hopes that it might lead to a permanent end to the two-year war.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have said they will not agree to a new policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is touting an effort by the Texas Military Department to remove an unknown number of the state’s National Guard troops deployed to Chicago after a photo of seemingly overweight service members arriving in Illinois went viral.

VP JD Vance said President Trump was “looking at all of his options” to deploy the National Guard in major cities, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which grants the president emergency powers to deploy troops on U.S. soil during major unrest.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Trump has a different plan to oust Maduro this time around. The first time Trump tried to push Nicolas Maduro out of power; he wasn’t coy about it. He accused the Venezuelan dictator of stealing an election, stripped U.S. recognition from his government, imposed sanctions and rallied countries to pressure Maduro to quit.

Pentagon’s new strategy knocks the Indo-Pacific off its perch as the priority theater, replaced by homeland defense, but that guidance has so far not reduced funding or training opportunities for soldiers stationed in South Korea.

Army is revising the worldwide distribution of forward-deployed equipment, dubbed preposition stock, as it weighs its utility and cost, especially in the Indo-Pacific.

At least one Air Force A-10 Warthog has returned from the Middle East with kill markings revealing drone kills, confirming that the attack jets are using laser-guided air-to-ground rockets as counter-drone weapons.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the government is “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in U.S. history” unless Democrats accept the House-passed, GOP-crafted stopgap bill to reopen the government.

Air Force Chief of Staff nominee will give special attention to coordinating with the Navy on jointly buying air-to-air missiles like the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and the new, secret AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM).

Coast Guardsmen may join their sister military services in receiving a paycheck this week if a Pentagon plan to divert money to payroll plays out.

CHINA THREAT

Beijing blames the U.S. for raising trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs.

RUSSIA THREAT

Trump says he may send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

European leaders back Nato allies’ defensive drone wall and here’s what’s on the wish list.

Ukraine already built Europe’s “drone wall”—here’s how it works.

Russia is using modified Shahed-136s to strike dynamic targets near the front lines.

Russia bleeds troops for microscopic frontline gains. It lost 281,550 soldiers in Ukraine in the first eight months of this year, according to leaked Russian data.

UN nuclear watchdog is pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to local ceasefires so that external power can be restored to Ukraine’s huge nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.

Denmark will buy 16 additional F-35 jets, invest in air defenses and maritime patrol aircraft and add to its fleet of Arctic-ready patrol vessels as part of a military spending package through to 2033 worth $13.7 billion.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Russia has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to exercise restraint after deadly fighting erupted along the border for two days, killing dozens in what is the worst clashes in recent memory.

Madagascar’s president is reported to have fled the country on a French military aircraft after losing support of a key army unit, and hours before he was scheduled to address the people.

US ARMY SPECIAL REPORT

Inside the Army’s new modernization mega-command in Austin, Texas.

UH-60 Black Hawk has flown without a human pilot before, but now it’s fully reconfigured to be an unmanned aircraft capable of flying a variety of missions.

Long-term future of UH-60M Black Hawks?  Army focusing on upgrades and maintenance. Cuts spurred by the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) have raised questions and caused uncertainty throughout the entirety of the service.

Army wants an ‘ultra long range’ air-launched unmanned platform that can soar 1,000 miles or more and is looking to demo potential contenders next year.

Army is finding ways to accelerate its new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) as it begins to field it more widely to the force while sunsetting its 40-year-old ATACM tactical missile system.

Army has approved a future increment of the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) capability, including a “sled” concept to give the service more flexibility.

Sig Sauer has trimmed the weight of the Army’s new 6.8x51mm M7 service rifle by nearly a pound, or just over 10%, after critical feedback from troops.

Electronic warfare has come to dominate the modern battlespace, and the Army is going to need greater all-source intelligence — using information from humans, signals, satellites and more.

Soldiers need better ways to evacuate casualties. Top enlisted leaders who work on Army medical and operational needs said medical evacuation and its associated tasks require modernization for future large-scale combat.

Boeing has announced plans for a family of new tiltrotor drones intended to support existing crewed military helicopters, especially Army ones, providing something like an equivalent to the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

Army has assessed supply chain risks to build the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, the MV-75, and is aiming to deliver the prototype aircraft in fiscal 2027.

Lockheed Martin has test-fired its widely used Joint Air-to-Ground Missile from a new quad-pack launcher designed to fire the JAGM straight up.

Anduril is unveiling EagleEye — its new line of mixed-reality, heads-up displays as it works to secure a production deal with the Army for its follow on Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program.

No more relying on the Army to protect the Air Force’s air bases — it’s time for the Air Force to take responsibility to defend its own airfields.

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.

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