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PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Pentagon rushes forward with $1 billion ‘Drone Dominance’ program to field massive fleets of UAVs.
Pentagon seeks to acquire and rapidly field over 300,000 small first-person-view (FPV) one-way-attack quadcopter drones —hoping to put them in the field quickly so that operators can learn to use them within 2 hours.
The plan calls for small drones capable of carrying a minimum of 4.4lbs in explosives and able to conduct strikes across both open terrain and urban environments. The drones need to prove they can maneuver across roughly six miles of open land and conduct a strike across over half a mile within a city environment.
“We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with 2 million dollar missiles, and we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video.
“We will deliver tens of thousands of small drones to our force in 2026 and hundreds of thousands of them by 2027,” Hegseth said, adding that the new technology will see changes to combat doctrine across all U.S. military branches.
Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman unveiled new lower priced autonomous combat drone known as Project Talon, with an eye toward speeding up development and manufacture of large uncrewed aircraft.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
THE PDB – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:
NATIONAL SECURITY
Contours of new U.S. grand strategy under Trump are crystallizing. And Europe now ranks fourth among U.S. strategic priorities, behind Western Hemisphere, Indo-Pacific, and Middle East.
U.S. policymakers have paid increasing attention to vulnerabilities of supply chains, especially securing access to critical minerals. Yet security of maritime supply chains remains underdiscussed despite accounting for 80% of global trade.
Our defense industrial base is under strain—munitions stockpiles are low, supply chains are brittle, and outdated regulations are slowing down private investment. We must rebuild U.S. defense manufacturing by empowering the private sector — unleashing private capital.
More than $148 billion was spent by U.S. in failed attempt to build a free Afghanistan, according to official watchdog office, whose documentation of waste and fraud, and warnings of Taliban resurgence, went largely unheeded by Team Biden and others before.
HOMELAND DEFENSE
Companies such as BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, L3Harris and General Atomics are among more than 1,000 firms Pentagon has selected to potentially work on its Golden Dome missile defense shield.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Citing national security concerns, U.S. pauses immigration applications from 19 high-risk nations on travel ban list. This, as an Afghan national ambushed two National Guard troops in DC, killing one and critically wounding the second.
DEFENSE POLITICS
Widening majority of Americans want Ukraine to prevail over Russia and support sending U.S. weapons to Ukraine to support that goal.
New poll finds growing bipartisan support for NATO, sending weapons to Ukraine and Golden Dome spending.
More than 75% of Americans would support using force to support NATO’s collective defense, according to Reagan Institute’s latest Defense Survey.
Pentagon’s watchdog found that War Secretary Pete Hegseth potentially put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the encrypted commercial ‘Signal’ messaging app to convey sensitive information about military strike against Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
VENEZUELA-NARCO THREAT
Pentagon knew there were survivors after September attack on drug boat in Caribbean Sea and U.S. military still carried out follow-up strike to sink the still usable boat. So what?
Navy admiral who reportedly issued orders to fire second missile at initially un-sunken drug boat with two survivors is expected to provide classified briefing to top congressional lawmakers.
Family of Colombian drug smuggler has filed formal human rights challenge to U.S. military strikes on drug-carrying boats, arguing that his death was an extrajudicial killing.
US POWER OVERSEAS
Polar Star, only heavy icebreaker operated by U.S. Coast Guard has arrived in Hawaii on its way to Antarctica.
CHINA THREAT
China’s mysterious trimaran submarine-ship hybrid breaks cover in first image but leaves many questions unanswered, such as, what is its purpose? Details point to it being fully or nearly fully submersible, making it a hybrid design.
Japan’s cabinet approved FY 2025 supplementary budget poised to put country on track to dedicate upwards of 2% of GDP to defense. Still too low to face China.
Japan denied report that it’s considering selling surface-to-air missiles to Philippines, even as Tokyo may soon loosen long-standing restrictions on arms exports.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Vladimir Putin says some proposals in U.S. plan to end war in Ukraine are unacceptable, indicating that any deal is still some way off despite intense shuttle diplomacy by U.S. envoys.
While talking nicely of talks with U.S., Putin says Russia ready to take Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region ‘by force,’ doubling down on maximalist demands and territorial designs that are standing in way of a solution.
One way to make Russia pay for acts of sabotage in Europe is to intensify military support for Ukraine, NATO’s top official said following meeting of top alliance diplomats.
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
American Shahed-136 clones sent to Middle East specifically “to flip the script” on Iran have satellite datalinks, swarming capabilities. Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) kamikaze drones will be used by Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS).
SPACE THREATS
NRO’s proliferated satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit is outperforming expectations. U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is working with Space Force and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
UK seeks special ops micro drone — Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) — for underwater missions.
UK to join Norway’s program to develop offshore mine warfare ‘mothership’ support vessels designed to deploy uncrewed mine hunting and undersea-warfare systems.
France two years from fielding military drone swarms as the underlying technology matures.
Canada has become the first non-EU country to join the bloc’s flagship rearmament program, Security Action for Europe (SAFE), whose loans could support Ottawa’s fighter and submarine buys.
EU launching an unprecedented continent-wide effort to train and retrain 600,000-plus workers for its defense industry by 2030, as part of broader push to close critical skills gap.
Armed clashes reported between Yemeni army loyal to internationally recognized government and Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces during attempt by separatist group to advance towards strategically located al-Ghuraf area in oil-rich Hadramout governorate.
US MILITARY
Air Forces Cyber, officially the 16th Air Force, will stand up its first Air Force Reserve cyber operations squadron dedicated solely to offensive cyber operations in January.
Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter seen with rare payload of AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile–Expanded Response, or the SLAM-ER.
BAE Systems will show off its newest AI-enabled target recognition capability attached to “several” Bradley Fighting Vehicles for first time.
New rules governing religious accommodations for facial hair and new military fitness programs for some Airmen are coming—but probably not until next year.
Military retirees, family members and contractors may no longer assert personal preference in requesting change to their gender category in Pentagon’s DEERS database, under new federal guidelines.
Living Medal of Honor recipients will now receive around $67,500 in annual honorarium under new law signed by President Trump.
Bill in Congress would significantly increase disability compensation to veterans with catastrophic injuries and survivors, but lawmakers are sparring over how to cover the estimated $7 billion cost.
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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