Weapons & Technologies

A new study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies suggests that using a network of ground-based sensors could make U.S. and allied air and missile defenses much more effective. Defense officials call it the most detailed public report on passive mesh sensing so far, and they think it’s coming at the right time – since enemy missiles are getting faster, smarter, and more numerous every year.

NATO’s supreme allied commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, has orders to push Patriot air- and missile-defense batteries to Ukraine at a pace faster than any previous transfer in the two-year campaign to reinforce Kyiv’s skies. He told Army officers and industry executives gathered here that planners are already matching available launchers with transport assets so hardware can leave European depots “as soon as coordination ends.”

LandEuro 2025 opened on 16 July at the Rhein-Main Congress Centre in Wiesbaden, drawing delegations from twenty-seven nations and a broad cross-section of the European defense industry. Germany’s Rheinmetall used the forum to introduce a production-standard Skyranger 30 turret mounted on an 8×8 Boxer chassis. According to industry sources, senior procurement officers from at least seven NATO members attended the live firing showcase at a nearby Bundeswehr range on the eve of the exhibition.

Germany has taken the first formal step toward buying the US-built Typhon mid-range missile system. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius lodged the request during two days of talks with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Washington on 14 July, officials in both capitals confirmed. The move ends months of speculation about how Berlin intends to plug the range gap between its existing Patriot batteries and the future European hypersonic weapon now in concept studies.