AI & Autonomy

The Air Force just pulled part of its Sentinel missile budget and pointed it at a different job: turning a Qatari Boeing 747-8 into a stop-gap Air Force One. The switch appeared in a Senate hearing on June 26. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink told lawmakers the dollars came from “early-to-need” lines that the missile team will not touch this year. Defense officials confirm the move keeps the main Sentinel timeline steady because no planned hardware ships late.

The Systems Division of Tenix Defence Systems today closed the Critical Design Review for the ELTA EL/L-8222 electronic-countermeasures pod Software Support Facility. Built at Mawson Lakes, South Australia, the new suite will stand ready for the Royal Australian Air Force’s Electronic Warfare Squadron in June 2001. The work finishes on time and within contract cost.

Paris closed the gates of Le Bourget last night. Crowds went home with ringing ears and packed phones. When we look at the tally, two facts stand out. Airbus walked away with the bulk of commercial orders. The defense sector filled almost half of every hall. Those two forces shaped a show that felt different from any edition in recent memory.

PARIS – Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs, stepped onto the world stage this week at the Paris Air Show. Two full-scale mock-ups – Anduril’s Fury YFQ-44 and General Atomics’ YFQ-42 – drew steady crowds. Executives from both firms stressed one message: Europe can help build the fleet, not just buy it. Defense officials confirm that Washington supports the idea, marking a sharp break from past export cycles that delayed foreign access for years.

The French, German, and Spanish defense ministries have committed to the next stage of the tri-national Future Combat Air System. Their signature on Phase 1B unlocks €3.2 billion for a thirty-six-month round of design and demonstration work. The agreement comes two weeks after negotiators settled the final work-share split. The French Directorate General for Armaments notified the prime contractors – Dassault Aviation, Airbus Defence and Space in Germany and Spain, Indra, and the engine joint-venture EUMET.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has notified NATO headquarters that Spain will not accept a future rule requiring every ally to channel five percent of national output into defense. His letter, delivered late Thursday to Secretary-General Mark Rutte, calls the target “unreasonable” and warns that it would stretch the state budget and disrupt wider European security programs. Defense officials confirm the message reached Brussels in time to feature on next week’s summit agenda in The Hague – guaranteeing formal debate rather than corridor talk.

Airbus used the mid-week peak of Le Bourget to firm up two programs that matter to every logistics planner on the continent. The A330-800neo Multi-Role Tanker Transport Plus (MRTT+) moved closer to launch as production leaders laid out a clear ramp-up plan. At the same time, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces signed a binding framework for the VSR700 uncrewed helicopter, locking the drone into the Navy’s next spending cycle.

Every tank feels different. Controls on a T-72 ask for muscle memory, while the Leopard’s clutch and gearbox demand a softer touch. “The Leo turns quicker and keeps speed on hills,” one Ukrainian trainee explains through a volunteer interpreter. “That helps when you must leave cover fast.” His words match the design. The Leopard 1 weighs about forty tonnes – light for a main battle tank – and its MTU diesel pushes it beyond 60 km/h on a firm road.

The Royal Australian Air Force keeps 41 de-commissioned F/A-18A/B Hornets in climate-controlled hangars at RAAF Base Williamtown. Canberra, Washington, and Kyiv are now in formal talks that could move a portion of that fleet to Ukraine instead of a scrapyard.