Air defense is an inventory problem disguised as a technology problem. A battery with excellent radar and four remaining interceptors runs out on the second night. Recent operations have shown how quickly a magazine empties against saturation attacks, and how long replacing what was fired actually takes.
This section covers interceptors, sensors and the command layer tying them together. Long-range systems against ballistic threats, medium and short-range cover for maneuver forces, counter-drone effectors, early warning radar, and the fire control that has to decide in seconds which threats are worth an expensive round.
Cost per engagement is treated as a capability figure rather than an accounting detail. Where a defended asset is worth less than the interceptor protecting it, that is the story.
Applied Research Associates secured a 24-month award from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Eglin Munitions Directorate to act as System Design Agent for an air-to-ground Next Generation Penetrator. The company will build and test sub-scale and full-scale articles under the
The U.S. Navy will expand the number of Tomahawk cruise missiles configured for anti-ship missions with a new tranche of Block V upgrades to field the Maritime Strike Tomahawk seeker. Defense officials confirm the requirement covers from 35 to 96 missiles and
The U.S. Navy and Raytheon, an RTX business, have completed the first live maritime test of the AN/SPY-6(V)4 radar at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Hawaii. The event produced real world data on air and surface target tracks and confirmed
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
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
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
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
The Paris Air Show gave America's biggest defense suppliers a global stage to describe how they would fold familiar missiles, radars and command-and-control networks into President Donald Trump's Golden Dome homeland-defense plan. They argued that starting with hardware already in service will
The Army has given the green light to start low-rate production of its Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 system this October. Defense officials confirm that the signed acquisition decision memorandum cleared the final gate after a quick turn-around review on 28
Missiles / Drones / Directed Energy covers what these systems are built to stop, from cruise missiles to one-way attack drones, along with the laser and microwave effectors offered as an answer to the cost-per-shot problem. The radars and early warning networks feeding an engagement are in Surveillance & Reconnaissance.
