By Andre Pienaar Russia has almost certainly run a coordinated drone campaign over Europe since August 2024, using shadow-fleet tankers and other Russian-linked ships as floating launch and recovery platforms, according to a new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The study, Russia’s UAV Campaign Over Europe, assesses it as “highly likely” that the Kremlin directed the campaign and “likely” that vessels loitering in the North Sea, Baltic and Atlantic served as its operational base. It compiles 144 incidents in which uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) were flown over a dozen NATO states and Ireland, forcing the closure…

By Ben Farmer Russian mercenaries have helped put down an attempted coup in Niger, underlining the Kremlin’s role as a security guarantor for a string of West African military juntas. Troops from Russia’s Africa Corps played a major role in ending an hours-long uprising by mutinous young officers who attacked a military base and the presidential palace in the capital. Niamey was jolted by hours of gunfire and explosions in the early hours of 29 August, until members of the Kremlin-controlled mercenary unit helped the loyalist presidential guard regain control. A statement from Moscow said the attacks were repelled “with…

Britain could become the first major Western power to radically reshape its armed forces for a new era of warfare and lead the transformation of NATO, one of America’s most celebrated generals has said. General David Petraeus, the former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and ex-director of the CIA, said the war in Ukraine had fundamentally changed the way conflicts were fought and warned that Western militaries must adapt urgently. He said Britain was “uniquely positioned” to lead that revolution after showing “strategic clarity” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Petraeus warned that simply buying more advanced…

Hugh Paine examines how the battle over the Chagos Islands has evolved from an obscure sovereignty dispute into a geopolitical crisis threatening Britain’s relationship with the United States. Chagos: What’s the deal? Two years ago, the vast majority of British people would never have heard of the Chagos Islands, and even fewer would have been able to locate them on a map. But today, this small archipelago of 60 islands in the Indian Ocean has become something of an international crisis and could seriously threaten future US-UK relations. What has evolved from a minor dispute into an international crisis is…

By Andre Pienaar President Trump put the National Space Council back in business. Chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance and armed this month with a sweeping new National Space Transportation Policy — the first rewrite of that doctrine in thirteen years — the Council’s return restores the one thing American space power has historically lacked in its fallow periods: a single point of strategic coordination at the apex of government. And on Friday came the companion announcement by President Trump: a United States Space Academy, a new service academy for the space age. In his second term, President Trump is…

Britain and Ukraine have signed a new artificial intelligence partnership that will give UK researchers and technology companies access to Ukrainian battlefield data to develop new defence capabilities. The agreement was signed in Kyiv by Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Under the partnership, the UK is set to become the first international partner to gain access to Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs platform. Avengers AI Labs collects battlefield data from thousands of daylight cameras and infrared sensors operating across Ukraine. The system captures millions of objects, including tanks, artillery, air defence systems, infantry and aerial targets. These…

By Andre Pienaar Tory Bruno’s appointment as Honorary Chair of World Space Week 2027 recognises a leadership career spent defending America and the free world. When the World Space Week Association announced this week that Tory Bruno would serve as Honorary Chair of its 2027 celebration, it chose the theme “To the Moon.” It also chose a man who has spent four decades proving that the romance of spaceflight and the hard discipline of national security are the same job. Bruno is now President of National Security at Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space company, where he leads a group formed…

The number of UK jobs supported by defence spending in weapons and ammunition manufacturing rose by 51 per cent in 2024/25, according to new Ministry of Defence figures. The increase came as the number of UK industry jobs supported by Ministry of Defence expenditure rose by 26,000 over the financial year. The North West recorded nearly 4,000 additional direct jobs, while the South East gained more than 3,000. The latest MOD employment estimates show that UK defence supports 462,000 roles across the Armed Forces, industry and the Civil Service. Jobs linked to the manufacture of weapons, ammunition and military fighting…

A blacklisted Chinese technology company has claimed it has developed a “cyber nuclear weapon” capable of finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities. The disclosure has raised fresh concerns over China’s expanding offensive cyber capabilities. Qihoo 360 says it has built an artificial intelligence system approaching the capabilities of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, the powerful US model that has alarmed Western governments because of its ability to uncover previously unknown flaws in computer systems. The claims come amid warnings from Britain and its allies that China is already using state-linked hackers and commercial technology companies to penetrate foreign governments, telecommunications networks and critical…

The State Department has designated two Iran-based entities accused of collecting intelligence used to target US forces and partner militaries across the Middle East, in the opening move of a sweeping new economic campaign against Tehran. The two entities were sanctioned alongside seven members of Iran’s defence leadership whom Washington accuses of procuring weapons and directing attacks on US service personnel and regional partners. The action was announced on Monday as part of “Operation Economic Outcast”, a whole-of-government pressure campaign launched at President Trump’s direction. The two entities are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC), the Guards’…

Russia has threatened to attack British factories after the UK gave Ukraine the blueprints to build its own Storm Shadow missiles. Andrei Fedorov, a powerful adviser to Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would not “100 per cent exclude” the possibility of “semi-military action” against manufacturers supplying drone and missile components to Kyiv. Intelligence officials believe that Russia has already launched a fresh wave of covert attacks against European armaments factories. Mr Fedorov’s intervention on Monday escalated the war of words between London and Moscow over British support for Ukraine. Earlier that day, the Kremlin had accused Andy Burnham of “adding fuel…

The Moscow–Pyongyang mutual defense pact has fused two threats into one axis that now threatens Japan. By André Pienaar I have just returned from Tokyo, where Japanese colleagues have experienced more heat than the unusually hot summer weather. Threats from Russia and North Korea, backed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), converged dangerously for Japan during the month of August. Little of this aggression has been reported or discussed in the Western media. On the fifth of August, Kim Yo Jong threatened “additional military options” over Tokyo’s test-firing of a Tomahawk cruise missile. The next day — the anniversary…