Category Archives: US Military

Musk’s SpaceX is frontrunner to build Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile shield

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SpaceX-led group is pitching the Pentagon on a ‘subscription model’ for missile defense

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, six people familiar with the matter said.

Musk’s rocket and satellite company is partnering with the software maker Palantir and the drone builder Anduril on a bid to build key parts of Golden Dome, the sources said, which has drawn significant interest from the technology sector’s burgeoning base of defense startups.

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Panama opposition party accuses US of ‘camouflaged invasion’

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Discontent with government handling of diplomatic crisis rises as Pete Hegseth says US troops moved to country

Panamanian opposition politicians have accused the US of launching a “camouflaged invasion” of the country, amid simmering discontent over the government’s handling of the diplomatic crisis.

After a three-day visit by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump appeared to confirm that US military personnel had been deployed to the Central American country on Thursday, telling reporters: “We’ve moved a lot of troops to Panama.”

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Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit

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Col Susannah Meyers removed amid reports she distanced base from Vance’s criticism of Denmark’s oversight of territory

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The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the Arctic island after JD Vance visited two weeks ago.

Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from the US vice-president’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory.

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China and North Korea aid to Russia poses security risk in Indo-Pacific region, says top US commander

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Beijing and Pyongyang are aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine, and Moscow in turn is assisting their militaries

The top US commander in the Pacific has warned senators that the military support that China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war on Ukraine is a security risk in his region as Moscow provides critical military assistance to both in return.

Adm Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate armed services committee that China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips to Russia to help Moscow “rebuild its war machine”.

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US air force reverses ban on pronouns in email signatures and websites

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Department will follow rest of Trump’s anti-DEI order while adhering to 2024 defense bill barring any pronoun policy

The US air force has reversed its ban on the use of preferred pronouns in email signatures and other professional communications.

In a memo dated last Wednesday, the Department of the Air Force announced that it has “rescinded” the directive it issued earlier this year prohibiting “the use of ‘preferred pronouns’ to identify one’s gender identity in professional communications”, including email signatures, memoranda, letters, papers, social media and official websites.

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Iran says talks with US will be indirect, contrary to Trump’s words

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US president had trailed ‘direct talks’ and said Iran would be in ‘great danger’ if they failed

Iran, wrongfooted by Donald Trump’s revelation that “direct talks” between the US and Iran on its nuclear programme are set to start in Oman on Saturday, insisted the talks would actually be in an indirect format, but added that the intentions of the negotiators were more important than the format.

Trump on Monday threw Tehran off guard by revealing the plan for the weekend talks and saying that if the talks failed Iran would be in “great danger”. There has been an unprecedented US military buildup across the Middle East in recent weeks, and Trump’s decision to make the talks public looks designed to press Iran to negotiate with urgency.

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Democrats decry reported dismissal of NSA director Tim Haugh

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Lawmakers say dismissing head of US Cyber Command puts country at risk at a time of ‘unprecedented cyber threats’

Top congressional Democrats are protesting against the reported firing of Gen Tim Haugh as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), with one lawmaker saying the decision “makes all of us less safe”.

Haugh and his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, have been dismissed from their roles, the Washington Post reported late on Thursday, with CNN reporting likewise, both outlets citing multiple unnamed officials and other senior sources close to the matter who had requested anonymity.

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Pete Hegseth’s wife reportedly attended meetings with foreign defense officials

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Defense secretary, already under fire for chat group blunder, faces new scrutiny for having wife in high-level meetings

The wife of the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, attended two meetings with foreign defense officials during which sensitive information was discussed, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal’s report on Hegseth arrived late on Friday as he faced scrutiny for detailing plans of a military strike in a group chat on Signal, made public by a journalist at the Atlantic who was added to the chat. Multiple Democrats have called for his resignation while a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the defense department calling for an inquiry into the group chat.

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Vehicle of four US soldiers missing in Lithuania found submerged in water

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US army says search efforts are ongoing after Nato secretary general tells reporters servicemembers were ‘killed’

The vehicle of four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania has been discovered submerged in water, the US army said, adding that search efforts for the soldiers were ongoing.

The soldiers went missing during a military drill during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town located less than 10km (6 miles) from the border with Belarus.

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Canada’s ex-spy chief says White House response to Signal leak threatens ‘Five Eyes’ security

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Former intelligence head said leak and White House response was ‘very worrying’ to allies of the US

Canada’s former spy chief has said the Trump administration’s attempts to downplay the leak of top-secret attack plans is a “very worrying” development, with implications for broader intelligence sharing among US allies.

On Wednesday, the Atlantic magazine published new and detailed messages from a group chat, including plans for US bombings, drone launches and targeting information of the assault, including descriptions of weather conditions. Among the recipients of the messages was a prominent journalist, who was inadvertently added to the group.

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Trump dismisses Signal security failure as ‘the only glitch in two months’

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President says national security adviser Mike Waltz, suspected of adding journalist to chat, ‘has learned a lesson’

Donald Trump defended his embattled national security adviser on Tuesday and said the leak of highly classified military plans was “the only glitch in two months”, as scrutiny intensified into how top US officials shared operational details for bombing Yemen in a group chat.

In an interview with NBC, the president said, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” as Democrats called for an investigation into the sharing of the plans for this month’s major airstrikes in Yemen on the Signal app. Later on Tuesday, during a meeting with ambassadors, Trump said his administration would investigate the incident but claimed “there was no classified information” shared on Signal.

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Pentagon restores webpage for Black Medal of Honor winner but defends DEI purge

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Error message previously shown on Maj Gen Rogers’s site as officials argue that it’s wrong to call diversity a strength

The US defense department webpage celebrating a Black Medal of Honor recipient that was removed and had the letters “DEI” added to the site’s address has been restored – and the letters scrubbed – after an outcry. But defense department officials have continued to argue publicly that it is wrong to say that diversity is a strength, and that it’s essential to dismantle all “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts.

On Saturday, the Guardian reported that US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers’s Medal of Honor webpage led to a “404” error message – and that the URL had been changed, with the word “medal” changed to “deimedal”.

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Black Medal of Honor recipient removed from US department of defense website

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Page honoring Charles C Rogers for his Vietnam war service is now defunct with letters “DEI” added to website address

The US defense department webpage celebrating an army general who served in the Vietnam war and was awarded the country’s highest military decoration has been removed and the letters “DEI” added to the site’s address.

On Saturday, US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers’s Medal of Honor webpage led to a “404” error message. The URL was also changed, with the word “medal” changed to “deimedal”.

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US airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthis kill at least 31

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Up to 100 injured after Trump orders strikes in response to shipping attacks

The US has launched airstrikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, killing at least 31 people and injured up to 100 more, in Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.

US officials have said the airstrikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, may continue for weeks.

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Trump orders ideas from Pentagon for ‘unfettered’ access to Panama canal, officials say

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Document described as interim national security guidance calls on US military to create options

The Trump administration has called on the Pentagon to provide military options to ensure the country has full access to the Panama canal, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Donald Trump has said repeatedly he wants to “take back” the Panama canal, which is located at the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America and is considered one of the world’s most strategically important waterways, but he has not offered specifics about how he would do so, or if military action might be required.

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Surface tension: could the promised Aukus nuclear submarines simply never be handed over to Australia?

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The multi-billion dollar deal was heralded as ensuring the security of the Indo-Pacific. But with America an increasingly unreliable ally, doubts are rising above the waves

Maybe Australia’s boats just never turn up.

To fanfare and flags, the Aukus deal was presented as a sure bet, papering over an uncertainty that such an ambitious deal could ever be delivered.

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Pentagon official condemned over tweet about Jewish victim lynched by Georgia mob

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Kingsley Wilson cast doubt on circumstances of death of Leo Frank, in echo of white supremacist talking point

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has condemned a past social media post by the Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson that disputed the innocence of Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman whom most historians agree was wrongfully convicted of killing a 13-year-old factory worker and lynched in 1915 during a wave of antisemitism in the US.

“Leo Frank raped & murdered a 13-year-old girl. He also tried to frame a Black man for his crime,” Wilson wrote on X in response to an August 2024 tweet by the ADL marking the 109th anniversary of Frank’s lynching. “The ADL turned off the comments because they want to gaslight you.”

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US defense secretary saw few political drawbacks in backing joint chiefs ouster

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Pete Hegseth viewed his political odds as being unchanged in pushing Trump to fire Gen Charles Brown

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, saw few political consequences in supporting Donald Trump’s ouster of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff because he never had the support of the senators who wanted Gen Charles Brown to remain in the role, advisers close to the secretary said.

The ramifications of Trump’s decision to fire Brown and seven other senior officials at the Pentagon took on new urgency on Thursday after five former defense secretaries, outraged at Trump’s firings, urged Congress to hold hearings and extract justifications for their dismissals under oath.

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Ex-US defence chiefs urge congressional hearings on Trump’s military firings

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Trump’s first defence secretary James Mattis among five to express alarm at ‘reckless’ dismissals of top military figures

Five former US defence secretaries have demanded congressional hearings on Donald Trump’s firings of several military commanders, including the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, saying it was done for “purely partisan reasons” and weakens national security.

The five – including James Mattis, who served as defence secretary during Trump’s first presidency – wrote in a letter that they were “deeply alarmed” by the dismissals, which they said were “reckless” and unjustified by operational reason.

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Transgender US military personnel must be identified and stood down, says Pentagon memo

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Being transgender is not compatible with service, court filing says, foreshadowing removal of people from service within 60 days

Transgender service members will be separated from the US military unless they receive an exemption, according to a Pentagon memo filed in court on Wednesday – essentially banning them from joining or serving in the armed forces.

Donald Trump signed an executive order in January that took aim at transgender troops in a personal way – at one point saying that a man identifying as a woman was “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member”.

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