U.S. Military

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? Big warplane reveal

The Project Talon aircraft. Photo: Courtesy of Northrop Grumman MOJAVE, Calif. — Northrop Grumman revealed Project Talon, a robo-wingman expected to fly next year, to a select few reporters gathered in the California desert yesterday, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: Only one of the drones exists today. But it's designed to be manufactured en masse relatively cheaply, which should appeal to the Pentagon. The big picture: Defense departments worldwide are clamoring for drones of all sizes, including ones big enough and smart enough to fly alongside manned aircraft, like the F-22, F-35 and future F-47. Both the U.S. Air Force and Navy have asked the industry for these so-called collaborative combat aircraft, or CCA. Keep reading.

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Boat strikes

The US military carried out another deadly attack on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board. According to the US Southern Command, the vessel in international waters was carrying illicit narcotics at the time of the strike. At least 87 people have now been killed in strikes on 23 suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing drug trafficking. President Trump has indicated that the US is preparing to escalate its offensive against drug cartels, repeatedly saying in recent days that the military will soon begin striking targets inside Venezuela.

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The two Army soldiers killed by a gunman in Syria over the weekend were identified as members of the Iowa National Guard — Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25. "We are grateful for their service and deeply mourn their loss," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said. Keep reading.

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War's final frontier

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

World powers see space as a future battlefield. The consequences are enormous, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: Tomorrow's wars will be fought in the stars above as well as on the ground below — and the urgency and opportunity are felt among America's industrial players. The signs are everywhere: competition for more launches, insatiable appetites for overhead imagery, Chinese satellite close-approaches, reported Russian development of nukes for space and the Pentagon's pursuit of President Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense system. The military value of space was made clear in the briefing that followed America's capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. Space Command, it was revealed, helped carve a path for troops headed into a blacked-out Caracas. ⚖️ Between the lines: The law of outer space is murky, without the clear zones of control we have with land borders or territorial waters. The UN has five international treaties and five sets of principles on space-related activities. ? Zoom in: The Trump administration has expressed interest in both the exploration and weaponization of space, which is governed by a cocktail of agreements, conventions, resolutions and treaties. In less than six years, President Trump has energized and complicated this international dynamic. In his first term, he launched the Space Force, which recently began talking plainly about weapons in space. In his second term, he courted Elon Musk, introduced the $175 billion Golden Dome, warned of progress lost to Beijing and Moscow, relocated SPACECOM headquarters to Alabama to "help America defend and dominate the high frontier," and directed the deployment of nuclear reactors on the Moon. ? Threat level: Daily life counts on space. Your morning forecast. The quickest route to work. Financial transactions during lunch or dinner. "I don't know, on average, if people understand how dangerous their lives would be if satellite systems just blacked out," Jonathan Horowitz, a legal adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Axios.

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Robot warfare

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Wars of the future will see fewer humans on the front line, as smaller units are augmented with hordes of smart machinery that can handle dirty, dangerous assignments, Axios defense reporter Colin Demarest writes. ⚡️ The impact: The roles of commanders and their staffs will change. And losing a robot — even 40 — is far less consequential than losing a human life. The big picture: The seeds of tomorrow's AI-driven wars are already planted in the drone-counter-drone battles unfolding in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Similar questions about how to defend against these systems are now surfacing in the tech-driven war with Iran. Zoom in: Stateside defense contractors are riding the emerging-tech wave. In October, Lockheed Martin unveiled U-Hawk, a Black Hawk helicopter without a cockpit that's capable of deploying drones and ground robots, and Oshkosh Defense teased X-MAV, an autonomous vehicle that can sling Tomahawk missiles. 🔎 What we're watching: Although subbing robots for humans could preserve military lives, the prospect of autonomous warfare with little or no human oversight scares the heck out of many Americans. They worry that apocalyptic scenarios once confined to science fiction may be closer to reality.

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🇺🇸 Inside harrowing U.S. rescue in Iran

Today's New York Post cover.

While the U.S. military hunted frantically for an Air Force officer who had bailed out of a fighter jet over Iran, the CIA spread word inside the country that American forces had already found him and were spiriting him out. The agency's deception campaign confused Iranian officials while the U.S. pulled off the rescue, senior administration officials say. President Trump called the rescued airman a "highly respected Colonel." How it happened: "Word was spreading like wildfire inside Iran that the race wasn't to find the airman, it was to find the American effort to exfiltrate him," a source familiar with the details of the operation told me. "Was he in a ground convoy? Was he preparing a maritime escape? They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off." U.S. forces jammed electronics and bombed roads near the stranded airman to prevent Iranians from getting close, Reuters reports. The American "evaded Iranian forces for more than 24 hours, eventually hiking up a 7,000-foot ridgeline and hiding in a crevice," The New York Times reports (gift link). The source told us that based on the airman's SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training, he "only popped out for brief moments to send discreet signals that were unlikely to be detected by the enemy." 📱 In an interview, Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid that the military had "beeping information" about the officer's location. After a radio message, officials feared he might be in captivity and Iran was "sending false signals" to try to lure U.S. forces into a trap. The CIA used a classified technological capability to find him. An administration official told The Times that the equipment used is unique to the agency. "Our guys went up and got him and brought him down to the planes we'd sent in," the source said. "Things got a little dicey ... It's not like they were landing on the kind of surface Americans think about when they hear 'runway.'" The military had pre-positioned "smaller, lighter aircraft that could get back in there and pick everyone up when the heavy ones got bogged down," the source told Axios. Back in Washington, the wait in the Situation Room was agonizing: The extraction planes "were on the ground for hours," the source said. Latest from Barak: Iran mediators make a last-ditch push for a 45-day ceasefire after Trump extends his deadline until Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

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An Army veteran is charged with sharing classified details of an elite commando unit

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An Army veteran has been charged with sharing classified information about an elite commando unit with a journalist, which one official said put the country, members of the U.S. military and the nation’s allies at risk.

https://apnews.com/article/delta-force-commando-classified-leak-courtney-williams-750cef932304a06048f6d15d3ddd98f7?

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Remains of US soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco have been recovered

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The remains of a U.S. soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco a week ago were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean, the army said Sunday. Military teams were still searching for a second missing soldier.

https://apnews.com/article/morocco-united-states-soldier-missing-recovered-ab35255fa6bf01ba5f87ec897c1a6950?

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Remains of 2nd US soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco have been recovered

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The remains of the second U.S. Army soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco have been recovered, the Army said Wednesday, ending a multinational search operation that deployed air, naval and artificial intelligence assets.

https://apnews.com/article/morocco-united-states-soldiers-remains-recovered-1f53adf0633974fa5da4a8f0b6ef68ce?

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8 people died in B-52 bomber crash at US Air Force base in Southern California, officials say

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff Monday morning at a U.S. Air Force base in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, and all eight people aboard have dead, military officials said.

https://apnews.com/article/b52-crash-california-edwards-air-force-base-ea237a6eec587adbbf9e7a578014ca93?