It’s a pretty sure bet that the future of airpower is increasingly uninhabited. Dr. Caitlin Lee of the RAND Corporation has six propositions to consider when trying to understand where we are with UAVs, and we’ll go through them in detail. And a lot going on in this week’s airpower headlines. Powered by GE!
On this Land Warfare episode, sponsored by American Rheinmetall, Ben Barry, a retired British Army brigadier who is the director of land warfare studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his recent report, “Defending Europe Without the United States: Costs and Consequences;” how quickly Russia will be able to reconstitute its forces and pose a threat to NATO; what Europe has to do to build the capabilities to defend itself without relying on the United States; the critical role of more than 128,000 American military personnel in Europe; where member nations will find the $1 trillion they will need; coordinating industrial capacity to deliver needed systems; whether Europe can support Ukraine in the event Washington pulls the plug on Kyiv; whether there are a opportunities for US companies and more cooperation in the short and longer term; outlook for the Ukraine war; and case for tanks and attack as well as transport helicopters even in a highly kinetic battlefield environment.
On this episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Strategy Series, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Bran Ferren, the cofounder and CEO of the Applied Minds consultancy, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the merits of bringing interdisciplinary to problem solving; the need for the United States to adopt disruptive thinking to countering adversaries like China rather than playing their numbers game; how to drive innovation; why America has tracked the China threat in particular but failed to better prepare for it; why the Pentagon needs a variety of acquisition approaches with differing speeds depending on what’s being acquired; and enduring lessons from mankind’s greatest achievement, the Apollo moon landings.
On today’s program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and its implications for defense; the ongoing defense budget process; takeaways from the budget documents that the administration has rolled out; the importance of looking at the recent Israel-Iran war as an event in a continuum of conflict between the two nations; recaps of the NATO Summit in The Hague and US Army Vice Chief Jim Mingus’ address to a AUSA-CSIS; and a look at the week ahead.
The Trump Administration’s 2026 budget for the U.S. Space Force, counting the Big Beautiful Bill’s…
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of the independent equity research firm Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss another record Wall Street week on strong employment despite tariff turmoil as Congress hands President Trump a legislative victory that will increase US debt by more than $3 trillion dollars that in turn has contributed to the weakest dollar since the financial crisis of 1973 with the greenback down 10 percent; the administration hinted at a series of tariff deals, including with Europe that would see baseline tariffs increase by 10 percent, but that news that is causing friction among European members with France’s industry and energy minister Marc Ferracci calling on union leaders to reject a deal that would force europe to live with higher baseline tariffs; a fiscal drama in London as Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer’s administration is forced by its own party to backtrack on benefits cuts, cause another bond crisis; China went on a charm offensive in Brussels, Berlin and Paris where Wang Yi also candidly admitted that China can’t afford for Russia to lose in Ukraine; Washington halts aid to Kyiv by falsely claiming US weapons are running out as Germany negotiates with Washington for more weapons for Ukraine, including two Patriot batteries and interceptors as Russia steps up strikes; Germany’s outspoken chief of defense, Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais, is sacked for being too blunt as Berlin prepares to order 1,000 new tanks and 2,500 armored fighting vehicles; a banner week for Airbus that sold more than $12 billion in new jets to Malaysia’s Air Asia; Embraer nails a $4 billion order with SAS for 55 jets as Air France KLM takes a 60 percent stake in the carrier; and Bombardier scores a big order with an unnamed customer.
Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…the final ships of one of the US Navy’s most controversial shipbuilding programs ever are about to be completed and delivered from their builders. We will hear from the Navy’s program managers for the littoral combat ship, CAPT Matt Lehmann and Jonas Brown, about what’s next for this unique class of ship.
Please send us feedback by DM’ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said that in preparation for Operation Midnight Hammer, two Defense Threat Reduction Agency analysts studied activities at the Fordo Uranium Enrichment Plant for 15 years by pouring over imagery. That was satellite imagery, which is now at risk of being cut according to the White House’s FY2026 budget request for the National Reconnaissance Office. Laura Winter speaks with Susanne Hake, General Manager of Maxar Intelligence’s U.S. Government business; Hector Falcon, Watch Center Director at the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC); and Clint Clark, Vice President of First Impressions at ExoAnalytic Solutions.
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of the independent equity research firm Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss a record week on Wall Street as President Trump announced a trade deal with China that convinced investors of declining tariffs risks, even as the president ended tariff talks with Canada and continues to pressure Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to resign from his post for refusing to make steep interest rate cuts; outlook for defense spending as Congress continues to deliberate reconciliation, appropriations, the NDAA as well as rescissions package as lawmakers push back on the president’s big beautiful bill; a successful NATO summit as the alliance agrees to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on defense and another 1.5 percent on national security infrastructure even as the Pentagon continues to weigh troops cuts from Europe; and Babcock reports full year 2025 results.
Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…Vigor Marine Group’s Francesco Valente joins us to discuss the Navy’s lofty readiness goals, ways to improve vessel maintenance practices and his company’s growing influence in the US ship repair business.
Please send us feedback by DM’ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.