On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lt. Gen. Dave Bassett, USA Ret., the former director of the Defense Contract Management Agency who is now a senior counselor at the Cohen Group, former Pentagon industrial base chief Steve Grundman now with the Atlantic Council and Executive in Residence at the RSA consultancy, and Dr. Jerry McGinn, a former deputy industrial base chief who now leads the Center for the Industrial Base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sweeping drive to revamp the Pentagon’s acquisition architecture to accelerate the fielding of capabilities that address operational problems, adopt more commercial products that address military needs, scale production of weapons and systems, and increase sales to allies and partners.

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, Sam Bendett of the Center for Naval Analyses and Dr. Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest and how it will impact the Ukraine war; how Kyiv can continue striking deep into Russia without US Tomahawk cruise missiles; an update on the ongoing ground war; whether Ukraine would be able to supply billions of dollars in military equipment to the United States without undermining its ability to right for its survival; the European consensus that troops in Ukraine will be necessary despite Moscow’s opposition to the move; and whether NATO’s response to Russia’s recent string of provocations is sufficient to keep deterring Moscow.

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the new report the co-authored with Kate Johnston and Greg Weaver — Understanding Russia’s Calculus on Opportunistic Aggression in Europe — including the core role of opportunism in Vladimir Putin’s strategic approach to undermine Russia’s adversaries; the reality that NATO nations may be forced to defend the alliance without help from the United States should a crisis in the Indo-Pacific force Washington to shift focus from Europe to Asia; capability areas where the alliance’s European members rate well and where more work is required; how Europe can step up capabilities indigenously especially if America decided against selling weapons to bolster its own depleted stocks; how NATO must respond to Russia’s mounting provocations and how it can respond when US support is now conditional; roles China, Iran and North Korea can play to advance Russia’s interests in Europe; and need to support Ukraine and critical role Kyiv can play in bolstering European capabilities.

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, Sam Bendett of the Center for Naval Analyses and Dr. Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss details of Russia’s drone attacks on Poland, Romania and Moldova — the first and largest such attack against the alliance; how the alliance can respond given President Trump’s conditioning of US support on all alliance members agreeing to halting energy purchases from Russia and imposing penalties on China; the changing nature of Russia’s ever larger attacks on Ukraine; the joint Russian-Belorussian Zapad 2025 exercises and how Moscow and Minsk are working to improve capabilities; whether the exercise is cover for potential future action against NATO given how Russia used past Zapad exercises to pre-position forces and equipment for the 2022 attack on Ukraine; the implications of US military observers at Zapad; and whether Washington’s engagement with Minsk will change Belarus’ alignment with Russia.

On this week’s Strategy Series, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, James Hackett, the head of defense and military analysis at the International institute for Strategic Studies, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the updated report he co-edited — “Progress and Shortfalls in Europe’s Defence: An Assessment.”

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, Sam Bendett of the Center for Naval Analyses and Dr. Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the outlook for peace between Ukraine and Russia in the wake of President Trump’s meetings with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as allied leaders in Washington; status of the fighting as Russia continues to creep forward; how Ukraine manages to slow Russian advances as well as stop and push back significant incursions; whether the notion of granting Russia’s demand for all of Donbas will lead to a lasting peace or merely pave the way for a third Russian attack; and what shape a peacekeeping force might take as the president suggests openness to supporting allied troops in Ukraine as well as US air power as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visits Kyiv to discuss a peacekeeping role.

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Richard Danzig, the 71st Secretary of the US Navy and Rand Corporation trustee; joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his new report for the think tank — “Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and National Security: The Fierce Urgency of Now;” how to think about AI; the nature of the competition between America and China; importance of speed in developing AI and operationalizing it; applications for which AI is best suited; role of AI in improving cybersecurity across the defense enterprise; the importance of AI talent in government and how the technology can compensate for not enough skilled people; the role of humans in overseeing AI; concerns that AI is oversold and that a bubble is building on capital markets that might burst; and notion of ethical use of AI among great powers.

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Dr. Darrell Bricker, the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss President Trump’s popularity six months into his new administration; international sentiment toward the United States; how Trump drives the global conversation at home and aboard; whether shifts in international perceptions about the United States will shift permanently during the second Trump administration; prospects for Democrats in 2026 as the party struggles with its post-mortem of the 2024 election; and how Trump’s rhetoric has reshaped Canadian perceptions and the Carney government’s domestic agenda.

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 Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, André Loesekrug-Pietri, the director of the Joint European Disruptive Initiative, joins Defense & Aerospace Reporter Editor Vago Muradian to discuss JEDI and how it aims to serve as Europe’s advanced research projects agency to improve both economic competitiveness as well as military capabilities. Our coverage of the Paris Air Show was sponsored by Alderman & Co.