


The Pentagon wants to field laser weapons at scale within 3 years
Amid waves of Iranian drone attacks, the U.S. Defense Department is pushing to finally field high-energy laser weapons in the next 36 months.

Defense
US Navy taps Gecko Robotics to help remedy maintenance headaches
Gecko deploys AI and robotics on 18 ships assigned to the Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet

Ukraine’s top drone units to bring frontline lessons to Washington this month
Some of Ukraine’s best-known drone military commanders and experts will be visiting Washington later this month to brief policymakers and defense leaders.

These are Ukraine’s $1,000 interceptor drones the Pentagon wants to buy
Ukraine spent years perfecting cheap drone killers. After burning through billions in missiles in three days, the U.S. and its allies are asking for help.

Pentagon and FAA agree to conduct anti-drone laser tests in New Mexico
The agreement comes after the deployment of lasers led the FAA to suddenly close airspace in Texas twice in the last month.

What to know about Defense Protection Act and the Pentagon’s Anthropic ultimatum
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei repeatedly has made clear his ethical concerns about unchecked government use of AI.

Hegseth and Anthropic CEO set to meet as debate intensifies over the military’s use of AI
Debate continues over AI's role in national security and concerns about how the technology could be used in high-stakes situations.

Rapid scaling, soldier-led market key to US drone ambitions, Army secretary says
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said the service will soon launch a soldier-led marketplace to market drone innovations alongside private industry.

How commercial drones make the Pentagon’s ‘Blue UAS Select’ list
For an off-the-shelf drone to be added to the Blue UAS list, it must pass rigorous testing and cyber security evaluations.

SpaceX and Blue Origin abruptly shift priorities amid US Golden Dome push
The largest U.S. commercial space companies recently shifted priorities toward lunar development, just as DOD pushes its next-gen missile shield plans.

Pentagon official blesses Europe’s push to spend defense money at home
“Otherwise people in Germany or Poland or whatever are going to say: ‘Why are we only sending money across the Atlantic?’” said the Pentagon policy chief.

Unemployment rates for veterans worsen amid civilian job market gains
While overall hiring increased by 130,000 jobs in January, post-9/11 veterans saw their jobless rates balloon to 5.8%.

Pentagon wants counter-drone sensors to protect US infrastructure — and fast
“The urgency of the threat” is prompting the Defense Innovation Unit to solicit products in time for a spring 2026 demonstration.

Research on problem gambling included in defense funding law
Under a new Department of Defense program, gambling addiction is now a topic of research.

US lawmakers release $839B compromise defense spending bill
The conferenced defense spending bill would increase funding for both the Air Force and Navy's sixth-generation fighters.

War powers resolution fails in Senate
Senate Republicans have voted to dismiss a war powers resolution that would have limited President Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela.

Pentagon is embracing Musk’s Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry
Hegseth announced that Grok will soon go live in DOD and that “all appropriate data” from military IT systems would be available for "AI exploitation."
