The Department of Defense, seeing the tactics of warfare being redefined in Russia's war against Ukraine, understands the U.S. must evolve, strengthen and advance the American drone industrial base to keep up with the changing threats. The Threat Status team takes a deeper look at what the defense industry is doing to meet the demand to keep our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines equipped with the latest technology.
Ira Hughes, senior director of sales for Doodle Labs, joins the show to talk about drones, connectivity, secure data links, and whether the Pentagon’s drone dominance initiative is moving too fast.
Ukrainian drones on Thursday hit more Russian oil facilities and set two oil tankers ablaze in the Sea of Azov, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture the Patriot air defense systems.
Watching the war in Ukraine, it feels as if drones have rewritten warfare.
Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the center of Britain’s future military under a defense plan being announced Tuesday that reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology.
The idea of delivering packages by drone is relatively new and exciting for Americans at large. For prison officials, however, it has long been a reality — and a dangerous one at that.
At the start of the invasion in February 2022, Russia’s Black Sea fleet appeared to hold a near stranglehold over Ukraine’s coast. That changed two months later, when Ukrainian anti-ship missiles sank the Moskva, the fleet’s flagship, near Snake Island.
The U.S. Navy and its defense industry partners are moving beyond the prototyping phase and toward production of cutting-edge drone boats, a key Pentagon official said this week, with expected increases in defense budgets set to help fund a revolution in unmanned maritime technology.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced Friday that it would train 500,000 “drone warriors” in a major shift into the asset class that is dominating warfare in Ukraine.
Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russia-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
The Transportation Security Administration said that as of Tuesday, law enforcement had seized over 300 drones illegally flying around World Cup sites.
Russia appears to be strengthening its air defenses around Moscow at the expense of the front lines in its war against Ukraine, according to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War think tank.
A Mexican national who authorities say is unlawfully present in the United States faces federal charges after allegedly flying a drone over Centennial Olympic Park during the FIFA Fan Festival in Atlanta, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
A plot to unleash explosive drones and sniper fire at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House was meant to “jump-start” a revolution by killing President Trump and other top political figures, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The FBI said five people have been arrested in connection with a plot to target Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House with explosive-laden drones.
Drone strikes killed more than 1,000 civilians in war-torn Sudan in the first five months of 2026, a senior United Nations official said Monday as the unmanned aerial vehicles turn the conflict deadlier for civilians.
The U.S. Air Force has lost nearly one-third of the available fleet of critical Reaper drones in Middle East conflicts since the start of the Trump administration, including more than two dozen in the Iran war.
The Pentagon should create a new combatant command focused exclusively on drones and robotics, lawmakers said in a major defense bill that cleared a key Senate committee Thursday.
The Pentagon plans to field hundreds of thousands of attack drones starting this year.
A sobering 2025 report by “60 Minutes” exposed America’s lack of preparedness to drone incursions around critical defense sites such as Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Nordic and Baltic leaders who were in Estonia for a regional summit Tuesday, a visit that comes amid friction over Ukrainian drones straying into the region in recent months.
When Swarmer, a U.S.-based drone company with roots in Ukraine, listed on the Nasdaq this spring, the move drew attention well beyond the small circle of investors willing to bet on another defense technology startup.
Rogue drones, lone wolf actors and human trafficking rings top the list of concerns of public safety officials overseeing the multilayered security apparatus for the upcoming FIFA World Cup matches in the United States.
Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward spoke with Dan Wright of Armada and Tyler Sweatt of Second Front Systems about the race to bring secure, AI-powered computing to the front lines, and why distributing that capability around the globe may be one of the most important defense investments America can make.
Ukraine is considering a step that would have seemed politically radioactive before the war: legalizing private military companies to turn the country’s unmatched experience of modern warfare into an export business.
A “golden age of private capital” is driving the development and production of the small unmanned systems key to the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Initiative, a top Defense Department official told a major military conference Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that its air defense detected and destroyed six hostile drones over the past 48 hours.
The latest trends in weapons technology are showing that low-tech, easy-to-obtain, disposable arms can confound even military superpowers.
While Russia still holds the initiative in several sectors and continues to pour men, drones and artillery shells into the fight, Ukrainian soldiers say Moscow’s assaults are increasingly being disrupted or destroyed before they can reach their positions.
Ukraine has emerged from what officials have said was its most challenging winter of the war with a stabilized front line and an air defense capable of knocking down the vast majority of incoming Russian drones, Kyiv’s top diplomat said Monday in Brussels.
The United Arab Emirates said Friday its air defense systems were actively intercepting Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, one day after the U.S. and Iranian forces traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to be a major attack after Moscow spurned Kyiv’s ceasefire earlier in the week and tension mounted over safety at Russia’s upcoming Victory Day celebrations.
As the Middle East crisis chokes global oil supply, Russia is cashing in — raking in a record $9.7 billion a month in energy revenues. Foreign correspondent Joseph Hammond explains how Ukraine is fighting back.
Another oil facility deep inside Russia was reportedly on fire Wednesday following what Ukraine’s president claimed was his country’s latest long-range drone attack.
Ukraine used interceptor systems to shoot down more than 33,000 Russian drones of various types in March, a record monthly figure since Moscow launched its all-out invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine’s defense minister claimed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is asking Ukraine to help develop a “drone armada,” as Warsaw builds one of Europe’s largest and most modern military forces since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
The Navy is developing weapons and other military systems to be deployed inside shipping containers and used on both drone ships and traditional warships, according to Navy officials.
The Pentagon on Tuesday provided more details about the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027, with officials calling it “a generational investment” in the U.S. military.
Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday.
An effort to ramp up U.S. weapons production and build more ships, planes and drones will require a massive upfront investment, President Donald Trump’s budget director told a House committee Wednesday.
Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing allies’ help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia warned that European sites that make drones and other equipment for Ukraine were “potential targets.”
Ukrainian military personnel have shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.
A prototype of an autonomous fighter jet designed and built by General Atomics crashed in the California desert on Monday during takeoff, the company said in a statement.
Russia launched a drone attack against targets in Odesa, killing at least three people and leaving thousands without electricity after a power substation was struck, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
Ground operations in Iran could put U.S. forces directly in the crosshairs of Iranian drone swarms at a moment when American troops may not have the equipment needed to handle the threat, former defense officials and military analysts say.