The US military is sending new, advanced systems to detect threats from commercial drones being used by ISIS to carry explosives. Last week, Kurdish forces shot down a small drone and then two fighters were killed when they were taking the device apart, reported the The New York Times. The coalition has for months tracked the use of drones by ISIS for surveillance, which is still something that happens “fairly” regularly, said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, during a Wednesday briefing. The US military, including the Army and the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization, is “supplementing capabilities already in theater” with new systems that can detect, track, and defeat threats from commercial drones. Dorrian would provide additional details about those systems, however, citing operational security.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
