The New York Times
Russia is preparing military countermeasures in response to the planned American deployment of longer-range, ground-based missiles in Germany, the Russian deputy foreign minister said on July 11, adding that the U.S. move was “destructive to regional safety and strategic stability.”
POLITICO
Officially, NATO doesn’t want to set new goals on what countries should spend on their own defenses until next year. Unofficially, no one could stop talking about it at the NATO Summit. The original goal of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, first announced in 2014, is a highly volatile issue for the alliance—partly because one-third of the member nations are under pressure for failing to reach the target this year; and because Donald Trump hammered European allies that fell short when he was president.
The Associated Press
Battling rough seas around Gaza, the U.S. now is considering abandoning efforts to reinstall the pier that has been used to get badly needed humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians, two U.S. officials said July 11. The initial plan earlier this week had been to reinstall the pier for a few days to move the final pallets of aid onto the shore and then permanently remove it, but rough seas have prevented the reinstallation.
Breaking Defense
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is seeking industry feedback for a “Swarm Carrier” uncrewed aircraft system capable of launching from a C-130 and deploying drones of it own, according to a new notice published July 10. AFSOC eventually plans to seek input on drones in sizes between Group 2 and Group 3, Pentagon parlance for small- to mid-size UAS.
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Stars and Stripes
Suicide rates among troops in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps for the first quarter of 2024 topped pandemic-era rates while the Army saw a significant dip, according to new data released by the Defense Department.
SpaceNews
The U.S. Space Force awarded General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems a contract for a second weather satellite. Under the Space Systems Command contract modification announced July 11, General Atomics will provide three years of operational services for two Electro-Optical Weather System, or EWS, satellites.
The War Zone
The U.S. Air Force has disclosed that Ukraine is the intended recipient of a new relatively low-cost precision-guided air-launched stand-off munition it is looking to start development of called the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM).
Defense News
Switzerland is moving to formalize its membership in the European Sky Shield Initiative, a step that officials and analysts believe is in line with the country’s neutrality stance thanks to the project’s procurement focus and some special wording.
Breaking Defense
The European members of the United Kingdom-Latvian-led “Drone Coalition” have announced a new common funding pool of €45 million ($48.8 million) to help get unmanned systems in the hands of Ukrainian fighters more quickly. The U.K. is taking the lead on what it’s calling the “Drone Coalition Common Fund,” which was established within a new Memorandum of Understanding signed by the coalition members on July 10 that also “provides a framework outlining the Coalition’s core activities, management structure [and] procurement mechanisms.”
One More Thing
Military.com
How many times did David Beach apply for his Revolutionary War pension? How much did Joseph Smead of Massachusetts receive for his? Did Ephraim Blackmer ever get the land warrant he applied for after fighting with the Green Mountain Boys? Reviewing and transcribing records such as these may seem like doing Department of Veterans Affairs paperwork 200 years too late, but it’s actually an exciting opportunity for everyday Americans to learn about and preserve their country's fascinating early history.
