🚀 MBDA plans hypersonic interceptor demonstrator by end of 2029

Saab launched a next-generation 9LV naval combat system built on a standardized information model and zero-trust cybersecurity to move data quickly between systems and platforms.

Mission-critical combat functions now sit apart from cloud-native applications, letting navies add capabilities without affecting the core systems that control a ship's combat operations.

The system scales from large multi-mission warships to smaller platforms and is designed for future fleets that combine crewed and uncrewed vessels.

Thailand's Ministry of Defence began fielding Arbel, a computerized rifle trigger from Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) that fits standard AR-15 lower receivers, the company said.

After a mechanical first shot, Arbel sets the rate of fire, using a cadence tuned from thousands of test shots for 10-to-15-inch drones at 150 to 200 meters.

IWI pitches Arbel as turning anyone with a rifle into a counter-drone operator and says about 25 other countries already use it for marksmanship or drone defense.

MBDA plans to fly a full-systems Hydis demonstrator by the end of 2029, with production of the four-stage, hit-to-kill interceptor starting in the first half of the 2030s.

Hydis aims to cost under a third of an SM-3's unit price and stop a hypersonic threat with at most two shots, while also covering ballistic missiles.

The European Defence Fund decides by month's end whether Hydis or rival Hydef, coordinated by Spain's Sistemas de Misiles, gets €100M (US$112M) for the second phase.

Democrats took both chambers Tuesday, with at least 228 House seats and a 54-44 Senate lead, setting up major changes across the defense committees.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins and House Armed Services Committee (HASC) member Jen Kiggans lost, with other HASC Republicans in races uncalled Wednesday morning.

Democrats Adam Smith, Jack Reed and Chris Coons won reelection and are poised to lead their panels, while HASC Chairman Mike Rogers faces a term-limit waiver decision.

US Transportation Command (Transcom) embedded data scientists on its operations floor for the first time during Operation Epic Fury, producing roughly 33 apps in the first two weeks.

Teams had 24 hours to ship each prototype in Palantir's Maven Smart System; one bot cut a daily commander's summary from hours of staff work to about 15 seconds.

About half of the 33 tools remain in production, and Transcom now shares live dashboards with commands like Central Command instead of answering by phone, PowerPoint and email.

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