The Army commissioned three technology executives, Cloudflare CTO Dane Knecht, Sutter Hill's Sam Pallara, and Facebook AI Research co-founder Serkan Piantino, into Detachment 201 in a June 10 ceremony.

The unit, also called the Executive Innovation Corps, brings senior tech leaders into the reserves as advisors, following a first cohort drawn from Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI.

The service cut its direct-commissioning timeline from more than 18 months to about 6 months, allowing industry leaders to serve without leaving civilian jobs.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's amendment to create a Cyber Force as a seventh military branch failed 14-13 in the Senate Armed Services Committee, with nine Democrats and four Republicans in favor.

The amendment would have nested the new service under the Army, and opponents argued for waiting on a pending National Academies feasibility study.

An independent commission estimated a Cyber Force would cost up to $11 billion and field roughly 33,000 personnel, and Gillibrand vowed to keep pushing.

Airbus Defense and Space launched Team Gen 6, a 13-company German and Spanish industry group, to pursue a sixth-generation fighter after the FCAS New Generation Fighter collapsed June 9.

German members include MBDA, Hensoldt, Diehl Defense, MTU Aero Engines, and Rohde & Schwarz, and the group signed a positioning paper submitted to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

The fighter died over workshare and intellectual-property disputes between Airbus and Dassault, though FCAS's wider combat cloud and drone work continues.

Israeli startup Esh-Tech will debut DroneLight, a pulsed-laser counter-drone system, at Eurosatory, with CEO Erex Riahi claiming it costs three to four times less than current laser or microwave systems.

The 4kW system fires five pulses per second to punch holes in drones rather than burning them, and destroyed 20 targets in vehicle-mounted tests last year.

Esh-Tech expects its first operational system in October and is cooperating with Israel's MAFAT while courting US and European customers.

Danylo Tsvok, head of Ukraine's defense ministry AI center, said artificial intelligence is already forming a new paradigm of warfare by unifying battlefield systems into networks that speed decisions.

He predicted a war of operating systems with Russia within three to five years, in which the side with more and better-understood data gains the advantage.

Ukraine aims to fuse weapons and data from its 1,200-kilometer front into a single system recommending decisions from frontline units up to strategic command.

Saronic and Castelion teamed up to demonstrate hypersonic strike launched from an unmanned surface vessel, the first integration of autonomous boats with hypersonic weapons.

The plan pairs Castelion's hypersonics with Saronic's Marauder medium USV, building on a late-2025 test where Saronic's Corsair served as an at-sea telemetry node.

A maritime launch demonstration is targeted for 2027, aiming to give commanders more strike options without scarce, expensive crewed launch platforms.

The Senate Armed Services Committee's fiscal 2027 NDAA authorizes the Pentagon to establish a Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command led by a four-star general.

The command would streamline acquisition and delivery of unmanned systems and hold limited test, evaluation, and acquisition authorities, though the provision is permissive rather than mandatory.

Drafters cited Ukraine's 2024 creation of Unmanned Systems Forces, and the bill cleared committee 18-9 after Replicator was folded into a new autonomous warfare group.

Leonardo in advanced talks to grow Italian AW-249 fleet — Read More

F-35 readiness drops to 25% as Pentagon seeks $13.7B — Read More

Plasan debuts three-system vehicle protection suite at Eurosatory — Read More

AM General to pitch unmanned ground vehicle at Eurosatory — Read More

Elbit and Diehl team on SkyStriker pitch for Germany — Read More

Taiwan fires HIMARS into strait in west-coast live-fire drills — Read More

US Navy completes first phase of F-35C LRASM testing — Read More

Germany to pair P-8s with MQ-9B drones against subs — Read More

Northrop's new GaN chip speeds secure satellite data links — Read More

Dan Jarvis appointed UK defense secretary — Read More

US plans to cut jets and warships for NATO Europe — Read More