🛰️ Space Force Moves Ahead on Midcourse Space-Based Missile Interceptors Prototype Race

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🤝 Drones Don’t Win Wars: The Case for a US–India Munitions ‘Arsenal Alliance’ —Read More

🕊️ Euro Defense Chiefs Blast Trump’s Ukraine ‘Peace Plan’ as Russian ‘Wish List’ — Read More

🛰️ Space Force Moves Ahead on Midcourse Space-Based Missile Interceptors Prototype Race — Read More

🛡️ US Iron Dome Interceptor Plant Opens as Israel Signs Multi-Billion-Dollar Replenishment Deal — Read More

⚔️ Apache Helicopters Transformed Into Skyborne Drone Hunters with V6 C-UAS Upgrade — Read More

🎱 Plus 9 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

💣🤝 Drones Don’t Win Wars: The Case for a US–India Munitions ‘Arsenal Alliance’ — Read More

• The op-ed argues that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East prove drones grab headlines, but artillery shells, propellants, and explosives actually sustain combat power over months of high-intensity fighting. Both the US and India face dangerously thin stockpiles and outsourced industrial bases, with critical energetic supply chains tracing back to China, the very adversary they might need to fight.

• The author details how US 155mm shell production massively lagged Ukraine’s daily expenditure, forcing emergency investments to boost output from about 14,000 rounds per month in early 2022 to roughly 40,000 by late 2024, with plans for 100,000 by mid-2026—still insufficient to rebuild US and allied reserves. India, meanwhile, found in a 2017 audit that 40 percent of its ammunition types would not last more than ten days of intense war.

• The piece proposes a US–India “arsenal alliance” focused on jointly expanding energy production—TNT, nitrocellulose, explosives, and fuzes—using India’s raw materials and industrial capacity, along with US capital and technical support. The vision includes Indian surge capacity for ammunition, deliberate redundancy in production lines and chemical stocks, and deep supply-chain mapping to escape Chinese chokeholds on critical inputs like nitrocellulose, CL-20, and antimony.

🕊️ Euro Defense Chiefs Blast Trump’s Ukraine ‘Peace Plan’ as Russian ‘Wish List’ — Read More

• At the Halifax International Security Forum, European defense leaders and US lawmakers reacted sharply to a 28-point Ukraine “peace plan” attributed to the Trump administration, calling it “straight out of the Russian playbook” and harmful to NATO. Initial Hill readouts said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators the plan did not originate from US officials, heightening confusion about its provenance.

• Later, Rubio and a senior administration official clarified that the proposal was “authored” by the United States but built on input from both Russia and Ukraine, contradicting lawmakers’ earlier characterizations. European officers criticized the take-it-or-leave-it approach, noting key stakeholders on the continent were not consulted and warning that any deal limiting Ukraine’s NATO prospects could give Moscow time to regroup for future aggression.

• Legislators from both parties, including Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, and Jeanne Shaheen, voiced concern that the plan resembles a Russian wish list and risks undercutting Kyiv if US military aid and intelligence sharing are curtailed. European leaders stressed they cannot fully replace US support overnight and warned that if Washington pulls back, NATO allies will struggle to match the operational impact of American deliveries even as they “do their best” to stand by Ukraine.

🛰️ Space Force Moves Ahead on Midcourse Space-Based Missile Interceptors Prototype Race — Read More

• Space Systems Command plans to issue a December 7 request to industry for prototype kinetic-energy space-based interceptors to intercept enemy missiles in midcourse, with an explicit focus on hit-to-kill rather than directed-energy concepts. The pre-solicitation envisions multiple fixed-price Other Transaction Agreements and may incorporate prize competitions, continuing a model the service previously used for boost-phase interceptor prototypes.

• The notice provides sparse technical details, with companies told to apply first to receive full bidding documents if they meet government criteria. Interested firms have until December 4 to request the materials, and SSC anticipates awards in February 2026. The effort aims to add a new defensive layer capable of engaging intercontinental ballistic missiles that evade boost-phase intercept attempts.

• The article notes that midcourse interceptors offer advantages like shorter strike distances and freedom from atmospheric effects that complicate boost-phase engagements. However, adversaries can deploy decoys during the midcourse phase once the missile’s booster burns out, making it hard to distinguish real warheads from impostors—a long-standing technical Achilles’ heel for space-based midcourse defense concepts.

🛡️ US Iron Dome Interceptor Plant Opens as Israel Signs Multi-Billion-Dollar Replenishment Deal — Read More

• Israeli firm Rafael and Raytheon’s R2S joint venture have opened a new facility in Camden, Arkansas, to manufacture Iron Dome interceptors just as Israel’s Ministry of Defense signed a “multi-billion-dollar” contract for additional munitions. The deal leverages an $8.7 billion US aid package passed in April 2024, including $5.2 billion earmarked for air defense assets.

• Israeli officials said the contract will accelerate Iron Dome production and represents a strategic leap for air defense, with Defense Minister Israel Katz emphasizing the need to reinforce capabilities against persistent rocket and drone threats. The signing ceremony in Tel Aviv included senior Israeli defense leaders and the US defense attaché, underscoring how deeply integrated the two countries’ air-defense postures have become.

• Rafael said the new US plant is the first all-up-round production facility in America for Tamir and SkyHunter interceptors, providing both partners with a robust industrial base to supply Israel, the United States, and future foreign customers. Raytheon is also marketing Iron Dome as SkyHunter for the US Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept Capability program, positioning the system as a contender for American layered air and missile defense.

⚔️ Apache Helicopters Transformed Into Skyborne Drone Hunters with V6 C-UAS Upgrade — Read More

• The article describes how the AH-64E Apache Version 6 upgrade turns the attack helicopter into an airborne counter-UAS platform without major hardware changes, sharpening sensors, fire-control radar, and software to detect, track, and engage small drones. During “Operation Flyswatter” at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the Apache reportedly downed 13 out of 14 unmanned targets, validating the concept in live-fire trials.

• V6 lets crews hand-target Hellfire and Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles while also employing Hydra-70 rockets and 30mm high-explosive rounds against close-in drones within roughly 300 meters. The upgrades emphasize faster target acquisition and kill chains against small, low-flying threats that can otherwise slip through traditional ground-based air defenses, effectively giving the Army a mobile air-defense asset in the rotary-wing fleet.

• Link 16 integration plugs the Apache into a broader kill network, allowing it to share and receive real-time tracking data from ships, aircraft, and EO/IR sensors. Army officials, citing more than 1,280 Apaches in service, hail the demonstration as proof the helicopter can evolve from pure attack roles into a central node in layered counter-drone defenses, keeping the platform relevant as UAS threats proliferate.

🌏 Other Important News

✈️ Air

• CAE Named Preferred Supplier for Saab GlobalEye Mission Training Solutions — Read More

• MBDA Secures First Export Deal for SKY WARDEN Counter-UAV System — Read More

• Next-Gen USAF Airlifter Expected by 2038; C-17 to Fly Another 50 Years — Read More

• UAE Builds Rapid-Response Shield Against Drones and Loitering Threats — Read More

• Army Wants to Start Counter-Drone Missile Component S&T Program — Read More

🛡️ Land

• ‘Leopard 2A8’ Debuts as Germany’s Newest Battle Tank in Three Decades — Read More

• Estonia Proceeding with Second HIMARS Buy, Eyeing 2028–29 Delivery — Read More

• RAFAEL’s L-SPIKE 1x Pushes Loitering Munitions Into Company-Level Territory — Read More

🏭 Industry

• Fairbanks Morse Defense to Acquire Truflo Marine from IMI — Read More

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