⛽ US seizes tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump says

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

💡 New Semiconductor Switch Created to Shield Military Systems From Strong RF Pulses — Read More

📡 US ‘Card-Size’ Radio Tech Aims for Full-Spectrum EW and SIGINT Dominance — Read More

🏛️ House passes $900B defense policy bill — Read More

⛽ US seizes tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump says — Read More

🛰️ USSF Eyes More Space-Based Interceptors to Take Missiles Out Midcourse — Read More

🎱 Plus 13 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

💡 New Semiconductor Switch Created to Shield Military Systems From Strong RF Pulses — Read More

• California-based Menlo Micro has unveiled the MM5130-NLX, billed as its “most robust” semiconductor switch for aerospace and defense. The device is engineered to withstand radio-frequency pulses up to 500 watts, protecting critical front-end systems on missiles, drones, and datalinks from damaging high-power signals in contested electromagnetic environments.

• Built on the company’s Ideal Switch architecture, MM5130-NLX combines the power-handling strengths of mechanical switches with the low-loss, high-speed behavior of solid-state devices in a single package. A tiny physical gap fully isolates circuits when the switch is off, blocking harmful energy from bleeding into sensitive receivers and preserving signal integrity across wide frequency ranges.

• Menlo pitches the switch as a new benchmark for wideband RF protection, claiming no competing semiconductor device can tolerate comparable power levels with such low insertion loss. Its clean switching and isolation are designed for modern EW, radar, and datalink systems that span multiple bands, and it recently debuted at the Association of Old Crows symposium to court defense customers.

📡 US ‘Card-Size’ Radio Tech Aims for Full-Spectrum EW and SIGINT Dominance — Read More

• Pacific Defense is rolling out the SDR4320VP, a wideband, software-defined radio built on a micro-device chip that the company says fits in a card-sized footprint. The module is aimed at compact EW and SIGINT platforms that need to scan, analyze, and react to signals across the spectrum while keeping size, weight, and power to a minimum.

• The SDR4320VP’s on-board processing supports data rates up to 100 gigabits per second, giving mission computers headroom to handle dense, rapidly changing RF environments. Operators can update waveforms, jamming techniques, and radar modes via software alone, avoiding hardware swaps while keeping pace with new threat emitters and tactics in the field.

• Built to align with widely adopted open-architecture standards, the radio is designed to slot into vehicles, aircraft, and sensor payloads and synchronize with other units to geolocate and focus sensing on specific targets. Pacific Defense emphasizes ruggedization and software-driven upgrade cycles as key to shortening modernization timelines for electronic warfare forces.

🏛️ House passes $900B defense policy bill — Read More

• The House has passed the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill, authorizing about $900.6 billion in national defense spending, reportedly several billion dollars over the administration’s request. The measure advanced with a bipartisan majority after weeks of negotiations over topline numbers, military pay, and the balance between near-term readiness and longer-range modernization priorities.

• The legislation pushes acquisition reform by standing up portfolio acquisition executives and streamlining requirements processes, while also locking in multiyear procurement for key systems. Provisions cover shipbuilding, aircraft fleets, munitions, and ground platforms, with an emphasis on improving industrial base stability and surge production capacity amid ongoing conflicts and heightened demand for weapons.

• Lawmakers also used the bill to shape force-structure decisions, including protections for certain aircraft fleets and direction on marquee programs. The package arrives as Congress and the administration continue to argue over broader spending caps, meaning the policy bill will guide Pentagon planning even as final appropriations and timelines remain uncertain.

⛽ US seizes tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump says — Read More

• President Donald Trump announced that US authorities have seized a very large crude carrier off the coast of Venezuela amid escalating tensions with Caracas. At a White House event, he described it as the largest tanker ever seized and said more details and imagery of the operation would be released, without initially specifying the legal authorities used.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi later posted a video on X showing the operation, saying it was executed jointly by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard. She stated the vessel had been sanctioned for years for involvement in an illicit oil-shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations, framing the move as a long-planned enforcement action.

• FBI officials said the tanker had been used to move sanctioned Venezuelan oil to Iran and that it was bound for Cuba when seized, with Trump suggesting the United States would likely keep the oil. The action marks one of Washington’s most direct interferences in Venezuelan oil exports to date, raising the stakes in its pressure campaign on President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

🛰️ USSF Eyes More Space-Based Interceptors to Take Missiles Out Midcourse — Read More

• After awarding initial “Golden Dome” prototype work for boost-phase space-based interceptors, the US Space Force is now exploring additional interceptors designed to hit ballistic and possibly hypersonic missiles in midcourse. A new industry request for information seeks concepts that would expand the on-orbit magazine and introduce multiple engagement opportunities within a single missile trajectory.

• Officials are asking industry to outline architectures, costs, and timelines for midcourse interceptors that can integrate with tracking constellations and command-and-control networks. The service is emphasizing affordability and scalability, keenly aware that a layered, space-based defense could demand large numbers of interceptors and substantial launch capacity to maintain sufficient numbers of weapons in orbit.

• Independent analysts interviewed in the piece warn that fully realized space-based missile defense could cost into the trillions of dollars over decades, even as Congress presses for clarity on Golden Dome’s price and scope. Space Force leaders argue that on-orbit interceptors may be necessary to defend US forces and territory against evolving long-range missile threats from peer adversaries.

🌏 Other Important News

🛰️ Space

• EPW consortium completes over-the-air testing in Germany — Read More

• Hanwha plans to build US facility to manufacture modular 155mm howitzer charges — Read More

• GPS: Still the gold standard in global navigation — Read More

• Fresh Off Debut, Italy’s Michelangelo Dome Aces First Defense Test — Read More

• HII’s GRIMM Shrinks the EW Mission Into a One-Kilo Payload — Read More

• Space Force ramps up counter-drone defense at Cape Canaveral, Eastern Range — Read More

🌊 Sea

• After 100 Years, Bulgaria Sets Sail With Its First Homegrown Warship — Read More

• Navy wants new frigate in 2028, says service’s acquisition head — Read More

• Spanish navy shares vision for second batch of NH90 helicopters — Read More

🛡️ Land

• Serbia Shows Off a New Breed of Kamikaze Drone Built to Decapitate Modern Armor — Read More

♟️ Strategy

• NATO retains ‘open-door policy’ despite US opposition to a ‘perpetually expanding alliance’ — Read More

• Defense Leaders Gather for Annual AUKUS Meeting Following Agreement Review — Read More

• Hegseth, counterparts praise AUKUS ‘commitment’ after arrangement survives Pentagon review — Read More

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