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Inside China’s AI ‘wolf pack’ drones built with Taiwan conflict in mind

Mon, 04 May 2026 05:00:13 -0400

China is developing AI-enabled robotic "wolf packs" designed to scout, supply and potentially support combat operations alongside troops in a future war — including a possible invasion of Taiwan — according to a new report.

The analysis from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) says Beijing is reshaping how wars can be fought by integrating artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems directly into frontline operations.

At the center of that effort are quadruped robots — often referred to in Chinese reporting as "robotic wolves" — that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is testing as part of its push toward what it calls "intelligentized warfare."

While China has showcased robotic dogs in recent years, the report argues the People’s Liberation Army is moving beyond demonstrations and beginning to integrate these systems into coordinated battlefield units designed to operate at scale — particularly in high-risk scenarios such as the opening phase of a Taiwan invasion.

CHINA LAUNCHES CENTER TO TRAIN 100-PLUS HUMANOID ROBOTS SIMULTANEOUSLY

The report warns that a force built around expendable, networked machines could allow Chinese commanders to sustain offensive operations while reducing risks to personnel, potentially lowering the political and military costs of conflict for Beijing.

"China is not just modernizing its military," the report states. "It is reimagining how future wars will be fought."

The U.S. military is also developing robotic and autonomous systems, though analysts say China’s ability to leverage its commercial technology sector could give it advantages in scaling production.

In testing and demonstrations cited in the report, the robotic systems are used primarily for reconnaissance and support roles, moving ahead of troops to map terrain, detect threats and carry supplies through hazardous areas. The quadrupeds can navigate difficult terrain, including stairs and debris-filled urban environments, and operate in coordinated groups to extend a unit’s reach.

Some Chinese reporting also depicts armed variants operating alongside troops and drones during simulated assaults, though many of these capabilities have not been independently verified.

The report identifies a potential conflict over Taiwan as the most likely scenario for deploying the systems.

An amphibious invasion would force Chinese forces to operate in dense urban terrain, contested coastal zones and degraded communications environments — conditions where unmanned systems could be used to clear routes, absorb initial losses and maintain momentum as troops push inland.

Despite the rapid development, the systems face limitations. They rely on communications links and battery power, making them vulnerable to jamming, cyber interference and logistical disruptions.

They are also susceptible to small arms fire and environmental conditions such as smoke or debris that can degrade sensors. The report notes that human operators remain in the loop for lethal decisions, limiting the systems’ autonomy in combat.

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The report calls on U.S. policymakers to prioritize countering China’s autonomous systems, including developing strategies to disrupt robotic platforms and strengthening domestic technology capabilities. Analysts warn that as unmanned systems become more integrated into combat operations, they could shape the pace, risk and outcome of future conflicts.

US eyes first-ever hypersonic Dark Eagle deployment as Iran pushes beyond strike range

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:54:50 -0400

The U.S. military has explored deploying its new Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon to the Middle East, according to a report, as the Army begins fielding the long-range system after years of delays.

U.S. Central Command has requested deployment of the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, known as Dark Eagle, to the Middle East, according to a Bloomberg report citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

A defense official told Fox News Digital the system has reached initial operational capability, marking the first time the U.S. has a land-based hypersonic weapon available for potential use.

The request was driven in part by concerns that Iranian ballistic missile launchers have been moved beyond the range of existing U.S. systems, including the Army’s Precision Strike Missile, which can strike targets more than 300 miles away, according to the Bloomberg report.

US FALLS BEHIND IN HYPERSONIC RACE AS CHINA, RUSSIA GAIN EDGE

It reflects growing concern that existing U.S. strike capabilities may not be sufficient to reach key Iranian missile assets, while also highlighting a major milestone for the Army as it fields its first land-based hypersonic weapon. If deployed, Dark Eagle would significantly expand the U.S. military’s ability to strike distant, hard-to-reach targets with little warning, marking a shift in how the Pentagon can project power in the region.

The Army began fielding the system to one of its multidomain task forces in December 2025 following testing and live-fire exercises, according to the official, placing the weapon within specialized units designed to carry out long-range precision strikes across multiple domains.

Individual Dark Eagle missiles are estimated to cost around $15 million each, though earlier analyses have placed the cost significantly higher, while a single battery — including launchers and support equipment — is estimated at roughly $2.7 billion.

No deployment of the system to the Middle East has been publicly announced, and officials have not confirmed any request. The U.S. and Iran are still currently adhering to a ceasefire in hopes of broader negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

Dark Eagle is designed to travel at hypersonic speeds while maneuvering in flight, allowing it to strike targets at much longer ranges — potentially exceeding 1,700 miles — and with far less warning than traditional missiles.

That combination of speed and range makes it particularly suited for targeting mobile or hardened systems, such as missile launchers, that are difficult to reach with existing weapons.

Unlike traditional ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons can maneuver in flight, making them more difficult to track and intercept.

US GENERAL WARNS RUSSIA MAY BE DEVELOPING NUCLEAR ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPON IN ORBIT

The reported request comes as the Pentagon continues efforts to accelerate its hypersonic weapons programs amid concerns about competition with China and Russia.

The U.S. has spent years developing hypersonic weapons, though some programs have faced delays, testing constraints and shifting priorities as the Pentagon works to advance the technology.

China and Russia already have fielded hypersonic systems, underscoring the growing importance of weapons designed to travel at extreme speeds while maneuvering in flight, making them more difficult to detect and intercept.

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"Fielding and scaling hypersonic weapons is a top priority for the War Department — and we are delivering at a rapid speed," a Pentagon official told Fox News Digital. "'Scaled hypersonics' has been designated as one of the Department’s critical technology areas by Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael to focus resources on delivering cost-effective and lethal hypersonic solutions to the warfighter."

"The Department’s Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) is working to upgrade test facilities and establish new, nontraditional testing locations," the official said. "Simultaneously, the Department is placing its acquisition system on a ‘wartime footing’ to forge a robust, responsive industrial base capable of rapidly delivering these advanced technologies."

U.S. Central Command declined to comment to Fox News Digital.

Air Force Academy’s ‘CULEX’ puts thousands of cadets through realistic 24-hour combat simulation

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 23:30:28 -0400

The U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) held its large-scale annual "CULEX," or culminating training exercise, on Thursday, giving cadets a realistic look at a combat scenario.

The 24-hour-a-day exercise places nearly 4,000 cadets in a mock war setting, where upperclassmen lead complex missions and younger students follow orders. This year, it runs April 15 through April 18.

The Air Force Academy is 18,500 acres, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but on Thursday, the culminating exercise scenario transformed USAFA into Hokkaido, a Japanese island under attack by enemy forces.

"We've pretty much taken over the entirety of USAFA, to allow all 4,000 of our cadets to have space to operate throughout the exercise," said CULEX director Col. Jennifer Hall.

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In the war scenario, Japan has asked the U.S. to come in as a defensive force.

"In this scenario, we have four established airfields," Hall said. "And so that's what's established, the four joint operating areas that we have them in."

Each joint operation area, or JOA, has around 800 cadets, defending an airfield, two high-value assets and a downed airman. Cadets also face real-world issues such as injured officers and invasions by enemy targets deemed the "Red Force."

"We pulled out one squadron to play Red Force," said Hall. "So our cadets are actually playing Red Force, and they're out there in the field right now harassing our cadets. They're doing an amazing job. They're super excited."

Hall explained, "What we're trying to do is have the cadets prioritize through decision-making. And you'll see all across that Red Force is trying to complicate that to the best of their ability."

While the situation may not be real, it definitely looks and feels like it.

AI TEST FLIGHT MOVES AIR FORCE ONE STEP CLOSER TO UNMANNED 'WINGMAN' AIRCRAFT

"You'll see about 15 tents laid down as an austere, expeditionary environment, two of which are tactical operations centers and a medical tent and warming tent," Hall explained. "And then we have sleeping tents for the cadets, because we will be remaining overnight for the first time."

Some cadets fly airplanes while others deploy parachutes in the sky. On the ground, hundreds of cadets equipped with air soft guns defend their camps, taking radio traffic from troops under attack. Meanwhile, students in mission control use drones and mapping technology to solve real-world problems.

AIR FORCE TURNS TO VIDEO GAMES TO HELP PREPARE MEMBERS FOR REAL-LIFE COMBAT

"The only way to prepare for the fight that we're in, or the future fight, is to develop the training necessary where they can experience it real time, in the woods, in the field," said Hall.

Now in its second year, the CULEX focuses on building confidence, teamwork and leadership skills rather than testing cadets with a pass-or-fail system. It's a multi-domain tactical exercise designed to replicate the environments future Space Force and Air Force officers may encounter.

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"For our seniors, in 44 days, they're going to graduate, and they're going to go off, and they're going to be officers in our Space Force and Air Force — how much more equipped they're going to be to lead, to face complicated problems, to know that they can do what's difficult," said Hall.

Federal appeals court rejects Anthropic bid to block Pentagon blacklist in AI dispute

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:20:22 -0400

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday rejected Anthropic's request to block the Department of War from blacklisting use of the AI company's technology, a move that conflicts with an order a different federal court issued last month in a separate lawsuit regarding the same issues.

"In our view, the equitable balance here cuts in favor of the government. On one side is a relatively contained risk of financial harm to a single private company. On the other side is judicial management of how, and through whom, the Department of War secures vital AI technology during an active military conflict. For that reason, we deny Anthropic’s motion for a stay pending review on the merits," the April 8 order states. "Nonetheless, because Anthropic raises substantial challenges to the determination and will likely suffer some irreparable harm during the pendency of this litigation, we agree with Anthropic that substantial expedition is warranted."

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday, an Anthropic spokesperson noted, "We're grateful the court recognized these issues need to be resolved quickly and remain confident the courts will ultimately agree that these supply chain designations were unlawful. While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI."

ANTHROPIC'S DEMOCRATIC TIES UNDER FIRE AS TRUMP ADMIN SEVERS PENTAGON CONTRACTS

The War Department referred Fox News Digital to a Wednesday social media post from Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"Today’s D.C. Circuit stay allowing the government to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk is a resounding victory for military readiness. Our position has been clear from the start — our military needs full access to Anthropic’s models if its technology is integrated into our sensitive systems. Military authority and operational control belong to the Commander-in-Chief and Department of War, not a tech company," Blanche noted in the post on X.

The War Department in January requested "unrestricted use" of Anthropic for "all lawful purposes," but the AI company drew two red lines, saying it would not be used for domestic surveillance or lethal autonomous weapons.

The administration framed the refusal as corporate insubordination, and Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in February that the War Department "has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement."

President Donald Trump said in February that the U.S. would never allow "the radical left, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars."

In a February 27 Truth Social post, Trump said he was "directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology."

"There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels," Trump indicated in the post.

DC COURT RULINGS STALL TRUMP AGENDA ACROSS IMMIGRATION, POLICING, FED — RAISING STAKES ON EXECUTIVE POWER

War Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed Anthropic in a post on X the same day, declaring that he was "directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security."

A letter in March notified Anthropic that the War Department had determined that use of the company's products posed a "supply chain risk," according to a copy of the letter attached to a court filing.

But then in a case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a judge issued a preliminary injunction order last month blocking the government from implementing those moves against Anthropic.

TECH COMPANY REFUSES PENTAGON DEMANDS ON UNRESTRICTED USE OF ITS AI

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"This Order restores the status quo. It does not bar any Defendant from taking any lawful action that would have been available to it on February 27, 2026, prior to the issuances of the Presidential Directive and the Hegseth Directive and entry of the Supply Chain Designation. For example, this Order does not require the Department of War to use Anthropic’s products or services and does not prevent the Department of War from transitioning to other artificial intelligence providers, so long as those actions are consistent with applicable regulations, statutes, and constitutional provisions," the March order from U.S. District Judge Rita Lin stated.

BRETT VELICOVICH: ‘Mystery’ drones are no mystery, they are a dangerous threat to national security

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 05:00:10 -0400

Reports of multiple unauthorized drones over Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort McNair should alarm every American. Up until now, no threat has been identified. If this were happening overseas, we’d call it pre-operational surveillance. That’s how I was trained. At home, we’re still calling it "mystery." It’s only a matter of time until a credible threat presents itself.

What’s most alarming is that we cannot definitively answer who is flying these drones. All it’s going to take is one single drone to slip through our defenses and kill an American, to cause massive strategic damage to our country. I’ve been advocating for someone to do something about it for years and still feel like legacy bureaucrats and policymakers are just waiting for an American to die before doing something. That’s unacceptable. The American people deserve better.

Unauthorized drone incursions over military installations have been rising for years. All it will take is one drone slipping through our defenses to kill an American and cause massive strategic damage. Waiting for that moment to act is unacceptable.

Drones are not toys. Their ability to operate over sensitive locations is not an inconvenience — it’s a national security failure hiding in plain sight. These are not exotic systems. They are commercially available drones — cheap, accessible and increasingly capable of executing sophisticated missions without triggering legacy defenses.

IRAN'S 'BASEMENT' CHINESE DRONE NETWORKS SPARK FEARS OF SLEEPER CELL ATTACKS ON US SOIL

What concerns me most is the behavior of these drones. They are not hobbyist drones. Reports indicate they entered and exited base perimeters in ways designed to avoid detection, as if testing response protocols.

The threat has changed, our defense hasn't

For decades, we built national security around large, predictable threats. Today’s threats are asymmetric. A drone swarm that costs less than a pickup truck can shut down a strategic airbase. These systems are cheap, scalable and difficult to detect with traditional radar. Billion-dollar defense infrastructure is being outpaced by commercially available technology.

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All it would take is one successful drone attack on a military installation or civilian target to cause catastrophic damage — not just in lives lost, but in what it signals to adversaries about our vulnerabilities.

Current policy is out of touch

We have the technology to address this problem. What we lack is the policy framework to deploy it.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

Counter-drone authority is fragmented across agencies and state and local law enforcement are largely prohibited from acting. In some cases, neutralizing a threatening drone could expose an officer to severe federal penalties. Congress has attempted to expand authority without success and the FAA has yet to establish clear rules for drones over critical infrastructure.

How to fix the systemic issue

We need a whole-of-government approach: modernize legal frameworks, expand counter-drone authority with safeguards and rapidly deploy counter-drone systems to protect military and civilian infrastructure.

MYSTERY DRONES FLY NEAR DC-AREA MILITARY BASE AS IRAN TENSIONS ESCALATE

The Department of War already has advanced counter-drone capabilities. With the right legal framework, they should be part of the solution.

The real issue isn’t "mystery drones" — it’s that they are operating over sensitive bases without consequence. We’ve spent decades building high-cost systems for rare threats, while today’s threats are cheap, scalable and persistent.

This is not a technology problem — it’s a bureaucracy problem. Despite being at war, our procurement system moves at the speed of bureaucracy and too slowly for a threat that evolves rapidly.

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At Powerus, we see this problem clearly because we are building for it. Our low-cost drone interceptors that cost only a few thousand dollars can be deployed around bases and neutralize hostile drones without creating risk to civilians. The reality is simple: if the threat is mass-produced, the defense must be mass-deployable. You don’t stop a drone swarm with a single, expensive system — you stop it with layered defenses and networks of fast, autonomous interceptors that can respond instantly and at scale.

That technology exists today. The challenge is getting it deployed faster than the traditional procurement system allows.

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We are already in a drone and counter-drone arms race with adversaries like China and Iran, and we cannot afford to fall behind.

Our strength has always been staying ahead of our adversaries. That means accelerating counter-drone capabilities, updating rules of engagement for domestic bases and treating drone incursions with the seriousness they deserve. Our most critical assets are too important to leave exposed.

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"Watch and wait" is no longer viable. The incidents at Barksdale and Fort McNair are not isolated — they are part of a pattern that demands a response.

This is not theoretical — it’s inevitable if we continue down this path. We are not waiting for proof of a threat; we are waiting for a casualty. And when that moment comes, calling these incursions a "mystery" will no longer be an option — it will be an indictment of our failure to act when we had the chance. The warning signs are already here, flying over our most sensitive installations in plain sight. The question is not if a drone will be used to kill an American on U.S. soil — it’s whether we will finally take this threat seriously before it happens, or only in response to tragedy.

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Fox News Poll: Broad anxiety about AI doesn’t extend to jobs

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:00:02 -0400

As artificial intelligence continues to expand into homes and the workplace, voters are less concerned about it taking their jobs and more worried about its overall influence.

The latest Fox News Poll finds 66% of registered voters are concerned about artificial intelligence, up from 63% in December and 56% in 2023 (the first time the question was asked).

The increase in concern is across the board, with the biggest jumps happening among women, voters without a college degree, Democrats and liberal voters.

FOX NEWS POLL: SOUR VOTERS SAY WASHINGTON IS OUT OF TOUCH

Yet when it comes to how AI will affect the workforce, voters aren’t concerned about their own jobs even though most think it will eliminate more positions (59%) than it will create (7%) over the next 5 years.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS OPPOSE ACTION IN IRAN BUT GIVE US MILITARY POSITIVE MARKS

Seven in 10 (69%) employed voters are unconcerned their job will be cut in the next five years, while three in 10 are worried (31%). This matches where sentiment was in November.

The lack of concern may reflect broader attitudes toward AI in the workplace: Seven in 10 say it is not important to their career that they learn how to use AI, including six in 10 employed voters.

Another three in 10 say it is important, and that jumps to roughly in 10 among workers, voters with graduate degrees, and those living in households with an annual income of $100,000 or higher. Those most likely to feel learning AI is a career priority are men under age 45 (48%).

But if they must tech up, a majority of voters feel comfortable adopting and using new technology (60% comfortable vs. 40% not comfortable).

The highest numbers saying they’re comfortable are voters under age 45, particularly younger men (81%) and younger Republicans (82%).

Artificial intelligence and the military…

As the Iran conflict enters its fifth week, nearly two-thirds of voters are uncomfortable with the military using autonomous weapons systems (AWS). About four in 10 feel comfortable.

The partisan divide on this issue is wide: 52% of Republicans are comfortable with AWS vs. 27% of Democrats. Fifty-eight percent of MAGA Republicans are comfortable vs. 40% of non-MAGA Republicans.

There is also a prominent gender gap with men (43%) more comfortable than women (31%).

Still, nearly all voters say that when the military is considering a strike that could kill people, a human should be required to make the final decision: 93% feel that way vs. 7% saying AI systems alone should have the final say.

This is a bipartisan belief, with at least nine in 10 Democrats, Republicans and independents agreeing a human needs to make the decision.

More than half of voters who have served in the military are uncomfortable with the use of AWS systems (54% not comfortable vs. 45% comfortable), and an overwhelming majority thinks a human should be making the choice between life and death (90%).

One more thing…

While concern about AI is up among voters, it’s far from the top worry with inflation (86% extremely/very concerned), healthcare (81%), gas prices (80%), political divisions (80%), unemployment (73%), attacks by Islamic (73%) and non-Islamic terrorists (70%), ability to pay bills (70%) and gun violence (69%) ranking higher.

Concern about Iran getting a nuclear bomb ties with concern over AI (66% extremely/very) while antisemitism (63%) and detentions by ICE (62%) rank lower.

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Conducted March 20-23, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,001 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (641) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (256). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.

Palantir CTO warns US has only 'eight days of weapons' in hypothetical battle against China

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 07:00:43 -0400

The U.S. is wrong about military deterrence, according to Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. America relies on the threat of its large weapons stockpiles to discourage aggression, but Sankar says the real deterrent is production capacity — "the ability to generate the stockpile."

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Sankar argued that artificial intelligence could help the United States rebuild manufacturing strength, outproduce adversaries and restore its edge over global rivals like China, ideas he expands on in his new book, "Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III."

To Sankar, the conflict in Ukraine is proof that the U.S. "is getting the calculus of deterrence wrong."

"We thought it was the stockpile that would provide deterrence. And what Ukraine showed us, because we went through 10 years of production in 10 weeks of fighting, is that actually, it's the ability to generate the stockpile. It's the factory," he said.

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"And we have been producing so few weapons at such a small rate that actually, it's not effectively scary to anyone. We're both precious about using them and worried about rebuilding them."

He claimed that, if it came to an intense battle against China, the United States would have around eight days' worth of weapons on hand.

"That is not scaring the adversary," he said.

Sankar pointed to World War II as an example of this. Germany was able to build more sophisticated weapons than America, but in much smaller quantities, he said.

"In the present moment, the Chinese are the best at mass production. And now we look like the Germans."

PALANTIR CTO SHYAM SANKAR: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEING LIED TO ABOUT AI

But if AI could be used "to give the American worker superpowers," he said, the imbalance could be corrected and America could retake the lead. He contended that China has made a grave error in its assessment that the U.S. is a nation in decline.

"The No. 1 thing that China is getting wrong is they're underestimating the American spirit. In our kind of Judeo-Christian tradition, we start by turning the other cheek over and over and over again. But at some point, we will snap."

Sankar said there are lessons to be learned from China's military posture, but the most important one is recognizing that innovation goes hand in hand with productivity.

"The central lie of globalization is that we can do the innovation and other folks are going to do the production. But if you do that for long enough, what you realize is that they work their way up the stack," he told Fox News Digital.

AMERICA’S ‘UNDECLARED EMERGENCY:’ PALANTIR EXEC TALKS IRAN, DEADLY NEW US WEAPONS AND HOW TO AVOID WORLD WAR 3

Put simply, Sankar argued that the people building any given technology day after day are the ones who will discover where there is room for increased efficiency and improvements. Offshoring manufacturing has deprived Americans of that stimulus, he said.

Sankar gave China credit for its long-term planning, claiming that it has been investing in closing the gap between its military and America's since the first Gulf War. He said China hasn't attempted to hide these investments, but due to the slow speed of progress, the U.S. hardly takes note.

AI, then, can give America the edge once more, because China could not have planned for it. Sankar advocated for reshoring industrial development, but not solely for the purpose of bringing rote manufacturing processes to American soil. He asserted that this is the key to strengthening America's national security and spirit of invention.

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"We're not going to re-industrialize symmetrically," Sankar said. "We're not just going to take the things they're doing as they're doing them and bring them here. No, we're going to do them in entirely different ways that help us close the business case on bringing all of these capabilities in production back home."

Iran's 'basement' Chinese drone networks spark fears of sleeper cell attacks on US soil

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:49:50 -0400

Iran is building a decentralized drone warfare capability in Tehran’s apartment building basements powered by inexpensive technology sourced from China, a leading defense expert has warned.

Draganfly’s Cameron Chell also said this emerging system — centered on first-person-view (FPV) drones — could pose a threat not only across the Middle East but potentially to the U.S. homeland.

"The FPVs are Iran’s Hail Mary because they are very hard to defend, are incredibly effective and can be delivered in a manner without having to have a central command," Chell told Fox News Digital.

"So, whether it's the Iranian army, whether it's militia groups or Iranian patriots, they can all create or procure their own FPVs and get offensive."

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He added that "Iran could be reiterating FPVs and churning out more than 100,000 a month over time."

"Iran's got either militias or sleeper cells in the states who can, in my estimation, already build this equipment," Chell clarified.

Chell’s warning comes as recent incidents in Iraq highlight the growing use of FPVs.

At Baghdad International Airport, Iranian-backed militias operating under the "Iraqi Islamic Resistance" umbrella have launched multiple FPV drone attacks.

Footage released in March 2026 allegedly shows an FPV drone striking a U.S. UH-60M or HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, while another attack successfully hit a U.S. AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar unit at the same base.

"FPVs are a central core theme, and Iran is building these itself, suspecting they’re pulling parts in from China and getting the parts through some pretty porous borders. So, it is very difficult to stop that," Chell said.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

He warned that Iran’s strategy mirrors what has already occurred in Ukraine, where decentralized drone manufacturing has flourished.

"There will be, or already is, an underground industry for FPV and drone manufacturing, which will or is swelling up inside Iran, the exact same way that we saw it swell up inside Ukraine," he explained.

"This is going to be happening in people's homes in Iran, people's basements, the basements of apartment blocks, where they can construct makeshift assembly lines.

"I am confident China and Russia are shipping in parts to help support the development of drone assembly or manufacturing capability, which is a de facto decentralized cottage industry."

Concerns extend beyond overseas battlefields as about 1,500 Iranians were intercepted at the U.S. border during the Biden administration.

Officials warn the unknown number who evaded detection raises fears of potential "sleeper cells."

MORE THAN 90% OF IRANIAN MISSILES INTERCEPTED, BUT A DANGEROUS IMBALANCE IS EMERGING

President Trump acknowledged the issue March 11, saying, "A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are: We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think."

"It is the beginning of an asymmetric capability that the Iranians will use against their neighbors and U.S. assets in the region, but also the U.S. homeland," Chell said.

"We may even want to call it terrorist attacks, using FPV's against their neighbors and practically anywhere in the world.

"It’s a matter of when we see FPV attacks, probably swarm, probably sophisticated, on U.S. soil."

"Within the next eight months, the Iranians are going to have sophisticated drone systems that can defeat some RF/radio frequency jamming. They will start to use tactics like swarming or spoofing," he warned.

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"It will be very, very difficult for the U.S. to take out these little drone factories in the basements of apartment blocks where civilians help. Cutting supply chains will also be difficult.

"The primary choke point for the Iranians is to establish supply chains from China to have enough supply to constitute precision mass capability and/or consistent, pervasive asymmetric capability," Chell said before stating that, if this happens, "the war between Iran and the U.S. just gets a lot longer."

AI war in Iran has brought conflict to Silicon Valley. No one is ready

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 05:00:41 -0400

For years, Silicon Valley operated as if war was someone else’s problem. Operation Epic Fury proved otherwise. The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, launched Feb. 28, pulled American technology companies to the center of active warfare — not as distant suppliers, but as participants and now deliberate targets. In my forthcoming book, "The New AI Cold War," I warned this moment was coming. Iran made it real.

AI is running the kill chain

CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said it plainly in a March 11 video update: AI tools help U.S. forces sift through vast data in seconds so commanders make decisions faster than the enemy can react. Tasks that once took days now take seconds. Humans still approve the final targets. However, the machine does the analysis.

At the heart of that process is Palantir’s Maven Smart System, running on Anthropic’s Claude. NBC News confirmed that Palantir’s AI identified potential targets in ongoing strikes. The Washington Post reported AI enabled U.S. forces to hit 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours.

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Retired Admiral Mark Montgomery told CBS News the military now processes roughly a thousand targets a day with turnaround under four hours — a pace no previous campaign has matched. Palantir CEO Alex Karp confirmed on CNBC that Claude is still running inside the targeting system despite the supply chain designation.

As I document in "The New AI Cold War," that shift is now baked into doctrine. The classic Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop has shrunk to two steps: machines observe and decide; commanders orient and act. Strip away the jargon and the meaning is plain — the machine is now doing the thinking.

Ukraine was the proving ground

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Operation Epic Fury did not emerge from a vacuum. Ukraine was the laboratory. As "The New AI Cold War" documents, Ukraine’s integration of Palantir’s MetaConstellation — drawing on Starlink satellites, weather data and civilian smartphone uploads — compressed Kyiv’s entire operations cycle to machine speed, helping offset Russia’s numerical advantage.

Ukraine retrained publicly available AI models on frontline combat data and deployed them across its drone fleet, boosting strike accuracy from 10–20% to 70–80%. Drones now account for 70–80 percent of battlefield casualties in Ukraine, with AI targeting added to platforms for as little as $25 per unit.

Russia absorbed those lessons and passed them to Tehran. The Kremlin supplied Iran with Shahed-136 drones upgraded with AI navigation that defeats GPS jamming — technology first tested against Ukraine. And China supplies roughly 80% of the critical technologies inside Russian drones. That coalition has been slow to register in Washington. It should not be.

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Silicon Valley is now in the crosshairs

Iran drew the logical conclusion: if American military power flows through servers, destroy the servers. The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published a target list naming Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, IBM, Oracle and Palantir — 29 locations across the UAE, Israel, Qatar and Bahrain — captioned "enemy’s technological infrastructure."

This was not rhetoric. Iranian drone strikes had already hit two AWS data centers in the UAE and a third in Bahrain before the list appeared. AWS confirmed structural damage, disrupted power, and fire suppression at its facilities. Nvidia’s stock fell roughly 9% in two days. Wall Street finally caught up to what every strategist already knew: U.S. military power runs through servers as surely as it runs through F-35s.

PALANTIR EXECUTIVE SAYS AI ENABLING RAPID BATTLEFIELD PLANNING AND HIGH-SPEED US STRIKE OPERATIONS

A gas nobody talks about could halt chip production

Consider the threat receiving almost no attention — and carrying the greatest economic consequence for Americans at home. AI runs on semiconductors. Semiconductors require helium — non-substitutable under current manufacturing processes. Qatar produces a third of the world’s helium at its Ras Laffan Industrial City. On March 2, Iranian drone strikes forced QatarEnergy to halt all production. Force majeure followed two days later. Subsequent strikes inflicted what QatarGas called "extensive" damage — annual helium exports cut 14%, repairs expected to take years.

Spot helium prices have doubled. Industry veteran Phil Kornbluth told CNBC six-week resumption is best-case and "highly unlikely." South Korea sourced 64.7% of its helium from Qatar in 2025; Taiwan sourced 69% from Gulf nations in 2024. Together they hold 36% of global chip production. No helium. No chips. No AI. And without AI, the military edge carrying this war degrades with it.

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A war within the war

Anthropic — whose Claude model is running target analysis in Iran — refused to allow its technology for autonomous lethal weapons or domestic surveillance. The Trump administration designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk" and moved to pull the contract. Anthropic sued. Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson was blunt: "America’s warfighters … will never be held hostage by unelected tech executives and Silicon Valley ideology."

Claude remains embedded through a six-month phase-out. OpenAI has offered classified network access. Google has deployed AI agents for non-classified military use. No settled rules govern what any of these systems are authorized to do. Not yet.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told NBC News the military’s use of AI in targeting raises unanswered questions and said flatly: "This has to be addressed." He is right. Researchers call the underlying danger "automation bias" — operators under pressure defer to machine outputs rather than question them. The school strike in southern Iran that killed more than 170 people, most of them children, is the human face of what accountability failures in AI targeting look like.

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The bottom line

This war is proving, in real time, that technology infrastructure is military infrastructure. Data centers are wartime targets. A gas most people associate with party balloons is a strategic chokepoint. The world’s most powerful AI targeting system is running in combat while a federal court battle over who controls it plays out in Washington.

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Ukraine proved AI reshapes battles. Iran is proving it reshapes everything else — supply chains, financial markets and the companies that built these tools. Every American with a car, a smartphone, a pacemaker or an MRI machine has a stake in how this ends.

The battlefield came to Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley was not ready.

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Biden judge freezes Trump administration's move against AI firm, fueling battle over security authority

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:19:49 -0400

A federal judge’s decision to block the Trump administration from banning AI firm Anthropic from Department of War use is igniting a debate over whether the ruling pushes courts into national security decision-making.

The ruling, issued late Thursday by U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, a Biden appointee in the Northern District of California, pauses the administration’s broader effort to bar the company while the case proceeds, though it does not explicitly require the Pentagon to use Anthropic. The judge also gave the government one week to appeal.

Under Secretary of War Emil Michael wrote on X that the ruling contained "dozens of factual errors" and was issued "during a time of conflict," arguing it "seeks to upend the (president’s) role as Commander in Chief" and disrupt the department’s ability to conduct military operations.

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Michael said the administration still views Anthropic as a supply chain risk pending appeal, signaling officials are disputing the scope and effect of the court’s injunction.

Lin said the Pentagon’s move to designate Anthropic a national security risk was "likely both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious."

"Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government," Lin said.

"Can a judge order the Department of War to use a vendor that is a security risk? No, but also yes? Judge Lin (Biden N.D. California) tries to stop President Trump/Secretary Hegseth from banning Anthropic. But acknowledges they can choose not to use it?" one X user, Eric Wess, wrote on the social media platform.

Others described the ruling as "pure judicial activism" and accused the judge of interfering in a national security decision.

But supporters of the decision — including a bipartisan group of nearly 150 retired federal and state judges — say the administration overstepped, warning the Pentagon’s use of a "supply chain risk" designation appeared improperly applied and could chill free speech and legitimate business activity.

In a March 3 letter, the Pentagon notified Anthropic it would be designated a supply chain risk to national security. That designation ordered that no contractor, supplier or partner doing business with the United States military may conduct commercial activity with Anthropic.

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The legal fight follows a broader dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic over how the company’s AI system, Claude, can be used in military operations. Claude is the only commercial AI system approved for classified use.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth had warned Anthropic it would face termination of its $200 million contract, awarded in July 2025, or be designated a supply chain risk if it did not allow its AI platform to be approved for all lawful uses.

Anthropic insisted it would not allow Claude to be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans.

Pentagon officials say such uses already are not permitted, emphasizing that humans remain in the loop for lethal decisions and that the military does not conduct domestic surveillance. They also maintain that private companies cannot dictate how their systems are used in lawful operations.

Lin pointed to the breadth of the measures — including a government-wide ban and contractor restrictions — saying they did not appear "tailored to the stated national security concern" and instead "look(ed) like an attempt to cripple Anthropic."

Anthropic welcomed the decision, saying in a statement, "We’re grateful to the court for moving swiftly and pleased they agree Anthropic is likely to succeed on the merits."

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Hegseth described CEO Dario Amodei and Anthropic as a "master class in arrogance" and a "textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government" in a Feb. 27 post on X.

OpenAI has emerged as a key alternative, securing a Pentagon deal to deploy its models on classified systems as tensions with Anthropic escalated.

Still, Anthropic has not been fully displaced. Its Claude system remains deeply embedded in military workflows, and replacing it would take time.

America’s ‘undeclared emergency’: Palantir exec talks Iran, deadly new US weapons and how to avoid World War 3

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:00:46 -0400

As tensions boil over with Iran, Palantir Technologies CTO Shyam Sankar argues that, for the time being, America's superior weapons are humiliating adversaries on the battlefield — but the U.S. remains dangerously unprepared for a protracted global conflict, putting the global balance of power in jeopardy.

Sankar made the case that America faces an "undeclared emergency," having nearly lost the industrial deterrence necessary to prevent World War III as global rivals grow more powerful and more brazen.

"We've just started to restore deterrence. We have the Maduro operation, [Operation] Midnight Hammer, current events in Iran, but we need to... be very clear-eyed about the moment — that these could be the kind of skirmishes that lead up to a larger conflict," Sankar said during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

"And we should be asking ourselves the question, 'What can we do right now to deter World War III?'"

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He advocated for empowering mold-breaking industry leaders to bypass Pentagon bureaucracy, and for sweeping investment in innovation and manufacturing to make the defense space competitive again. He explores these ideas as artificial intelligence radically transforms the battlefield in his new book, "Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III."

Sankar emphasized the importance of funding technological research and development, contending that tech is the lever that directly leads to increased efficacy on the ground.

"If you look at the history of technology, it's always been the thing that's given us orders of magnitude of efficiency, of capability. Even if you look at the present day conflict in Iran, the sort of planning that we were able to do with one person in two weeks is something that in Gulf War II actually took 50 people six months," he said.

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"So that sort of efficiency translates that into lethality. It translates into cost. If you're not willing to invest in the technology, though, you'll never be able to realize that."

But the way the government conceives of tech investment is misguided, he asserted, stating that the industry should reward results today rather than allowing big defense contractors to prioritize their own balance sheets over putting working weapons in the hands of soldiers as quickly as they can.

He pointed to recent events as evidence of a roiling global order, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the militarization of the Spratly Islands in 2015, and Iran's nuclear progress, Hamas' attack on Israel in 2023, and the chaos caused by the Houthis "holding world trade hostage in the Red Sea."

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"The conflict with Iran shows us that we need to continue to go faster," he said, lauding Operation Epic Fury and claiming America owes her soldiers the best technology possible.

"And I think what we see in the current conflict is that the high-low mix really does matter — that we really do own the high end of the fight. Our weapons are quite exquisite... we're also humiliating our adversaries' weapons. From Maduro on, you look at the complete failure of Chinese and Russian air defense systems... We're doing great."

Still, Sankar said there is much to learn from challenges present at "the low end" of the fight. America isn't in a perfect defensive posture and risks being beaten by inferior technology that is more quickly produced, he cautioned.

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"The difficulty we have countering the Shaheds, the lessons that we should be learning from Ukraine, from Iran, these are present. And we're going to need more heterodox thinking, more competing ideas, a bolus of investment to get after it."

"The good news is the department realizes this and these plans are well underway."

Palantir executive says AI enabling rapid battlefield planning and high-speed US strike operations

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:21:01 -0400

AI-powered battlefield technology is enabling the U.S. and its allies to carry out military operations faster and more efficiently than ever before, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said Monday, pointing to the Iran conflict as evidence of a seismic shift in modern warfare.

"The planning that happened was done in a fraction of the time it would have taken in prior conflicts of this scale, and we accomplished more than twice as much per day of strikes," Sankar told "America's Newsroom."

"How do you do 2,000 strikes in 48 hours?" he asked. "It’s the sophistication of the technology, combined with service members who are better than we deserve. It has proven the deterrent capability."

Questions about precision have surfaced following reports of a strike that hit an Iranian girls’ school, killing over 100 civilians.

PENTAGON’S AI BATTLE WILL HELP DECIDE WHO CONTROLS OUR MOST POWERFUL MILITARY TECH

The Trump administration has said the strike was carried out by Iranian forces, but a Department of War (DoW) investigation into the incident is ongoing.

When asked about the incident, Sankar largely deferred to the DoW investigation, but noted technology's history of "[reducing] collateral damage."

"We forget that in World War II, only 6% of bombs dropped actually hit their target," he said.

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"There were 50,000 French civilians that were killed in the prep fires for Normandy, so... if I was to speculate… the investigation will show that actually the incorporation of more sophisticated technologies would prevent collateral damage."

AI-enabled systems, Sankar continued, allow military planners to quickly develop and refine operations, increasing both the speed and efficacy of modern combat.

"Instead of [having] a period of execution, instead of maybe one attempt at coming up with a plan, you have 30 attempts because of the leverage that you have from technology to do it, so you have a more refined plan, a more accurate plan, a more lethal plan that accomplishes your operational objectives," he said.

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While advanced technology is playing a growing role on the battlefield, Sankar also emphasized that decision-making authority still relies on human judgment, describing the relationship between human and technology as a collaborative partnership rather than a replacement.

"I think a better way of thinking about it rather than a back and forth is Luke Skywalker and R2-D2. It's a team. You're building a team of human computer symbiosis. It's an Iron Man suit for our uniform service members to get more done," he said.

CHAD WOLF: Trump is serious about the China threat and is rebuilding our arsenal

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 05:00:26 -0400

For decades, Washington has talked about the threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to the American people. Analysts and politicians have written countless white papers, held congressional hearings and delivered speeches warning that Beijing's military modernization, economic coercion and technological ambitions pose an existential challenge to America’s military primacy. Yet for all that talk, policymakers have failed to do the one thing that matters most: rebuild our industrial capacity to produce the weapons systems necessary to deter — and if necessary, defeat — Chinese aggression.

That's finally changing.

Under President Donald Trump's leadership, the Department of War is executing the kind of reform that Republicans have promised for a generation but never delivered. Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg aren't just reorganizing Pentagon charts — they're forging a genuine partnership between government and industry to rebuild munitions production at a scale approaching Cold War levels, with output of key systems like Tomahawk cruise missiles increasing more than tenfold under new long-term Pentagon contracts.

This is the strategic imperative of our time. China has spent two decades building the world's largest navy, modernizing its nuclear arsenal, and stockpiling precision munitions while we debated and delayed. Beijing understands that wars are won by nations that can produce weapons faster than their adversaries can destroy them. We're in a race to rebuild the arsenal of freedom — and we've been losing.

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For years, the defense industry faced conflicting requirements, protracted negotiations and a procurement bureaucracy that made long-term planning nearly impossible. The result was predictable: companies couldn't justify major capital investments when they had no confidence in future orders.

That’s all changing. The Department of War understands what’s at stake. Recently, they have awarded five landmark contracts that will surge production of Tomahawk cruise missiles, advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs), and standard missiles, giving industry up to seven years of demand signal. That kind of certainty allows companies to invest billions in new production lines right here in the United States, expand their workforce and strengthen domestic supply chains.

The Department of War is committing to eliminating red tape and providing the long-term contracts necessary for industry to invest at scale. In turn, contractors are responding by committing to faster timelines, additional U.S. investment and reinforced supply chains. The result: tens of billions of dollars in agreements that will flood our arsenal with the precision munitions essential to our current conflict in Iran, but more importantly, to any future Pacific conflict.

This matters because China is watching. Beijing's strategists know that America's greatest advantage has always been our industrial might — our ability to outproduce any adversary when the stakes are high enough. But they also know that advantage has atrophied. Our defense industrial base has consolidated, offshored critical components and operated under a just-in-time model incompatible with wartime surge requirements.

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Previous administrations treated defense contractors as vendors in a transactional relationship, squeezing costs while offering little long-term certainty. Industry responded rationally: consolidating, reducing capacity and optimizing for peacetime margins. Meanwhile, China built 248 warships while we built 100 and stockpiled missiles while we debated acquisition reform.

The threats we face demand meaningful action. Venezuela, Ukraine, Iran — each conflict drains our munitions stockpiles and exposes the fragility of global supply chains. But the primary threat remains China. Every Tomahawk missile we don't produce, every AMRAAM we can't deliver, every delay in expanding production capacity is a gift to Beijing's military planners.

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The arsenal of freedom isn't a metaphor. It's the factories in Texas building F-35s, the production lines in Arizona surging missile production and the supply chains across America's heartland that turn raw materials into the weapons systems that preserve peace through strength. Rebuilding that arsenal is how we deter Chinese aggression, reassure our allies and ensure that if conflict comes, America has the industrial might to prevail.

The Trump administration understands this. Now it is executing. And that makes all the difference.

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NEWT GINGRICH, TED ELLIS: There's a nuclear solution to recharging American industry

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:00:30 -0400

In February, the United States airlifted a nuclear microreactor for the first time. It was more than a technical achievement – it was a symbol of transformation, akin to the launch of the first steam-powered sailing ships that reshaped global commerce. And just as we couldn’t build the progress of the 20th century on the back of wind-powered ships, we can’t power the 21st-century economy with unreliable, weather-dependent energy sources. America’s future prosperity requires abundant, affordable and reliable power to complement America’s vast reserves of fossil fuels. The solution is clear: a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors.

America is entering a new era of industrial revival, powered by a surge in domestic manufacturing and the rise of artificial intelligence. This surge is creating an unprecedented thirst for electricity. After a decade of flat demand, America’s industries are roaring back to life. But grid operators are warning of a looming "reliability crisis" as reliable power plants are retired far faster than they are replaced.

Meanwhile, the demand from AI, electrification and resurgent manufacturing is projected to add as much as 166 gigawatts (15 times what New York City requires) of new peak load by the end of the decade – an unprecedented surge that will strain existing infrastructure.

For decades, nuclear power has stood as an unassuming giant in the power sector, providing nearly 20% of America’s electricity with unparalleled reliability. Today, a new generation of advanced reactors – small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors – is poised to expand nuclear energy’s role. These reactors are designed to be built in factories and assembled on-site, dramatically reducing construction times and costs.

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Their smaller size allows them to be deployed in more places, including at retiring coal plants to reuse existing grid infrastructure and skilled workforces. A single SMR module can power a large data-center campus or a cluster of factories.

Beyond electricity, these advanced reactors can provide high-temperature heat needed to make steel and fertilizer, a crucial industrial input that solar and wind cannot meet. SMRs can even power desalination plants to turn arid landscapes into thriving communities. Microreactors are already being developed to provide secure, resilient power to remote military bases like Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, freeing them from dependence on the grid.

The primary obstacle to this promising future isn’t physics or engineering; it’s a half-century of suffocating government bureaucracy. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) licensing framework was designed for the large reactors of the 1970s and is inadequate for today’s advanced designs.

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Congress ordered the NRC to create a modern, streamlined process, known as Part 53. But instead of a clear path forward, the draft rule is becoming another layer of complex, burdensome requirements that could delay innovation rather than enable it. This moves us further from, rather than closer to, the energy dominance agenda. Instead, we should end local bans on nuclear power and lower barriers to startups seeking to increase competition and innovation.

We must also reject outdated fears about nuclear energy. Today’s advanced reactors are not our grandparents’ power plants. They possess inherent safety features that make accidents exceedingly unlikely, if not physically impossible.

They also help us steward our environment responsibly: they produce immense quantities of energy from a tiny amount of fuel, with a minimal physical footprint, and no air pollution. This stands in stark contrast to solar and wind, which require vast tracts of land and large-scale mining for their construction and deployment.

Public perceptions must also evolve. There are some that still raise concerns about nuclear safety and waste. But the entire amount of used fuel from America's nuclear industry over 60 years could fit on a single football field.

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This material, far from a crisis, is a manageable byproduct and can even be reprocessed to yield valuable minerals and re-usable uranium. The far greater crisis is a lack of energy, which consigns billions of people to poverty globally and threatens the stability of our own economy.

This is not just an economic issue – it is a national security imperative. While America’s nuclear industry is tangled in red tape, Russia and China are aggressively moving to export their own reactors across the globe, using state-backed financing to create decades-long dependencies.

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Every market we concede to them is a loss for American influence and security, and every time an American SMR developer is stalled by bureaucracy, it is a victory for Moscow and Beijing. We can either lead the world in setting the gold standard for safety and non-proliferation, or we can cede the future of global energy to authoritarian regimes.

America has always thrived when it embraced bold technologies and rejected complacency. So now is the time to be bold. The AI boom and the return of manufacturing represent a historic opportunity. But to seize it, we must have the energy to power it. The servers processing complex algorithms and the factories forging new products all depend on a simple input: energy that is always powered on.

Ted Ellis is the Deputy Director of Energy & Environment at America First Policy Institute.

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WATCH: Wall-climbing robot swarms crawl US Navy warships as China’s fleet surges

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:14:24 -0400

FIRST ON FOX: Swarms of wall-climbing robots will soon be crawling across U.S. Navy warships in a $71 million effort to slash repair delays and boost fleet readiness as China continues expanding its naval power.

Under the five-year contract, Gecko will begin work on 18 ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, with the initial award valued at up to $54 million. The contract vehicle is structured to allow other military services to access the technology as well.

The push comes at a critical moment. Only about 60% of U.S. Navy ships are operational at any given time as maintenance backlogs sideline a significant share of the fleet, according to industry estimates.

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Meanwhile, China now fields roughly 370 warships to 390 warships and submarines compared with about 300 in the U.S. Navy — and its state-backed shipbuilding industry can produce vessels at a dramatically faster pace. Some independent analyses estimate China’s shipbuilding capacity exceeds America’s by more than 200 times when measured by tonnage output.

Against that backdrop, the Navy is turning to artificial intelligence and robotics not for weapons — but for repairs.

The AI-powered machines, developed by Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, scale hulls, flight decks and other hard-to-reach steel surfaces, scanning for corrosion, metal fatigue and weld defects.

Instead of relying on sailors or shipyard workers suspended on ropes or scaffolding to inspect ships point by point, the robots collect millions of data points and feed them into a digital platform designed to flag structural problems early.

"Where value hasn’t improved, that’s where opportunity lives. Cracking the cost equation is just as important as cracking the physics equation," Justin Fanelli, chief technology officer for the Department of the Navy, said in a statement on the new deal. "We're now seeing solutions that make innovation adoption easier and in doing so save time, money and risk."

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"It’s no good having 300 vessels if 40% of them are in a dry dock somewhere," Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian told Fox News Digital.

The inspections will focus on destroyers, amphibious warships and littoral combat ships — vessels that form a core part of U.S. naval operations in the Indo-Pacific.

The chief of naval operations has set a goal of reaching 80% fleet readiness by 2027, a benchmark Navy leaders say is critical as competition with China intensifies.

Gecko says its robotic systems can identify structural issues far faster than traditional manual inspections, helping planners reduce maintenance delays and return ships to sea more quickly.

Maintenance delays have long plagued the fleet.

Ships often sit in dry dock for months as unexpected structural issues are discovered after work has already begun — reducing the number of vessels available for deployment while Navy leaders push to raise readiness toward 80% in the coming years.

Compounding the problem is a shortage of trained shipyard personnel.

U.S. shipbuilders have struggled to recruit and retain enough skilled welders, electricians and technicians to keep pace with demand, contributing to both construction delays and maintenance backlogs. Industry reports show many new hires leave within their first year, slowing workforce growth even as shipbuilding needs rise.

Automation and AI are increasingly viewed as part of the solution. By reducing the amount of dangerous, labor-intensive inspection work required and accelerating defect detection during both maintenance and construction, robotic systems can help yards do more with a constrained workforce.

Loosararian said the technology is designed to identify structural problems before ships enter major repair cycles, helping planners prioritize repairs and reduce delays.

"First destroyers we were on, we saved about three months' worth of time to create a plan of action and execute on it," he said. "It reduces the amounts of dangerous and hazardous work hours that humans have to have, it also increases speed."

The company says similar technology is being deployed during ship construction, scanning welds and structural components early in the build process to prevent costly rework later — an effort aimed at easing strain across a shipbuilding enterprise already under pressure.

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While the United States cannot easily match ChinaChina ship-for-ship in raw production speed, improving the availability of the fleet already in service may be one way to narrow the operational gap.

In an era of intensifying maritime competition, the battle may hinge not only on how many ships are built — but how many are ready to sail.

SEN WICKER: Ending China’s drone dominance with a made-in-America revival

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 05:00:29 -0400

Battlefields in Ukraine and the Middle East have made one fact unmistakably clear: small drones are no longer a niche capability. They are reshaping modern warfare. Now, the militaries of the world can get persistent surveillance and precision strike options from small systems that are at once inexpensive, adaptable and producible at scale. Traditional defenses were not made to combat these drones, which can overwhelm old-school fortifications through sheer numbers.

Defense planners know this. Real-world warfare has validated war games and live-fire exercises, showing us in real time that drones will shape future conflicts. Small drones have also become a core commercial product for both individual users and key civilian sectors, such as agriculture, energy and law enforcement.

And yet, America’s small drone industrial base is falling behind. We have not managed to make nearly enough drones. Our small drone production rate lags relative to our competitors, particularly China, who has cornered the commercial and military market. Fortunately, concerted action from Congress and President Donald Trump is poised to rebuild America’s drone industrial base in a few short years.

Over a decade ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recognized that small drones would become a pillar of modern warfare and commercial industry. The CCP proceeded to take over the small drone market. It dumped tens of billions of dollars into the industry and adopted predatory pricing practices. American drone companies simply could not compete. We watched as our supply chains further withered. That dynamic created a negative feedback loop that reduced U.S. drone supply and made them prohibitively expensive for both military and commercial customers.

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We have seen the facts, and we have acted. Today, America is ready to rebuild its small drone industry, with a one-two punch of investment and tailored industrial policy.

First, Republicans in Congress, working with the Trump administration, appropriated $2.5 billion in the defense reconciliation bill for the Pentagon to buy small drones. Before that, the military had rarely spent more than $100 million per year on the technology. This $2.5 billion demand signal will allow American industry, along with key allies and partners, to begin rebuilding non-Chinese supply chains for small drones and components.

More than $1 billion of that investment will flow into the new Drone Dominance program. This initiative has brought together 25 American vendors who make small "Group 1" first-person view (FPV) drones. The companies gathered in February at Fort Benning for the first phrase of a four-round competition.

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The top 11 performers were announced in early March. Based on future Gauntlet iterations, the victorious companies will win a portion of the funding and use it to scale production of affordable FPV drones. They must do so quickly — completing 300,000 drones by 2027.

For the first time, the American small drone industry has received a clear sign of significant demand. But it must be persistent, and it will need to scale. By comparison, our Pentagon witnesses at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week told us that Ukraine built 4.5 million Group 1 drones last year and is on track to build 6 million this year alone.

Second, Congress and the Trump administration are working together to help protect this fledgling American industry, which is vulnerable to predatory Chinese business practices. Over the years, the Pentagon has taken steps to vet trusted drone platforms. But Chinese drones are still the product of choice in the commercial sector, from agriculture and energy to law enforcement and search and rescue.

Last year, Congress ordered a national security review of key Chinese drone makers. The law, which was led by Senator Rick Scott and supported by the Senate Armed Services Committee, puts us on the path to banning the sale of these adversary-made components in the United States.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving quickly to implement this law. Just before Christmas, the FCC announced a ban on the future sale of foreign-made drones and drone components in America. The FCC and the Pentagon are working together to process waivers for key Asian and European allies, as these partners remain an essential part of our drone supply chain.

These investments and policies are a good start, but they are only that. We must continue these efforts in the years to come at similar levels of budgetary effort and continued partnership among the Trump administration, the Pentagon and Congress. Funding levels should remain steady for a few years as American industry rebuilds itself. We should explore new grant and loan programs to accelerate the adoption of American-made drones alongside our law enforcement and agricultural industries.

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When it comes to components, the drone industry largely relies on a similar supplier base — whether it is building for commercial or defense purposes. The faster we create a sustainable U.S. and allied supplier base, the faster we get commercially viable drones that our military can also purchase for reasonable prices. There is no path for American military drone dominance without an American drone industry that can compete commercially.

The early results are encouraging. Competition is driving innovation, protected technologies are advancing, and the industrial base is beginning to scale. These steps are the foundation for a thriving American-based small drone industry that can equip our military affordably and deliver competitive commercial drones.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM SEN. ROGER WICKER

Iranian drone attacks strain US air defenses as Ukraine pitches low-cost interceptors

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 06:00:26 -0400

As Iranian-designed Shahed drones proliferate across battlefields from Ukraine to the Middle East, relatively cheap unmanned aircraft are forcing the use of some of the world's most expensive air defense systems, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of that approach.

The issue has taken on new urgency in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, as Iranian drones — widely estimated to cost $20,000 to $50,000 to manufacture — target U.S. forces and allied Gulf states across the region.

U.S. and partner forces have relied on a mix of Patriot missiles, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries, naval interceptors and other systems to blunt the attacks.

While many of the incoming drones have been intercepted, the strikes have still exacted a cost, killing six U.S. service members in Kuwait and damaging civilian infrastructure, including airports and hotels in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

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The mounting toll has intensified concerns over how to counter drone swarms without depleting interceptor stockpiles that cost millions of dollars each to replace.

Ukraine has been at the forefront of modern drone warfare since Russia’s 2022 invasion, rapidly adapting its tactics and emerging as a leader in battlefield drone technology.

Alex Roslin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian nonprofit miltech company Wild Hornets, told Fox News Digital in an interview that interceptor drones developed in Ukraine offer a dramatically cheaper alternative to traditional air defense systems.

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While a U.S. Patriot missile can cost roughly $4 million, Roslin said his organization’s interceptor drones can be produced for as little as $1,400 apiece.

Wild Hornets’ so-called "Sting" interceptors have downed thousands of Russian-made Shahed-type drones and now achieve a 90% effectiveness rate, according to the group, up from roughly 70% last fall as pilots and radar teams gained experience and adopted improved ground control systems.

"Ukraine had to fight smart and didn't have rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles, stuff like that, so they turned to these kinds of drones to sort of equalize the battlefield," Roslin told Fox News Digital.

IRAN WAR, 11 DAYS IN: US CONTROLS SKIES, OIL SURGES AND THE REGION BRACES FOR WHAT’S NEXT

The Financial Times reported the Pentagon and at least one Gulf government are in talks to buy Ukrainian-made interceptors amid Iran's retaliatory attacks.

President Donald Trump told Reuters in a phone interview in early March that he would be open to assistance from any country, when asked about an offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help defend against Iranian drones.

Zelenskyy said Friday in a post on X that Kyiv was sending a team of experts and military personnel to three countries in the Gulf region to help counter Tehran’s drones.

US DIPLOMATIC FACILITY IN IRAQ STRUCK BY DRONE

"We know that in Middle Eastern countries, in the U.S., and in European states, there is a certain number of interceptor drones. But without our pilots, without our military personnel, without specialized software, none of this works," he wrote.

Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the focus on air defense price tags can obscure the more pressing constraint.

"Capacity is even more important than cheap," he told Fox News Digital.

US SCRAMBLES AS DRONES SHAPE THE LANDSCAPE OF WAR: ‘THE FUTURE IS HERE’

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Karako cited lower-cost counter-drone systems, including the Coyote interceptor and the Army’s Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat System, or LIDS, as examples of capabilities already fielded to address many drone threats without relying exclusively on high-end air defense systems such as the Patriot.

As Iran’s drone campaign widens, the debate is no longer just about the cost gap between missiles and drones, but about whether traditional air defenses can sustain a new era of mass, low-cost aerial warfare.

Inside the Israeli drone unit taking on Iran and Hezbollah

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:33:01 -0400

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Squadron 200, also known as the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Squadron, has played a crucial role in destroying more than half of the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile launchers as the 14th day of the war unfolds across the Middle East.

Fox News Digital gained access to one of Israel’s most experienced and veteran UAV operators from Squadron 200. "I have been flying drones for the past 25 years, and other operational missions have prepared me for this war," said the IDF Squadron leader.

He summed up the highly sensitive nature of his work in protecting the Israeli civilian population. "Every night that my wife and my kids sleep a full night without an alarm is something I can give credit to the air force and drone operators." Israel’s technology system warns Israelis with mobile phone messages and wailing public alarms that provide an advanced notice of incoming Iranian missiles and drones.

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The IDF drone commander said the main goal of his squadron is to "find rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles that are a risk to our pilots who fly over and destroy them before they launch missiles and gain air superiority for the area and reduce the risk for civilians back at home."

He added that "We can take a lot of credit for the reduction" in Iranian missiles and drones fired at Israel.

The stakes are high for the UAV operators. Iran's aerial warfare campaign has led to the deaths of 12 Israelis and over 2,975 people have been admitted to Israeli hospitals.

An IDF spokesman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Iran has launched "many dozens of missiles with cluster bomb heads spread across Israel." The cluster munitions are particularly lethal because they murder or severely injure with scattered bomblets that can also stay active long after their launch.

Just days ago, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the Israeli military spokesman, told Fox News Digital that the army has had a "near complete success" rate in stopping Iranian drones from hitting Israeli targets.

However, the drone commander warned that the "great decrease in the number of launchers does not mean we can sit and rest."

TRUMP SAYS US, ISRAEL SHATTERED IRANIAN MILITARY CAPABILITIES, PRESSES LEADERS TO SURRENDER: 'CRY UNCLE'

The IDF drone commander said, "one thing we learned from October 7 is that we should eliminate risks before they become too big."

"The important thing is the goal of bringing peace to the Middle East," he said with reference to when Iran and Israel had cordial relations before the 1979 Islamic Republic revolution in Iran and President Trump’s advocacy for peace in the region.

The complex running of a drone team was described as "orchestra" work, by the UAV operator, where a 3-person crew — commander, pilot and operator — seamlessly coordinate their various activities.

According to the IDF, Squadron 200 operates the Heron-1 ("Shoval") UAV, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, which is used for intelligence gathering, surveillance, support of ground forces and precision strike missions."

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The IDF said that the air force’s drones "are capable of remaining airborne for extended periods and providing real-time intelligence to forces on the ground, both day and night and over long distances.

The squadron was established in the 1970s as part of the development of the Israeli Air Force’s UAV array and has since participated in numerous operations across different arenas."

US Army offers up to $5,000 reward for information after 4 drones stolen from Fort Campbell in Kentucky

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:31:08 -0400

The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division is offering up to $5,000 in exchange for a tip that yields the arrest and conviction of those who stole several drones.

The stolen items were last seen at Fort Campbell in Kentucky in November, the department noted in a flyer.

"The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division is offering a reward up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the theft of four Skydio X10D Drone Systems," the department indicated.

IRAN'S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

The flyer includes photos labeled "Suspect 1" and "Suspect 2."

The department said the drone systems were last seen on the morning of Nov. 21, 2025, "at the 326th Division Engineer Battalion, Bldg. 6955, A Shau Valley Rd., Fort Campbell, KY."

Between Nov. 21-24, 2025, "unknown persons unlawfully gained access to building 6955 and took them," the department added.

ARMY RESERVIST, 20, KILLED IN IRANIAN DRONE STRIKE IN KUWAIT, SPENT FINAL HOURS REASSURING FAMILY: ‘I’M GOOD'

The department noted in a press release that it has received tips.

"The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division would like to thank the members of the public who came forward with information regarding the recent theft of the drones. The tips we received have proven helpful," the department said in a press release.

EXPERT SAYS IRAN DRONE ATTACK ON CALIFORNIA COAST WOULD BE ‘VERY EASY’ TO STOP

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"As this is an open and active investigation, no additional details can be provided at this time," the release added.

The department referred Fox News Digital to a 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) press release about the theft and resulting probe.

"We can confirm that a Department of the Army Criminal Investigative Division investigation began in late November 2025 into the theft of four small quadcopter drones from a government building on Fort Campbell. As of today, we are pleased to report that we have identified two suspects and have gathered credible evidence related to this theft and the possible whereabouts of the missing drones. This is an active criminal investigation, and we are working diligently to resolve this matter," the March 12 release states.

The release explains that the theft does not pose a threat, as the drones were only outfitted "with small cameras."

"These drones were stolen from a locked storage area within a secured government building. The individuals responsible had authorized access to the military installation and the building, and they defeated the locks on the storage cages to perpetrate this theft. This was a targeted act, not a random breach of security," the release notes. "The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) takes the accountability and security of its personnel and equipment seriously. The building in question has since replaced its doors and locks which were burglarized. This incident remains an ongoing investigation."

Pentagon’s AI battle will help decide who controls our most powerful military tech

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:00:41 -0500

I spent decades inside the Pentagon watching technology reshape warfare. I saw precision munitions change the battlefield. I watched satellites compress decision cycles. But nothing compares to what is happening now.

Artificial intelligence has moved the lab to the kill chain.

And the showdown between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and AI firm Anthropic is not a contract dispute. It is the opening battle over who controls the most powerful military technology of the 21st century.

AI is already transforming war

Look at Ukraine.

TRUMP ADMIN SOUGHT REDACTIONS ON KEY CHINA WAR GAME REPORT WARNING OF US MILITARY READINESS GAPS

Western officials report that drones now account for roughly 70-80% of battlefield casualties in that war. But the real revolution occurs when AI is added. Reports indicate AI-guided navigation can increase drone strike accuracy from 10–20% to as high as 70–80%.

That is not incremental change. That is a transformation in battlefield lethality.

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL PRESSES ALLIES TO FREE AI FROM INNOVATION-KILLING REGULATIONS

The same dynamic is emerging in U.S. operations involving Iran and other theaters. AI tools are being used for intelligence analysis, targeting refinement, pattern recognition, and operational simulations. These systems compress time, reduce uncertainty and accelerate decisions.

AI is not theoretical. It is operational.

Which brings us to Washington.

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What the Hegseth–Anthropic standoff is really about

On Feb. 27, Hegseth designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk to national security." President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to cease using its Claude AI model after Anthropic refused to remove two guardrails:

A prohibition on fully autonomous weapons.

A prohibition on mass domestic surveillance.

AI RAISES THE STAKES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY. HERE’S HOW TO GET IT RIGHT

The Pentagon argues that military commanders must be able to use AI tools for all lawful defense purposes without seeking permission from a private company in real time.

Anthropic argues that removing safeguards could enable autonomous killing systems or unconstitutional domestic spying.

Both concerns are legitimate.

TRUMP'S SCIENCE AND TECH MAN LAYS OUT WHITE HOUSE'S GLOBAL AI STRATEGY

But here is the deeper problem: America has outsourced strategic control of its most sensitive military algorithms to private contractors.

That is unsustainable.

Draw the right line

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Let me be clear about what must not happen.

We must not expand domestic surveillance of American citizens under the banner of AI efficiency. The Fourth Amendment does not disappear in the age of algorithms.

Second, we must keep a human being in the kill chain. I served under lawful command authority. Life-and-death decisions carry moral accountability. They cannot be delegated entirely to autonomous systems.

CHINESE HACKERS TURNED AI TOOLS INTO AN AUTOMATED ATTACK MACHINE

Those are firm boundaries.

But here is the other boundary: no private corporation should hold an effective veto over how America defends itself.

Washington’s contractor addiction

NEW U.S. MILITARY GENAI TOOL ‘CRITICAL FIRST STEP’ IN FUTURE OF WARFARE, SAYS EXPERT

For decades, the federal government has grown dependent on contractors for critical defense functions — logistics, cyber infrastructure, analytics and intelligence support. AI is simply the next frontier in that pattern.

But frontier AI models are not spare parts or uniforms. They are strategic infrastructure. They influence targeting, operational tempo and potentially deterrence modeling.

That level of sensitivity cannot remain under corporate ownership.

FROM MISSILES TO MINERALS: THE STRATEGIC MEANING BEHIND THE IRAN STRIKE

During World War II, the United States built the atomic bomb through the Manhattan Project under centralized national authority. It was not governed by venture-backed boards setting independent usage policies. It was directed by the U.S. government with a clear strategic mandate.

We need a similar mindset for our most sensitive AI systems.

Government must own core military algorithms. Not lease them. Not subscribe to them. Own them.

US NEEDS TO BREAK CHINA’S SUPPLY CHAIN CHOKEHOLD TO WIN THE TECH RACE

If AI is the new strategic high ground, America cannot subcontract the high ground.

China isn’t hesitating

As I argue in "The New AI Cold War," Beijing does not struggle with these dilemmas.

TRUMP SAYS HE PLANS TO ORDER FEDERAL BAN ON ANTHROPIC AI AFTER COMPANY REFUSES PENTAGON DEMANDS

China fuses AI development directly to the state. There are no Silicon Valley executives in Beijing refusing military access. AI is treated as national infrastructure.

Russia and other nations are moving in similar directions. They are not debating internal guardrails while field-testing AI-enabled systems.

Strategic competition does not pause while we litigate contract language.

AMERICA HAS TO RESPOND WITH A UNITED FRONT TO CHINA’S MASSIVE ECONOMIC WARFARE

What must happen next

First, Congress must draw bright lines: no AI-enabled mass domestic surveillance of Americans without strict constitutional safeguards.

Second, codify meaningful human control over lethal force decisions.

AMERICA MUST POWER AI WITH SPEED AND DISCIPLINE — OR CHINA WILL DOMINATE

Third — and most critically — build sovereign AI capacity inside government.

That means:

Government-controlled AI research for classified applications
Government ownership of core defense algorithms
Reduced reliance on private frontier labs for sensitive military systems
Long-term pipelines of cleared AI engineers

TRUMP'S GREEN LIGHT FOR NVIDIA SALES TO CHINA SPARKS ALARM ON CAPITOL HILL

Private industry will continue to innovate. But America’s most sensitive warfighting tools cannot remain dependent on companies whose corporate policies can override national defense requirements.

The real issue is sovereignty

The Pentagon–Anthropic feud is not about personalities. It is about sovereignty.

US COULD BURN THROUGH KEY MISSILES IN 'A WEEK' IF WAR WITH CHINA ERUPTS, TOP SECURITY EXPERT WARNS

Who controls the algorithms that guide American force?

Who owns the code?

Who decides how it is used?

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S TOP 'SCIENTIFIC PRIORITY IS AI,' ENERGY SECRETARY SAYS

In the new AI Cold War, power will belong to those who control the models — not merely those who rent access to them.

America must protect liberty. We must reject AI-driven domestic surveillance. We must preserve human moral accountability in the use of force.

But we must also end the illusion that venture-backed firms can function as ultimate gatekeepers of national defense.

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The AI Cold War is not hypothetical. It is unfolding on battlefields abroad and in policy fights at home.

This moment is not about one company. It is about whether the United States will treat artificial intelligence as strategic national infrastructure — or as a contractor service.

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The answer will shape the next generation of warfare.

And history will not wait for us to decide.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM ROBERT MAGINNES

Stealth bombers landing at UK bases 'in days' after Trump pressures Starmer: report

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 21:23:46 -0500

American stealth bombers are expected to land at U.K. military bases within days to join the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran, according to reports.

Citing unnamed senior Western officials, The Telegraph reported Wednesday that air bases at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire are being readied for the arrival of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers — the $2 billion strategic bomber is also known as the world's most expensive aircraft.

The bombers are understood to be landing at the U.K. bases "in a matter of days" as Washington intensifies operations in the region, the outlet reported.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the U.S. military used stealth B-2 bombers to strike Iranian ballistic missile facilities Feb. 28 as part of the launch of Operation Epic Fury.

TOP ISRAELI MILITARY OFFICIAL REVEALS OPERATION AGAINST IRAN INVOLVED 'STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECEPTION'

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that B-2 stealth bombers, which were equipped with 2,000-pound bombs, struck Iranian "hardened" ballistic missile sites.

The U.S. was cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iran’s missile capabilities on March 1 after Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on the plan, and while U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey stated Britain had "stepped up alongside the Americans."

Starmer said the authorization was granted to protect U.K. and U.S. allies as the conflict escalated. He had previously said he would not allow American forces to use U.K. bases for offensive operations in the region.

Tensions have since been heightened in the U.K. by security incidents in Cyprus. RAF Akrotiri, a key British military base on the island, was struck by a suspected drone on March 2, causing minor damage.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARM ATTACKS UNLEASH ‘EXPONENTIAL COSTS’ ON US, PROLONGING WAR: 'ASYMMETRIC CAPABILITY'

The unmanned aircraft was reported to resemble an Iranian-made Shahed drone, similar to models used by Russia in Ukraine and by Tehran’s regional proxies.

The Ministry of Defense said force-protection measures were at the "highest level" and that the base had taken steps to defend personnel. About 4,000 service members and their families are based at RAF Akrotiri.

The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Cyprus to Level 3, urging Americans to reconsider travel because of the threat of armed conflict and limited consular assistance in parts of the country.

Non-emergency embassy staff and family members were authorized to leave. Officials said the advisory change reflected adjustments in embassy operations rather than a direct change in underlying risk.

EX-CENTCOM CHIEF DETAILS 'EXQUISITE INTELLIGENCE' BEHIND IRAN STRIKES, SAYS NEXT STEPS HINGE ON 'MISSILE MATH'

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Trump had called Britain "uncooperative" and slammed Starmer as "not Winston Churchill" after Starmer initially rebuffed a U.S. request to use U.K. bases to attack Iran, according to The Associated Press.

Trump has also condemned Britain’s agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands, home to the Diego Garcia base, to Mauritius.

Iran’s drone swarm attacks unleash ‘exponential costs’ on US, prolonging war: 'Asymmetric capability'

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:11:59 -0500

Iran is waging a mass drone campaign across the Middle East, unleashing waves of low-cost, one-way attack drones also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), against Western-linked targets to impose "exponential cost on the U.S.," a defense expert has warned.

As Tehran reportedly launched thousands of Shahed drones across the region and Iranian state media shared footage of underground stockpiles, Cameron Chell, CEO of drone maker and tech company Draganfly, said Iran's strategy is designed to force high-end defenses to counter cheap aerial threats.

"Even a hundred of these drones in the hands of a decentralized unit can cause terror in a neighboring state like never before imagined," Chell told Fox News Digital. "The Iranians cannot win the war with these drones, but like the [communist] Viet Cong [during the Vietnam War], they have an asymmetric capability that can prolong this war and create political pressure."

GULF STATES INTERCEPT HUNDREDS OF IRANIAN MISSILES AND DRONES, ISSUE JOINT CONDEMNATION WITH US

"Iran can drive terror in unimaginable ways and drive exponential costs on the U.S. side, having to target these small, very hard-to-detect drone units," he added.

Chell’s warning comes as tensions spiraled following Saturday's joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran targeting nuclear sites, missile facilities and leadership that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several commanders.

The Iranian drones have proved deadly, having killed six U.S. service members in an attack on a tactical center in Kuwait earlier this week.

A CIA station in the U.S. Embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was struck in an Iranian drone attack Tuesday, causing a limited fire but no reported injuries.

In Bahrain, drones reportedly identified as Iranian Shahed models smashed into the upper floors of the Era View Tower in Manama, about one mile from a U.S. Navy base.

An Iranian drone also struck a parking lot outside the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, while the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted Iranian missiles and drone attacks targeting the country.

"Based on the engine sound, the apparent attack angle and the implied speed, to the best of my knowledge, this was a Shahed-class one-way attack drone," Chell said of the Dubai consulate attack video before suggesting the drone footage showed "a Shahed 191."

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Fars News Agency also released footage purporting to show scores of attack drones stockpiled in vast underground tunnels in Iran.

The video appeared to show rows of triangular-shaped drones on rocket launchers, missiles lined up, four to a launcher vehicle and walls adorned with Iranian flags and photographs of Khamenei. Outlets noted that the video’s timing and location remain unverified.

"It is hard to confirm that Iran has the capability now to produce these drones in these volumes during wartime," Chell said of the stockpiling footage.

"To the extent they were producing these in those numbers, a more-than-significant portion would have been for delivery to Russia — which does not seem impossible. That said, the drones in the underground propaganda video are Shahed 191 drones."

IRAN ‘TOP TARGET’ HIT IN $10M PRECISION STRIKE, US KAMIKAZE DRONES USED TO 'OVERWHELM'

A new report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also underscored Chell’s comments on expense and range.

"Right now, Iran is using a mixture of ballistic missiles and attack drones," said senior fellow Dara Massicot. "The methods are effective, but targeting drones in this way is resource-intensive and expensive, and it will drain certain types of interceptors quickly."

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"Ground-based air defense interceptor missiles are not infinite, and the United States and its partners and allies have had stockpile challenges in this area for years," she added.

Another senior fellow, Steve Feldstein, added, "An important point is that the world is entering a new age of drone war as unmanned aircraft are proliferating on the battlefield in major conflicts and smaller ones."

Tomahawks, B-2 stealth bombers and attack drones pound over 1,000 Iranian targets in 24-hour blitz

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 19:14:06 -0500

U.S. forces launched a sweeping military assault on Iranian targets on Saturday, unleashing overwhelming air, sea and missile power in a coordinated operation with Israel.

The mission — dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" — began at 1:15 a.m. and struck more than 1,000 sites across Iran within its first 24 hours, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior regime officials were eliminated in the strikes.

The barrage featured B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 and F-16 fighter jets, A-10 attack aircraft, EA-18G electronic warfare planes, and an array of airborne early warning and communications platforms, CENTCOM said.

SUSTAINED WAR WITH IRAN COULD DRAIN US MISSILE STOCKPILES, TEST ESCALATION CONTROL

Missile defense systems, including Patriot interceptors and THAAD anti-ballistic missile defenses, were deployed as part of the operation.

Other assets included RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, HIMARS rocket systems, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, refueling tankers, and C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft, CENTCOM said.

The command also released images of Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as F-18 and F-35 fighter jets roaring into combat, according to Reuters.

CENTCOM additionally confirmed it deployed one-way attack drones in combat for the first time.

DOZENS OF TOP IRANIAN REGIME OFFICIALS, SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES

The Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System — known as LUCAS — is modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones.

"CENTCOM's Task Force Scorpion Strike — for the first time in history — is using one-way attack drones in combat during Operation Epic Fury," CENTCOM wrote on X. "These low-cost drones, modeled after Iran's Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution."

Developed by Arizona-based engineering firm SpektreWorks, the LUCAS drone can be launched from catapults, vehicles or mobile ground platforms, according to Business Insider.

The drones cost roughly $35,000 each, Reuters reported.

KEY MILITARY SITES TARGETED INSIDE IRAN AS PART OF COORDINATED US-ISRAELI STRIKES

The strikes targeted command and control centers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Joint Headquarters and Aerospace Forces Headquarters, integrated air defense systems, ballistic missile sites, Iranian Navy ships and submarines, anti-ship missile sites and military communications infrastructure, according to CENTCOM.

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Iran retaliated by launching waves of missiles across the Middle East, targeting major U.S. bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, Business Insider reported.

Three U.S. service members were killed and five others were "seriously wounded" as part of Operation Epic Fury, CENTCOM said Sunday morning. The joint military operation is expected to carry on for days.

CENTCOM did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Reuters and Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Tech company refuses Pentagon demands on unrestricted use of its AI

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 10:22:25 -0500

The Pentagon is calling for Anthropic to allow the Department of War to utilize the company's artificial intelligence product for "all lawful purposes," but CEO Dario Amodei has suggested the government could potentially use their product for "mass domestic surveillance" or "fully autonomous weapons," and that the company would not be willing to allow such use cases.

"The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to 'any lawful use' and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a ‘supply chain risk’ — a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company — and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal," Amodei said in a Thursday statement.

He declared that the "threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request."

PENTAGON GIVES AI FIRM ULTIMATUM: LIFT MILITARY LIMITS BY FRIDAY OR LOSE $200M DEAL

Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs Sean Parnell declared in a post on X that the department does not want to engage in either of those activities but is asking to use Anthropic's AI for all legal purposes.

"The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement," Parnell said in the post. "Here's what we're asking: Allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic's model for all lawful purposes."

"This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk. We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions. They have until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide. Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk for DOW," he noted.

TOP AI FIRM ALLEGES CHINESE LABS USED 24K FAKE ACCOUNTS TO SIPHON US TECH

Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael accused Anthropic and Amodei of lying.

In a post on X, Michael called Amodei "a liar" who "has a God-complex."

"He wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk. The @DeptofWar will ALWAYS adhere to the law but not bend to whims of any one for-profit tech company," he asserted.

In another post he asserted, "Anthropic is lying. The @DeptofWar doesn’t do mass surveillance as that is already illegal. What we are talking about is allowing our warfighters to use AI without having to call @DarioAmodei for permission to shoot down an enemy drone swarms that would kill Americans."

War Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted both of Michael's messages.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon on Friday morning.

In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, Anthropic highlighted Amodei's statement that the company issued on Thursday.

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"It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider. Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters — with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required," Amodei noted in his statement.

"We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States," he said.

New study proposes major shift in US-Israel strategic partnership approach

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:29:40 -0500

A new study aims to jolt Israel’s security and technology establishment into embracing a new post-Oct. 7, 2023, business model that will advance the U.S.-Israel strategic partnership in the heart of the Middle East and across the globe.

The Henry Jackson Society study titled "Israel 2048: A Blueprint for a Rising Asymmetric Geopolitical Power" jumps into the future, with a view toward advancing American and Israeli security interests.

Co-author of the report, Barak M. Seener, told Fox News Digital that America requires Israel for "its security architecture in the region via the Abraham Accords and, more broadly, will be a force multiplier regarding the technological edge against China."

During President Donald Trump’s first term, his administration sealed diplomatic normalization deals between Sunni Gulf and North African countries: Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Sudan and Israel.

TRUMP’S AMERICA FIRST STRATEGY BUILDS DETERRENCE THROUGH STRONG US-ISRAEL ALLIANCE, EXPERTS SAY

Seener and co-author David Wurmser argue that there is a pressing need to reframe the U.S.–Israel strategic partnership "around technology," and "shift from military aid dependency towards joint R&D and investment in shared technological platforms in defence-tech, AI, quantum computing and next generational warfare capabilities."

They wrote, "Israel must prioritize passing negotiated regulations for technology sharing to prevent AI/ quantum technology leakage to China."

Seener noted that the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy (released in January) describes Israel as a strategic military partner. "That has never happened before."

He continued, "Israel is not only achieving regional dominance but international power by connecting trade routes and digital connectivity. Israel simply cannot remain in a purely defensive posture and hunker down and react to threats on its borders."

Seener said following Israel’s successful air war campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2025, "America now wants to be part of this success story. "

He argues that President Donald Trump entered on the side of Israel with military attacks because "Israel demonstrated intelligence acumen and military prowess. For the first time, America joined Israel" in the prosecution of a war.

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Consequently, Seener said Israel’s "defense technology makes it indispensable for nations."

Seener and Wurmser’s 51-page study contains granular information on how the U.S. can strengthen American security and recommend embedding "Israel as a defense-tech and deep-tech power that is indispensable to Western security and global technological competition in supply chains for AI, semiconductors, missile defense, cyber capabilities and critical materials. Israel’s technological dominance must be leveraged to anchor alliances and shape global supply chains."

The wobbliness of America’s European partners is also highlighted to show the need for Israel to "Accelerate domestic lines of production of critical military systems, munitions and energy infrastructure to reduce vulnerability to foreign political pressure such as Europe’s growing ambivalence, coupled with episodic constraints on arms transfers," according to the authors.

Earlier this month, Britain’s left-leaning government reportedly denied the U.S. military’s use of British bases to strike Iran.

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Israel is uniquely positioned to help regenerate relations among Western powers, the study notes. According to the authors, there is an opportunity to "use Israel’s defense-tech, quantum computing, AI and cyber capabilities as a tool of statecraft to deepen alliances, deter political isolation and strengthen influence in Europe, the Gulf and Asia."

Seener said, "Israel is not a superpower but a geopolitical power that gives nations a force multiplier, and they benefit from Israel as a tech defense nation."