• The US Air Force has been tasked with modifying a jet gifted to President Donald Trump by Qatar.
• Critics have flagged cost and ethical concerns over accepting the plane.
• Some estimate it could cost up to $1 billion to retrofit it as part of the Air Force One fleet.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the US Air Force to begin plans to convert a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet gifted to President Donald Trump by the Qatari royal family.

The plane is set to be used as part of Air Force One, but the development comes amid mounting concerns over the cost and ethical implications of accepting such a large gift from a foreign country.

"The Secretary of Defense has directed the Air Force to basically start planning to modify the aircraft," newly appointed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told a Senate Armed Services committee hearing on Tuesday, per Defense One.

But Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Ilinois flagged the potential cost of converting the jet during the hearing, saying it could cost up to $1 billion to ensure it was capable of operating as part of the Air Force One fleet.

"Far from saving money, this unconstitutional action will not only cost our nation its dignity, but it will force taxpayers to waste over a billion dollars to overhaul this particular aircraft, when we currently have not one, but two, fully operational and fully capable Air Force One aircraft," Duckworth said.

Duckworth also expressed concerns that corners could be cut to get the plane into service before Trump's second term comes to an end.

Earlier this month, Trump announced that Qatar had gifted him the jet to serve as Air Force One. It is the most expensive gift to a US president in history.

"It's a great gesture from Qatar," Trump told reporters. "I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane.'"

However, accepting the gift has prompted a bipartisan backlash, with Democrats and some Republicans saying it violates long-standing rules about presidents accepting expensive gifts from foreign leaders.

In a press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebutted suggestions the plane was a gift to Trump, saying it had been donated to the US Air Force by the Qatari royal family and was being "retrofitted to the highest standards" to serve as an Air Force One plane.

She did not give details on how long the process would take.

Experts told NBC News last week that converting the plane to serve as Air Force One would involve installing multiple top-secret systems at an estimated cost of around $1 billion.

There are two planes operating as part of the Air Force One fleet, with Trump scrapping a contract for a new plane in his first term, before renegotiating it.

Boeing is currently contracted to convert two 747 jets to serve as part of the fleet, but the project has encountered delays, and the first plane isn't expected to be ready until 2027.

• Clashes with Houthi militants have exposed problems with Navy ammunition supplies, a US admiral told Congress.
• The US Navy has expended vast quantities of munitions shooting down Houthi drones and missiles.
• Houthi militants in Yemen have targeted cargo ships and US Navy vessels in the Red Sea.

Attacks by Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping and US warships have led to issues with US Navy ammunition supplies, a US admiral told Congress.

In a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Acting Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James Kilby said attacks by the militant group had "highlighted the strain on our munitions industrial base," according to The Military Times.

He added: "Precision-guided, long-range munitions like Tomahawk, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, the heavyweight torpedo, all those ammunitions we need to increase production on."

Kilby also backed obtaining munitions from a wider source of vendors.

"They may not be able to produce the same exact specifications, but they might be able to produce a missile that's effective, which is more effective than no missile," he said.

In recent years, Houthi militants in Yemen have targeted international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, and the naval vessels protecting them, in solidarity with Hamas in its war with Israel.

According to the Crisis Group, a US think tank, up to January 2025, the Iranian-backed group had launched around 500 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, as well as targets in Israel.

The Houthis have used missiles and low-cost drones to launch attacks.

But despite the low-cost nature of the weapons, the US military has been forced to deploy expensive missiles and other munitions to foil the attacks, at a cost of billions of dollars.

The US has also launched hundreds of airstrikes on Houthi positions, with President Donald Trump ordering an intensification of the campaign when he took office in January.

Retired Navy Commander Bryan Clark, of the Hudson Institute, told Task and Purpose in March that the US Navy had used more air defense munitions in clashes with the Houthi since October 2023 than it had in all other conflicts since the 1990s.

He suggested that clashes with the Houthis point to concerns when it comes to any future conflicts.

"I think most estimates are within a few days of combat, if there was an invasion of Taiwan, that the US — the Navy in particular — would run out of weapons," Clark said, referring to Chinese threats against Taiwan, a US ally.

In the congressional hearing, lawmakers were scrutinising the Navy's 2026 budget, with ammunition production shortfalls and shipbuilding delays among the issues discussed.

Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, reportedly warned of the possibility of the US running out of ammo in a war, and the need to find munition replacements.

"We need to do what we can to accelerate that process, because we're all very, very concerned," he said.

Last week, Trump announced a cease-fire with the Houthis, amid reports that US attacks had had limited impact and ammo supplies were dwindling.

• German defense tech startup Helsing is working on a fleet of AI-equipped underwater sea drones.
• It said they can operate for three-month stretches, with hundreds controlled by a single operator.
• The news comes as NATO seeks to shore up the defense of vital subsea cable infrastructure.

German military tech startup Helsing said it is readying a fleet of undersea drones amid intensifying threats to subsea cables, and said they'd be ready to deploy in around a year.

The uncrewed submarine, the SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol and stay underwater for up to three months at a time, it said.

In a statement Tuesday, the company said that its AI Lura software detects subsea threats and can identify ship and submarine models from their underwater sound patterns.

It claimed the software operates 40x faster than human operators, and is 10x quieter than other models, meaning it's better able to evade detection.

"We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters, and way of life," said Gundbert Scherf, cofounder and co-CEO of Helsing.

Hundreds of the drones could be deployed at the same time, controlled by a single operator, the company said, monitoring undersea regions for threats and relaying live data.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, told BI that underwater drones such as the ones being developed by Helsing "would be effective at monitoring underwater infrastructure."

He added that each drone's detection range is "quite short," but that the system is designed to manage dozens or even hundreds at a time.

Clark also said that underwater drones could be vulnerable to electronic jamming, which could impact their navigation systems and cause them to get "lost."

Helsing's announcement comes amid intensifying threats to networks of subsea cables crucial for carrying internet data.

European officials blamed Russia for a series of subsea cable severances in the Baltic late last year and in January, which some said was part of the Kremlin's "hybrid warfare" campaign.

In September, Business Insider reported that a specialist Russian submarine sabotage unit had been surveilling subsea cables.

NATO has formed its own special unit to better defend critical underwater infrastructure, and has also said it's developing new satellite technology so that data can be rerouted in the event of a massive disruption.

European militaries are also testing and deploying sea drones as part of their bid to increase undersea monitoring and shore up defenses.

The UK's military, as part of its Project Cabot, is testing new drone and AI technology to monitor underwater infrastructure, and is working with Helsing on the project, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

Helsing has already produced AI systems and aerial drone systems for European militaries, and was valued at $5.4 billion during a funding round last year.

It said it had developed the sea drones following interest from several navies, and had tested them at a naval base in the south of England.

"Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe," Helsing's Scherf said.

• China was likely watching the recent military clashes between Pakistan and India closely.
• China has provided Pakistan with weaponry, which it could see in action, military analysts said.
• This comes amid escalating tensions between China and India, two regional superpowers.

China was likely watching the recent clashes between Pakistan and India with strong interest, hoping to gain valuable intelligence about the performance of its own weapons, according to military analysts.

In clashes earlier this month, India reportedly deployed Israeli and Western-made weapons in strikes on militant groups and Pakistani air defenses, while Pakistan retaliated with Chinese-made jets and missiles.

This provided a rare opportunity for China — which hasn't fought an open war for decades — to watch its military tech in action against Western hardware.

"Pakistan now serves as a proxy platform for Chinese military tech," Sajjan M. Gohel, international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation in London, told BI.

This enables Beijing to "test, refine, and demonstrate its systems without direct confrontation," he said.

Chinese weapons in Pakistani hands

The military clashes last week between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, longtime regional adversaries, were the most serious in decades.

And they played out against the backdrop of deepening rivalry between China and India, two of Asia's most powerful economies.

"It is inevitable that China is watching and learning from the India-Pakistan clashes, just as it has been from the Ukraine-Russia conflict," Gohel said.

In recent years, China has escalated its support for Pakistan, strengthening economic ties and providing Pakistan with around 80% of its weapons and military technology, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

According to reports and officials, Pakistan likely deployed Chinese-made P-15 missiles and HQ-series air defence systems against India, in addition to the Chengdu J-10C 'Vigorous Dragon' fighter jets.

Pakistan claimed it used J-10C jets to shoot down several Indian aircraft last week, including French-made Rafale jets. The claims have not been verified, but shares of Rafale manufacturer Dassault plunged as a result.

Pakistan received its first batch of J-10C jets from China in 2022.

The single-engine, multi-role aircraft is Beijing's answer to Western fighters such as the American F-16 and Sweden's Saab Gripen. It's an upgrade on the J-10, which debuted in the 2000s, and can carry a mix of precision-guided bombs, anti-ship missiles, and medium-range air-to-air weapons.

The Pakistan-India conflict is one of the first times the Chinese jet has been used in live combat.

Watching others fight

The involvement of Chinese weaponry in the recent clashes is likely of concern to the West.

Intelligence gleaned from the attacks could be used to tweak and adjust systems to make them more effective against their Western counterparts.

China "is likely to watch the conflict closely," said Daniel Byman, director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It will see how its systems perform in real-world situations against an array of Indian systems," he said. "It will learn which countermeasures and tactics are more effective and ways to improve its systems."

Analysts told Reuters last week that China was likely using its large network of spy satellites, spy boats, and regional military bases to monitor the conflict.

In some areas, China's weapons seem to have outclassed those deployed by India.

Pakistan claims to have shot down more than two dozen Indian drones, including Israeli-made HAROP long-range drones.

India, meanwhile, claims to have taken down several Chinese-made P-15 guided missiles fired by Pakistan, suggesting some lessons that China could learn.

Global arms sales

Gohel said that China's strategy of brokering closer regional and global alliances through arms sales hinges on their performance in battlefield confrontations.

"China will want to establish several issues," Gohel said. "Can its sensors and targeting systems match or counter Western stealth and jamming? Are its missile systems achieving desired range and accuracy? How do command, control, and data-link integration fare under pressure?"

China has also long viewed Pakistan as a valuable buffer against India, with which it has clashed in recent years over their shared Himalayan border. And as US ties with India grow, China has stepped up its support for Pakistan.

"The military relationship between China and Pakistan is not transactional. It is embedded in a strategic vision," said Gohel.

Cease-fire, but nothing solved

Over the weekend, the Trump administration announced that it had brokered a cease-fire between India and Pakistan, though reports say that sporadic clashes have occurred since then.

Even so, the strategic lessons learned from the conflict could have a longer-term impact on regional security, as China and India jostle for influence, and China competes with the West in terms of military strength and hardware.

"What China learns in this conflict between India and Pakistan could feed directly into PLA training and modernization," said Gohel, referring to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, "especially with regard to India, which it views as a long-term strategic competitor."

• Western militaries are trying to develop drones capable of operating in the Arctic.
• Tough weather conditions can impact a drone's batteries and navigation systems.
• There's growing competition in the region between Western countries, Russia, and China.

Drones are transforming warfare, and Western militaries are now in an intensifying race to develop models capable of operating in one of the harshest environments on Earth: the Arctic.

NATO countries are fast discovering the potential, as well as limits, of drones in the Arctic, where geopolitical competition is intensifying.

Russia and China have increased their military presence in the region, and the Pentagon said last year it will be relying more on unmanned technologies to monitor regional threats.

Military analysts told Business Insider that drones could be crucial in any military confrontation in the region.

However, there are major obstacles to deploying the technology at scale in an area where winter temperatures can drop to -40 degrees.

A new race for Arctic dominance

In Ukraine, drones, both aerial and naval, have been heavily used for surveillance as well as being fitted with explosives to strike targets.

The challenge of using drones in the Arctic comes down to the region's "harsh environment and its lack of connectivity," Nicolas Jouan, a defence and security analyst at RAND Europe, told BI.

Most Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs, are powered by batteries, which are badly affected by cold weather, he said.

Another issue is communication, with most drones directed by controllers using GPS signals. Satellites, though, can provide only "reduced and unreliable" GPS coverage in the Arctic, Jouan added.

In late April, the UK's 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group said it had been testing the limits of drone technology in extreme cold weather training in Norway, as well as testing new models there.

Around the same time, Col. Joshua Glonek, the commander of the US 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, told reporters that during recent extreme cold-weather training in Germany, drone operations were severely impacted.

"What we found was battery life was significantly degraded in the cold and affected the flight time and the ability of us to employ some of our drones," he said.

Zak Kallenborn, a drone warfare analyst, told BI that the commercial drones that have become ubiquitous in the war in Ukraine struggle to handle the cold.

"Some small drones have been developed to handle cold weather conditions, but I don't know if they can handle as cold as the Arctic," he said.

Russia's advantage

Gregory Falco, an assistant professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, told BI that the systems used by drones to collect data, such as cameras and lidar — which uses lasers to register distance and chart territory — can also be affected by adverse weather.

The "biggest challenge for developing drones for Arctic warfare is the sensing in a heavily denied environment," he said.

Complicating the situation, at least for Western countries, is the fact that Russia appears to have a drone technology advantage in the region.

The Russian military has deployed UAV models, including the Orlan-10 and Inokhodets, in the Arctic, and is developing a specialized combat drone, the S-70 Okhotnik.

The S-70 is a plane-sized drone that can be deployed for attack missions or surveillance. It has reportedly been tested in Arctic conditions, though its technology is a closely guarded secret; Russia shot one down in 2024 to stop it falling into Ukrainian hands.

Working together

The fears are that Russia could use its Arctic drone strength to expand its regional power.

James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at Cornell University, told Reuters in January that Russia would likely soon be able to monitor the North Sea route, connecting Europe and Asia, with drones.

"We're moving towards a point where Russia will not only have unarmed surveillance drone systems along the Northern Sea Route, but potentially armed systems that are constantly patrolling those areas," he said.

In the race to boost their presence in the Arctic, and integrate new drone technologies, some Western countries are cooperating closely together.

In May 2024, Denmark and Norway announced that they'd be launching joint drone reconnaissance operations in the region, with the MQ-4C Triton among the models being considered.

A report last year for the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that Northrop Grumman's long-range MQ-4C Triton was among the few Western-made drones capable of operating effectively in Arctic conditions.

But they're designed for high altitude surveillance, and would be attractive targets for Russia, it said.

Norway is also set to open a drone surveillance base in Andøya, the hub of its military in the region, The Barents Observer reported.

And some Scandinavian countries are seeking to develop their own drones capable of withstanding Arctic conditions.

"Russia has been working on Arctic-rated drones for longer than the US, but Sweden and Finland have been working on this too," Falco said.

Quantity, not just quality

In its 2024 report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that, when it comes to the Arctic, drone numbers will count as much as they have in Ukraine, and that Western countries should prioritize scale, not just quality.

"Rather than opting for fewer numbers of expensive drones, which do not capture the military-technological advantages of evolving drone capabilities, the Arctic should choose instead to adopt many less-expensive variations," it suggested.

But, according to Falco, the US will have to work closely with its Arctic region allies if it wants to compete with Russia.

"We need to rely on these partners to be at parity in the Arctic domain," he said.

• India says it targeted Pakistan's air defenses, as tensions increase between the countries.
• On Thursday, Pakistan said it shot down 25 drones over its airspace.
• India and Pakistan have been trading blows following a terror attack in Kashmir last month.

India says it targeted Pakistan's air defenses in strikes on Thursday, in a sign of escalating violence between the two nuclear-armed countries.

India's defense ministry said its forces had "targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan."

"It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised," the government said in a statement.

This was the first time India acknowledged going after Pakistani military installations.

Targeting air defenses threatens to deepen the crisis, as it removes defenses and clears the way for further and deeper strikes.

India's statement doesn't detail how the attacks were carried out.

Clashes between the two countries have ramped up in recent days, after India carried out military strikes overnight on Wednesday. It said these were in retaliation for a terrorist attack that killed 26 people in the contested region of Kashmir last month.

For its part, Pakistan claimed Thursday to have shot down 25 Indian drones, including Israeli-made HAROP long-range drones that can scout and strike targets.

The Jerusalem Post reported in 2019 that India had bought several batches of HAROP drones from Israel, including the purchase of 10 drones in a $100 million deal.

"Debris of Israeli-made Harop drones is being recovered from various areas across Pakistan," the Pakistani military said in a statement.

India also said in the statement that it had neutralised Pakistani missile and drone attacks on its territory.

The use of drones in clashes between India and Pakistan is a worrying new development in a long-simmering conflict over Kashmir, and points to the growing influence of warfare techniques and technologies used in the war in Ukraine.

Both countries have used drones for years for reconnaissance in Kashmir, Christopher Clary, a professor at the University at Albany in New York, told BI, but never before "for apparent attacks on the other."

"It seems possible both Pakistan and India were probing enemy air defenses," he said of the strikes.

Pakistan said that 31 people have been killed in Indian strikes since Wednesday, while India says Pakistan's attacks have killed 16.

The exchange of blows comes after an attack by Pakistani militants on Indian tourists in Kashmir on April 22, which killed 26 people. India has accused Pakistan of being behind the attack, an accusation Pakistan denies.

• Russia says it will cut internet access for parts of its population during the May 9 Victory Day celebrations.
• Russia has imposed internet restrictions and blackouts since the start of the Ukraine war.
• The latest restrictions are because of "dangerous neighbors," the Kremlin said.

Russia will restrict internet access across several regions, including Moscow, during its May 9 Victory Day celebrations this year, as the Kremlin imposes ever-tighter controls over its population.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that mobile internet restrictions would be in place in several regions while foreign leaders are in Moscow for the celebrations marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Peskov said the restrictions are because Russia has "dangerous neighbors."

"These are not disruptions, but restrictions for obvious reasons," he said. "We want the glorious Victory Day to be celebrated at the appropriate level."

Russian independent media outlet Meduza reported that restrictions have already been put in place in some areas, with Moscow residents experiencing phone and internet access issues since May 5.

Victory Day celebrations are a major propaganda event for Russia's President Vladimir Putin. World leaders, including China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will attend this year's event.

Putin has also called for a three-day cease-fire with Ukraine over the Victory Day weekend, which Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected, describing the offer as a "stunt."

In the run-up to May 9, Ukraine has intensified its drone strike campaign against Russia, hitting Moscow with consecutive nights of attacks that closed its international airports.

Russia's association of tour operators said in a statement on Wednesday that at least 350 flights were affected by the threat of drone strikes.

Zelenskyy suggested that those travelling to the country may not be safe, remarking that "our position is very simple for all countries travelling to Russia on May 9: We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation."

Cuts to internet access

In the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia imposed sweeping internet restrictions on its population.

As part of its "sovereign internet" project, and in a bid to more tightly monitor online spaces and access to information, Russia has restricted access to the global internet, as well as VPN services used to circumvent domestic controls.

Further restrictions have already been imposed in areas of Russia targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes, with Russian outlet Kommersant reporting that restrictions were put in place in the city of Rostov on April 25.

Kommersant suggested that this was related to concerns that mobile internet networks could be used to direct drone attacks.

"Russian authorities will likely continue disconnecting large areas of Russia from mobile internet networks during Ukrainian long-range strikes," the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War wrote on Wednesday.

It said that it would do this "to continue testing the Sovereign Internet system and, secondarily, prevent Russians from immediately circulating reports, imagery, and footage of the results of these Ukrainian strikes."

• The CIA has posted videos online as part of attempts to recruit Chinese officials as spies.
• The videos highlight anti-corruption purges and repression in China.
• Tensions between the US and China are ratcheting up.

The CIA has released a pair of videos online as part of efforts to recruit Chinese officials who are dissatisfied with corruption and political repression at home.

The slickly-produced Chinese-language videos show a midlevel official serving a corrupt and wealthy boss, and another showing a highly placed official anxious that he'll be caught up in one of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drives.

The videos, titled "Why I contacted the CIA: to take control of my fate" and "Why I contacted the CIA: for a better life," were posted on YouTube and other social media platforms.

In both videos, the officials are then shown contacting the CIA to escape their predicament. The videos contain information on how to securely contact the CIA via the dark web.

In a statement Thursday cited by The New York Times, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the new videos were aimed at "recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets."

"Our agency must continue responding to this threat with urgency, creativity, and grit, and these videos are just one of the ways we are doing this," he said.

The CIA has resorted to similar techniques in the past.

The videos resemble ones posted online in recent years targeting Russian officials disaffected by corruption and the war in Ukraine, which the CIA said were successful in attracting new sources.

The CIA also released a more basic text-based video last year, also in Mandarin, giving instructions on contacting the agency via the dark web.

It has also released videos in Farsi, which is spoken in Iran, and Korean.

As part of his confirmation hearing in January, Ratcliffe said the CIA under his tenure would intensify its focus on "the threats posed by China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party."

Ratcliffe said that confronting the rise of China was the US's top strategic priority, and he told those present that the CIA would focus more efforts on human intelligence, or obtaining information directly from individuals.

China has also been accused of waging a widespread espionage campaign in the US, aimed at stealing technological, military, and industrial secrets.

According to a survey of Chinese espionage incidents since 2000, compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, this involves hacking, gaining secrets from human sources, and influence campaigns.

• North Korean troops are gaining valuable experience fighting against Ukraine.
• Military analysts told BI they're likely developing drone warfare tactics, among other capabilities.
• But the lessons are coming at a high cost in terms of dead and wounded.

Back in February, a Ukrainian officer told Business Insider about the crude and often brutal tactics being employed by North Korean troops against Ukrainian positions in Kursk.

Konoval Ihor Ihorovych, the commander of the reserve group of the 4th Company of the 33rd Assault Regiment, said that troops charged in like something out of a movie, and were being used as "cannon fodder."

But military analysts say that North Korea's troops are rapidly adapting and appear to be learning valuable battlefield lessons.

Russia acknowledged for the first time this week the role played by North Koreans in fighting against Ukraine.

And in footage released by Russian state media on Monday, North Korean troops were shown training with modern Russian weapons, including a semiautomatic 12-gauge shotgun known as the Vepr-12, which contains a modification to take out drones.

These are lessons that North Korea's southern neighbor, South Korea, is likely watching it acquire with growing concern.

What is North Korea gaining?

Last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a historic security pact, where, in exchange for Russian technological and diplomatic support, Kim agreed to aid Russia militarily.

It effectively broke the international isolation imposed by the UN on North Korea to pressure it to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

Deployed to the battlefield in Ukrainian-occupied Kursk, North Korean soldiers have suffered steep losses; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed in February that 4,000 had been killed or injured.

That's almost half of the 10,000 troops North Korea is estimated to have initially deployed.

But for Kim, it appears to be a price worth paying to strengthen and modernize the country's military, which hasn't fought an active war since the 1950s.

Jacob Parakilas, research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy, and Capabilities at RAND, told BI that the experience they are getting — "not only how you operate under fire and taking losses and how you keep operating, but just the sort of psychological impact of what it does to your individual soldiers" — can't be overstated.

A different type of warfare

North Korean troops are fighting in a war where cutting-edge tactics and technologies are being regularly tested.

Chief among these are the use of drones, which are ubiquitous on the battlefields of Ukraine, engaged in surveillance and attacks.

According to Ukrainian officials, North Korean troops have adapted to travel in small groups to evade them. Major General Vadym Skybytskyi, deputy chief of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence organization, said that North Korean units had initially "advanced in large groups across snowy fields."

But he told The Guardian that "the next lot won't do that. They are learning new tactics and how to fight in a drone environment."

In January, the Wall Street Journal published extracts from the diary of a deceased North Korean soldier obtained by Ukrainian intelligence.

It described tactics for taking out drones, with one soldier acting as bait to lure the drone, and others shooting it out of the sky.

"The bait must maintain a distance of seven meters from the drone," it said. "The other two should prepare to shoot down the drone from a distance of 10 to 12 meters. When the bait stands still, the drone will stop and it can be shot down."

Parakilas said these tactics show "they're figuring out, again, at great cost, the ways to counter modern technology with traditional soldiering and traditional battlefield skills."

North Korea gains drone deployment knowledge

North Korea's military isn't just gaining valuable knowledge in terms of countering drones, it's also learning how to deploy its own.

Russian assistance likely played a role in the development of a North Korean AI-controlled drone, unveiled in March.

Joseph S. Bermudez Jr, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC, told BI that this was the first chance North Korea had to see drones used on a battlefield, "particularly small UAVs for reconnaissance, tactical reconnaissance and tactical strikes."

He said that, depending on the amount of access Russia has allowed, North Korea is probably also gaining insights into the use of drones for longer-range, strategic missions.

Russia has deployed long-range Iranian-made drones against Ukrainian towns and infrastructure far from the front lines, and North Korea appears to be developing models for a similar purpose.

Bermudez also pointed to lessons North Korea is learning in assaulting fortified positions, bridging rivers for tanks, and camouflaging and concealing troops.

Mistakes also provide valuable lessons

Before deploying its troops to Ukraine, North Korea provided Russia with thousands of artillery rounds and ballistic missiles. But these proved notoriously shoddy.

Bermudez said that North Korea is likely drawing lessons from that, too.

"Quality control is always an issue in North Korea," he said. "The fact that they've learned that they've had poor quality has probably resulted in an improvement in the manufacture of munitions."

However, some doubt how quickly North Korea's military system is capable of learning.

Bermudez said that little is known about how North Korea incorporates front-line experiences into its military doctrines and training. "We just don't have a good handle on that yet," he said.

An emboldened Kim Jong Un

North Korea's alliance with Russia has emboldened Kim in his confrontations with South Korea.

But Parakilas said it's not clear how well some of the lessons North Korean troops have likely learned in Ukraine would translate into any potential conflict with the South.

Drones, for example, don't always cope well in the mountainous environments that comprise much of the Korean Peninsula, he said.

"There are parts of the Korean Peninsula where drone performance would be significantly degraded," he added. "More fundamentally, you're fighting a very, very different kind of atmosphere."

Despite this, the battlefield experience North Korean troops are gaining in the world's most advanced battlefield environment is something that can't be replicated in training exercises or drills.

"If I were in Seoul and I were watching the North Koreans fight and die, but learn and adapt," Parakilas said. "I'd be a bit worried."

• North Korea unveiled a sophisticated new naval vessel, the Choe Hyon, on Friday.
• Military analysts told Business Insider its weapons might have been developed with Russian aid.
• The closer relationship between Russia and North Korea is a worrying sign for the West.

In a ceremony in the North Korean port of Nampo on Friday, Kim Jong Un unveiled the Choe Hyon, a 5,000-ton frigate that appears to be outfitted with an array of powerful weapons systems, such as missile vertical launchers.

Perhaps equally worrying for those in the West, military analysts said that some of the vessel's capabilities point to Russian involvement, or at least Russian inspiration, as the Kim regime builds modern warships.

"The timing of the ship's construction and the question marks around the exact nature of Russian support for the DPRK suggest that it might well be more than a simple copy," Jacob Parakilas, a research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy and Capabilities at RAND Europe, told Business Insider.

(Parakilas referred to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.)

The warship could point to further evidence of a deepening military relationship, and comes at a time when both countries said officially for the first time that North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine.

Missile systems

The Choe Hyon is bristling with weapons systems, with images indicating vertical launch systems that could be used to fire cruise or ballistic missiles, a deck gun, close-in air defense weapons, and a radar to detect threats and targets.

Images show the Choe Hyon fitted with a missile defense system that closely resembles Russia's Pantsir S-1, which fires medium-range guided missiles at aerial threats.

Parakilas referenced the air defense system as the clearest evidence of Russian involvement.

Meanwhile, Kim Duk-ki, a retired South Korean admiral, told CNN earlier this month that Russia may have provided technology for its missile systems.

He also said that "if North Korea equips the new frigate with the hypersonic ballistic missile it claimed to have successfully tested in January, that will cause a game changing impact in the regional security."

A ship for total war

Evidence is emerging that Russia could be helping North Korea evade international sanctions by providing it with technology to strengthen and modernise its military.

In March, James Patton Rogers, executive director of the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, told the BBC that Russia likely helped North Korea design a new AI-enabled drone.

Parakilas said the sheer number of weapons on board the Choe Hyon points to possible Russian influence, with Russia also favoring smaller, heavily armed vessels.

"It also reflects a philosophy that the purpose of a warship is to wage total war, rather than to be capable of a range of operations up to and including war," he said.

But Joseph Bermudez Jr., Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, cautioned that no evidence existed of "direct Russian assistance" in its construction.

He said that "North Korean naval personnel designers have seen more and more Russian vessels" and may be imitating their design.

Even so, he said that the vessel's weapon systems have "an awful lot of capability."

A 'first strike' option

According to a January report by the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank, the frigate appears to be around 120 meters long, making it the "largest North Korea has constructed by some margin."

North Korea has around 374 smaller patrol and coastal vessels, the IISS said, as well as two older frigates.

At the launch event, Kim said that North Korea would be ready to fully deploy the ship in about a year, while touting it as a defense against what he portrayed as US regional aggression.

Parakilas said the new warship offers North Korea increased options for a potential ballistic missile "first strike," with the capacity to travel to regions where there may be fewer air defense systems.

However, he said that "the fact that it is a surface ship and not a submarine means that it can be tracked and attacked relatively easily."

In its report, the IISS said that it's only when the vessel enters service that its real capabilities will be observable.

"While activity around the new vessel at Nampo will be closely monitored," it said, "it may be some time after launch until its intended use becomes clearer."

Bermudez Jr. echoed this, saying that "once it goes out on patrol and we see the seaworthiness of it, that'll make a tremendous difference."

• The EU is providing funds to help boost Ukraine's domestic arms manufacturing.
• It's a strategy to make Ukraine more self-reliant and ease pressure on Europe's own stockpiles.
• Ukraine is a far cheaper place to manufacture weapons at scale, one expert told BI.

European countries are shifting their strategy when it comes to Ukraine, aiming to boost the country's capacity to produce enough weapons for its own defense rather than handing over ready-made weapons from their own depleting stockpiles.

In March, the European Union said that half of a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) aid package, taken from frozen Russian assets, was being earmarked specifically to help Ukraine boost its own artillery production, the largest package of its kind to date.

It's a trend that could have wider repercussions.

Military analysts told Business Insider that directing funds to grow Ukraine's defense industry can help reduce Ukrainian dependence on foreign military aid and strengthen Europe's own growing defense sector.

Europe struggles to produce enough shells

After decades of peace, Europe is rapidly bolstering its defenses amid waning US support and renewed threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Even so, its armaments industry is struggling to rebuild military stockpiles while simultaneously providing Ukraine with the shells and other weapons it needs to fend off Russia.

Ukraine's own burgeoning defense sector offers a solution, Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank and a non-resident senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told BI.

"It makes imminent financial and economic sense for especially richer Western European nations to directly finance the full utilization of expanding Ukrainian production capacity," he said.

Ukraine, Kirkegaard added, is a far cheaper place to manufacture weapons at scale than Western Europe, and it already has a growing and innovative defense manufacturing sector.

Refocusing European arms production in Ukraine itself is a "win-win," he suggested, enabling Europe to cut costs, boost a crucial ally, and also see weaponry tested and refined on the battlefield.

Ukraine boosts weapons production

In the early years of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine was heavily dependent on its Western allies for weapons and ammunition, and was manufacturing only a small fraction of the weapons it needed.

But it's fired up old Soviet weapons manufacturing plants and now produces around 40% of the weapons it uses at the front, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month.

Ukraine is also now a world leader in the development and production of cheap UAV drones, which have become ubiquitous weapons on the battlefield.

"We've become the biggest drone manufacturer in the world, drones of tactical and strategic level," Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's defense minister, said in February.

And as BI's Jake Epstein reported, Ukraine's drone makers aren't just building weapons — they are rewriting the rules of modern warfare at a pace and scale that few could have imagined only a few years ago.

"With the rising importance of drones, the share of Ukrainian domestic production will also rise," said Kirkegaard.

Europe's defense sector, meanwhile, has struggled to boost production to keep pace with demand, with military analysts at the UK's Royal United Services Institute in April identifying regulation and a lack of coordination as factors holding it back.

"Increasing the output of domestic industry takes time," Jacob Parakilas, research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy and Capabilities at RAND Europe, told BI. "Ukrainian industry, which is already much more mobilized, can be effectively supported in the short term with direct investment and targeted knowledge transfer."

Parakilas said that European countries would also get a major boost from working more closely with Ukraine to jointly raise production.

"These approaches can happen simultaneously, and ideally produces synergies," he added, with "Ukrainian experience informing European understanding of the state of the art, while European money supports Ukrainian industry."

European defense firms set up shop in Ukraine

Several European defense firms, including Rheinmetall in Germany, BAE Systems in the UK, and the Franco-German firm KDNS, have already set up manufacturing operations in Ukraine to make military supplies, including armored vehicles.

Others, such as France's Thales, have entered into joint ventures with Ukrainian companies.

And cooperation between Ukraine and NATO countries on arms production is steadily increasing.

According to Ukrainian media, state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom State Concern has been working with an unspecified NATO country to manufacture ammo since 2022. The ammunition is reportedly made to the alliance's standards, further integrating NATO and the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine has also been working with Poland to manufacture shells and other equipment domestically since 2023.

The latest aid packages will further boost these efforts. "This trend is expected to gain pace during 2025 as the US pivot away from Europe fuels increased defense spending across the continent," Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, wrote for The Atlantic Council in March.

Parakilas projected that with more European support, Ukraine could manufacture significantly more than 40% of its equipment domestically, and move into manufacturing more complex weapons and technology, which it still relies heavily on its allies for.

But this, he said, meant the sector would become more exposed to Russian attacks and would "probably require greater and more careful investment to produce resilient returns."

Even so, it seems likely that Western European and Ukrainian defense sectors are moving toward closer integration.

"It will over time not be sensible to distinguish between the EU/European and Ukrainian defense sectors," Kirkegaard said. "They will become one."

• Northrop Grumman posted a drop in profits in the first quarter of 2025.
• It said higher manufacturing costs for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber were to blame.
• The plane is the first new stealth bomber designed for the US military in 30 years.

Northrop Grumman posted a drop in first-quarter profits, blaming higher manufacturing costs for its B-21 Raider stealth bomber.

Sales totalled $9.5 billion in the quarter, down 7% compared to last year, the company said. Reuters reported that the figure was below the analysts' average expectation of about $9.92 billion.

The company said it recorded a pre-tax loss of $477 million on its B-21 programs, and that investments to boost future B-21 production and higher-than-expected material costs were to blame.

In a conference call, Kathy Warden, Northrop Grumman's president, said the drop was "largely relating to higher manufacturing costs" for the B-21, per The War Zone.

She said it was "primarily resulting from a process change we made to enable a higher production rate, as well as increases in the projected material cost."

She said Northrop Grumman had "underestimated the amount of consumption of both materials as well as the price increase that we are seeing."

The B-21 is the first new stealth bomber to be developed for the US Air Force in 30 years, and took its maiden flight in November 2023.

Business Insider reported last year that the plane is expected to form the backbone of the US bomber fleet, and that its state-of-the-art stealth capabilities are designed to evade sophisticated air defense systems.

A low rate initial production contract — a contract for the manufacture of a small batch of B-21s for testing — was signed in January 2024.

Gen. Anthony J Cotton, head of US Strategic Command, said last month that he wanted to see the Air Force boost the number of B-21s it plans to deploy from 100 to around 145.

He said the plane's initial low production rate was set "when the geopolitical environment was a little bit different than what we face today."

The B-21 is expected to enter service by the end of the decade.

In the conference call, Warden said that the company was taking a financial hit now in order to be in a position to ramp up production of the plane going forward.

• The war in Ukraine is showing the power of weaponry once thought outdated.
• Mines and artillery have proven essential, alongside cutting-edge tech like AI and drones.
• One expert told BI that mines and shells are "useful, even dominant" when armies are dug in.

The war in Ukraine is showing that weapons once thought redundant remain indispensable — and NATO countries are playing catch-up as they race to rearm.

Last week, Finland became the latest European country to repeal a decades-old ban on the use of anti-personnel land mines. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have already announced they were abandoning the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which prohibited the use, manufacture, and sale of anti-personnel land mines.

The countries are gearing up to fortify their borders with Russia using land mines as the Kremlin refocuses its economy on its military and relations with the West deteriorate.

While the war includes examples of cutting-edge technology, it also underlines the importance of weapons like shells and mines.

As Europe enters "an era of rearmament," it's learning it needs to invest in technology it previously thought would be redundant in fast-moving, tech-heavy wars they envisaged would define the 21st century.

Ukraine has used mines to slow the larger Russian army's advances in the east and south of the country to a stalemate and to channel enemy troops into areas that its forces can defend.

While the sophisticated precision-guided missiles NATO has provided Ukraine are susceptible to Russian electronic jamming that scrambles the signals used to guide them, comparatively crude — and cheap — shells don't have this drawback.

Ukraine's European allies have boosted shell production. But last week, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia was on track to build a shell stockpile "three times greater than the United States and Europe combined."

In a recent paper, the Royal United Services Institute, a UK defense think tank, said European governments had expected private sector defense firms to "solve the problem" of ammunition production but failed to introduce "any incentives or a regulatory environment that would allow it to do so."

Nato had been planning for a different war

Paul van Hooft, a defense research leader at the UK-based think tank RAND Europe, told BI that the threat from Russia was very different from what Western military leaders had planned for.

"For three decades, as Western militaries were not focused on large-scale land warfare and territorial-NATO collective defense, these weapons [such as shells and land mines] were not considered as valuable — specifically in Western Europe," he told BI by email.

After the 9/11 attacks, NATO allies planned for wars against militias such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, where land mines and shells had little obvious use, said van Hooft.

But fighting a land war against a large army requires defending and holding large swaths of territory.

Artillery may be old technology but it's more effective when used alongside newer surveillance tech like drones, said Van Hooft.

Mark Cancian, a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Defense and Security Department in Washington, DC, said that as the war in Ukraine has become more static, shells and land mines have once again been proven indispensable.

"These weapons become useful, even dominant, whenever the front lines stabilize," he said. "They are difficult to employ when armies are maneuvering but easy to employ when armies stalemate and dig in."

In Ukraine, drones have been used to surveil battlefields, identify troops gatherings or command posts — and pinpoint positions to target with artillery barrages.

Cancian cautioned against military planners becoming "enamored with flashy concepts of future warfare" as billions are poured into European defense budgets and military tech startups compete for business selling cutting-edge drones and AI-integrated weapons.

"Artillery-firing, unguided munitions are still critical," he said, adding, "Notions that the next war would be fought by small teams firing precision munitions has not turned out to be the case."

• European countries bordering Russia are taking steps to leave a key land mine treaty.
• Land mines have seen widespread and aggressive use in the Ukraine war.
• NGOs are concerned about the impact of land mines on civilian populations.

A growing number of countries bordering Russia are abandoning a long-standing treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.

On Tuesday, Finland became the latest country to announce it was withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, the 1997 treaty banning the use, sale, and production of land mines.

This follows an announcement in March by Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that they were also withdrawing, amid growing concerns about Russian aggression.

Military analysts told Business Insider that the war in Ukraine is reshaping thinking about some weaponry, shattering long-standing bans against the use of weapons like land mines.

Land mines make a comeback

"Finland will prepare for the withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention," Finnish President Alexander Stubb posted on X Tuesday.

He said the decision was "based on a thorough assessment by the relevant ministries and the Defence Forces," but added that the country was "committed to its international obligations on the responsible use of mines."

The Ottawa Convention has over 160 signatories, with the US, Russia, and China among the notable absences.

In announcing their own decision, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland said: "We believe that in the current security environment, it is of paramount importance to provide our defense forces with flexibility and freedom of choice of potential use of new weapon systems and solutions."

For years, NATO members have developed tactics based on the assumption that modern armies would have to be highly maneuverable. But the Ukraine war has come to more resemble World War I, with sides entrenched in heavily defended static positions.

European countries now seem to be rapidly adjusting their strategies in response to the lessons from Ukraine, and over fears that Russia could attack elsewhere in Europe if it gets a partial victory in Ukraine.

Jacob Parakilas, a research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy and Capabilities at RAND Europe, told BI that the Ukraine war had proven the continued utility of land mines. "The landmine still has significant military value in shaping the battlefield and deterring or slowing enemy advances," he said.

Mines, Mines, everywhere

In Ukraine, both sides have often struggled to break through each other's defensive positions, some of which are heavily fortified with minefields.

During Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive, Russia laid vast swaths of the explosives, and Ukraine has also used land mines. Ukraine is now recognized as the most heavily mined country in the world, with estimates suggesting it could take decades and billions of dollars to neutralize them.

Naval mines have also been deployed in the Black Sea, which offer their own issues and long-term challenges.

When it comes to land mines, Riccardo Labianco, the international policy manager at UK anti-landmines charity MAG, told BI that the risk to civilians is too severe to justify abandoning the Ottawa Treaty.

"We recognize there are no easy choices when a state feels under threat of armed aggression, but International Humanitarian Law, including the Ottawa Convention, is designed precisely for times like these," he said.

However, Marcus Solarz Hendriks, the head of the national security unit at Policy Exchange, co-authored a report last month calling for the UK government to abandon its own ban.

He told BI that Ukraine had shown they were a vital weapon for defending against large-scale invasions, "namely by restricting maneuverability and channelizing troops into pre-prepared kill zones," or areas where large gatherings of troops are targeted.

"This operational advantage is particularly well suited to numerically disadvantaged forces," he said, "as would likely be the case should these states be forced to defend against attempted Russian advances."

Getting your hands on mines

Countries like Finland, and to a lesser extent Latvia and Estonia, share long land borders with Russia, putting them on the frontline of any future Russian aggression.

Finland also announced Tuesday it was increasing its defense budget to 3% of GDP, and many nations bordering Russia are steeply increasing their defense spending.

For those considering land mines, one issue could be obtaining them. The Ottawa Treaty bans not just the use, but also the manufacture of landmines, meaning they can't be easily bought on the European market.

Parakilas said that some European countries obtain mines from Singapore or South Korea, which has a large, heavily mined border zone with North Korea.

Even so, mines aren't difficult to make, he said, meaning that domestic production could be geared up in "the order of months, rather than years or decades."

While land mines, at their core, are little changed, some of the tech has developed. This includes sensors that enable mines Russia claims to have developed to distinguish between types of object, enabling them to tell apart an approaching civilian bus from a tank.

Others are fitted with devices that mean they defuse after a period of time, reducing the risk of civilians triggering forgotten but unexploded mines years later.

However, Parakilas said that sophisticated devices are more expensive, and are less likely to be used to mine large swaths of territory.

Concerns over mines

While some countries appear to be looking more favorably on mines, others continue to warn against abandoning the Ottawa Convention, despite the growing threats.

Norway's foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, on Wednesday criticized Finland's announcement.

"If we start weakening our commitment, it makes it easier for warring factions around the world to use these weapons again, because it reduces the stigma," he told Reuters.

But Solarz Hendriks told BI that a ban on land mines that made sense in the 1990s no longer does in the face of threats from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, which all have large land mine stockpiles.

"The recent decisions of our allies to close this capability gap, in the name of self-defense, therefore carry minimal proliferation risk," he suggested.

And as the threat of Russia grows, along with concerns over the US's long-term commitments to European security, others could soon join the likes of Finland and the Baltic States in reassessing their opposition to mines.

• Denmark plans to boost its navy, as Russian threats grow and concerns mount about subsea cables.
• It said it's buying four mine-laying ships and 21 other vessels, as well as drones.
• European officials have accused Russia of being behind attempts to sever vital undersea cables.

Denmark is boosting its navy amid rising threats from Russia in the Baltic Sea and intensifying rivalries in the Arctic.

The Danish government on Sunday announced a fast-track plan to buy drones and equipment to monitor and defend its vital subsea infrastructure, including plans to purchase four marine environmental and mine-laying vessels and 21 other ships.

As part of its long-term plans, it also said that it would enhance the strength of its navy in the Arctic and obtain new sea mines.

"The naval battlefield is characterized by a more complex risk and threat picture than before," Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark's defense minister, said in a statement.

Rising threats in the Baltic

According to local media reports, the Danish navy plans to acquire a special vessel equipped with sonar and drones to surveil and defend crucial subsea infrastructure.

The move comes amid rising Russian threats and aggression in the Baltic Sea region.

In recent years, European officials have accused Russia of being behind a campaign to destabilize European nations by severing undersea cables that carry internet data.

Last year, NATO put together a special task force charged with monitoring and defending subsea cables. Denmark's moves appear to be designed to help address the threat.

Denmark has been a member of NATO since its inception, and its navy has long played an important role in the Baltic Sea, according to a 2022 Nordic Institute report.

The Danish government announced in February plans to spend an additional $7.2 billion on defense over the next two years, bringing its defense budget to around 3% of GDP.

Denmark isn't the only country in the region increasing its military spending. Last week, Sweden said it was increasing its military spending to 3.5% of GDP, while Norway is also boosting its defense spending as part of a 12-year military overhaul.

Countries in the Baltic Sea region have been staunch backers of Ukraine in its fightback against Russia.

Sweden, alongside nearby Finland, abandoned decades of neutrality in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to join NATO.

Meanwhile, European officials have warned that if Russia achieves a partial victory in Ukraine it could rapidly seek to target NATO members in the region.

Trump and Greenland

Denmark also faces tensions in the Arctic, where Russia, China, and the US are in competition.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has threatened to seize control of Greenland, a self-governing territory belonging to Denmark.

Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland over the weekend and said the US was best placed to ensure its security.

Included in Denmark's naval plans is a long-term strategy to boost its strength in the Arctic, including the acquisition of new warships and long-range drones.

Nima Khorrami, a research associate at the Arctic Institute, told BI that Denmark's plan signaled to the US its commitment to Arctic security.

"These recent announcements by the Danish government are more about signaling intent — essentially a form of posturing — to the US government," he said.

Khorrami added that they demonstrate that Denmark is "ready to step up and secure a long-term commitment in both material and human resources for enhanced defense and security in Greenland, as well as increased situational awareness in the Arctic."

• Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall discussed the coming F-47.
• President Donald Trump announced this month that Boeing won the contract to build the next-gen fighter.
• Kendall said he doubted US allies would want to buy it.

President Donald Trump said he would offer US allies a less-capable export version of a coming sixth-gen fighter, but a former top Air Force official says he doubts they'll want it.

Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a podcast interview that he doubted US allies would be willing to buy the coming F-47 stealth fighter because of the high expected cost and concerns over the US's commitments to its longtime alliances.

Speaking on Defense & Aerospace Report's Air Power podcast late last week, Kendall, who left office in January, said the jet's price, which the former Air Force secretary said could be up to $180 million each, roughly twice as much as the F-35, could put off US allies.

"I would be very surprised if our, any of our partners, were prepared to pay that unit cost for a new aircraft," he said.

President Donald Trump announced this month that Boeing had been selected to build the new F-47, winning the $20 billion contract over rival Lockheed Martin. Boeing's share price rose after the announcement, adding $4 billion in market value.

The F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is expected to be ready for combat by the end of the decade.

The aim is to develop a new sixth-gen fighter aircraft with unmatched stealth and air-to-air combat capabilities, including the ability to fly with uncrewed loyal wingmen drones, to give the US Air Force a technological edge to defeat new threats.

The US has been flying X-plane prototypes in pursuit of this effort.

It's poised to replace the F-22 Raptor, a fifth-generation air dominance/air superiority fighter that has been in service since 2005. The US, despite pressure, has never exported the F-22, which was built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The other US fifth-generation fighter is the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which was developed as part of a multinational program. Numerous allies now fly the jet.

Kendall said that the Trump administration's attitude toward longtime allies like Canada and dozens of countries in Europe may lead some to question the wisdom of investing further in really expensive US weapon systems like the coming F-47.

"Another factor right now, of course, is that the attitude we've taken towards our allies is driving a lot of them to rethink their degree of cooperation and commitment and reliance on US sources for equipment," he said.

Kendall also highlighted Trump's claim that the export version of the F-47 sold to US allies could have downgraded capabilities, the reasoning being that allies today might not be allies in the future.

"We basically have very close allies traditionally, and we share some of the best of our capabilities with them because we have a lot of trust in them," Kendall said. "This administration doesn't seem to be taking that point of view."

The F-47 is being designed to fly alongside autonomous drones, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft. But Kendall said there were questions about how these drones will work with future crewed fighters.

"There isn't a readiness at this point, a confidence in the uncrewed aircraft to bet entirely on them, right? And I tend to share that view," he said.

Drone technology is being deployed across the US military, but autonomous drone technology is still in a heavily experimental phase.

Even so, Kendall said there was an urgent need for the US to upgrade its Air Force, where the average aircraft is about 30 years old.

The planned upgrades come as rivals like China appear to be investing in the development of new stealth fighters.

• The UK is moving forward with plans to deploy its new DragonFire laser weapon on warships.
• Lasers are being deployed to combat new threats from drones.
• The UK said the laser can hit a small coin from 600 meters away.

The UK will deploy its new DragonFire laser weapons on board four warships as part of plans to boost its military.

A UK Ministry of Defence official told BI that the plan is for the weapons to be deployed on four Royal Navy destroyers by 2027.

This comes as part of a £2.2bn, or $2.8 billion, boost in UK defense spending over the next financial year, as the country increases its defense budget to 2.5% of GDP in the face of growing global instability and pressure from President Donald Trump.

"The funding will be invested in advanced technologies so that Britain's armed forces have the tools they need to compete and win in modern warfare," the UK MOD said in a statement.

"This includes guaranteeing the investment to fit Royal Navy ships with Directed Energy Weapons by 2027."

The MOD said the DragonFire can hit a coin from 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away, and take down drones at a distance of over 3 miles.

Last year, the MOD released a video showing the weapon being tested off the coast of Scotland.

At the time, it said the laser was relatively cheap to operate, at around $13 a shot, compared to missile-based air-defense systems that can cost millions.

The UK's armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, told Forces News that directed energy weapons are "one of those novel and advanced technologies that we want to see on more of our ships,"

"The work on which destroyers precisely is being worked through by the Navy at the moment, but this is a massive boost for the defensive posture of our Royal Navy fleet," he added.

Countries including the US, China, and Israel are also gearing up to field their own laser weapons, which have long been the stuff of science fiction stories.

The move toward lasers has been sped up by the threats posed by drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, which are cheap and can be fitted with explosives. Drones have been used heavily in the war in Ukraine, and by Houthi militants in attacks on international shipping lanes.

Laser weapons work by directing a high-energy beam at the target's vulnerable points, in order to disable it.

An animation video released by the UK MOD last year showed a DragonFire being used to take down two drones approaching a navy vessel.

However, military experts say there are still major questions over how well laser weapons can function in conditions where there's bad weather or smoke, or in providing enough energy to operate in certain environments.

• A tourist submarine sank off the Egyptian coast, according to reports and officials.
• The Russian embassy in Egypt said the vessel was visiting a reef and four Russians were killed.
• Egypt's Red Sea resorts are a major tourism destination.

Several people were killed when a tourism submarine sank off the coast of Egypt, according to officials.

The Russian embassy in Egypt said in a Facebook post that all 45 passengers on board were Russian, and four of its citizens had been killed.

It said the submarine, Sindbad, operated by a local hotel, was on an expedition to a coral reef less than a mile off the coast when the incident occurred.

The local governor's office told Reuters that the vessel sank near the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada, with six foreigners killed.

Russia's consul general in Hurghada, Viktor Voropayev, told Russian state-owned news outlet TASS that the death toll had risen to five, "including two minors."

The Russian embassy said that most of those on board had been rescued and taken to hospital or their hotels.

According to the hotel's website, the submarine travels around 25 meters underwater, can carry 45 passengers, and offers a "sizeable round viewing window for each passenger."

It's unclear what caused the incident.

Hurghada is a popular Red Sea resort, known for its water sports, reefs, and beaches.

Another tourism vessel capsized off the coast near Hurghada last November, killing 11.

The Egyptian tourism ministry and local authorities in Hurghada didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Russia is raising tantalizing economic deals with the US in Ukraine peace talks.
• Space, Arctic economic exploration, and energy are potential areas for cooperation.
• But it's not backing down in its goal of weakening and controlling Ukraine.

In talks to negotiate a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are painting the prospect of a bright — and lucrative — future for US-Russia relations.

After their phone call last week, the White House said the two leaders discussed the "enormous economic deals" that could result from better US-Russia relations, with joint Arctic economic exploration, space projects, and mining all areas mentioned.

If the US lifts sanctions on Russia, its economy, the world's 11th largest, could again open up to American businesses and investors.

It's a prospect likely to appeal to Trump, a businessman known for his transactional approach to diplomacy who has also mused about his desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

US trade with Russia dropped sharply after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with exports shrinking from $6.4 billion to $1.7 billion, while imports dropped to $14.4 billion, from almost double that.

However, some analysts warn that the deals Trump craves appear to be a long way off, and question the sincerity of Putin's overtures.

"Putin is happy to talk up business opportunities with Trump because he knows that they are good buttons to press to distract the administration from Russia's immediate goals in Ukraine," John Lough, an associate fellow in the Russia & Eurasia Programme at the Chatham House think tank in London, told BI.

He said that Russia will use prolonged negotiations to try to pursue its objectives, such as making sure Ukraine doesn't get security guarantees from its Western allies.

A lucrative reset?

Putin has reoriented the Russian economy over the last few years, with 8% of the country's GDP and 40% of government spending now tied to the military.

But cracks are emerging in an economy heavily propped up by the Kremlin's defense budget, with inflation and labor market shortages becoming increasingly problematic.

This means Putin may see benefits in the possibility of economic deals with Trump, particularly those that enable Russia to access the global financial system.

An end to or loosening of sanctions could see Russia open up to US investment and businesses, and also seek tech parts and other components vital to industries such as aviation or tech manufacturing.

In discussions in Saudi Arabia this week, US, Ukrainian, and Russian officials brokered a potential agreement to halt attacks in the Black Sea.

As part of this, the US said it had agreed to "help restore Russia's access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions."

The move signaled an openness to break Russia's isolation from the global economy.

Even so, Paul Cormarie, a policy analyst with Rand Europe, told BI that Putin would struggle to transition Russia away from its wartime economy.

"As soon as the music stops, all the other factors aggravating Russia's economy will suddenly appear in the daylight," he told BI. "So there will have to be some sizable transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy that will be difficult if there are no opportunities for growth other than defense equipment."

Major obstacles remain

Putin has praised Trump for seeking peace in Ukraine. But he's also restated Russia's goals that Kyiv says amount to an erasure of Ukrainian sovereignty.

And despite attempts by the Trump administration to reset Russia-US relations, Lough said it's "hard to say how sustainable this situation will be."

"The Kremlin will remain suspicious of Washington's motives," he added.

Another serious obstacle to a proposed US-Russia economic bargain is China.

Trump has openly mused about pulling Russia away from China, which the Kremlin has relied on economically during the war. It's been a vital market for sanctioned Russian oil, and a source of consumer goods and tech — as well as diplomatic backing.

Putin and China's President Xi Jinping also share a long-term goal of overtaking US global power. Any moves by Russia to draw closer to the US are unlikely to be part of a long-term shift.

"In Moscow, Trump is seen as an anomaly for the US establishment from whom it might be possible to extract some short-term gains," Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in March.

But he's also seen as someone who "it would be foolish to plan a long-term foreign policy shift" around, Umarov said.

Lough agreed, adding "Moscow is happily banking Trump's concessions on Ukraine but has no reason so far to believe that the US will cease to be a long-term challenge to Russian interests."

Ultimately, a major shift will have to go far beyond the level of words and discussions of potentially lucrative deals.

"That point will only be reached if newly established dialogue leads to the conclusion of a range of agreements," said Lough, including in areas of arms controls mirroring those brokered toward the end of the Cold War.

• A race is on in the Middle East to develop sophisticated laser weapons.
• Gulf states are seeking to emulate Israel's Iron Beam air defenses.
• Cheap drones are exposing gaps in current air defense systems.

In the Middle East, cheap drones and massed missile attacks are testing the sophisticated air defense systems of the region's wealthiest powers.

It's sparked a race to deploy new experimental laser-based air defenses that military analysts say could help plug the gaps at a fraction of the cost.

Israel is poised to become the first country in the region to deploy new laser air defenses. The $500-million Iron Beam won't replace Israel's Iron Dome missiles and other systems, but would complement them by adding a new layer.

"The laser system is the weapon of the future, capable of neutralizing an entire layer of threats," Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said this month during a tour of facilities belonging to Rafael, an Israeli firm developing laser weapons.

The hype around military lasers pre-dates the "Star Wars" movies and now centers on using these light weapons to zap drones and missiles, reducing the strain on guided missiles to do the same task.

But with no operational laser air defenses, it remains far from clear how these weapons will perform in various real-world conditions.

Cheap drone attacks expose gaps in defenses

Recent conflicts have changed the dynamics of warfare in the Middle East.

Iran-aligned groups such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen have deployed cheap drones to stress the US and Israel's missile-based air defense systems, using them to attack naval vessels and commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Hezbollah militia in Lebanon have also used drones to test Israel's Iron Dome, which was designed to shoot down ballistic missiles not low-flying UAVs, while Iran tried to overwhelm the Iron Dome last year with barrages of drones and missiles.

"The ease of acquiring commercial drone technologies and repurposing them for military use has enabled both state and non-state actors to field such offensive systems in increasing numbers," James Black, assistant director at RAND Europe, told BI.

He said that laser defenses offer a potentially cheap and accurate system for defending against new threats from the air.

While drones cost as little as $2,000, missiles used to take them down can cost around $2 million.

"A layer of laser defenses could help with the costs and give the missiles-based systems time to reload or plug gaps where other systems are vulnerable," Sascha Bruchmann, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain, told BI.

The difficulty of stopping drones has an added challenge, two retired Israeli generals previously warned: Air defenses need more ways to defeat drones or risk being knocked out of action themselves.

The race for laser weapons

Last month, Defense News reported that Rafael, the Israeli defense firm, had displayed its laser air defense technology at weapons shows in Abu Dhabi, indicating it may be prepared to sell the tech to other regional powers.

Rafael didn't respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

Saudi Arabia is also developing its own laser air defense capacity using Chinese systems, according to reports, while the UAE is seeking to develop its own laser systems.

Lasers are designed to direct an intense beam of light that uses heat to cut through a target. They can engage "multiple targets at a low cost per shot," Black said, adding they do this "without the risk of running out of missiles or ammunition in the way that traditional air defense systems do."

The UK Ministry of Defence has said that costs could be as low as tens of dollars per shot.

But a laser must have impressive accuracy to stay on a point long enough to burn through it — no easy feat against a ballistic missile traveling over five times the speed of sound. Or it must have sufficient power to rapidly burn through a target.

An added challenge is that missiles could be adapted with plastics and metals that are more resistant to lasers.

Not a silver bullet

Lasers may prove to be better drone killers than missile interceptors. But laser weapons are yet to be deployed at scale, and remain experimental.

Bad weather or smoke can also interfere with the strength and precision of a beam, and generating the power needed in remote front-line regions remains a challenge.

Black said weapons systems take time and money to refine, with Rafael's laser air defense systems in development for decades.

"Multiple breakthroughs were necessary along the way," he said, which "priced out many nations, as others grew disillusioned and cynical."

Yuval Steinitz, Rafael's chairman, said at a media briefing in December that one challenge they faced was that with larger lasers, the air density in the atmosphere disperses the power of the beam.

"We had to find a way to bypass the atmosphere and keep the lasers as strong as when they were" fired, he said, explaining that they resolved this by shooting smaller beams that then converge on vulnerable points on a target to disable it.

In clashes between countries like Israel and Iran — and in defending oil and gas infrastructure in places like Saudi Arabia — laser weapons might not be an instant fix, but they're moving closer to a reality.

"It's a whole series of technologies that is just becoming small, light, precise, and rugged enough to allow a military application," Bruchmann said, "rather than an experimental one that always seemed so close to a working weapon."