NEWS

Troubling new reports are emerging about CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s surprise visit to Moscow on Tuesday. All of the reports point to delivering a warning to Putin’s regime, while exactly the nature of that warning differ.

There have been growing concerns in Europe over expanding Russian aggression and specifically the possibility it could attack a NATO country to test the alliance’s resolve. There are also reports that Putin will drastically increase offensive operations in Ukraine due to the massive damage his country is now taking from long-range drone and cruise missile strikes, as well as failed peace talks. Reports even state that he is mulling the use of tactical nuclear weapon in order to stop these attacks and change the tide of the years-long conflict, a possibility which we will discuss more later in this piece. Iran, of course, is also a major issue, but it seems, at least based on reporting, it had taken a backseat to whatever the director was trying to accomplish in Moscow.

Wednesday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ratcliffe was in Moscow to deliver a message to Putin not to attack NATO countries. His visit “followed new U.S. intelligence assessments, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test the resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years,” the newspaper noted. We have been reporting on major concerns over exactly this for weeks now.

U.S. officials “are concerned that Putin, squeezed in Ukraine and under pressure at home, could launch an assault ranging from a cyberattack to a small-scale land incursion, likely on a Baltic nation, the Journal added. 

“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during his time in the Russian capital, but he didn’t meet with Putin. Putin was briefed on the talks, Peskov said,” according to the publication.

Earlier on Wednesday, ABC News reported that an explosive drone found near an An-124-100 Ruslan (NATO reporting name Condor) cargo jet at Leipzig airport in Germany earlier this month “bore the hallmarks of devices typically employed by Russia’s Military Intelligence Directorate, the GRU.” The network cited a U.S. intelligence source.

“The U.S. official, who was briefed on the investigation into the alleged sabotage plot, said the explosives fitted to the drone as well as the structure of the lethal device were ‘typical’ of those used by Russia’s GRU,” ABC added. “This U.S. assessment was made in conjunction with German security and intelligence agencies, the source added.

Numerous Russian drone incursions and other actions have some European officials convinced that Putin is already waging so-called hybrid war against NATO, and has been doing so for some time.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump downplayed the Ratcliffe trip, which has sparked a wide range of speculation about its purpose.

The president called it “semi-routine.”

That statement is hard to square considering how rare having a CIA director rush to Moscow is. The last time this happened was just prior to the war in Ukraine breaking out into the destructive reality we see today.

As we noted earlier in this story, Putin is reportedly considering escalating attacks on Ukraine, including the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, Bloomberg reported, citing “three people close to the Kremlin.”

“For now, Russia is weighing an intensification of powerful conventional ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, including the center of the capital, and infrastructure targets in other Ukrainian cities.”

At issue, Bloomberg suggested, is that negotiation “frameworks have all effectively collapsed, leaving the two warring sides back at square one.”

This comes as Ukraine is already reeling from constant attacks, especially ballistic missile strikes it can’t defend against because of the lack of Patriot interceptors.

Moreover, the Kremlin “has also abandoned reliance on what it believed was an understanding reached between Putin and Trump at their summit in Alaska last August,” Bloomberg noted.

You can see video from that encounter below.

Six people in critical condition as a severe heatwave fuels 154 wildfires across Algeria in a single day.

At least 12 people have been killed and 54 others injured as wildfires ravaged parts of northeastern Algeria, an official said, as authorities evacuated dozens of families from the hardest-hit areas.

Minister of Interior Said Sayoud, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said the deaths occurred in the provinces of Jijel, Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou.

“Five deaths were recorded in the prefecture of Jijel, four in that of Bejaia and three in that of Tizi Ouzou,” he said.

Sayoud made the remarks during a visit to a hospital in the city of Souk El Thenine in Bejaia to evaluate treatment for victims suffering burn injuries and smoke inhalation.

According to the official Algeria Press Service, Sayoud reported 54 burn cases at the hospital, including six people who were in critical condition.

Sayoud said Civil Protection teams recorded 154 fire outbreaks across the country on Wednesday, including 36 in Bejaia province, 18 of which had been brought under control.

The fires come as a severe heatwave sweeps across Algeria and neighbouring Tunisia.

Sayoud said firefighting teams have managed to contain the blazes in the provinces of Skikda, El Tarf, Bouira, Tizi Ouzou and Tebessa. Operations were still under way in Bejaia, where 18 hotspots remained active, and in Jijel, where fires were burning in 12 municipalities.

He added that dozens of families had been evacuated from areas affected by the fires.

Images broadcast by regional news website Jijel News showed residents seeking refuge in a post office amid thick smoke.

Algeria frequently endures deadly seasonal wildfires during peak summer months.

At least six people were killed last month alone.

In recent years, intense heatwaves and fierce winds have amplified fire risks across the country’s forested Mediterranean coastline, disasters exacerbated by drought and climate change.

The air-launched version of Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic strike missile for the U.S. Navy has now at least been test-loaded onto an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Castelion and the Navy are pushing to have the lower-cost Blackbeard ready for a limited early entry into operational service no later than August 2028.

Attendees at the Tailhook Association’s annual convention this past weekend were shown a picture of a pair of Blackbeard test articles under the right wing of a Super Hornet. The image was shown alongside another one offering a general side profile view of the missile, seen at the top of this story, which was first released publicly last week.

Blackbeard, which the Navy is acquiring under its Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program, was included in the same briefing at Tailhook where the new AIM-424 Malice Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile (LRAAM) was revealed. The slide on MACE was shown very briefly in passing in a video of the recording of a new episode of The Mover and Gonky Show podcast, which was posted online on Tuesday.

TWZ has reached out to the Navy about obtaining the full image and for more information.

Where or when the picture of the Blackbeards loaded on the Super Hornet was taken is unknown. In March, Axios reported that the missile would “fly aboard an F/A-18 in the near future,” without directly naming a source. In a press release the following month regarding a $105 million contract award from the Navy, Castelion said that funding would go in part to “completing the hardware and software integration of Blackbeard onto the F/A-18E/F airframe.”

Whether or not any actual flight tests have been conducted is also unclear. Another slide in the Navy briefing at Tailhook included a bullet point reading “Project Alpha – Hypersonic missile shot in 2026,” but does not explicitly say whether or not that milestone has already been reached. The MACE slide makes clear that the program is directly intertwined with Project Alpha, if they are not just different names for the same effort.

Beyond the confirmation of this important new step in testing, the picture of the Blackbeards on the Super Hornet’s wing offers a new look at the front of the missile, showing what look to be apertures on one side of the design’s wedge-shaped nose. The apparent apertures are also seen pointed up, but many air-launched munitions do flip down after release.

How exactly Blackbeard is guided remains unknown, but a downward-angled aperture at the nose end for a seeker system would make sense for this weapon, which the Navy is pursuing primarily as a new way to target enemy ships. In particular, a wide array of existing anti-ship and land attack missiles, as well as certain anti-air types, have variously shaped apertures in their noses for imaging infrared seekers. Imaging infrared has the benefit of being immune to radio frequency electronic warfare jamming. In addition, it is a passive capability that does not send out signals that can give an opponent advance notice of an incoming attack. Blackbeard’s full guidance package very likely also includes some means of navigating to a target area first, and it could have multiple modes of operation.

The apertures could also be present in this case for testing or other purposes, though this seems far less likely.

We previously discussed the other visible aspect of the design after last week’s release of the side profile picture, writing:

“A profile photo at the company’s headquarters reveals a weapon with a ballistic missile-like booster, on top of which is mounted what could be an unpowered hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). A booster brings an HGV to the desired velocity and altitude before releasing it toward its target. The concept is in contrast to air-breathing cruise missiles capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds. Hypersonic speed is generally defined as anything above Mach 5, which larger ballistic missiles also reach in the course of their flights. More precise performance figures for Blackbeard are lacking, but Castelion has previously hinted it could hit targets out to just under 500 miles. Alternatively, the second stage may also have its own motor, allowing it to continue accelerating or sustain high-speed flight. A similar arrangement has been suggested as the propulsion system for the Russian Zircon missile.”

“Both stages of the weapon have cruciform fins, while the upper one features a prominent ‘chine’ line along the length of its body, and a slightly beaklike nose. The trolley on which the weapon is mounted provides some idea of its overall size. The blue stripes seen on each stage normally signify that a munition is an inert, non-explosive round utilized for training or tracking purposes. This would indicate a real (unarmed) missile rather than a dummy or mockup.”

As noted, Castelion and the Navy are hoping to see the air-launched Blackbeard reach an early operational capability (EOC) within the next two years. Castelion’s press release in April said EOC was being targeted for 2027, a timeline that had been previously reported. Just yesterday, the company put out a press release announcing a new nearly $90 million contract from the Navy specifically to help push the weapon closer to that milestone, as well as perform other activities. The release did not explicitly mention a new EOC schedule, but did say the contract covered work through August 2028, by which point the hope is that at least 50 missiles will have been delivered.   

Castelion previously released the video below to highlight continued work on Blackbeard, including in an air-launched form for integration on the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

Blackbeard is coming 🏴‍☠️

The U.S. Army is also separately funding development of a surface-launched version of Blackbeard. In May, the Pentagon outlined plans for the acquisition of 12,000 Blackbeard missiles over the next three years, but it is unclear whether this covers surface- or air-launched versions, or a mix of both. At that time, the Pentagon also announced a framework for purchases of 10,000 lower-cost surface-launched cruise missiles in that same timeframe.

As underscored by those planned orders, Blackbeard is being developed with an eye toward lower cost and relative ease of production, as well as exportability to U.S. allies and partners. Historically, hypersonic missiles have been viewed as expensive, low-density assets offering a more limited ‘silver bullet’ capability against high-value targets. Depending on the price point that Castelion can achieve with Blackbeard, it could help change this calculus. Expanding sales beyond America’s armed forces could help further spread cost burdens and drive down unit prices through economies of scale.

Reduced production costs and timetables are areas of great interest today to the U.S. military when it comes to munitions, in general. Global conflicts in recent years, including recent fighting with Iran, other crises in the Middle East, and the war in Ukraine, have underscored the importance of having adequate stockpiles of key munitions and being able to rapidly replenish them. They have also exposed the United States’ increasingly worrisome lack of capacity in both areas at present.

For the Navy, from an operational perspective, Blackbeard is seen as a particularly important addition to the arsenal available to the service’s carrier air wings. The missile will offer Navy Super Hornets, and potential other aircraft, a boost in the range at which they can hold targets at risk, as well as the ability to cover those longer distances faster. Castelion’s design will also give the service a new stand-off strike weapon that is far more survivable and more capable, especially against time-sensitive targets. The missile’s speed will lessen the need for persistent kill chains, as well.

Greater standoff reach is already becoming more and more valuable, if not vital, as carriers and their air wings are being pushed further and further away from target areas by expanding and evolving adversary anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) bubbles. Similar considerations are pushing the Army and other services toward greater standoff strike capabilities.

If the development schedule for Blackbeard holds, the Navy will see the arrival of its first operational air-launched hypersonic weapon in the next two years. We now know that work on this weapon has already reached another important milestone, with testing on the Super Hornet now underway.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Caracas, August 26, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Antonio Ecarri has proposed dollarizing Venezuela’s economy and abolishing the bolívar, the country’s official currency, as a way to “stop devaluation” and “protect citizens’ purchasing power.”

Ecarri, a National Assembly Deputy from Alianza del Lápiz, has hired US economist Steve Hanke as an advisor for his plan to change the national currency.

“We are working on a serious dollarization proposal to put the brakes on the infernal devaluation that is destroying people’s wages. Enough of bureaucracy financing public spending by confiscating the private property and labor of Venezuelans,” Ecarri said.

Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University academic who served in the Reagan administration, has advised countries such as Ecuador and Zimbabwe on similar initiatives. In an article for business magazine Fortune, he confirmed that he has already drafted “a bill for the Venezuelan parliament.”

According to the US economist, the transition would begin with the establishment of a fixed USD-bolívar exchange rate before converting bolívar-denominated accounts to US dollars. The Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) would retain administrative functions but lose the ability to issue money or set interest rates.

Hanke previously revealed that he has held meetings with US Treasury and White House officials to discuss an international strategy aimed at strengthening the US currency through dollarization of foreign countries, currency boards, and other instruments.

Ecarri’s proposal drew significant criticism, with Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez announcing “an investigation process to establish the offenses committed” by the opposition lawmaker. Ecarri was also removed from his position as chairman of the Venezuela-US Parliamentary Friendship Group, a post he had held for just two months.

According to a published statement, the opposition deputy allegedly violated the legislature’s internal procedures as well as the constitutional provision establishing that “the monetary unit of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the bolívar” and that the Central Bank “is the public entity that, exclusively and mandatorily, exercises monetary policy.”

Rodríguez also described the proposal during a parliamentary session as “absurd and outrageous.” Ecarri, however, defended his stance and decision to hire Hanke, whom he called “an authority in the field and a personal adviser of mine for some time.”

The opposition lawmaker argues that Venezuela is “at a key moment” to debate the adoption of a different currency. 

“The country is already de facto dollarized, but those who continue to receive their wages in bolívars that lose value every day are our teachers, nurses, workers, and pensioners,” he stressed. “The government itself has just approved a law allowing rents to be paid in foreign currency.”

Ecarri claimed that growing oil revenues would supply Venezuela with enough foreign currency to adopt the dollarization plan, which he argued “should be accompanied by a Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund to protect the value of the currency against potential external shocks in the United States.”

Since 2018, the Venezuelan government has tolerated the circulation of US dollars amid efforts to control inflation. Though the bolívar remains the official currency, businesses and retailers establish cost structures and prices using US dollars. Venezuelan authorities have also fixed monthly bonus payments, which constitute virtually the entire income for workers and pensioners, in dollars, which are then paid in bolívars using the exchange rate established daily by the BCV.

The Central Bank has continually devalued the bolívar, with the USD-bolívar exchange rate growing by more than 150 percent since the beginning of 2026. The currency depreciation is a key driver of inflation. Prices rose by 19.9 percent in July, and accumulated 12-month inflation presently stands at 576 percent.

Financial authorities have likewise been unable to control a parallel, speculation-driven exchange rate which currently stands 15-20 percent above the official one.

Despite the persistent devaluation-inflation issues, formal dollarization is opposed by most Venezuelan policy analysts, including government critics. Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros warned that dollarization would be an effective mechanism for drastically reducing inflation but “is not the best solution,” since it would be a “nearly irreversible” decision that would limit the country’s monetary policy options.

Right-wing economist José Guerra likewise considers dollarization “a straitjacket” for an oil-producing country. “Without a central bank issuing currency, an external shock will cause deflation, an inability to pay salaries and finance public spending, as happens in Ecuador. It also creates a high dependence on the US and is a one-way path,” he said.

Rodrigo Cabezas, former finance minister under President Hugo Chávez, similarly expressed his “complete opposition” to dollarization, stating that it is “unreasonable” for a country to surrender essential economic tools, losing control over foreign exchange policies and interest rates.

For his part, economist and former United Socialist Party (PSUV) legislator Tony Boza contended that Washington wants to push dollarization in Latin America to “stave off its economic downfall.” Boza went on to criticize the acting Delcy Rodríguez government and the National Assembly for subordinating economic policies and the country’s national resources to US and foreign capital interests.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

ICE agent Christian Castro faces criminal charges for shooting a Minnesota man in the leg during an immigration raid.

A United States judge has denied a request to compel the extradition of a federal immigration agent charged with shooting a man during an immigration raid in the state of Minnesota and lying about it.

Wednesday’s decision concerns the case of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro, who has been detained in a county jail in Texas since May.

Minnesota has sought his extradition as he faces charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime in Hennepin County, which covers Minneapolis.

Under Texas law, the state cannot hold the subject of an extradition order for more than 90 days. At that point, the suspect must either be transferred or released. The deadline for Castro is set to expire on Thursday.

Minnesota argued in a lawsuit this month that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to authorise the extradition for political reasons.

But in Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr wrote that he could not intervene because Abbott has not yet acted – and has therefore not yet violated any law.

“The record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro,” Rodriguez wrote.

Castro has been charged in connection with the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during an immigration raid in Minnesota on January 14, part of a mass deportation effort under President Donald Trump.

Starting in December, Trump oversaw a large-scale deployment of federal agents to the Midwestern state, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.

The operation, which lasted less than three months, sparked protests and allegations of civil liberty violations from residents and watchdog groups.

Prosecutors say Castro fired a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg.

Afterwards, he and another agent accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting federal authorities with a broom handle and snow shovel. Those allegations were later disproven after video of the incident emerged. Criminal charges against Sosa-Celis were subsequently dropped.

Todd Lyons, then-acting director of ICE, confirmed in February that the agents appeared to have made “untruthful statements”. Castro and the second agent were placed on administrative leave.

Castro is currently in custody in Brownsville, Texas. Minnesota officials have warned that he may flee the country if released, citing calls he made from jail to a woman in Mexico.

During those calls, Castro talked “about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released”, according to Minnesota’s lawsuit.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a request for a temporary restraining order last week to stop Castro’s anticipated release and force Governor Abbott to sign the extradition warrant.

Ellison has framed Abbott’s decision not to take action as a way of supporting Trump’s mass deportation campaign and skirting federal extradition law.

“For nearly three months, Greg Abbott has refused to return ICE agent Christian Castro to Minnesota, where he’s charged with shooting a Minnesotan in his own home,” Ellison wrote in a social media post.

“Abbott has a legal obligation to return him. Instead, he’s chosen to ignore the law.”

Liverpool will take on Tottenham as the teams who compete in Europe enter in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Leeds could potentially face Chelsea, should the London club beat Luton on Thursday.

Manchester United face Premier League opposition in Brighton, while holders Manchester City host Norwich.

Fleetwood, the only fourth-tier side left in the competition, host Sheffield United.

The nine Premier League teams that are playing in Europe – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Sunderland – all enter the Carabao Cup in the third round.

To avoid clashes with the opening rounds of the Champions League and Europa League, matches will be played across the weeks commencing Monday, 7 and Monday, 14 September.

The final two places will be decided on Thursday when Chelsea host Luton (19:30 BST) and Fulham take on AFC Wimbledon (20:00 BST).

U.S. Army soldiers used a Bradley Fighting Vehicle as a carrier for FireAnt uncrewed ground vehicles (UGV) during a recent test exercise. The small 4×4 UGVs can be configured as one-way attack munitions, as well as for electronic warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other missions. Bradleys acting as transports and controllers for swarms of UGVs like the FireAnt could open up important new operational possibilities.

Swarmbotics AI, the developer of the FireAnt, shared a video on its LinkedIn page yesterday showing the Bradley with five of the UGVs attached to its side. The post says the footage was taken during Pegasus Charge 3, the third iteration of a 1st Cavalry Division-led test exercise series. The division is one of the operational formations supporting the Army’s larger Transformation In Contact (TIC) modernization initiative. Units assigned to the 1st Cavalry have been testing and evaluating various new weapon systems and other capabilities through Pegasus Charge events and other exercises.

“The US Army has picked Swarmbotics AI (SBAI) to build swarming, attritable, small unmanned ground vehicles (sUGVs) to advance Transformation in Contact (TiC) with the 1st Cavalry Division,” the company announced in a press release back in February. “The award results from successful participation at last year’s xTech Overwatch competition.”

xTech is an in-house Army technology accelerator that regularly hosts “innovation challenges” to support new developments that could be of interest to the service.

“During xTech Overwatch evaluations, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division assessed several contractor’s autonomous capabilities that spanned from ground, airborne, payload, and mission planning,” Swarmbotics AI’s release added. “This competitive assessment, facilitated by T2COM [the Army’s Transformation and Training Command] and key stakeholders, aimed to accelerate the adoption of autonomous systems in line with the Chief of Staff of the Army’s directive.”

From what is seen in the video from Swarmbotics AI, it is not immediately clear whether or not the FireAnts can be released remotely from within the Bradley, or if personnel have to unload them manually. Where the UGVs are seen stowed on the side is space that is often taken up by explosive reactive armor (ERA) blocks. A Bradley could carry additional FireAnts internally and deploy them via the rear ramp.

How the roughly 70-pound FireAnts were controlled and otherwise employed during Pegasus Charge 3 is also unclear. Swarmbotics AI has said in the past that human operators are responsible for directing groups of the UGVs. In its press release in February, the company said a squad-sized Army unit had operated 10 FireAnts during the xTech Overwatch competition.

Swarmbotics AI has also said that FireAnt has a significant degree of artificial intelligence (AI) driven autonomy to carry out assigned tasks. When networked together in a swarm, the UGVs are capable of “coordinated behavior across mixed teams and missions,” the company said previously, according to a story from Interesting Engineering.

TWZ has reached out for more information.

As already mentioned, FireAnt is designed to be readily reconfigurable for different missions using modular payloads. The anti-armor configuration, which arms the UGV with an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead, has received the most attention to date. In this role, FireAnt has to get close to its target to be effective. Swarming capability would be very beneficial here for overwhelming defenders, as well as just launching attacks on large groups of tanks and other armored vehicles across a broader area.

With sensor and electronic warfare payloads, FireAnts could also help scout ahead, provide added general situational awareness, and even launch non-kinetic attacks. Swarmbotics AI has also raised the possibility of a counter-drone role for its UGVs. FireAnts could also conceivably act as signal relay nodes, which would also be especially useful when employing the UGVs in semi-autonomous swarms and/or for pushing them further forward of the main body of a friendly force.

“Mass is our objective, by employing swarms of heterogeneous small sUGVs [small UGVs] we create multiple dilemmas for our adversaries at fractions of the cost of exquisite platforms,” Stephen Houghton, Swarmbotics AI’s CEO, said in a statement accompanying the company’s February release.

It is worth noting here that the Army has previously demonstrated the ability of the Bradley to serve as a forward control node for UGVs. Bradleys could also bring groups of FireAnts or similarly-sized designs to the front lines and hand off control to other nodes.

Previous Army-sponsored testing has also involved FireAnts deployed from larger UGVs, as seen in the video below. This demonstrates an additional layer of crewed-uncrewed teaming capability that could push the entire chain further forward on the battlefield. This, in turn, would help keep human personnel even further removed from potential threats.

U.S. Army Tests New Robotic ‘Tank Killer’ Swarm Vehicles

UGVs have already become a notable fixture in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This includes types in the same general size category as FireAnt configured for kamikaze attacks, as well as large ones armed with various anti-tank guided missiles, automatic grenade launchers, and machine guns. Various UGVs and other uncrewed capabilities were the centerpieces of the annual Independence Day parade in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just on Monday, as seen in the video below.

On the battlefields of Ukraine, UGVs are generally being employed via links with an operator, either in first-person direct or a third-person semi-autonomous mode, with the help of cameras on the vehicle. In that conflict, uncrewed ground systems face the same electronic warfare threats as their aerial counterparts, and designs with hard-wired fiber-optic control links have been developed in response. TWZ has also previously highlighted the impacts, in general, that the continued development and proliferation of AI-enabled automated target recognition capabilities and new autonomous technologies are already having on aerial one-way-attack drones. This applies, in broad terms, to uncrewed platforms on the ground, as well.

“The key takeaway is that robot swarms are here to stay,” Drew Watson, Swarmbotics AI’s CTO, said in a statement in the February press release. “Working with 1st Cav in 2026 we’ll baseline concepts for hundreds of robots deployed on the X and at the breach.”

It is still to be seen how FireAnt, specifically, may slot into the Army’s future force structure, overall. That being said, the image of the Bradley at Pegasus Charge 3 carrying a load of the UGVs does look to be a sign of things to come.

Special thanks to user @lfx160219 on X for bringing Swarmbotics AI‘s video from Pegasus Charge 3 to our attention.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Syria has been in talks on the fate of Khmeimim and Tartous bases, which Russia used to support ousted Assad regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa have held discussions, including on the fate of Russia’s military bases in the Middle Eastern country.

During a telephone call on Wednesday, Putin affirmed Moscow’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity and reiterated Russia’s rejection of Israeli attacks and violations of Syrian sovereignty, reports Syrian news agency SANA.

The Kremlin stressed that the discussion also concerned deepening political dialogue and cooperation in trade, among other areas.

The talks were aimed at further development of bilateral relations and strengthened cooperation, SANA noted.

However, the status of the Khmeimim airbase and Tartous naval base, which are highly strategic for Russia, remains the key topic between Damascus and Moscow.

The Kremlin said that Russia-Syria relations will continue through continued contact “at various levels” and that “both sides underscored the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding On the Reorganisation of the Khmeimim Air Base and the Tartus Material-Technical Support Point, signed on August 9”.

Syria announced earlier this month that a deal had been agreed after 18 months of negotiations that will see Khmeimim and Tartous turned into “joint training and capacity-building centres”, with Syria to take control of civilian facilities at both bases.

Russia backed former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout Syria’s 13-year civil war, intervening militarily to keep him in power and expanding the Russian footprint at the Khmeimim air base and Tartous naval base on the Mediterranean coast.

Since al-Sharaa led the ouster of the a;-Assad regime, Putin has worked to build relations with the new Syrian government and to secure the future of the bases, which are key to Russian efforts to maintain influence across the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Dutch group Christians for Israel is taking the government to court in the Netherlands over its plans to introduce a ban on importing goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

The ban, which was announced in July, is due to take effect on September 22 and will run for three years. It bars importing, buying and selling goods produced in Israeli settlements, as well as intermediary services and any attempt to circumvent the rules.

But the Israel Product Centre (IPC), part of Christians for Israel (CvI), a Dutch evangelical organisation which a recent study found has donated about $300,000 to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, has responded by filing summary proceedings against the state, with the hearing due today.

Here’s what we know about this case.

What is the case about?

The IPC has issued summary proceedings against the Dutch state, seeking to block the July decree.

The IPC argues the measure is “one-sided” and that the window it now has to clear its existing stock – some 20,000 bottles of wine – is too short.

It is also arguing that a national ban conflicts with the European Union’s principle of free movement of goods.

A verdict is not expected for about two weeks.

How has this case come about?

EU rules have long required goods from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to be labelled by their origin – Palestine – rather than as “product of Israel”, but the bloc has not placed an outright ban on trading with Israeli settlements. That remains up to individual countries.

In February 2020, the Dutch advocacy group DocP urged consumers to file complaints with the Dutch food safety authority, NVWA, if they found wine and Dead Sea cosmetics had been mislabelled.

Following complaints, the IPC changed its labelling to “product uit een Israelisch dorp in Judea & Samaria [product from an Israeli village in Judea and Samaria],” which it argued accurately reflected the exact geographical and administrative reality of the origins of the products without deceiving the buyer. Judea and Samaria is the biblical name used by the Israeli government to refer to the West Bank. DocP argued this fell short of the requirement to label products correctly, and continued its campaign.

In 2021, the NVWA agreed and fined the IPC 2,100 euros (about $2,500) for mislabelling goods.

Then, in July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end “as rapidly as possible”.

This shifted the legal argument beyond mere consumer labelling, with the court saying countries should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations which help to maintain the unlawful presence of Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories.

The lower house of the Dutch parliament acted on that in September 2025, proposing an import ban.

The national decree against importing goods from Israeli settlements was made in July this year.

Does Christians for Israel describe the West Bank as ‘Israel’?

CvI describes the West Bank as a “disputed territory” rather than accepting the international legal description of it as “occupied Palestinian territory”.

It says it believes that Israel has strong claims to sovereignty there and that Jews have a right to live there.

The vocabulary matters in a legal sense, as “disputed territory” is not the same as “annexed territory”, therefore, the legal apparatus which would make settlement trade unlawful doesn’t straightforwardly apply.

The group’s stated reasons for funding projects there, it says on its website, are rooted in the Bible; it cites Ezekiel 47:21-23: “Peace for the Jewish people and resident foreigners inheriting alongside the tribes of Israel.”

However, the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion is clear that the Fourth Geneva Convention’s Article 49(6) and successive Security Council resolutions treat the territories as occupied and the settlements as unlawful.

How have other Christian organisations in the West responded to trade with settlements?

Western churches are split on the issue, with CvI sitting at one end of the spectrum.

Mainline Protestants, including the Presbyterian Church in the United States, have divested shareholdings in Caterpillar, HP and Motorola Solutions as early as 2014, and from Israeli bonds in 2024. The United Methodist Church has opposed Israeli settlements since 1996 and sold its Israeli bond holdings last August.

The World Council of Churches called for sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in 2025, divestment and an arms embargo.

The Vatican calls settlements an obstacle to peace but has avoided divestment so far.

Christian Zionist bodies, however, including Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, send funding for settlements and fight against boycotts.

How significant is this ban?

It is significant considering that the Netherlands is one of only four EU countries currently imposing a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

Trade from illegal settlements to the EU is estimated to be worth up to $400m per year.

The Netherlands is also a big market for the illegal settlements; a recent investigation by legal advocacy group Global Echo, which analysed thousands of shipments from Israeli settlements between 2017 and 2026, shows that within the EU, the Dutch market is the largest importer of goods from illegal settlements, with about 30 percent destined for or passing through the country.

Which European countries have banned products from West Bank settlements?

Spain has banned all imports of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, since September 2025. The decree also enforces an embargo on defence exports and dual-use technology to Israel, bans ships carrying military fuel for Israel from Spanish ports, and restricts advertising for services or goods linked to Israeli settlements.

Ireland’s parliament approved the text of its Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill in May and the bill was signed into law in July. It covers all goods produced in Israeli settlements, but excludes services.

Belgium’s federal government approved a draft royal decree in July introducing a specific regime for goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The precise details of the new law will be determined by the government in due course.

Slovenia imposed restrictions on imports from Israeli settlements under its previous government, but the new conservative government reversed them in June 2026.

The EU as a bloc remains deadlocked over whether a ban counts as foreign policy requiring unanimity or trade policy needing only a qualified majority, with ministers not meeting again in a decision-making format until October.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar last year described the push by some European governments to implement the ICJ advisory opinion as “shameful”.

Which European countries still allow trade with West Bank settlements?

Nearly all of them.

Outside the three European Union states which still have bans in place, settlement goods can be sold legally everywhere, including in most of the EU.

At a July 2026 meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, which addressed trade from Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, Germany, Austria, Czechia and Hungary were opposed to an EU-wide ban.

Beyond the EU, the United Kingdom does not forbid trade with illegal Israeli settlements, although new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly considering a ban. In a recent parliamentary briefing, Amnesty International called on the UK government to implement a ban.

It said: “The argument for a UK ban on trade with settlements is clear. The UK government itself accepts it should take stronger action in response to settlement expansion and annexation. The International Court of Justice has directed states not to trade with Israel in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and there is precedent in UK law and policy to not trade with illegally occupied lands, ie Crimea and other illegally occupied parts of Ukraine.”

Meta settles $16.68bn lawsuit over child addiction claims, agreeing to major changes in Facebook and Instagram features.

Meta Platforms has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of designing Facebook and Instagram in a way that addicted children, misled consumers about safety, and collected personal data of children on the platform.

On Wednesday, the social media giant agreed to pay a maximum of $16.68bn as part of a settlement to resolve claims brought in the United States case, championed by a coalition of 29 US states. The case, which started on August 18, was expected to last six weeks.

Meta, based in Silicon Valley in California, has also agreed to make changes to Facebook and Instagram nationwide as part of the settlement. Among these are daily usage limits of two hours for those under the age of 18, which can only be removed by a parent, and nighttime blocks.

The California State Attorney General’s Office said that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company would also identify and remove children under the age of 13 from the platform.

Meta denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which still needs court approval. It had faced up to $1.4 trillion in fines in the case, but the coalition had been seeking a penalty closer to $200bn.

The settlement comes after a loss in a comparable landmark case in New Mexico, where a jury ordered Meta to pay $375m in March and another $567m in August.

Meta’s stock tumbled in early trading on Wall Street, down 0.1 percent since the market opened.

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III has made a highly unusual visit to Moscow today, landing at Vnukovo Airport after flying from Riga, Latvia, according to publicly available flight-tracking data. The purpose of the flight remains unclear for now. It does come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has identified a potential opportunity for new U.S. ​mediation to help end the Russian war in Ukraine.

Flight-tracking data identified the C-17, operating under the callsign RCH4555, departing Riga at approximately 8:50 a.m. Moscow time and arriving at Vnukovo at around 10:04 a.m. Video posted to social media also shows the C-17 on approach to Vnukovo.

U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III strategic airlifter descending to land at the Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow on Tuesday morning.

The cameraman, likely sarcastically, comments: “we are under attack!” https://t.co/7EfvANBScW pic.twitter.com/dVItO5nAjn

— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) August 25, 2026

RCH4555 had flown from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, to Joint Base Lindsey Graham (formerly Joint Base Charleston), South Carolina, on August 22. A day later, the aircraft touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, before departing for Riga. The plane then continued to Moscow two days later.

Probably the first US C-17 in years seen over Russia few moments ago

Its itinerary over the past few days:

August 22: McGuire/Wrightstown → Charleston

August 23: Charleston → Joint Base Andrews

August 23: Andrews → Riga

August 25: Riga → Moscow-Vnukovo pic.twitter.com/Iedvuho8Gb

— Casus Belli (@casusbellii) August 25, 2026

There are unconfirmed reports, citing observers on the ground, that an aircraft that might have been a U.S. Air Force C-40B was also on the ground at Riga earlier today. The C-40B is a militarized version of the commercial Boeing 737-700 and is often used to shuttle high-ranking government and military leaders.

An observer in Riga, Latvia reported a white aircraft, likely a U.S. Air Force C-40B, parked near the C-17A Globemaster III that arrived in Moscow earlier this morning.

Notably, on the same day the C-17 departed Joint Base Andrews, a C-40B operating under callsign RCH790 also… https://t.co/LK7MVC4U9N pic.twitter.com/yTTsSBgYrR

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 25, 2026

The earlier stop at Joint Base Andrews is also notable. Situated just outside Washington, D.C., this is not simply an ordinary transport base. It is the home of the 89th Airlift Wing, which operates the Air Force’s Special Air Mission (SAM) fleet and supports senior U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries. The wing’s mission includes providing airlift for the president, vice president, senior executive staff, high-ranking government officials, and foreign dignitaries.

Joint Base Andrews is also where the Air Force’s Roll-On Conference Capsules (ROCC) are kept. The Air Force deploys ROCCs onboard certain C-17s to give senior leaders a secure, quiet place to conduct business in the middle of a noisy, often-crowded cargo aircraft. They serve as a mobile SCIF, office, and apartment all in one. Their extensive communications include multiple options for unsecured and secure voice, data, and video teleconferencing. These capsules replaced the previous Silver Bullet Command and Control Module, a converted Airstream trailer, which was phased out in recent years for reasons you can read more about here.

The C-17 is otherwise well-equipped for carrying high-ranking officials on overseas trips, including into potentially hostile areas. The planes have a defensive suite that includes multiple types of expendable decoys and the laser-based Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure System (LAIRCM).

The Globemaster III’s primary mission is as a strategic airlifter, and it is typically used for transporting personnel, equipment, and other cargo. With those capabilities, the aircraft are also regularly used to bring advance parties to countries ahead of major state and other diplomatic visits. For presidential visits, this can even include Marine One helicopters and vehicles for the official motorcade.

The presence of an active-duty U.S. military transport aircraft in the Russian capital is highly unusual and immediately attracted attention from open-source intelligence and aviation observers.

Theories on today’s highly unusual movement of a US military aircraft to Moscow Vnukovo airport
1. Prisoner swap
2. Mission by senior intelligence official to warn against escalation by Russia, eg in Baltics
3. New diplomatic opening pic.twitter.com/OhqlHYQeKs

— Mark Urban (@MarkUrban01) August 25, 2026

At this stage, the purpose of the Moscow flight and what the aircraft carried are not publicly confirmed. We have reached out to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Air Mobility Command, and the U.S. Air Forces in Europe for more details about the mission. The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed us to contact the Air Force.

Nevertheless, any kind of U.S. military aircraft traveling from the Washington area via Riga and then into Moscow represents an exceptionally unusual movement based on current relations between Moscow and the West.

Washington and Moscow have maintained official diplomatic channels despite the broader deterioration in relations against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. Since U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term in 2025, ties between the two countries have both warmed and cooled again at times. Trump notably met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in person at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. This was the first summit between leaders of the two nations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

More recent U.S.-mediated peace efforts have largely stalled in recent months, including when Ukraine refused Russian demands to cede more territory. However, over the weekend, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky did say he saw a window for new diplomatic efforts, at least to reach a ceasefire until the end of next summer. He has also drafted ‌a page of ideas with U.S. and European officials to be presented to Moscow, according to Reuters.

For its part, Moscow has continued to signal that it is prepared to engage with Washington, while U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been discussed as potential participants in further talks. Witkoff and Kushner were last in Moscow in ​January.

There have also been reports that FBI Director Kash Patel is planning to visit Russia later this year, although such a trip is not thought to be expected until mid-October.

This is very much a developing story, and we will watch with interest to see when the C-17 departs Moscow, its destination, and any other clues as to the purpose of this mission.

Update, 4:10 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

Russkaya Pravda reports that the Russian government says it has no information about the C-17 flight, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Russian officials had no meetings scheduled this week with representatives of the U.S. administration.

Other Russian media outlets reported that this is the first time that a U.S. Air Force C-17 had arrived in Moscow since 2017. Kommersant, meanwhile, noted that another U.S. military aircraft — a Gulfstream C-37B — landed at Vnukovo in February 2025 after departing from Andrews Air Force Base.

That earlier flight carried Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik after his release from a U.S. prison. Vinnik returned to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange that also involved American citizen Marc Fogel.

Potentially, the flight today could be related to a prisoner exchange, although a C-17 would be an unsual choice for this.

Unconfirmed reports out of Russia suggest the C-17 may have arrived in connection with American citizen Charles Wayne Zimmerman, who was sentenced to five years in prison in January after Russian authorities found weapons and ammunition aboard his yacht.

Zimmerman sailed from the U.S. to Sochi on June 19, 2025, reportedly to meet a Russian woman he had met online. He pleaded guilty, saying he was unfamiliar with Russian law and believed weapons kept aboard his yacht for self-defense were permitted.

A source cited by Ostorozhno Media said Zimmerman signed a clemency petition at his prison this summer, which was then sent to Moscow.

For now, there is no official confirmation linking the American aircraft’s arrival to Zimmerman.

A convoy of cars with U.S. diplomatic license plates has been spotted in the capital of the Russian Federation.

Update, 4:15 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

A remarkable capture of the arrival of the C-17A by an individual on the ground confirms beyond a doubt the location. In the foreground is the distinctive Tupolev Tu-104B jetliner, registration CCCP-42507, that is preserved as a gate-guard monument outside Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow.

Update, 4:20 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

A video being shared on social media shows what is claimed to be a motorcade with American diplomatic license plates spotted on the streets of Moscow today, with a local police escort.

Russian media report that a motorcade with American diplomatic license plates was spotted on the streets of Moscow following reports that a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III had landed at Vnukovo Airport. https://t.co/EiKsKdnu6t pic.twitter.com/Hzrppj9fFy

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 25, 2026

Update, 4:30 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

Citing multiple unnamed sources, CBS reports that the C-17 brought CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow for undisclosed meetings. This would be his first known trip to Russia as CIA director, though he has maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts.

NEW: CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow today aboard a US Air Force C-17 for meetings, according to CBS News citing multiple sources.

The Kremlin said it had “no information” about the visit.

No details on who Ratcliffe met or the agenda. https://t.co/Y14uaWEP2H

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 25, 2026

Update, 4:15 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

CNN is also now reporting that CIA Director Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow overnight to meet with Russian officials, citing a U.S. official familiar with his travel. The same official declined to share the substance of the meetings or the topics set to be discussed.

If I had to wager, I’d say Ratcliffe is in Moscow to warn about Russian escalation against Europe/NATO. Linked to U.S. intelligence shared with Poles, Balts and Scandinavians, and comes amid a noticeable uptick in suspected GRU sabotage operations and Russian drone activity. See…

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) August 25, 2026

Update, 4:45 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

The Financial Times now reports that the Trump administration last week requested that Kyiv not strike Moscow, St. Petersburg, and northern regions of Russia with its long-range missiles and drones on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. This was due to Washington planning to end an aircraft carrying a senior-level official to the Russian capital, according to people familiar with the request.

Scoop @FT: Trump administration officials last week requested that Kyiv not strike Moscow, St Petersburg and nothern regions of Russia with its long range missiles and drones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when the US would send a plane carrying a senior-level official to the…

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 25, 2026

Update, 8:45 p.m., Central European Time (CET) –

The Wall Street Journal now reports the possibility that CIA Director Ratcliffe was in Moscow to dissuade Russia from mobilizing and launching an attack on Europe. Given the intense NATO intelligence-gathering activity along the eastern flank over the past week, it seems the situation is indeed quite tense.

The U.S. has collected intelligence showing Russia’s early preparations for a possible military mobilization in Ukraine and plans for testing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s resolve, the WSJ has reported.

Flight-tracking data identifies the C-17, again operating under the callsign RCH4555, now departing Moscow for Riga.

RCH4555, a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster lll which landed in Moscow early today carrying CIA Director John Ratcliffe for a series of high-level meetings with Russian officials, has just departed Moscow bound for Riga, Latvia. pic.twitter.com/9I4AG8dcA9

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 25, 2026

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Football’s biggest club competition returns for the 2026-2027 season as the UEFA Champions League gets under way next month, with the draw for the main round taking place on Thursday.

Back-to-back champions Paris Saint-Germain are chasing a historic third consecutive title, while European giants Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool and Bayern Munich will look to dethrone the two-time champions.

The league phase format, now in its third year, will begin in September and run until January. It will be followed by the knockout rounds, with the champions crowned in early June.

Here’s all you need to know about this year’s draw:

When and where is the Champions League draw?

The main round fixtures will be drawn on August 27 at 6pm (17:00 GMT) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

How does Champions League qualifying work?

Of the 36 competing teams, 29 qualified with their rankings in their respective national leagues. The remaining seven spots were up for grabs in a qualifying competition that began earlier this month and will conclude less than 24 hours before the draw.

Bodo/Glimt, LASK and Sabah became the latest teams to book their place in the elite competition, leaving eight teams to battle it out for the last four places on Wednesday.

Which teams have qualified for the Champions League?

• Arsenal
• Aston Villa
• Atletico Madrid
• Barcelona
• Bayern Munich
• Bodo/Glimt
• Borussia Dortmund
• Club Brugge
• Como
• Feyenoord
• Galatasaray
• Inter Milan
• LASK
• RB Leipzig
• Liverpool
• LOSC Lille
• Manchester City
• Manchester United
• Napoli
• Paris Saint-Germain
• PSV Eindhoven
• RC Lens
• Real Betis
• Real Madrid
• AS Roma
• FC Porto
• Sabah FK
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Slavia Prague
• Sporting CP
• VfB Stuttgart
• Villarreal

What are the pots for this season?

Under the new format, each team will play fixtures against eight teams – two teams each from Pots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Four of the eight matches will be at home, and the other four away.

Pot 1: PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid

Pot 2: Aston Villa, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Porto Club, Brugge PSV, Eindhoven, Real Betis

Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt, (winner of League Path)

Pot 4: Slavia Prague, VFB Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, (3 winners of Champions Path)

When are league phase and knockout matches?

The league phase matches are scheduled for:

Matchday 1: September 8-10

Matchday 2: October 13 and 14

Matchday 3: October 20 and 21

Matchday 4: November 3 and 4

Matchday 5: November 24 and 25

Matchday 6: December 8 and 9

Matchday 7: January 19 and 20

Matchday 8: January 27

The knockout phase matches are scheduled for:

Playoffs: February 16, 17 and 23, 24
Round of 16: March 9, 10 and 16, 17
Quarterfinals: April 6, 7 and 13, 14
Semifinals: April 27, 28 and May 4, 5
Final: June 5

When and where is the Champions League final?

The upcoming season’s final will be held at the Estadio Metropolitano, home of Spanish club Atletico Madrid.

How did PSG win last season’s Champions League?

The French side held their nerve in a cagey ⁠⁠final to retain the title by beating ⁠⁠Arsenal 4-3 on penalties as the nail-biting showdown ended 1-1 after extra time.

Arsenal defender Gabriel blasted his spot kick over Matvey Safonov’s crossbar at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, his miss confirming PSG as the first club to retain the trophy since Real Madrid completed their ⁠⁠three-year reign from 2016 to 2018.

Earlier in August, PSG won the UEFA Super Cup for a second straight year by beating Aston Villa 2-1, thanks to Desire Doue’s second-half goal in the annual curtain-raiser to the European football season.

Doue’s 61st-minute strike after running onto Ousmane Dembele’s pass was initially ruled out for offside, only for the goal to be awarded following a video review, with Matty Cash adjudged to have marginally played him onside.

India has taken a major step towards opening one of its most sensitive areas of defence production to private companies.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the transfer of technologies developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry for domestic production, the country’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

The move marks a significant shift for the sector dominated by government-run firms and research laboratories. Private companies will be able to compete for the technology and production rights, subject to technical qualifications, certifications and other regulatory requirements, the ministry said.

The Narendra Modi-led government says the aim is to move missiles from development into mass production faster, increase domestic manufacturing and reduce India’s dependence on imports.

So, does India’s private defence industry have the capacity to manufacture sophisticated missile systems at the scale and reliability the military needs, is the country moving towards developing its own military-industrial complex, and are there security risks involved?

What did the government announce?

India’s Defence Ministry said Singh had approved the transfer of DRDO-developed technology for all conventional missile systems to Indian defence companies for production inside the country.

“The objective is to enhance domestic manufacturing capabilities, strengthen the defence industrial base, and create opportunities for the participation of Indian MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) and other technology partners in the supply chain,” the ministry said in a statement.

The measure would enable the “successful transition of missile system development to industrial production” and create opportunities for MSMEs and other technology partners, the ministry added.

“DRDO remains committed to working closely with Indian industry to facilitate the transfer and absorption of advanced defence technologies and to further strengthen the country’s indigenous defence capabilities.”

The announcement spans a wide range of missiles, said Aditya Ramanathan, a research fellow with the Bengaluru-based Takshashila Institution.

“It will include surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, anti-radiation missiles, antitank systems, and so on. It will also include more heavy-duty hardware like land-attack cruise missiles,” he told Al Jazeera.

Why is India doing this?

India has traditionally relied heavily on state-owned defence companies to turn weapons developed by DRDO into large-scale production. Bharat Dynamics, one such state-owned company, has long held a monopoly in missile production.

Tuesday’s announcement is a “big change” because it ends that monopoly, said Ramanathan.

“Private companies have been making missile components for years, but what this decision does is allow them to move up the value chain and become prime integrators for these systems,” he said.

While India largely relies on domestically made missiles, it also imports missiles — especially from Russia and Israel, two key weapons suppliers to the country.

But under Modi, India has attempted to both encourage self-reliance in defence — a concept that the government calls Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India — and prod foreign defence majors to manufacture in India.

At a time when geopolitical allegiances are changing fast, and India faces uncertainties on both major borders — with rivals Pakistan and China — the country under Modi has more than doubled its defence budget, from $38bn in 2014 to $86bn in the current financial year.

The brief four-day conflict with nuclear-armed rival and neighbour Pakistan last year has injected fresh urgency into India’s defence preparedness plans. This year’s defence budget is 16 percent higher than the previous year’s.

Other geopolitical events have forced the government’s hand too, suggested Ramanathan.

“I don’t think this move would have happened as soon as it did if not for the experience of recent wars. Indian decision-makers have been looking at Ukraine, they’ve been looking at the US war with Iran, and of course they’ve been imbibing the lessons of operations from last year,” he said.

“One reason you’re going to need large stockpiles is that, as we’ve seen recently, you’re going to burn through your inventory pretty quickly. The other reason is that your adversary could also degrade your stockpiles using their own precision-strike systems.”

China, he said, was a major factor in India’s calculations.

“India believes that to deter China, which is its most capable adversary, it will need to demonstrate that it can both inflict and absorb really punishing attrition over weeks of gruelling warfare,” Ramanathan said.

To that end, India is also creating a tri-services conventional missile force. “To be a viable and effective force, it’s going to require serious magazine depth, and this cannot be achieved without the active involvement of the private sector,” he added.

What is India’s defence industry already manufacturing?

In June, India announced that it was preparing to spend more than $2bn on military drones from domestic manufacturers, reflecting the rapid expansion of the country’s private defence industry.

More than 600 companies were involved in India’s drone industry, including major groups such as Adani, Larsen & Toubro, and Tata Advanced Systems, as well as startups.

In July, India also approved the purchase of a range of military equipment for its defence forces worth $5.46bn, including missiles, electronic warfare systems and Kamikaze drones.

India is also pushing to rapidly modernise its navy with an eye on Beijing’s growing influence in key Indian Ocean shipping lanes. In December, New Delhi announced plans to procure at least 75 ships and submarines, with most expected to be constructed domestically.

At the same time, India is trying to diversify the foreign sources of its weapons. Over the past decade, New Delhi has worked to move away from its longstanding reliance on Russia for military hardware, expanding defence ties with countries such as the United States, France and — increasingly — Israel.

Does the private sector have the capacity to build missiles?

Private arms manufacturers in India have been increasing spending on bolstering military production in the past few years.

Major conglomerates have invested heavily in ammunition, drones, aerospace and military electronics. Of late, they have started to invest in facilities that aim to manufacture missiles.

Adani Defence & Aerospace, owned by business tycoon Gautam Adani, a close associate of Indian Prime Minister Modi, announced plans in 2024 to invest more than 30 billion rupees ($315m) in ammunition and missile manufacturing facilities in Uttar Pradesh.

The facilities would include capabilities for handling explosives used in missiles and precision munitions.

But commitments and intent don’t build missiles.

“Ultimately, I think the success or failure of this move will depend on how the Indian government places orders,” Ramanathan said. “Making missiles is an incredibly complex and costly affair, and companies are going to have to invest a lot in infrastructure, technology and people. These sorts of investments will only pay off if the government places large enough orders to justify them and also, hopefully, leave these companies with some profits that they can pour back into research and development.”

What missiles does India have?

India has a range of cruise and ballistic missiles, several of which are also capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

In May, on the anniversary of the 2025 war with Pakistan, India successfully test-fired the Agni-V, its most advanced nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach a distance of 5,500km (3,418 miles) — a range that covers all of China, the Middle East and even parts of Europe.

Its other ballistic missiles have ranges from as little as the Prithvi-1 (150km or 93 miles) to the Agni-IV (4,000km or 2,485 miles), again covering everything from border skirmishes with Pakistan to India’s extended neighbourhood.

It also has powerful cruise missiles, like the BrahMos, co-developed with Russia, which has a range of up to 500km (311 miles), and was used in last year’s war with Pakistan.

Is India also exporting missiles and other weapons?

India has dramatically ramped up its military exports in recent years, from just $72m in 2014-15 — when Modi came to power — to $4bn in 2025-2016.

Paras Defence, one of India’s fast-growing defence manufacturers, said this month it expects its exports to more than double in the 2026–27 financial year, up to $14m, driven partly by increased demand linked to conflicts in the Middle East.

Indian arms makers have also been involved in joint ventures with companies abroad. Adani Defence, in partnership with Elbit Systems – Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer – produces the large Hermes 900 armed drone systems.

A 2024 investigation by Al Jazeera exposed how India was exporting rocket parts and ammunition to Israel, even as the Modi government was publicly calling for diplomacy to end the war on Gaza.

In June 2026, Amnesty International said in a report that India’s weapons exports to Israel made it complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

But it isn’t just Israel that has sought and received weapons from Indian manufacturers. Nor is it just bullets and weapons parts that India is exporting today — complete missiles are in demand, too.

In 2022, the Philippines bought three batteries of the BrahMos missiles from India. Since then, Vietnam and Indonesia have signed deals with India for the purchase of these missiles. And India has submitted a proposal to the United Arab Emirates offering to supply the Gulf country these missiles, too.

Is the latest move a step towards building a military-industrial complex?

That appears to be the intention.

While Tuesday’s announcement marks the first time that India’s state-run research and manufacturing facilities will transfer missile technology to the private sector, the government earlier this year shortlisted private firms to manufacture the country’s next-generation fighter jets.

Tata Advanced Systems, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Bharat Forge are among companies to be shortlisted, and are emerging as major makers of artillery systems, ammunition and aerospace systems. India has its homegrown jets, but imports the most cutting-edge planes in its arsenal, including the Rafale fighters from France. The Indian Air Force also relies heavily on Soviet-era jets.

Still, while India “wants to build a wider defence industrial base”, said Ramanathan, “it is very far from developing the sort of military-industrial complex that [former US President Dwight] Eisenhower worried about. Power in India still resides overwhelmingly with the government.”

What about India’s military imports?

Despite the surge in domestic manufacturing and exports of specific weapons systems and parts, India on the whole remains a major military importer.

India was the world’s second-largest importer of weapons between 2021 and 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI): Russia was its biggest source, accounting for 40 percent of India’s imported weapons.

Are there risks in transferring sensitive technology to the private sector?

As the US and Israel bombed Iran in March this year, a group of Iranian hackers claimed it broke into the servers of major US defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, stealing blueprints of components used in the F-35 fighter jets.

The alleged data breach exposed the risks of private companies — which often have lower security standards and oversight than top-secret government laboratories — holding sensitive information.

But Ramanathan pointed out that in India’s case, “the companies that are most likely to get the missile contracts are all old hands”.

“They’ve been involved in the defence sector in some capacity for decades, and they have experience in dealing with confidentiality and secrecy,” he said.

The Indian government, on its part, also “doesn’t want the technology or its missile secrets to go to its adversaries, and it also wants to abide by its commitments to the Missile Technology Control Regime, which gives India several advantages,” he said, referring to one of the world’s major export-control regimes.

“So India has good reasons, in its own self-interest, to ensure that missile technology doesn’t leak.”

Ukraine’s combat-proven Magura family of uncrewed surface vessels (USV) has gained its largest member to date. The new MV11 is designed for open-ocean operations lasting up to a week and can carry payloads weighing up to 4,850 pounds (2,200 kilograms). The drone boat has so far been shown in one configuration, loaded with 18 small vertically launched Sting interceptors, turning it into a small floating counter-drone battery. Given its significant payload capacity and other capabilities, it could be utilized in other roles, too.

The MV11 made its public debut yesterday at Ukraine’s Independence Day parade in the country’s capital, Kyiv. The uncrewed air, ground, and maritime systems were the centerpieces of this event, underscoring the central place they now hold in the Ukrainian armed forces. The maritime portion of the parade, which took place along a section of the Dnipro River, featured additional members of the Magura family, as well as other USVs, including kamikaze types and ones armed with repurposed air-to-air missiles. A drone boat with a launcher for first-person-view (FPV) type aerial kamikaze drones and another with an array of small domed antennas (possibly tied to an electronic warfare system or for use as a communications node) were also present. Various types of aerial kamikaze drones, as well as uncrewed ground vehicles (UGV) armed with anti-tank guided missiles, automatic grenade launchers, and machine guns, were also showcased at the event.

The video below shows the various USVs, as well as other uncrewed platforms showcased at Ukraine’s Independence Day parade in Kyiv yesterday.

“We are proud to present the MV11 on Ukraine’s Independence Day. This is not just the largest naval drone – it is a platform that delivers multi-domain capability: a single carrier that transports and launches other unmanned systems far from shore, enabling operations across all domains,” Oleg Roginsky, CEO of UFORCE, said in a statement. “At UFORCE, we are focused on building the best capabilities for Ukraine and its allies who stand for freedom. We are confident the MV11 will become the foundation for many successful missions and for pushing the enemy back even further.”

UFORCE was founded in Ukraine, but has its main headquarters in London in the United Kingdom. It is often described as an uncrewed-focused defense conglomerate with several different enterprises operating under its umbrella. Many of its components are also located outside of Ukraine. For instance, the main design, research, and development bureau for the Magura family is located in Portugal.

As mentioned, the configuration the MV11 has been shown in so far, both at the parade yesterday and in other marketing material released by UFORCE, features a payload of 18 Sting interceptors. They are loaded individually in box-like launchers, which can also be employed in other domains, including mounted on trucks or positioned on the ground. Weighing roughly nine pounds, the Sting interceptor is an electrically powered quad-rotor system with a small explosive warhead. It makes heavy use of 3D-printed components, and each one has a reported cost of around $2,100.

The Ukrainian developer, Wild Hornets, says Sting can reach altitudes up to nearly 23,000 feet (7,000 meters) and has a maximum range of around 23 miles (37 kilometers), depending “on battery capacity, weather conditions, payload weight, and operator flight style.” Typical flying time is said to be shorter, and the system can be recovered for reuse if it does not intercept a target after launch. Sting has proven itself effective at intercepting Russian variants and derivatives of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 one-way attack drone and other similar designs.

Sting is manually operated by a human controller via a wireless link. How this works exactly with the MV11 as the launch platform is unclear, and TWZ has reached out for more information. Wild Hornets has said in the past that the interceptors can be remotely operated from locations up to 2,000 kilometers away from the launch point via a user interface that can be installed on a laptop.

Wild Hornets 2,000 Km

What capabilities the MV11 has onboard to spot and track targets to begin with is also unknown. However, the USV does have a mast at the rear, and images available so far show it equipped with a camera turret, navigation radar, and two other horn-like antennas. The camera system could be used for target detection and tracking, as well as just to help with situational awareness. The additional antennas might allow for passive detection of aerial targets via their signal emissions, or serve some other purpose. As noted, Ukraine does already have USVs armed with traditional anti-air missiles, which the country has claimed to have used to successfully down Russian fixed-wing jets and helicopters.

The MV11 also has a fixed-forward camera on top of the bow, which is a common feature on drone boats to aid general navigation. There are what appear to be a pair of rectangular satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals in the open main deck area, as well. A reliable SATCOM link would be key to linking the Sting interceptors with their operators.

With their own range and endurance, Sting-armed MV11s could offer Ukraine valuable forward-deployed counter-drone nodes out in the Black Sea and along other waterways. Being able to thin out groups of incoming Russian drones further away from their intended targets could help reduce the pressure on land-based forces, including more traditional surface-to-air missile batteries. It is well established at this point that Ukrainian air defense units are under heavy strain from Russia’s constant barrages of drones and missiles on targets across the country.

With a 4,850-pound (2,200-kilogram) payload capacity, the MV11 could easily be adapted to other roles. This could include launching groups of uncrewed aerial one-way attack drones at targets at sea or on land, or conducting direct attacks using other mounted weapon systems. These are capabilities that Ukraine has already demonstrated in real combat using smaller USVs.

MV11s could use their ample payload capacity in other ways, possibly including carrying sensor, electronic warfare, or communications packages. In a press release today, UFORCE said that the MV11 could be employed for more general surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as to support amphibious operations or transport cargo. In July, video emerged of Ukrainian forces using a smaller USV to land an armed UGV into a Russian-occupied area. While the exact outcome of that mission is still unclear, it did clearly serve as a proof-of-concept that could be a sign of things to come that could be further enabled by larger USVs.

On a more general level, the MV11 underscores the pace at which Ukraine continues to expand and evolve its uncrewed capabilities in the maritime, as well as air and ground domains. Other countries, including the United States, are taking notice and even moving to acquire Ukrainian-developed drone and counter-drone capabilities. Gulf Arab States have notably sought assistance from Ukraine in the wake of Iranian drone attacks this year. In that particular context, an MV11 loaded with Stings could be a very useful and lower-cost system for intercepting Shaheds and other one-way-attack drones heading across the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, especially when tied in with even a basic early warning network.

Now that the MV11 has been shown publicly, we could well see it in action soon as a counter-drone platform and/or in other roles.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Dolly Parton, the much-loved US singer-songwriter who has died at the age of 80, was known for her pearls of wisdom and humour as well as her music.

She regularly offered her perceptive and witty insights about life, music, fame and equal rights.

Here are some of her most memorable quotes from down the years:

Fernandes rewarded for outstanding season with record assists in the league; Shaw builds on league win and Golden Boot.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was crowned the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year, while Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw scooped the Women’s award for the second time.

The award wins on Tuesday highlighted the individual brilliance of both players, with contrasting fortunes for their respective teams during the season.

Portuguese international Fernandes broke the Premier League assists record during an outstanding 2025–26 season, setting up 21 goals as he surpassed Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne’s previous mark.

The 31-year-old also scored nine times as United overcame a poor start to finish third in the Premier League under Michael Carrick and earned a return to the Champions League.

Fernandes also won the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award in May.

“It is obviously a very proud moment. They are the ones you go on the pitch against, and it’s probably not easy to vote for someone you play against, so it is a very good moment,” said Fernandes.

Shaw was rewarded for scoring 21 goals on the way to a third straight Golden Boot and securing City’s first Women’s Super League title in a decade.

City also saw further success as Nico O’Reilly was named Men’s Young Player of the Year.

The 21-year-old scored twice in the League Cup final as City beat Arsenal and was part of the side that also won the FA Cup last season.

“I’m very proud of the season I had,” said the England international. “I won two trophies with my club and managed to play at the World Cup with my country. I’m over the moon with how it turned out.”

O’Reilly was joined by City teammates Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo in the Team of the Year.

Champions Arsenal had five representatives in David Raya, Gabriel, William Saliba, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice, with Fernandes and Brentford’s Igor Thiago completing the XI.

McCartney reflected on his history with Parton, which began when he met her in Nashville at the Grande Ole Opry right before starting her solo musical career.

“She was so bubbly and full of life, it is difficult to take in the news that she has passed,” he said. “Her songwriting, her singing and her philanthropy were unrivaled in the world of country music and it is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly.”

John said he was “shocked and devastated” over the news. “A giant of an artist – unique and irreplaceable, with the kindest heart”.

Swift, who began her professional career in country music as a teen after moving to Nashville, has paid tribute to Parton’s “true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person”.

“A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right,” the singer said in a statement shared with the BBC. “But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.”

As well as “melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest of hearts,” Swift acknowledged “the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did”.

She thanked Parton “for the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too”.

Beyoncé said Parton was the “barometer” and the “north star”.

“Bold and brilliant. Talented and tenacious. You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself. I am grateful for your art, your heart, your generosity, your humor, your entrepreneurship,” Beyoncé wrote.

Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s 2024 country album, famously featured a rendition of Parton’s song Jolene.

Former talk-show host Winfrey wrote that one of her fondest memories with Parton was “having a hoot and a holler while wearing Bob Mackie gowns on her show Dolly”.

“This girl from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee dreamed a life and then lived a life bigger than she could have ever imagined, giving so generously to others in ways we saw and ways we didn’t.”