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Star forward Lionel Messi and Inter Miami advanced to MLS Cup East semifinals with Game 3 playoff win over Nashville.

Lionel Messi scored two goals and assisted two more, and Inter Miami advanced in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in club history with a 4-0 victory over visiting Nashville SC in Game 3 of their first-round series on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Messi finished the best-of-three series with five goals and three assists, meaning he was involved in all eight tallies for third-seeded Miami. He has scored 15 times against sixth-seeded Nashville in all competitions, by far his most against any MLS opponent.

By contrast, Messi has never scored against No 2 seed FC Cincinnati, which will host Inter Miami in a one-game Eastern Conference semifinal in two weeks.

Tadeo Allende scored twice after halftime and had an assist as Miami won despite playing without key forward Luis Suarez, who served a one-game suspension for his kickout at Nashville SC’s Andy Najar in Game 2.

Nashville was eliminated in the first round in a third consecutive postseason appearance, having returned to the playoffs in the first full season coached by BJ Callaghan after missing the 2024 tournament.

Messi put Miami in front in the 10th minute on the first clear chance for either side.

Ian Fray’s pressure forced Nashville’s Matthew Corcoran into an ill-advised backward pass, which Allende deflected to Messi’s feet, with time and space to surge forward.

Messi did the rest, dribbling at retreating centre back Jack Maher before firing a low finish from about 20 yards (18 metres) out between goalkeeper Joe Willis and the right post.

Then Walker Zimmerman’s defensive error helped set up Messi’s second in the 39th minute when he reached Jordi Alba’s long, speculative ball down the left flank but failed to clear it.

Instead, it fell to Mateo Silvetti, who alertly spotted Messi running into space and provided the square pass in stride for a much simpler second finish.

Nashville thought it had pulled a goal back only seconds into the second half, only for apparent goal-scorer Sam Surridge to be whistled for a foul on Maxi Falcon.

But eventually, Miami added insurance through Allende twice in the 73rd and 76th minutes.

On the first, Messi and Alba combined on the left side of the box to set up Allende’s low finish through traffic. On the second, it was Messi sending an early through ball, and Allende chipping past Willis on the run.

Here are the key events from day 1,354 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Sunday, November 9:

Fighting

• Russian forces fired more than 450 drones and 45 missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday, targeting its energy infrastructure and killing seven people, according to Ukrainian officials.
• Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said that Russian forces targeted substations that power two nuclear power plants in Khmelnytskyi and Rivne, and condemned Moscow for “deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe”.
• Energy facilities in Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were also hit, disrupting the power and water supply for thousands of people, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
• Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said the attack on its gas infrastructure was the ninth since early October, according to the AFP news agency.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed launching “a massive strike with high-precision long-range air, ground and sea-based weapons” on weapon production and gas and energy facilities in response to Kyiv’s strikes on Russia.
• The ministry also said that Russian forces had taken more territory around the towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, and captured the village of Volchye in eastern Ukraine.
• Russia’s TASS news agency, citing the Defence Ministry, said that Russian forces had shot down 15 Ukrainian drones over Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, the Black Sea and Russia’s Rostov region on Saturday night. It also said Russian forces downed two guided bombs and 178 drones over the past day.
• TASS also reported another Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Belgorod region late on Saturday, and said at least 20,000 people were without power.

A rescue operation is underway in Dnipro. Overnight, Russia struck the city, hitting an apartment building. As of now, 11 people have been reported wounded, including children. Unfortunately, one person has been killed. My condolences to the family and loved ones. Dozens of… pic.twitter.com/TFUG3SjxpA

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 8, 2025

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Europe, the G7, and the United States to step up sanctions on Russia’s energy sector following its latest attack.
• “So far, Russia’s nuclear energy sector is not under sanctions, and the Russian military-industrial complex still obtains Western microelectronics. There must be greater pressure on its oil and gas trade as well,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
• Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, meanwhile, called for the International Atomic Energy Agency to meet over the attacks on the substations supplying the nuclear power plants and address “these unacceptable risks”.
• Sybiha also called for India and China to put pressure on Moscow to stop its “reckless attacks that risk a catastrophic incident”.
• Hungary said it has secured an indefinite waiver from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, as a White House official reiterated that the exemption was for only a period of one year.

Visit comes as Syria announces launching a ‘large-scale operation’ targeting ISIL cells across the country.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has arrived in the United States for an official visit, according to state media, during which Washington hopes to enlist Damascus in its global coalition against ISIL, or ISIS.

Al-Sharaa’s arrival in the US capital came late on Saturday as Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced launching a “large-scale security operation” across the country, targeting ISIL cells.

Al-Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. Al-Sharaa, who had met Trump for the first time in Riyadh in May, was removed from a US “terrorist” sanctions list on Friday.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that al-Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against ISIL.

Washington is also preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that the US is brokering between Syria and Israel, according to the Reuters and AFP news agencies.

For his part, al-Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of brutal civil war. The World Bank has estimated that the cost of reconstruction could take at least $216bn, a figure that it described as a “conservative best estimate”.

Al-Sharaa once led Syria’s offshoot of al-Qaeda, but his anti-Assad group broke away from the network a decade ago and later clashed with ISIL. Al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington in July.

Al-Sharaa’s trip to Washington, DC, comes after his landmark visit to the United Nations in September, his first time on US soil, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.

On Thursday, the US led a vote by the UN Security Council to remove sanctions against him.

In Damascus on Saturday, state media reported that Syrian security forces had carried out 61 raids across the country targeting ISIL cells.

A spokesperson for the Syrian Interior Ministry said at least 71 people were arrested, while explosives and weapons were seized.

Syria’s SANA news agency, citing the ministry, said the operations were carried out in the Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Damascus countrysides, and that the campaign was part of “ongoing nation efforts to combat terrorism and protect public safety”.

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China has now formally commissioned its first catapult-equipped aircraft carrier, the Fujian, into service. The commissioning ceremony put particular emphasis on the ship’s electromagnetically-powered catapults, with President Xi Jinping shown pressing the launch button inside the control ‘bubble’ built into the flight deck. This all notably comes after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged last week to sign an executive order that would compel the U.S. Navy to go back to using steam-powered catapults on future carriers.

Fujian’s commissioning ceremony took place at the naval port in Sanya on the island of Hainan on November 5, according to a press release the Chinese Ministry of Defense put out today. Examples of the key aircraft in the carrier’s air wing – J-35 and J-15 fighters, the KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and the Z-20F helicopter – were displayed on the flight deck during the event. The conventionally-powered Fujian was launched in 2022 and has conducted multiple sea trials since 2024, including a major demonstration of its ability to launch and recover aircraft back in September.

President Xi Jinping presided over the flag-granting ceremony of the Fujian in Sanya, officially marking China’s entry into the three-carrier era (Liaoning, Shandong, Fujian).

The 80,000-ton Fujian is China’s first carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system (EMALS)… pic.twitter.com/DwVwspOjjW

— 观察者网 (@realGuancha) November 7, 2025

There had already been signs earlier this week that Fujian, which has received the hull number 18, had officially entered operational service. China’s newest carrier had been in port in Sanya for more than a month. It had also been sharing a pier with the Shandong, one of the other two aircraft carriers in the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) inventory. The Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, and Shandong are both short take-off, but arrested recovery (STOBAR) types with ski jump bows instead of catapults.

Nice quality side by side of Fujian with Shandong at Sanya. Illustrates well marginal waterline length increase but providing a considerably wider hull significanly improving deck traffic. The forward elevator position remains somewhat compromised vs starboard launch position. https://t.co/B9a97qvwHf

— Alex Luck (@AlexLuck9) October 5, 2025

As has been made clear, Fujian‘s electromagnetic catapults, also referred to as an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), are an especially significant feature of the carrier’s design. There is currently only one other flattop in service globally with an EMALS, the U.S. Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford, which we will come back to later on.

With Fujian, China has skipped over carriers with steam-powered catapults entirely, a decision the country’s Ministry of National Defense has now said was directed by President Xi himself. Steam has been the default for powering catapults on aircraft carriers equipped with them for decades. As noted, Xi was given the opportunity to press the launch button inside the carrier catapult control ‘bubble,’ though no actual aircraft left the ship’s deck during the in-port ceremony.

Official confirmation:

President Xi personally made the decision for the aircraft carrier Fujian to have the electromagnetic catapult, instead of the steam catapult that was originally designed to have.

At the end, the video shows the sled of the catapult coming to a full stop,… pic.twitter.com/RLCwgjhd7r

— Zhao DaShuai 东北进修🇨🇳 (@zhao_dashuai) November 7, 2025

In principle, an EMALS offers significant advantages over steam when it comes to sortie generation rates. The amount of force electromagnetic catapults exert on the aircraft they launch can also be more finely tuned, increasing the range of types they can accommodate, helping to reduce general wear and tear, and providing additional safety margins. The ability of an EMALS to launch smaller and more fragile designs is seen as particularly critical to opening the door to future carrier-based drone operations, something the PLAN is very actively pursuing. The video clip in the social media post below looks to highlight all of this to a degree by showing how fast and smoothly the catapult shuttles on Fujian can decelerate after being engaged.

PLAN Fujian’s EMALS shuttle goes from rocket boost to slow-roll in a split second. That extreme deceleration is insane—and it’s all real-time. Notice the flags in the background are waving at normal speed, indicating it’s not slow-mo pic.twitter.com/E3SRLnF0TB

— Fighterman_FFRC (@Fighterman_FFRC) November 7, 2025

At the same time, the U.S. experience with EMALS technology on the USS Gerald R. Ford has shown it to be hard to master. The carrier’s catapults, as well as the companion electronically-controlled Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), have struggled with technical and reliability issues over the years. The ship also has electromagnetically powered elevators for moving munitions and other stores between its magazines and the flight deck, which were plagued with problems in the past. The Navy says it has mitigated the issues with Ford‘s catapults, arresting gear, and elevators, but official details regarding operations as recently as last year highlight continued difficulties. Other elements of the carrier’s design, especially its Dual Band Radar (DBR) system, have faced challenges, as well. Future Ford class carriers will notably feature an entirely new main radar configuration.

During a speech last month, U.S. President Donald Trump assailed the Navy over issues with Ford’s catapult and elevators. He promised to sign an executive order compelling the service to go back to using steam-powered catapults and hydraulic elevators. Though that order has yet to materialize, Trump has been outspoken about the catapult elevator issues with the Ford class on multiple occasions in the past, and has taken a very active role in U.S. naval planning and ship design, as you can read more about here.

This all stands in stark contrast to the developments in China, especially so now, with authorities in the country having said President Xi was personally responsible for the EMALS capabilities on Fujian. The new supersized Type 076 amphibious assault ship for the PLAN also has a single catapult that is understood to be an EMALS type. Other countries are also looking ahead at equipping future carriers and big deck amphibious vessels with electromagnetic catapults.

For China, Fujian, which is now officially in operational service, has long been a very significant development, well beyond the design of its catapults. Its carrier air wing is set to offer a host of new naval aviation capabilities, especially with the introduction of the J-35 naval stealth fighter and the KJ-600. The J-35 and KJ-600 were heavily showcased during the most recent round of sea trials, as seen in the videos below.

All three of the PLAN’s aircraft carriers form a centerpiece of a massive naval modernization push that traces back to the 1990s. In addition to offering new ways to project power regionally, including as part of any future intervention against Taiwan, the flattops enable longer-range blue water operations in the Pacific and beyond. The PLAN capabilities and capacity also continue to grow thanks to a still-expanding array of larger and otherwise modern surface combatants and submarines, all being churned out by a naval shipbuilding sector that notably dwarfs that of the United States.

Fujian is also China’s first carrier that is not based on a Soviet design, which is a point of national pride. Liaoning was originally laid down in the Soviet Union as the planned sister ship to the long-troubled Admiral Kuznetsov. Work on the ship came to a halt with the fall of the Soviet Union. The government of the newly independent country of Ukraine subsequently came into possession of the incomplete Kuznetsov class carrier and ultimately sold it to Chinese buyers. There had been speculation that the ship would be turned into a floating hotel or amusement park, something that did happen in China with other ex-Soviet aircraft carriers, before it became clear that the PLAN intended to put it into operational service. The Shandong, which was entirely built in China, was derived from the Liaoning‘s design.

China is already reportedly working on another even more capable carrier, commonly referred to now as the Type 004, which may be nuclear-powered. Renderings related to that design that have emerged in the past have shown similarities to the Ford class, as well as France’s future New Generation Aircraft Carrier, both of which are nuclear-powered.

Altogether, Fujian‘s commissioning is another important step forward for China’s carrier force and its larger naval modernization plans. The heavy focus on its EMALs catapults could have additional ramifications for global carrier developments, including in the United States.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Over the past two decades, Russia’s economic influence in Africa—and specifically in Nigeria—has been limited, largely due to a lack of structured financial support from Russian policy banks and state-backed investment mechanisms. While Russian companies have demonstrated readiness to invest and compete with global players, they consistently cite insufficient government financial guarantees as a key constraint.

Unlike China, India, Japan, and the United States—which have provided billions in concessionary loans and credit lines to support African infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, and SMEs—Russia has struggled to translate diplomatic goodwill into substantial economic projects. For example, Nigeria’s trade with Russia accounts for barely 1% of total trade volume, while China and the U.S. dominate at over 15% and 10%, respectively, in the last decade. This disparity highlights the challenges Russia faces in converting agreements into actionable investment.

Lessons from Nigeria’s Past

The limited impact of Russian economic diplomacy echoes Nigeria’s own history of unfulfilled agreements during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Over the past 20 years, ambitious energy, transport, and industrial initiatives signed with foreign partners—including Russia—often stalled or produced minimal results. In many cases, projects were approved in principle, but funding shortfalls, bureaucratic hurdles, and weak follow-through left them unimplemented. Nothing monumental emerged from these agreements, underscoring the importance of financial backing and sustained commitment.

China as a Model

Policy experts point to China’s systematic approach to African investments as a blueprint for Russia. Chinese state policy banks underwrite projects, de-risk investments, and provide financing often secured by African sovereign guarantees. This approach has enabled Chinese companies to execute large-scale infrastructure efficiently, expanding their presence across sectors while simultaneously investing in human capital.

Egyptian Professor Mohamed Chtatou at the International University of Rabat and Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, argues, “Russia could replicate such mechanisms to ensure companies operate with financial backing and risk mitigation, rather than relying solely on bilateral agreements or political connections.”

Russia’s Current Footprint in Africa

Russia’s economic engagement in Africa is heavily tied to natural resources and military equipment. In Zimbabwe, platinum rights and diamond projects were exchanged for fuel or fighter jets. Nearly half of Russian arms exports to Africa are concentrated in countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Large-scale initiatives, such as the planned $10 billion nuclear plant in Zambia, have stalled due to a lack of Russian financial commitment, despite completed feasibility studies. Similar delays have affected nuclear projects in South Africa, Rwanda, and Egypt.

Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko and Senator Igor Morozov have emphasized parliamentary diplomacy and the creation of new financial instruments, such as investment funds under the Russian Export Center, to provide structured support for businesses and enhance trade cooperation. These measures are designed to address historical gaps in financing and ensure that agreements lead to tangible outcomes.

Opportunities and Challenges

Analysts highlight a fundamental challenge: Russia’s limited incentives in Africa. While China invests to secure resources and export markets, Russia lacks comparable commercial drivers. Russian companies possess technological and industrial capabilities, but without sufficient financial support, large-scale projects remain aspirational rather than executable.

The historic Russia-Africa Summits in Sochi and in St. Petersburg explicitly indicate a renewed push to deepen engagement, particularly in the economic sectors. President Vladimir Putin has set a goal to raise Russia-Africa trade from $20 billion to $40 billion over the next few years. However, compared to Asian, European, and American investors, Russia still lags significantly. UNCTAD data shows that the top investors in Africa are the Netherlands, France, the UK, the United States, and China—countries that combine capital support with strategic deployment.

In Nigeria, agreements with Russian firms over energy and industrial projects have yielded little measurable progress. Over 20 years, major deals signed during Obasanjo’s administration and renewed under subsequent governments often stalled at the financing stage. The lesson is clear: political agreements alone are insufficient without structured investment and follow-through.

Strategic Recommendations

For Russia to expand its economic influence in Africa, analysts recommend:

1. Structured financial support: Establishing state-backed credit lines, policy bank guarantees, and investment funds to reduce project risks.

2. Incentive realignment: Identifying sectors where Russian expertise aligns with African needs, including energy, industrial technology, and infrastructure.

3. Sustained implementation: Turning signed agreements into tangible projects with clear timelines and milestones, avoiding the pitfalls of unfulfilled past agreements.

With proper financial backing, Russia can leverage its technological capabilities to diversify beyond arms sales and resource-linked deals, enhancing trade, industrial, and technological cooperation across Africa.

Conclusion

Russia’s Africa strategy remains a work in progress. Nigeria’s experience with decades of agreements that failed to materialize underscores the importance of structured financial commitments and persistent follow-through. Without these, Russia risks remaining a peripheral player (virtual investor) while Arab States such as the UAE, China, the United States, and other global powers consolidate their presence.

The potential is evident: Africa is a fast-growing market with vast natural resources, infrastructure needs, and a young, ambitious population. Russia’s challenge—and opportunity—is to match diplomatic efforts with financial strategy, turning political ties into lasting economic influence.

Recent Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have reignited fears of more conflict along the border.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions to stop the group from rebuilding its military capabilities.

Israeli forces are also bombing Gaza, violating a recently agreed to ceasefire, and have launched more than 1,000 air strikes in Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Next week, US President Donald Trump will host Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first Syrian president to visit the White House.

So, how will that meeting impact regional sovereignty?

And can Israel sustain its near-daily attacks across the Middle East under the guise of security?

Presenter: Cyril Vanier

Guests:

Nabeel Khoury – non-resident fellow at the Arab Center Washington, DC

Heiko Wimmen – project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group

Harlan Ullman – senior adviser at the Atlantic Council and chairman of the Killowen Group, a strategic advisory firm

Foreign minister says Budapest ‘obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions’ on Russian oil and gas shipments.

Hungary’s foreign minister says Budapest has secured an indefinite waiver from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, as a White House official reiterated that the exemption was for only a period of one year.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to press for a reprieve after the US last month imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

After the meeting, Orban told Hungarian media that Budapest had “been granted a complete exemption from sanctions” affecting Russian gas delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline, and oil from the Druzhba pipeline.

But a White House official later told the Reuters news agency that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption from sanctions connected to using Russian energy.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said there would be no sanctions for “an indefinite period”.

“The prime minister was clear. He has agreed with the US President [Donald Trump] that we have obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

“There are no sanctions on oil and gas shipments to Hungary for an indefinite period.”

However, a White House official repeated in an email to the Reuters news agency on Saturday that the exemption is for one year.

Hungary expected to buy US LNG

The White House official who spoke to Reuters added that Hungary would also diversify its energy purchases and had committed to buying US liquefied natural gas with contracts valued at some $600m.

Orban has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Washington, while often bucking the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Hungarian leader offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, although the US leader called it off in October and hit Moscow with sanctions for the first time in his presidency.

Budapest relies heavily on Russian energy, and Orban, 15 years in power, faces a close election next year.

International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary bought 74 percent of its gas and 86 percent of its oil from Russia in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian natural gas alone could cost Hungary more than 4 percent of its GDP.

Orban said that, without the agreement, energy costs would have surged, hitting the wider economy, pushing up unemployment and generating “unbearable” price rises for households and firms.

Opposition party Chadema said that its deputy secretary-general, Amani Golugwa, was arrested early on Saturday.

Police in Tanzania have arrested a senior opposition official after more than 200 people were charged with treason over a wave of protests against last month’s general election.

Opposition party Chadema said that its deputy secretary-general, Amani Golugwa, was arrested early on Saturday. He is the third senior Chadema official in detention, after leader Tundu Lissu and deputy leader John Heche were arrested before the October 29 vote.

The arrest comes a day after more than 200 people were charged with treason for alleged involvement in the protests triggered by the disputed election.

Lawyer Peter Kibatala told the news agency AFP that more than 250 people “were arraigned in three separate cases … and they’re all charged with two sets of offences.”

“The first set of offences is a conspiracy to commit treason. And the second set of offences is treason itself,” he said.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office in 2021 after the death of her predecessor, won the poll with 98 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission, but Chadema has branded the election a “sham”.

It said in a statement on X that the government intended to “cripple the Party’s leadership” and “paralyse its operations”, adding that police were now targeting “lower levels”, with some being “forced to confess to organising demonstrations”.

Police confirmed the arrest of Golugwa and nine other people in connection with an investigation into the unrest, which saw security forces launch a crackdown on protesters.

“The police force, in collaboration with other defence and security agencies, is continuing a serious manhunt,” the police said in a statement, adding that Chadema’s Secretary-General John Mnyika and the party’s head of communications, Brenda Rupia, were on its wanted list.

High death toll

Protests erupted on October 29 in the cities of Dar-es-Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza and Mbeya, as well as several regions across the country, police said in Saturday’s statement, laying out the extent of the unrest for the first time.

The authorities have so far declined to release the death toll.

The Catholic Church in Tanzania has said that hundreds of people were killed. Chadema has claimed that more than 1,000 people were killed and that security forces had hidden bodies to cover up the scale of the brutality.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, a watchdog group in the neighbouring country, asserted in a statement on Friday that 3,000 people were killed, with thousands still missing.

The commission provided a link to pictorial evidence in its possession showing many victims “bore head and chest gunshot wounds, leaving no doubt these were targeted killings, not crowd-control actions”.

The African Union said this week that the election “did not comply with AU principles, normative frameworks, and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.”

AU observers reported ballot stuffing at several polling stations, and cases where voters were issued multiple ballots.

Single-party rule has been the norm in Tanzania since the advent of multiparty politics in 1992. But Hassan is accused of ruling with an iron fist that does not tolerate opposition.

England: M Smith; Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Feyi-Waboso; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Heyes, Coles, Chessum, Pepper, Earl, Cunningham-South

Replacements: George, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, Arundell

Fiji: Rayasi; Ravutaumada, Ravouvou, Tuisova, Wainiqolo; Muntz, Kuruvoli; Mawi, Ikanivere, Doge, Nasilasila, Mayanavanua, Sowakula, Canakaivata, Mata

Replacements: Togiatama, Hetet, Tawake, Vocevoce, Murray, Wye, Armstrong-Ravula, Maqala

Sin-bin: Ravutaumada

China has ramped up its weapons development programs to a breathtaking degree, introducing waves of new missiles, ground combat systems, and vessels, as well as vastly expanding its nuclear triad. In just the past few months alone, China showed off gobs of new hardware, especially during its Victory Day parade in September. But above all else, Beijing’s developments in the air combat arena have been most stunning to observe. Autonomous combat drones, from relatively small to extremely large, and everything in between, to the emergence of tailless J-XDS and J-36 tactical jets, and ever sub-variations of them, as well as flying a stealth fighter from its new carrier, are among the revelations piling up at an increasing pace.

The status of these weapons programs and how many are real or merely meant to confuse and overwhelm foreign intelligence isn’t clear, but based on historic precedent, the notion that many are decoys isn’t supported. With so much development emerging publicly, and so much more going on clandestinely, along with other developments around an increasingly troubled globe, including from an active war in Ukraine, a critical question must be raised: Is the American intelligence apparatus able to deal with so much foreign technological change at one time?

Not since the height of the Cold War have so many military advancements and individual adversary weapons programs flooded the space. Does the U.S. intelligence community have the raw capacity to adequately deal with this now and sustain it for the foreseeable future?

With the Defense Intelligence Agency declining to comment and the CIA not responding to our queries, we reached out to a number of experts in the field to get their sense of how the U.S. intelligence community (USIC) is able to process and track this growing wave of weapons programs and provide adequate analysis for the White House, Pentagon and Congress. The responses we received vary quite dramatically. This is step one in trying to get a clear answer to this glaring question. We will be following up with more on the topic in the future.

The answers to our question from our experts have been lightly edited for clarity.

Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at RAND Corporation:

“China’s largest and growing inventory of modern weapons does pose a challenge to U.S. intelligence collection efforts. U.S. intelligence capabilities are quite sophisticated and can collect considerable data on systems once they are deployed. However, it is more useful to anticipate future weapons or programs in development and this is probably much more difficult for U.S. intelligence to accurately determine due to the secretive nature of Chinese weapons programs. Thus, U.S. intelligence is at some risk of being surprised by the emergence of new weapons systems.

Some types or programs are easier to monitor and predict than others. Warships, for example, are hard to hide and only built in a few locations. This makes it easier for U.S. intelligence to monitor. Missiles, directed energy, and hi-tech systems are smaller and easier to hide, which makes it harder for U.S. intelligence to collect.

Perhaps even more challenging than intelligence collection is the problem of how to counter the weapons. Chinese technology has improved considerably and many of their weapons and equipment systems lag only that of the United States. These are sophisticated and deadly systems and could pose a serious challenge to U.S. military forces on the battlefield. Developing counters to weapons such as hypersonic anti-ship missiles, advanced surface-to-air missiles, and stealth aircraft all require enormous sums of money and new technology. Even still, it is unclear if the U.S. can effectively counter some of these new systems, which raise questions about the ability of U.S. military forces to survive and fight in a conflict near China’s coast.”

Brad Bowman, senior director at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Center on Military & Political Power:

“Beijing revealed a remarkable quantity of weapons in the parade back in September. It is vital that the United States Intelligence Community and the Pentagon understand the capabilities of the systems displayed, distinguishing between systems that are hyped versus those that represent real advancements in capability. That is easier said than done and takes time and serious expertise to accomplish accurately. The importance and difficulty of this task is another reason why we need a large, effective, and well-funded intelligence community to understand our adversaries, their intentions, and their military capabilities – so decision makers can make informed decisions on how to respond.

I am all for efficiency in government, but the effectiveness of our intelligence community is a higher priority than efficiency, particularly in this dangerous geo-strategic moment for Americans.

It is possible that Beijing is happy to inundate the U.S. intelligence community with an enormous quantity of systems and munitions to scrutinize. But a more prudent approach in Washington is to assume that Beijing actually means what it says and is sprinting to develop and field military capabilities that it hopes could conquer Taiwan and defeat the U.S. military in the Pacific.

If Beijing is trying to portray more advanced military capabilities than it actually possesses, it would not be the first country to do so. Then again, we have also seen examples in which Americans were unwisely dismissive of adversary capabilities. We should neither exaggerate nor dismiss what we are seeing from China. We should try to understand the actual capabilities of each system, and then realize that those capabilities can change quickly.

When it comes to adversary parades and static displays, there is always more than one intended audience. Washington is no doubt on the short list of intended audiences, but Beijing is also sending messages to America’s partners, to the Chinese people, and to the PRC’s partners, including the other members of the axis of aggressors – Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Regardless, the split screen between a historic expansion in military capabilities in China and a government shutdown in America could not be more jarring and troubling.”

Zack Cooper, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies U.S. strategy in Asia, including alliance dynamics and U.S.-China competition:

“I think the United States is certainly concerned about some of the new systems shown by Beijing, but many experts have expected China to continue developing more advanced uncrewed systems and long-range missiles, so I wouldn’t say that those are huge surprises. 

The United States has a number of intelligence agencies with deep expertise on weapons systems, so although I’m sure they are busy watching these new developments, I doubt that they are overwhelmed. At the end of the day, we’re really only talking about a handful of truly new systems, so the magnitude of the challenge is probably workable, even if it does require a substantial amount of time and attention at DIA and elsewhere.

Christopher Miller, former acting defense secretary from November 2020 to January 2021 during the first Trump administration:

“I don’t think there was concern about the ability to track and analyze Chinese weapons programs. It was a pretty standard collection requirement. Now, how effective they were ……I don’t know how effective they were. I am out of the business now. 

The large number of programs was not a concern. It was a pretty standard collection requirement. The challenge was prioritization because of so many different constituencies pushing their ‘pet rocks.’  But that is simply part of the churn. It was never a crisis issue — just typical process. 

Questions about being adequately resourced was the standard pathology of the IC — ‘they NEVER have enough resources’; the political masters don’t understand the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF)!! ‘Woe is us; etc.’  It was/is their SOP.”

Robert Peters, senior research fellow for strategic deterrence in the Allison Center for National Security:

“How overwhelming, or not, for the USIC are Chinese new weaponry like those seen so far in parade preps and programs, like the long-range bombers, UAVs etc? They are a problem, both the quantity and diversity of systems displayed, but we should not make the Chinese out to be 10 feet tall. It is unclear how many of these systems are real vs. how many are mockups. And even if they are all real, it is unclear how effective these systems are. 

As an example, the U.S. Air Force recently said that the Chinese ‘stealth bomber’ — which looks for all the world like a B-2 Stealth bomber— has no stealth characteristics at all, it simply looks like a stealth bomber.

Further, even if these systems are highly capable, it is unclear how or how well the PLA would employ them. The PLA has not fought in a kinetic conflict since 1979, so they have no real-world experience in combat operations. While they certainly exercise jointly, exercises are far different than battlefield effectiveness. So we should look at what the Chinese are producing with seriousness, but we should not be fatalistic about them. 

Is this affecting the USIC and the military’s ability to get a handle on this? The Chinese military buildup — particularly is numbers of fifth-generation fighters, naval surface combatants, missiles, and nuclear warheads — presents a real challenge for the United States, yes.

The quantity they are able to produce, coupled with their ability to focus their combat power on a specific theater close to home, is the challenge for us. Even if you believe that U.S. military capabilities are qualitatively superior to Chinese capabilities (which, I do believe), the U.S. is a global power. It has aircraft carrier strike groups operating in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea, and the Pacific. It has ground and air forces deployed on six continents. This is because the United States has global commitments. China is able to field an enormous quantity of combat power on the Western Pacific, focus it, and achieve results, even with a qualitatively inferior force, while the U.S. would be pulling forces from around the world during a contingency. 

It will require a significant amount of analysts to track and analyze these forces, but I think we have the manpower to make it happen.”

Once again, this is our first look into this unique facet of the growing military technology race between the U.S. and China. Stay tuned for follow-ups.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Final T20 of the five-match series was abandoned after 4.5 overs as thunderstorm and rain forced players off the field in Brisbane.

India have claimed a 2-1 win in the five-match T20 series against Australia after the final match was abandoned due to rain after just 4.5 overs in Brisbane.

After losing the toss and being sent in to bat on Saturday, India’s openers Abhishek Sharma (23) and Shubman Gill (29) took the score to 52 for no loss before a thunderstorm swept across the Gabba cricket ground, forcing the players from the field.

Gill took the early initiative and pummelled six fours in his 29 not out. Abhishek was dropped by Glenn Maxwell and Ben Dwarshuis on his way to an unbeaten 23.

The sellout crowd at the Gabba hung around optimistically, waiting for play to resume, but the stormy weather persisted, and the match was abandoned some two and a half hours after it started.

The opening match in the series in Canberra was also washed out before Australia won the second in Melbourne by four wickets on the back of the bowling of paceman Josh Hazlewood.

Australia withdrew Hazlewood and some other players named in the Ashes squad so they could prepare to face England with the red ball, and India won the third T20 by five wickets in Hobart and the fourth on the Gold Coast by 48 runs.

Abhishek was named Player of the Series for his 163 runs at an average of 40.75.

“The way everybody chipped in in every game and we came back from being one match down, I think credit goes to all the boys; a complete team effort,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said.

India, who top the ICC rankings in the shortest format, will head home with confidence and plenty of player options, hoping to defend their T20 World Cup title on home soil early next year.

“I thought all in all it was a good series, two teams really going at it,” said Australia captain Mitch Marsh.

“India won the games when it mattered, so congratulations to them.”

The Football Association of Ireland has called for Israel’s immediate suspension over the Israeli FA’s violation of UEFA’s statutes in occupied Palestinian territory.

Members of Irish football’s governing body have approved a resolution instructing its board to submit a formal motion to UEFA requesting the immediate suspension of Israel from European competitions, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said.

The resolution passed by the FAI members on Saturday cites violations by Israel’s Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes: its failure to implement and enforce an effective antiracism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in occupied Palestinian territory without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.

The resolution was backed by 74 votes, with seven opposed and two abstentions, the FAI said in a statement.

UEFA considered holding a vote early last month on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over its genocide in Gaza, but the voting did not take place after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.

The Irish resolution follows calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian football governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.

Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.

‘Israel is allowed to operate with total impunity’

In October, more than 30 legal experts called on UEFA to bar Israel and its clubs.

The letter highlighted the damage that Israel is inflicting on the sport in Gaza. At least 421 Palestinian footballers have been killed since Israel began its military offensive in October 2023, and the letter explained that Israel’s bombing campaign is “systematically destroying Gaza’s football infrastructure”.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino brushed aside the calls by indirectly addressing it as a “geopolitical issue” at the FIFA Council on October 2.

“We are committed to using the power of football to bring people together in a divided world,” Infantino said.

The apparently preferential treatment given to Israel’s football team was an extension of the “total impunity” the country has enjoyed amid the two-year war, according to Abdullah Al-Arian, associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar.

“Sporting bodies often mirror the broader power politics that are at play [in the world] and so they’re only doing what we’ve seen happen across all walks of political life, in which Israel has not been held to account,” Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.

“It [Israel] has been allowed to operate with total impunity throughout this genocide and has enjoyed this impunity for many decades.”

In 2024, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) presented arguments accusing the Israel Football Association (IFA) of violating FIFA statutes with its war on Gaza and the inclusion of clubs located in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in its domestic football league.

The PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israel’s national side and club teams, including an international ban.

It called on FIFA to ban Israel, but the world body postponed its decision by delegating the matter to its disciplinary committee for review. Al-Arian termed that “a move to keep the bureaucratic machinery moving without making any real progress”.

“Ultimately, it’s a political decision being made at the highest levels of the organisation,” he said.

This week, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made history by becoming the first Muslim mayor of New York City. His road to victory was anything but smooth. After he secured a historic win in the mayoral primary, he faced a landslide of attacks from across the political spectrum. In the months that followed, the hateful rhetoric from right-wing provocateurs, social media personalities, and even his three opponents mushroomed.

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa claimed that Mamdani supports “global jihad”; independent candidate and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo agreed with a comment that Mamdani would celebrate “another 9/11”; and outgoing NYC mayor, Eric Adams, who dropped out and endorsed Cuomo, suggested that a Mamdani mayorship would turn New York into Europe, where “Islamic extremists … are destroying communities.”

Sadly, as researchers of anti-Muslim bias, and Muslim individuals who came of age in a post-9/11 America, we know attacks of this nature – on someone’s character or fitness for a job because of their religious background or national origin – aren’t entirely unexpected. We know that Islamophobia spikes not after a violent act, but rather during election campaigns and political events, when anti-Muslim rhetoric is used as a political tactic to garner support for a specific candidate or policy.

Worryingly, these attacks also reflect a general trend of rising Islamophobia, which our research has recently uncovered. The latest edition of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s (ISPU) American Muslim Poll, which contains our Islamophobia Index, released on October 21, reveals that in the last three years, Islamophobia has sharply risen in the US, across almost all demographic groups.

Among the general population in the US, on our 1 to 100 scale, the index increased from a score of 25 in 2022 to a score of 33 in 2025. This jump was most pronounced among white Evangelicals, whose score increased from 30 to 45 between 2022 and 2025, and Catholics, whose score increased from 28 to 40 during the same period. Protestants also saw a rise of 7 points, from 23 in 2022 to 30 in 2025. Jews had an Islamophobia score of 17 in 2022, the lowest of any group that year, which increased only slightly to 19 in 2025, the same score as Muslims in 2025. The only group that did not change since 2022 is the non-affiliated.

Undoubtedly, the weaponisation of Islamophobia by high-profile individuals is a major driver of this worrying trend. And it can lead to devastating outcomes for Muslims: From job loss and inability to freely worship, to religious-based bullying of Muslim children in public schools and discrimination in public settings, to even physical violence. Simply put, dangerous rhetoric can have dangerous consequences.

Much of this Islamophobic rhetoric relies on five common stereotypes about Muslims, which we used in putting together our index: That they condone violence, discriminate against women, are hostile to the US, are less civilised, and are complicit in acts of violence committed by Muslims elsewhere. We then surveyed a nationally representative sample, including 2,486 Americans, to identify the extent to which they believed in these tropes.

More Americans are embracing these stereotypes about Muslims, even though they are easily disproved.

For example, despite popular media portrayals of Muslims as more prone to violence or as being complicit in violence perpetrated by Muslims elsewhere in the world, ISPU research shows American Muslims overwhelmingly reject violence. They are more likely than the general public to reject violence carried out by the military against civilians and are as likely to reject individual actors targeting civilians.

The popular stereotype that Muslim communities discriminate against their women also does not hold water. The fact is that Muslim women face more racial and religious discrimination than they do gender discrimination, which all women, Muslim or not, report at equal levels in the United States. The vast majority (99 percent) of Muslim women who wear hijab say they do so out of personal devotion and choice – not coercion. And Muslim women report that their faith is a source of pride and happiness.

Our research also disproves the belief that most Muslims living in the US are hostile to the country. We have found that Muslims with strong religious identities are more likely than those with weaker ones to hold a strong American identity. It also shows that Muslims participate in public life from the local to the national level through civic engagement, working with neighbours to solve community problems, and contributing during times of national crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Flint water crisis.

The trope that most Muslims living in the US are less “civilised” than other people has no factual basis, as well. The use of the “civilised/uncivilised” dichotomy strips individuals of their human dignity and separates people into a false, ethnocentric hierarchy on the basis of race or religion. Accusing a group of being less civilised than another is a frequently used dehumanising tactic. Dehumanisation, defined by Genocide Watch as when one group denies the humanity of the other group, is a step on the path to genocide.

We have seen all of these tropes activated in the past few weeks to launch Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani. We have also seen too many of our politicians and public figures use them comfortably in their public speech, placing an entire faith community in harm’s way. As Mamdani said in a speech addressing the Islamophobic attacks by his fellow candidates, “In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”

But Islamophobia isn’t just bad for Muslims – it undermines our democracy and constitutional freedoms. Research has linked belief in these anti-Muslim tropes to greater tolerance for anti-democratic policies. People who embrace Islamophobic beliefs are more likely to agree to limiting democratic freedoms when the country is under threat (suspending checks and balances, limiting freedom of the press), condone military and individual attacks on civilians (a war crime under the Geneva Convention), and approve of discriminatory policies targeting Muslims (banning Muslims, surveilling mosques, and even restricting the ability to vote).

Weaponising Islamophobia in political speech may be perceived as a winning strategy to rally support, but communities where it is deployed end up losing. That is why such practices must be challenged. Confronting and denouncing hate means preserving democracy and human dignity. Perhaps the election of Mamdani will signal a real shift away from this political strategy. As the mayor-elect said in his acceptance speech, “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

In July, one of Brazil’s last coal plants in Candiota resumed operations after significant investment from Ambar, owned by billionaires Wesley and Joesley Batista. They believe that Brazil will continue to use coal despite having over 80% of its electricity from renewable sources. As Brazil prepares to host the UN climate summit COP30, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed concern that the war in Ukraine has revived coal mining.

Coal plants, including Candiota, still supply 3% of Brazil’s electricity, highlighting the influence of special interest groups and the absence of a proper transition plan away from coal. Experts like Christine Shearer from Global Energy Monitor argue that Brazil has the resources to phase out coal, but the strong coal lobby in mining regions keeps these plants running.

The Candiota plant lost its government contract last year, leading to local economic downturns and outmigration. It now sells energy on the spot market during peak hours when solar and wind energy are less available. Nevertheless, Brazil’s Congress recently passed a bill allowing coal plants to operate until 2040, which Lula could potentially veto. The government also made coal eligible for a capacity auction aimed at improving energy security by using thermal plants during low renewable output.

Critics note that including coal in these plans contradicts the goal of energy flexibility, as coal plants cannot start quickly. They argue that poor long-term planning allows coal to persist, despite a surplus of clean energy that goes underutilized due to inadequate demand and transmission infrastructure. This situation makes the government susceptible to coal and natural gas lobbying, leading to higher financial and environmental costs.

Ambar asserts that coal from the Candiota plant is reliable and necessary for power supply, denying claims of relying on political influence. They also argue that critics prioritize the interests of large energy consumers over those of smaller entities and the broader public. Keeping coal operational aligns Brazil with countries like India and South Africa, where strong lobby groups impede efforts to transition away from coal, which is crucial to local economies.

Shutting down Candiota could result in around 10,000 job losses in the region. Local coal miner Jose Adolfo de Carvalho asserts that eliminating the plant won’t significantly impact global carbon issues. The future of the plant causes anxiety among residents, with former employee Graca dos Santos emphasizing the need for a just energy transition to avoid leaving the community jobless.

Lula’s administration lacks a transition plan for Candiota, and little progress has been made in strategizing for other coal facilities. Some suggest diversifying into sectors like beef, wine, and olive oil, which could provide new jobs for former coal workers. Local union leader Hermelindo Ferreira highlights the potential job losses from shutting down Candiota while recognizing that faith in the coal industry is wavering. Ferreira encourages workers to gain new skills, such as maintenance for wind energy, as a way to adapt to future opportunities.

With information from Reuters

At least five people have been killed after Typhoon Kalmaegi hit central and highland provinces in Vietnam, destroying thousands of homes and cutting power to more than a million households.

Ukraine is calling for more sanctions and asset freezes on Russia as it fends off intensified attacks, with another harsh winter of war looming.

At least 10 people have been killed, and more parts of Ukraine have been plunged into darkness, after another night of intense Russian attacks across the country, local authorities said, as diplomatic momentum to end the nearly four-year war falters.

Ukraine’s military announced on Saturday morning that hundreds of Russian drones, as well as missiles launched from the air, ground and sea, targeted critical infrastructure, a frequent Kremlin target as another harsh winter of war looms.

Ukraine said its air force detected 503 air attacks, including 45 missiles and 458 drones, launched by Russian forces overnight. Most of the missiles went through defences, with only nine successfully shot down, but 406 of the drones were intercepted.

The Russian attacks concentrated mostly on gas and power infrastructure, leading to power cuts in several regions.

In the front-line Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Ivan Fedorov said three people were killed and six wounded in overnight Russian attacks on several districts, which hit a residential building, among other targets.

Two more people were reported killed in two districts of Donetsk, according to local authorities. Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Kherson, reported another two people killed and 10 wounded after several multistorey buildings, private homes and vehicles were hit.

Kyiv Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said an attack in the Vyshhorod district injured a woman and hit civilian areas and energy infrastructure.

At least two people were killed and 11 others, including children, wounded after a Russian strike hit a building in the eastern region of Dnipro, local authorities said.

A “massive” strike was reported by Governor Volodymyr Kohut in the Poltava region, where another person was injured and rolling blackouts are in place to compensate for damaged power infrastructure.

‘More pressure is needed’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed a call for further sanctions on Russia and freezing its assets in the European Union before winter, saying “Russian strikes show that the pressure must be stronger.

“Russian nuclear energy is still not under sanctions, Russian military-industrial complex still receives Western microelectronics, more pressure is needed on oil and gas trade as well,” he said in a statement.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed in its latest combat report overnight that it launched a “massive strike with high-precision long-range weapons from air, land and sea platforms”, including hypersonic ballistic missiles.

It said Russian air defences brought down two guided aerial bombs and 178 unmanned aerial vehicles launched by Ukrainian forces. Another eight drones were reportedly shot down before noon on Saturday.

Fierce house-to-house fighting also continues to rage in Pokrovsk, the city in Donetsk where tens of thousands of Russian troops have converged to push for control of more territory and to “liberate” buildings held for more than a year by Ukrainian soldiers, in intense close-range clashes.

Ukraine’s top general Oleksandr Syrskii said Kyiv’s troops were stepping up assaults on Russian forces around the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropillia to ease pressure on Pokrovsk.

The U.S. Army has set a goal of buying one million new drones of all types over the next two to three years. This comes as senior officials within the service have acknowledged that it continues to lag behind global trends when it comes to fielding uncrewed aerial systems, especially weaponized types within smaller units. The Army’s planned drone shopping spree could also include large numbers of longer-range one-way attack types, something TWZ laid out a detailed case for doing just a few months ago.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll talked about his service’s new drone acquisition plans in a recent phone interview with Reuters from Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The service also hopes the purchases will foster an industrial base that can churn out uncrewed aerial systems at similarly high rates for years to come.

“We expect to purchase at least a million drones within the next two to three years,” Driscoll told Reuters. “And we expect that at the end of one or two years from today, we will know that in a moment of conflict, we will be able to activate a supply chain that is robust enough and deep enough that we could activate to manufacture however many drones we would need.”

The report from Reuters does not provide a detailed breakdown of what might be included in that million-drone bundle. It does indicate that Driscoll was talking primarily about smaller weaponized types, such as first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones and ones configured to drop small munitions. These kinds of uncrewed aerial systems have existed in various forms for years, but have now been fully thrust into the public consciousness by their daily use on both sides of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“Driscoll and Picatinny’s top commander, Major General John Reim, spoke to Reuters about how the United States was taking lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has been characterized by drone deployments on an unprecedented scale,” according to that outlet. “Ukraine and Russia each produce roughly 4 million drones a year, but China is probably able to produce more than double that number, Driscoll said.”

“Driscoll said he fundamentally wanted to change how the Army saw drones – more like expendable ammunition rather than an ‘exquisite’ piece of equipment,” Reuters‘ story added.

This latter point is also directly in the stated aims behind a sweeping array of drone policy and other changes the Pentagon announced back in July. The main focus of that initiative, described as “unleashing U.S. military drone dominance,” is to accelerate the fielding of huge numbers of uncrewed aerial systems, especially weaponized types, across the entire U.S. military, as you can read more about here.

All this being said, the Army’s plans to buy at least a million new drones could easily include a wide array of types intended to perform an equally diverse set of missions. As mentioned, long-range kamikaze drones in the vein of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 could be part of this equation, as well. Russia also regularly uses variants and derivatives of that design, including ones it now produces domestically, in attacks on targets in Ukraine. Forces in Ukraine have been moving to field their own comparable designs, among many other one-way attack types.

Directly influenced by Israeli kamikaze drones, the Shahed-136 has become something of a global standard for uncrewed aircraft of this type, with similarly-sized delta-winged designs steadily emerging globally, including in the United States and China. Developments out of China include the Feilong-300D from state-run conglomerate North Industries Group Corporation, which is reportedly particularly geared toward low-cost, high-volume production. So far, the examples being built in the United States have been sold largely as training aids reflecting growing threats to friendly forces. TWZ‘s feature in September delved deeply into the benefits they could offer to the U.S. military as operational weapons in line with broader long-range fires initiatives across the services.

Another Group 3 threat system (target) broadly similar to the FLM 136 G3 ‘reverse-engineered Shahed’ threat system.

“The MQM-172 Arrowhead is designed as a high-speed, maneuverable one-way-attack and target drone platform—perfect for realistic threat emulation, training, and… https://t.co/qaEanNEC8T pic.twitter.com/DwxlGypV4E

— AirPower 2.0 (MIL_STD) (@AirPowerNEW1) August 12, 2025

This is 🇨🇳China’s version of the Geran-2 Drone, The Feilong-300D Suicide Drone, a low cost-High performance drone, and the future of combat.

It carries a High-explosive warhead, and has a range of over 1000km in just a cost of $10,000 USD. pic.twitter.com/XZBEGW1AoK

— PLA Military Updates (@PLA_MilitaryUpd) November 2, 2025

“Absolutely,” Maj. Gen. James “Jay” Bartholomee, head of the Army’s Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, said in response to a question from our Howard Altman about interest in Shahed-like drones at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual symposium in October. “We are behind on long-range sensing and long-range launched-effect strike.”

“I think we do,” Army Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander of V Corps, which has its main headquarters at Fort Knox in Kentucky and a forward command post in Poland, said separately at the AUSA gathering in response to a similar question from Howard Altman about the need for Shahed-type drones.

Costanza also offered a blunt assessment of the service’s work to field various tiers of drones, as well as capabilities to counter the growing threats they pose.

“We’re behind. I’ll just be candid. I think we know we’re behind,” the V Corps commander said. “We aren’t moving fast enough.”

“And it really took Russia’s invasion of Ukraine [in 2022], and the way they’re innovating, and Ukrainians are innovating, to realize, hey, we need to move fast,” he added.

For Ukraine, moving fast has become a matter of life or death, and rapidly iterating capabilities has become critical because of the speed at which countermeasures are also developed.

Army units in Europe have been very much at the forefront of current efforts to accelerate and expand the fielding of new weaponized drones, as well as counter-drone systems. However, some of those activities have drawn criticism for how much they still appear to be behind the curve, especially compared to what is regularly seen on battlefields in Ukraine.

Army Secretary Driscoll’s million-drone plan is clearly a new push toward a real paradigm shift, in line with the direction from the Pentagon in July. At the same time, there are significant questions about whether the service will be able to even come close to reaching its new procurement goals, especially when it comes to funding, contracting processes, and the capacity of the U.S. industrial base. The policy changes rolled out earlier this year did include several aimed at simplifying contracting processes.

Just today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced further plans for even more sweeping changes to acquisition processes across the U.S. military. The goal here is also to fundamentally change how the Pentagon works with the U.S. defense industrial base, all with an eye toward moving things along faster.

“This relates to the whole industrial base, and most importantly, to the large primes [prime contractors] that we do business with today,” Hegseth said in a speech earlier today. “These large defense primes need to change, to focus on speed and volume and divest their own capital to get there.”

We’re moving from a slow, contractor-dominated system (marked by limited competition, vendor lock, and cost overruns) to an industrial base that drives speed, innovation, and investment—powered by America’s unmatched ability to scale quickly. pic.twitter.com/n9lYE02WTr

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) November 7, 2025

As TWZ often notes, there has been steadily growing interest across the U.S. military in recent years when it comes to engaging with smaller or otherwise non-traditional companies, including to help meet complex requirements on aggressive timelines.

“Instead of partnering with larger defense companies, he [Driscoll] said the Army wanted to work with companies that were producing drones that could have commercial applications as well,” according to Reuters.

“We want to partner with other drone manufacturers who are using them for Amazon deliveries and all the different use cases,” Driscoll said.

Whether or not the Army ultimately acquires a million new drones in the next few years, and what is included in that mix, remains to be seen. However, Secretary Driscoll has started the clock now on what could be a transformational shift for the service when it comes to fielding unrewed aerial systems.

Contact the author: [email protected]