unveils

SINGER Charli XCX shows off her glamorous side as her new album is released.

The Brit hitmaker, 33, shared a photo of her holding a copy of her latest studio album Music, Fashion, Film.

It features cultural icons John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese on the cover, and comes two years on from Brat.

That album sparked the brat summer phenomenon, celebrating messy, party-loving fun.

Charli, also at home on the red carpet, declared it over in September 2024, posting: “Goodbye forever brat summer.”

Recently Charli got in front of the lens for the music video to her new track Camera.

PROUD MUM

Denise Welch shares unseen pics of son Matty Healy’s wedding

STAGE RETURN

Charli XCX announces huge new Music, Fashion, Film tour ahead of album release

It is from her upcoming seventh album Music, Fashion, Film.

Dressed in a plunging blue shirt, Charli filmed a dramatic storyline with French actor Vincent Cassel.

The action-packed scenes looked like they were in a desert but were actually filmed in a quarry in Kent.

Vincent’s character had a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

In footage that could rival a Hollywood blockbuster, Charli stood in front of an overturned grey car that had ploughed into a sand dune, and was also seen crawling on all fours.

The singer took over London’s Scala nightclub on Tuesday for an intimate performance of tracks from her forthcoming album, including Camera.

In the lyrics, she sings: “It makes me question what I’m doing.

“Do I wanna make music? Am I being f*****g stupid. If I try to be a girl on the screen when I’m turning thirty-four?”

July 23 (UPI) — A group of non-governmental organizations shared with world leaders a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza with an estimated cost of $71.4 billion, according to a report released Thursday.

Oxfam, an international coalition of non-governmental organizations, said in its report that the cost to rebuild Gaza is seven times the cost of every other reconstruction effort there over the past 20 years.

The report, “Building Gaza Anew,” shares a “blueprint” of what that construction will look like. It draws from the analyses of World Bank, European Union and United Nations assessments following military offensives by Israel in Gaza in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2021.

The U.N., EU and World Bank’s Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment for the Gaza Strip published in April estimates that the region has suffered about $57.9 billion in damage and economic losses. It will require $71.4 billion for recovery and reconstruction over the course of the next decade.

“Gaza has never been allowed to finish rebuilding,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International executive director, said in a statement. “A decade after Israel’s 2014 offensive on Gaza, families were still waiting for homes that never came, and then the bombs returned. This is not fate. It is Israel’s illegal occupation and blockade, and the impunity producing the same result, war after war. Every government that funds the rubble but never the reckoning is complicit in it.”

Oxfam called on the U.N. General Assembly and President Donald Trump‘s Board of Peace to lead a charge in funding reconstruction.

The press release from Oxfam said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 173,000 have been injured. About 1.9 million people have been displaced by the Israeli military.

While the cost of reconstruction lays out the costs associated with rebuilding infrastructure, buildings and homes, the Oxfam report said human development in Gaza has been set back 77 years. This stems from the destruction of institutions of health, education, religion and culture.

“Nearly all schools are destroyed or damaged, universities levelled, thousands of teachers, professors and researchers have been killed, and libraries and archives of Palestinian history lost,” the report said.

“What was destroyed in Gaza was not merely steel and concrete,” Mohammad Skaik, Gaza program manager for PalTrade, said in a statement. “Israel eradicated an entire social and economic world, built up over generations, and only Palestinians can rebuild it.”

The non-governmental organizations have set out a five-year framework for reconstruction “underpinned by rights-based principles and a single national vision linking Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” They argue that models for reconstruction “imposed from the outside will fail.”

In February 2025, President Donald Trump proposed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust. The plan proposes further displacing the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip through voluntary relocation to neighboring countries while the United States takes over the strip. The U.S. government would then govern over the strip for 10 years, developing the region with outside investments.

After blowback from leaders in the Middle East, Trump walked back his proposal, referring to it as a recommendation.

“Reconstruction is not only a humanitarian task; it is a political one,” Misyef Jamil, senior researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, said in a statement. “A plan designed in foreign capitals, however well-funded, would be a cosmetic exercise — simply another form of control over Palestinian land and lives. Our consultations across Gaza carried one unmistakable message: nothing about our future without us.”

X-Bow Systems, a company that made its name making solid rocket motors and small space-launch vehicles, has unveiled a new low-cost drone interceptor, named Buckler. The interceptor promises high-speed and a unit cost of less than $100,000, a price point that has only been approached by drone-like systems, not modern supersonic missiles.

The Buckler — named after a small shield of the Medieval and Renaissance eras — is designed to defeat Group 3 drones. As we have explained before, under the U.S. military categorization system, Group 3 is a very broad middle tier of drones that covers designs that weigh anywhere from 56 to 1,320 pounds and can fly at up to 18,000 feet, at speeds of 250 knots or less.

Iran’s now-infamous Shahed-136 long-range one-way attack drone, variants and derivatives of which are now in service in Russia and with several Iranian-backed proxies, falls into the Group 3 category.

While optimized for bringing down drones, the Buckler can also engage other aerial threats, including subsonic cruise missiles, under certain conditions. This is especially relevant as newer Shahed-derived designs, and many other long-range one-way attack munitions, increasingly blur the line between drones and low-end cruise missiles through the adoption of jet propulsion and higher-altitude flight profiles. Then there is the emerging group of low-cost cruise missiles being adopted in the United States and potential adversaries, as well as existing, more advanced types. Low-flying aircraft and helicopters would also likely be on the menu for this missile, even as a secondary capability.

The high speed of the missile also means that a single Buckler battery can engage targets more rapidly and respond faster over a given range. It also makes it possible for follow-up shots to be taken if an effector misses within a given timeframe.

The Buckler is one of the growing number of responses to the increasing threat of drone-and-missile barrages, which are exposing the limits of legacy air defense models. In conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, most notably, costly surface-to-air missile effectors are routinely expended, in significant quantities, against far cheaper incoming threats.

For years now, TWZ has been calling attention to the U.S. military’s concerning short-range air defense (SHORAD) gap, especially as drone threats have continued to expand and evolve.

“This is our answer to the call from the U.S. and its allies: affordable capability at scale,” X-Bow Systems’ CEO Jason Hundley told Axios.

“You can’t win a war of attrition trading million-dollar interceptors against thousand-dollar threats,” Hundley added.

The company is relying upon its own solid-rocket motor and propellant, allied with an airframe that’s also made in-house, which it says will bring down costs.

X-Bow Systems recently notched a successful flight test for the Buckler, the company says, demonstrating its propulsion system and flight characteristics after completing motor static-fire and igniter testing.

According to Axios, the Pentagon has also requested a briefing on the interceptor.

X-Bow is entering one of the fastest-growing segments of the defense industry. The company is already well established as a producer of solid rocket motors and, last year, secured a $105 million investment from Lockheed Martin to expand production and provide propulsion systems and related services.

The startup will now be hoping that the Buckler’s eye-catching price point of less than $100,000 per copy will set it apart among drone interceptors.

By way of comparison, the combat-proven Raytheon Coyote, in its Block 2 configuration, also primarily intended for the counter-drone mission, has a unit price of around $100,000, based on past reports. AeroVironment’s Freedom Eagle-1 (FE-1), which the U.S. Army picked last year to provide an additional layer of defense against longer-range one-way attack drones and other similarly sized uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), has a target unit cost of between $150,000 and $200,000. These are also notably slower and less responsive systems than the Buckler.

Freedom Eagle (FE-1) Next Gen C-UAS Missile

Toward the higher end of the scale, the cost of a Stinger short-range surface-to-air missile has historically been put at between $100,000 and $120,000, but reports in recent years have said that current-generation versions, including ones optimized for use against drones, can run up to $400,000.

In terms of more exquisite SHORAD solutions, the U.S. Army’s Enduring Shield is presently configured to fire AIM-9X Sidewinders, each of which has a price tag around $500,000. 

As for the kinds of threats that these effectors are intended to destroy, Shahed-type drones are typically understood to have a unit cost range measured in tens of thousands of dollars.

The Buckler is also intended to bring benefits in terms of speed and scalability of production. This should ensure that production facilities are able to ramp up quickly and, in response to demand, be able to increase the output accordingly. Applying the vertical integration approach, the company says it can address the “industrial-base bottleneck defense leaders cite as the top constraint on scaling interceptors.”

As demand for advanced missile propulsion accelerates, traditional production can’t keep up. Discover how X-Bow is delivering scalable, rapid solutions for urgent national security needs. #TechThisOut with @waltmac pic.twitter.com/nzSbikCz7X

— X-Bow Systems (@XBowSystems) May 7, 2026

Whether Buckler can deliver on its promised combination of performance, affordability, and production scale remains to be seen. But with militaries around the world urgently seeking cheaper ways to counter drones and cruise missiles that are appearing in greater numbers, X-Bow is entering the market at a particularly opportune moment.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

BETA Technologies (BETA) introduced a new hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed for military logistics missions at the Farnborough International Airshow, marking the company’s latest push into the defense market.

The new aircraft, called the MV250, is an autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL

The Australian Army has shared photos showing one of its M1A2 Abrams outfitted as a surrogate enemy platform, specifically to represent a People’s Liberation Army main battle tank. Vehicles meant to visually reflect an adversarial platform are a regular feature of exercises involving an Opposing Force (OPFOR). The depiction also reflects Australia’s growing emphasis on preparing for high-end conflict in the Indo-Pacific, and an Australian Defense Force that’s increasingly focusing its training and force structure on the challenges posed by China’s rapidly expanding military capabilities.

The photos were published on the Facebook account of the Australian Army’s School of Armor. Located at the Puckapunyal Military Area in Victoria, southeastern Australia, this serves as the army’s center of excellence for mounted combat and armored fighting vehicle training.

According to the school, this specific tank was prepared by soldiers from B Squadron, 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment, as part of the OPFOR element for the Royal Australian Armored Corps Officer Basic Course (ROBC), which includes field training assessments. The latest ROBC will culminate in Exercise Tungsten Forge/Gauntlet Strike, a combined-arms tactical training exercise, and a capstone event for junior officers learning mechanized warfare and tank command. “Good luck to the junior officers as they attempt to outmaneuver a seasoned enemy commander,” the School of Armor declared in the caption accompanying the photos.

The most obvious aspect of the M1A2 Abrams’ transformation is its People’s Liberation Army-style ‘digital’ camouflage scheme, with prominent blocks in four colors — including bright green — over the standard three-tone camouflage. The tank is also fitted with dummy external fuel tanks on the rear of the turret. These are a common feature of Russian and Chinese tank designs, albeit fitted on the rear of the hull, something that’s not possible on the Abrams due to the exhaust outlet.

The end result is an Abrams that’s visually similar to a Type 99, China’s first mass-produced third-generation main battle tank, and the most important in the People’s Liberation Army inventory.

It’s noteworthy, too, that the Abrams’ turret side appears to have the slogan ‘Bing Chilling’ applied. This should be a reference to a video-based meme in which wrestler and actor John Cena is shown saying ‘ice cream’ in Mandarin — words that can be phonetically written as ‘Bing Chilling.’

Overall, the primary objective of surrogate platforms like these is to replicate the visual appearance of potential adversary vehicles, not their exact capabilities or configurations. These surrogate platforms are designed as stand-ins rather than one-for-one copies of foreign equipment. Fielding visually representative vehicles during OPFOR exercises adds an extra layer of realism to training, helping troops practice target recognition, vehicle identification, and other battlefield observation skills under more authentic conditions.

It is possible that the Abrams will additionally be fitted with training devices designed to simulate the firing capabilities and vulnerability of specific adversary vehicles. This can be done using tools like the Instrumentable-Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (I-MILES), a laser-based training aid.

Under a roughly $2.5-billion deal, Australia is getting 75 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, together with armored support vehicles. The Abrams are being procured under the Main Battle Tank Upgrade, formally known as LAND 907 Phase 2, and the U.S. government approved the sale of these new vehicles to Australia via Foreign Military Sales channels in 2021. Meanwhile, Canberra agreed to provide Ukraine with 49 of its older M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.

The M1A2 SEPv3 — or System Enhancement Program version 3 — was developed by the U.S. Army to address lessons learned during fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and represents a major advance over the Australian Army’s previous M1A1 (AIM) variants, 59 of which were acquired second-hand from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The first of the new tanks were delivered to Australia in 2024.

The fact that the Australian Abrams is very much a frontline vehicle, available in limited numbers, explains the cosmetic nature of the OPFOR version. After the exercise is completed, it can be rapidly returned to its normal configuration.

This separates it from more bespoke surrogate enemy platforms, like those used by the U.S. Army’s National Training Center, for example, which relies on visually modified (VISMOD) M113 and Humvee-type vehicles to field surrogate Russian-made T-72s and BTR-90s, among others.

It is not clear whether the Australian Army’s School of Armor has prepared additional Abrams as surrogates, but it does describe “in-service armored fighting vehicles” (plural) as having been adapted. Depending on the scale of the exercise, other candidates might include Chinese infantry fighting vehicles or self-propelled artillery.

At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army is also preparing for a potential conflict by training with surrogate platforms that represent a Western enemy. This is part of a much wider Chinese military investment in replicas and advanced training centers.

Last year, TWZ reported on China’s use of trucks designed to mimic the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), soon after the first examples of the U.S.-made system were delivered to Taiwan. The surrogate vehicles were painted in Republic of Taiwan Army-style camouflage. HIMARS is also used by the Australian Army.

Wherever they are being used, surrogate vehicles give training centers a cost-effective way to replicate foreign military equipment without acquiring and maintaining actual allied or adversary vehicles. Whether elaborate or more rudimentary, VISMODs provide a greater degree of visual realism, while their performance and other capabilities can increasingly be simulated digitally during exercises.

At the same time, platforms chosen as surrogates also offer a snapshot of the strategic priorities and perceived threats of the era.

In this case, the ‘Chinese-look’ Abrams reflects how Australia’s defense posture has shifted significantly in recent years toward preparing for the prospect of high-end conflict in the Indo-Pacific, with China’s expanding military capabilities serving as the principal driver.

In its 2023 Defense Strategic Review and subsequent National Defense Strategy, the Australian government placed greater emphasis on deterrence by denial, long-range strike, and the ability to operate alongside the United States and regional partners.

While Canberra tends to avoid explicitly identifying Beijing as an adversary, Australia’s force modernization — including the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, long-range and hypersonic missiles, enhanced northern basing — is clearly oriented toward countering the challenges posed by the People’s Liberation Army in a potential Indo-Pacific contingency. Increasingly realistic exercises centered on peer threats, such as Chinese tanks, provide further evidence of this.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com

The U.K. Royal Air Force has launched a new collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) program, named Storm Fighter, reviving a British push into the autonomous ‘loyal wingman’ arena as the service seeks to build what officials describe as “Europe’s first sixth-generation air force.” The announcement, made by a senior government official today, marks a renewed effort to field uncrewed combat aircraft designed to operate alongside crewed combat jets after earlier British CCA initiatives lost momentum.

Storm Fighter forms part of a much broader U.K. push to introduce uncrewed and autonomous systems across the armed forces under a defense modernization effort backed by around $6.6 billion over the next four years. You can read more about this Defense Investment Plan (DIP) here.

Speaking at the Air & Space Power Association Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference in London today, Luke Pollard, the U.K. minister for defense readiness and industry, said that Storm Fighter will be funded using the $406 million investment in CCAs included in the DIP published earlier this month.

“We are maximizing our air power in the eye of the storm of future combat, that will be swarming with drones, sixth-generation fighter jets and ever evolving EW [electronic warfare] capabilities,” Pollard said, adding, “I am delighted to reveal that our new autonomous CCA program will be named Storm Fighter […] to deliver guardian angel and attack dog drones to fly into combat with the Typhoon, F-35, and Tempest. Storm Fighter will make the RAF Europe’s first sixth-generation air force.”

The Storm Fighter nomenclature is in line with a set of ‘Storm’ programs in the air warfare domain. Previous ones include Storm Shroud, which will provide the Royal Air Force with a new uncrewed electronic warfare drone, that will enter service this year. Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force today also announced a new EW drone, named Storm Chrome, as well as Storm Fire, a 1,000-mile-range one-way attack drone.

As an example of the experimental programs that could feed into Storm Fighter, Pollard highlighted Project Vanquish, which is intended to demonstrate a fixed-wing, short takeoff and landing autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) from a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier before the end of 2027. The ACP terminology has been used in the United Kingdom in the past and is broadly equivalent to CCA.

The Royal Navy has explored various drone options for its carriers in the past. It has tested the General Atomics Mojave short takeoff and landing (STOL) drone from HMS Prince of Wales class, as well as catapult-launching smaller, jet-powered drones.

Mojave Aircraft Carrier Takeoff and Landing

Pollard referencing the Royal Navy Vanquish ACP program is noteworthy and reflects the struggles that the Royal Air Force has faced in getting similar efforts off the ground.

The Royal Air Force had been working on the Project Mosquito as part of the broader Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) initiative. Project Mosquito called for a prototype “uncrewed fighter aircraft” flying by 2023, and in 2021 a contract for the aircraft was awarded to Spirit AeroSystems. Mosquito was canceled in 2022 for reasons that are not entirely clear, although it may well have become clear that the ambition couldn’t be realized with the relatively tiny budget, just $41 million across three years.

Speaking at the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference, a Royal Air Force official stressed that Storm Fighter should result in a vehicle “that is good enough, that is cheap enough, that can be produced fast enough, and we need enough of them.” The official added: “If you’re building something that takes 70 percent of the build time of an F-35 and costs three-quarters of it, then rip up your CCA program and start again.”

Clearly, however, the Royal Air Force still needs a loyal wingman-type platform. This is the same ambition outlined by the U.K. Ministry of Defense in the past, when it described drones that would “fly at high speed alongside fighter jets” and would carry “missiles, surveillance and electronic warfare technology.”

When Project Mosquito was still active, the U.K. Ministry of Defense also stressed that its future loyal wingman would be expected to target and shoot down enemy aircraft and “survive against surface-to-air missiles.”

While Pollard’s words today were ambiguous, his reference to providing “guardian angel and attack dog drones” suggests that both aerial combat and strike missions could be covered. On the other hand, this might also describe both offensive and defensive counter-air missions.

It’s notable, too, that the new CCA should fly into combat with the F-35, Tempest, and Typhoon. The last of these is currently planned to be withdrawn from service by 2040, so the drone would have to be in operational use ahead of the arrival of the sixth-generation Tempest.

As to who might build the Storm Fighter, Janes reports that “several contractors have already indicated their interest, most prominently BAE Systems and Boeing,” although a formal set of requirements is yet to be published.

In the case of Boeing, the company’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat has already attracted some official interest in the United Kingdom. In 2023, Rear Adm. James Parkin, Director Develop for the Royal Navy, gave a presentation that included a slide with a Boeing rendering showing a variant or derivative of the MQ-28 with a visible tailhook landing on a Queen Elizabeth class carrier.

TWZ has also made the case for the Australia-United Kingdom-United States defense cooperation agreement, or AUKUS, to be extended to cover the MQ-28 and other uncrewed technologies.

Meanwhile, BAE Systems is also involved in the MQ-28 program, providing the autonomous Vehicle Management System (VMS) and elements of the Ground Control Station (GCS) that monitor and control the drone. The company has also presented a rendering of a notional stealthy CCA, as seen at the top of this story. This has some features reminiscent of renderings of the Tempest crewed combat jet, including large-area trapezoidal wings and cropped outward-canted tailfins. The drone has a wedge-shaped nose intake, partially shrouded by a prominent ‘lip.’

In its work on CCAs, BAE Systems is also working in collaboration with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division, which is also heavily involved in this field. This includes a higher-end stealthy CCA-type drone named Vectis. The uncrewed aircraft is designed to be highly adaptable to an operator’s requirements, which would appear to place it particularly well for the U.K. Storm Fighter initiative, especially if paired with BAE Systems.

When it comes to stealthy drones, BAE Systems’ experience dates back far longer, including a proof-of-concept UCAV testbed called Taranis.

BAE Systems – Taranis Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) First Flight [1080p]

Apart from the two contractors mentioned, the Royal Air Force CCA effort is likely to attract attention from others, too.

General Atomics has pitched to the United Kingdom a carrier-capable member of its Gambit drone family, which is based around a common modular core ‘chassis’ concept, and which could fit into a future air wing aboard the Queen Elizabeth class. The company already provides the Royal Air Force with Protector drones.

Other U.S. pitches could come from Northrop Grumman or Kratos, while there is also a growing pool of potential European players.

For now, Storm Fighter remains little more than a name attached to an emerging requirement, with no design, contractor, or acquisition timeline yet formalized — as far as we know. Even so, today’s announcement signals that the Royal Air Force is once again serious about fielding a loyal wingman capability after the demise of Project Mosquito. This comes as other European nations are already firming up their CCA requirements and setting in-service goals, while more major players are now deeply involved in proving out operational concepts.

With autonomous aircraft now central to the broader U.K. defense strategy and the Tempest program steadily advancing, the pressure will be on to turn Storm Fighter into an operational capability.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Two new stars will be joining the latest Celebrity Gogglebox line-up as they showcase their TV opinions on the popular Channel 4 show

Rock stars and longtime friends are joining the Celebrity Gogglebox sofa this week.

Making their debut on the show, Jake Shears and Josh Homme will give their opinions on the week’s biggest TV moments, combining their close friendship with their signature wit.

Best known for fronting Scissor Sisters and Queens of the Stone Age, Jake and Josh have spent years performing to huge crowds around the world and building careers that have sold millions of records.

This time, they’ll be watching from the comfort of the sofa, sharing their candid, entertaining reactions to the programmes that have everyone talking.

Talking about his appearance, Jake said: “Josh and I have spent years making noise for a living, so sitting on a sofa and talking over the television felt surprisingly natural. We laughed far more than we probably should have and somehow got away with calling it work. It was a longtime dream to be part of Celebrity Gogglebox.”

Meanwhile, Josh said: “You’ve never watched anyone watch TV until you’ve watched Josh and Jake watching TV. And then you know you’ve watched it. So set your watch for 9pm on Friday. We are breaking ground that should largely have gone unbroken.”

It’s a busy week for Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh, as the band has unveiled plans for their new album, Everything Under The Sun.

The upcoming release marks the American rock group’s first studio album in three years. They also dropped the lead single, Easy Street, on Tuesday, featuring guest vocals from Nikki Lane.

Fans may already recognise the song after it made its live debut during the band’s Catacombs tour last year.

Elsewhere in the new series of Celebrity Gogglebox, singer Mollie King will be joined on the sofa by her partner, former England cricketer Stuart Broad.

Olivia Attwood has been taking part in the latest series alongside her mum, while her partner Pete Wicks has been appearing separately with his close friend Vicky Pattison.

The new season has also welcomed back a host of familiar faces, including Vernon Kay and Paddy McGuinness, Bez and Shaun, Roman and Martin Kemp, Ashley Banjo and Perri Kiely, Nick Grimshaw with his niece Liv, the Mangans, and Rylan, who once again joins his mum Linda on the sofa.

Celebrity Gogglebox airs this Friday at 9pm on Channel 4.

The $1bn scheme falls critically short of the $71bn reportedly needed for Gaza’s recovery over the next 10 years.

The European Commission has announced a billion-dollar aid and reconstruction fund aimed at helping the recovery of Gaza from more than two years of devastating war.

The “Team Gaza Initiative” launched on Monday at a meeting of donors in Brussels. The scheme will support projects such as restoring water and sanitation infrastructure, removing debris and re-establishing health infrastructure, an EU Commission statement said.

However, the size of the fund falls critically short of the tens of billions estimated to be needed to rebuild the Palestinian enclave amid Israel’s genocidal war, which continues to kill Palestinians and create dire humanitarian conditions.

Spain, France, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are taking part in the initiative, along with the ⁠Commission itself, the statement said. Australia and Canada ⁠are also expected to join.

“We will present the initial package today of almost 900 million euros or one billion dollars,” Dubravka Suica, EU commissioner for the Mediterranean, said ahead of the donor meeting. “Our objective is clear: to help build hope, resilience and a better future for the Palestinian people.”

The funding is intended to assist in providing the population with basic water and sanitation facilities, clearing and disposing of rubble and rubbish, as well as restoring health, energy, agricultural and food systems.

No breakdown of how much each partner would contribute was provided. Suica said donors “want to start with so-called early recovery, and it is very important to show that we are willing to do it.”

“We now need the conditions on the ground that will allow the support to reach the people in Gaza,” she added.

While Israel and Hamas agreed to a US-brokered “ceasefire” last October, Israel has consistently breached it.

The intensity of the fighting has reduced, but at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded since the “ceasefire” began. In total, the war has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians.

The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management described the situation in Gaza as “unbearable”. Hadja Lahbib called for humanitarian access to the enclave and greater political engagement from Israeli authorities.

“Nine months after the so-called ceasefire, shelling continues, disease is spreading, people are dying,” Lahbib told reporters ahead of the billion dollar fund announcement.

European Union and United Nations said in April that more than $71bn will be needed over the next 10 years for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.

The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) report found that $26.3bn will be required in the first 18 months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support Gaza’s economic recovery.

ANKARA, Turkey — President Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey that were issued after Ankara purchased a Russian missile defense system that led to the country being kicked out of the F-35 fighter jet program.

There are still a number of legal hurdles before Turkey could be fully admitted back to the U.S. program, but the removal of the sanctions — issued under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act — would help ease the process for Ankara to regain access to the F-35s, a top goal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and one that Trump has predicted for some time would occur.

“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off, OK?” Trump said in response to a question during a meeting with Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara. He said Cabinet officials were working on the matter. Earlier in the meeting, he said the possibility of selling the F-35s to Turkey is “certainly something we will consider.”

Trump and Erdogan repeatedly underscored their warm relationship as they met soon after the U.S. president arrived in Ankara for the NATO summit. Erdogan greeted the U.S. president with an elaborate welcome ceremony involving cannons, military officials on horseback and jets flying overhead emitting red, white and blue smoke.

“Sometimes you get along with the toughest people, like him,” Trump said, gesturing to Erdogan. The U.S. president repeatedly praised Turkey for its loyalty to the U.S., particularly during the war in Iran.

Trump, who has often upended NATO gatherings with complaints that European allies did not spend enough on defense, had said he would not have attended this year’s summit had it not been for his close ties with Erdogan.

‘Moment of great pride’

Earlier in the day, NATO showcased a series of military projects worth billions of dollars — an investment that the alliance’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, called “money well spent.”

An energized Rutte was speaking to government ministers and defense industry officials at a forum billed as NATO’s “big reveal,” to the thrum of techno music and a slick video display.

NATO as an organization does not own any weapons — these are the property of the 32 member countries — but it does have a fleet of 14 AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes that are about 50 years old, along with some newer surveillance drones.

A deal to replace the aging planes was announced Tuesday. Swedish manufacturer Saab will be supplying up to 10 new GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for a 10-nation consortium, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced.

“It’s a moment of great pride,” he said, noting that the twin-engine aircraft would be “made within the alliance for all the alliance.”

Some of the projects will be paid for with funds from a system of cheap loans for defense purposes set up by the European Union, comprising up to $170 billion raised on capital markets.

“We need to ensure that we are translating our economic might into military capabilities, putting the cash to work from defense plans to drones, from money to missiles and interceptors,” Rutte said.

Trump has branded NATO a “paper tiger” that would cease to function without American arms and leadership. At the forum on Tuesday, Michael Duffy, a U.S. undersecretary of defense, said “the reality is that we need production increases across the board.”

“We will be looking to increase our exports to those who are looking to buy our equipment, and we’ll also be looking to partner with the expansion of production capacity here in Europe,” he said.

Defense sales announced

Representatives from 15 nations shook hands and patted shoulders on a vast podium under the NATO logo as they announced a multinational effort to buy air-to-air refueling and transport planes from Airbus.

Then Rutte announced a four-country effort to purchase as many as five new Triton surveillance drones to add to NATO’s small fleet.

“It is genuinely made in NATO, and creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.

Rutte told reporters on the eve of the military alliance’s two-day summit in Turkey that “we will announce tens of billions in new contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and defend.”

However, at Tuesday’s event, no dollar figures were given and the display included some projects long since agreed.

The defense industry splash comes a few weeks after Rutte tried to ease U.S. concerns about military spending at NATO with a new pitch using a chart labeled “The Trump Trillion” — showing $1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017.

Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.

“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I just want loyalty.”

Debate over jet sales to Turkey

The summit is being held in Erdogan’s sprawling palace compound in Ankara, and Trump has suggested he would come bearing gifts for the Turkish leader.

Turkey was barred from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after it purchased Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. When asked about the fate of Turkey’s return to the F-35 system, Trump said as he sat next to Erdogan that “it’s certainly something we will consider.

Speaking Monday on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. not to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, saying that Erdogan “calls openly for the annihilation of Israel.”

Turkey and Israel have acrimonious relations. Erdogan frequently accuses Israel of committing genocide in its war in Gaza, triggered by the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Netanyahu said selling Turkey F-35s would “upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East.”

Turkey beefed up security and banned protests in Ankara during the summit, but a small group of demonstrators gathered on Tuesday in the capital. They were quickly surrounded by police, and a legal association said 22 students affiliated with the leftist Turkish Workers Party and three lawyers had been detained.

Seeking a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO

The Pentagon wants a reboot and is promoting what it calls “NATO 3.0,” a vision of the alliance in which Europe assumes greater responsibility for its own defense, freeing the U.S. to concentrate on other priorities.

But hiking defense spending means increasing taxes or diverting resources from other priorities. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey unexpectedly quit last month, saying the British government was not willing to spend at a time of rising threats.

Separately on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a fresh appeal for his country to be allowed to join the alliance, saying its armed forces are highly experienced and resilient would only boost the alliance’s defense capabilities.

He highlighted Ukraine’s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia, hit oil refineries and other energy targets. He said that Ukraine’s armed forces are “eliminating” on average 30,000 Russian troops every month.

“Frankly we take no pride in this,” Zelensky said, noting that the war with Russia — now in its fifth year — is “a war we did not seek but one we are forced to fight.”

Concern is mounting among some northern and central eastern countries that Russia might be preparing a hybrid attack — a combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks — on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to secure victory in Ukraine.

Cook, Fraser, Sewell and Kim write for the Associated Press. AP writers Jill Lawless in London and Andy Wilks in Istanbul contributed to this report.

June 27 (UPI) — President Donald Trump released the new design for the cover of U.S. passports, which features an image of him on one side and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the other side.

The updated design follows a State Department announcement in April that a “limited-edition” passport with Trump’s image on it would be available this summer to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.

The “specially designed” passport is expected to be available only at the Washington Passport Agency in Washington, D.C., with no extra cost, although design options online or in other locations will retain the current design, the department said at the time.

Trump shared the image in a post on Truth Social on Friday, as did the official White House account on X, with that account referring to it as the “Patriot Passport.”

“The U.S.A.’s New passport, which says, “Welcome, but be good!” Trump said in the post, which included an image of the front and back of the new design.

The limited-edition passport will be available at the D.C. passport office starting on July 6, and people who would like to get one must schedule an in-person appointment at the agency, the State Department said on Friday.

The department also has scheduled two special passport acceptance events specifically for the limited edition version, the first on Aug. 22 and the second on Sept. 26, both of which will be held at the Washington Passport Agency.

June 19 (Asia Today) — South Korean researchers have developed an open simulation model that digitally reproduces the structure of the country’s power grid, allowing researchers to study the domestic electricity system without using classified infrastructure data.

The Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology said Friday that its Power Grid Research Center developed the GIST 2217-Bus Test System using only publicly available maps and electricity statistics.

A bus is a connection point within a power system where electricity is generated, transmitted or distributed.

The institute said the model could improve South Korea’s power grid research environment, which has largely depended on foreign test systems developed around electricity networks with different geographical and operational characteristics.

The project is part of an effort by the research center, which opened in September, to establish the foundation for a next-generation South Korean power grid research platform.

Computer simulations are needed to analyze how electricity moves through transmission networks and to ensure that power generated at plants can be delivered reliably to homes and industrial facilities.

Detailed information about South Korea’s actual power grid is not publicly available because it is considered sensitive national infrastructure data. Domestic researchers have therefore relied on foreign test systems, including models provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Researchers said those models have limitations when applied to South Korea.

Many of the country’s power plants are concentrated along coastal areas, while a large share of electricity demand is centered in the Seoul metropolitan area. That structure differs significantly from the foreign grids represented in existing research models.

The GIST team constructed its model without using confidential grid data. Researchers instead combined publicly available geographical information with national electricity statistics.

The completed system contains 2,217 buses and about 3,700 transmission circuits. It represents connections among major power plants and substations across South Korea, including links between the mainland and Jeju Island.

GIST said the model produced stable calculations under conditions simulating peak electricity demand during the summer, demonstrating sufficient reliability for power system research.

The institute released the grid dataset, map and construction and analysis tools for public use. Researchers and companies can download and use the materials without obtaining separate permission.

The model could be used to study how much additional solar and wind power can be connected to the grid, responses to blackouts, grid operations during the transition to carbon neutrality and artificial intelligence-based electricity management systems.

Kim Yoon-soo, director of the Power Grid Research Center, said he hopes the model will serve as both a starting point and a shared platform for research on South Korea’s electricity system.

“We will continue updating the model as the power grid changes and incorporate the actual operating characteristics of generators and renewable energy facilities,” Kim said.

He said the center intends to develop it into a South Korean power grid platform that can be used jointly by domestic researchers and companies.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260619010006836

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — President Trump on Friday showed off the new Air Force One, a formerly Qatari-owned — and much debated — jumbo jet that has been converted into the official U.S. presidential aircraft.

The new plane — gifted from the Qatari government, raising a host of legal, ethical and security questions — will take on a new look, eschewing the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior in favor of white on the top half, its underbelly navy blue with a red stripe above it.

“This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said from inside the massive Joint Base Andrews hangar, as a couple of hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on. He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” played.

He confirmed that he would be taking the new jet to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara, Turkey, next month and indicated that he would be returning to China “at some point,” presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that China is hosting in November. His return from the Group of 7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One, he said.

“Now, when we land at airports in London and in Germany and different places, nobody tops this one, and that’s the way we have to have it for our country,” Trump said, noting that the colors and the design were to “my taste, I will say.”

He added that the new Air Force One will do a flyover during the July 4 celebrations next month.

The gift from Qatar is serving as a so-called bridge aircraft to carry the president until new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028.

The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about security and the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign government. Trump has claimed in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library.

Trump on Friday said the U.S. was in a “little bit of a logjam” as it awaited the delivery of the new jets directly from Boeing, which had originally been scheduled for 2024 but have been delayed. He recalled asking the emir of Qatar for the use of one of their planes.

“See, a normal president wouldn’t do this. A normal president wants to stay away from aircraft,” Trump said Friday. “But our country has to be represented properly.”

Members of Congress and others have questioned the cost and effort that would be needed to make security modifications to an aircraft from a foreign government.

The Air Force said in a news release Friday that any plane deemed Air Force One “must meet rigorous security requirements” and that the Qatari plane “was modified under a disciplined engineering approach that prioritized these exact core capabilities above all else.” The Air Force also said “much of the previous head of state interior layout” of the plane was kept intact.

The Air Force has said in the past that security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million.

Trump’s efforts to reimagine the presidential airplane date back to his first administration, when he directed that an incoming fleet of new jets would adopt a color scheme that was nearly identical to that of his personal airplane. Then-President Biden reversed the decision in March 2023 as an Air Force review suggested that the darker colors could increase costs and delay delivery of the new jets, but once Trump returned to office, he returned to his desired colors for the plane.

Other government jets that carry other top administration officials will use a similar red, white and navy color scheme, the Air Force said earlier this year.

An Air Force spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, told the Associated Press that the two current planes, known as VC-25As, will not be retiring. Instead, they will remain in the fleet until the new Boeing planes, referred to as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson said.

It is unclear how the older jets will be used but the spokesperson said that both the Qatari jet as well as the VC-25As will be available for use and “the Presidential Airlift Group will select the appropriate aircraft for each mission based on operational requirements.”

Kim and Ceneta write for the Associated Press. Kim reported from Washington. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report from Washington.

June 15 (UPI) — South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem said Monday that the company is showcasing its AI-powered anti-drone technologies at Eurosatory 2026, a defense fair that takes place in Paris this week.

The affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group noted that it has publicly unveiled the system designed to counter unmanned aircraft, including drones, for the first time.

The solution aims to protect troops and military assets from drone attacks by combining AI-driven threat detection and automated response functions, according to Hyundai Rotem.

The firm said that the platform can assess a wide range of battlefield scenarios in real time, analyzing various factors such as the type, distance and altitude of incoming threats to determine the most effective countermeasures.

Built around an unmanned turret platform, the multi-layered defense solution integrates both soft-kill and hard-kill capabilities, Hyundai Rotem said.

The growing importance of such technologies has been recognized by recent conflicts, including the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Hyundai Rotem is also displaying an export-oriented version of its K2 main battle tank at the exhibition. It has emerged as one of South Korea’s most successful defense exports, as Poland purchased hundreds of the tanks over the past few years.

“By strengthening our capabilities in AI-based protection solutions, including multi-layered defense systems, we will further diversify our business portfolio and enhance our presence in the global market,” Hyundai Rotem said in a statement.

“We will continue to advance key protection and unmanned technologies geared toward preserving human lives, reinforcing our leadership and competitive edge in the defense industry,” it added.

The share price of Hyundai Rotem rose 2.16% on the Seoul bourse on Monday, while the benchmark KOSPI jumped 5.2%.

In a significant development, Airbus has announced that its H145 twin-engine light helicopter is being developed in an uncrewed version, the U145. The move continues and expands the manufacturer’s work in the uncrewed helicopter space and reflects similar developments around the globe — most notably, an uncrewed version of the UH-72 Lakota, which is the U.S. Army’s variant of the H145.

The U145 was officially revealed today, ahead of the ILA Berlin airshow, starting this week, during which a full-scale mock-up will be displayed. Airbus says it is planning a first flight of the U145 — with a safety pilot onboard — before the end of this year, and is aiming for entry into service at the beginning of the next decade. 

“With the U145, we are offering our customers an autonomous, uncrewed version of our H145 helicopter — combining the proven airframe, power and useful load of the H145 with the autonomy of a UAS,” said Matthieu Louvot, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, in a company media release. “To develop the U145 and its capabilities as a multi-mission UAS, we will be teaming up with leading autonomous mission partners to further expand the UAS ecosystem in Europe,” he added. 

The U145 will have a maximum takeoff weight of around 8,400 pounds, and is described as a “mission-agnostic solution for civil and military applications, primarily high-volume cargo supply.” Airbus has announced the payload will be up to 2,600 pounds. In comparison, the uncrewed version of the Lakota, the MQ-72C Lakota Connector, will carry a maximum payload of around 4,000 pounds, although this includes slung loads. With that in mind, the U145 and MQ-72C will likely end up offering very similar payload capacities.

The MQ-72C is expected to be able to cruise at speeds of 135 knots out to ranges of at least 350 nautical miles, according to the Airbus website.

Already at this stage, the company is pitching the U145 for specific military roles, including armed scouting and surveillance. Airbus is also planning to adapt the U145 as a “drone mothership” that will carry “launched effects,” on which the company is partnering with European missile house MBDA. A similar concept is currently being pitched by Sikorsky, with its uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter, dubbed the U-Hawk, which is also intended to be able to fire dozens of launched effects such as surveillance and reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions.

Airbus also envisages the U145 operating in conjunction with conventional helicopters as part of crewed-uncrewed teaming. 

The U145 will offer full autonomy, Airbus says, being equipped with a specialized sensor suite and artificial intelligence. For an uncrewed logistics aircraft, the ability to autonomously navigate along a predetermined route using programmed waypoints would provide a practical foundation for autonomous operations. However, more advanced capabilities — such as dynamically adjusting flight paths and responding in real time to emerging threats or unexpected obstacles — would also be very valuable, especially when conducting resupply missions in contested or high-risk environments.

The U145 will have no physical cockpit, so it cannot be flown with human pilots onboard. Other significant changes include adaptations for cargo missions, including a clamshell nose door, a loading platform, and a dedicated cargo floor. The existing rear clamshell doors are retained, as are the cabin side doors. The same configuration has been adopted for the MQ-72C, and a pass-through cargo hold is a big advantage that other crewed helicopters in this class cannot match.

Other features of the new uncrewed helicopter will be carried directly over from the H145, more than 1,800 of which are currently in service.

These features include a powerplant of two Safran Arriel 2E engines equipped with a full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) and a fenestron tail rotor.

The U145 is the next step in the manufacturer’s development of uncrewed helicopters. As such, it follows on from the smaller VSR700, a rotary-wing uncrewed air system which was derived from the crewed Cabri G2 light helicopter.

It is unclear what elements might be ported across from the MQ-72C, also called the Unmanned Logistics Connector (ULC), which is being developed separately by Airbus U.S. Space and Defense, together with its partners Shield AI, L3 Harris, and Parry Lab. Based on the U.S.-made UH-72B Lakota, the MQ-72C is similarly autonomous and is primarily aimed at the U.S. Marine Corps. You can read more about the MQ-72C in our previous coverage of the aircraft, here and here.

Airbus’s UH-72 Unmanned Logistics Connector Sets Its Sights On The USMC’s Future Fleet Requirements

In the context of the MQ-72C, we have previously looked at how this platform fits with the U.S. Marine Corps’ vision for future fleets of cargo-carrying drones. The Marines see uncrewed logistics ‘connectors’ in the air and down below as essential for supporting future expeditionary and distributed operations, especially in the context of a possible future high-end fight with China in the Pacific.

Other U.S. efforts in this space include optionally crewed and uncrewed versions of the larger H-60 Black Hawk series. The U-Hawk demonstrator, a fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter, is intended to carry cargo and deliver launched effects and similarly features clamshell doors in the nose. At the heavier end of the scale, Boeing has said its future plans for the H-47 Chinook include creating a path toward an uncrewed version of the aircraft.

Introducing the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™

However, these kinds of capabilities are increasingly being eyed by other services around the world, too.

With this in mind, Airbus is hoping to leverage the existing customer base for the H145, which has footprints on six continents. The H145 is already in service, or on order, with a growing number of international military operators for utility and light-attack missions. The uncrewed version maintains significant commonality, which will bring down support and maintenance costs.

At the same time, the U145 has obvious commercial applications. Airbus highlights its suitability for roles like disaster management and firefighting, although it would also be ideal for cargo conveyance, especially remote resupply work and logistics support to offshore platforms and remote areas on land, for example.

An Airbus spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the U145 has not been developed for any specific national or European acquisition.

Undoubtedly, there is growing recognition in Europe, in particular, that changes in the geopolitical landscape mean that the continent cannot necessarily rely on the United States to meet its defense needs. Developing the U145 in addition to the MQ-72C aligns with Europe’s ambition to strengthen its sovereign capabilities.

With the U145, Airbus is betting that autonomous rotorcraft will become an increasingly important part of military operations. By leveraging a proven helicopter platform, it should accelerate the transition to uncrewed operations, but the drone helicopter will be entering an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday the launch of Fostering the Future Accounts, a spinoff of the Trump Accounts investment funds meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parent opens one.

Building on her work helping foster children, Trump said the new federal guidance will give child welfare agencies the ability to act as a guardian for children in foster care for the purposes of opening an account.

At a news conference at the Treasury Department, the first lady said the move “gives foster children the same chance at asset ownership and long-term wealth as every other child.”

The accounts will be open for contributions July 4. To qualify for an account, a child must also be a U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that a Trump Account balance for a baby born in 2026 will be $5,800 by age 18 and $18,100 by age 28 if no other contributions are made.

The first lady said 23 governors, all Republicans, have pledged to allow state agencies to begin the process of enrolling children in the program. “I urge every governor and business leader to help fund these accounts,” she said.

There are roughly 330,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, according to the National Council for Adoption. One in five of them is at risk of homelessness after aging out of foster care, and only half gain employment by the time they are 24, according to the National Foster Youth Institute.

“Those outcomes are unsettling, but we refuse to accept them as inevitable,” Bessent told the news conference. “We are affirming that the American dream belongs to every child.”

A provision of Trump’s tax and spending legislation that he signed into law last summer created Trump Accounts. Under them, the Treasury Department gives $1,000 to babies so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the children can access the money when they turn 18.

Employers and billionaires across the country have pledged to make matching Trump Account contributions for employee benefits. Among them are Michael and Susan Dell, who announced a $6.25 billion donation, and hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, who pledged $75 million for kids under 10 in Connecticut, where the Dalios live.

Hussein writes for the Associated Press.

June 1 (UPI) — The Trump administration unveiled a new rule Monday adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility, attracting concern from patient groups and condemnation from Democrats.

Republicans instituted the requirement as part of President Donald Trump‘s massive tax cut and spending bill signed into law in July.

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services said in a statement that the Interim Final Rule tying eligibility to an 80-hour-per-month work requirement promotes “economic stability, self-sufficiency and independence.”

“This rule helps Americans build skills and independence through work, education, job training or community service, creating new opportunities for themselves and their families,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said in a statement.

Medicaid is a joint federal-state program helping those with limited income and resources pay their medical bills. The new rule will is the implementation of a Medicaid work requirement provision that Congress put into President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.

Democrats had vocally opposed the measure before the Republican-controlled Congress passed it into law, arguing it would create bureaucratic obstacles to hinder the ability of those who need the coverage.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said Monday that the rule is “the dark heart of Republican plan to kick millions of working Americans and their children off their health insurance by placing a mountain of paperwork in front of them.”

“When these requirements go into effect at the beginning of next year, it’s going to be a complete train wreck for America, and not just for the Americans caught in the bureaucratic maze Republicans have created: every community will be left with worse healthcare,” he said in a statement.

The provision requires most adults ages 19 through 64 to “demonstrate work requirement activities,” including employment, participating in certain work programs or community service.

Those exempt include people who are pregnant or have recently given birth, parents and caretakers of children or those with disabilities, the disabled or medically frail and American Indians and Alaska Natives, among others.

States generally have until Jan. 1 to implement the new rule, according to a CMS fact sheet.

While Republicans and the White House have described the move as installing safeguards against fraud, medical groups are voicing concern that it will cut patients, including those fighting cancer, from coverage.

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network President Lisa Lacasse said the requirements mean those with cancer or suffering from sides effects of the disease or treatment would have to prove that they can’t work, a task she said is likely too difficult and time-consuming for them.

The 80-hour requirement may also be too much even for those who are able to work, she said.

“Cancer patients who can still work — and many want to, for example, when they are well enough to work in between chemo rounds — will have to choose between losing their Medicaid coverage, working the required 80 hours per month or giving up working altogether to qualify for an exemption,” she said in a statement.

The social welfare advocacy group Protect Our Care lambasted Republicans for “weaponizing government bureaucracy against the American People” instead of using the government to lower medical costs or make care more accessible.

“They are betting that if they make the process confusing and exhausting enough, millions of people will fall through the cracks and lose the care they depend on to survive,” Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse said in a statement.

“Hospitals will suffer, providers will be pushed further to the brink and families across the country will pay the price while Republicans once again put wealthy donors and corporate greed ahead of the health and well-being of everyday Americans.”

Nvidia is set to bring artificial intelligence to laptop and desktop computers with brands like Microsoft and Dell later this year as the US tech giant broadens its AI presence.

The Santa Clara, California-based AI chipmaker unveiled on Monday at its annual Nvidia GTC event in Taipei new powerful chips that would bring advanced AI functions to laptops and desktop computers.

CEO Jensen Huang said that the new development is “going to reinvent the PC [personal computer]”.

The changes come amid three years of collaboration between Microsoft and Nvidia and pit the latter against companies like chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices and personal computer brands Intel and Apple.

“This is going to be the new PC,” Huang said as he unveiled Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchip — which combines CPU, or central processing unit, and GPU, or graphics processing unit, capabilities — that would power new Windows laptop and desktop computer models in what the company called “AI personal computers”, expected to debut in the fall of this year.

The chip, developed with Taiwan’s MediaTek, will be in compact desktops from Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Microsoft Surface and MSI, with models from Acer and GIGABYTE to follow.

Nvidia, which is already the world’s most valuable company, said the reinvention will be for creating and gaming.

“When it has an autonomous [AI] agent, an agent that’s helping you, that understands you, you could talk to it. It could look at you. You could ask it to read files, go help you do some research. It could do a lot more,” Huang said.

Microsoft said in a separate statement that the personal computers running on Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchips would be able to support “highly capable AI models” and complex workloads. With the new superchips, these personal computers can run AI agents locally, Nvidia said.

“This is the first across the lineup of PC reinvention for 40 years,” Huang said.

Nvidia’s move is significant at a time when demand is growing for the use of personal AI agents, said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia.

“For consumers, it means more choices, which is always a good thing,” Su said.

Neil Shah, analyst and co-founder of Counterpoint Research, described Nvidia’s announcement as a move that’s “revolutionising how PCs would look like in the next 10 years”.

The new laptops and desktop computers “will drive agentic AI applications in every home”, Shah said, with an aim of having an “AI supercomputer” in each household.

Also during Monday’s speech, Nvidia’s Huang said its new Vera CPUs for data centres are in full production and are “going to be our new major growth driver” on the boom of AI agents, with early customers including Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceXAI.

Huang also revealed a humanoid robot reference design that could act as a blueprint for future research, especially within the higher education sector. Nvidia said its “Isaac GR00T” stands nearly 1.83 metres (6 feet) tall and has the humanoid chassis of Chinese robot maker Unitree’s H2. It is equipped with five-fingered dexterous hands, made by Singapore-based robotics startup Sharpa, that are capable of finely controlled movements.

Reception for AI PCs has been mixed so far. HP reported last week that the devices helped prop up quarterly sales, but Dell said earlier this year that demand had fallen short of initial expectations. Qualcomm, looking to capitalise on AI demand, has also been offering AI PCs with Microsoft.

On Wall Street, Nvidia stock rose nearly 4 percent on the news in midday trading. Microsoft ticked up 2.5 percent and Dell surged 9.3 percent. Competitors AMD and Intel, on the other hand, are on the decline. AMD is down 0.1 percent from the market open, and Intel is down by 2.5 percent.

They simulated flight conditions at Mach 5, which is roughly five times the speed of sound and far faster than the iconic Concorde ever reached during its time in the air

A Japanese organisation is working on a hypersonic jet that could travel two and a half times as fast as Concorde.

In a test carried out by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), researchers installed an experimental aircraft inside a ramjet engine testing facility at JAXA’s Kakuda Space Center in Miyagi Prefecture, Interesting Engineering reports.

They simulated flight conditions at Mach 5, which is roughly five times the speed of sound.

The trial was a big success, validating the aircraft’s thermal protection system, control surfaces, and ramjet combustion performance under extreme hypersonic conditions.

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Such tests are crucial for the legitimacy of such an aircraft, as temperatures surrounding the aircraft can soar close to 1,000 °C at that speed.

The next phase of the program might involve mounting the experimental aircraft onto a sounding rocket or similar launch vehicle for a real-world Mach 5 flight demonstration, it has been reported.

Japan’s hypersonic research efforts are part of a bigger global race to develop ultra-high-speed transportation systems. If the JAXA plane makes it into the air, it could cut the flight time from Tokyo to the US down to two hours. Currently, it takes around half a day to make the journey on a typical commercial aircraft.

The aircraft would do this, in part, by rising to very high altitudes of around 17 miles, more than double that of a conventional aircraft.

A Mach 5 hypersonic passenger plane would fly at about 3,300 mph, roughly six times faster than a normal plane.

The supersonic Concorde passenger jet operated until 2003, but its speed topped out at about Mach 2. It’s maximum recorded speed was 1,400mph.

As exciting as the aircraft is, it’ll be a long time before it’s up in the air, and even longer before anyone is flying in it.

Hideyuki Taguchi, a professor at the Tokyo University of Science, told Mainichi: “Developing a conventional aircraft typically takes about 10 years. Since the development of hypersonic passenger aircraft requires two stages of demonstration — an experimental aircraft followed by a passenger aircraft — we hope development can be completed in about 20 years.”

Tetsuya Sato, a professor at Waseda University, added: “This result is still only a first step. Our dream is to connect it to a flight demonstration.”

JAXA is far from the only organisation attempting to launch a commercial super or hypersonic aircraft.

Recently, key milestones include NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft and Boom Supersonic’s XB-1, both of which successfully completed test flights to overcome noise and efficiency hurdles.

The new Tranche 4 Eurofighter for Germany has been unveiled by Airbus Defense & Space. The appearance of the jet comes at a time when the pan-European multirole fighter is enjoying renewed momentum, bolstered by upgrades that include advanced radars and new weapons. At the same time, the Eurofighter’s importance to Germany, especially, is becoming greater as questions grow about the future of the sixth-generation Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, at the heart of which is supposed to be the crewed New Generation Fighter (NGF). 

The initial German Tranche 4 Eurofighter to be shown in public was presented at Airbus Defense & Space’s Manching site near Munich today, as part of the Airbus Defense Summit. The aircraft, a single-seater, has the production number GS0115 and the service registration 34+03. At this point, no German Tranche 4 has flown, but the company says it has already completed several examples at Manching. Flight testing is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks.

Under Project Quadriga, Germany ordered 38 Tranche 4-standard aircraft in November 2020. Originally planned to be delivered between 2025 and 2030, 31 of the aircraft will be single-seaters, and seven will be two-seaters. The total also includes replacements for two Eurofighters lost in accidents.

This is part of a broader push to enhance the capabilities of the Luftwaffe. While the Tranche 4 jets are slated to replace the Luftwaffe’s early Tranche 1 aircraft, which have far more limited capabilities, Berlin also plans on buying another 55 Eurofighters as a partial replacement for the Tornado swing-wing combat jet. As well as these 93 Tranche 4 Eurofighters, Germany has ordered a batch of 20 Tranche 5 Eurofighters, with a contract for these signed late last year.

The German requirement has been made more complex by the need to replace a portion of the Tornados operating in the nuclear strike role. This has led to a decision to purchase 35 F-35As that will be able to carry B61-12 free-fall nuclear bombs. However, the F-35As will also have an important role within Germany’s expanding conventional long-range strike arsenal, including using the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) cruise missile.

Currently, the Luftwaffe has around 138 Eurofighters in service, which includes a mixture of Tranche 1, 2, and 3 variants. 

While the Tranche 4 Eurofighter looks much the same as the earlier (Tranche 1 to 3) jets operated by the Luftwaffe, it is a notably different aircraft underneath the skin.

Significantly, the Tranche 4 Eurofighter is fitted with the ECRS active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, supplied by Hensoldt. The new radar has already been trialled in a specially configured Eurofighter test aircraft, and using a modified Airbus A320 testbed, the so-called Advanced Technology Research Aircraft.

HENSOLDT Eurofighter Radar Mk1

An AESA radar was long a glaring absence from the Eurofighter and has been in the works for many years.

The European Common Radar System (ECRS) story is a long and complicated one, involving Leonardo in the United Kingdom and Italy, Indra in Spain, and Hensoldt in Germany. Ultimately, it has spawned three discrete AESA radar versions, based on differing requirements and timelines.

As such, the ECRS Mk 0 is fitted in aircraft for Kuwait and Qatar, and initial Tranche 4 deliveries for Germany. The Mk 1 is the definitive standard for Germany and Spain, while the United Kingdom gets the more advanced Mk 2, which you can read about here.

Despite the differences, all these sensors combine traditional radar functions, such as search and targeting, with electronic warfare tasks, a growing area of interest for Typhoon operators, as well as high-speed communications tasks.

Overall, any kind of AESA radar brings some major advantages to modern combat aircraft. In contrast with traditional mechanically scanned array technology, an AESA can find and track a target at a much greater range, more quickly, and with a greater degree of accuracy. This also applies to smaller threats, including those with limited radar signatures or flying at very low levels, which older radars find much harder to detect. This is especially relevant when tackling drones or cruise missiles.

With their increased power output, AESA radars also typically offer a higher standard of target discrimination and multi-target tracking capabilities, and are more resilient to hostile jamming. They are also considered a lot more reliable, primarily due to having far fewer moving parts than mechanically scanned arrays.

EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON TEST PILOT TALKS CAPABILITY

Longer range means that AESA radars are a significant advantage when employing beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, like the Meteor that arms the Eurofighter.

More enhancements for the Tranche 4 jets are expected to be incorporated under the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) program, which focuses on the aircraft’s avionics architecture. The work includes developing a new cockpit featuring a large-area display, as well as new flight-control and mission computers, communications equipment, and armament control systems. However, it’s not clear what Germany will pick from this ‘menu’ of improvements. Different Eurofighter customers choose specific configurations; notably, the Tranche 4 aircraft unveiled today still lacks the PIRATE (Passive InfraRed Airborne Track Equipment). The important forward-looking infrared and infrared search and track sensor was omitted by Germany, originally on budget grounds.

Connected with LTE, work has also been underway for some time on a Large Area Display for the Eurofighter. Measuring 12 x 22 inches, the Large Area Display replaces the previous three 6 x 6-inch multifunction head-down displays (MHDDs) and makes it easier for pilots to handle vast quantities of information better. This is especially useful when working with AESA, or during crewed-uncrewed teaming, for example.

Falling outside the scope of Project Quadriga, but just as important for the Luftwaffe, is the plan to transform 15 existing Eurofighters into electronic warfare aircraft. The resulting Typhoon EK jets will feature an Arexis electronic warfare suite from Saab and be able to employ AGM-88E Advanced Anti-radiation Guided Missiles to suppress and destroy enemy air defenses. The EKs will replace Germany’s Tornado ECR jets that have been serving in this role since the 1990s and will give the Luftwaffe an important capability boost.

At one stage, it looked as if the Eurofighter’s central role within the Luftwaffe would start to diminish after around 2040, when the FCAS was expected to come online and replace these combat aircraft with a new ‘system of systems,’ including a crewed fighter, the NGF.

But for a long time now, there have been cracks in the FCAS program, with France and Germany, the two major partners, at loggerheads. German defense officials are apparently unhappy with French demands to have a disproportionate share of the program and are now said to be looking at other options, including how it might separate itself from France in the program.

Whatever happens with FCAS, the chances of a sixth-generation crewed fighter entering service on the given timeline are increasingly unlikely.

As a result, the Eurofighter is set to be an even more important Luftwaffe asset, and for longer. It will almost certainly be operated in the future alongside ‘loyal wingman’-type drones, which now feature prominently in German military ambitions.

Contenders for this requirement, which calls for capabilities to be fielded around 2030, include the stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drone, which Airbus and Kratos are pitching to Germany. At the same time, Airbus has also been working on a stealthy CCA-like concept of its own, known as Wingman. Meanwhile, Boeing Australia has teamed up with Rheinmetall, the largest arms manufacturer in Germany, to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone to the German military.

Last year also saw the emergence of another possible contender for the Luftwaffe CCA, when German defense startup Helsing unveiled its CA-1 Europa.

CA-1 Europa: Autonomous Air Dominance

More extensive investments in the Luftwaffe reflect a significant shift in priorities for the German military, which is now increasingly orienting itself toward a potential future conflict with Russia.

In response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the German Armed Forces are undergoing their biggest transformation since the Cold War. There is now a broader effort underway to reconfigure the German military from a low-readiness, expeditionary force to a high-readiness, territorial military focused on operations on NATO’s eastern flank. At the same time, long-range strike capabilities, neglected since the Cold War, are suddenly a major area of concern.

Just as important is investing in new equipment, and the unveiling of the Tranche 4 Eurofighter in Bavaria today is a very visible demonstration of this trend.

UPDATE: 5:00 PM EDT –

The original version of this story stated that the German Tranche 4 jets were receiving the ECRS Mk 1 radar. The initial deliveries, at least, are being provided with the previous Mk 0 standard of radar.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com