Us Defence

Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland if necessary: Hegseth

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions during a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations. Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief. In one back-and-forth, Hegseth did provide an eyebrow-raising answer. Rep Adam Smith asked whether the Pentagon has plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary. Our job at the Defense Department is to have plans for any contingency, Hegseth said several times. It is not unusual for the Pentagon to draw up contingency plans for conflicts that have not arisen, but his handling of

'Expanding our security partnerships with India': US Defence Secy Hegseth

We are expanding our security partnerships with India through robust military exercises like Tiger Triumph, said Hegseth

US will stand by Indo-Pacific allies against China threat: Pete Hegseth

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressures from China. He said Washington will bolster its defences overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. China has conducted numerous exercises to test what a blockade would look like of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and the US has pledged to defend. China's army "is rehearsing for the real deal", Hegseth said in a keynote speech at a security conference in Singapore. We are not going to sugarcoat it -- the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent. China has a stated goal of having its military be able to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, a deadline that is seen by experts as more of an aspirational goal than a hard war deadline. But China has also developed sophisticated man-ma

Trump's Golden Dome plan could launch new era of weapons in space

While the world's biggest space powers - the US, Russia and China - have put military and intelligence assets in orbit since the 1960s, they have done so mostly in secrecy

What is Golden Dome, Trump's ambitious $175 billion missile defence system?

Donald Trump unveils $175 billion 'Golden Dome' missile shield to counter China, Russia; first US weapon system in space, to be operational in three years; Canada shows interest in joining project

Trump to make Golden Dome announcement on Tuesday, says US official

Trump plans to make a 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) announcement in the Oval Office with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the White House said in an update to the president's schedule

Nato weighs US demand to hike defence spend as some fail to meet goal

NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defence investment to five per cent of gross domestic product over the next seven years, as the US focuses on security challenges outside of Europe. At talks in Antalya, Turkiye, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of US concern. When it comes to the core defence spending, we need to do much, much more, Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within 3-5 years. Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link. He insisted that the US investment demand is about spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century. The debate on defence spending is heating up ahead of a summit of US Presiden

US warns of missile threats that Donald Trump's Golden Dome may face

The DIA released a chart as a prelude to a White House announcement regarding threats to the US that the Golden Dome missile defense umbrella, a priority of President Donald Trump, would counter

US Defence Secretary directs 20% cut to top military leadership positions

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday directed the active duty military to shed 20 per cent of its four-star general officers as the Trump administration keep pushing the services to streamline their top leadership positions. Hegseth also told the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions. In a memo dated Monday, Hegseth said the cuts will remove redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership. On top of the cuts to the top-tier four-star generals, Hegseth has also directed the military to shed an additional 10% of its general and flag officers across the force, which could include any one-star or above or equivalent Navy rank. Hegseth said the cuts aimed to free the military from unnecessary bureaucratic layers. The news of the cuts was first reported by CNN.

India stands to gain from deepening defence ties with US, says JD Vance

Speaking at an event in Jaipur, JD Vance said the US is eager to collaborate more closely with India in areas such as national security, infrastructure, emerging technology, and energy

Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth tout record $1 trillion US defense budget

We are very cost conscious but the military is something that we have to build and we have to be strong because you have a lot of bad forces out there now, Trump said

Pentagon watchdog to review Hegseth's use of Signal to plan Houthi strike

The Pentagon's acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defence officials' use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defence Department's secure communications network. Hegseth's use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz. The chain included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis. The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD polici

EU chief asks member nations to use European, not American defence systems

European Union countries must purchase military equipment made in Europe under a new loan programme meant to help the continent provide for its own security, a top EU official said Tuesday, even though most of its defence materiel currently comes from US suppliers. At a summit last week, the EU's 27 leaders weighed a European Commission proposal for a new loan plan worth 150 billion euros (USD 163 billion). It would be used to buy air defence systems, drones and strategic enablers like air transport, as well as to boost cybersecurity. These loans should finance purchases from European producers, to help boost our own defence industry, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers. Von der Leyen said the contracts should be multiannual, to give the industry the predictability they need and that the priority should be for countries to buy equipment together in groups because we have seen how powerful this can be. European NATO members have placed about two-thirds of th

Ex-defense chiefs ask congressional hearings on Trump firing top officials

Five former secretaries of defence are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump's recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The five men - who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades - said the dismissals were alarming, raised troubling questions about the administration's desire to politicise the military" and removed legal constraints on the president's power. Late last week, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed that by firing Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations; Gen. Jim Slife, vice chief of the Air Force; and the judge advocates general for the military services. Hegseth has defended the firing of Brown, saying that other presidents made changes in military personnel and that Trump deserves to pick his own

PM Modi, Trump launch ASIA to strengthen India-US military cooperation

Modi-Trump meeting: The initiative aims to drive next-generation defence and technological advancements, with a particular focus on underwater domain awareness

Trump 2.0 defense policy: Removing transgender troops, space-based defence

One of the controversial parts of Trump's executive order is aimed at revisiting the rules for transgender individuals in the US military. It has sparked widespread debate over inclusivity

Hegseth's former sister-in-law alleges wife's abuse in affidavit to Senate

Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for US defence secretary received an affidavit on Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that the onetime Fox News host was abusive to his second wife, to the point where she feared for her safety. Hegseth has denied the allegation. The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, was formerly married to the nominee's brother, and in an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, she said she believes that Pete Hegseth is "unfit" to run the defence department based on what she witnessed and heard. She said she first relayed her allegations to the FBI last December but was concerned that the information was not shared with Congress as senators consider Hegseth's nomination to lead the Pentagon. The affidavit describes Hegseth's treatment of his second wife, Samantha, and alleges repeat drunkenness and a domestic situation where Samantha had a safe word to indicate if she was in danger at home. Danielle Hegseth said Samantha texted that safe

In a first, 7 Indian space startups picked for Indo-US defence programme

Under the programme, they will work with the US Defense Innovation Unit, the Department of Defense and other government agencies on satellite observation, emerging space and defence technologies

Tencent makes largest share buyback in 20 years after US blacklisting

Chinese tech giant Tencent has denied allegations of being a Chinese military company or a military-civil fusion contributor, as claimed by the US Department of Defense

US defence giant RTX Corp aims to boost India headcount by 14% in 3 years

The jobs will be added across RTX's units, including around 300 engineers for aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney over the next 12-18 months