Until the roll-out ceremony of the first Turkish F-35 last week, many in the Israeli defense establishment were sure that Washington would stop the sale.

Now that it’s unclear if the US will act, official Israeli sources are speaking out: “Turkey is a member of NATO on paper only, and now cooperates with countries that are against the U.S., not only in words. This delivery is something that Israel cannot understand.”

The two houses of Congress are yet to haggle over the final draft of the 2019 defense spending bill, but Turkey’s role is looking more precarious by the day.

As some Gulf and Asian allies consider big purchases of Russia arms, the Senate is set to uphold a law signed by Trump that would slap sanctions on them for cozying up with Moscow.

While Washington struggles to update its arms export policies, China is spreading its influence, one drone sale at a time.

Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum have sparked promises of quick and strong responses from America’s allies, are creating concern in the defense industrial base, and have free-trade Republicans worried.

The new rules, which are still a work in progress, will allow for easier export of laser-designating drones, while shipping more and more weapons overseas to cut into Chinese and Russian sales.

“If something kicks off, we’re the first ones to see it,” the sergeants told us. “We’re the first ones to react. And you’re on the line, they’re coming after you.”

The Trump Administration is putting the final touches on a plan to speed up arms sales to allies, and play catchup to China and Israel in selling armed drones.

With this article we begin regular coverage of the French military, NATO and a wide variety of European defense issues by Murielle Delaporte, a deeply experienced and knowledgeable expert on French strategy and acquisition. Murielle, who travels regularly between Washington and Paris and to the traditional haunts of the French military, is editor of Opérationnels, a… Keep reading →

The shift from low-intensity land wars and the concepts of operations associated with them to getting ready for higher tempo and higher intensity operations are key to the transformation of U.S. and allied forces.  The challenge facing the liberal democracies was well put in a recent presentation by a senior Finnish defense official: “The timeline… Keep reading →