For the first time, the US plugged its high-altitude THAAD into the Israeli missile defense network — just one of the ways the two countries are cooperating against Iran.

The United States can reduce its Middle Eastern footprint and secure its vital regional interests.

The new approach will focus on an urgent but largely unmet threat: Russian and Chinese cruise missiles.

An Israeli source who spoke with Breaking Defense of condition of anonymity said that attitudes in Saudi Arabia are changing, “not only in domestic issues, but also their understanding that Israel is not an enemy…”

If RAVEN succeeds in the next, more challenging round of tests, the BAE jammer will ultimately go on the 1980s-vintage M2 Bradley. That’s a big part of the Army’s urgent push to protect American armored vehicles against Russian-made anti-tank missiles in widespread use around the world.

TEL AVIV: With over 80 percent of Israeli’s commerce carried by sea and its offshore gas fields crucial to the economy, the country is boosting spending on protecting its shipping lanes, littorals and ports with an array of weapons including underwater capabilities, heavily armed patrol boats and new submarines. Hezbollah sees the large natural gas… Keep reading →

President Trump is breaking with the past. He’s arguing that Washington must cut its losses, withdraw its forces, climb out of the Middle Eastern and Afghan money pits, and acknowledge that Seoul (with U.S. backing) won the war on the Korean Peninsula. Washington hates him for doing these things, but most Americans and future generations of Americans will love him for it.

Croatia, a NATO member, was ready to sign off on the largest defense deal in its history: $500 million for 12 Israeli F-16 fighters. But the State Department didn’t like the looks of the deal.

Last month, the Army committed to buying an initial brigade’s-worth of the Iron Fist Active Protection System for the M2 Bradley. Meanwhile, with Tuesday morning’s announcement, the US is spending over $200 million to install the rival Trophy APS on not only Army but Marine Corps M1 Abrams tanks.

“Before I took office,” IAI chairman Harel Locker said at a recent conference, “(I) realized that if the company did not change, it could collapse within a few years.”