• Last month, China unveiled a mosquito-like spy drone designed for covert military operations.
• The drone's size and weight could limit its uses on the battlefield, military analysts told BI.
• It could still prove to be an effective new surveillance tool, experts say.

Last month, China's National University of Defense Technology unveiled a new spy drone designed to look like a mosquito.

Showcased on the state-run CCTV-7 military broadcaster, the micro-drone appeared to be roughly the size of a human fingernail and featured tiny, leaf-like wings and thin, wiry legs.

While it may not look as impressive as some of the bigger unmanned systems coming out of Ukraine, its stick-thin body is said to be equipped for a range of covert surveillance and military operations.

"As a drone to surveil buildings, especially on the inside, I can imagine it being quite useful for video feeds," Herb Lin, a senior research scholar at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, told Business Insider.

But its small size may limit its uses on the battlefield.

"If it's real, and powered conventionally (with a battery), its longevity in the air will be limited by battery capacity," Lin said. "Also, it's very light, and therefore easily buffeted by winds. These factors suggest it isn't particularly useful for wide-area surveillance."

Drones can be highly sensitive to weather, in particular strong winds, rain, snow, cold weather, and fog.

And the smaller an aerial drone is, the more susceptible it is to such conditions, Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and drone expert, said. "Even indoors, there can be conditions that could interfere with this drones' performance, such as even a slight breeze, an air flow from an AC, an open window, or other obstacles."

Communications are another issue to consider, Bendett continued, as the drone's size means it's unlikely to be able to carry much advanced equipment.

"While it is technically possible to build a tiny UAV like the one displayed by the Chinese developers, its actual performance is likely to greatly vary," he said.

Others say that the new drone is a sign of China's continuing innovation in the sector.

Michael Horowitz, a senior fellow for technology and innovation at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it showed "Chinese researchers in particular want to push forward technological innovation in drones."

It remains unclear how real the capability is, how soon China could field the tech, or the type of missions it could use them for, he added.

• The US Army secretary and a top general told BI about the service's plans for what it flies.
• In the coming years, the Army wants to operate far more unmanned aircraft than manned.
• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the Army to reduce its crewed attack helicopter force and replace it with drones.

US Army leadership told Business Insider it wants to be flying a lot more uncrewed aircraft than crewed ones in the coming years. We are talking about a tremendous increase in the number of drones.

Its ambitions, which align with goals outlined by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's recent directive, come from a vision for what Army officials and the Trump administration have described as a more lethal force ready for future warfare.

In an interview with Business Insider, US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll and Gen. James Rainey, the commanding general of Army Futures Command, said that unprecedented changes in warfare are fueling plans to overhaul what the Army flies.

"We believe there's a role for some manned aircraft," Rainey explained, "Big picture-wise, right now, about 90% of the things we're flying have humans in them and 10% don't. And I believe over the next several years, we would like to invert that."

The plans to give every division 1,000 drones within the next two years, he added, speak to the "aggressiveness" with which the Army is going after the new uncrewed objectives.

Earlier this year, Hegseth sent out a memo on strategic transformations within the Army, laying out goals and timelines for the service, including force restructuring and cuts to certain programs and systems that altogether represent one of the largest Army revamps since the end of the Cold War. The push is estimated to cost around $36 billion over the next five years.

In the memo, Hegseth indicated that crewed attack helicopter formations would be reduced, restructured, and augmented with drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries.

War-winning Army capabilities and the ones that aren't

Driscoll said this big change, along with others identified in the DoD memo, is already underway and largely focused on examining what systems no longer make sense in the context of the Army's vision for its future and what systems will replace them.

He mentioned the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter as one platform that no longer aligns with plans for the transformation of the force. "The flying costs on that were $10,000 an hour," the secretary said of the older Deltas, pointing out that the figure is about twice the cost of the newer Echo variant of the aircraft.

"Those are the kinds of decisions that I think we had let linger and fester for too long as an Army for all sorts of reasons," Driscoll said. "What we are trying to do is take a hard look at these things," he explained, and decide whether they align with what the warfighter needs.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and training, said that the Deltas are no longer "a war-winning capability that we can fight with and win today." Even the more advanced Echos, he said, are "on the cusp of being capabilities where we don't necessarily see them contributing to the fight the way they have done perhaps in the past."

The Army plans to shelve the Delta variant and further examine other crewed aircraft that may no longer be sufficiently effective. It is also reviewing other helicopter models and plans to reduce the number of helos operated.

The future of war is robotic

More broadly, uncrewed aircraft are being seen as alternatives that soldiers can send forward on the battlefield to do missions that crewed aircraft have traditionally done.

There's still a place for crewed aircraft in the Army. Some helicopters, for example, still boast value for landing troops behind or around enemy positions to surprise and surround them. But future operations are expected to be a whole lot more robotic, with an Army aviation portfolio that more heavily relies on unmanned systems integrated with manned ones.

The Army sees itself at a turning point. Senior defense officials appointed by President Donald Trump have called out what they see as excessive spending, outdated systems and weapons, and a need to expedite changes to be prepared to deter or fight a future conflict. It's part of efforts to maximize readiness, increase lethality, and get soldiers what they need most.

Such aims aren't entirely new, though, and execution will be key. During the previous administration, for instance, the Army was already discussing the need for more uncrewed systems and changes to its aircraft fleet, especially with the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program.

Last year, Rainey told lawmakers that for scouting and recon missions "the right thing to do is to use unmanned systems and not put humans in harm's way."

A major motivator for many of the ongoing transformation efforts is China, which the Pentagon has referred to as a pacing challenge. Officials and lawmakers in Washington see China's meteoric military growth and modernization and are pursuing capabilities that will allow the US military to deter aggression and, if necessary, overcome that rapidly evolving fighting force in armed combat.

Drones, from pocket-sized aircraft to quadcopters to bigger warfighting assets, are a key part of these efforts, providing a range of combat capabilities en masse for a relatively low cost compared to some other US weapons programs.

The Pentagon has been working to expedite the development and deployment of uncrewed aerial systems across the services, recognizing their value as this technology sprints onto the scene in big ways. Army soldiers have been testing different types of reconnaissance and strike drones are being tested in areas like the Indo-Pacific region, learning how to adapt unmanned systems to the challenges of different missions and environments.

That's a key aspect of an ongoing "transformation in contact" initiative, which focuses on Army units being given free rein to use different capabilities during training and exercises to see how the systems might work best.

The value of drones, particularly the smaller systems, has been especially visible in the war in Ukraine, which Army leaders continue to study. Ukrainian operators fly drones for intelligence-gathering and strike missions, among others.

Due to extensive electronic warfare countermeasures on the battlefield, both sides are heavily relying on fiber-optic drones to maintain a stable connection between the operator and system while also exploring new technology, like AI-enabled drones that can resist jamming. The US is not in a similar situation, but it is looking to innovate as if it were.

• Since last year, US warships have repeatedly fired SM-3 interceptors to defend Israel from Iranian missiles.
• A top Navy admiral told lawmakers Tuesday that the SM-3s have been depleted at an "alarming rate."
• These are assets the US would need in a high-end fight.

US Navy warships are burning through one of the top ballistic missile interceptors at an "alarming rate," the admiral overseeing naval operations told lawmakers on Tuesday.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said US forces have expended large amounts of munitions to defend Israel from Iranian strikes during the latest round of conflict in the Middle East and asked whether the Navy has all the Standard Missile-3 interceptors that it needs to be ready for other global threats.

Adm. James Kilby, acting chief of naval operations, said that the service does have a sufficient supply of interceptors, but, he said, "we are, to your point, using them at an alarming rate."

"As you know, those are missiles procured by the Missile Defense Agency and then delivered to the Navy for our use," he added. "And we are using them quite effectively in the defense of Israel."

The SM-3 is a missile interceptor that uses a kinetic kill vehicle to destroy short- to intermediate-range missiles during the mid-course phase of flight. It is part of the Navy's highly advanced Aegis Combat System, equipped on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

Unlike the Navy's other missile interceptors, the SM-3 can engage targets in space.

The SM-3 missile comes in multiple variants, which can cost as much as $10 million on the low end and almost $30 million on the high end, according to the MDA. The weapon is made by US defense contractor RTX and, for the newest variant, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The Navy first used the SM-3 interceptor in combat to defend Israel from Iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack in April 2024. American warships then fired the interceptors again several months later, in October, when Tehran launched over 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.

A US official told Business Insider last week that Navy warships in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea had launched missile interceptors to defend Israel from Iranian attacks amid the latest round of fighting between the two enemies. The official, however, did not specify what type of interceptors.

It is unclear how many SM-3s might have been launched as part of these efforts, and it is also unclear whether there were any confirmed interceptions of Iran's missiles in the latest engagements. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to BI's request for additional information.

Navy leadership has previously stated that it needs a lot more SM-3s to counter higher-level threats in the Pacific, like China and its large arsenal of ballistic missiles. Analysts, however, have raised concerns that the sea service is rapidly expending these interceptors in Middle East conflicts without sufficient plans to replace them.

The fiscal year 2025 defense budget request cut procurement of SM-3 Block IB interceptors from around 150 to zero over the next five years, and only called for production of a dozen of the newer SM-3 Block IIA variants every year for the same period.

The defense appropriation bill reversed some of those plans, providing additional funding for more SM-3 production. In May, the Pentagon awarded a substantial contract to RTX for dozens of SM-3 IBs. And there's also been further support aimed at boosting production of newer SM-3 variants. The outlook for the coming fiscal year isn't totally clear, but the emphasis on missile defense could reflect a favorable environment for increasing SM-3 interceptor stockpiles.

• A US Navy guided-missile submarine was involved in recent strikes on Iran's nuclear program.
• Ohio-class cruise-missile subs host massive firepower and are difficult to detect.
• But they're going to be decommissioned in coming years.

A US Navy guided-missile submarine launched dozens of missiles into Iran as part of the larger US attack on the country's nuclear program, the vessel's Tomahawk cruise missiles doing significant damage.

President Donald Trump singled out US submarines and the fleet's guided-missile submarines after the strikes, praising them as "far and away the strongest and best equipment we have" and "the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built."

But despite the latest demonstration of their power, the days of the US fleet's biggest missile shooters are numbered.

No other US warship carries even close to as many cruise missiles as its four aging Ohio-class cruise missile subs, raising questions about coming capabilities and filling that gap.

Strikes on Iran

The US military launched a massive strike on Iran's nuclear program, targeting facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan on Saturday.

While much of the focus for the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes has been on the B-2 Spirit bombers and the huge bombs they dropped, another key part of the operation involved a Navy guided-missile submarine firing from an undisclosed location in the Middle East.

In comments about the operation, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine didn't specify which submarine was involved, and the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense declined to discuss it due to operational security concerns.

The term "guided-missile submarine," which Caine used, refers to the Navy's Ohio-class SSGNs, and the large number of missiles launched during the operation also points to an Ohio-class boat.

Ohio-class submarines, built by General Dynamics' Electric Boat division, were originally a force of 18 nuclear-powered ballistic missile vessels first commissioned in 1981 with a sole mission of the highest stakes: carrying missiles with nuclear warheads. In the 2000s, the Navy converted four of them into cruise-missile submarines, ending their role in the nuclear forces and turning them into the US fleet's most stealthy and numerous missile shooters.

Although they're now 40 years old, these capable submarines are some of the quietest in the world, Bryan Clark, a retired Navy submarine officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, told Business Insider.

"This is in large part because of their size, which allows for substantial dampening and sound silencing equipment," he said, "as well as their aggressive maintenance program. Each SSGN carries 154 Tomahawk missiles and can carry about two dozen special operators."

SSGN is an abbreviation for "subsurface guided nuclear," with SS standing for submarine, G for guided missile, and N for nuclear propulsion.

Those four subs can launch more than half of the missiles the Navy's submarine fleet is able to fire from vertical launch systems, according to the service.

Even the newest attack subs carry only a small fraction of an SSGN's missile arsenal, and surface warships must carry a mix of missiles in their vertical launchers to defend against aerial threats.

This past weekend's attack on Iran included 75 precision-guided weapons in total, including GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetration bunker-buster bombs dropped by US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. Trump, in the Monday Truth Social post that praised subs, said one SSGN had launched 30 Tomahawk missiles in total during the attack.

Reduced firepower

The Navy plans to decommission two of its Ohio-class SSGNs in 2026 and the other two in 2028, replacing them with Virginia-class Block V submarines. These won't be dedicated cruise missile submarines, but they will boast greater firepower than earlier Virginias.

Military leaders and experts have expressed concerns about the replacement plan and the loss of missile capacity.

"The US will experience a big drop in its capacity for stealthy missile attacks," Clark said. The Block V Virginia-class attack submarines will each be able to carry up to 40 Tomahawk missiles, far less than the Ohio SSGNs, a concern as the US attempts to turn its focus to higher-end threats and potential conflicts.

This means Navy officials will have to deploy four or more Virginia-class attack subs to fire as many long-range missiles, reducing the number of attack subs for other missions they are specially built for: surveillance and ship-killing.

Additionally, the Ohio-class SSGNs have two crews of about 150 sailors that rotate the sub back and forth, allowing it to maximize its deployed time. Over two decades of operations, these subs have earned reputations as workhorses.

Another problem is that the Block V submarines are facing years-long delays and rising costs due to persistent US Navy shipbuilding problems that could leave a capability gap.

A Navy review last year estimated the delay to contract delivery for Virginia Block Vs at approximately 24 months. Other top-priority programs, like the Constellation-class frigate, Virginia Block IV submarines, and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, are also behind schedule.

The Trump administration has made fixing the shipbuilding problems contributing to these delays a top priority, standing up an office in the White House dedicated to shipbuilding.

Recent congressional hearings have examined a number of problems, some dating back decades to the end of the Cold War. Issues like competitive pay for shipbuilders, workforce and labor problems, and training and shipbuilding capacity woes have repeatedly caused programs to run behind,

With the Virginia-class Block Vs delayed, retiring the Ohio-class submarines could limit the stealthy cruise-missile strike capabilities of the Navy's submarine force.

"Unless the Navy delays the Ohio retirements, the Navy's submarine-launched missile capacity will not return to today's levels until the mid-2030s," Clark said, when the Virginia Block Vs are expected to be completed.

And even when the Block Vs are delivered, they won't bring the same firepower.

• Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, but it's already showing signs of strain.
• Tehran may turn to proxies, missiles, or the Strait of Hormuz if the conflict reignites.
• Analysts told BI that Iran's options are limited and it risks a strong backlash.

Despite being outmatched by Israel's advanced arsenal, Iran retains several military options should the fragile ceasefire first announced by President Donald Trump collapse.

On Monday, Trump announced that the US had brokered a "complete and total" truce between the two countries, but since then there have already been signs that the deal is on shaky ground.

By Tuesday morning, Trump was urging restraint on Truth Social, calling on both countries to "not violate" the ceasefire. He later urged Israel to avoid "dropping those bombs," or risk committing a "major violation."

Ongoing covert operations and missile launches have already chipped away at its credibility, Andreas Krieg, a Gulf specialist at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London, told Business Insider.

"The ceasefire that took effect following US and Qatari mediation is brittle and fragile," Krieg said. "It rests more on political signaling and public posturing than on concrete enforcement mechanisms."

He added: "In practice, the ceasefire has mostly existed on social media, with each side using digital platforms to declare restraint while continuing activities that fall short of open warfare."

Mining or threatening the Strait of Hormuz

"There is a case where a ceasefire could hold," Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab British Understanding, told BI, "but there's also a case sort of saying that both sides want to be the last to fire."

If the ceasefire collapses, Iran's most powerful geopolitical lever remains the Strait of Hormuz — a vital 21-mile-wide chokepoint through which 20% of the world's oil flows.

Iran has long threatened to block it.

While Iran lacks the legal authority to shut down the Strait of Hormuz outright, it could cripple global energy markets by making the waters barely navigable.

"Under normal circumstances, this might be seen as a self-destructive option given Iran's own dependence on revenue from oil exports through that corridor," Jacob Parakilas, a research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy and Capabilities at RAND Europe, told Business Insider.

"But if Israeli strikes cause enough damage to Iranian oil infrastructure, that calculation might well change," he said, adding that Iran could use missile-armed small boats, drones, and naval mines.

"This arsenal could pose a significant challenge to navigation," said Sidharth Kaushal, a sea power expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

Kaushal said the US Navy is equipped to counter this, but the time needed to do so would be costly for all involved.

A full closure of the Straits could push Brent crude past $110 a barrel, according to Goldman Sachs.

Attacks on US bases

Iran launched a missile strike on Monday on Al Udeid, the largest US base in the region. This was before the ceasefire was announced.

While Qatar said its air defense systems intercepted the missiles, and no casualties were reported, the attack showed Tehran's willingness to target US bases.

The US has bolstered its regional strength by deploying carrier strike groups and missile defense systems and repositioning aircraft, including B-2 bombers, away from vulnerable sites like Al Udeid.

However, Doyle believes that Iran is unlikely to escalate directly against the US.

Instead, he said that Iran's strategy could be to prolong the conflict with Israel, aiming to outlast its will politically and economically.

He described this as a war of attrition, rather than one of decisive strikes. "Whilst these dangerous weapons are still being used, anything can happen," he said.

Proxy groups

Beyond direct military action, Iran has long relied on its network of proxy forces — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen.

These offer Tehran plausible deniability and the ability to hit Israel or US assets without direct confrontation.

But Iran's proxies are not what they once were.

Israel's offensives have decimated Hamas' military leadership and driven Hezbollah into retreat after heavy airstrikes and an incursion into southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad has been ousted in Syria.

The deaths of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the political wing of Hamas, have further degraded Tehran's reach.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, cautioned that Tehran may already be close to exhausting its proxy playbook.

These groups "are already doing everything they can," he said.

"Iran cannot supply the proxies — the Houthis are under siege," he added. "The main threats to the Americans would be from the Iraqi proxies, and even they may act independently rather than under direct Iranian command."

Activating these forces en masse also risks broader escalation, especially if unconventional weapons are used.

Ballistic missile capabilities

While Iran's air force can't compete with Israel's, its ballistic missile arsenal has expanded into the largest in the region.

Tehran now possesses an estimated 3,000 missiles, including a growing stockpile of solid-fueled, precision-guided medium-range weapons like the Fattah-1 and Kheibarshekan, which were both used in an attack on Israel last October.

But experts say these, too, have been significantly reduced.

Iran's "ballistic missile supply is not infinite and has already decreased significantly," Yaniv Voller, a senior lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Kent, said.

Fitton-Brown agreed: "They've mainly been depleted because they've been used — and the Israelis have taken aim at military-industrial sites."

No good options

Browne Maddox, director of the Chatham House think tank, wrote in a Sunday briefing that few of the choices available to Iran are attractive to it.

But it may still go for them "rather than be seen to be forced back to the table," she said.

It's also a delicate matter for the country domestically.

Being forced by the US to give up its nuclear enrichment — a key demand of the Trump administration — "would very likely be perceived by Iranians as surrender," she said.

One option for Tehran, she said, is to draw out negotiations while quietly rebuilding its nuclear program, taking advantage of ongoing disagreements in the Trump camp over how best to proceed.

But all its military options risk a devastating US or Israeli response.

"Iran doesn't have good options," Fitton-Brown said. "It's run out of them."

• The Israeli military said it bombed two Iranian F-14 Tomcats in Tehran earlier this week.
• A new satellite image shows that one of the fighter jets is destroyed while the other looks damaged.
• The US sold dozens of F-14s to Iran in the 1970s when the two countries still had ties.

New satellite imagery of an Iranian airfield shows two US-made F-14 fighter jets — one of which looks to be totally destroyed — after they were hit by Israeli airstrikes earlier in the week.

The image, captured on Friday by US commercial satellite imaging company Maxar Technologies and obtained by Business Insider, shows the two F-14s at a facility at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran.

One of the F-14s appears to have taken a hit near the nose, although the full extent of the damage is unclear. However, the other jet directly next to it was reduced to a burned wreck.

Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said on Monday that an IDF drone struck two Iranian F-14s, marking "another loss of strategic weaponry for the enemy." The military published footage showing a direct hit on each aircraft.

The F-14 Tomcat is a multi-role fighter jet made by the US aerospace corporation formerly known as Grumman Aerospace Corporation, now Northrop Grumman. Designed to be launched from aircraft carriers, the plane was introduced by the US Navy in the 1970s and participated in combat missions around the world over the next few decades.

The Navy stopped flying the F-14 in 2006, after replacing it with the F/A-18 Super Hornet made by US defense manufacturer Boeing. However, the F-14 has remained a celebrated aircraft, in part because of its spotlight in the "Top Gun" blockbusters.

The US sold nearly 80 F-14s to Iran, once an American partner, before the 1979 Iranian Revolution ended relations between the two countries. Washington cut support and supplies of spare parts for the Tomcats, and Tehran's inventory slowly declined over time as maintenance and logistical challenges mounted. Iran still has its jets, though, and is the only remaining operator.

Iran's F-14s, like much of its air force, are relatively obsolete due to international sanctions and embargoes that prevent the country from modernizing its fleet. Tehran also operates other aging aircraft, including Soviet-era Su-24s and MiG-29s and US-made F-5s.

The limitations of its airpower have forced Iran to rely on building a large arsenal of ballistic missiles and attack drones. Tehran was said to have purchased newer Su-35 aircraft from Russia, although it's unclear if any have been delivered.

Israel has struck additional aircraft beyond the two F-14s, including at least one aerial refueling tanker and eight attack helicopters, since beginning a new operation last Friday aimed at degrading Iran's nuclear program, a longtime goal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Over the past week, Israeli fighter jets have carried out widespread airstrikes across Iran, targeting its nuclear facilities, top scientists, senior commanders, missile launchers, air defenses, and other high-profile military infrastructure. The Iranians have responded by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is weighing whether to use US assets to strike Iran's most hardened nuclear sites. Iran has said that it will retaliate if American forces intervene in the conflict.

• Dozens of US military aircraft have departed from a key base in the Middle East.
• The base, Al Udeid in Qatar, could be vulnerable to Iranian strikes.
• Tehran has threatened retaliation if the US joins Israel's bombing campaign in Iran.

New satellite imagery shows dozens of US military aircraft missing from a key Middle Eastern base that could be vulnerable to Iranian strikes if American forces join the conflict with Israel.

In a June 5 image, captured by the US commercial satellite imaging company Planet Labs and reviewed by Business Insider, around 40 aircraft of various types can be seen parked on the tarmac at the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar.

But only three aircraft could be seen on the tarmac in another image captured on Thursday.

The move's purpose is unclear, but the large-scale aircraft departure could be a possible move to protect them from Iranian retaliatory attacks if the US military joins Israel in carrying out offensive strikes against Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran's supreme leader has threatened the US, warning it not to intervene in the conflict, which is entering its second week. Al Udeid, America's largest base in the Middle East and located just across the Persian Gulf, could be a prime target for Tehran, along with other nearby military installations.

Al Udeid hosts a number of military assets, including the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing's airlift, aerial refueling, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. The air base supports a vast array of US aircraft, including B-52 strategic bombers, C-17 Globemaster transports and RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft.

Agence France-Presse first reported the dispersal of US aircraft from Al Udeid. US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, did not provide comment.

President Donald Trump has hinted in recent days that the US could join Israel's campaign. There has been speculation that such action could involve sending in B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to drop the massive bunker-buster munitions on Iran's hardened Fordow nuclear facility.

The 15-ton GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is one of the most powerful non-nuclear bombs and the largest bunker buster in the US arsenal. It is likely the only conventional munition capable of damaging Fordow, buried deep in the side of a mountain. It is unique to the US, as it can only be carried by the B-2 bomber.

"I may do it, I may not do it," Trump told reporters earlier this week of plans to strike Iran. "Nobody knows what I'm going to do."

The dispersal of aircraft at Al Udeid, a possible security move, comes amid the larger build-up of US military forces in and around the Middle East, including fighter jets, tanker planes, warships, and even a second aircraft carrier.

US Navy destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and American ground troops in the Middle East have already been involved in defending Israel from Iranian retaliatory missile attacks that began last Friday after Israeli officials announced the start of a new operation to harm Tehran's nuclear program and began conducting bombing operations.

Over the past week, Israeli fighter jets have launched widespread airstrikes on targets across Iran, targeting the country's nuclear facilities, top scientists, senior commanders, missile launchers, air defenses, bases, and other high-profile military assets.

Iran has retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israeli cities.

• Israel targeted nuclear and military sites in Iran in airstrikes early Friday morning.
• The strikes are a major escalation that threatens to expand into a wider regional conflict.
• These are five key questions in the wake of Israel's air war.

Israel's widespread airstrikes on Iran effectively damaged the country's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which officials said was a primary goal.

The strikes hit over 100 targets, including Iran's air defense systems, missile launchers, and senior military leadership.

Now, all eyes are on Tehran's response and the specter of a wider conflict. And there are questions over whether the US will get pulled into the fight.

Here are some main questions stemming from the attacks.

How has Iran responded?

Iran initially responded to the attack by firing 100 drones at Israel on Friday, which the Israel Defense Forces said were mostly intercepted.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel "should anticipate a severe punishment" in response to the strikes, and that Iran "won't let them go unpunished."

Hours later, the IDF said Iran had launched "dozens" of missiles at Israel in what appeared to be several waves. The military said its air defenses were actively intercepting threats, and video footage captured several impacts.

"The Iranian response might be delayed or split into multiple phases," said Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.

"But their main weapon will be ballistic missiles," he added, "which have the best chance of inflicting damage on Israel, whereas drone and cruise missile attacks will face more extensive Israeli defences."

It is not unprecedented for Iran to launch powerful weapons at Israel; Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at its foe in April and October last year. However, those strikes were mostly intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the US.

Beyond direct strikes, another way that Iran could retaliate is through the so-called "Axis of Resistance," a vast network of militias it is aligned with throughout the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis.

Israel has been battling these forces, and Hamas in Gaza, since the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long advocated for destroying Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for civilian purposes.

The US, however, has been trying to reach a new deal with Iran (and has threatened violence if a deal isn't done). The strikes could derail those efforts and even goad Iran into racing to build a nuclear arsenal.

Could this trigger a wider conflict?

Israel's strikes threaten to spark a wider regional conflict, analysts at London's Chatham House think tank warned Friday.

"Far from being a preventive action, this strike risks triggering a broader regional escalation and may inadvertently bolster the Islamic Republic's domestic and international legitimacy," Sanam Vakil, Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa program director, said.

Last year, Tehran reportedly threatened to target Gulf state oil facilities if they allowed Israel access to their airspace for strikes against Iran. It's unclear what routes Israeli aircraft used in the attacks, but there's been speculation Israel could exploit the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria to get its aircraft directly over Iraq for strikes.

Russia is also a close ally of Iran, and the two have increased their defense cooperation since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, Nikita Smagin, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, said in December that the Kremlin is unlikely to come to Iran's direct aid in order to avoid direct confrontations with Israel and the US.

Will the US be pulled into a fight?

The US has helped arm and defend Israel, notably in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attacks. The world will be watching to see how President Donald Trump responds.

Trump has sought to broker a new nuclear deal with Iran, and in the wake of the Israeli attacks overnight, warned of "even more brutal" strikes from Israel if Iran refuses a new agreement.

Last year, the US Navy helped shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel in two major attacks, and it has rotated multiple aircraft carriers and many warships into the region since 2023, in a show of support for Israel and to deter its enemies, including Iran.

The US and other NATO countries have also defended international shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

What forces does the US have in the region?

The US has a substantial military presence in the Middle East, including naval forces, ground troops, and strike aircraft.

A Navy spokesperson told BI that the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group — consisting of an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, and three destroyers — is in the Arabian Sea.

There are also three American destroyers in the Red Sea and another in the Eastern Mediterranean.

All of these warships, and the carrier's dozens of embarked aircraft, are capable of carrying out air defense missions to defeat incoming drones and missiles.

Were the strikes effective?

IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel's strikes "significantly harmed" Iran's main uranium enrichment site at Natanz.

"For many years, the people of the Iranian regime made an effort to obtain nuclear arms in this facility," he said, adding that the site "has the necessary infrastructure to enrich uranium to a military grade."

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the site was struck, but the extent of the damage remains unverified.

Satellite imagery appeared to show significant damage at the surface level.

There was also a report Friday that Israel had struck Fordow, a nuclear fuel enrichment site guarded deep under a mountain.

The IDF said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hossein Salami and other senior military commanders were also killed in targeted strikes.

• Israeli Air Force planes struck Iranian military targets and nuclear facilities on Thursday.
• Israel's F-35I stealth fighter jets participated in the strikes targeting Iran's nuclear program.
• The planes also aided defenses against Iranian missiles in 2023 and 2024.

Israel launched a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program on Thursday with its fleet of F-35I stealth fighter jets on the front lines.

The Israeli variant of the US-made Lockheed Martin Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter plane is known as "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew. With advanced stealth capabilities and a customized electronic warfare system, the F-35I is one of the most powerful tools in Israel's air defense arsenal.

In addition to Israel's assault on Iran, the Israeli planes also took down a missile fired by an Iran-backed group in Yemen in 2023 and intercepted hundreds of drones, missiles, and rockets fired by Iran in a retaliatory attack in 2024, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Here's a closer look at the "Mighty One" military aircraft.

F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets, produced by Lockheed Martin, are some of the most advanced military aircraft in the world.

The F-35 stores its weapons and fuel internally, and its aligned edges and radar-absorbent coating also help the aircraft evade detection. The planes cost $44,000 per hour to fly, The National Interest reported in January.

They feature advanced stealth and information-processing capabilities and can reach supersonic speeds of Mach 1.6, or 548.8 meters per second.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn A. Hewson said in 2018 that the planes "can fly in what we call 'beast mode,' carrying up to 18,000 pounds of internal and external ordnance, in a mix that can include 5,000-pound-class weapons."

In 2016, Israel became the first country other than the US to acquire F-35 fighter jets.

Israel was the first country to select the model through the US Foreign Military Sales process and bought 50 planes, according to Lockheed Martin.

Israel has made significant modifications to the jets.

Israel manufactures its own wings and electronic warfare system for the F-35I. It also developed its own version of the high-tech helmet that displays the plane's airspeed, altitude, targeting information, and other crucial stats directly on the pilot's visor.

The Israeli Air Force named its F-35I variant "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew.

The Israeli Air Force also added a six-pointed Star of David to the design, a Jewish symbol that also appears on the Israeli flag.

In 2018, Israel became the first country to use the F-35I in combat, its air force chief said.

"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts," then-Israeli Air Force chief Major-General Amikam Norkin said in a speech at a gathering of foreign air force leaders, Reuters reported.

In July 2023, Israel acquired an additional 25 Adir planes in a $3 billion deal.

The deal was financed through the military aid Israel receives from the US, Reuters reported.

In November 2023, Israel's F-35I Adir fighter jets took down a missile fired by an Iran-backed group in Yemen, according to the IDF.

It was the first known intercept of a cruise missile by an F-35 plane.

The Israeli Air Force released footage of the encounter on X, writing in Hebrew that its personnel are "preoccupied at every moment with planning and managing the defense response and are prepared for any threat in any area."

Iran appeared to target the Nevatim air base, which houses Israel's fleet of F-35I jets, during an attack in April 2024.

Out of the over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, launched at Israel by Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, around 99% were intercepted by Israel and its allies. The IDF released photos showing minor damage near a runway at the Nevatim Airbase and to a road in Hermon caused by the few projectiles that landed.

The missiles appeared to target Israel's Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert, which houses its fleet of F-35I stealth fighter jets. The base remained operational throughout the attack, according to the IDF, with the Adir fighter jets aiding the defensive mission.

"Iran thought it would be able to paralyze the base and thus damage our air capabilities, but it failed," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

On Thursday, the Israeli Air Force launched over 200 fighter jets, including F-35I planes, in a preemptive strike targeting Iran's nuclear program.

An IDF spokesperson said that Israeli fighter jets struck over 100 sites across Iran on Thursday to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, including military targets and its largest uranium enrichment site in Natanz.

The IDF said that Iran's nuclear program has "accelerated significantly" in recent months and called it "clear evidence that the Iranian regime is operating to obtain a nuclear weapon." Iran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.

"This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat by an enemy who is intent on destroying us," Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF's Chief of the General Staff, said in a statement.

The IDF released photos showing planes used in the large-scale operation, including F-35I jets.

Iran launched a retaliatory attack with over 100 drones on Friday morning, which were mostly intercepted by Israeli forces, the IDF said.

The ongoing war in Gaza has prompted new scrutiny of US military aid to Israel.

The October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and captured over 240. Around 53 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive.

Israel's counteroffensive airstrikes and military actions in Gaza have resulted in over 55,000 Palestinian fatalities, according to figures provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. The IDF reports that 17,000 of these fatalities were Hamas militants.

According to the United Nationals Relief and Works Agency, over 1.9 million Gazans, around 90% of the population, have been displaced by the war.

The devastating human toll of the war in Gaza with US-funded planes like the F-35I has prompted new scrutiny of US aid to Israel, with some lawmakers in Congress raising the possibility of conditioning military and economic aid.

• Israel launched a major operation on Friday targeting Iran's nuclear program.
• Israeli officials said aircraft struck Iran's main enrichment facility at Natanz, among other sites.
• It's hard for Israel to completely wipe out Iran's nuclear program, given that much is underground.

Israel launched an air assault against Iran early Friday morning that officials said is intended to damage Tehran's nuclear program.

Hundreds of Israeli warplanes participated in a series of widespread airstrikes targeting sites associated with Iran's nuclear and missile programs, as well as military leaders and air defense systems, in a major escalation that has already drawn a retaliatory attack from Tehran.

Specifically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his forces "struck at the heart" of the country's nuclear enrichment and weaponization programs, and targeted its main enrichment facility at Natanz. The extent of the damage is unclear so far, but analysts said it appeared to be limited based on satellite imagery.

Netanyahu had long pushed for a military approach to Iran's nuclear program, as opposed to the deal that the Trump administration was hoping to settle to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons.

Iran has said that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

However, military and nuclear experts say firepower alone won't be enough to completely wipe out Iran's nuclear program. It has many scientists with nuclear expertise and has stored its most critical facilities in bunkers buried deep underground.

This makes the facilities particularly challenging targets that, from the air, can only be reached by the largest bunker busters, which Israel lacks, or repeated strikes in the same spots.

Natanz, home to Iran's largest uranium enrichment site, is located several floors underground in the center of the country. The Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes damaged an underground area of the facility that contains an enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms, and additional infrastructure.

Satellite imagery captured on Friday revealed what appears to be significant damage at Natanz, but only on the surface.

Iran's other main enrichment site, Fordow, is buried even deeper in the side of a mountain and is the country's most "hardened" facility, said Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow for proliferation and nuclear policy at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.

In comments shared with Business Insider, Dolzikova said Fordow has not been affected by the Israeli strikes, nor have other locations. "Should Iran make a decision to produce a nuclear weapon, it would likely do that at hardened and potentially still secret sites," she said.

It's unclear what air-to-ground munitions Israel used to strike Natanz and the other targets affiliated with Iran's nuclear program. However, it would take a very large bunker-buster bomb to reach underground and destroy the more hardened sites.

The likely best weapon for the job is the US military's GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, one of the most powerful non-nuclear bombs and the largest bunker buster in America's arsenal at 15 tons. These munitions can only be carried by the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and the B-21 Raider in development.

Israel doesn't have bomber aircraft capable of carrying the largest bunker-buster munitions. The IDF shared footage showing its fighter jets — F-35s, F-16s, and F-15s — taking off and landing during the strikes. Weapons experts pointed out that some of the aircraft appear to be carrying 2,000-pound guided bombs. Israel's F-15I, though, can carry 4,000-pound anti-bunker bombs.

Military analysts with RUSI estimated in March that the Fordow site could be as deep as 260 feet underground, likely beyond the reach of even America's MOP. Damaging it would almost certainly require repeated strikes, likely over days or weeks.

US officials said Washington was not involved in the Israeli strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran not to retaliate against American forces in the region, something Tehran and its allies have done in the past.

The US Navy has one aircraft carrier and seven surface warships in the Middle East right now. These assets are capable of providing air defense in the event of a larger Iranian response. So far, Tehran has retaliated by launching dozens of drones at Israel.

Beyond the nuclear sites, Israeli officials said forces also went after other high-profile Iranian targets, including its top scientists, senior military commanders, air defenses, and ballistic missile program.

• NATO member Poland has put on hold plans to buy 32 Black Hawk helicopters.
• It suggested that Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows they're not the right weapon to focus on.
• It's not abandoned helicopters, but they have proven vulnerable in Ukraine.

NATO member Poland has postponed its purchase of 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, with military officials there suggesting the way Russia is fighting in Ukraine shows they're not the right equipment for it to focus on.

General Wieslaw Kukula, the Polish armed forces chief of staff, said at a Friday press conference that "we have decided to change the priorities of the helicopter programs" in order to "better adapt to the challenges of future warfare," Reuters reported.

Poland's deputy defense minister, Pawel Bejda, said on X that his country's military, pilots, and experts were analyzing the geopolitical situation, as well as "the war in Ukraine" and what Russia is buying and equipping its military with.

Poland shares a land border with Ukraine.

Grzegorz Polak, a spokesman for Poland's Armament Agency, which buys equipment for its military, told Reuters that its priorities needed "some correction" and that it might be necessary to buy other equipment instead of the helicopters, "such as drones, or tanks, or some kind of communication."

He also told Polish outlet Defence24 that the armed force's priorities have changed amid evolving threats.

Poland, like other European countries, has warned that Russia could attack elsewhere on the continent.

Its prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned in March that Russia's big military investments suggest it's readying for a conflict with someone bigger than Ukraine in the next three to four years.

Poland is already the highest spender on defense in NATO, as a proportion of its GDP, and has been a major ally of Ukraine throughout the invasion.

Helicopters over Ukraine

Helicopters have played a role in Russia's invasion, with both sides using them to counter drones, offer air support, and launch attacks.

They were particularly effective for Ukraine against Russia's attempts to seize a key airfield shortly after the invasion began in February 2022, and for Russia during Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive.

But they have also proved vulnerable.

The proliferation of air defenses has meant that they, like other aircraft, have had to hang back from frontline fighting more than in past conflicts, making them far less useful.

Ukraine's success at taking down Russia's Ka-52 helicopters in 2023 meant Russia started using them less. Many were hit by US-provided M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

Reports suggest that Russia lost more than 100 helicopters in the first two years of the war.

Ukraine has also destroyed some Russian helicopters at bases far from the front lines.

Even so, losses could have been higher. Mark Hertling, a former commander of United States Army Europe, told BI in January that Russia has been "very poor" in the way it used helicopters and other air assets, but also that Ukraine's air-defense shortages have protected them.

Andrew Curtis, an independent defence and security researcher who spent 35 years as a UK Royal Air Force officer, told BI last year that one lesson Western countries could take from the war is "about the vulnerability of helicopters in the modern battlefield where hiding and seeking is not a child's game, it's a matter of life and death."

A helicopter strategy

The S-70i is a variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk made by PZL Mielec, a Polish company owned by the US's Lockheed Martin.

Poland's plan to buy them began in 2023, under a previous government. The aim was for the helicopters to be used for combat and logistics, and to work with AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters ordered from the US.

Bejda, the deputy defense minister, said the latest move did not involve terminating a contract, as one was never signed.

But it has still led to some domestic issues.

Mariusz Blaszczak, Poland's former defense minister, described the decision as a disgrace in a post on X, saying it would lead to job losses, delays in replacing the country's helicopter fleet, and a loss of interoperability because Poland's military already uses some Black Hawks.

The postponement comes after Poland spent years investing in helicopter technology, including ordering 96 Apache Guardians in a deal signed last year, and 32 Leonardo AW149s in a deal signed in 2022.

Bejda said Poland would still prioritize some helicopters, including training and combat helicopters, a heavy transport helicopter, and search and rescue helicopters.

But the government, which took office at the end of 2023, clearly views increasing the fleet as less important than investing in other military assets.

The war in Ukraine has led Western countries to boost their own defense spending and to change their priorities, including through buying more air defenses and drones, investing more in tanks, and even bringing back old types of training like trench warfare.

• My mom was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 uterine cancer and is going through chemotherapy.
• I join her for each chemotherapy treatment, and we talk about her exciting days in the Air Force.
• Her stories are the remedy we needed. They are helping us both cope with the pain.

As a child, my mother had a habit of pointing out various military planes in the sky and explaining their names and purposes.

I heard those same planes zoom overhead on various military bases when I watched her, clad in an Air Force uniform with her short red hair peeking out stubbornly under her hat, command the respect of fellow officers with an ease I admired.

It seemed like nothing could phase her — when it came to overseeing aircraft maintenance squadrons, Lieutenant Colonel Stinson — my mother — was in her element.

How ironic it was that after everything she faced fearlessly in the Air Force, cancer was the one thing that scared her.

Hearing my mom had cancer was a shock

Having retired as a lieutenant colonel after 20 years of service in the early 2000s, my mom had enjoyed post-retired life in San Antonio.

Early this year, she told me of pains in her abdomen that were unbearable. Her doctor recommended a hysterectomy, and during her operation, the doctor removed a large cancerous tumor on her uterus. However, some of her lymph nodes also looked concerning, so some biopsies were taken.

After her hysterectomy, my mom seemed more energetic, returning to the vibrant woman I remembered. During the two-week wait for those biopsy results, I truly believed they wouldn't show cancer. I was wrong.

One of her lymph nodes had cancer. Hearing the Stage 3 uterine cancer diagnosis shattered my delusion. A sense of shock surged through my body that left me feeling strangely numb. I heard the doctor say, "Chemo," and "hair loss," and after weeks of holding back tears, I started to cry.

No prescription can ease the shock of a loved one's cancer diagnosis. However, stories from my mother's past have become the remedy we sorely needed, as I sit with her through each chemotherapy treatment.

We got to talk a lot about the past during her treatment

The older I got, the more I told myself that I would record her story one day, but time slipped by. Then, when I heard the doctor diagnose her with cancer, time seemed more finite.

"You were doing the 'Captain Marvel' thing before it was cool," I'd told her one day while we were sitting in the chemotherapy treatment center.

Becoming a commissioned officer in the Air Force after college had always been my mom's dream. But as she jokingly told me, the Air Force wasn't exactly seeking experts in radio—her major in school.

Instead, there was a greater demand for aircraft maintenance officers. So, after graduating, she found herself in maintenance school — a path she hadn't planned for — and nearly failed out. Still, she was determined to succeed.

Despite the initial setback, my mom slowly but surely rose up the ranks. A combination of her hard work and aptitude for leadership, recognized by the performance boards of her superiors, determined who should be promoted.

Watching her eyes light up with every story she tells is medicine my heart didn't know it needed.

I had taken the stories for granted

My mom had repeatedly told me that she had two major life goals — one was to serve her country. The other was to be a mother.

She had dealt with her fair share of workplace sexism during her tenure, rode in a fighter jet twice as a passenger (another requirement for officers in maintenance squadrons), fallen asleep in cargo planes, helped found a Logistics Scho, overseen the flyover for the late senator Barry Goldwater's funeral, and been invited to be a White House aide.

I had taken her stories for granted growing up, and now I hungered for more of my mother's memories: how a wing commander visited her in the hospital after she gave birth to me, seeing a picture of her in uniform, back turned to the camera, walking toward a fighter jet with her hair firmly in place.

Lost in a sea of memories that weren't mine, I felt a spark reignite in my soul, a fire that had dimmed ever since I had heard the cancer diagnosis. Her stories kept the blaze of the future alight in us both, something more powerful than any fighter jet engine could muster.

My mother has always been a fighter, and she still is. I was doing her a disservice by being sad.

• The Royal Navy is building 12 new SSN-AUKUS attack submarines.
• They're set to replace the UK's Astute-class attack submarines by the 2030s.
• It comes as part of the UK government's bid to boost its armed forces amid rising global threats.

The UK plans to build 12 new attack submarines as part of sweeping plans to boost the country's military.

The Ministry of Defence said Sunday that the SSN-AUKUS vessels would be built as part of the UK's Strategic Review to enhance its military strength amid rising global threats.

They'll be deployed as part of the AUKUS alliance between the UK, Australia, and the US, with the submarines having been developed alongside the Australian navy.

"Our outstanding submariners patrol 24/7 to keep us and our allies safe, but we know that threats are increasing and we must act decisively to face down Russian aggression," UK Defence Secretary John Healey said.

He added: "With new state-of-the-art submarines patrolling international waters and our own nuclear warhead programme on British shores, we are making Britain secure at home and strong abroad, while delivering on our Plan for Change with 30,000 highly-skilled jobs across the country."

The submarines are set to replace the UK's current fleet of seven Astute-class attack submarines by the 2030s.

The Astute class submarines are nuclear-powered and carry Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes, the UK government said.

The Naval Lookout analysis website described the new submarines as an "apex naval predator."

"In preparing for potential conflict with other states, SSNs are arguably the most important conventional assets the UK can deploy," it said, adding that they can be used to take out enemy vessels, create blockades, land special forces operatives, and gather intelligence.

But Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, told journalists that questions remain over how the target of building 12 submarines would be met on schedule.

"There is going to have to be a pretty major culture change within the forces, within the MOD and their relationship with industry to make that more viable," he said.

"I would be fascinated to know how they're going to do that because the record is not great up until now," he added.

The UK government has pledged to boost defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

Under the plans outlined in its latest Strategic Defence Review, released this week, it will also provide the equivalent of $20 billion in extra funding for the UK's nuclear weapons program.

• Defense Department civilians were asked to submit ideas to save money.
• The request marked the end of DOGE's five-bullet exercise every week.
• Employees were instructed to exclude classified info from their submissions.

Defense Department employees received an all-staff email asking them to submit ideas on how to "root out waste."

The request marked the end of the controversial five-bullet exercise, in which federal employees were asked by the Department of Government Efficiency to send five bullet points of their accomplishments every week.

The final email, seen by Business Insider, was sent last week by Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Hurst thanked Pentagon staff for "submitting weekly achievements over the past couple of months," adding that the weekly emails had served as reminders for "the depth and breadth of the Department's mission."

The email said that to conclude DOGE's five-bullet exercise, which was introduced in February, "we need one last input from you."

It asked civilian staff to "please submit one idea that will improve the Department's efficiency or root out waste" by May 28.

"It can be big or small. It can be focused on a particular program or on larger Department operations," wrote Hurst. "I invite you to be creative."

Employees were instructed to "exclude classified or sensitive information" from their submissions.

The email stressed that employees "without email access due to leave, shift work, temporary duty, or other valid reasons must comply with 12 hours of regaining access" and asked the supervisors of warehouse and shipyard employees without regular office or email access to liaise "directly with their employees."

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said that he hopes that DOGE, overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, can bring "actual businesslike efficiency to government."

Mara Karlin, who previously served as the assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, wrote in a commentary for Foreign Affairs last month that running the Pentagon like a business could backfire.

She said the DoD has to consider risk "far more soberly and carefully than in the corporate world," because the risk factor in defense is "uniquely high."

The Trump administration has prioritized efforts to increase efficiency at the Defense Department, but it also abruptly fired the department's top inspector general, who was charged with finding waste, fraud and abuse.

The administration plans to shift as much as $50 billion from existing programs to new priorities.

Hegseth announced in April that the DoD would be scrapping billions of dollars worth of IT and consulting contracts, affecting companies such as Accenture and Deloitte.

Last week, Business Insider reported that the Pentagon's IT agency was facing a 10% cut to its civilian workforce.

Karlin said, "The Pentagon needs change, but effective reform will require appreciating the uniqueness of the organization. So far, the signs are not encouraging."

• Nearly 30 M1A1 Abrams tanks will roll down Constitution Ave. in DC for the Army's 250th birthday.
• The service is finalizing plans to prevent the heavy 70-ton tanks from damaging the road.
• Engineers will use steel plates and track pads to protect roads during the parade.

The powerful M1A1 Abrams tank, with its heavy armor and 120mm cannon, is a massive hulk of steel, and dozens are set to hit the streets in the nation's capital next month.

Nearly 30 of the tanks are expected to rumble down Constitution Avenue as part of the US Army's 250th anniversary celebration on June 14, set to coincide with President Donald Trump's birthday.

The street, which runs parallel to the National Mall and serves as a major route for city traffic, isn't built to easily accommodate each tank's nearly 70-ton frame. Most cars weigh only about two tons.

So how is the Army going to keep its tanks from chewing up Constitution Avenue? The service's engineers are putting the finishing touches on plans to protect the busy street's pavement from biting tracks.

Officials aren't too concerned with the straight path down Constitution, which will likely see a single file of tanks. It's turning points that will be the most vulnerable to tears from the heavy tracked vehicles.

"We are targeting those areas that we have concerns," said Army Col. Jesse Curry, Executive Officer for the Army's Chief of Engineers, during a media roundtable with reporters on Wednesday. "Particularly the areas where the surface of the pavement would typically, you know, receive an exaggerated level of stress."

To prevent such stress, military engineers are figuring out which turn points will be layered with steel plates at least one inch thick.

Such large plates are commonly seen on city streets where heavy equipment is used, Curry said, adding that equipment staging areas and the parade route were specially chosen to minimize weight-related damage.

Heavy tracked vehicles like the M1A1 often make turns by using differential steering — one side will roll forward while the other reverses, or the tracks will operate at a different speed. That can cause tracks to "pinch," a problem for asphalt.

Inbound parade tanks will also don new "track pads," rubber components that create some separation between the metal tracks and the pavement, Curry told reporters.

Additional measures to prevent damage are still being examined, with help from DC's Department of Transportation, the National Park Service (which oversees maintenance of the National Mall), and the Federal Highway Administration.

The tanks and other vehicles, such as Bradley fighting vehicles and Strykers, will arrive in the DC area via rail and will then depart to parade staging areas via heavy-duty trailers, similar to those used to move houses down highways.

Troops will not be conducting any full-scale rehearsals for the parade, a notable deviation from typical military planning. Normally, complete rehearsals are an important part of any military mission, including small unit ceremonies.

Officials said Wednesday that while the Army has been planning a major 250th birthday event for two years, the idea to include heavy vehicles like tanks and other armored vehicles in a parade only arrived this year. The officials did not specify how the idea originated.

Even moving at a slow parade pace, any military activity using heavy equipment and vehicles is fraught with concerns that require meticulous planning for safety precautions, especially when it comes to the equipment offloads required to stage for such a parade. Large vehicles must rely on ground guides to ensure no one is inadvertently run over.

Officials said Wednesday that Hercules wreckers will be available to recover any tanks that break down. How roads might handle the behemoth 70-ton M88 Hercules recovery vehicle with a downed tank on its trailer bed is unclear.

• Israel has one of the world's most advanced air defense systems.
• Its air defenses are being tested amid its war against Hamas and Iran's retaliatory attacks.
• President Donald Trump said his plan for a "Golden Dome" was inspired by Israel's missile defenses.

Israel touts one of the most advanced air defenses in the world, systems that have defended Israeli troops and citizens from rocket and missile barrages for over a decade.

These layers of air defenses are essential to Israel's security and include the legendary Iron Dome that downs incoming rockets. Much of its population is within reach of rockets and missiles fired by Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Houthis.

After his return to the White House in January, President Donald Trump proposed a next-generation missile shield inspired by the Israeli missile defense systems — but on a vast scale.

Aptly named the "Golden Dome," the president said the ambitious weapons and sensory system to intercept threats like nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles will cost about $175 billion, with plans to field it by the end of his presidential term, though it could take longer to fully construct.

The system is so vast and its components so new that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated it could cost between $160 billion and $830 billion.

Golden Dome

Earlier this week, Trump detailed his plans to build the "Golden Dome," previously known as the "Iron Dome for America," as defense contractors and tech companies already line up to be considered for development.

"We'll have it done in three years," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 21. "Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world."

While Israel's air defense network is considered one of the most advanced aerial defense systems in the world, the missile shield is responsible for defending a country roughly the size of the state of New Jersey — the second smallest US state — from short-range threats.

Trump aims to make the Golden Dome a space-based missile system to defend the US — about the size of continental Europe — against advanced ballistic and hypersonic missile threats from the world's most powerful countries. Russia has an estimated 4,300 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, each of which a system like Golden Dome must be capable of defeating, necessitating an even larger number of intercept missiles and other weapons.

"I think that this year, we're going to see a different national conversation about space," Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider.

US foreign aid to Israel

About 15% of Israel's defense budget comes from the US. Since its founding in 1948, the US has sent Israel about $300 billion in economic and military aid, making it the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid.

Nearly all of the aid the US has sent in recent months has been allocated to its advanced defense systems and military equipment. But America's involvement in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip has grown controversial. The US is providing limited humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza while also providing military support and weapons to Israel.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Iron Dome

The most well-known of Israel's air defense systems, the Iron Dome, consists of a network of radar detectors and missile launchers used to intercept enemy fire, including short-range rockets and artillery.

Deployed in southern Israel in 2011 following the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the US helped and funded the development of the short-range rocket defense system. It contributed at least $1.6 billion to the Iron Dome system from 2011 to 2021, as well as another $1 billion in 2022.

The first layer of defense

The Israel Defense Forces said the objective of the Iron Dome is to "protect Israeli civilians from the constant threat of rockets by intercepting them." The IDF described the Iron Dome with three adjectives: "accuracy, speed, and capacity."

Armed with Tamir interceptor missiles, the multi-mission defense system can shoot down enemy rockets and artillery up to 43.5 miles away. The advanced missile system has a radar station that detects and tracks the course of enemy rockets before launching a missile to intercept them. The missiles track their target with electro-optical sensors and detonate in the air when close.

While the Iron Dome doesn't have a perfect interception record, it has blocked a majority of enemy fire in Israeli airspace, especially at times of intense barrages from Hamas militants.

But the Iron Dome is just one layer of what is considered one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world.

Missiles have a much longer range than shells, but they also have the disadvantage of being expensive. The Tamir missiles fired by Iron Dome are estimated to each cost around $50,000.

David's Sling

The middle layer of Israel's Iron Dome defense system is David's Sling, a medium- to long-range air defense system designed to intercept missiles as far as 185 miles away.

Also known as the Magic Wand, the versatile missile system carries up to 12 interceptors. Its command and control center, known as the Golden Almond, provides threat assessment and plans and controls interception, complemented by the system's multi-mission radar used to detect and track airborne threats.

The middle layer of defense

Developed in collaboration with the US and Israel, David's Sling is "a central factor in Israel's multi-tiered defense array," according to Israel's Ministry of Defense. It supports other layers of its air defense system by "tackling large-caliber rockets, short-range ballistic missiles," and other types of enemy fire.

Arrow Weapon System

The top layer of Israel's sophisticated air defense system is Arrow-3, which is capable of engaging targets at longer ranges and higher altitudes and more precisely intercepting ballistic missiles.

Arrow-3 interceptor operates with the Arrow Weapon System, the world's first operational, national, stand-alone anti-tactical ballistic missile defense system, according to Israel Aerospace Industries, the primary contractor for the AWS. The system was developed in partnership with Boeing and with significant funding from the United States.

Arrow-3 works in conjunction with its predecessor, Arrow-2, to intercept ballistic missiles and other warheads using a two-stage interceptor.

Arrow-3

Arrow-3's "interceptor is a world-class missile that, together with the Arrow-2, significantly expands the State of Israel's defense capabilities," according to Israel's Ministry of Defense.

In November 2023, Israel confirmed the first operational use of the Arrow-3 to stop an inbound enemy missile launched by Houthi militants from Yemen, marking the first time all three layers of Israel's aerial defense were working simultaneously.

"All of these provide protection in every layer of aerial defense and enable optimal protection of the Israeli home front," the IDF said in a statement at the time.

Countering Iran's retaliatory attacks

Last October, Iran attacked Israel with a large barrage of ballistic missiles — a rare direct attack that came after a White House warning to its ally.

The missile attack came after the IDF killed the head of Hezbollah and then launched a "limited" ground offensive against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. At the time, the US adjusted its force posture in the Middle East, stationing a substantial force of warships and fighter aircraft across the region to defend Israel and its bases.

Israel also deployed Arrow 3 to intercept the drones and missiles Iran fired during its retaliatory attacks in mid-April last year.

Israel's chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told reporters at the time that Arrow 3 had "proved itself against a significant number of ballistic missiles" fired by Iran.

C-Dome

Israel's air defense system isn't just limited to land. The country also has a naval version of its Iron Dome system, mounting it aboard Israeli missile boats.

The naval version of the aerial defense system, known as C-Dome, is deployed aboard Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, four German-made warships ordered for Israel's navy.

In addition to the C-Dome, Sa'ar 6 vessels are also equipped with a 76mm Oto Melara Super Rapid main gun, which is effective against close aerial threats.

Israeli missile boats

After two years of development, Israel's military announced Monday that the seaborne defense system was used for the first time to intercept a "suspicious aerial target" that entered Israeli airspace near the city of Eilat, which has been frequently targeted by Houthis in Yemen in support of Hamas.

"Overnight, for the first time ever, an IDF Sa'ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) that had approached from the east and had crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat," the IDF said.

In addition to the four Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, the Israeli naval fleet includes 11 other warships and five Dolphin-class submarines.

SPYDER

To further bolster its air defenses, Israel is also looking at a new "all-in-one" surface-to-air missile system called SPYDER, manufactured by Israeli defense company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Israel, in collaboration with Rafael, is testing a new configuration for the weapons system, taking the missile launcher, radar, command and control system, and technology for surveillance and target acquisition, and fitting it to an eight-wheel drive vehicle.

"Developed to address the critical operational needs of the modern battlefield, the SPYDER AiO provides an agile, autonomous, air defense asset, capable of rapid deployment within minutes, in challenging terrains, and with short reaction times," according to a fact sheet from Rafael.

'All-in-one' missile system

Designed to carry up to eight canisterised missiles, including I-Derby SR, I-Derby ER, and Python-5 SR, it can engage up to four targets at a time, with a maximum range of up to nearly 25 miles and an altitude of 7.4 miles, according to the fact sheet.

In January 2024, Israel's defense ministry announced a successful test run of the new weapons system configuration, which is capable of intercepting drones, aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, and precision-guided munitions.

Rafael's SPYDER air defense system, in its All-In-One configuration, achieved a direct and effective hit during a recent, first of its kind test with the Israeli Ministry of Defense DDR&D. Watch the live fire test here: [YouTube Link] Another milestone in our commitment to… pic.twitter.com/FvU2iS7t5u

— Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (@RAFAELdefense) January 10, 2024

Editor's note: This article was originally published in April 2024 and has been updated in May 2025.

• Boeing secured a record-breaking $96 billion order from Qatar Airways during Donald Trump's trip.
• It was one of several wins this week, showing the planemaker is recovering from a troubling 2024.
• Trump's support came after tensions over Air Force One delays and concerns over a Qatari gift.

Boeing showed it's bouncing back from its turmoil as it won several victories from Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Qatar Airways agreed to buy at least 160 Boeing jets, in a deal the White House valued at $96 billion. It is the planemaker's largest-ever order for wide-body aircraft.

While the two CEOs signed certificates and shook hands, Trump and the Emir of Qatar applauded from behind the ornate desk. The president gave Boeing's Kelly Ortberg a pat on the back.

It's rare to see heads of state attend aircraft-order ceremonies. Trump's show of support for Boeing was a notable turn from the tensions between the two over delays in building the next Air Force One.

Receiving such a huge vote of confidence from an industry-leading airline is also a significant boost, especially since the order includes 30 Boeing 777X planes and options for dozens more.

The 777X is yet to be certified, running years behind schedule, meaning Qatar's order is a big show of faith in Boeing's future. Flight tests for the 777X had to be paused last August after damage was found on a key structure.

Several customers, including the largest, Emirates, voiced their frustrations after Ortberg then announced its launch would be further pushed back to 2026.

However, Qatar Airways has never dwelt on the delays. "Let us not cry over spilled milk," CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer told Business Insider last July.

Boeing is also likely to benefit from Tuesday's defense deal with Saudi Arabia, which the White House called "the largest defense-sales agreement in history," at roughly $142 billion.

These are all significant signs that the planemaker hasn't lost too much of its reputation after an ignominious 2024.

The year began with a door plug falling off a 737 Max in midair. Regulators subsequently capped Boeing's production as it works to overhaul its processes.

This week has seen progress here, too, as Boeing said it delivered 45 commercial planes last month — almost double the number in the same period last year.

Trump's change of heart

Even before Qatar Airways' order, planes were dominating the headlines around Trump's trip.

The president said Monday he would be "stupid" to turn down the Qatari royal family's proposed gift of a Boeing 747.

It has raised ethical and legal concerns, with politicians on both sides of the aisle questioning the gift. The luxurious $400 million plane would be one of the most expensive gifts ever received by the government from another country.

The timing may also raise questions about Qatar's motivation for announcing the mammoth Boeing order during Trump's visit, rather than at next month's Paris Air Show.

Trump wants the 747 to serve as Air Force One because Boeing is running years behind schedule in building the next presidential jet. He renegotiated the contract in his first term, and the planemaker has since lost billions on the project.

In February, Trump showed his frustration with the delays by touring a Qatari Boeing 747 in Palm Beach — believed to be the one now on offer.

So, his support for Boeing in Qatar shows a change of heart that will likely please the planemaker and help settle any apprehension over Air Force One.

The country's top exporter, Boeing, was also under threat from Trump's tariff plans.

Jets destined for Chinese airlines had to be sent back across the Pacific Ocean after they refused to accept them due to the trade war. On Monday, China and the US agreed to lower tariffs by 115%.

But overall, that may not be as valuable as the reputation boost provided during Trump's trip.

This week has helped the storied planemaker prove that it's moving on from the woes of 2024.