One thing about working at Breaking Defense is we can count on our loyal readership to know what we’re talking about when we dive into the minutiae of specific network platforms or the intricacies of the defense budget process.
This is typically not true of the average internet reader. Fun holiday party game: Ask strangers what they think CJADC2 stands for, and see what they come up with.
[This article is the first of many in a coming series in which Breaking Defense staff looks back on the most significant (and entertaining) news stories of 2025 and looks forward to what 2026 may hold.]
We are lucky in that we aim to serve a dedicated, relatively niche audience, but it’s always interesting when a story breaks out of containment among the acronym-fluent and into the general online consciousness.
As such, here are our five top performing stories of 2025, for some reason:
1. Army secretary says it will be ‘success’ if prime contractor dies on his watch
Perhaps it’s not much surprise that a story some of the bluntest comments from a senior military official in years earned the top spot.
The Pentagon for years has said it wants to integrate newer, more nimble defense firms into its acquisition process, but new Army Secretary Dan Driscoll likely raised some eyebrows in legacy C-suites when he said in May, “I will measure it as success if in the next two years, one of the primes is no longer in business, and the rest of them have all gotten stronger.”
As Valerie Insinna and Ashley Roque reported, Driscoll said the Trump administration was not afraid of shaking up the acquisition process and that larger firms “will start to realize in the coming days, weeks and months, that they are going to have to adapt and change or die. We are not going to come to bail them out again as a nation.”
2. This acquisition is no longer required:’ Defense Health Agency cancels $96M wearable solicitation
It’s not unusual for the Defense Department to change its mind mid-project and abandon an effort for one reason or another, but for whatever reason, this story by Carley Welch apparently struck a chord.
The story was actually the culmination of a controversy that had been brewing over the Defense Health Agency’s request for wearable technology going back months, as Carley found and doggedly followed. It’s too complicated to get into here, so click the link above for details.
Regardless, perhaps amid the drastic cuts to government programs by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), then led by Elon Musk, canceled contracts were on the public’s mind when this particular story published.
3. AFRICOM chief warns China attempting to ‘replicate’ US assistance as Washington pulls back
Very occasionally I’m freed from the shackles of editing to breathe free air and do a little reporting of my own, or at least I’m able to listen to a presentation or two. That was the case in May when I tuned into a media briefing by Gen. Michael E. Langley, who was then the head of US Africa Command (AFRICOM).
Having just come from a meeting of African military leadership, Langley had a stark warning for a US government that was shrinking its footprint abroad: China was attempting to fill the void.
“So yes, they’re stepping it up and trying to replicate every type of thing, whether it be advise and assist-type training and specialized military domains, or anything,” he said.
Langley said he’d explained to African military leaders that the new US position wasn’t to abandon them, but to help them be more self-sufficient, to “help Africa do more for itself.”
4. Army ‘considering terminating’ General Dynamics’ oversight of new 155mm production lines
The war in Ukraine has offered countless lessons to defense leaders, but it has also highlighted shortcomings in the West’s ability to wage war at scale. One key indicator: 155mm artillery ammunition rounds are in short supply and demand is sky high.
That made this scoop from Ashley Roque in June all the more surprising. Essentially a US Army organization said in a letter that it was considering scrapping General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems’ (GD-OTS) management of three 155mm production lines over purported delays with production. At the time, a spokesperson for GD-OTS confirmed the letter but referred comment to the Army, which said it had extended a recent deadline.
5. After Thailand’s Gripen combat mission, questions of future sales
It would’ve been news alone that a Swedish-made Gripen fighter had for the first time launched a weapon in combat during a skirmish between Thailand, which flies the Saab jets, and Cambodia in July.
But as frequent contributor Jonas Olsson noted in this report, the combat action was also likely to draw scrutiny over Saab’s effort to sell more of the jets to Bangkok. At the time Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard wouldn’t commit to approving additional Gripen sales and said the government “is closely monitoring developments in the border conflict.”