Iran war costs: $38B, plus $2-3B per month going forward, CBO says
The Congressional Budget Office reported it would take "at least five years" to rebuild American munitions inventories.
‘Hundreds’ of buildings, ‘dozens’ of aircraft destroyed or damaged during Iran ops: DoD IG
Operation Epic Fury has "resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls" of key munitions, Pentagon officials told investigators.
The defense intelligence community’s AI and cyber view forward
From AI adoption and agentic systems to Zero Trust and cyber resilience, Breaking Defense’s latest eBook brings together key reporting from DoDIIS 2026 on the technologies and strategies shaping the future of defense intelligence.
Pentagon eyeing tech testbed expansion along US-Mexico border
“We want to do as much as we can; I would love to continue to bring on new projects, new programs to the border and try it out, but we want to do it in a responsible way that's safe,” Mark Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs, told Breaking Defense.
Why the Pentagon picked an Indiana Navy base to host a nuclear microreactor
The program is driving hard to meet President Trump’s 2028 deadline, officials said, but they have yet to release a formal solicitation, let alone pick a specific vendor and design.
With reconciliation uncertain, Pentagon eyeing plan to retool FY27 priorities with Congress
In exclusive comments to Breaking Defense, the Pentagon's comptroller acknowledged that some efforts may need to be pushed from FY27 into FY28 with help from lawmakers.
Pentagon’s $1.5B reprogramming would shift money to AI center, MV-75 tiltrotor
The request would also reroute money destined for an international counter-ISIS training program.
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Physics AI is different and changes the way defense systems are designed
Models that replicate real-world physics streamline design, testing and iteration processes.
Air Force braces for new era of AI-powered hacking, plus unpacking the Mecca pact
The proliferation of AI is forcing the USAF to rethink cyber defense, and a new regional defense pact could shake up arms sales in the Middle East.
What options does the Pentagon have to cover its mounting FY26 operational costs?
“If I were still in the building, I would say, ‘I'm probably screwed now,'" a former official told Breaking Defense.
F-35 costs jump in latest production lots
Compared to recent contracts, the average flyaway cost of an F-35A and F-35B rose by over 11 percent, while the price of an F-35C climbed over 8 percent, according to figures supplied by the F-35 Joint Program Office.
Trump taps Adam Telle as acting Army secretary
Telle is currently serving as the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
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In the age of drones, a bigger fence around your facility doesn’t protect you anymore
Traditional thinking about how to protect facilities must adapt to new threats such as drones or downstream attacks.
Why the Army wants to deploy nuclear microreactors on US bases
The ambitious energy plan raises several unanswered questions.
How Congress is trying to fund the E-7 Wedgetail program
The Wedgetail would replace the aging E3 Sentry for airborne early warning and control.
In the rush to buy drones, make sure not to stockpile obsolescence
In this op-ed, the commander of the DCMA’s Unmanned Systems – Experimental Command (US-X) warns that unit cost can't be the driver when looking at small drones.
How the new stopgap funding bill affects the Defense Department
The new continuing resolution keeps the government open, but it also comes with certain restrictions on spending.