Weekly Defense News.
Just like old times.
Weekly Defense News. Just like old times.
Edition #
45
Published
Oct. 3, 2026
Eric Brann/DVIDS
Hegseth announces new four-star command for autonomous warfare

Sec. Hegseth announced the new command that will address the speed of acquisition during his "State of the Force" address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday.

Policy
Military Times
Read

Dig Deeper

Hegseth also announced that states are invited to bid to host the "next great American" base, as well as the creation of a new office focused on religious affairs. Read more from The Hill or watch the secretary's remarks in full here.

Top Headlines

Top AI and tech executives convene at the White House

Surrounded by leaders from industry, President Trump signed what he described as a 'morally binding' accord on the newly designed 'superintelligence.'

AI
CNBC
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Hegseth to slash 20 percent of generals and flag officers, deepening cuts to senior officers

The U.S. military currently fields roughly 900 general and flag officers across all branches, meaning the reduction could eliminate approximately 180 positions at the one-star level and above.

Military
Air & Space Forces Magazine
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Pentagon breach exposed sensitive data on nearly 3 million people

The scope and sensitivity of the exposed information could raise national security concerns, particularly because the files included details about the jobs performed by military and civilian personnel.

Workforce
ABC News
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

OpenAI and Anthropic investigate tens of thousands of rogue-agent incidents

Incidents including attempts to bypass guardrails, escape software sandboxes, create message boards, hijack websites, prompt themselves and evade monitoring occurred during internal safety testing and in real-world settings.

AI
SOFX
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Army awards up to $7B in sprawling counter-drone IDIQ

The Pentagon's counter-drone task force and the Army announced the contract, which was awarded to 10 companies for technologies spanning sensors, effectors, and command-and-control systems.

Contracting
Breaking Defense
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Pentagon launches team to find waste, shift spending

The Pentagon has created a new team it says will better align military spending and personnel with its mission. Officials hope ingraining the team into the bureaucracy it looks to reform will make it an "enduring institutional mechanism."

Budget
Federal News Network
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

AUSA
Soldier feedback, lessons learned fuel Army modernization

The Army's Futures and Concepts Command is looking to infuse lessons learned from global conflicts into the force and build on the service's modernization efforts, its commanding general said.

Modernization
AUSA
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Ukraine's former defense minister launches 'Manhattan Project' for killer robots

Former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov has launched a program aiming to deploy humanoid-like robots on the battlefield within six months and conduct an infantry-free assault within one year.

Autonomous Systems
C4ISRNET
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

GSA issued an AI acquisition policy for new contracts. Here's what it says.

Ahead of formal rulemaking, the General Services Administration issued an artificial intelligence acquisition regulation deviation that can be used immediately, incorporating some public comments.

Policy
FedScoop
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Marc Morgenstern/DVIDS
Army awards up to $7B in sprawling counter-drone IDIQ

The contract was awarded to 10 companies for counter-drone technologies spanning sensors, effectors, and command-and-control systems, according to Brent Ingraham, the head of ASA(ALT).

Contracting
Breaking Defense

Dig Deeper

Also from Breaking Defense, a new commentary argues the Pentagon's Drone Dominance program is testing more than industry's ability to field new drone designs—it is also testing whether industry can repeatedly manufacture reliable, affordable unmanned aircraft at scale.

Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Why you should read The MC Post every Saturday morning.

We're bringing back the familiar comfort of unfolding the weekend newspaper and catching up on the headlines, without the tacky popups, scammy ads, or bait-and-switch paywalls that you've come to know and hate. In a world racing toward AI-generated content, The MC Post is curated by people for people. Brought to you by Mission Cultivate—the free networking platform for defense and national security pros. Each week here you'll find the latest in defense and industry to keep you informed ... and more importantly, save you some time. (Subscribe)

Feature Opinions

JCIDS is dead. The services dug it back up

Despite the Pentagon's efforts to modernize and streamline its requirements process, the military services have been slow to replace it with a more agile framework, effectively reverting to legacy processes that impede rapid capability fielding.

Acquisition
Defense Tech and Acquisition
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Modernizing federal OT means designing for disruption

Federal operational technology (OT) infrastructure faces growing cybersecurity risks, and closing gaps requires aligning policy, architecture, and funding decisions to prioritize OT modernization against increasingly sophisticated threats targeting critical government systems.

Cyber
Federal News Network
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

The Manhattan Project mindset: how nuclear analogies are steering AI policy off course

The nuclear weapons analogy has become dominant in U.S. AI policy debates — appearing in government rhetoric, congressional reports, and media — but the framing may be misdirecting policy by overstating existential risks and misapplying lessons from the past.

AI
War on the Rocks
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

MC Post Subscribers Can Try Raise For $0.00

From the team that brought you Mission Cultivate, Raise matches you to 50,000+ federal funding opportunities, guides the proposal process with your team, and checks everything for compliance before you submit.

In the Weeds

Takeaways from the Trump-Xi White House summit

Last month, President Trump hosted Xi Jinping at the White House for talks covering trade, Taiwan, Iran, AI, fentanyl, and more. See expert analysis of the outcomes of the summit, including reactions around the world and what it means for the state of U.S.-China relations.

China
CSIS
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Continue Reading

Why the Pentagon just dropped $450M on tungsten mining

The investment comes as a federal procurement rule barring tungsten mined, refined, or processed in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from defense applications nears its Jan. 1 deadline.

Procurement
Defense News
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Treat operational feedback as a strategic resource, new paper argue

As the Pentagon overhauls its acquisition system, it should take lessons from recent and ongoing wars, a new report released Monday argues.

Acquisition
Defense One
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Andy Morataya/DVIDS
Trump taps Miller to head US Space Command

The White House has nominated Lt. Gen. David Miller to lead U.S. Space Command. The nomination comes about two weeks after Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced that the U.S. military now has "on-orbit space control weapons."

Leadership
DefenseScoop
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

DIU, Space Force team up to kick-start buys of commercial sats for monitoring GEO

Both firms are working under earlier Pentagon contracts to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operators that could also support future orbital warfare.

Space
Breaking Defense
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

Robotics competition winners advance military exploration of humanoid capabilities

The Army named five companies as winners of its xTechHumanoid competition, concluding an effort to evaluate how commercial humanoid robotics technologies could support future military operations and capabilities.

Tech
War.gov
Our Thoughts
Beau Downey
Editor

Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non. Labore reprehenderit eu labore eiusmod culpa commodo enim. Laboris laboris nisi sunt officia minim deserunt ex est non.

FREE, GovCloud-Secured Networking Platform for Defense and National Security

Mission Cultivate is the free, discreet networking platform for government and industry professionals. Find the others in national security and collaborate on the solutions warfighters need in one space.

See Mission Cultivate
Raise a toast