The United States Coast Guard’s newest icebreaker, the cutter Storis, arrived in Seattle on October 3, 2025, after completing its 112-day inaugural patrol. Under the direction of the Coast Guard Arctic District, the Storis supported Operation Frontier Sentinel in countering foreign influences in or near Alaskan and U.S. Arctic waters. The Storis left Pascagoula, Mississippi, on June 1, transited the Panama Canal and headed north in the Pacific Ocean en route to its first Arctic patrol, north of the Bering Strait. The mission took on added importance as five Chinese research vessels operated in the Arctic in mid-2025. Analysts say the dual-use vessels gather data not…
The Watch
Soldiers from across Canada and allied nations tested their skills detecting and defeating explosive threats at the 2025 iteration of Exercise Ardent Defender in October. Their goal: stay ahead of technology that is quickly changing how explosives are deployed on the battlefield. “The threat evolves rapidly; technology advances even faster,” said Maj. Vincent Dupont of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), this year’s exercise director. The exercise, hosted by the CAF’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Organization, welcomed nearly 300 participants from countries around the world, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. “It is very…
The U.S. Army is looking for its own version of a collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) loyal wingman drone that could be delivered to the service in the next couple of years, military officials said at the annual Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in mid-October 2025. “Manned-unmanned teaming is the future,” one military leader said at the conference. The Army’s aviation arm has been collaborating with industry, as well as counterparts from Army commands in the Indo-Pacific and Europe, to devise requirements for a loyal wingman drone program for the past year, Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, director of…
For the first time, a U.S. Soldier using a handheld tablet planned and executed real-world missions at a military exercise with Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Black Hawk helicopter. The OPV UH-60 Black Hawk performed parachute drops, hovered on its own while sling loads were attached and flew a simulated medical evacuation under the guidance of the Soldier, who was not an aviator or engineer and had less than an hour of training on the system. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, brought the OPV Black Hawk to Exercise Northern Strike 25-2 in Michigan in August to show how an autonomous helicopter can…
The Canadian agency responsible for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure against cyberattacks has warned that hackers have tampered with online systems that control water, energy and farm facilities. “Hacktivists are increasingly exploiting internet-accessible ICS [industrial control system] devices to gain media attention, discredit organizations, and undermine Canada’s reputation,” an alert from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said. The alert, sent to information security officers on October 29, 2025, says the Cyber Centre and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have received multiple reports in recent weeks of incidents involving internet-accessible ICS devices. At a water facility, pressure valves were tampered with, degrading service…
Denmark said it will increase defense spending by $4.2 billion to improve security in Greenland and the Arctic and North Atlantic regions. It also will spend $4.5 billion to buy 16 additional F-35 fighter jets from the United States, bringing its F-35 fleet to 43. “With this … agreement, we significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Danish Armed Forces in the region,” Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement October 10, 2025. The defense boost comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Greenland was critical for U.S. “national security and international security.” The NATO ally revealed that —…
As Hurricane Melissa’s Category 5 winds and rain devastated a large swath of the Caribbean, the United States and its regional partners deployed Soldiers and Guardsmen to evacuate residents in low-lying areas, aid in search and rescue efforts, and provide aerial surveillance of the October 2025 storm. The hurricane left at least 33 dead, thousands homeless and battered infrastructure before moving past Bermuda, still at hurricane strength three days after initially making landfall in Jamaica, more than 2,000 kilometers to the southwest. In The Bahamas, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) troops deployed to assist in the government’s evacuation order…
Two Russian warplanes briefly entered Lithuanian airspace in October 2025, the latest in a string of incursions over NATO nations’ territory along the alliance’s eastern flank. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called the incursion “a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania.” In an October 23 post on the social media platform X, Nausėda wrote: “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.” The Russian planes appeared over Lithuanian skies on the same day that Nausėda attended a European Council summit in Brussels where leaders “endorsed a plan to ensure that Europe can defend…
Russian spy ships observed a large live-fire naval exercise by Germany in October 2025 off the coast of northern Norway’s Andøya island. The German Navy’s Maritime Firing Exercise led by the frigate Sachsen involved 10 German naval assets, including frigates, corvettes, tenders, supply ships, on-board helicopters and a submarine, according to a German Navy news release. As the October 13-24 exercise unfolded, it was closely observed by two ships linked to Russian intelligence activities, reported the Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper. The exercise is an annual event, but the 54 missiles launched and other torpedo and artillery tests represented the…
The United States Coast Guard is conducting an unprecedented surge of force along 418 kilometers of the Rio Grande River to complement the activities of federal agencies to secure the Mexico-U.S. border. Operation River Wall, which includes quick response boats and tactical teams, began in October 2025 to further suppress illegal activity along the frontier. The exact number of vehicles and personnel has not been released, according to Stars and Stripes, a military affairs newspaper. The Coast Guard patrols the river as it winds through Cameron and Hidalgo counties in southeast Texas, eventually entering the Gulf of America. In the…