Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division jump from a C-17 Globemaster III during an integrated joint forcible entry exercise for Swift Response 25 in May. SGT. DEVYN ADAMS/U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF United States troops joined forces with 29 allied and partner nations in May 2025 to undertake Defender 25, a large-scale, three-phase exercise led by the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) designed to stress test NATO responses to potential external threats. Tens of thousands of troops are scheduled to participate in the exercise, which lasts into June. “DEFENDER 25 increases the lethality of the NATO alliance through large-scale tactical training…
The Watch
Fallen Marines of the HMBS Flamingo are honored at a 45th anniversary memorial service. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE THE WATCH STAFF The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) paid homage May 10 to four RBDF members killed 45 years ago, remembering Cuba’s deadly attack on the HMBS Flamingo with a solemn memorial service at Coral Harbour Base. The RBDF members’ “courage continues to serve as a beacon of hope and inspiration for all Bahamians in the face of adversity,” said Wayne Munroe, minister of national security. The ceremony began with a wreath-laying at the Cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance in…
The U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs completed a sea-based hypersonic missile test from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, in May 2025. Above, a conventional hypersonic missile test is conducted in 2024 at Cape Canaveral. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS REUTERS The United States Navy successfully tested a sea-based hypersonic missile launch system at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, marking a significant step toward deploying the advanced weapons at sea, the service announced in May 2025. The test demonstrated the Navy’s cold-gas launch approach, which ejects the missile from a ship platform before ignition, ensuring safe…
German Chancellor Freidrich Merz, left, and NATO General-Secretary Mark Rutte address the media at NATO headquarters in Brussels in May 2025. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said in May 2025 that NATO’s chief wants the 32 member countries to agree to start spending at least 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on their defense budgets at a summit in the Netherlands the following month. In 2023, as the Russia-Ukraine war entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed that all allies should spend at least 2% of GDP. They are expected to set a new goal at…
A drone lies on the ground after performing aerial maneuvers at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, on April 1, 2025. SENIOR AIRMAN ANDREW GARAVITO/U.S. AIR FORCE THE WATCH STAFF As the United States military tests technology to thwart drone incursions at bases around the country, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) practiced the authorization and deployment of a counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS) flyaway kit March 31-April 4 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, during Exercise Desert Peak. A flyaway kit refers to a mobile package of counterdrone technology that can be deployed rapidly. “What NORTHCOM has done is proposed a process where…
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in May 2025. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF Days before his electoral win on April 28, 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a plan to increase Canadian defense spending by $18 billion by 2030. Carney’s plan would bring Canada in line with a long-standing NATO spending goal of 2% of member states’ gross domestic product (GDP) for defense. “It is possible we may need to do more,” Carney said at an Ontario campaign rally earlier in April. Canada has increased its force projection and upgraded…
USNORTHCOM and NORAD Commander Gregory M. Guillot told lawmakers in April 2025 that fighter jets will remain a crucial part of missile defense as the United States develops its Golden Dome for America space-based missile defense system. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE WATCH STAFF The Golden Dome for America missile defense system, which envisions space-based technology deterring and destroying missile threats to North America, will have a large role for fighter jets, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told Congressional lawmakers in April 2025. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot,…
A senior trainer fires a Dronebuster Electronic Warfare System at the Counter Unmanned Aircraft System Training in the Rotational Unit Bivouac Area on January 30, 2020. U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is synchronizing responses to counter unmanned aerial system (cUAS) incursions in the United States after a series of incidents near military installations in recent months. USNORTHCOM has alerted base commanders across the United States of a new standard operating procedure (SOP) when small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are sighted: Notify USNORTHCOM. The directive was issued in March or April 2025, a senior Pentagon official told…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 29, 2025, in Washington. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The United States on May 1 imposed economic sanctions on three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation cartel. It is one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it has about 19,000 members. The cartel developed rapidly into an extremely violent force after it split from the Sinaloa cartel after…
U.S. Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 759th Military Police Battalion, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border execute mounted screening operations along the nation’s border near Yuma, Arizona, in April 2025. 2ND LT. ERICA ESTERLY/U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF Nearly 200 intelligence and signal corps U.S. Soldiers will be deployed to the southern border to augment a 10,000-strong force that has been tasked by the government with securing operational control of the frontier with Mexico. The deployment is the latest in a three-month buildup of military force along a border that had been overwhelmed at times in recent years with…