Latest news with #DepartmentofDefence
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
National Development Plan allocates almost €4bn for defence and justice capital spends
Capital spend on defence is set to total €1.7bn over the next five years under the National Development Plan (NDP), with justice due to get a total capital budget of €2.18bn. The total allocation for the Department of Defence between 2026-2030 compares to €697m in the five years 2021 to 2025 — an increase of 144%, excluding inflation. The total spend on the Department of Justice in 2026-2030 compares to €1.35bn in 2021 to 2025 — a rise of 61%, not factoring in inflation. The expansion of the Department of Justice to incorporate migration explains, in part, the extra capital allocation. In addition, cybersecurity and the National Cyber Security Centre have just been transferred to it. The National Development Review Plan 2025, published on Tuesday, outlines annual allocations across the security departments: Defence — €300m in 2026, rising to €340m in both 2027 and 2028, and increasing to €360m in both 2029 and 2030; Justice — €390m in 2026, rising to €430m in 2027, €440m in 2028, €455m in 2029, and €465m in 2030. There was no detail of department allocations in the 49-page NDP review, compared to the 184-page NDP 2021-2030 document. Levels of investment The Government has committed to implement the second of three levels of investment (LOA2) set out by the Commission on the Defence Forces in February 2022, centred on increasing the annual defence budget from €1.1bn in 2022 to €1.5bn in 2028, based on 2022 prices. The NDP capital spends are also based on the Defence Equipment Development Plan 2020-2024 and the Defence Capital Infrastructure Development Plan 2022-2027. Major capital projects include three C295 surveillance aircrafts (third due in September), a refit of 80 Mowag armoured personnel carriers, a primary radar system (due in 2028), four modern helicopters (the commission recommended eight), and an expansion of the naval fleet to nine ships by early in the next decade. The Defence Equipment Plan 2020 also mentions plans to acquire an 'air combat interceptor', but it is not clear where that plan went. It is not part of LOA2, although LOA3 does recommend a squadron of fighter jets capable of interception. Overcrowding crisis It is not yet clear what the breakdown is under the justice budget and how much will go to prison expansion and refurbishment, given the escalating overcrowding crisis in the Irish Prison Service. The programme for government commits to 1,500 new spaces by 2030. Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan recently secured Cabinet agreement to accelerate the delivery of 960 of the additional spaces in Castlerea, Midlands, Wheatfield, and Mountjoy Prisons. He said that, 'subject to the necessary funding' in the NDP, this should speed up delivery by 12 to 18 months.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Another top aide to US defence chief Hegseth leaves the Pentagon
Find out what's new on ST website and app. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth (right) speaking to reporters while meeting Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz at the Pentagon on July 18. WASHINGTON – A top adviser to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has left his position, the Pentagon announced late on July 19, becoming the latest in a string of senior officials to leave the department's top ranks. The official, Mr Justin Fulcher, joined the Trump administration as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Mr Elon Musk's government overhaul initiative, and later became an adviser to Mr Hegseth. In a statement, Mr Fulcher said he had planned to work for the federal government for only six months. Earlier this month, The Washington Post detailed a confrontation between Mr Fulcher and other DOGE staff members assigned to the Pentagon. But officials downplayed that incident as a cause, insisting Mr Fulcher's exit was friendly. Mr Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement that 'the Department of Defence is grateful to Justin Fulcher for his work on behalf of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth'. Under Mr Hegseth, the office of the Secretary of Defence, the core group of advisers who help manage the Pentagon's sprawling bureaucracy, has undergone an unusual amount of turnover. In April, Mr Dan Caldwell and Mr Darin Selnick, aides to Mr Hegseth, were placed on leave from the Pentagon amid a leak investigation . Mr Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defence Secretary Stephen A. Feinberg, was also removed from the Pentagon. After those actions, Mr Joe Kasper, Mr Hegseth's first chief of staff, was moved to a different position. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Priority for singles, higher quota for second-timer families to kick in from HDB's July BTO exercise Singapore Witness stand not arena for humiliation in sex offence cases, judge reminds lawyers Asia Japan PM's future in doubt after election debacle Business Bigger, quieter, greener: High-volume low-speed fans see rising demand in warming Singapore Singapore New home owners in Singapore find kampung spirit on BTO Telegram groups Singapore What would it take for S'pore to shed the dirty image of its blue recycling bins? Business DBS hits record high above $47; CDL up after director Philip Yeo announces resignation World Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 93 aid seekers Mr John Ullyot, a veteran spokesperson, also left his position at the Pentagon in April, citing disarray and a sense of incompetence. The purges among Mr Hegseth's major aides fed a sense of chaos, with appointees accusing one another of disloyalty and tense shouting matches breaking out inside the building. Mr Fulcher tried to distance his departure from any sense of disorganisation or dysfunction inside Mr Hegseth's office. 'Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Department of Defence has been incredibly inspiring,' he said in his statement. 'Revitalising the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and re-establishing deterrence are just some of the historic accomplishments I'm proud to have witnessed.' NYTIMES
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First Post
3 days ago
- Business
- First Post
Another Hegseth aide exits Pentagon, sixth top official departure in first 6 months
Another senior aide of US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is quitting the Pentagon, making him the sixth top official to exit in Hegseth's first six months in the Department of Defence read more Another senior aide of US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is quitting the Pentagon, making him the sixth top official to exit in Hegseth's first six months in the Department of Defence. The aide resigning this time is Justin Fulcher, who was appointed to the post in late April. In a text message to The Washington Post, Fulcher made it clear that his departure from the department is 'perfectly amicable' and that he planned all along to complete just six months of government service. In the message to the American news outlet, he said that he is 'grateful' to Hegseth and US President Donald Trump and 'to the extraordinary civilians and service members who turn vision into action every day.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Department of Defence has been incredibly inspiring,' Fulcher said in his message to The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledged Fulcher's departure in a text message after CBS News first reported that Fulcher had been fired. Fulcher's tensions with the Hegseth team The Pentagon spokesperson made it clear that Fulcher was not fired, calling him a 'great guy'. The Pentagon also issued a short statement that said the Defence Department is grateful to Fulcher 'for his work on behalf of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. We wish him well in his future endeavours.' However, the staff churn in the department has drawn scrutiny from Congress. The latest shake-up in the department came after reports emerged that ahead of his appointment in April, Fulcher — then a member of billionaire Elon Musk's US DOGE Service — stormed out of a meeting with the Pentagon's DOGE team lead, Yinon Weiss, and sought help from Hegseth's front office. As per the report, Fulcher told Hegseth and other senior officials in the secretary's office that he thought the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, an internal police and security organisation, was looking for him. This angered Hegseth, who then summoned Weiss to his office and confronted him, The Washington Post reported. Hegseth eventually brought Fulcher onto his team days later, after he fired three other senior advisers and accused them of leaking information to the media. It is pertinent to note that all three senior Pentagon officials have denied the accusation. Fast forward from this, The Guardian reported that Fulcher, Hegseth's attorney, Tim Parlatore, and Hegseth's chief of staff at the time, Joe Kasper, knew of surveillance measures that could be used to find leakers within the Pentagon. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to The Washington Post, officials said that there was speculation for days that Fulcher's departure was imminent. However, Fulcher initially maintained that he was still on the team without disclosing that he would be leaving soon. Other members of Hegseth's team who have departed in his first six months include: Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick; the three officials fired in April; Kasper, who left his role voluntarily for a job in the private sector; and John Ullyot, who served for a few months as the Pentagon's top spokesman.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Drones are now key to winning wars. The US makes hardly any
On a patch of dirt in the vast wilderness in Alaska, a long-range drone roared like a lawnmower as it shot into the sky. It scanned the ground for a target it had been programmed to recognise, and then dived, attempting to destroy it by crashing into it. But it missed, landing about 25 metres away. On another attempt, a drone nose-dived at launch. On a subsequent try, a drone crashed into a mountain. These drones weren't flown by amateur hobbyists. They were launched by drone manufacturers paid by a special unit of the Department of Defence as part of an urgent effort to update US capabilities. For four days last month, they tested prototypes of one-way drones by trying to crash them into programmed targets, while soldiers tried to stop the drones with special electronic equipment. 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No.' Trent Emeneker, Defence Innovation Unit The exercise aimed to help American defence contractors and soldiers get better at drone warfare. But it illustrated some of the ways in which the US military could be unprepared for such a conflict. The nation lags Russia and China in manufacturing drones, training soldiers to use them and defending against them, according to interviews with more than a dozen US military officials and drone industry experts. 'We all know the same thing. We aren't giving the American war fighter what they need to survive warfare today,' said Trent Emeneker, project manager of the Autonomy Portfolio at the military's Defence Innovation Unit, which organised the exercise in Alaska and paid for the development of the drone prototypes that flew there. Loading 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No. What we are trying to do is fix that.' Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that the country has fallen behind, and he announced a series of new policies and investments in drones that he vowed would close the gap. In a video released on Thursday, he cited outdated rules and procurement processes as making it too difficult for commanding officers to buy drones and train their soldiers to use them. 'While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones,' he said, 'we were mired in bureaucratic red tape.' The video came on the heels of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month called 'Unleashing American Drone Dominance', which directs federal agencies to fast-track approvals for American drone manufacturers and protect the US drone supply chain from 'undue foreign influence'. But it will take time and money to grow a domestic industry capable of producing enough drones to meet the needs of the US military. Although the United States has excelled in developing large, complex unmanned aircraft such as the Predator and Reaper drones, which cost tens of millions of dollars apiece, today's conflicts have been dominated by swarms of smaller, inexpensive drones that are largely produced with components from China. Loading The Defence Department did not respond to requests for comment. Drones have become a weapon of choice on modern battlefields. In the early days of the war in Ukraine, soldiers beat back the Russian invasion by adding deadly modifications to the Mavic, a drone sold to hobbyists by DJI, a Chinese company that is the world's largest drone manufacturer. Versions of the Mavic cost between $US300 and $US5000 ($460 to $7650), according to online retailers. DJI, of Shenzhen, China, accounts for about 70 per cent of all commercial drones sold globally for hobby and industrial use, such as aerial photography, package delivery and weather research. The privately held company sells its equipment to customers in the United States – there's even an authorised store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan – but US law bars the military from buying Chinese drones. The company declined to share market data, but industry experts estimate DJI's output far exceeds that of any other drone manufacturer. Enter Silicon Valley investors who have been pouring money into American drone companies, anticipating that the Defence Department will place a large order for American-made drones. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has invested more than $US1 billion ($1.5 million) in Anduril Industries, an American defence technology company that specialises in advanced autonomous systems. Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, joined the board of Unusual Machines, another US drone maker, last year. About 500 companies manufacture drones in the United States, producing fewer than 100,000 a year, says Ryan Carver, communications manager for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, a non-profit organisation of industry professionals. But many are start-ups without a track record of production or sales. Founders jockey for the chance to show off their wares to military units that are beginning to work with drones. The changes Hegseth announced on Thursday, which make it easier for commanders to buy drones, will intensify that competition. But the exercise in Alaska showed how hard it can be to develop homegrown drone capabilities. Loading The first two days of testing were full of setbacks. Two companies were testing prototypes of a long-range unmanned craft that could fly for hours, navigate without GPS or a human operator, and crash into a target that it had been trained to recognise. They were among four finalists, out of more than 100 applicants, to get the money from the Defence Innovation Unit to develop the systems. Two other companies were set to test their prototypes in Ukraine. The craft made by Dragoon, a start-up in Tucson, Arizona, experienced engine trouble and then issues with navigation. It failed to hit a target. But on the final day, it recognised a target – an M113 armoured personnel carrier – and swooped down to crash into it. The hit was considered a success, even though the target had not been the one intended. 'We have got a lot of work to do to make it operational, for sure,' said Jason Douglas, one of three co-founders of Dragoon. 'But those were huge steps.' AeroVironment fared worse. At first, its drone failed to launch. Then one crashed into a mountain after its navigation system was blocked, narrowly missing a group of soldiers who stood with their jamming equipment. Although one of its drones flew long distances and successfully crashed into a target with the help of GPS, the prototype never hit a target once its GPS was blocked. Paul Frommelt, a spokesperson for the company, noted the exercise was a chance to collect data on 'an experimental variant of one of our products'. The soldiers who participated in the exercise, most of them from the Electromagnetic Warfare Platoon of the Army's 11th Airborne Division, experienced their own problems. On a mountaintop, they set up six tall electronic jammers, which looked like slender microphones attached to black tripods. They emitted radio signals intended to overpower the signals sent by the drone operators. But those jammers – some of which were designed more than a decade ago to fight the war on terror – had hardly any effect. Neither did the backpacks containing newer drone-disarming equipment that some soldiers wore. The team had a drone-buster, too – a huge gunlike device that looked like something from the movie Ghostbusters. But no one bothered to try it. 'That thing never worked,' one man said. Over time, the soldiers improved. By the fourth day of the exercise, they had figured out how to use their jamming equipment more effectively. A black suitcase-sized box called a Magpie worked particularly well, they said. But Lieutenant Colonel Scott Smith, director for the non-lethal effects section of the 11th Airborne Division, said the exercise highlighted how much more work Americans needed to do to prepare for a conflict involving drones. 'Their equipment just doesn't have the desired effect against the latest technology,' he said. Chris Bonzagni, a drone industry consultant with Contact Front Technologies who helped put on the Alaska test, said many of the American drones that were initially delivered to Ukraine failed on the battlefield because they were outdated or easily jammed by the Russians. 'In Ukraine, the companies delivering tech to the war fighters are with them all the time, observing firsthand what is working and what is not,' he said. Ukraine has also become a drone-making hub because its soldiers and engineers are forced to master drone technology to survive, something Americans have not experienced yet.
The Age
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Drones are now key to winning wars. The US makes hardly any
On a patch of dirt in the vast wilderness in Alaska, a long-range drone roared like a lawnmower as it shot into the sky. It scanned the ground for a target it had been programmed to recognise, and then dived, attempting to destroy it by crashing into it. But it missed, landing about 25 metres away. On another attempt, a drone nose-dived at launch. On a subsequent try, a drone crashed into a mountain. These drones weren't flown by amateur hobbyists. They were launched by drone manufacturers paid by a special unit of the Department of Defence as part of an urgent effort to update US capabilities. For four days last month, they tested prototypes of one-way drones by trying to crash them into programmed targets, while soldiers tried to stop the drones with special electronic equipment. 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No.' Trent Emeneker, Defence Innovation Unit The exercise aimed to help American defence contractors and soldiers get better at drone warfare. But it illustrated some of the ways in which the US military could be unprepared for such a conflict. The nation lags Russia and China in manufacturing drones, training soldiers to use them and defending against them, according to interviews with more than a dozen US military officials and drone industry experts. 'We all know the same thing. We aren't giving the American war fighter what they need to survive warfare today,' said Trent Emeneker, project manager of the Autonomy Portfolio at the military's Defence Innovation Unit, which organised the exercise in Alaska and paid for the development of the drone prototypes that flew there. Loading 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No. What we are trying to do is fix that.' Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that the country has fallen behind, and he announced a series of new policies and investments in drones that he vowed would close the gap. In a video released on Thursday, he cited outdated rules and procurement processes as making it too difficult for commanding officers to buy drones and train their soldiers to use them. 'While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones,' he said, 'we were mired in bureaucratic red tape.' The video came on the heels of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month called 'Unleashing American Drone Dominance', which directs federal agencies to fast-track approvals for American drone manufacturers and protect the US drone supply chain from 'undue foreign influence'. But it will take time and money to grow a domestic industry capable of producing enough drones to meet the needs of the US military. Although the United States has excelled in developing large, complex unmanned aircraft such as the Predator and Reaper drones, which cost tens of millions of dollars apiece, today's conflicts have been dominated by swarms of smaller, inexpensive drones that are largely produced with components from China. Loading The Defence Department did not respond to requests for comment. Drones have become a weapon of choice on modern battlefields. In the early days of the war in Ukraine, soldiers beat back the Russian invasion by adding deadly modifications to the Mavic, a drone sold to hobbyists by DJI, a Chinese company that is the world's largest drone manufacturer. Versions of the Mavic cost between $US300 and $US5000 ($460 to $7650), according to online retailers. DJI, of Shenzhen, China, accounts for about 70 per cent of all commercial drones sold globally for hobby and industrial use, such as aerial photography, package delivery and weather research. The privately held company sells its equipment to customers in the United States – there's even an authorised store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan – but US law bars the military from buying Chinese drones. The company declined to share market data, but industry experts estimate DJI's output far exceeds that of any other drone manufacturer. Enter Silicon Valley investors who have been pouring money into American drone companies, anticipating that the Defence Department will place a large order for American-made drones. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has invested more than $US1 billion ($1.5 million) in Anduril Industries, an American defence technology company that specialises in advanced autonomous systems. Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, joined the board of Unusual Machines, another US drone maker, last year. About 500 companies manufacture drones in the United States, producing fewer than 100,000 a year, says Ryan Carver, communications manager for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, a non-profit organisation of industry professionals. But many are start-ups without a track record of production or sales. Founders jockey for the chance to show off their wares to military units that are beginning to work with drones. The changes Hegseth announced on Thursday, which make it easier for commanders to buy drones, will intensify that competition. But the exercise in Alaska showed how hard it can be to develop homegrown drone capabilities. Loading The first two days of testing were full of setbacks. Two companies were testing prototypes of a long-range unmanned craft that could fly for hours, navigate without GPS or a human operator, and crash into a target that it had been trained to recognise. They were among four finalists, out of more than 100 applicants, to get the money from the Defence Innovation Unit to develop the systems. Two other companies were set to test their prototypes in Ukraine. The craft made by Dragoon, a start-up in Tucson, Arizona, experienced engine trouble and then issues with navigation. It failed to hit a target. But on the final day, it recognised a target – an M113 armoured personnel carrier – and swooped down to crash into it. The hit was considered a success, even though the target had not been the one intended. 'We have got a lot of work to do to make it operational, for sure,' said Jason Douglas, one of three co-founders of Dragoon. 'But those were huge steps.' AeroVironment fared worse. At first, its drone failed to launch. Then one crashed into a mountain after its navigation system was blocked, narrowly missing a group of soldiers who stood with their jamming equipment. Although one of its drones flew long distances and successfully crashed into a target with the help of GPS, the prototype never hit a target once its GPS was blocked. Paul Frommelt, a spokesperson for the company, noted the exercise was a chance to collect data on 'an experimental variant of one of our products'. The soldiers who participated in the exercise, most of them from the Electromagnetic Warfare Platoon of the Army's 11th Airborne Division, experienced their own problems. On a mountaintop, they set up six tall electronic jammers, which looked like slender microphones attached to black tripods. They emitted radio signals intended to overpower the signals sent by the drone operators. But those jammers – some of which were designed more than a decade ago to fight the war on terror – had hardly any effect. Neither did the backpacks containing newer drone-disarming equipment that some soldiers wore. The team had a drone-buster, too – a huge gunlike device that looked like something from the movie Ghostbusters. But no one bothered to try it. 'That thing never worked,' one man said. Over time, the soldiers improved. By the fourth day of the exercise, they had figured out how to use their jamming equipment more effectively. A black suitcase-sized box called a Magpie worked particularly well, they said. But Lieutenant Colonel Scott Smith, director for the non-lethal effects section of the 11th Airborne Division, said the exercise highlighted how much more work Americans needed to do to prepare for a conflict involving drones. 'Their equipment just doesn't have the desired effect against the latest technology,' he said. Chris Bonzagni, a drone industry consultant with Contact Front Technologies who helped put on the Alaska test, said many of the American drones that were initially delivered to Ukraine failed on the battlefield because they were outdated or easily jammed by the Russians. 'In Ukraine, the companies delivering tech to the war fighters are with them all the time, observing firsthand what is working and what is not,' he said. Ukraine has also become a drone-making hub because its soldiers and engineers are forced to master drone technology to survive, something Americans have not experienced yet.
