I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. Washington has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, the State Department says, as the kingdom comes under sustained deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
2. Yemen's Houthis said that they had neither launched drones towards the Saudi holy city ​of Medina on Wednesday nor conducted military operations towards Saudi ‌Arabia, refuting earlier comments from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
3. Turkey’s government has asked parliament to ratify a mutual defense agreement it signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,.
Mirroring NATO’s Article 5, the so-called Mecca Joint Defense Agreement commits the sides to view an armed attack against one as an attack on all three.
4. Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia signed a deal on Wednesday to deepen their defence industry cooperation,.
The four countries signed the memorandum of understanding in Doha, building on existing military projects through joint production, technology transfers and more closely integrated supply chains.
5. Turkish spending on platform procurement is projected to increase by 229 percent under the proposed fiscal 2027 budget, said Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz.
6. Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei told visiting Pakistani army chief Asim Munir on Tuesday that Tehran will not allow nuclear material to leave the country, according to state TV, and delivered the message that there would be no talks with Washington until its demands were met.
7. Dozens of Israeli fighter jets and refueling aircraft reportedly flew over Syria and Iraq toward the Iranian border earlier this week, following a flight path resembling an attack on Iran.
The aircraft turned around shortly before reaching Iranian territory and returned to Israel, according to an Axios report citing unnamed US and Israeli officials.
8. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin would be ready to resume trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks after mid-November, at the request of US special envoy Steve Witkoff who met with Putin for around three hours Wednesday.
The meeting in St. Petersburg came off the back of Witkoff’s “productive” Tuesday summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway, as the United States seeks to advance proposals to end to the war.
9. Norway is set to begin receiving its 16 South Korean-made Chunmoo rocket artillery systems in 2028, the acting chief of the Norwegian army told Breaking Defense, as the country faces an increasing Russian threat.
“Initial capability is expected by 2029 and the operators will be trained in Norway.

For review:
1. The  US Military is deploying several hundred Army soldiers to Latin America for training and joint exercises with regional, Fox News confirmed.
The deployment involves soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, New York, with the first troops from a roughly 600-soldier battalion expected to deploy to Panama, according to the NYT, which first reported the deployment. Separately, several hundred soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to help staff a new Western Hemisphere military command based in Miami.
2. More than 50 people were killed and over 200 wounded when Yemen’s Houthis hit a military camp in the energy-rich Shabwa province with ballistic missiles, officials and military sources said on Monday.
3. Egypt's top security body said Sunday it has agreed to support close ally Saudi Arabia in the major escalation of fighting between the kingdom and Houthis in Yemen, which has marked the latest front in the Iran war.
4. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir placed the military on its “highest state of alert” ahead of next week’s election and canceled soldiers’ leave, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel’s enemies not to test the country.
5. Ukraine and Russia should focus on ending the war between them, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during his visit to Uzbekistan on Monday.
6. US President Donald Trump said Monday, Oct. 19, that he was willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China next month, potentially without President Volodymyr Zelensky, while renewing his criticism of Kyiv and suggesting that someone else should negotiate on Ukraine’s behalf.
7. The German Ministry of Defence has formally notified Boeing that it will not be directly procuring the company’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone wingman, as Berlin readjusts plans for a lucrative Collaborative Combat Aircraft procurement.
8. A specialized Army artillery battery focused on the European theater carried out its first test fire of a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile from a Typhon missile system in recent weeks.

For review:
1. Many of the recent drone & missile attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi terrorists on Saudi Arabia are based on targeting intelligence provided by the Islamic regime, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
2. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said on Saturday Egypt would take any measures necessary to defend Saudi Arabia “if requested,” amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom, and parliament announced an emergency session on Sunday.
3. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the US military’s Central Command, said in a video statement Saturday that “there are reports” that Tehran’s regional proxies were withholding payments to fighters to “funnel money back” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
He also said the “Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the United States and our regional partners, not Iran,” even as at least one tanker was reportedly struck in the key waterway.
4. Four Hamas operatives, including a terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught, were killed in recent strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military announced Saturday.
5. The U.S. Army laid out its plans to prepare for a prolonged fight in the Pacific along the First Island Chain in the service’s new warfighting guidance released this month.
6. Ukraine is negotiating with its European partners to establish a separate European track for dialogue with Russia aimed at achieving a diplomatic settlement to the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

For review:
1. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels carried out a deadly attack on the presidential Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, the headquarters of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, on Thursday, killing five people, including two members of Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani’s security detail.
2. The United States is considering using its biggest non-nuclear bomb against Iran if US President Donald Trump should decide to renew combat in the war that has hit a deadlock, CNN reported Thursday.
3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated Wednesday that he is against a US or Israeli attack on Iran in the coming days, ahead of the Israeli election on October 27.
4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday told Druze supporters that he spoke with Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly after Israel, citing the need to protect Syrian Druze, bombed government targets in Damascus last year.
5. France will develop a next-generation combat aircraft domestically as a successor to the Rafale, after a joint project with Germany and Spain for a future combat air system collapsed earlier this year, Air and Space Force Chief of Staff Jérôme Bellanger said.
6. US Army is looking to expand its Common Autonomous Multi-doman Launcher (CAML) program by adding a third, light variant in partnership with the Australian military.
7. Lockheed Martin is investing $300 million to expand its plant in Grand Prairie, Texas, which supports all programs across its Missiles and Fire Control business, including the PAC-MSE, THAAD interceptors, the Precision Strike Missile, and the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile.

For review:
1. The Saudi-led coalition confirmed Tuesday it had targeted a Yemeni oil company facility in Sanaa and two sites in other provinces, hours after urging civilians to evacuate the area of the strike in the Houthi-held capital.
2. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday that a suspected plot targeting the RAF Fairford airbase in Britain was “highly likely” to have been coordinated in Iran, and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
3. Iran is strengthening defenses around its nuclear sites and preparing for possible renewed fighting with the United States, while Iranian officials have warned of possible ground incursions into neighboring countries, The WSJ reported on Monday.
4. The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom have called on the Palestinian Authority to reverse its decision to delay legislative and presidential elections, originally planned for November, until September 2027.
5. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire,” prompting surprise from Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, who said the announcement was “news” to him.
6. France will begin training Ukrainian pilots on the Rafale fighter jet next month, Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said in a parliamentary hearing.
7. The U.S. Army has taken delivery of its first Korean-made mobile tactical cannon less than a year after first issuing a solicitation, service officials said Thursday.