Breaking Defense
• Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
A Pentagon directive is pressuring Air Force-linked contractors to purge Anthropic “department wide” by Sept. 1, despite Anthropic suing the government to overturn the requirement. The memo signals an accelerated compliance timeline tied to the department’s broader AI vendor controls.
Wall Street Journal
• Alexander Ward, Anat Peled, Andrew Tangel, Marianne LeVine
By Wall Street Journal: A lack of defensive capabilities aboard President Trump’s new luxury jet led him to fly home from Turkey aboard an older Air Force One plane this week after U.S.
Wall Street Journal
• Wall Street Journal
By Wall Street Journal: WSJ joins the British military on its flagship aircraft carrier as it deploys to the Arctic to try to deter an escalating hybrid war in the High North.
The War Zone
• Thomas Newdick
By The War Zone: Ankara is reportedly eyeing the transfer of the Russian-made SAM systems to a Gulf country in a bid to have Washington lift its F-35 embargo. Reports say Ankara is weighing the transfer of the Russian-made air defense systems to a Gulf country in a bid to persuade Washington to lift sanctions.
The War Zone
• Howard Altman
By The War Zone: The F-22s are part of a larger retrograde of airpower out of the CENTCOM region while at the same time the prospects of renewed fighting grow.
Reuters
By Reuters: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that Turkey hopes to achieve a result on lifting U.S. sanctions and its desire to purchase F-35 fighter jets soon, adding there should be no defence industry restrictions between allies.
AeroTime
• Clement Charpentreau
By AeroTime: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he will ‘fix’ the suspension of eight SCNG Apache pilots who flew low across crowded beaches on July 4, 2026.
Breaking Defense
• Barry Rosenberg
By Breaking Defense: While services test teaming with Collaborative Combat Aircraft, industry faces hard questions.
New York Times
• Adam Goldman, Eric Lipton, Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, Tyler Pager
Bloomberg
• Catherine Lucey, Hadriana Lowenkron
