🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Iranian drones in the skies over the Persian Gulf

@TPOnow

🇮🇷 ⚡️ — After downing an Iranian reconnaissance drone, Iranian forces send another aircraft near the USS Abraham Lincoln.

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🇮🇱 🇺🇸 ❌ 🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Enemy intelligence: Intensive Israeli efforts to prevent a deal between the United States and Iran

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🇺🇸 ❌ 🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Iranian boats approached the American aircraft carrier today

🔴 The Revolutionary Guard is playing with the nerves of Pezhkian and Araqchi

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🇱🇾 ❗️ — Libyan media: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was killed at his residence in Zintan by four unidentified individuals.

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🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Reports indicate that a second Iranian drone was shot down by US forces.

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❗️ — The Gaddafi family:

"We have no confirmed information about who is responsible for the killing of Saif al-Islam."

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🇺🇸 ⚡️ — REPORT: American munitions makers are boosting production investment; the Defense Department merged advisory panels into the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board; active-duty troops will not deploy to Minnesota; Venezuela plan draws on Iraq lessons.

🔴 U.S. defense firms report demand signals that justify private capital into munitions capacity; Hanwha Defense USA will spend $1.3 billion at Pine Bluff Arsenal to make explosives, propellants, and munitions.

🔴 DOD combined the Defense Innovation Board and Defense Science Board into the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board to streamline work on hard tech challenges even as research budgets face cuts.

🔴 The U.S. military declined to send active-duty troops to Minnesota after months of pressure; reporting also highlights a Venezuela plan informed by past Iraq experience.

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇰🇷 🇩🇪 🇮🇱 — NEW: The US Army seeks to award a self-propelled howitzer contract by July and will release prototype proposal drafts soon.

🔴 Request for information went to industry in September; draft prototype proposal to be released later this month and a final in March.

🔴 Formal requirements call for domestic production, high armor, and ability to fire US ammunition; one contract to a single vendor via competitive technical evaluation.

🔴 Known bidders include Hanwha, Rheinmetall, Elbit America, Leonardo DRS teamed with KNDS, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems (US subsidiary).

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇮🇷 — BREAKING: The US shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that "aggressively" approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.

🔴 The drone flew towards the carrier "with unclear intent" and was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet.

🔴 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the strike on Fox News and said talks with Iran later this week are still scheduled to take place.

🔴 Earlier, three pairs of Iranian gunboats and a Mohajer drone approached the US‑flagged tanker Stena Imperative in the Strait of Hormuz; the tanker was escorted by a US warship and the situation de‑escalated.

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🇺🇸 🇺🇦 ⚡️ — NEW: The Pentagon is asking 25 companies to demo their unmanned one-way attack drones at "the Gauntlet" as part of the Drone Dominance Program to help determine future prototype buys.

🔴 The Gauntlet runs from mid-February into March at Fort Benning, Ga., where military operators will fly and evaluate “low cost” drones.

🔴 Companies that make the cut will share orders expected to total $150 million and then have five months to deliver aerial weapons.

🔴 The DoD named 25 firms for the phase, including ANNO.AI, INC.; ASCENT AEROSYSTEMS INC; AUTERION GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS INC; DZYNE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC; EWING AEROSPACE LLC; FARAGE PRECISION, LLC; FIRESTORM LABS, INC.; GENERAL CHERRY CORP; GREENSIGHT INC.; GRIFFON AEROSPACE, INC.; HALO AERONAUTICS, LLC; KRATOS SRE, INC.; MODALAI, INC.; NAPATREE TECHNOLOGY LLC; NEROS, INC.; OKSI VENTURES, INC.; PALADIN DEFENSE SERVICES LLC; PERFORMANCE DRONE WORKS LLC; RESPONSIBLY LTD; SWARM DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC; TEAL DRONES INC; UKRAINIAN DEFENSE DRONES TECH CORP; VECTOR DEFENSE, INC; W S DARLEY & CO; XTEND REALITY INC.

@TPOnow

🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇮🇱 — BREAKING: Denmark sentences two Swedes to lengthy prison terms for 2024 attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen

🔴 An 18-year-old got 12 years and a 21-year-old got 14 years after a Copenhagen court found them guilty of “terrorism” for throwing grenades at the Israeli embassy in October 2024.

🔴 Court said they acted in concert with unidentified accomplices from a Swedish criminal network; the younger man admitted membership of the Foxtrot criminal network and is also prosecuted in Sweden for shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.

🔴 Grenades damaged a neighbouring house’s terrace, no injuries; both convicted of attempted murder of the occupants, acquitted of endangering soldiers guarding the embassy, and will be expelled to Sweden after serving their sentences.

@TPOnow

🇮🇱 🇵🇸 ⚡️ — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out involving the Palestinian Authority in the governance of Gaza.

@TPOnow