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Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out fixes for a massive set of 111 security flaws across its software portfolio, including one flaw that has been disclosed as publicly known at the time of the release. Of the 111 vulnerabilities, 16 are rated Critical, 92 are rated Important, two are rated Moderate, and one is rated Low in severity. Forty-four of the vulnerabilities relate to privilege
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Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new campaign that employs a previously undocumented ransomware family called Charon to target the Middle East’s public sector and aviation industry. The threat actor behind the activity, according to Trend Micro, exhibited tactics mirroring those of advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, such as DLL side-loading, process injection, and the ability
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Leidos is a longtime government contractor known for IT—as well as missiles and airport body scanners. But CEO Thomas Bell said the company is poised for a breakaway in maritime autonomy.
“We're not seen as at the vanguard of this, but we're about to surprise people,” Bell told reporters at the company’s supplier and technology symposium. “It is fair to say, back in the day, we were a federal IT contractor, and that was the dominant business. That's still a big part of my business. And I think what we're seeing right now is the convergence, actively, of hardware and software.”
Maritime autonomy has become buzzworthy, with the budgets to back it up. And the field is getting crowded, as several companies vie for a chance to make the Navy’s goal of having a hybrid fleet—and supercharge operations—real. Some are backed by private capital, such as Saronic, Saildrone, HavocAI, and Anduril, and others who have been in the game a little longer, like Saab, Textron Systems, and L3Harris. Traditional shipbuilders HII and General Dynamics are also key players.
But Bell said what sets Leidos apart is its software and strategic acquisitions. For example, while other hardware-focused companies are teaming up, like L3Harris and Palantir, Leidos is keeping everything in-house, since it acquired the research and security firm Dynetics in 2020.
“Years ago, we bought Dynetics in Huntsville, Alabama. We have a robust defense business. We bought [Security Enterprise Solutions]—so that's our whole airport [scanner] and non-intrusive inspection regime that gives us these products and capabilities,” Bell said. “[Those] are placards, if you will, on a battlefield or in a customer's hands. And that changes the scope of our value add.”
The company has been amassing maritime drone expertise for nearly a decade through acquisitions like ship designer Gibbs & Cox in 2021. They’ve also inked several shipyard partnerships in a bid to meet the Navy’s call for 78 uncrewed medium and large surface vessels and at least 56 uncrewed undersea vehicles. The company also recently partnered with Nauticus Robotics to work on undersea drone tech that can handle complex missions.
“We're not world renowned as an autonomous naval vessel builder. That's because we don't build ships. But everything around it, and everything that enables those commercial shipyards to become government shipyards, we have, and we're very excited about it,” Bell said.
The Marine Corps is already testing Leidos’ autonomous undersea vehicles. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a small, low-cost, attritable UUV called Sea Dart. And the Navy in October awarded Leidos a five-year, $248 million contract to design and engineer sea drone tech for maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Additionally, the company’s LAVA, Leidos Autonomous Vehicle Architecture, powered USVs sailing from San Diego to Australia last year.
“I'm really happy to have all these points in Leidos, because they are all connected by software, autonomy, cybersecurity, and AI. Those are the substrates that connect all that hardware to all that software,” Bell said.
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The Pentagon launched its first experimental navigation satellite in nearly 50 years, aiming to test out new technology that could shape future military GPS programs.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket launched the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday. The satellite will test new anti-spoofing signals, a steerable phased-array antenna to send signals to ground forces in high-jamming areas, and receivers to help the satellite operate without instructions from ground controllers, Joanna Hicks, a senior research aerospace engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory, told reporters Monday ahead of the launch.
The Pentagon and AFRL spent about $250 million to develop the NTS-3 satellite and the ground system, and L3Harris was the prime contractor for the program.
The satellite was built to be reprogrammed from the ground, “so we don't have to have everything planned out before we go on orbit and before we see what the threats are,” Hicks said.
The program aims to build resiliency in the military’s GPS constellation, but also to pave the way for new position, navigating, and timing capabilities. Most of the service’s PNT satellites are in medium-Earth orbit, but NTS-3 will be sent to geostationary-Earth orbit to experiment with different positioning for the mission.
“One of the things that NTS-3 is testing…is the multi-orbit constellation concept. So can we receive signals from NTS-3 at GEO as well as GPS at MEO, and take advantage of all of them? Maybe in the future, we'll be able to put some of these technologies in [low-Earth orbit], for example. We don't currently have that as a planned mission, but that's something that could conceivably happen in the future,” Hicks said.
The last experimental navigation satellite was launched almost 50 years ago, Hicks said: “At the lab, we think that we are overdue for an experiment in this area.”
The mission was supposed to launch in 2022, but delays with ULA’s Vulcan pushed it to this year. During that downtime, Hicks said the program added capabilities and experimental signals: “We've really been able to take advantage of that and make sure that we are ready for the best possible experimental mission on orbit.”
The team expects to start collecting data within a few weeks, and the entire mission will last about a year. AFRL doesn’t plan on using the satellite in actual operations after the year is up, but they are working with “some organizations to talk about how they might use leftover capabilities for testing,” Hicks said.
Tuesday’s launch also marks a milestone for ULA: it’s the first national-security mission to fly on the company’s new heavy-lift Vulcan rocket. The rocket has been late to launch due to development problems and certification delays after material broke off one of the solid rocket boosters during its second flight in October.
Vulcan was supposed to launch four Space Force missions last year, but that was reduced to two and pushed to this year. The company aims to launch twice a month, with a combination of Vulcan and Atlas rockets, by the end of the year—facing pressure to clear a backlog of missions that have stacked up due to Vulcan delays. Tuesday’s launch is the first of 25 launches the Space Force has ordered from ULA in phase two of the National Security Space Launch program.
“We obviously have a backlog of missions that we're working through…I will say that we're ready and postured to launch as quickly as we can as we work through that backlog,” said Col. Jim Horne, Space Systems Command mission director.
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Guest:
- Journalist and writer Kevin Maurer, whose work focuses on U.S. special operations forces around the world.
Read Maurer's report for Rolling Stone, “Here's What Trump's Mexico Invasion Plan Could Look Like.”
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A similar turn of events happened in June 2020, when the National Guard was sent into the streets of U.S. cities amid protests of police brutality. “Stingrays” and “dirtbags” were deployed to track cellphones. And spyplanes and Predator drones traced the skies, a world away from the war zones they were built for.
Now, with federal agencies and entities working with military personnel under declared-emergency circumstances, new gear could enter domestic use, Tucker writes. And local officials or the civilian review boards that normally oversee police use of such technologies may lack the power to prevent or even monitor it. For example, in 2021, the D.C. government ended a facial-recognition pilot program after police used it to identify a protester at Lafayette Square. But local prohibitions don’t apply to federalized or military forces. Read more, here.
ICYMI: Trump federalized the DC police, and declared an emergency as crime hit a 30-year low. Defense One’s sister publication, GovExec explains. The New York Times and Associated Press have more.
Anatomy of a decision: Trump had long planned a takeover, the Washington Post reported Tuesday morning, with “an informal playbook for how he would use the powers of the presidency to take control of the District of Columbia, with options prepared for him such as deploying more federal law enforcement officers or taking over the entire municipal government.”
Developing: Pentagon mulls military “reaction force” for civil unrest. A “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” of 600 National Guard troops—split between military bases in Alabama and Arizona—would be kept ready to deploy in as little as one hour to American cities facing protests or other unrest, according to documents reviewed by the Post’s Matt Viser, Emily Davies and Perry Stein. The documents say the cost could reach “hundreds of millions of dollars” if military aircraft and aircrews are used instead of cheaper charter aircraft.
The proposal “represents another potential expansion of President Donald Trump’s willingness to employ the armed forces on American soil. It relies on a section of U.S. Code that allows the commander in chief to circumvent limitations on the military’s use within the United States,” the Post reports. More, here.
Related reading:
- “US military was deployed to LA protests despite low risk, general testifies,” Reuters reports off testimony by Army Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who until recently commanded the military operations in Los Angeles;
- “DC facing $20 million security funding cut despite Trump complaints of crime,” Reuters reports after DHS cut funds to various cities to align with the “current threat landscape”;
- “Trump's terror-prevention cuts leave Americans exposed,” with cuts and closures to five key agencies, argued Kris Isman of Georgetown University, writing Sunday for Defense One;
- “FBI report: U.S. crime rates fell nationwide in 2024, Stateline reports off an Aug. 5 report;
- Commentary: “The President’s Police State.” Trump is delivering the authoritarian government his party once warned about, writes David Graham at The Atlantic.
Welcome to this Tuesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 2017, 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed and nearly three dozen others were wounded at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned violent when one drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Russian troops charge ahead
Ahead of his Friday summit with Trump in Alaska, Vladimir Putin’s invasion forces advanced another six miles or so in Ukraine’s east, toward Dobropillya in Donetsk, almost fully encircling a Ukrainian logistical hub at Pokrovsk.
“The advance is one of the most dramatic in the last year,” Reuters reports. “Ukrainian troops must pass through a narrow 10-mile corridor to enter [Pokrovsk], leaving them vulnerable to drone attacks,” the New York Times reports.
How it happened: “the Russians found a gap in Ukrainian lines this week after weeks of probing attacks, and then used their vast reserves of manpower to break through the lines,” a Ukrainian officer told the Wall Street Journal. Analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War noted parallels to previous recent gains for Moscow: “Russian forces used a similar tactical penetration in mid-April 2024 to facilitate the seizure of operationally significant territory northwest of Avdiivka,” ISW wrote Monday.
However, “It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough, though Russian forces very likely seek to mature their tactical advances into an operational-level breakthrough in the coming days,” ISW’s analysts write. “The next several days in the Pokrovsk area of operations will likely be critical for Ukraine’s ability to prevent accelerated Russian gains north and northwest of Pokrovsk.” Read more, here.
New: Officials in Ukraine have successfully tested a new direct-to-cell satellite technology from Elon Musk’s Starlink, Reuters reported Tuesday. The new gear “aims to provide reliable connectivity when terrestrial networks are unavailable, a critical asset for war-torn Ukraine where Russian attacks on infrastructure regularly disrupt communications,” the wire service explains. “Space X-owned Starlink has signed deals with telcos in 10 countries for a direct-to-cell service, with Kyivstar set to become the first operator in Europe to roll it out.” Read more, here.
Developing: Russia’s Geran drones are allegedly laying anti-tank mines along “an unspecified logistics route in Ukraine,” ISW warned in its Monday assessment. The War Zone has more on the video purporting to show the drones at work, here.
Developing: Trump says he’s preparing to discuss territorial changes for Ukraine at Friday’s summit with Putin in Alaska. “Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine…We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump told reporters Monday. Politico has a tiny bit more.And in commentary: “This isn’t how wars are ended: a veteran diplomat puts Trump-Putin summit in context,” via Donald Heflin of Tufts University, speaking Monday to The Conversation.
Pacific region
South Korea's military is more than 20% smaller than it was six years ago, Reuters reported Sunday citing a new report from Seoul’s defense ministry. There were about 450,000 troops in uniform last month, down from 560,000 in 2019.
What’s going on: There are far fewer men of enlistment age across the country, and South Korea has the world’s lowest birth rate. As a result, “the military is 50,000 troops short of the number of troops adequate for maintaining defence readiness,” Reuters reports.
Developing: America’s acting ambassador to Seoul is visiting Hyundai’s shipyards in Ulsan with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reports. Trump is expected to meet with Seoul’s new President Lee Jae Myung in Washington on August 25.
China is about to merge two state-run shipbuilders to create the world’s largest, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The new entity is the result of combining China State Shipbuilding with another entity called China Shipbuilding Industry. The two companies totaled about 17% of the world market for shipbuilding, with an annual revenue of around $18 billion.
“CSSC’s main business is commercial, but it is also an important contractor for the Chinese navy,” the Journal notes. “The company it is absorbing designed and built China’s first homegrown aircraft carrier, the Shandong.”
By the way: Two Chinese ships collided while trying to harass Philippine Coast Guard vessels in the South China Sea on Monday. A Chinese cutter and guided-missile destroyer ran into each other in a confrontation captured on video that you can see on YouTube, here. USNI News called it “one of the most severe incidents among Chinese forces to date,” and “the most severe incident to occur between the two countries since last year’s June 17th incident, when the two countries clashed at Second Thomas Shoal.” Read more, here.
Additional reading: “Documents detail China's AI-powered propaganda push,” Nextgov reported Monday, citing the work of Vanderbilt University researchers.
Around the Defense Department
Coast Guard commissions first new icebreaker since the 1990s, USNI News reports. The medium icebreaker USCGC Storis (WAGB-21) was commissioned Saturday in a ceremony in Juneau, Alaska, joining the only two other U.S. icebreakers: Healy (WAGB-20) and Polar Star (WAGB-10).
The Coast Guard needs about nine to do the job properly, officials have testified. Get up to speed with the Congressional Research Service’s January report.
Additional reading:
- “Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn’t be allowed to vote,” the Associated Press reported Friday;
- “West Point and Air Force Academy Affirmative Action Lawsuits Are Dropped,” the New York Times reported Tuesday;
- “Can COFFEE filters calm the spectrum tug-of-war?” DARPA is making tiny chips that can help military and civil radios operate on nearby frequencies, Defense One’s Lauren C. Willams reported last week;
- “Will 2026 be military lasers’ breakthrough year?” The Army is preparing to issue a production contract, Defense One’s Patrick Tucker has more, writing Friday;
- “What Does Palantir Actually Do? Even former employees struggle to explain it,” WIRED reported Monday.
Lastly today: The Air Force wants to buy two Tesla Cybertrucks for target practice. “Testing needs to mirror real world situations,” said one document cited by Fortune. “The intent of the training is to prep the units for operations by simulating scenarios as closely as possible to the real world situations.” Read on, here.
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