Spain has completed an eight-week course training Lebanese army soldiers to clear mines, with instruction held in Zaragoza and Beirut. The program combined Spanish forces with a local company specializing in identifying and disposing of ordnance, which trained teams for six weeks before two weeks of field practice. The effort was carried out under the Technical Committee for Lebanon, known as MTC4L, an international body that also includes Italy, Germany and France. Lebanese officials say they want the training to help address the consequences of the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. Mine clearance is only one part of the wider training MTC4L is providing, as Lebanese air force trainees also completed combat instruction in the first half of the year.
The article also details the Pentagon’s planned procurement for fiscal 2027, which the U.S. House appropriations committee presented at $1.15 trillion, following the Pentagon’s request. The plan reflects spending driven by Operation Rising Lion, including about $10.6 billion for expanding munitions production capacity and major outlays for Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, THAAD and Tomahawk missiles. It also allocates $379.9 million to Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” multilayer air-defense concept and at least $1 billion for an autonomous strike group program. Aircraft purchases remain central, including about $3.5 billion for 15 KC-46 refuelers, $2.6 billion for F-15EX bombers, and $5 billion for the sixth-generation F-47 fighter project.
In Europe, Poland has signed large defense contracts worth about 60 billion zlotys, or $16.5 billion, through the EU’s SAFE low-interest loan program. The package includes armored vehicles, artillery, mortars and other weapons, and is designed to support domestic manufacturer PGZ. The government plans to buy 146 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles, 96 Krab 155 mm howitzers and multiple rocket systems, while the program has triggered political tension after President Karol Nawrocki opposed taking the loan. Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz approved it through a government process, and said the purchases will help expand production lines and boost exports.
The piece also notes a Baltic defense innovation from Estonia, where company Vogvysir has built a small communications unit for unmanned platforms. The system is meant to maintain connectivity and control across many drones and other autonomous systems in air, land and sea operations, even under jamming. In Israel, the company’s approach is presented as relevant to FPV drones using fiber-optic guidance, which are limited to only a few kilometers before needing remote control and becoming vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. Vogvysir says its system manages and prioritizes communication channels continuously across 5G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Starlink satellite terminals and tactical military networks.
