Germany on Friday announced it would begin the delivery of two U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine as the war-torn country endures further drone and missile attacks from Russia. The development comes a day after Russian missile and drone attacks overnight killed at least 13 people, including a 6-year-old boy, and wounded 132 others in Kyiv.

The attack marked the latest in Moscow’s surge of strikes targeting the Ukrainian capital in recent weeks amid mounting pressure from Washington on Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt his more than 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Trump this week shifted his ultimatum for Moscow to end the war, saying Mr. Putin must do so within 10 to 12 days or face massive “secondary tariffs” targeting Russia’s major trading partners.

Germany and the U.S. had announced on July 22 that they would deliver five additional Patriot systems to Ukraine. In exchange for giving up two of its own Patriot systems, Germany will receive priority in the delivery of next-generation Patriot missile systems, under an agreement with the Pentagon.

NATO dispatched a task group of warships to the icy waters of the Arctic this week just days after a major Russian naval exercise in the strategically vital region. The NATO mission was made up of Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese and German vessels.

NATO officials say the ships will, among other things, rehearse navigational maneuvers in the Arctic and conduct anti-submarine activities. A spokesperson for the alliance told Defense News the vessels also will conduct “integrated operations involving the coordination of various surface ships and air assets to increase the alliance’s understanding of the maritime environment, enhance information sharing and rehearse navigational maneuvers.”

Threat Status’ Ben Wolfgang reports that it is not unusual for NATO ships to sail through Arctic waters. But the timing of this particular mission is notable and underscores the understanding within the alliance, including in the U.S., that adversaries such as Russia are eager to exert greater power and influence over the Arctic theater.

The M10 Booker, an armored vehicle that was to be the U.S. Army’s first new major combat weapon in decades, was canceled this year because the “light” tanks were too heavy to be useful to the paratrooper units for which they were built. Now, the Pentagon is trying to figure out what to do with the two dozen vehicles produced before the contract was scrapped. They are headed for storage in a military warehouse in Alabama.

The Booker program, which had an initial price tag of more than $1 billion, was canceled as part of the Trump administration’s spending cuts. Threat Status Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn offers a deep dive exploring the problematic reality that dropping the 38-ton Booker from the back of a plane isn’t feasible.

Pentagon officials said the savings from canceling the contract won’t be quantified until they finish termination negotiations with the prime contractor, General Dynamics Land Systems. “We do not have an estimated timeline for completion,” said Army spokesperson Ellen C. Lovett.

U.S. federal prosecutors announced charges this week against an international syndicate that sought to sell rocket launchers, anti-personnel mines and anti-aircraft weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

Justice Department documents allege that Peter Mirchev, a Bulgarian with 25 years in the arms dealing business, would bribe corrupt officials in African nations to say they were buying arms for their militaries when, in fact, the shipments were being diverted to Mr. Mirchev’s clients. In this case, that was the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

The prosecution sheds light on how the cartels armed themselves with the kind of equipment that lets them go toe-to-toe with Mexico’s police and military, as well as battle one another. Authorities say Mr. Mirchev was working on a $58 million deal with CJNG. Prosecutors also tied him to Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer called the “Merchant of Death,” whom President Biden released from prison in 2022 in exchange for women’s pro basketball player Brittney Griner.

Mr. Trump’s historic brokering of the Abraham Accords in 2020 showed that “transformative diplomacy is possible when leaders reject conventional timidity and embrace decisive action,” writes Leah Goldin, the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier abducted and killed by Hamas in 2014.  

“Those agreements reshaped the Middle East, fostering unprecedented cooperation between Israel and nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco,” writes Ms. Goldin. “As Mr. Trump begins his second term, he has a unique opportunity to harness that same audacity to address the ongoing hostage crisis in the Gaza Strip. This crisis continues to haunt Israel and the world.”

• Aug. 5 — Misinformation: What Is It and What Should We Do About It? Cato Institute

• Aug. 5-7 — 2025 Space & Missile Defense Symposium, SMD Symposium

• Aug. 11-13 — Ai4 2025: Artificial Intelligence Industry Event, Ai4

• Aug. 13 — The U.S. Space Force’s Jonathan Farrow on the U.S. Space Warfighting Framework, Atlantic Council

• Aug. 15 — Deterrence Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific: An Australian Perspective with Christine Leah, National Institute for Deterrence Studies

• Aug. 20 — The Future of U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals Cooperation, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Aug. 26 — The Future of Naval Aviation: A Conversation with Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cheever and Lt. Gen. Bradford J. Gering, Center for Strategic & International Studies