California-based Shield AI has announced a new autonomous drone designed to work alongside Air Force pilots. The uncrewed platform, called X-BAT, has a 2,000-mile range and a unique trick up its sleeve: It uses vertical takeoff and landing, allowing it to launch without a runway anywhere in the world.

The X-BAT is a continuation of the company’s artificial intelligence-enabled drone line that started with the much smaller V-BAT, which is already proven and fully operational. The Coast Guard is using the V-BAT platform after awarding Shield AI a $198 million contract. Shield AI co-founder and President Brandon Tseng showed off the V-Bat in a Threat Status exclusive video at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.

The X-BAT hasn’t made it off the ground yet. The company says it expects to launch test flights next year. The $27 million aircraft is designed to carry air-to-air missiles, bombs and even electronic warfare platforms, making it a highly adaptable entry in the Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

Massachusetts-based company Phoenix Tailings has opened a rare earth metals processing facility that doesn’t rely on Chinese materials, aiming to establish a domestic foothold in an industry dominated by Beijing. The new facility in Exeter, New Hampshire, will produce about 200 tons of light and heavy rare earth metals annually. Phoenix Tailings says the facility has the capacity to scale up production to more than 1,000 tons per year.

The development comes amid growing concern in U.S. national security circles over China’s push to control global supply chains and markets for rare earths, which are critical for the manufacturing of advanced tech from AI microchips to smart phones and fighter jets. Phoenix Tailings CEO and co-founder Nick Myers recently highlighted the concerns in an exclusive interview on the Threat Status weekly podcast.

Sen. Todd Young, meanwhile, discussed the situation in an exclusive video interview on the Threat Status Influencers series. Mr. Young, Indiana Republican, introduced legislation in April with Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, that calls for more robust intervention by the U.S. Geological Survey to give American companies a competitive advantage in developing rare earths mines around the world.

One of the hottest tickets in military and policy circles focused on China affairs these days are four sets of playing cards featuring senior Chinese Communist Party leaders and People’s Liberation Army generals and admirals, military weapons and organizations.

The decks, which are the work of the U.S. Air Force’s specialty think tank, come in four decks. One depicts Mr. Xi as the ace of spades, while the other decks show CCP and PLA equipment, services and concepts and organizations.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz reports that the cards harken back to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s 2003 deck featuring most-wanted Iraqis sought by the military. As of January, all but four of the 52 Iraqis, including ace of spades Saddam Hussein, have been killed or captured.

Thousands of mirrors orbiting the Earth could soon light up the night sky if a California startup wins U.S. permission to launch an experimental satellite that would beam sunlight onto solar farms at night.

Reflect Orbital filed an application this year with the Federal Communications Commission seeking approval to launch a demonstration satellite next year that would test the concept of using mirrors to reflect the sun onto the Earth after dark. The company plans to eventually build a “constellation” of thousands of space mirrors that would deliver sunlight on demand to solar farms and anywhere else that wants to buy some rays.

The clear message at the recent Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers TechExpo was that “America’s leadership in technology and innovation depends on protecting the 6 GHz band and ensuring continued, strong support for unlicensed and shared spectrum,” writes Bartlett Cleland.

“Officials from the White House, Capitol Hill, the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department reaffirmed what many across the innovation ecosystem already know: that unlicensed spectrum, including the 6 GHz band, is the backbone of Wi-Fi innovation and a cornerstone of U.S. economic competitiveness,” Mr. Cleland, executive director of the Innovation Economy Alliance, writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times.

He notes that 10 Republican senators “recently wrote to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, emphasizing that the unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band and the Citizens Broadband Radio Service should be left unregulated.”

• Oct. 24 — U.S.-China Relations and the Future of America’s Energy and Automotive Sectors, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Oct. 24 — Powering U.S. Energy Dominance with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Oct. 27 — Caribbean Buildup: A Renewed Focus on Counternarcotics and Hemispheric Security? Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Oct. 28 — Resilience the Finnish Way: Small States in a Turbulent World, International Institute for Strategic Studies

• Oct. 28 — How America Failed to Disarm North Korea: Implications for the Future, Stimson Center

• Oct. 30 — How Long Can Russia’s Weakening Economy Support Putin’s War on Ukraine? Hudson Institute

• Oct. 31 - Nov. 2 — International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue 2025, International Institute for Strategic Studies

• Nov. 3 — China’s Economic Priorities: the Fourth Plenum in Review, Brookings Institution

• Nov. 5 — Containment Redux: Persian Gulf War Lessons from Iraq for U.S. Strategy Toward Iran, Foundation for Defense of Democracies