In early September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv and its allies have a general vision for security guarantees against future Russian aggression, and that more than two dozen countries were exploring exactly what role they would play.
Giles says the only meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine would be serious military consequences for Russia if it launched new attacks.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
I’m joined now by senior producer, and Air Force veteran, Brett Baker, for some headlines you may have missed.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
And Brett—breaking news to report—by the time this episode publishes to the interwebs—you and I will be in Ukraine reporting and gathering stories.
[BRETT BAKER]
Yeah, very exciting development. I don’t think any of us at the beginning of the year would probably have predicted that trip would be in store for us, but it is, and I know we’re excited to go and get some excellent content and bring it back to share with, you know, not only Weapons and Warfare, but the Straight Arrow News viewership.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Absolutely. And it’s—we’re not going to be at the front lines or anything like that, but we are going to Ukraine. Our families are a little nervous, but you and I were talking a little bit earlier—as journalists—that’s, I think you said your point was, you know, it’s just one of those opportunities that you can’t really pass up. So looking forward to it for sure.
Alright, let’s get to those headlines.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
BUCKING CONSTITUTIONAL NORMS ONCE AGAIN—
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order returning the Department of Defense to its original name: the Department of War.
[UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER]
“Mr. President, is it your expectation that Congress will codify this name change in the law?”
[DONALD TRUMP]
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out. But I’m not sure they have to. We’re signing an executive order today. But we’re gonna find out, we’re gonna see if they do.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
The Department of War was created in 1789. It was renamed and reorganized through legislation signed by President Harry Truman in 1947. The Department of Defense incorporated the Department of War, which oversaw the Army, plus the Department of the Navy and the newly created independent Air Force.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Brett, we talked about this last week because we knew this was probably coming down the pike—
[BRETT BAKER]
Yeah, it was kind of floated out there, and sure enough, it turned out to be the case. You know, interesting thing—you actually need congressional approval to change the name of the department, so to get by that, it is apparently a secondary name. So it still is the Department of Defense for all intents and purposes. This is just a language thing that they’re, you know, jazzed up about. I don’t really understand it, but it is what it is.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Yeah, it’s definitely a marketing and branding thing. It kind of reminds me of when businesses are incorporated under one LLC, but they operate under a DBA—doing business as—a different name. But it’s essentially all the same folks doing the same stuff.
The Secretary of Defense did update a lot of his social media handles to now reflect the new title that he’s operating under: the Secretary of War. But to your point, Brett, doesn’t necessarily change much from a logistics standpoint, necessarily. But we’ll see how this plays out in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
REMEMBER THAT U.S. MISSILE STRIKE IN THE CARIBBEAN THAT KILLED 11?
The White House said they were drug traffickers, and part of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
Well—Secretary of State Marco Rubio is warning other would-be traffickers more could be in store.
[MARCO RUBIO]
“If you’re on the boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States. And the president, under his authority as commander in chief, has a right under exigent circumstances to eliminate the imminent threat to the United States.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Rubio faced some pointed questions from a few media members about the legality of the operation. He defended the strike but didn’t really give any details, like whether those aboard the boat were warned before being fired upon.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Brett—the strike on the boat kind of reminded me of all the drone strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan under the Obama administration.
[BRETT BAKER]
Yeah, for good reason. It looks a little like a video game, right? Rarely you see an individual, you know, that high up in, you know, our political chain, our government chain, put out a video of 11 people being wiped out of existence.
Yeah, it’s—it’s an interesting, you know, position to take. Not giving them any kind of heads up, any warning, not trying to maybe apprehend them. You know, that’s one that they’re gonna have to deal with. It wouldn’t be my play, but that’s, you know, one of those things that is going to happen with this administration.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
I will say, after talking with a couple of folks—a couple of contacts that we have—however it’s being portrayed, you know, in the headlines or in the media or anything like that…
Yeah, these military contacts did say that the strike from a military kill chain perspective would not have been authorized without positive identification on the individuals on the boat.
So take that for what it is.
But yeah, this is definitely the Trump administration and the White House really upping the game against the cartels at a time when he’s campaigned upon, you know, getting fentanyl back—stopping it from coming across the border, stopping drug trafficking, human trafficking—and he points to the Nicolás Maduro regime as being one of the primary players in that game.
So that’s why there’s so much of a concerted effort to stop Venezuela and the Maduro regime in its alleged ties to narco-terrorist states.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Alright—last headline for you today—and it’s a big one.
The outlet Breaking Defense reported the U.S. Air Force officially decommissioned its first Minuteman III missile silo at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
It’s part of the service’s modernization process of America’s nuclear triad—where Minuteman III ICBMs are getting swapped out for new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles made by Northrop Grumman.
In the midst of this transition, though, Air Force officials say the readiness and alert status of the remaining ICBMs will remain unaffected during this process.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Brett—you and I have spoken to Lt. Gen. Mark Weatherington—one of the guys who used to oversee the Air Force’s Global Strike program—
And he told us the old Minuteman silos were originally going to be re-used with the Sentinel program—but now it looks like it’s going to be cheaper to just build new holes in the ground for these missiles.
[BRETT BAKER]
Yeah, unfortunately, there’s no home redo show, you know, Flip This Silo.
But yeah. I mean, a lot of those silos—I mean, they’re decades old. Technology has changed. What the crews that operate them need has changed.
So it’s not that big a surprise. I think it obviously would be a nice thing to, you know, probably maybe save some money to just be able to renovate those.
But at a certain point in time you have to, like, figure, okay, it probably is just cheaper to dig a new hole and start from scratch.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Yeah, yeah. Well, when you have to, like, you know, tear out all the old stuff, and if there’s, you know, the mitigation for any kind of caustic chemicals or anything like that—I mean, throw some dirt on the top. Start over.
It’s definitely a cheaper way.
Environmentally speaking, I’m sure there’s going to be some folks who, you know, protest about this.
But from a—you know—protection of the country standpoint, we need these things.
It is part of the nuclear deterrence.
The nuclear triad is what has kept the world in a mostly peaceful state over the last 85 years or so.
So we need these, especially with China building more. They are good to have.
Alright. Brett, the next time we do this, you know, we’ll have some stories from Ukraine to tell.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
In 1962, Hanna-Barbera offered a version of what life on Earth might be like 100 years in the future with The Jetsons.
Showcasing all kinds of space-age technology woven into everyday life, but nothing captured the audience’s attention quite like the promise of flying cars.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
While 2062 is still 37 years away, that promise might be closer than you think.
At this year’s SOF Week in Tampa, Florida, we saw something that captured our attention like George Jetson’s daily driver did 63 years ago.
That’s why Pivotal’s BlackFly eVTOL is our Weapon of the Week.
[NATS]
“OK, Ken, ready for takeoff.”
“Go for takeoff.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
When you first see it, the BlackFly kind of looks like a next-gen remote control drone.
But a double-take reveals something else entirely: an American-made, all-electric flying vehicle capable of vertical takeoffs and landings.
Made by Pivotal, the BlackFly—and its successor, the Helix—were built for private use and emergency medical services.
But now there’s an eye on bringing this tech to the military.
[KEN KARKLIN – CEO, Pivotal]
“There are a number of missions that we think that we are ideally suited for in the near term. That could be covert insertion, covert extraction. It could be rescue of a downed pilot or a stranded individual in a SAR or SERE situation.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Ken Karklin, Pivotal’s CEO, says their vehicles are also capable of uncrewed flight.
[KEN KARKLIN]
“You could send out a number of these aircraft autonomously because they’re actually at an attritable price point, and then one of them comes back with that stranded individual who is able to fly themselves back, or it’s done remotely.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
If early signs are any indication, the military is interested as well.
In 2024, Pivotal delivered four BlackFlys to AFWERX, the innovation wing at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Karklin says that kind of interest is pushing Pivotal to deliver the next evolution of their aircraft.
[KEN KARKLIN]
“We’re going to be working very diligently on the big brother to the Helix, which is very defense focused. It’s called the Spiro. It’s the same fundamental architecture, same building blocks. It’s our platform, but about an order of magnitude up on the gross takeoff weight. So rather than something north of 500 pounds, it would be something just north of 5,000 pounds, capable of carrying 2,000 pounds of cargo, 300 nautical miles.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Pivotal also landed a two-year deal with the Air Force and AFWERX Agility Prime that gives them access to testing facilities, expert resources, and several sites within restricted airspace.
With that kind of support, Pivotal can speed up both crewed and uncrewed flight testing and system verification—boosting the chances for getting a Pivotal aircraft into operation.
[KEN KARKLIN]
“Where we really want to focus is in the Defense Base, because we sincerely believe that there are some missions out there we can do better than anyone else. We can do at a better cost point, and solve real problems for the warfighter. So that’s why we’re here.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Time now for Comms Check and a hat tip to Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin for the heads-up on a pretty significant milestone in the competition between General Atomics and Anduril to build the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
In late August, the general posted this to one of his social media accounts:
“CCA is in the air less than two years after the program began! Your Air Force is moving FAST and learning FAST. CCA will help us rethink the battlespace, extend reach & optimize warfighter performance through human-machine teaming.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
Developed with General Atomics, the YFQ-42A’s recent flight in California gathered important data on airworthiness and flight autonomy.
It’s all part of a larger plan to introduce modular, cost-effective uncrewed aircraft that will operate alongside next-generation crewed aircraft.
The CCA is part of the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, focusing on modular, software-defined airpower.
And as far as we know, Anduril’s entry in the competition—the YFQ-44A, also known as the Fury—hasn’t flown yet, though it is expected to enter flight testing in the near future.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
For my wrap this week—we’re doing something a little different—we’re talking about jobs. Specifically, manufacturing jobs.
As far back as I can remember—presidents and political leaders have been promising to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States.
And for as far back as I can remember—the number of people employed in the manufacturing sector has been on the decline.
It peaked in 1979—with just shy of 20 million U.S. citizens employed in the sector. In August—that number sat at 12.7 million.
There are some hard truths to swallow when it comes to bringing back manufacturing.
For starters—for a lot of things like consumer electronics—it’s cost prohibitive. Americans demand too high a wage for it to make financial sense to build cell phones or stereos in the U.S.
A thousand-dollar iPhone would quickly become a four-thousand-dollar iPhone.
But when it comes to defensive manufacturing—the industry is growing by leaps and bounds.
Startups like PDW are building new facilities.
Former startups like Anduril are expanding at breakneck speeds.
And even the prime contractors are building new production lines and expanding existing ones to meet new demands for things like HIMARS launchers, Patriot missiles, and other platforms.
Which leads us to a second hard truth—the U.S. can bring back thousands of manufacturing jobs—maybe millions—but it means making weapons.
Something many Americans are uncomfortable with.
But the world is headed for some rocky times ahead.
All the major American adversaries just had a get-together in China—celebrating all the latest weapons designed to keep America out of their way.
So, when it comes to protecting American lives and American livelihoods—to me—the answer to both is building more American-made defensive products.
And that’s going to do it for us this week, folks.
If you liked what you saw and/or heard—please like and subscribe to our social media feeds—download the Straight Arrow News app—and maybe more importantly—share our stories!
We’re on a mission to help people have a more informed conversation about the U.S. military and our national defense—and we’re recruiting volunteers to help.
So until next time, for senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer, and motion designer Dakota Piteo—
I’m Ryan Robertson with Straight Arrow News, signing off.
