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McCain Institute Sedona Forum 2026: Bipartisan Leaders Gather to Discuss Challenges to American Dominance
As global instability intensifies and political divisions deepen at home, the 2026 Sedona Forum convened some of the world’s most influential policymakers, military leaders, journalists, and business voices to address a defining question: What will it take to sustain American leadership in a rapidly changing world? Held May 1-2 in Sedona, Arizona, the McCain Institute’s…
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How Industry Is Accelerating Space-Based Missile Defense
As threats in space and the electromagnetic spectrum accelerate, defense leaders are under growing pressure to deliver faster, more integrated capabilities. Defense News recently spoke with Jeff Hanke, President, Space Systems at L3Harris Technologies, about how industry is responding across missile warning and defense, space domain awareness, and electronic warfare. Hanke outlines the shift toward…
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Gold star sister reflects on time at Dover Fisher House
In 2020, Christina Phaneuf and her family got one of the worst calls that a military family can receive. Her brother, Air Force Capt. Ryan Phaneuf, had died in a crash. Her family was invited to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, to meet Ryan’s remains as he returned to U.S. soil. “My brother was serving…
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Defending the Heartland: The Multi‑Domain Protection Architecture of Tomorrow
The threats facing the United States have never been more complex, more layered, or more time critical. Ballistic missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, cruise missiles, cyber intrusions, and one way attack drones now move across physical and digital domains with unprecedented fluidity. Increasingly, the most decisive actions begin in space, a domain that is no longer…
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Hero Miles supports family in time of crisis
Air Force Maj. Dan Campbell and his wife Heather experienced many uncertainties when their 9-year-old son, Isaiah, was diagnosed with a subglottic stenosis, or narrowing of the airway which would require a major surgery. Stationed in remote Alaska, they wondered how to keep the family together for the nearly 2,500-mile journey for his medical care.…
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Award a software contract in 30 days. Here’s how.
Most federal software contracts take between 8 and 18 months to award. That timeline includes market research, the RFP, source selection, Justification and Approval documentation, and the protest window that follows. By the time a contract is signed, the program has already lost a year or more before anyone writes a line of code. The…
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To Enable Acquisition Transformation, Enforce MOSA
The Secretary of War’s November 7th memo “Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities” is a significant effort to overhaul a system seen as too slow and risk averse. This is at least the 7th acquisition reform effort since the 1986 Packard Commission. Each added…
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Redwire Stalker UAS: Combat-Proven Capability Strengthening America’s Drone Industrial Base
The battlefield has changed faster in the past three years than in the previous three decades. Low-cost drones are destroying high-value assets, compressing decision timelines, and reshaping how militaries think about reconnaissance and strike. At the same time, the United States faces a structural vulnerability. China controls roughly 90 percent of the global commercial drone…
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Expeditionary Manufacturing Restores Deadlined MRAP in under 24 hours
On a Tennessee training range, a combat support vehicle was sidelined. A failed door handle left the vehicle vulnerable and its crew exposed. In a contested environment, this created a critical tactical problem, as the vehicle could not return to base. The standard solution requires a complex supply chain and a wait of six to…
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Vietnam Vet Cares for Wife and Wartime Nurse
Ken MacMillan first met Judy while being treated for injuries sustained during the Vietnam War. Judy was a nurse at the hospital, and despite Ken’s repeated attempts to strike up a conversation, she kept their interactions strictly professional. “I was in the hospital as I met her before we even talked to one another. I…
