Defence`s Feeds

Chinese President Xi Jinping in March summoned Zhang Shengmin (IO, 22/01/26) to give the last remaining member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) a final ultimatum, according to Intelligence Online sources. Xi first gave the general his assessment of the [...]

Russia – Ex-KGB and Rosfinmonitoring's mandate extendedIn early May, Yuri Chikhantchin, the director of Moscow's financial intelligence service Rosfinmonitoring, saw [...]

Ever since France created a tax intelligence unit within its DNRED customs intelligence service, the issue of who can use [...]

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Le Sénat, fracturé, a rejeté lundi soir un article central du texte créant un droit à l'aide à mourir. Le gouvernement pourrait, en conséquence, choisir de donner le dernier mot à l'Assemblée nationale pour faire aboutir cette réforme chère à Emmanuel Macron.

De Paris à Tripoli, le parcours d’Alan Geaam est hors du commun. Originaire du Liban, il quitte son pays en 1999 pour s’installer à Paris en quête d’un avenir meilleur. Il enchaîne alors les petits emplois dans le bâtiment et en cuisine, notamment comme plongeur le soir. Aujourd’hui, il est devenu le premier chef libanais étoilé par le guide Michelin, et est venu raconter son histoire sur le plateau de France 24.

À l'occasion des 25 ans de la loi dite "Taubira", qui reconnaît la traite négrière et l'esclavage comme des crimes contre l'humanité, Christiane Taubira est invitée sur France 24 pour revenir sur l'histoire et les enjeux de ce texte majeur. L'ex-garde des Sceaux évoque le parcours difficile de la loi à l'Assemblée nationale, les résistances rencontrées à l'époque, ainsi que les débats qui entourent, encore aujourd'hui, la mémoire et l'enseignement de l'histoire de l'esclavage en France.

Le journaliste Christophe Gleizes, détenu en Algérie, recevra « dans les prochains jours » sa première visite consulaire, a annoncé samedi la ministre déléguée aux Armées, Alice Rufo, après un entretien avec le président algérien Abdelmadjid Tebboune à Alger. Le journaliste français est détenu en Algérie depuis près d'un an.

Polémique à Carpentras et à Canet-en-Roussillon après la diffusion du chant « Maréchal, nous voilà ! » lors des commémorations du 8 mai. Ce chant, associé à Philippe Pétain, a été joué dans les rues des deux communes, suscitant des réactions. Il s’agit d’un morceau composé sous l’Occupation, durant le régime de Vichy. Le maire de Carpentras a annoncé vouloir prendre des mesures contre le prestataire à l’origine de la diffusion de cet hymne.

"Il reste des avancées à concrétiser pour une pleine application de la loi Taubira" estime Esther Eloidin, anthropologue, alors que le 10 mais marque les 25 ans de l'adoption par l'Assemblée nationale française de la loi Taubira, reconnaissant la traite négrière et l’esclavage comme crimes contre l’humanité. Un quart de siècle plus tard, quels changements cette loi a-t-elle permis et quels enjeux demeurent ? À la Une week-end reçoit Esther Eloidin, anthropologue, journaliste et essayiste pour en parler. Elle est notamment co auteur avec Gédéon Schomba Senga de l’ouvrage "A quand l’abrogation du code noir et une application concrète de la loi Taubira".

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The F-15E Strike Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing, recently painted to commemorate Operation El Dorado Canyon’s 40th anniversary, took off on May. 7, 2026 with a heavy load of inert training rounds.

F-15E Strike Eagle 93-0311’s new camouflage paint scheme was officially unveiled on Apr. 28, 2026 to mark forty years since RAF Lakenheath took part in Operation El Dorado Canyon. The scheme is representative of the one worn by the F-111 Aardvarks employed on the long-range strike mission against Libya, with a special tribute paid to KARMA 52 – the only F-111 lost during the raid, resulting in the deaths of pilot Captain Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci and weapon systems officer (WSO) Captain Paul F. Lorence.

91-0311 departing RAF Lakenheath on May. 7. | Source: Stewart Jack

Our friend, aviation photographer Stewart Jack, captured these images of 93-0311 as it took off on a training sortie on May. 7, flying under the callsign EAGLE 31. Notably, the jet was seen to be carrying eight inert versions of the GBU-12 Paveway II guided bomb, distinguishable by solid blue casings. 

EAGLE 31 took off from Lakenheath with wingman EAGLE 32 shortly after 08:30 local time (07:30 UTC), and began their sortie by meeting with a KC-135 Stratotanker to take on fuel before heading to the low flying areas of North Wales. After finishing up the low flying segment of their sortie, EAGLE flight headed for the Holbeach Air Weapons Range on the coast north of RAF Lakenheath where the entire payload was dropped. 

This essentially simulates a real world strike mission, with a low-level ingress through the Welsh Valleys before setting up for weapon employment at the range simulating the target. 

91-0311 departing RAF Lakenheath on May. 7. | Source: Stewart Jack

The GBU-12 is one of the most commonly seen variants from the Paveway series, and equips a 500 lb Mark 82 bomb with a nose-mounted laser seeker unit and deployable tail guidance fins. These fins have an ‘on/off’ style of operation – known in the industry as bang-bang guidance – where the control surfaces can only deflect at the maximum amount, with no fine adjustment. The bomb’s guidance system accounts for this by over-correcting for any course adjustments then immediately deflecting in the opposite way to align with the intended trajectory. This method allows for simpler mechanics and electronics, lowering the overall cost for the single-use system. 

Being able to easily carry such a large number of these munitions is one of the F-15E’s biggest strengths. In the images we can see that even with such a load, the jet’s wing hardpoints are still empty and would be available for external fuel tanks and/or air to air weaponry. All of the air to ground munitions are carried on fuselage stations, with the additional mounting points on the aircraft’s conformal fuel tanks (CFT) – fitted on each side of the aircraft, outboard of the air intakes – providing significant extra capacity.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle conducts a combat air patrol in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 7, 2025. | Source: U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. John C.B. Ennis

On the F-15, these CFTs are also known as ‘FAST Packs’ – Fuel and Sensor, Tactical – and were initially developed for the air to air focused F-15C. In U.S. service, these have almost exclusively been associated with the Strike Eagle, and these darker-colored Eagles are rarely seen without them. The main U.S. Air Force F-15Cs seen to regularly carry them were those based with the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Keflavik, Iceland. 

Watch them fly bayou!
Louisiana’s 159th Fighter Wing #Boeing F-15Cs take flight with new conformal fuel tanks – increasing #USAF range and homeland defense capability! #F15 #AirNatGuard pic.twitter.com/qjrRNblIQC

— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) February 5, 2018

Since the CFTs cannot be jettisoned in flight to gain extra speed and maneuverability, the air-to-air focused pilots of the F-15C have preferred to use more traditional drop tanks. For the F-15E’s strike mission, the permanent impact to the aircraft’s flight characteristics are a worthy trade-off for the additional range and payload options they offer.

The U.S. has said it doesn’t plan to operate its F-15EX Eagle IIs with CFTs, although this may be reconsidered with the expansion of the F-15EX order and the prospect of them replacing older F-15E Strike Eagles in the coming years. 

Many thanks as always to Stewart Jack for contributing these images, you can find him on Facebook and Instagram.

Press briefing ahead of the upcoming Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council will take place on 8 May 2026 at 12.00

Press briefing ahead of the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council and the Foreign Affairs (Defence) Council will take place on 8 May 2025 at 10.45. 

President Costa and President von der Leyen received letters of credence from thirteen new Ambassadors to the European Union.