342: IDF Targets Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut Strike - Status Unknown + US to End CJTF Joint Resolve Mission in Iraq by 2025 + Chinese Nuclear Submarine Sinks at Pier + USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft Competition + More

I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. IDF Targets Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut Strike - Status Unknown.
- A US official told The Times of Israel that Israel notified the US about the airstrike after planes were already in the air and the operation was in motion.
- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called an emergency session of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Friday. Officials said the meeting was called following the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah headquarters in southern Beirut, targeting Hassan Nasrallah.
- Hezbollah launched some 65 rockets at Israel on Friday night, hours after the strike in Beirut.
- Hamas panned the strike, condemning “the brutal and ongoing Zionist aggression and escalation against the brotherly Lebanese people through savage air strikes.”
2. US to End CJTF Joint Resolve Mission in Iraq by 2025.
US Official: The US and Iraq have agreed “on a two phase transition plan for operations in Iraq.
In the first phase, we’ll be concluding the global coalition’s military mission in Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force Inherent Resolve, and ending the presence of coalition forces in certain locations in Iraq as mutually determined. That phase will begin this month and finish by the end of September 2025.
The second phase involves an “understanding to allow the coalition to continue to support counter-ISIS operations in Syria from Iraq- until at least September 2026."
3. US Army Mid-Range Capability Missile System to remain in Philippines.
American and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep the missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence (against China).
4. Chinese Nuclear Submarine Sinks at Pier.
The Pentagon has confirmed the submarine that sank pierside at a Wuhan shipyard is a “new class” of nuclear vessels being developed by the Chinese navy.
5. USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Competition.
In April, the USAF awarded contracts for CCA prototypes to General Atomics and Anduril, which prevailed over larger defense aerospace companies-Lockheed Martin. Boeing, and Northrup Grumman.