Thursday, February 19, 2026

U.S. Wild Weasels Appear to Be Moving to Middle East for Suppression of Enemy Air Défenses | World Defense News 19 Feb 2026

 

On February 19, 2026, open-source flight tracking data in conjunction with air traffic control communications suggested that several United States Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft may be redeploying from Europe toward the Middle East, a movement that has not been officially acknowledged by Washington at this stage. Occurring amid renewed regional tensions and growing concerns over the risk of a broader confrontation involving Iran, the reported involvement of aircraft configured for the “Wild Weasel” mission profile has attracted particular scrutiny. These platforms are specifically tasked with the suppression and destruction of enemy air defense systems, a capability widely regarded as essential to the execution of contemporary air operations in contested environments.
 

On February 18, 2026, NATO’s STEADFAST DART 26 exercise reached its climactic maritime phase off the Baltic coast of Germany, with allied forces executing a complex amphibious landing in the Putlos training area. In this scenario, Turkish Marines riding FNSS-built Amphibious Force Multiplier MAV (ZAHA) vehicles came ashore under a dense umbrella of allied air, naval, and special operations support.
 

On 19 February 2026, the Russian state corporation Rostec announced that its updated Khrizantema-M guided missile now combines an extended engagement range with supersonic flight, reinforcing the role of this weapon in the war in Ukraine and in future export offers.
 

Lockheed Martin has secured a $33.8 million cost-plus-incentive-fee award dated Feb. 18, 2026, to provide Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) PAC-3 system ground and flight test support for the U.S. Army under Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal. More than a routine line on a contracts page, the deal is a deliberate push to harden the Army’s next Patriot-era sensor-to-shooter chain just as LTAMDS transitions from engineering promise to operational proof.
 

During NATO’s Steadfast Dart 2026 exercise in early February over the Baltic Sea, Turkish officials announced that the Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle successfully conducted autonomous takeoffs and landings from the amphibious assault ship TCG ANADOLU in temperatures near minus 5 degrees Celsius, amid heavy snowfall and strong winds.
 

On the eve of the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Pyongyang staged a formal transfer of fifty 600 mm super large multiple launch rocket systems, known in the West as the KN25, to frontline Korean People’s Army units, according to state media photographs showing rows of heavy wheeled launchers presented as a symbolic gift from defense industry workers.
 

At World Defense Show 2026 in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan presented the PL-10E, the export variant of China’s PL-10 short-range air-to-air missile, alongside the JF-17 Block III fighter jet. The missile features an imaging infrared seeker, thrust-vectoring propulsion, and a reported range of up to 20–30 km depending on launch conditions.
 

Rheinmetall released live-fire footage on February 19, 2026, highlighting its FV-014 loitering munition during a customer-facing trial at Germany’s National Test Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems in Cochstedt. The 20-kilogram fixed-wing drone carries a 5-kilogram high-explosive dual-purpose warhead capable of penetrating more than 600 millimeters of rolled homogeneous armor and striking targets at ranges up to 100 kilometers.
 

As reported by Reuters on February 19, 2026, Germany is weighing the purchase of up to 35 additional U.S.-made F-35A fighter jets beyond the 35 aircraft ordered in 2022, as the trinational FCAS program with France and Spain remains stalled. An expanded F-35 fleet, around 70 to 85 stealth fighters depending on previous options, would reinforce Germany’s NATO nuclear-sharing role as the Tornado is planned to retire by 2030.
 

Denmark has quietly taken another step away from the post-Cold War comfort zone and back toward the hard mathematics of industrial war. A contract notice published on the European Union’s Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) on February 17, 2026, shows the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) awarding EUR 213.7 million to Excalibur International a.s. for 120 mm mortar ammunition and 155 mm artillery ammunition.
 

On February 6, 2026, in an interview with Dagens Nyheter, Ilgi Kim, commercial chief at Babcock, confirmed that the British company is offering the Arrowhead 120 frigate to Sweden exclusively through a joint proposal with Saab for the four-ship Luleå-class program. Babcock has not submitted a separate bid to Sweden Defence Materiel Administration for the competition valued at up to 60 billion kronor or about $6 billion.
 

Recent U.S. carrier strike group activity around Iran has pushed the Persian Gulf’s undersea contest back into the foreground, at exactly the moment Iran's smallest submarines are reaching mature operational employment. Iran is assessed to field an undersea fleet of roughly 28 to 30 submarines, with the bulk of that force made up of mini-submarines designed for the Gulf’s restrictive geography. With one U.S.
 

On 8 February 2026, during World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Serbian company GPTS, in partnership with EDePro, unveiled the new Goshawk cruise missile system, an autonomous loitering munition designed for long-range precision engagement. The show, which brings together the global defense industry and military decision-makers across all domains, provided a high-visibility platform for Serbia’s growing missile and propulsion sector.
 

On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the award of a $25 million Foreign Military Sales contract to Liquid Robotics Inc. for 20 commercial unmanned surface vehicles destined for Japan. According to the official U.S. contracts bulletin, the program includes associated control software, payload integration, and launch and recovery equipment, with work scheduled for completion by February 16, 2028.
 

On 13 February 2026, China’s official military media released new imagery of J-11BSH fighter jets from a naval aviation unit under the Southern Theater Command conducting intensive flight training. The photo report, carried by China Military Online, offers a rare window into how the People’s Liberation Army Navy is sharpening the maritime employment of its long-range, twin-seat Flanker derivatives.
 

On February 18, 2026, the Russian Baltic Fleet Steregushchiy-class corvette Stoikiy conducted a bilateral passing exercise (PASSEX) with Iranian Navy surface combatants in the Gulf of Oman following a port call in Bandar Abbas, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS citing the fleet’s press service.
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U.S. Wild Weasels Appear to Be Moving to Middle East for Suppression of Enemy Air Défenses | World Defense News 19 Feb 2026

  Feb 19 U.S. F-16CJ Wild Weasels Appear to Be Moving to Middle East for Suppression of Enemy Air Défenses On February 19, 2026, open-source...