Alexander Mikheev, head of Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state arms exporter, hopes to supply Turkey with more S-400 missile systems in the first half of 2020, a move which could further undermine U.S.-Turkey relations. The U.S. has suspended Turkey’s involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, pointing out that the S-400s are incompatible with NATO defences.

As the incumbent Conservative Party in the U.K. prepares for next month’s general election, its newly-release campaign platform throws little new light on plans for the British military and defence industries. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace dismiss suggestions that the Army and Royal Air Force could be reduced in size and that plans for two new aircraft carriers could be reconsidered.

U.S. plans to draw down its military presence in Afghanistan apparently are being undermined by inadequate indigenous capabilities to handle a war in which air strikes are a key tactic. A report by the Department of Defence Inspector General says that no more than 7.5 percent of strikes by Afghan helicopters and turboprop ground support aircraft involved any of the 46 Afghan tactical air controllers and 24 air liaison officers who help to develop target and strike packages.

Two months after President Donald Trump’s administration orders their withdrawal, U.S. forces have resumed large-scale counterterrorism missions against Daesh in northern Syria in response to intelligence that the militants were mounting a comeback. The Americans and the Syrian Kurd allies effectively abandoned by Trump have conducted large-scale sweeps about 200 kilometres south of the Turkish border.