The three objects shot down over the weekend are "very different" from the Chinese surveillance balloon that was taken out after it journeyed across North America earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.
Germany said Friday it needed more time to decide whether to let its coveted Leopard 2 battle tanks be sent to Ukraine, putting off pleas from the government in Kyiv and disappointing U.S. and NATO allies eager to bolster Ukraine's forces against a possible new Russian advance.
The Pentagon dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Tuesday, a policy that resulted in thousands of service members being forced out of the military over their refusal to get the shot.
A U.S.-supplied air defense system has successfully intercepted Russian missiles in Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday, even as U.S. and NATO officials concluded that an errant Ukrainian missile was likely the cause of an explosion in Poland that killed two people on Tuesday.
Pentagon officials say the U.S. will maintain a "steady presence" of fighter jets at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa through rotational deployments of other aircraft, including F-22s currently positioned in Europe, but the plan has drawn increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill.