346: No Contact with Hezbollah Chief After Beirut Strike - No Statement from Hezbollah + US CENTCOM Commander in Israel to Discuss Response to Iran Attack + France Orders Uncrewed Deep Sea Vehicles + Ireland to Increase 2025 Defense Budget + More

I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. No Contact with Hezbollah Chief After Beirut Strike - No Statement from Hezbollah.
2. IDF says response to Iranian missile attack will be "serious and significant."
3. US CENTCOM Commander in Israel to Discuss Response to Iran Attack.
United States CENTCOM chief General Michael Kurilla landed in Israel this evening to meet with Israeli defense and military officials, amid preparations in the IDF for a response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack.
4. French President Emmanuel Macron urged a halt to deliveries of arms to Israel that can be used in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Responding to President Macron on Saturday evening, Israeli PM Netanyahu called his comments “a disgrace.”
5. Ireland's President reacts to IDF requests for UN Peacekeepers to leave positions in Southern Lebanon.
“It is outrageous that the IDF have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending,” President Michael Higgins says in a statement.
Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UNIFIL forces.
6. France Orders Uncrewed Deep Sea Vehicles.
The French Navy has ordered an autonomous underwater vehicle that will surveil critical infrastructure at depths of up to 6,000 meters.
7. Ireland to Increase 2025 Defense Budget.
The record” €1.35 billion defense budget for 2025, offers funding for air surveillance radar, subsea awareness, force protection equipment projects, and recruitment of 400 additional armed forces personnel.
8. North Korean Leader threatens use of nuclear weapons in event of attack from South.
9. US House Armed Service Committee directs US Navy to provide information concerning faulty welds, used on under construction aircraft carriers and submarines- from the shipbuilding company HII Newport News Shipbuilding.