Weekend TL;DR: Iran flaunts US losses, Hormuz deadline hardens, and Europe's hybrid threat gaps widen.

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Headlines

Iran publicly displays downed F-15E and near-intact MQ-9 as war trophies. Tehran has put wreckage of a US F-15E Strike Eagle and captured Israeli and US drones on public display following Operation Epic Fury — a deliberate propaganda and intelligence-exploitation act. The display confirms US and Israeli combat losses in detail not previously acknowledged, and gives Iran's defence community access to intact drone airframes. EurAsian Times

Hormuz deadline: Iran sets sweeping demands as 17 August MOU expiry closes in. Iran is conditioning any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on far-reaching US concessions, while Trump has declared the ceasefire effectively over. With the Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan mutual defence pact signed this week and Khamenei reportedly in critical condition, the strategic environment around the 17 August deadline is deteriorating rapidly. NZZ International

North Korea's full support for Russia now documented. A detailed Defense News assessment confirms North Korea has deployed troops, weapons, and a ballistic missile unit to Russia — the most comprehensive single-source account of Pyongyang's material contribution to the Ukraine war. Combined with Tuesday's zero-intercept night in Kyiv, Ukraine's air defence crisis is now structurally linked to North Korean missile capacity. Defense News

EU confirms $18B satellite constellation with 2029 launch target. The IRIS² implementation agreement — covered at signing on Thursday — now has fuller programme detail: $18 billion total cost, a Spanish firm in a key industrial role, and first launches in 2029. The scale and timeline are firmer than previously reported. Breaking Defense

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Germany & DACH

NZZ: Leipzig drone attack was foreseeable; Europe must act. Weekend commentary argues the explosive-laden drone near a NATO transport aircraft at Leipzig was not a surprise given escalating Russian hybrid operations — and that Europe's failure to harden critical infrastructure is a policy choice, not a capability gap. The governance failure at Leipzig (40+ agencies, no clear lead) remains unresolved. NZZ International

Russia-Belarus hybrid campaign: migrants tunnelling into Lithuania. Migrants are tunnelling under the Lithuanian border fence and attacking border guards in incidents that coincide with intelligence warnings of a Russian false-flag operation. A concrete escalation of Lukashenko-facilitated hybrid pressure on NATO's eastern flank — directly relevant to Germany's role as the Alliance's logistics and reinforcement corridor. NZZ International

F127 frigate under cost-and-size pressure; GMF 140 floated. German naval planning circles are reconsidering the F127 frigate programme's scope amid concerns over cost and size, with Rheinmetall's smaller GMF 140 gaining traction as an alternative or complement. Rheinmetall's recent Bayern modernisation contract keeps the firm central to German naval procurement regardless of which direction F127 goes. SUV Report

Bendlerblock military HQ to be expanded for €400M. Germany's central Bundeswehr command complex in Berlin is to undergo a major expansion costing over €400 million — a significant infrastructure investment as Berlin assumes a heavier command role in European defence. Defence Network

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Worth Watching

P-8/MQ-4C MUM-T demonstration — Northrop and Boeing completed the first automated manned-unmanned teaming between a Poseidon and Triton; watch for how this maritime MUM-T architecture influences European maritime patrol and loyal-wingman concepts. EurAsian Times

Coalition of the Willing autumn exercise in Poland — Warsaw is preparing to host a CotW exercise this autumn focused on a potential post-war military mission in Ukraine; the C2 and force-structure decisions made there will shape European expeditionary posture. Soldat und Technik

USS Theodore Roosevelt MQ-25 drone control centre — the first carrier fitted for Stingray operations is now operational, though flights won't begin until 2029; the integration architecture being validated now will inform allied carrier and uncrewed teaming programmes. The War Zone