Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Jul 24, ’26 Washington Roundtable]

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss intensifying US and Iran military operations; Washington and Riyadh strike a nuclear pact; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee; update on the NDAA; Russia pounds Ukraine clouding the critically important Ukrainian port in Odessa; a week firing former Defense Minister Mykhailo Federov, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his chief of defense staff, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi; Russia conducts live fire exercises 46miles, off Britain’s key Portsmouth naval base as Andy Burnham becomes the UK’s new prime minister with John Healy at the Treasury; the People’s Liberation Army Daily blasts Tokyo and it’s drone capabilities as China and Russia step up military exercises off the Japanese coast that included a Chinese live fire drill; Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepares for Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping as he meets his Quad counterparts in Manila at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting; Beijing and Manila spar over Second Thomas Shoal Incident and racist video posted by China Daily; the region braces for new US tariffs as the continuing Iran war drives energy prices up again; and the White House accused China of stealing American technology to improve its AI program.