Defence`s Feeds

DÉCRYPTAGE - Bien qu’élu par 73,8 % des adhérents LR, le candidat à la présidentielle 2027 fait face à l’enjeu crucial du rassemblement.

This policy brief offers advice for making digital remote work a viable solution to fill labour gaps without requiring workers to physically relocate. From a technology standpoint, there is no reason someone who does computer-based work must physically relocate, assuming they have the required job skills and internet connectivity. The increased use of bilateral labour agreements (BLAs) between countries is evidence that there are major skills gaps and global competition for labour. Indeed, a BLA can serve as a “policy sandbox” where governments negotiate the legal and statutory terms of digital remote work. Digital remote work can be an especially useful solution when the country providing labour has a large pool of people who are willing to work and fill labour pool gaps in countries of employment, but for different legal or personal reasons cannot relocate across borders. This latter point is no small thing: there is a significant body of migration research showing that the majority of people are not interested in moving across borders – or in the case of many refugees are unable to do so. The reasons for this are myriad. Digital labour could be a workaround to meet basic labour demand and facilitate economic inclusion. The word “could” is critical because banking, social and health insurance, and taxation, all of which are components of legal employment, remain bordered. This policy brief will focus on a specific case from research on urban refugee livelihoods where the worker was able to work digitally in the U.S. from Malaysia, while being subject to social security, taxation and insurance in the U.S. The idiosyncrasies in this case help point to spaces for reforming social security, tax and insurance rules to reduce their “bordered-ness” and make digital work more systematically viable.
Key policy messages:
• To make digital remote work viable at scale, development cooperation agencies should play a key facilitator role, linking relevant authorities in the tax, social insurance and banking regulation sectors. This is especially important for refugees, who often cannot move and who fall outside the protection of host country labour laws. These reforms could, for example, be built into BLAs.
• Achieving inclusive economic development goals via digital employment would require that remote workers earned competitive salaries. Thus, there would need to be buy-in from the private sector regarding wage competitiveness for workers in different countries, as well as a role for unions and civil society in negotiating digital remote work policy.
• While digital work can enable greater economic and labour participation for workers who cannot relocate for jobs, there are still sectors that require physical presence. Thus, digital remote work is not a replacement for immigration policy that facilitates safe and flexible migration for those people who do have to move.

Bonn, 20. April 2026. Der Umbau unserer Städte braucht mehr als CO2-armen Zement. Bio-Materialien können Emissionen senken, Arbeitsplätze und lokale Wirtschaftskreisläufe stärken – aber werden oft übersehen. 

Vom 20. - 22. April suchen Vertreter*innen aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Industrie auf dem Sustainable Buildings and Construction Summit in Lausanne nach Lösungen zur Dekarbonisierung der bebauten Umwelt. Der Druck ist enorm. Der Gebäudesektor verursacht jährlich mehr als ein Drittel der globalen CO2-Emissionen, während die Urbanisierung in vielen Ländern mit niedrigem und mittlerem Einkommen rasant wächst – besonders in Subsahara-Afrika. Entscheidend ist, ob Lösungen schnell verfügbar und realisierbar sind und wirtschaftliche Vorteile bieten. International gilt CO2-armer Beton wie LC3 häufig als schnelle Lösung, weil er kaum Verfahrensanpassungen braucht. Wirtschaftliche Impulse sind jedoch begrenzt – sie könnten wachsen, wenn biobasierte Materialien den Baumix ergänzen.

Viele Länder in Subsahara-Afrika stehen vor drei Herausforderungen. Erstens müssen sie Wohnraum für eine schnell wachsende, oft einkommensschwache Stadtbevölkerung schaffen. Bereits heute fehlen ca. 50 Millionen Wohneinheiten; bis 2030 könnten es 130 Millionen sein. Zweitens steht die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen im Zentrum politischer Agenden. In Kenia etwa drängt jährlich rund eine Million junge Menschen auf den Arbeitsmarkt. Drittens geht es darum, die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung auf einen umweltfreundlicheren Pfad zu lenken. Infrastruktur und Gebäude machen diese Weichenstellung besonders folgenreich: CO2-intensives Bauen verschlechtert die Emissionsbilanz, heizt die Städte auf und erschwert die Wiederverwendung von Materialien. Da ein Großteil der Gebäude in Subsahara-Afrika erst noch entstehen wird, besteht die Chance, kostspielige Nachrüstungen zu vermeiden – vorausgesetzt, dies geht mit notwendigen Veränderungen im Bausektor des Globalen Nordens einher.

Die Umstellung auf CO2-armen Beton kann diese Herausforderungen nur teilweise adressieren: die Bereitstellung von Wohnraum und die Dekarbonisierung des Bauwesens. LC3 erfordert nur minimale Anpassungen in Zementfabriken und wird wie herkömmlicher Beton verarbeitet. Modellrechnungen zeigen, dass sich das Material insbesondere für mehrstöckige Gebäude eignet, wo sein CO2-Fußabdruck geringer ist als der einer Kombination aus biobasierten Materialien und gebrannten Tonziegeln. Für diese Gebäudetypen ist LC3 daher sinnvoll. Viele Häuser in Subsahara-Afrika sind jedoch einstöckig, auch in Zukunft. Die Emissionen hängen also in hohem Maße von der Materialzusammensetzung und den Transportwegen ab.

Hier kommen biobasierte Materialien ins Spiel. Bislang werden sie unterschätzt, obwohl sie alle drei Herausforderungen zugleich adressieren können. Verbesserte Lehmziegel, Holz oder Bambus sind kostengünstig und arbeitsintensiver als LC3. Sie schaffen lokale Wertschöpfung, fördern kleine und mittlere Unternehmen und reduzieren Transportkosten, da sie vor Ort produziert werden können. Für den sozialen Wohnungsbau sind sie besonders geeignet: Studien aus Ruanda zeigen, dass die Wandbaukosten um 60 % oder mehr sinken können – durch verbesserte Produktionsstandards auch ohne Einbußen bei Stabilität und Haltbarkeit. Unsere Untersuchungen zeigen zudem, dass biobasierte Materialien in Kigali umweltfreundlichere und bessere Arbeitsplätze schaffen können. Eine flächendeckende Einführung scheitert bislang an Hindernissen auf Angebots- und Nachfrageseite, darunter geringes Bewusstsein sowie die Wahrnehmung mangelnder Qualität, die den Zugang zu Finanzierung erschweren.

Daraus ergibt sich ein klar zu definierender hybrider Ansatz: LC3 für mehrstöckige Gebäude und tragende Konstruktionen sowie biobasierte Materialien für einstöckige Wohnhäuser und nichttragende Innenwände, wo diese oft günstiger und lokal besser geeignet sind. In Ruanda muss die Regierung klare Vorgaben machen, damit Unternehmen auf diese Materialien umstellen. Ähnliche hybride Ansätze sind in ganz Subsahara-Afrika vielversprechend, doch die Anwendung biobasierter Materialien erfordert lokal verankerte Forschung. Geeignete Materialien hängen ab von a) der Art des Bodens und den lokal verfügbaren Materialien, b) der Importabhängigkeit bei Zement, Stahl usw. sowie c) den Transport- und Lebenszykluskosten. Nachhaltiges Holz und Myzel mögen für Europa geeignet sein, Bambus für Asien, während in Subsahara-Afrika stabilisierte Lehmziegel, Erd-Zement-Mischungen und Pflanzen wie Rohrkolben ein großes Potenzial bieten.

Die deutsche Entwicklungszusammenarbeit sollte die wirtschaftlichen Zusatznutzen und das Entwicklungspotenzial für lokale Unternehmen, die mit biobasierten Materialien arbeiten, international stärker hervorheben. In der eigenen Projektarbeit sollte nachhaltigeres Bauen als Ziel verankert werden, einschließlich der Nutzung biobasierter Materialien zur Schaffung grüner Arbeitsplätze. Die konkreten biobasierten Materialien und die zu unterstützenden Wertschöpfungsketten müssen im Vorfeld für jedes Land sorgfältig analysiert werden, insbesondere hinsichtlich Verfügbarkeit und Qualität von Erde, der Import-Export-Struktur und Zölle für Baumaterialien, der Marktbedingungen sowie Engpässe auf Angebots- und Nachfrageseite. Gleichzeitig erfordert die Anwendung biobasierter Materialien politischen Willen vor Ort, um sich gegen Interessen im Bausektor durchzusetzen, sowie klare staatliche Vorgaben, die Orientierung bieten und gleiche Wettbewerbsbedingungen für nachhaltige Alternativen schaffen. Dieser Weg mag langsamer erscheinen als andere Lösungen, ist jedoch realisierbar und dürfte den wirtschaftlichen Nutzen für die Partnerländer erhöhen.

Coasts, deltas and estuaries have been reshaped for generations by land reclamation projects for the purposes of expanding settlements and agricultural lands as well as protecting coasts. Since the mid-twentieth century, technical progress has allowed for land reclamation to occur at an unprecedented speed and scale. Regardless of the key role that land reclamation has had in the past as well as in more recent coastal urbanisation efforts, the issue has received insufficient attention from human geographers, urban political ecologists and marine social scientists. In this paper, I aim to advance the land reclamation research by suggesting a new conceptual framework that combines concepts and empirical insights from urban political ecology (UPE), anthropology, political geography and political economy. This approach considers the representational, legal and material dimensions of urban coastal mega-projects and helps to identify those who benefit and those who lose due to land reclamation. I conclude that a focus on land reclamation can help to understand that ‘land’ is a fundamental requirement for urbanisation. Land in coastal cities is not ‘out there’; it has to be created. To investigate the making of land requires integrating the often-neglected coastal geomorphologies, marine sites of sediment extraction and understanding how they are discursively shaped and transformed by human interventions on urban coasts into UPE.

Die internationale Ordnung ist in einem tiefgreifenden Wandel, wobei Großmachtrivalitäten eine Neu-ordnung globaler Machtstrukturen vorantreiben. Dies hat auch Auswirkungen auf die europäische Entwicklungspolitik. In vielen EU-Mitgliedstaaten gehen die Mittel für öffentliche Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (ODA) zurück; gleichzeitig richten EU-Länder ihre verbleibenden Mittel stärker an Eigeninteressen aus. Bislang werden diese Reformen weitestgehend bilateral ausdefiniert, wohingegen eine politische Debatte über Rolle, Mehrwert und gemeinsame Ausgestaltung der EU-Entwicklungspolitik weitestgehend fehlt. Doch ohne eine Stärkung der europäischen Zusammenarbeit wird es Europa nicht gelingen, auf die aktuellen weltpolitischen Umbrüche eine adäquate Antwort zu geben.
In diesem Policy Brief argumentieren wir, dass Reformbestrebungen in der europäischen Entwick-lungspolitik die Zusammenarbeit und Komplementarität stärken müssen, um wirksam auf die veränderte geopolitische Lage reagieren zu können. Unsere Analyse zeigt vier inhaltliche Handlungsfelder, auf die sich laufende Reformprozesse europäischer Akteure konzentrieren und auf denen Entwicklungspolitik wichtige Beiträge leisten soll:
1. Wirtschaftsförderung und Einbindung des Privatsektors; 2. Sicherheitspolitik; 3. Steuerung und Gestaltung von Migration; 4. Menschliche Entwicklung und Armutsreduktion, insbesondere in LDCs (Least Developed Countries).
Eine gemeinsame strategische Ausrichtung Europas auf diesen Handlungsfeldern fehlt jedoch bisher. Diese gemeinsamen strategischen Prioritäten auszuhandeln erfordert eine Neubelebung des politischen Dialogs zwischen EU-Institutionen und Mit-gliedstaaten sowie eine Weiterentwicklung des „Team Europe“-Ansatzes. „Team Europe 2.0“ hätte dann zwei Funktionen: die inhaltliche Komplementarität „nach innen“ zu stärken durch eine Verständigung darauf, wie die unterschiedlichen Akteure jeweils zu gemeinsam festgelegten Zielsetzungen beitragen; und „nach außen“, um sichtbar zu machen, wofür Europa strategisch steht.
Kernelement von Team Europe 2.0 sollte ein verbesserter inhaltlicher Austausch in themenspezifi-schen, informellen Gruppen unter Führung einzelner Mitgliedstaaten und der Kommission sein. Solche „thematischen Champions“ könnten die Entwicklung gemeinsamer Strategien für größere, transformative Initiativen erleichtern. Ein verbesserter politischer Dialog und inhaltliche Abstimmung in Schlüsselbe-reichen der europäischen Entwicklungspolitik sind Voraussetzungen für ein geeintes und strategischeres Auftreten von „Team Europe“ nach außen, auch in multilateralen Kontexten.

The international order is undergoing profound change as rivalry among major powers realigns the global balance. This is also having an impact on European development policy. In many European Union (EU) member states, funding for official development assistance (ODA) is declining. At the same time, EU countries are reforming their development policies and increasingly channelling their remaining resources towards priorities that serve primarily their own interests. So far, these reforms have largely been defined bilaterally, whereas a political debate on the role, added value and joint objectives of EU development policy is largely absent. Yet, without strengthening European cooperation in development policy, Europe will not succeed in providing an adequate response to the current upheavals in global politics.
In this policy brief, we argue that reform efforts in European development policy must strengthen co-operation and complementarity to respond effectively to the changed geopolitical landscape. Our analysis identifies four key policy areas where European actors are pursuing ongoing reforms and where development policy should make significant contributions: 
1) promoting economic cooperation and private-sector engagement, 2) security policy, 3) managing and shaping migration and 4) human development including poverty reduction, particularly in least developed countries (LDCs). So far, a joint European strategic direction in these areas has been lacking. Negotiating these shared priorities requires a revitalisation of the political dialogue between EU institutions and member states, as well as further development of the “Team Europe” approach. “Team Europe 2.0” would then have two functions: to strengthen substantive complementarity “internally” through an understanding of how the various actors individually contribute to jointly defined objectives; and “externally” by making visible what Europe stands for strategically.
A key element of Team Europe 2.0 should be an improved substantive dialogue among member states and within issue-specific, informal groups co-facilitated by individual member states and the European Commission. Such “thematic champions” could initiate the development of joint strategies for larger, transformative initiatives. Improved political dialogue and coordination on substance in key areas of European development policy are prerequisites for a united and more strategic external presence of “Team Europe”, including in multilateral contexts.

 

 

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RÉCIT - Psychodrame avec ses alliés et menace de « censure » venue du PS ont mis sous pression le chef du gouvernement. Lequel est agacé par Gabriel Attal.

Marine Le Pen et Jordan Bardella ont réuni leurs plus hauts cadres dans l’Essonne. Une première pour le parti nationaliste, alors que pèse toujours sur Marine Le Pen le risque d’un empêchement judiciaire.

RÉCIT - Après avoir réussi à déloger Christian Estrosi de la mairie, le nouvel édile savoure sa victoire dans la capitale de la Côte d’Azur. Il y voit une confirmation que sa stratégie de rapprochement avec le RN était la bonne. Et un signe pour la suite.

Libertär – autoritär – faschistisch, Angriffe auf die Demokratie

DÉCRYPTAGE - Historiquement à gauche, la cité tulliste a vu le maire sortant, un proche de François Hollande, être sèchement battu par la droite républicaine. L’ex-président de la République ne serait pas étranger à cet échec, après sa consigne ambiguë sur la fusion avec La France Insoumise.

U.S. CENTCOM released some interesting photos of the AH-64 gunships allegedly patrolling the Strait just as Iran moved to restrict traffic through the narrow waterway once again.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) gunboats reportedly fired on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, according to an advisory released by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), on Saturday Apr. 18, 2026.

The warning said the organization had received a direct notification from the ship’s master, who reported being approached by two IRGC gunboats some 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman. No radio warning was said to have been issued before the tanker, whose identity was not disclosed, came under fire.

UKMTO WARNING 037-26 – ATTACK Report Date:18 Apr 2026 Report Time: 0920UTC Issue Date:18 Apr 2026 Source: Master UKMTO has received a report of an incident 20NM northeast of OMAN. The Master of a Tanker reports being approached by 2 IRGC gun boats, no VHF challenge that then fired upon the tanker. Tanker and crew are reported safe. Authorities are investigating.

During today’s attack agaisnt an Indian tanker by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, it seems though the vessel was initially heading outbound, but was refused by the IRGC. The vessel is then seen heading inbound towards the Gulf again, but then turns off AIS and makes a run for it… pic.twitter.com/EK5pQaJvwm

— Martin Kelly (@_MartinKelly_) April 18, 2026

The episode comes as Tehran has reimposed tight restrictions on shipping through the Strait, after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday Apr. 17, 2026 that the U.S. blockade on vessels using Iranian ports would continue. According to CENTCOM, 23 ships were forced to turn back since the blockade was enforced.

Littoral combat ship USS Canberra (LCS 30) patrols the Arabian Sea during the U.S. blockade. Since commencement of the blockade, 23 ships have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around. American forces are enforcing a maritime blockade against ships entering or… pic.twitter.com/PMIBOoeJXS

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 18, 2026

In a post on Saturday, the official X account of the IRGC Navy Command said that “Every breach of promise by America will be met with a fitting response. As long as the passage of vessels from Iranian origin to Iranian destination remains under threat, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain in its previous state. By the will of Allah.”

هر نقض عهدی از سوی امریکا، پاسخی شایسته دارد.
تا زمانی که تردد شناورها از مبدأ ایران و به مقصد ایران مورد تهدید باشد، وضعیت تنگه هرمز به حالت قبلی باقی می‌ماند. باذن الله

— فرماندهی نیروی دریایی سپاه (@niroo_daryayi) April 18, 2026

The statement capped a confused 24 hours in which Tehran first said the Strait of Hormuz had reopened and then moved to reimpose restrictions that effectively closed it again. 

As the news of attacks on vessels in the Strait started to circulate (two Indian vessels were fired upon by IRGC Navy watercraft in the Strait and forced to turn back), U.S. Central Command released some interesting shots of U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters patrolling the waterway (actually the photos were probably taken as the aircraft were inbound the area rather than above it, somewhere off the coast of Oman or UAE).

AH-64 Apaches fly above the Strait of Hormuz during a patrol, April 17. U.S. Army Soldiers are flying in and around the strait providing a visible presence in support of freedom of navigation. pic.twitter.com/6K6cuCoqq2

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 18, 2026

On Mar. 19, 2026, during a Pentagon press briefing, General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II jets supporting Operation Epic Fury had begun operating on the southern flank, targeting fast attack craft in the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that AH-64 Apache gunships were hunting one-way attack drones in the same area.

Alongside fast jets, the AH-64 is very well suited for such maritime patrol missions as it a platform combining persistence, precise sensors and a flexible weapons mix that allow the gunship helicopter to counter fast watercraft as well as OWA drones that might be launched against oil tankers and ships in a crowded littoral environment. As recent U.S. Army counter-UAS demonstrations have shown, the AH-64E can detect, track and defeat drones with multiple weapons, including the 30 mm M230 chain gun, APKWS-guided 70 mm rockets, HELLFIRE variants and even JAGM, offering crews scalable options depending on range, target size and collateral-risk considerations.

The helicopter is also well equipped on the sensor side, pairing electro-optical and infrared sights with the mast-mounted AN/APG-78 Longbow radar, which is designed to rapidly detect, classify and prioritize large numbers of contacts. In the Strait of Hormuz, where threats may include small one-way attack drones, fast attack craft and other fleeting, hard-to-sort targets, that combination makes the Apache a credible hunter-killer platform: it can build situational awareness, share data across networks, and engage everything from low, slow aerial threats to small hostile boats with direct fire, guided rockets or heavier missiles, depending on the tactical picture.

A new sequel will see Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s return in Top Gun 3, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer saying Tom Cruise had liked a proposed storyline for the new film.

After reports said that a third installation in the Top Gun saga is in the works, following 2022’s hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick, that project is now confirmed, along with Tom Cruise returning as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Variety reported along with other publications. Paramount studios made the official announcement during the annual CinemaCon presentation, with Jerry Bruckheimer also back as producer.

Bruckheimer previously said in 2024 that Tom Cruise liked the storyline that was being prepared for the next one. “We pitched Tom a story he liked. But he’s a very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up, so we have to wait and see,” said Bruckheimer.  

Top Gun: Maverick also featured among the new characters Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) and best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. In the story, Maverick had returned to the famous Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island to school a bunch of young fighter pilots for a daring mission.

‘Top Gun 3’ Officially in the Works With Tom Cruise Returning https://t.co/0sTeLBQMZ3

— Variety (@Variety) April 16, 2026

These pilots are training for an upcoming mission to destroy a Uranium enrichment plant in a foreign country, defended by “fifth gen fighters” represented by Su-57s. Top Gun: Maverick grossed $1.5 billion at the global box office, against a $170 million budget for the production.

Top Gun’s realism

U.S. and Western war movies are largely realistic in terms of equipment, setting and art direction, primarily owing to the close ties between the military, industry and movie makers. This allows permissions to shoot on and use actual military equipment like jets, tanks, warships, military bases and aircraft carriers to be acquired easily.

Second is the lead in graphic design, computer technology and overall financial resources, bringing them closer to real-world military affairs. However, as is the norm about symbiotic relationship between a film industry and national politics, both the Top Gun movies had their share of propaganda, and invariably some technical errors/inauthencies, which one might not expect in a film created in cooperation with the U.S. Navy.

A still from Top Gun: Maverick showing F/A-18 Super Hornet flying at low altitude. | Source: Paramount

Some of the inaccuracies were listed in a 2019 article titled “79 Cringeworthy Errors in ‘Top Gun’” for Military.com by former F-14 RIO and journalist Ward Carrol. Among them was the famous fly-by with Maverick buzzing the air traffic control tower, which in real life would have likely resulted in immediate revocation of his flight status.

Another major one was using F-5 Tigers to represent Russian MiGs, which can however be justified as access to the legendary fighters was not possible with the Cold War still three years away from ending. It’s a different matter that the U.S. military got Su-27s and MiG-29s from former Soviet countries, Ukraine being one of them.

Other technical flaws ranged from rank insignia on uniforms inconsistent with officers’ billets and class to instrumentation and cockpit layout in the pilot and RIO seats. Some maneuvers were also not accurate, particularly the inverted photo of the MiG as the design of the F-14 wouldn’t have allowed that in the first place. For instance, its vertical stabilizers would have stabbed into the MiG’s top fuselage, given how close the cockpits were.

The F-14 Tomcat and the 5th gen fighter, the Su-57, in Top Gun: Maverick. | Source: Paramount Top Gun: Maverick and Top Gun 3

Top Gun: Maverick was a box office hit, resoundingly receiving the stamp of approval from fans of the original film. Particularly, the makers incorporated the late Val Kilmer’s real-life cancer into his character Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and his relationship with Maverick evolving into mutual respect, professional and personal, hit closer to home.

The biggest fictional element was the Darkstar Hypersonic Aircraft, which was specifically designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division for the film. As the original one, this movie too could not escape some technical inaccuracies. 

Among them is the final strike mission, showing the site defended by Cold War-era S125 Neva/Pechora (SA-3 Goa) missiles despite the presence of 5th gen fighters. A location like that would have a layered integrated air defense, like S-300s and Buk-M1s (for medium range) and S-400s as a long-range theater-level anti-air battery.

Film director Joseph Kosinski poses with the Darkstar mockup, with Tom Cruise inside the cockpit. | Source: Lockheed Martin

We are far from knowing what real-world adversary aircraft will be incorporated in Top Gun 3. Inaccuracies aside, the movie is sure to be an exciting watch, for pilots, audiences, and aviation nerds alike.

Lt. Pete Mitchell was a Navy Captain in Top Gun: Maverick. Time will tell which new role he will assume in the new film, maybe finally getting promoted to a Rear Admiral and passing the torch to “Rooster.” 

Despite being one of the oldest aircraft still flying in U.S. service, the U-2 remains relevant enough for Skunk Works to seek a qualified pilot in Palmdale.

Skunk Works, the legendary Lockheed Martin’s secretive advanced projects division, is hiring a U-2 pilot in Palmdale, California.

The job posting, that you can find here, calls for an onsite, full-time, first-shift position in Test Engineering for an experienced professional pilot, with a 4x10h schedule and possible relocation, and it is clearly framed as a test-oriented role rather than routine operational flying: according to the listing, the pilot would conduct engineering flight tests, production-acceptance flights, and flight-test support, help verify aircraft compliance and operational suitability, coordinate flight-operations efforts, approve cockpit configuration, and, if needed, perform demonstration flights for customers and government officials.

The ad, published on Apr. 6, 2026, says applicants must be no more than two years outside qualification on the U-2S Dragon Lady, hold a current FAA Class I or II medical, and possess either a suitable FAA Commercial Pilot certificate for multi-engine land and instrument airplane or an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot), while also being willing to travel, holding a valid U.S. passport, and arriving with an active Top Secret clearance.

Among the desired qualifications are 1,000 flight hours, graduation from a formal Test Pilot School, background in flight-test disciplines such as weapons, avionics and flight sciences, as well as instructor/training, communication, organizational and leadership or program-integration experience.

The posted compensation is a California salary range of $156,400 to $275,655 outside most major metro areas and $179,800 to $311,650 in most major metro areas, although the final offer depends on factors such as experience, training, skills, scope and business considerations; listed benefits include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, parental leave, paid time off, holidays, education assistance, and incentive-plan eligibility.

U-2 pilot. | Source: USAF

The emergence of the job posting is quite interesting, considering the iconic Dragon Lady was slated for retirement from U.S. Air Force service this year. However, while some U-2s have already been withdrawn from active service, the aircraft’s retirement date is far from settled, and the sundown of the type remains under intense congressional scrutiny.

In fact, U-2s are still flying active intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions on a daily basis from forward operating locations, and there is little sign of that activity slowing down at least for now. USAF U-2s are home based at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California, but are rotated to operational detachments worldwide, including RAF Fairford, UK; Osan Air Base, South Korea, and RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The latter sustained damage from an Iranian kamikaze drone launched in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli air strikes, last month.

In line with such continuous postponement of its retirement, in 2023 Lockheed Martin announced the first flight of the U-2 Avionics Tech Refresh (ATR), carried out by Skunk Works in partnership with the U.S. Air Force. The company said the flight tested an updated avionics suite, new cockpit displays and a mission computer designed to the Air Force’s open mission systems standard, with further testing planned to mature the software baseline before more mission systems were added. 

More recently, BAE Systems was awarded a contract to support and sustain the U-2’s AN/ALQ-221 Advanced Defensive System (ADS), another sign that the aircraft is still receiving updates and meaningful attention rather than simply being allowed to age out quietly. 

As for Palmdale, Plant 42 remains a hub for major activity involving the type, and the job posting seems to suggest Lockheed Martin expects the Dragon Lady to continue generating the kind of work that may require highly specialized pilot support for quite some time.

A U-2 Dragon Lady takes off for the first flight of the Avionics Tech Refresh program in Palmdale, California. | Source: Lockheed Martin

Eventually, it should not be forgotten that, beyond its operational role, the U-2 is still valued as a high-altitude testbed. Testing campaigns conducted over the last five years have leveraged the aircraft’s open architecture and its ability to integrate new technology quickly. The U-2 has been involved in containers and AI/ML experimentation, open-mission-systems integration, and gateway or data-sharing roles between different platforms. A Skunk Works pilot current on the U-2 would be useful if Lockheed is using the aircraft to trial payloads, communications systems, sensors, or battle-management concepts that may feed current and future programs.

Another (even more speculative) possibility is that Lockheed could employ a U-2 pilot as part of work on or around future classified ISR aircraft, using the Dragon Lady as a surrogate, a risk-reduction platform, or a bridge capability. With the RQ-180 spy drone slowly beginning to emerge from the shadows of black programs, there is a chance Skunk Works is maturing new manned or unmanned ISR concepts. In that context, having a U-2 pilot with a test background could make sense for comparative flying, sensor work, or manned-ISR experimentation. 

Whatever, if you are interested and your profile fits the requirements, you’d better hurry: you have less than a month to apply, as the deadline is May 15, 2026.

Written by Issam Hallak

Obstacles to businesses’ cross-border operations and expansion constitute a major hurdle to an effective single market. The International Monetary Fund estimates that persistent barriers to the single market represent the equivalent of a 44 % and 110 % tariff on goods and services, respectively. The Letta report emphasised that a single business code would be a ‘game-changer’, making all business procedures – from establishment to end of activity – smoother and more transparent.

To address this issue, the European Commission published a proposal on 18 March 2026 for a regulation establishing the 28th regime corporate legal framework that introduces a new legal entity, EU Inc. Any company would be able to register in any Member State and opt in to the EU Inc. company form. The framework would allow quick, fully digital registration that is automatically valid across the whole EU, thereby benefiting the operations and expansion of EU Inc. businesses. In addition, the proposal provides for a single tax treatment of employee remuneration through stocks and enables employee participation schemes. It also provides for fast-track termination of solvent companies, and a legal framework for winding up insolvent small and young innovative companies, known as start-ups.

Parliament adopted a resolution in January 2026 supporting the approach but remained cautious about its chances of success.

Read the complete briefing on ‘The 28th regime corporate legal framework‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.