Pentagon

Turkey and the United States have discussed operations regarding Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) strongholds in Raqqa and Mosul in order to defeat the jihadist group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.

"If we want to cleanse Syria and Iraq of Daesh [ISIL], it is important that we mount operations both in Mosul and in Raqqa," he said Sept. 7.

A Russian fighter jet flew within a little more than 3 meters (10 feet) of a U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft, in what American officials called an unsafe intercept over the Black Sea, the Pentagon said Sept. 7, although Moscow quickly insisted the encounter was within "international rules."

Moscow and Washington have traded mutual accusations over an incident with aircraft over the Black Sea.

The Pentagon late on Wednesday blamed the Russian Air Force for what it described as a "provocation", with a Su-27 fighter jet having intercepted a US Navy surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea, flying only 3 km from the aircraft.

BELGRADE - The latest poll by the Sputnik media outlet has revealed that the majority of Americans - 68 percent - believe the US should stop supporting Saudi Arabia until its authorities can prove they don't finance terrorism.

China has strongly condemned the recent Pentagon report (submitted to the Congress) in which the US Department of Defence mentioned that Beijing enhanced its military capabilities along the border with India in order to ramp up its geopolitical ambitions in the region, saying that it was Washington's deliberate attempt to "severely" damage the mutual trust between the two Asian neighbours.

A footage obtained by the Guardian shows the intense firefight between US special forces, Kurdish commandoes and Islamic State fighters in which a US Navy Seal was killed.

It's not only drones and driverless cars that may become the norm someday - ocean-faring ships might also run without captains or crews.

The Pentagon on Monday showed off the world's largest unmanned surface vessel, a self-driving 132-foot ship able to travel up to 10,000 nautical miles on its own to hunt for stealthy submarines and underwater mines.

Russia rejected April 30 a new claim that one of its jets had intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the Baltic in an "unsafe" manner, and accused Washington of sending "spy-planes" into its airspace.

U.S. authorities said they were "very concerned" after the mid-air standoff April 29, the latest incident fuelling tension between the former Cold War foes.

The U.S. defense chief admitted on April 28 that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia force, the People's Protection Units (YPG), were linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

During testimony before a Senate panel, Ashton Carter said "yes" when asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham whether the PYD and YPG were aligned with the PKK.

The Pentagon did not expect "a major design problem" coming from the in-testing stealth F-35 aircraft, an American defense official said on April 27, noting that some 90 percent of the program was complete.        

"The F-35 is no longer a program that keeps me up at night," said Frank Kendall III, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.