President Trump Phone Call with Russian President + EU Preparing Sanctions Package + De facto Hamas Leader Killed in Khan Younis Tunnel Strike + Upgraded THAAD Radar Tracks Hypersonic Missiles + More

I - On Defense Podcast

For review:

1. President Trump Phone Call with Russian President. President Trump sought to emphasize what he described as an excellent “tone and spirit” shared with the Kremlin leader. President Putin, meanwhile, described the call as “meaningful and frank.”

2. EU Preparing Sanctions Package. The EU is preparing an important sanctions package against Russia as Moscow continues to refuse a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a press conference on May 19.

3. The EU & the UK agreed on a security and defense partnership which they said will allow for closer cooperation in areas such as support for Ukraine, and which may open the door for UK companies to benefit from an EU plan to boost defense-industrial spending.

4. De facto Hamas Leader (Muhammad Sinwar) Killed in Khan Younis Tunnel Strike. The strikes that reportedly killed Sinwar on Tuesday targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital where he was believed to have been sheltering.

5. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi: Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States “will lead nowhere” if Washington insists that Tehran drop its uranium enrichment activity to zero.

6. Raytheon has signed a $1-billion agreement with Qatar to deliver the Fixed Site – Low, Slow, Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), making Doha the system’s first international customer. The system integrates radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors, and effectors, such as jamming or kinetic interceptors, to respond to unmanned aerial threats.

7. Upgraded THAAD Radar Tracks Hypersonic Missiles.

Raytheon Spokesman: The new version of AN/TPY-2 has a longer range and can provide targeting coordinates to other missile defense interceptors beyond just the Army’s THAAD batteries. The radar can see things twice as far, so (commanders) can make that command and control decision a lot earlier on which effector to use, whether it’s an SM series or it’s a Patriot, or it’s a THAAD.