Pentagon’s FY26 defence budget proposal is $130 billion more than US Congress plans to provide
The House Committee on Appropriations approved a FY2026 bill reducing investments in main defence programmes.
airBaltic is to launch flights from Riga to Umeå in Sweden and between Vilnius and London.
The start date for the former is 29 March, with the latter’s commencement still to be confirmed.
Tero Taskila, the airline’s chief commercial officer commented, “airBaltic will become the first airline in history to link Umeå and Riga – two cities that have been nominated to become Europe’s cultural capitals in 2014. airBaltic made a similar step already at the end of last year when the link between two European Capitals of Culture 2011 Turku and Tallinn was established.
“airBaltic has worked hard to expand its list of destinations in Scandinavia. We want to allow people from the region to visit Latvia or to use Riga as a transit airport for flights to destinations such as Barcelona, Berlin, Zurich, Venice, Vienna, Moscow, Kaliningrad, and many others. Umeå is a lovely destination, and the new airBaltic route will surely attract increasing numbers of travellers from Western Europe, the Mediterranean and the CIS.”
Until 30 May, airBaltic will fly from Riga to Umeå four times a week – Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (from Umeå to Riga on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays). Beginning on 31 May, the flights will be offered daily. The flights to and from Umeå will make a stop at the Finnish town of Vaasa and will be operated with Fokker 50 aircraft.
The House Committee on Appropriations approved a FY2026 bill reducing investments in main defence programmes.
Holographic and 3D technologies have been lauded by some for their ability to provide technical and operational advantages for military training and planning. But is the hype truly justified?
Shephard talked to multiple experts about the most pressing concerns and considerations regarding the air defence system advocated by President Trump.
While industry reception to the SDR has been positive, questions still remain from analyst and trade associations about what this could mean for future investment and the future UK Defence Industrial Strategy.
The UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was launched as one of the first acts of the UK’s new Labour Government in June last year. The review has recommended a major big-picture reform of the country’s forces.
The UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was designed to answer two questions: What is needed to fix UK defence and make it fit for the 2040s, and what do you get for a fixed financial profile? The SDR outlines that work still needs to be done on specifics.