Two Chinese research institutes are developing drones launched from submarines capable of both underwater and aerial transit, according to a report in a Chinese scientific journal. The vehicles are said to be part of Beijing’s plan to counter U.S. military drone strikes — both underwater and aerial — in the early phases of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Researchers at China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University and the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center are reportedly working on a drone with foldable wings capable of traveling through water and air several times during a strike or reconnaissance mission. The dual air-sea design is said to be for concealment and survival in a conflict.

The drone, called “Feiyi” by Chinese researchers, will also be used for marine reconnaissance and surveillance operations in addition to attack operations. In Chinese, the character fei means “fly” and yi is a 3,000-year-old character describing a water bird spreading its wings and preparing to take off from the surface.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz reports that details of the drone were outlined Dec. 31 in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, a journal published by the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a state-controlled organization. According to the report, the drone uses four pairs of rotating blades for aerial flight that can be retracted to the fuselage for travel in water.

The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $270 million contract to modernize F-22 Raptors by adding advanced infrared threat-detection sensors to the warplanes. Lockheed’s Hank Tucker says that equipping the F-22 with the Infrared Defensive System (IRDS) will make it more deadly and durable in conflicts “against current and future adversaries.”

The IRDS debuted in 2022 and was first integrated into Tactical Air Support’s F-5 Advanced Tiger aggressor jet. The sensors allow pilots to track enemy aircraft over long distances without worrying about possible interference. The systems work passively and do not emit signals that could be intercepted by the enemy.

While the IRDS is good at instantly picking up the bearing and angle of an enemy aircraft, it typically takes more effort for the sensors to determine range. However, two aircraft, both with integrated IRDS, can easily triangulate enemy positions. The F-22 modernization efforts come as adversaries develop their own stealth fighters that will be increasingly difficult to detect. The Russian Su-57 and China’s Chengdu J-20 are expected to not only be able to fly under outdated radar systems, but also come equipped with long-range sensors.

The federal government is considering new options to aggressively counter foreign cyberattackers, following the moves by the Biden administration during recent years to expand partnerships with more than a thousand private cyber companies — ostensibly to fortify defenses, share information and build resilience.

As Republicans now take charge across Washington, some policymakers are considering using those private-sector partners in an offensive capacity. During the House Homeland Security Committee’s first hearing of the new Congress, CrowdStrike Senior Vice President Adam Meyers was asked about his view on his sector’s lack of ability to “strike back” against attackers.

“I think that there is a lot to be done to partner with law enforcement and those that have, the intelligence community as well and the military, that have the titled authority to take those actions and to support those operations,” Mr. Meyers told the committee, adding that CrowdStrike has “the visibility to identify many bad actors.”

Amid China’s Typhoon hacking groups suspected of pre-positioning on American infrastructure for future sabotage, there is an appetite in the private sector and Trump administration for a more aggressive U.S. response.

The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) Procurement program is receiving praise from cloud service providers as it enters its third year. Rand Waldron, vice president of product development at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, tells the latest Threat Status Weekly Podcast in an exclusive interview that the current structure of the JWCC encourages competition between the most powerful cloud service providers, allowing the most useful to rise to the top.

“We are all working to offer more services across the airgap rather than just half our services. We are all competing to offer more cost effectiveness, higher performance, more regions closer to the mission,” said Mr. Waldron. “You bring that competition into this space and it empowers the mission to find the cloud that fits them best.”

The JWCC gives the Pentagon the ability to acquire cloud services directly from service providers. The contract, which originated in 2022, has a cost ceiling of $9 billion and incorporates cloud services from top players in the industry such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle. 

Mr. Musk has taken a jab at the multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence deal that Mr. Trump touted with tech companies last week. “They don’t actually have the money,” Mr. Musk, a top Trump ally, posted this week on X, adding: Japan-based Softbank “has well under [$10 billion] secured. I have that on good authority.”

Mr. Trump on Tuesday announced a deal with OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. The tech giants said they planned to invest up to $500 billion in data centers in the United States as part of a new project called Stargate, with a $100 billion initial investment.

Mr. Altman shot back at Mr. Musk Wednesday, saying he was “wrong, as you surely know,” and invited him to come out and visit the first site that was underway in Texas. “[T]his is great for the country,” Mr. Altman wrote on X. “[I] realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role [I] hope you’ll mostly put [America] first.” Mr. Altman also tried to smooth over any conflict with Mr. Musk, in a post calling the X owner “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time.”

The planned Texas data center is expected to play a role in digital health records and could make it easier to diagnose and treat diseases, including cancer.

• Jan. 23 — 2025 Defense R&D Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Jan. 24 — Project on Nuclear Issues Live Debate: AI Integration in U.S. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Jan. 27 — Make America Boom Again: Supersonic Watch Party, Foundation for American Innovation 

• Jan. 28 — Defense Innovation and Acquisition Reform Hearing, Senate Armed Services Committee

• Jan. 28 — Data Privacy Day 2025, R Street Institute 

• Feb. 3 — Atoms and Algorithms: A View from the Regulator, Stimson Center

• Feb. 10-11 — Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, Government of France

• Feb. 17-21 — International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2025, United Arab Emirates