The Kuwaiti armed forces have been found to be using Israeli military technology, despite the Arab country not recognizing the Jewish state and imposing a decades-long trade embargo. Shephard Media reports that several Kuwaiti National Guard vehicles appear to have been outfitted with Israeli-made optical sensors.

The US Cyber Command has quietly reorganized its hierarchy to include a second deputy, a three-star general who reports to the commander. The move comes after President Donald Trump, in accordance with congressional mandate, directed Cyber Command to elevate to a full unified combatant command out from under Strategic Command.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) was forced to cancel a planned test of its Arrow-3 missile defense system on Wednesday for the second time in just over a month after a data malfunction. The test was intended to examine future improvements in the system, the defense ministry said.

"Due to a problem with the data transfer in the ground test array, the interceptor missile was not launched, and therefore engineers declared it a no test," a statement from the defense ministry said.

The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Yossi Cohen, confirmed on Tuesday that Israel has active agents in Iran and warned of the Islamic Republic’s aggressive military expansion throughout the region. 

"The Iranians are spreading across the Middle East with a vast array of forces, and there is little holding them back," Cohen said during a closed event at the Israeli Economy Ministry. 

The demonstration, which took place in southern Israel in December 2017, proved the tracking and lock-on capabilities of the system using a moving vehicle and a human target in various operational scenarios as well as its mission-abort capabilities. The ability to strike a target with exceptional precision was also demonstrated.

The Syrian army said that the Israeli Air Force attacked military positions east of Damascus in a series of overnight raids.

According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, IAF jets flying inside Lebanese airspace fired several missiles towards the al-Qutaifa area, causing damage near the military site. According to the statement by the General Command, the regime’s air defenses intercepted the missiles and hit one of the planes, the Jerusalem Post adds.

According to a tweet released on the twitter account of the Pakistan Defence Command on January 7, 2017, the Chinese-made VT4 main battle tank (MBT) has arrived in Pakistan for trial tests by the Pakistani Army's Armored Corps. In 2017, Pakistan has shown interest in purchasing new main battle tanks, and the Pakistan Army plans to buy hundreds of MBTs in the coming years.

While the US Air Force has been so far resistant to buy ultrahigh-endurance drones, a recent multi-million dollar investment in the technology could be seen as a sign that the service is changing its mind about its requirements. Last week, Aurora Flight Sciences announced it had been awarded a $48 million contract by the Air Force to create a certified version of its Orion medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS.

Iranian-backed Houthi militias reiterated threats to target international shipping lines and oil ships in the Red Sea. Houthi leader Saleh al-Sammad threatened on Monday to "cut international navigation route through the Red Sea" as a "strategic option" to consider if progress continues towards the west of Yemen, and if "a political solution reaches a dead end," as he put it.

On December 19, 2017, the US Department of Defense has announced that General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $24,272,649 modification to a foreign military sales contract for Kuwait to design, develop, and build an M1A2-K unique main battle tank. Work is expected to be completed by December 2019.