Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Over the last few hours, the Ukrainian forces have been pushing hard and have breached some of the extensive Russian defenses.
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For all the talk of spending targets, the Ankara NATO summit's real work happened elsewhere. Europe is being handed responsibility for NATO's conventional defense...
Western analysts fixate on North Korea's missiles. The real danger is speed — a mass artillery-and-missile salvo in the war's first hours, backed by...
The second Trump administration is reviewing America's military footprint in Europe, and the worst-case outcome is a full withdrawal. Andrew Michta argues that would...
The US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding is being judged on whether it cools tensions in the Persian Gulf. Strategic-studies scholar Andrew Michta argues that's the...
The FFG(X) program had one governing requirement: don't repeat the Littoral Combat Ship. The Navy chose Fincantieri's proven FREMM design, told Congress 85 percent...
Assume the H-20 clears every engineering hurdle tomorrow. It would still depend on a refueling fleet of roughly 35 aircraft, none carrying the high-flow...
The Lada-class was Russia's entry into fourth-generation submarines and the planned replacement for the Cold War Kilo-class. Twenty-eight years in, the program counts three...
On December 22, 2025, President Trump announced a new class of battleships bearing his name. In May, the Navy's 30-year plan made it a...
The Memorandum of Understanding that paused the fighting has collapsed, Farley writes, because it never settled the status of the Strait of Hormuz or...
U.S. gas prices rose for the first time in eight weeks — 'Iran is the reason why,' per GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan — while...
Washington and Tehran can't agree whether the Strait of Hormuz is open — Trump declared it open under a new U.S. 'guardian' regime, while...
A single Ukrainian drone forced Russia's largest refinery, in Omsk, to halt operations, knocking out units that make roughly 75 percent of its output...
Carafano argues Iran has lost its nuclear option, its missile mass, its proxy network, and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz all at...
Ukrainian drones set two major Russian refineries ablaze overnight — including Salavat in Bashkortostan, the last gas refinery untouched in 2026 — while Russia...
Trump is stuck. He started a war with Iran he expected to end quickly; six months on, the central point of contention is control...
The United States can hit almost anything Iran places near the Strait of Hormuz. It cannot hit the strait itself. That distinction is the...
Last year North Korea's newest destroyer rolled over at its own launch, and the world assumed the program was finished for years. Instead Pyongyang...
The KN-23, North Korea's version the Russian Iskander missile, showed up to fight in the Ukraine war. And it isn't the same platform as...
On May 21, 2025, a brand-new North Korean destroyer rolled over and partially capsized at its own launch ceremony — with Kim Jong Un...
Fake Russian IDs, Orders Never to Be Captured, and 50% Casualties: Inside North Korea’s Secret War in Ukraine The Russian Army has sustained nearly...
Over the last few hours, the Ukrainian forces have been pushing hard and have breached some of the extensive Russian defenses.
Three months ago, Ukraine’s military launched an ambitious, large-scale counteroffensive. They have reached a critical milestone.
The 14th Amendment is trending right now – and not for the reasons you might think. When I went to law school, we discussed the 14th Amendment...
Naturally, Donald Trump’s team is dismissing the 14th Amendment talk, saying that “Never Trumpers are scared to death” about Trump’s prominence in the GOP...
In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about whether former President Donald Trump might actually be kicked off the ballot in 2024, thanks to a...
