Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
The Ukrainian military is making progress in its counteroffensive but still lacks the decisive breach that would precipitate an operational breakthrough.
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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 United States has supplied Ukraine with more than three million 155mm howitzer shells since the war began, significantly depleting American stockpiles. A major...
Russia’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile is proving highly effective at evading advanced Western air defenses like Patriot. Through high-speed maneuvering, decoys, electronic countermeasures, and...
Ukraine says its drones damaged or disabled 116 Russian-linked vessels in nine days in the Sea of Azov — a claim it hasn't independently...
The USS Gerald R. Ford has begun a planned incremental availability (PIA) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard that is expected to last around 18 months....
Social Security’s funding gap is not a forecast — it is arithmetic. The size of the shortfall is known, the levers that can close...
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...
Tehran treats the Strait of Hormuz as non-negotiable, Holmes writes, and no air campaign eliminates every missile. That leaves four courses: walk away and...
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...
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...
The Ukrainian military is making progress in its counteroffensive but still lacks the decisive breach that would precipitate an operational breakthrough.
According to U.S. officials, the Ukrainian military has been misallocating its forces in the counteroffensive, and that has been one of the reasons Kyiv...
In the weeks since the blaze, the formal response has left some wanting – including former President Barack Obama, who recycled one of his...
The Yak-15 was retired in 1953 after 280 were built. The MiG-9 remained in production until 1948, with 598 built.
Once again, sadly for the West and for the Afghan people, Afghanistan has proved itself to be the Graveyard of Empires.
