Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Europe’s ambitious attempt to secure air sovereignty for the 2040s, is facing an existential industrial deadlock. Dassault Aviation...
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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...
Iran: A War at the Wrong Time and Place: As the war in Iran continues and analysts debate how long it will last and...
Strategic expert Andrew A. Michta explores how Russia is capitalizing on the Iran War to consolidate gains in Europe. With U.S. resources drained and...
The conventional wisdom says America's F-35 has finally surpassed the older F-22 Raptor — more sensors, constant upgrades, an information-warfare machine. But on the...
For three decades, the Sturgeon-class submarines were the U.S. Navy's quiet Cold War hunters, trailing Soviet missile boats and tapping their undersea cables in...
The F-22 Raptor is famous for stealth, speed, and air dominance, but keeping its low-observable coatings ready takes constant work. Official reports show that...
In the 1970s, Congress mocked the Navy's new Spruance-class destroyers as "empty hulls", warships the size of a light cruiser that went to sea...
A film celebrating ten years of China's Y-20 transport slipped in something no other country has shown on official camera: a sixth-generation fighter refueling...
A decade after it surfaced, China's H-20 has no flying prototype and no production line. The reasons are industrial, not financial: an intercontinental flying...
A new 1.5-gigawatt project in Utah will use five 300-megawatt Holtec small modular reactors rather than two massive conventional ones, part of a broader...
A Belgian joint venture, BeHydro, has earned the world's first Type Approval Certificate from Lloyd's Register for a marine engine that runs on 100...
The diplomatic center of gravity in the Middle East has decisively shifted to Riyadh. On June 23, 2026, talks between Iranian Majlis Speaker Mohammed...
Germany still must address a readiness issue: large portions of the army are not considered fully combat-ready, with some readiness estimates for land forces...
Vice President JD Vance has hailed his Switzerland negotiations over Iran's nuclear program as diplomatic progress. Middle East Forum scholar Dr. Michael Rubin argues...
Ukraine hasn't moved the front — but its drones have broken the war's one-way character, reaching the Russian heartland Putin promised was safe. The...
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...
Summary and Key Points: Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., a political science professor and proliferation expert, evaluates the strategic partnership between Iran and North...
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Europe’s ambitious attempt to secure air sovereignty for the 2040s, is facing an existential industrial deadlock. Dassault Aviation...
Summary and Key Points: Jack Buckby, a New York-based national security researcher, evaluates the parallel development of sixth-generation fighters by the United States and...
However, Harrison Kass, a national security analyst and attorney, warns that "tactical success and strategic failure can be true together." While the infrastructure is...
As of March 6, 2026, the strategic success of Operation Epic Fury is colliding with a cold political reality: the "risk premium" of a...
Christian D. Orr, Senior Defense Editor and former Air Force officer, evaluates the "dolorous goodbye" delivered to the IRIS Shahid Bagheri—Iran's prized drone carrier....
