Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
You probably think the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is just for intercepting enemy warplanes and dog-fighting. It does have these valuable attributes for sure....
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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 U.S. Air Force is seeking a new Air Force Long Range Weapon, or AFLRW, with a planned reach of 1,000 nautical miles. Details...
In April the U.S. Army pivoted away from Lockheed Martin's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, the "Dark Eagle," whose $35–40 million-per-missile cost made it nearly impossible...
Every other navy gave up on the nuclear-powered surface warship. Russia kept one. After a refit lasting more than two decades and costing billions,...
Whenever U.S.-Europe tensions flare, talk of an F-35 "kill switch" resurfaces, the idea that Washington could remotely disable allied jets. There is no such...
My best friend in the U.S. Army was a Special Forces officer with service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once, we had a conversation about...
A few days ago I learned my 2024 Jeep Gladiator is one of more than a million Wranglers and Gladiators that federal regulators say...
Iran keeps returning to the Strait of Hormuz because it works. As Andrew Latham argues, Tehran doesn't need to close the waterway, or even...
SpaceX exists to put humans on Mars, so its shift toward the Moon looks like an admission that the Mars dream has stalled. It...
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 terms of the Memorandum of Understanding ending the U.S.-Iran war are now public. This analysis argues the deal is worth supporting as an...
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...
You probably think the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is just for intercepting enemy warplanes and dog-fighting. It does have these valuable attributes for sure....
An old idiom of fighter jockeys was to “hit the silk,” which meant to literally jump out of an airplane. It wasn’t as easy...
For nearly three decades, the United States and its European allies have endeavored to make Bosnia a viable, united country. When Yugoslavia began to...
The F-35 is soon likely to be flying under one more country’s colors as a big hurdle for the sale of the stealth aircraft...
Did you know that an F-35A Lightning II is nuclear-capable? We have covered “beast mode” when the Joint Strike Fighter can be outfitted...
