Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Award-winning journalist Stephen Silver examines President Donald Trump's claim that U.S. strikes "totally decimated" Kharg Island — the Persian Gulf terminal handling 90% of...
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German Foreign Minister Wadephul's fourth Kyiv visit — two days before Ukraine's Independence Day — capped an accelerating shift: Berlin is becoming Ukraine's principal...
The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative emerged from US Army Europe and Africa and NATO's Allied Land Command as a concept for restoring deterrence by...
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 logic of the capital ship is impeccable. The impediments are daunting for the Trump-class. The Congressional Budget Office puts each hull at $18...
USS Guitarro was still under construction when a civilian crew began flooding tanks in her after section. Half an hour later a second crew...
In May, USS Texas fired blanks from her forward 14-inch guns during the final stages of her restoration at Galveston. The last time those...
The SR-71 aircraft designed to outrun and out-photograph the Soviet Union had a problem: it had to be made of titanium, and the Soviets...
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has unveiled Operation Economic Outcast: secondary sanctions across five sectors and more than sixty targets, with no relief attached. Iran's...
Rezaei's threat goes beyond the strait: no oil leaving the Gulf by any route if neighbors cooperate. In practice that would mean strikes on...
Of the 1.5 billion barrels in emergency stocks, the IEA cannot order the commercial half released, leaving governments under a billion. The American reserve...
The Houthis have no warships. It doesn't need any. A blockade holds if shipowners and insurers decide the passage is not worth the risk,...
Analysts dismissed American control of the Strait of Hormuz as a near-impossible task. The US government now says it has been helping tankers move...
Drones reached Moscow on three of the last five nights. A ballistic missile would not extend Ukraine's reach so much as compress Russia's warning...
Georgia Gilholy reports on Trump's map post declaring Hormuz 'New U.S. Territory,' a vessel struck off Oman hours earlier per UK Maritime Trade Operations,...
When it comes to severe economic pressure, Washington has massive options between everything and nothing. Something in the middle that hurts Iran a lot...
Trump ordered Ulchi Freedom Shield cut from eleven days to five before Kim Jong-un had agreed to anything in return. Kim Yo-jong dismissed the...
As President Trump downsizes the Ulchi Freedom Shield war games after South Korea declined to help with Iran, one uncomfortable fact goes almost completely...
Russia has used North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine since late 2023. The early shots missed by kilometers. Later ones did not. That combat...
Iran's Shahab-1 came from the Scud-B and reached 300km. The Khorramshahr, derived from North Korea's Musudan, reaches 2,000km — a 6.7-fold increase in reach.
Award-winning journalist Stephen Silver examines President Donald Trump's claim that U.S. strikes "totally decimated" Kharg Island — the Persian Gulf terminal handling 90% of...
Isaac Seitz, defense columnist and Strategic Intelligence graduate, traces the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress from Cold War nuclear deterrence to active combat operations during Operation...
Isaac Seitz, defense columnist and Strategic Intelligence graduate, examines three of General George S. Patton's costliest tactical miscalculations: the Sicily Operation Husky advance on...
Caleb Larson, former POLITICO Europe defense reporter, covers the U.S. Navy's decision to keep USS Nimitz — its oldest aircraft carrier — in service...
Caleb Larson, former POLITICO Europe defense reporter, examines the U.S. Navy's decision to extend the service lives of USS Ohio and USS Florida. Following...
