Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter is positioned as a practical, cost-effective alternative to the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)...
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The U.S. Navy can't build nuclear attack submarines fast enough, and it keeps spending its most valuable hulls on jobs a quieter, cheaper boat...
South Korea and Japan want nuclear-powered submarines, and a stronger allied undersea force would bolster deterrence against China's expanding navy. But diplomatic friction, labor...
The diplomatic center of gravity in the Middle East has decisively shifted to Riyadh. On June 23, 2026, talks between Iranian Majlis Speaker Mohammed...
The United States already stores nuclear bombs in five NATO countries, weapons European allies could deliver in wartime but cannot arm without Washington's permission....
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 USS Kitty Hawk arrived in 1961 at a hinge moment — the supercarrier had just been born, and nuclear power was about to...
Rank the world's navies by the sheer number of ships they float, counting a 100,000-ton supercarrier and a 200-ton patrol boat as one each,...
USS Midway entered service eight days after Japan's surrender, missing the war that shaped her by a week. Instead of a quiet career, she...
For four decades Iran kept the world's last F-14 Tomcats flying under an embargo meant to ground them. In March, Israel said it finally...
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...
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...
Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter is positioned as a practical, cost-effective alternative to the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)...
Key Points: As the war in Ukraine drags into its third year, Russia faces a critical shortage of modern tanks, losing up to 20...
Key Points: Ukraine’s repeated requests for advanced Western weapons have failed to deliver decisive victories in its war against Russia, raising questions about the...
Key Points: Speculation about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan by 2027 overlooks key realities. A blockade of Taiwan, leveraging China’s massive navy and air...
The world has become an increasingly complex and unstable geopolitical and national security environment, agnostic of which prominent political party has held the reins...
