Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
The J-20 Gets a Big Upgrade: In late August, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out military drills around Taiwan. Beijing expressed that these...
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China's aerospace industry did something that looked impossible 20 years ago: it built one of the world's largest stealth-fighter fleets. But the J-20's greatest...
The Iran war was as close to a pure air campaign as America has fought, and James Holmes — who holds the J.C. Wylie...
Trump calling Taiwan a "bargaining chip" is the headline, but Denny Roy argues the deeper story is structural: a Chinese military that makes intervention...
The Navy finally settled it: the new battleship will be nuclear-powered — and that single decision put the $17 billion Trump-class in direct competition...
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 Navy spent fourteen years trying to turn its last unfinished Iowa-class battleship into a carrier, an anti-aircraft ship, then the missile ship BBG-1,...
In December 1958, the U.S. Navy chose the F-4 Phantom over a Vought fighter that was faster, lighter, and cheaper — the better airplane,...
All six American B-52 bombers have left their British base, presumably headed home, as Washington quietly winds down its Iran campaign and looks for...
Pratt & Whitney just announced that its F119 engine has passed one million flight hours. It powered the world's first fifth-generation fighter two decades...
Iran is moving to charge ships for passing through the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway that carries a fifth of the world's oil...
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...
For weeks, an August 18 deadline loomed: the day a U.S.–Iran understanding expired, and, by President Trump's own warning, the day fighting over the...
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...
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 J-20 Gets a Big Upgrade: In late August, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out military drills around Taiwan. Beijing expressed that these...
Sixteen years ago, the Bush administration considered placing Eritrea on the state sponsor of terrorism list. On its face, the country deserves such status....
The anniversary of the September 11 attacks used to be known as something of a time of unity. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)...
Governor Gavin Newsom issued a mea culpa over the weekend for his policies during Covid. In an interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press,...
The incident will be worrying for the Democrats, 56% of whom in a recent CNN poll expressed serious concern for Joe Biden's physical and...
