Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
We’re past the one-year mark since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Thus far we have yet to see any new Russian moves. Just more...
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Cheap drones can make a Chinese assault on Taiwan bloodier and a quick victory less likely — but they don't repeal geography or remove...
Michael Rubin argues that restoring Turkey's place in the Joint Strike Fighter program would reward a decade of the behavior that got Ankara expelled...
The expectation that cutting U.S. aid would force Ukraine to fold is dead: Russia cannot win this war without a mass mobilization or nuclear...
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 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 Pentagon is retiring two bombers decades younger than the B-52 while rebuilding the old giant to fly for another generation. Behind that inversion...
Sixteen years of failure produced an interceptor that never left the ground. What its designer salvaged from that wreck became the backbone of China's...
Boeing is losing billions on fixed-price defense programs, but the warning was there decades ago. The Navy’s A-12 Avenger II collapsed after Washington tried...
The jet in the air-show photos is not Russia's cancelled stealth fighter. It is the stand-in for a fighter that was never built at...
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...
Trump calling Taiwan a "bargaining chip" is the headline, but Denny Roy argues the deeper story is structural: a Chinese military that makes intervention...
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...
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...
We’re past the one-year mark since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Thus far we have yet to see any new Russian moves. Just more...
In my 9 months at 19FortyFive (whoa Nellie, where does the time go?), Yours Truly has penned several articles on battleships, including: (1) the...
Did Ukrainian Troops Get Hold Of Iranian Ammunition? – With Iran still expected to deliver short-range ballistic missiles and longer-range drones to Russia –...
In early February, Iran revealed imagery of its new Air Force base dubbed “Eagle 44.” Based on clues from the released footage, analysts believe the...
Ever since Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine began a year ago, there has been plenty of discussion about the possibility of Belarus...
