Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Last month, a pilot for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) claimed he flew his J-20 stealth fighter jet over Taiwan’s airspace and...
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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...
In 1959, Chinese-built copies of a Soviet tank crossed Tiananmen Square. In 2025, a tank with an empty turret and a smaller gun crossed...
The Trump-class carries no armor belt and no 16-inch rifles, and the CBO prices the first hull above a Ford-class carrier. The battleship's third...
In 2010 a new British government went looking for savings and turned to the two aircraft carriers it had inherited. When the accountants finished,...
Russia sends the Su-35 to war more than any other modern fighter, and four years over Ukraine have produced a strange ledger: at least...
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...
Last month, a pilot for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) claimed he flew his J-20 stealth fighter jet over Taiwan’s airspace and...
On Feb. 3, German media reported that Berlin has approved the transfer of retired Leopard 1A5 tanks, starting with an initial package of 29...
Several days after the flight of a Chinese spy balloon over the U.S. became public, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered its downing. He explained...
American supporters of Washington’s Ukraine policy often portray Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as a noble champion of democracy who deserves even more U.S. military...
On day 348 of the Ukraine war, the fighting on the ground continued as the Russian military is pouring increasingly more forces into the...
