Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Summary and Key Points: As of February 2026, the U.S. Navy faces a critical “submarine squeeze” as aging attack boats retire faster than Virginia-class...
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Nine months after Riyadh gutted Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, the Houthis took the port of Mokha on the Bab el-Mandeb, then struck King Khalid...
President Trump says he gets along with Kim Jong Un and wants a new summit before the end of 2026, along with smaller US-South...
Germany hadn’t spent 1.5 percent of GDP on defense since 1996. Then came the Zeitenwende: €100 billion for the Bundeswehr and a 4,800-strong brigade...
A former US Navy ASW operator says the Kilo-class ‘black hole’ hype was a joke. Quiet only at 3 knots, it has to snorkel...
Sabotage at Leipzig, Swindon, and Skarżysko-Kamienna. A curfew across the river from Narva. New garrisons at Petrozavodsk, Lupche-Savino, and Pechenga pointing at Finland's 830-mile...
The Witkoff-Kushner shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv ended, predictably, without a breakthrough — and Andrew Michta argues the failure reveals something deeper than bad...
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...
The Air Force Test Center at Edwards is running developmental and operational testing of Boeing’s F-47 at the same time, feeding digital models of...
Summary and Key Points: Expert Harrison Kass revisits the 2009 Nellis AFB exercise in which a U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler, the electronic-attack Super Hornet...
China’s H-20 program began in 2016, yet as of 2026 there is no confirmed test flight or deployment. The United States went from the...
“All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence...
Four ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz Thursday against a 10-day average of 16. Iran said it hit tanker Trend on Friday. Brent is...
Jobs dropped out of Reed College and stayed on as what he called a "drop-in," sitting in on classes that interested him. One was...
"Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has,...
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...
The rial has hit 2.5 million to the dollar, inflation is projected near 69 percent, and Iranian oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz...
Twenty-five years on, 9/11's lessons are still contested, except the simplest: the US mistook quiet for peace. A RAND strategist argues it is doing...
The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Foreign Policy, and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies have all warned of an escalating Russian gray...
Surely there is reluctance among a part of the Russian population – especially those living in major cities – to see their sons dragged...
Trump is reportedly considering another meeting with Kim Jong Un. The last round produced Singapore, Hanoi, and the DMZ, and by 2020 the status...
American doctrine promises that any North Korean nuclear attack will end the Kim regime. The Iran war has just tested that assumption. The United...
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...
Summary and Key Points: As of February 2026, the U.S. Navy faces a critical “submarine squeeze” as aging attack boats retire faster than Virginia-class...
Summary and Key Points: China’s aircraft carrier program is advancing with the Type 003 Fujian, its first vessel utilizing Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS)....
Synopsis: As of February 2026, the Tu-22M3 “Backfire” has transitioned from a Cold War supersonic penetrator to a long-range standoff platform, mirroring the U.S....
Synopsis: As of February 2026, the Pentagon faces a systemic acquisition crisis defined by “requirements creep” and industrial fragility. -Major programs like the M10...
Synopsis: As of February 2026, the U.S. Air Force is finalizing the deployment of 48 F-35A Lightning IIs to Misawa Air Base, Japan—a strategic...
