Imagine that you’re stationed at an outpost deep in a conflict zone. Your MRAP’s alternator is busted and you’ve got a spare, but your mechanic tells you that she’ll void the warranty if you let her replace it. It’s either tow the whole thing out or let it sit there wasting space … | Continue reading
We have been glued all week to the sub saga off the coast of Sweden, where six days in Swedish forces have only now called off their search for an elusive sub hiding in the waters off Stockholm. Yet what nobody has mentioned is just how deadly and capable Sweden’s own subs are, a … | Continue reading
Deep in the Sahel, as Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya exploited instability in Chad to expand its territory, a daring operation took place to obtain one of the Soviet Union’s most advanced attack helicopters. It was a complex plan involving Chadian rebel groups as well as French and Amer … | Continue reading
China’s Navy is on a roll. The Navy, or more properly the People’s Liberation Army Navy, has launched more than a hundred ships of all kinds over the past decade, including destroyers, amphibious ships, frigates, and corvettes. The PLAN is now the largest Navy in Asia, with more … | Continue reading
Rejoice if you look towards the dystopia of the Star Wars universe, for laser weapons have finally, at long last, arrived. The laser, a weapon system perpetually “ten or fifteen years away” from operational use, is off the development treadmill and entering the field. In addition … | Continue reading
China’s 70th Anniversary parade, held earlier this month in Beijing, included the debut of one of the People’s Liberation Army’s worst-kept secrets: the Harbin Z-20 helicopter. The Z-20 medium helicopter, dubbed “Copyhawk” by Western observers, is a familiar sight because it’s a … | Continue reading
Importing a car into the U.S. is hard enough. You have to worry about getting it here, getting it past U.S. safety and emissions regulations, and then you still have to worry about getting parts for something that maybe wasn’t ever sold here. But it’s entirely different—and in so … | Continue reading
On September 14, some as-yet officially unknown perpetrators launched a complex attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. The attack was apparently carried out by drones, cruise missiles, or both. It cut Saudi Arabia’s oil exports by half, a big deal considering the country supplie … | Continue reading
The People’s Liberation Army—the official name of the Chinese Army—still rides yaks to patrol some of the country’s most difficult borders. The use of yaks, basically hairy cows adapted to mountain life, allows the PLA to go places tanks and armored vehicles can’t. Here’s why a s … | Continue reading
During the Democratic presidential debates this week, candidates wrestled with a particularly thorny national security issue: whether they would forsake the use of nuclear weapons first in a conflict. This policy, known as No First Use, is the policy of just a handful of the decl … | Continue reading
This week, the internet is going crazy with talk of a mass People’s Invasion of Area 51. More than one million people have signed up on Facebook to breach the gates of the most famous top secret government facility in the world. The event, which sprang to life as a joke started b … | Continue reading
The United States Navy has released its requirements for a new guided missile frigate, a low-end ship designed for less dangerous missions than the rest of the fleet. The new FFG(X) warships will be packed with sensors and weapons (including lasers!), a near 180-degree turn from … | Continue reading
UFOS—our U.S. Navy pilots just keep seeing them! There was one instance in 2004, first written about in 2017, which made news briefly and then dropped off everyone’s collective radar, and now a New York Times report says that there was another interception in 2014-2015. Here’s wh … | Continue reading
The U.S. government has a new, unusual tool in its toolbox of death: a missile designed to kill people not with high explosives but with large, sword-like blades that kill by literally slicing them to pieces. The weapon, nicknamed “The Flying Ginsu” after a brand of kitchen knive … | Continue reading
Perhaps because it was built in secret and designed to be invisible, the stealth bomber is unforgettable the moment you see it. What few remember, though, is that the iconic silhouette almost looked like this. Here's the story of how Senior Peg came to be, why we didn't g … | Continue reading
This might just be the most British thing imaginable, even compared to a bulldog in a Union Jack sweater, mated with a pile of PAL-format Monty Python VHS tapes while force-feeding it a pureéd Sinclair Spectrum mixed with Heinz baked beans. This raw, uncut Britishness I’m talking … | Continue reading
A civilian was reportedly injured late last month after his ride-along with the French Air Force took an unexpected turn. The man’s ejection seat somehow fired, sending him soaring into the sky. The French temporarily grounded their fleet of Rafale fighter jets pending an investi … | Continue reading
Twelve years after its first flight, a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally crashed last week. The aircraft, a Marine Corps F-35B variant, went down in South Carolina near a key F-35 base. The incident overshadowed another F-35 milestone that took place the same day, the first takeo … | Continue reading
There are so many bases, test and evaluation units, ranges and state of the art facilities, the U.S. defense research and development apparatus but the Missile Engagement Simulation Arena (MESA) is one of the strangest. Essentially, the U.S. Government built a giant sound stage t … | Continue reading