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Rumors of War
The D Brief: New jets announced; Border-ops funding shift; Putin’s no-show; Europe’s trillion-dollar…
Trump calls for “F-55” and “F-22 Super” aircraft: During his multi-day trip to the Middle East, President Trump pitched two new U.S. military jets while standing beside top U.S. aerospace executives Thursday in Qatar. “One of the things…
One Trillion Dollars?! Nine Charts to Help Demystify the Pentagon’s Budget Golden Dome,…
May 13, 2025 | Mike Frankel and Hrisanthi PickettOne trillion!
It’s an exclamation-point-inducing, mind-jarringly inconceivable number for most humans. Start counting once every second and you’ll need more than 31,700 years to get…
Pacific multidomain task forces are looking for long-range drones
HONOLULU—Drones that can fly long distances in stormy Pacific weather are at the top of the wishlist for the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force, which is now part of the Army’s rapid experimentation and fielding “Transformation in Contact”…
Military Revolutions from the Spanish Tercio to First-Person View Drones
By some estimates, 60 to 70 percent of casualties in Ukraine now come from drones — cheap, disposable first-person view drones piloted from miles away. They dive into trenches, slip through windows, and snake into hatches of armored…
Army prepping for Pacific conflict with prepositioned equipment, logistics hubs
HONOLULU – The Defense Department has struggled to get U.S.-made diapers to commissaries in Korea in the past, the former head of the Defense Commissary Agency said Tuesday, so logistics in the Indo-Pacific has a long way to go to be ready…
Rewind and Reconnoiter: Russia and China in Central Asia
<!-- category --> May 14, 2025 In 2022, Dr. Janko Šćepanović of the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) wrote “The Sheriff and the Banker: Russia and China in Central Asia,” where he described the dynamic between…
The D Brief: Defense-exports deal; F-47 specs; China’s Gulf inroads; Air Force One dangers; And a…
At $142 billion, the White House claims it has “signed the largest defense sales agreement in history” following President Trump’s arrival to the Middle East this week for talks with regional officials, including Saudi crown prince Mohammed…
On the Ninth Floor of a VA Hospital, I Listen and Write Down the Lives, Loves of Veterans
I step off the elevator on the ninth floor of Milwaukee’s Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. It’s where the long-term and palliative care units are located. The nurses often give me tips about patients who might want to tell their…
It’s Not Enough for France to Be Right About Strategic Autonomy
“I have come to talk to you about Europe. ‘Again,’ some might exclaim.” These were the words with which French President Emmanuel Macron, just a few months after taking office, opened his famous Sorbonne speech in September 2017. He called…
JSOC commander likely to be SOCOM pick, sources say
The Trump administration is expected to nominate Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley to lead U.S. Special Operations Command, according to sources familiar with the matter. Two former senior defense officials, a former senior military…
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