• DEFENSE ACQUISITIONThe Battle for Pentagon Acquisition Policy: Tradition Versus New-and-Cheaper

    By Bill Sweetman

    The weapons that get bought in larger or smaller quantities, or are launched or cancelled, will indicate whether US President Donald Trump’s administration will strengthen long-range deterrent forces, order a retreat under his Golden Dome missile-defense system, or spend four years trying to blend incompatible visions of industrial and technological strategy.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSHow the U.S. Can Mine Its Own Critical Minerals − without Digging New Holes

    By Yuanzhi Tang and Scott McWhorter

    Critical materials are the tiny building blocks powering modern life, yet the U.S. depends heavily on imports for most critical materials. Could the U.S. mine and process more critical minerals at home?

  • IRAN’S NUKESOperation Opera Redux? Iran’s Nuclear Program and the Preventive War Paradox

    By Patrick Sullivan

    The 1981 Israeli destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor was an operational success, but is regarded by many as a strategic failure. Scholars call this the preventive war paradox: compromising one’s security in the long term through military action that is operationally successful.

  • AIAI-Controlled Fighter Jets May Be Closer Than We Think — and Would Change the Face of Warfare

    By Arun Dawson

    Could we be on the verge of an era where fighter jets take flight without pilots – and are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI)? US R Adm Michael Donnelly recently said that an upcoming combat jet could be the navy’s last one with a pilot in the cockpit.

  • R&DMIT Lincoln Laboratory Is a Workhorse for National Security

    By Kylie Foy

    The US Air Force and MIT renew contract for operating the federally funded R&D center, a long-standing asset for defense innovation and prototyping.

  • AILatest Reasoning Models from OpenAI to Be Used for Energy and National Security Applications on Los Alamos’s Venado Supercomputer

    Los Alamos National Laboratory has entered a partnership with OpenAI to install its latest o-series models — capable of expert reasoning for a broad span of complex scientific problems — on the Lab’s Venado supercomputer.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONCan Europe Defend Itself Against a Nuclear-Armed Russia?

    By Christina Pazzanese

    National security expert details what’s being done, what can be done as U.S. appears to rethink decades-long support. Regarding the U.S. nuclear umbrella, which has covered Europe since the 1950s, Richard Hooker says: “Is it reliable? I wouldn’t think so. If Putin were to threaten or actually use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine or, let’s say in Estonia, would the administration respond with nuclear threats of its own? Personally, I have my doubts.”

  • RED SEA SIEGEThe Siege of the Red Sea

    By Michael Froman

    With the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis stand out as one of Iran’s proxies that continues to pose a serious threat to U.S. interests in the region. But with Iran on its back foot and Trump’s determination to bring the full capabilities of the U.S. military to bear against the Houthis, the group’s days running roughshod in the Red Sea may be numbered.

  • F-47 FIGHTERBolt from the Blue: What We Know (and Don’t Know) About the U.S. Powerful F-47 Fighter

    By Bill Sweetman

    When the F-47 enters service, at a date to be disclosed, it will be a new factor in US air warfare. The design will have much more range than earlier fighters, both at supersonic and subsonic speed. But it is not even a fighter as it is generally understood. It will be more stealthy. It will be larger, trading dogfight maneuverability for reach, and it will be designed to work within a family of systems, many of them unmanned.

  • F-47 FIGHTERAir Force Options Plentiful for Basing of New F-47 Fighter

    By Steve Wilson, The Center Square

    The need for the F-47 was crystalized as potential foe China has already flown a pair of tailless sixth generation prototypes and already has two fifth generation fighters, the Chengdu J-20 and the smaller Shenyang J-35, in service.

  • FORTRESS EUROPECould the EU Become a Military Superpower?

    By Rikard Jozwiak

    Only two weeks after a European Union summit where the bloc’s leaders pledged to spend billions on defense in a “watershed moment for Europe,” they are returning to Brussels to solidify plans for strengthening Europe’s defense autonomy amid ongoing doubts about the US commitment to protecting European nations and sustaining military support for Ukraine.

  • MICROCHIPSThe Push to Restore Semiconductor Manufacturing Faces a Labor Crisis − Can the U.S. Train Enough Workers in Time?

    By Michael Moats

    Semiconductors power nearly every aspect of modern life.The U.S. depends heavily on foreign countries – including China, a geopolitical rival – to manufacture semiconductors. This isn’t just an economic concern; it’s widely recognized as a national security risk. There is a bipartisan support to expanding domestic chip manufacturingby building new chip plants, but a major challenge remains: Who will operate them?

  • AIRFIELD SAFETYMaking Airfield Assessments Automatic, Remote, and Safe

    By Zach Winn

    U.S. Air Force engineer and PhD student Randall Pietersen is using AI and next-generation imaging technology to detect pavement damage and unexploded munitions.

  • POST-U.S. NATOEurope Will Need Thousands More Tanks and Troops to Mount a Credible Military Defense without the U.S.

    By Patricia Garcia-Duran Huet

    Implementing a new defense strategy will mean answering many difficult questions, including whether an EU defense force would involve all EU member states, the potential roles of antagonistic EU members like Hungary and Slovakia (both pro-Trump and pro-Russia), and those of non-EU NATO members such as the UK, Norway, or even Canada.

  • BLOCKSHIP ATTACKSCountering Blockship Attacks in Key U.S. Waterways

    By Scott Savitz, Michelle D. Ziegler, Brian Sattler, and Karina Orozco

    Blockship attacks entail obstructing key waterways by deliberately scuttling ships, running them aground, or having them impale themselves onto infrastructure. Such attacks could delay maritime movements in U.S. or key overseas ports, affecting all U.S. military services and potentially disrupting billions of dollars in commerce.