• OUT OF AMMUNITIONFiasco in the Factory: Taxpayers Funded a $533 Million Artillery Plant That Made Nothing

    By Jesse Coburn

    In a rushed process exempted from normal rules, the Army hired General Dynamics, which brought on a Turkish subcontractor with little vetting, to make artillery shells. Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable. Since the Army halted two production lines at the factory, the General Dynamics unit responsible for the debacle has received contract awards totaling $2.5 billion.

  • THUCYDIDES TRAPThe Real Thucydides Trap Is Inside Western Tech

    By Justin Bassi

    Thucydides Trap is a theory which describes how the established power is so anxious about the rising power that it strikes at the rising power and starts a war. Whether or not history provides examples of Thucydides Trap is a subject of lively scholarly debates, but it does exist within Western tech companies. And if we do not change our ways, our desire for intense technological competition within and among Western nations, with economic outcomes prioritized over geostrategic, will again benefit only China.

  • DRONESThe Drone Age Demands a New Theory of Military Protection

    By John Coyne

    Military protection has never existed simply to keep soldiers alive or platforms intact. Its enduring purpose has always been to preserve freedom of action: the ability of a force to maneuver, fight and impose its will despite enemy action. The changing character of war suggests that assumption, not the purpose of protection itself, should be re-examined.

  • DRONESHedgehog 2025: Prickly Logistics in a Transparent Battlefield

    By Travis Veillon

    In modern warfare, the front line no longer begins where supply trucks stop. It begins wherever a drone can see. NATO’slogistics system, built for secure rear areas and deliberate decision cycles, cannot survive in a battlefield defined by constant surveillance, rapid targeting, and cheap attritable drones.

  • IRAN WARStrategic Attack on Iran: Airpower’s Promises, Limits, and Lessons

    By Michael Schmitt

    Operation Epic Fury demonstrates that airpower is both essential and insufficient. Strategic success ultimately depends on altering Iranian behavior in ways that advance U.S. geopolitical objectives. Five months into a campaign that was originally promised to last weeks, Iran not only has not changed its behavior, but it now controls the vital Strait of Hormuz.

  • DRONE WARFAREThe Drone Revolution That Isn’t

    By Sandor Fabian

    Drones have indeed become indispensable military tools. They have democratized access to aerial reconnaissance, improved tactical precision, and lowered the cost of surveillance and strike missions. But the public discourse has drifted from acknowledging their importance to declaring them revolutionary. The conclusion that drones have changed warfare forever is only half correct.

  • AUTONOMOUS WEAPONSForce Multipliers: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Ukraine and Gaza Conflicts

    By Vinayak Rajpurohit

    The use of Autonomous Weapon Systems has changed the dynamics of warfare in recent times. The rise of Artificial Intelligence has reshaped military power, strategies and decision-making in war. AI is transforming modern combat through greater speed, precision and low-cost deployment.

  • DRONESThe Drone Threat to America’s Cities

    By Seth Stodder

    Drones are coming for our cities. The tech is cheap, the threat is real, and our defenses are nearly nonexistent. To avoid that ugly reality, we need to come up with better ideas, and we need them fast. Because ready or not, the drones are coming.

  • MILITARY PURGESCombat Experience as a Strategic Resource: Lessons of the Red Army Purges

    By Michael Schmitt

    Since January 2025, the Defense Department has removed, replaced, or forced the early retirement of a remarkable concentration of operationally experienced senior officers. What is the impact of these removals on combat effectiveness, which is Secretary Hegseth’s own widely shared standard? I believe the impact is negative. In fact, the impact of those decisions on combat effectiveness constitutes a strategic liability of the Defense Department’s own making – the depletion of a vital resource central to the Secretary’s sought-after lethality.

  • DEFENSE-INDUSTRIAL BASEThe Lamentable State of British Defense Acquisition

    By Bill Sweetman

    Britain needs to move towards the French or Swedish model. Each nation has a defense acquisition agency with real authority, as well as a working deal with industry and the services on one side and the government moneybags on the other.

  • CHINA WATCHChina’s Military AI Logistics: Peacetime Gains, Wartime Vulnerabilities

    By Gerald Mako

    The U.S. has prioritized concepts for contested logistics that stress dispersed stocks, hardened military communications, and reduced dependence on commercial networks in forward areas. But China is now placing a big bet that AI offers the solution. The Chinese military is incorporating AI into its logistics systems to support what it calls ‘intelligentized warfare’.

  • IRAN WARThe Lesson of the Iran War May Be Staying Power, Not Firepower

    By Justin Bassi and Adel Abdel Ghafar

    Any assessment of the war between the United States and Iran must come to grips with two seemingly contradictory observations. The US definitely secured a military win and the Iranian regime perhaps emerged strategically stronger. Is the world both better off and worse off? Definitely maybe.

  • IRAN WARWas It Worth It? The True Cost of Trump’s Iran War

    By Max Boot

    The war ended with a deal that gives Iran sanctions relief, reconstruction funds, and the ability to charge tolls on the world’s most critical waterway. While the White House may call it a victory, the costs suggest otherwise.

  • AIWhy Anthropic Is Sounding the Alarm on the Next Generation of AI

    By Gordon M. Goldstein

    Anthropic is urging its rivals to pursue an unprecedented regime of AI arms control. The explosive advances in the company’s technology illustrate why that effort may be imperative even as it will be difficult to achieve.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe U.S. Military Is Spending Big on Critical Minerals

    By Aimee Gabay

    Over the past decade, DOD spending for critical minerals transformed from virtually nonexistent into a major spending area. The last five years in particular have seen a dramatic surge in both contracts and dollar value. Indigenous peoples raise the alarm as Pentagon spending on lithium, graphite, and other minerals skyrockets.