Military & Security

The upcoming Victory Day parade on Red Square on May 9 is set not only to be the biggest in modern times in terms of troops and military hardware involved, but will also feature the largest number of brand new war machines on show to the public for …

Nikolas K. Gvosdev There have been two general reactions in the West to the first public glimpses of the T-14 Armata tank, the first completely post-Soviet Russian design for a main battle tank. The first is to view its claims—of greater speed, maneuverability, firepower and survivability vis-à-vis anything …

By Tom Nichols A few weeks ago, I directed Harvard Extension School’s “Crisis Game,” in which students had to play out a hypothetical Cold War crisis involving nuclear weapons. The realization that a crisis could escalate to nuclear war shocked younger students who had never given much thought …

James Holmes Methinks the U.S. Navy has contracted some weird allergy to fleet experimentation. Why else would service potentates retire a promising experimental aircraft like the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator, or UCAS-D, in its infancy? Experimentation, of course, is the process of testing some tactic, concept, …

By James R. Holmes As weaponeers, budgeteers, and lawmakers wage their annual death match over the defense budget, here’s some input from the margins of Fight Club. And yes, I know the first and second rules of Fight Club. But no one obeys them inside the Beltway, and …

Russian defense officials’ plans to build a supercarrier have been scrutinized at home and abroad. However, the idea could have a surprisingly practical side. A new article in Newsweek rekindled rumors from March that Russia could be building a new supercarrier. The article notes that Russia has no strategic need …

Never before seen types of military hardware, including new Armata main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, will be showcased during the Moscow Victory Day Parade on May 9.  The Russian Defense Ministry posted on its website photos of its latest, most advanced models of military hardware that will be displayed …

Germany’s latest spying scandal has created the biggest crisis yet for the country’s foreign intelligence agency. The German government appears to have been aware of widespread US spying, possibly including economic espionage, against European targets and yet it did nothing to stop it. By SPIEGEL Staff  July 14, …

Patrick Megahan and Oren Adaki The Saudi-led international coalition operating in Yemen announced last Tuesday it had ended the first phase of its nearly month-long campaign in the country. Though the coalition fell short of its stated goal of returning Yemen’s internationally recognized government to power, it insists that in …