Alex Hollings

Despite a steady diet of movies and television shows depicting robots as extremely capable killing machines bent on taking over the planet in recent decades, real robots have long been a bit… clunky. The incredibly complex mechanics of maintaining one’s balance with a walking stride, for instance, comes easily to human beings that benefit from […]

A troubling new report released by the Department of Veterans Affairs showed that at least 60,000 veterans killed themselves between 2008 and 2017, with suicide rates among veterans continuing to climb.  According to the report, 2017’s 6,100 veteran suicides represented a 2% increase over the previous year and a 6% increase since 2008. However, despite […]

On June 18, 1981, Lockheed’s F-117 Nighthawk took to the skies for the first time, forever changing the way warfare in the skies plays out. After decades of competing to field to the fastest or most powerful aerial platforms, the F-117 represented a transition away from brute force and toward technological supremacy. With a top speed […]

When I first moved to Georgia from the Boston area, one of the things I kept in mind was my proximity to a VA Medical Center, and according to my trusty GPS, my new home was only about an hour from the Atlanta VA hospital in Decatur. The VA Hospital I’d grown accustomed to in […]

From a journalistic perspective, covering the F-35 program can be a bit of a quagmire at times. The aircraft is undoubtedly among the most advanced and capable air platforms ever to take to the sky, but the plane’s development has also been a clinic in poor planning, over-spending, and the inherent flaws in putting an […]

The national security media sphere is just as prone to buzz words as any other realm of journalism, and one that has popped up with increasing frequency in the past few years is “hypersonic.” The term usually precedes a noun like “missile” or “drone” and evokes an almost childish sense of speed — hearkening back […]

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is, without question, one of the most advanced combat aircraft ever to take to the sky. While most of the media coverage regarding the F-35 tends to focus on its stealth capabilities, the technology that makes the F-35 stand head and shoulders above its multi-role competition isn’t just skin-deep. By […]

In recent years, “True Crime” media has seen a resurgence in interest thanks in no small part to the success of podcasts like “Serial” and shows like Netflix’s “Mind Hunter.” While there has always been a market for tales about the grizzly acts of murderers and the law enforcement effort to catch them, it’s safe […]

The new AC-130J Ghostrider gunship has been described by the Air Force‘s Special Operations Command as “the ultimate battle plane,” and according to initial reports, it’s been living up to its reputation in combat. The replacement for the legendary AC-130U Spooky gunship offers a number of combat capabilities found in its predecessor, including the legendary […]

New images have surfaced on the web of a supersonic reconnaissance drone Chinese officials unveiled for their upcoming military parade on October 1. The images show the general shape of the drone hidden beneath camouflage netting, but that was all most military historians needed to see for something to start smelling fishy. China has a […]

On September 1, 1939, Nazi troops stormed through Poland’s western border, capturing territory as they defeated Polish forces right up to around the nation’s midpoint. On the 17th of the same month, troops from the neighboring USSR poured into Poland from the East — but not with the intention of engaging the Nazi occupiers as […]

A Belgian Air Force F-16 reportedly crashed in western France on Thursday. Both crew members were able to eject, with the pilot‘s parachute ultimately snagging a high voltage power line and leaving him dangling over a residential area near Pluvigner in Brittany, France. The F-16 clipped the roof of a nearby house before ultimately crashing […]