Tag: Russia

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claims that it has a plan to pay all of its soldiers in the event full-scale war breaks out. According to a report from the TV and Radio Company of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (ZVEZDA), the Ministry of Defense began exploring plans to pay its troops […]

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty — a document widely known today as simply the INF treaty. The breadth of the treaty pertained to ground-launched, medium-range missiles that could engage targets between 300 and 3,400 miles away. It was part of a broader […]

As Arctic ice sheets continue to melt, Russia has rapidly positioned themselves to take advantage of new northern shipping lanes created by the thinning ice. Russia’s massive fleet of icebreakers — which dwarfs that of the United States and most of its allies combined — bolster six new and a number of other re-opened arctic […]

Syrian Conflict The Syrian War started in 2011 as an uprising and protests against the government of Syria led by Bashar Al Assad. Developments:  The October 15 deadline has passed for the Russian-Turkish deal which allowed for a buffer zone between the city of Idlib and Syrian/Russian forces. The rebels were told to leave the […]

According to satellite images captured by the commercial imagery and analysis firm ImageSat International, the Russian military has commenced a major modernization effort of its forces in their Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. This news, coupled with previous revelations made during the summer about upgrades to what appear to be nuclear weapons storage sites, paint a troubling picture […]

Last Thursday, a Russian rocket was aborted moments after liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying one Russian cosmonaut and one American astronaut. That astronaut, Air Force Colonel Nick Hague, is no stranger to dangerous situations in the sky. Through combat deployments and his tenure as an Air Force test pilot, Hague has found […]

Hypersonic missile technologies represent a fundamental shift in the way modern wars are waged. These platforms under development in Russia, China, and the United States travel at speeds in excess of Mach 5, making them all but impossible to intercept using existing missile defense systems. The seemingly unstoppable nature of these weapon platforms has forced […]

Last week, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a crew made up of one American and one Russian was aborted mid-flight, forcing the capsule into what’s been called a “ballistic descent;” which is a decidedly sterile term for what amounts to careening back to earth at breakneck speeds and landing somewhere in Siberia before waiting for […]

On Tuesday, a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet crashed during a joint NATO-Ukrainian military exercise, claiming the lives of both pilots. Although their identities have not yet been released, earlier reports suggest that one of the killed pilots was an American Air National Guard officer. While information is still limited, the accident presumably took place during […]

Much of what we post here is based on preparing the potential Special Operations candidates for what they will face in the various Selection or qualification courses. But sometimes it is good to change things up a bit and delve into our shared history to learn and respect where we come from. Other times, like […]

According to recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data, the Russian Far East chain, the Kuril Islands, was hit by a massive 6.3 magnitude earthquake, with initial reports stating a 6.5. The epicenter was south of the archipelago, approximately 93 miles from the closest town, Severo-Kurilsk. The quake occurred beneath the surface of the ocean, on its floor—exactly […]

This year, Father Christmas is arriving quite early for some. Syria, India, and Turkey will all be receiving ‘boxes’ full of Russian goodies. The first has received the S-300 surface-to-air missile system. India and Turkey, on the other hand, have signed agreements for the more advanced S-400 anti-air missile system. But the background behind each […]