Alex Hollings

SOCOM starts testing body armor developed for their TALOS ‘Iron Man’ suit

Way back in 2013, SOCOM Commander Adm. William McRaven announced plans to develop a high-mobility suit of armor that could better protect the first special operators tasked with entering contested spaces. This new suit was to be developed around an exoskeleton that would not only permit a high degree of mobility, but also bolster the […]

Soviet secrets: Are there dead cosmonauts in orbit above Earth?

On April 12th, 1961, a Russian man named Yuri Gagarin made history aboard a Soviet Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft. For years, the United States and Soviet Union had been using the barrier between our world and beyond as a benchmark to test each nation’s greatest technological and engineering advances, and on that day, Gagarin achieved an […]

‘The Mandalorian’ shows Disney Plus has something for us dads too

As soon as I first heard word that Disney was launching its own streaming platform, my shoulders slumped. It’s been years since my wife and I “cut the cord” and ditched cable in favor of digital streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime and I’ve already grown tired of mindlessly flipping through the same […]

The defense implications of a Trump impeachment

The public hearing for the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is underway, and while a lot of the nation’s attention is focused on domestic politics, it’s important to remember that the world continues to turn even when our attention wanes. As Republicans and Democrats in Washington D.C. and all around the nation fortify their […]

The Air Force’s ‘arsenal plane’ concept will pair F-35s with missile-laden bombers

For all the strengths boasted by America’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and F-22 Raptors, these stealthy fifth generation platforms still suffer from one significant drawback during combat operations: their relatively low magazine capacity. In order to maintain their stealthy profile, these fighters have to carry their ordnance internally, limiting the firepower they can bring into […]

Report: China’s Special Forces may be young, but they’re getting better

Throughout the modern War on Terror, the United States has increasingly relied on its special operations troops to conduct a wide variety of combat operations. And as China has worked to modernize its People’s Liberation Army into a force that can stand toe to toe with the West, it’s taken notice of how effective this […]

The Air Force wants to connect its secret space plane to the F-35

The Air Force’s X-37B is a Boeing-built unmanned spacecraft that bears a striking resemblance to the old Space Shuttle (despite being significantly smaller). Although the program itself is shrouded in secrecy, its long-term orbital missions often make the headlines, thanks in no small part to the decidedly un-secret sonic booms the platform creates over Florida […]

Russia’s military might is more about marketing than capability

For years now, Vladimir Putin’s oft-touted modernization initiative throughout the Russian military has been a casualty of economic war with the West. As the Russian economy struggles under the weight of international sanctions, the nation’s most prominent military initiatives have suffered from slashed budgets and reduced orders—but you’d likely never know it if you’ve been […]

A look behind the SOFREP scenes

This month’s cartoon features our venerable power-house writer Alex “A-Blast” Hollings at the office. Alex has been successfully working from home for a number of years now, writing for several imminent organizations and routinely embraces the luxury of not being required to wear pants at his place of employment. This is the first in a […]