Tag: Alex Hollings

China’s rapidly expanding Navy has, thus far, been primarily concerned with the sovereignty of the South China Sea. Their growing “green water” fleet is capable of asserting a great deal of authority within the regional (and globally important) waterway. China, however, still lacks the logistics and vessels to field a globally capable Navy like that […]

Modern warfare has come a long way since the time of carpet-bombing national infrastructures to force your opponent to yield. Civilian casualties, once considered just another unfortunate byproduct of war, are now seen as nearly unacceptable. Nations now use allegations of civilian casualties as an important tool in propaganda ploys meant to deter public support […]

A grainy photo surfaced on social media on Monday that appears to show a U.S. Air Force F-22 squarely in someone’s crosshairs. Some research reveals that the image was originally posted on the Instagram account “Fighter_Bomber.”  The image’s caption is in Russian. It describes how the image was taken using the infrared targeting cameras of the […]

Despite a fairly limited budget and access to resources, the past few years have been dominated by discussions of Russia’s covert and hybrid warfare efforts the world over. With a Gross Domestic Product that’s a bit more than 1/18th the size of America’s and a defense budget that’s roughly 1/10th that of the most dominant […]

Reports have begun to surface that suggest Russia is doubling down not only on their use of nuclear submarines, but on the importance of hypersonic-capable missile platforms, as they appear to be adjusting their defense budget to fast track the development of eight new nuclear missile submarines purpose built for the next generation of Russian […]

While a great deal of discussion has been afforded to the U.S. military’s near two-decade long anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts, it wasn’t the only facet of the American national security apparatus that saw a distinct shift in operational strategy following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The CIA, America’s covert intelligence gathering service with […]

For the most part, orbital defense isn’t nearly as sexy an endeavor as its made out to be by the media. Protecting America’s large constellation of defense, intelligence and commercial satellites relied on for everything from navigation to communications, is largely an effort that can be undertaken from a desk here on earth — including […]

Last week, Air Force secretary Heather Wilson released a report indicating that the establishment of a new branch of the American Armed Forces tasked specifically with space defense would cost an estimated $13 billion over five years — a figure that was widely touted throughout the media as a sign that the Trump-led initiative is […]

Recently, the U.S. Navy scrapped plans for a carrier-based armed drone aircraft in favor of their new MQ-25 Stingray program. Instead of carrying ordnance aboard the unmanned vehicles, the MQ-25 will serve as a refueler that helps to extend the operational range of fighters like the Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35C naval […]

Ever since President Trump announced his intention to establish a Space Force, much of the popular sentiment has involved images of jetpack-laden space troops engaging in zero-G warfare in the black expanse above our heads. But the reality of the threats to America’s satellite. Even world-famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has repeatedly spoken out […]

Over the past year, the United States has begun to shift operational strategies away from ongoing counter-terror operations and toward a resurgence of near-peer level threats presented by China’s rapidly expanding military and Russia’s aggressive use of their own limited military capabilities. Over nearly two straight decades of the War on Terror, the United States […]

Russia’s annual military exercises occur within a four year rotation, with each year within that cycle devoted to a particular facet of Russian military operations. Last year, they held their massive Zapad (meaning “West”) drills in Belarus, prompting concerns from NATO allies in the Baltics. This year, their Vostok exercises (this time, meaning “East”) took […]