Claiming the Arctic: Russia to begin sending intercept fighters on North Pole patrols

For the first time since the Cold War, Russia has announced plans to begin flying regular fighter patrols over the North Pole with an eye toward intercepting American military aircraft. According to sources within the Russian Ministry of Defense, two squadrons of MiG-31BM intercept fighters will be tasked with conducting routine patrol operations over the […]

Russian Defense Experts calling Russia’s failing new missile programs ‘megalomania’

Russia’s slew of ongoing missile initiatives have seen mixed success during the past few years. Some platforms, like the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, have apparently performed well enough to soon enter service. Others, like their nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, have failed at every turn. But even the programs that have met some level of success are […]

Russian media launches campaign to convince you the world is on the brink of nuclear war

In recent years, as Russia’s struggling economy has limited the nation’s military modernization efforts, the Kremlin has found a great deal of success by leaning into the old Soviet practice of controlling perceptions that are spread around the world through media outlets of varying sizes that are either directly or indirectly supported by the Russian […]

Trump backing out of the INF Treaty removes a significant Chinese strategic advantage

The Trump administration announced plans last week to formally leave the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The Soviet-era agreement bars both Russia and the U.S. from building nuclear or conventional ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. The decision follows years of violations by the Russian armed forces (likely dating back to […]

New images surface of Russia’s new stealthy combat drone—and it doesn’t look very stealthy at all

Last July, a single grainy image of Russia’s long-anticipated Okhotnik (Hunter) unmanned combat aerial vehicle hit the web, prompting a flurry of headlines speculating about the 20-ton drone’s potential as a low-observability platform that could offer the Russian military greater deep-penetration capabilities with their legacy bombers. To give an arguably overly simplistic explanation of why […]