The Pic of the Day: Countering Russia in the Arctic

Participants of the Swedish Basic Winter Warfare Course rest in front of a fire during the course’s culminating event in Arvidsjaur, Sweden, Jan. 23, 2018. Marines from the Black Sea Rotational Force and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, along with troops from 9 other countries, participated in the Swedish Basic Winter Warfare Course.   U.S. […]

Meet the Night Wolves, Russia’s paramilitary biker gang

Dolna Krupa, Slovakia — Paramilitary and influence operations can take many forms. They could be a team of Delta Force operators conducting Operational Preparation of the Battlefield (OPB) in an unstable region; they could be a CIA front company creating a pro-U.S. narrative in a far-away country; but they could also be a Russian biker-gang […]

US Cyber Command starts issuing warnings to Russian election meddlers

There’s never been any doubt that cyber warfare is a unique facet of the national defense apparatus that comes with unique challenges and equally specific best practices. However, there’s something to be said for the Naval tradition of firing “a shot across the bow” of your opponent. The phrase usually refers to firing a warning […]

Could hypersonic missile technology mean an end to long-range bombers?

America’s bombers have long served as a potent representation of the nation’s economic and engineering prowess. From unleashing massive amounts of ordnance across Europe in B-52s to delivering extremely accurate weapons platforms from stealth bombers the enemy never even knew was there, the ability to blow something up somewhere else in the world has long […]

Trump scraps missile treaty with Russia after years of Russian violations

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 […]

In a rare show of force, US sends carrier strike group to the Arctic

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 […]

New satellite images show significant Russian military buildup in NATO’s backyard

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 […]