Summary and Key Points: It is being built to do something no weapon ever wants to be used for: survive the unthinkable and strike back. The U.S. Navy’s first Columbia-class submarine is expected to arrive in 2028, and its developers are already calling it the quietest and most lethal submarine ever built.

Summary and Key Points: For more than three decades, the official story of the SR-71 Blackbird’s retirement has been simple: the legendary spy plane that flew at the edge of space, faster than three times the speed of sound, simply cost too much to keep flying once the Cold War wound down. Now, a man who sat in the back seat says that the story was never the whole truth.

Summary and Key Points: China is building aircraft carriers at a pace not seen since World War II. By 2035, the Pentagon expects Beijing to triple its fleet to nine flattops — and the next one may be a nuclear-powered supercarrier larger than the USS Gerald R. Ford, capable of carrying more than a hundred aircraft. On paper, it’s a staggering rise. But the numbers hide a very different story.

China Has Thousands Of Missiles Aimed At The Pacific. The War With Iran Was The Warm-Up Act: The recent war against Iran strained the United States military in ways that rattled defense planners, and Iran fired its missiles by the hundreds. China can fire them by the thousands. That difference in scale is the most important fact in any honest discussion of a Pacific war, because it converts a problem the United States managed against a regional power into one it cannot fully solve against Beijing.

Ankara, Turkey – Ukraine’s military – and specifically its “drone army” – has proven that it can now hit any target anywhere in Russia at will. Today, there is also little that Moscow’s armed forces can do to stop them.

Ukraine Proves Its Ability to Now Hit Russian Targets Anywhere and at Any Time

Russia’s President Putin Sitting at a Desk. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The proof came on Saturday, 6 June, when residents of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city and the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were told not to leave their homes.

84 years ago

Back in 2007, I did a Battle of Midway FbF that featured one of my favorite aircraft, the Brewster Buffalo. In the post, I focused on then 2LT William “Bill” Brooks, USMCR.
In the mid-60’s Mr. Brooks helped found Bellevue University, among other things. Back in 2010, I was notified by the President of Bellevue University that Mr. Brooks passed away. In his honor, I would like to repost that FbF from 2007 and 2010.
You could spend a lifetime on Battle of Midway posts – that is what I like about it.

The Army wants you…to leave nicotine pouches behind when traveling through France. Seriously, the Army says don’t take Zyn or any other brand with you inside French borders.
On Friday, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command and Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz issued a formal travel advisory, calling on soldiers to not bring any kind of nicotine pouches into or through France, after the country criminalized them.
“France has criminalized the possession, importation, and use of non-medically approved nicotine pouches (such as Zyn and Velo),” the joint message from the command garrison said.

This video describes the military situation in

“Their sacrifice will not be forgotten”
A momen

Jason Hanson, HansonWriter
Pressure and a Permanent Riddle

The post The Greatest Generation: 82 Years Ago And The Longest Day appeared first on Armed Forces Press.

Before World War II, Kathleen McCarthy Summersby (Kay for short) was an Irish fashion model. Once the Germans started dropping bombs on Britain, she stepped up and showed her grit, driving an ambulance during the Blitz to pick up dead bodies and deliver them to the morgue. Later, she became Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s right hand man, helping to make D-Day a success. 
Also Read: ‘Pressure’ is a D-Day film unlike any other before it
She was 33 years old and a civilian volunteer with the British Motor Transport Corps when she was assigned to be Eisenhower’s driver in London.

Ankara, Turkey – After years of rumors, the state-controlled Chinese Central Television (CCTV) broadcaster has confirmed reports that the Chengdu J-10CE fighter aircraft operated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) won a series of victories in simulated air-to-air engagements against the Qatar Emiri Air Force. The Qataris were operating their export versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft in these exercises.

These combat drills, now being revealed, reportedly took place in January 2024 and resulted in a 9-0 score for the Chinese-made single-engine jet.

The Department of Defense is drastically reducing the number of religious faiths and belief systems it recognizes in its personnel records, from 211 to just 31. 
The military’s revised list of religious affiliation codes removed 180 previously accepted ones, according to a May 20 memo signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. The codes are used to identify troops’ faith and help plan religious support services for them. The memo notes that the changes will not impact what religion is marked on troops’ dog tags.

How do elite cricketers cope outside their comf

Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s story of a group of World War II soldiers venturing behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France to rescue a single soldier, has been named to various lists of the best war movies ever produced.

Hollywood has been churning out movies about World War II since the war was still underway in the 1940s, and it hasn’t really stopped since. Made near the end of the 20th century, Private Ryan was one of the best of them.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses American paratroopers prior to D-Day. “Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day.

Ankara, Turkey – The London Financial Times reports that the UK Treasury is preparing to seize control of spending on the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) from the Ministry of Defense (MoD). The aircraft, which is supposed to be a 6th-generation fighter jet, is projected to cost in the billions of pounds Sterling, which is what prompts the Treasury’s move to take over the financial reins of the effort “before it is too late,” said one long-time UK defense analyst who spoke to National Security Journal.

The GCAP Fighter Problem: All About the Money 

GCAP 6th Generation Fighter.

Last July, I spent two days at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force outside Dayton, Ohio, walking among the aircraft that represent the roads American airpower chose not to take. I literally took almost 4,000 pictures, yes, I am serious. I stood close to the Boeing X-32, the Northrop YF-23, and the strange little YF-118G Bird of Prey — you can get right up next to most of these machines, even if you can’t quite stand beneath all of them — and the photographs I shot that day run throughout this piece.

As a student of military history, a passion of mine even before attending the U.S. Air Force Academy where that passion intensified, I have always been interested in unique military stories, no matter the uniform, no matter the war.
So, when offered to read Stream 3.0, I did not say no, as I had heard of the operation and wanted to know more.

Summary and Key Points: DARPA and the U.S. Air Force are developing Next Generation Responsive Strike, a reusable hypersonic strike aircraft designed to fly above Mach 5, penetrate advanced air defenses, conduct strike or ISR missions, and return for reuse. The concept points to a major shift in American air warfare, away from relying mainly on stealth and toward speed, altitude, maneuverability, and rapid response. Some defense analysts argue NextRS should take priority over the F-47 NGAD fighter.

Summary and Key Points: For decades, American warplanes ruled the skies against enemies who could barely shoot back. That era is ending — and the war in Iran has laid bare how exposed older, non-stealthy fighters are to modern air defenses. Now the U.S. Navy has tested its answer, and it’s a clever one. Engineers took the ordinary JDAM — a cheap, dumb bomb strapped with a guidance kit — bolted on foldable wings and a small jet engine, and turned it into a weapon that flies hundreds of miles, roughly twenty times farther than before.

G.

Emzari Gelashvili, RCD
the Beijing summit between Trump and Xi was not a breakthrough. It was not even a pause.

Ted Delicath, MWI
Americans hold institutional trust on two tracks rather than one.

Rebecca Grant, Lexington Institute
At The July NATO Summit In Turkey, Trump Should Commit To Permanent Basing Of A U.S.

Anthony Capaccio, Bloomberg
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC remains eligible to be…

Summary and Key Points: Australia’s six Collins-class submarines were meant to be the pride of its navy. Instead came defective welds, propellers too loud to hide, and a combat system so bad the Navy scrapped it for U.S. tech. By the mid-2000s, often just one of six could put to sea — then came the turnaround.

The Collins-Class Nightmare? 

SSN-AUKUS. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Australia’s Collins-class submarines were supposed to be the pride of the Royal Australian Navy—stealthy, advanced, and the cornerstone of Australian undersea power.

🗣️“That peace they fought for 82 years a

Summary and Key Points: After years of delays turned its next frigate into an expensive disaster, the Navy made a hard call — and the Trump administration pulled the plug on the troubled Constellation-class program. Now the Navy is racing to fill the gap, and its solution is raising eyebrows: a new warship called the FF(X) that, stripped of the jargon, is essentially a militarized Coast Guard cutter.

Here Comes the FF(X)
After the disastrous cancellation of the Constellation-class frigate program, the U.S.

In 1863, Adm. David Dixon Porter famously wrote, “A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.”
Remembering that this was a time before t-shirts when people dressed properly, his words hold true. Sailors crew and fight a ship, but a Marine detachment is a critical element on a warship.
Also Read: The role of the Marine Corps during the Civil War
The Army loves to remind the Marine Corps that the largest amphibious invasion in military history was conducted by soldiers.

Summary and Key Points: China’s island fortresses in the South China Sea are usually told as a military story — the runways, the missiles, the unsinkable aircraft carriers. But there’s a second story beneath the surface, and ecologists call it one of the fastest ecological collapses ever recorded. To build those bases, China dredged and buried tens of thousands of acres of living coral reef — some of the most biodiverse oceans on the planet.

An Ecological Disaster for the History Books 

J-35 Fighter from China. Image Credit: PLAAF.

Tributes have been paid to those who gave their

Summary and Key Points: Most people picture China’s South China Sea islands as little more than runways carved out of the sea. The reality is far more imposing — and far stranger. Thousands of Chinese troops now live on these man-made outposts year-round, scattered across dozens of reefs, crewing missile batteries, radar arrays, and runways that push Chinese air power hundreds of miles toward America’s allies.

China’s South China Sea Island Reality 

J-20 Fighter Fueling Up. Image Credit: Chinese Weibo.

Summary and Key Points: It was supposed to be one of the great strategic masterstrokes of the century. Over more than a decade, China dredged up coral and sand to build a chain of artificial island fortresses across the South China Sea — runways, radars, hangars, and harbors, some rivaling Pearl Harbor in scale, all designed to lock the United States and its allies out of the Pacific. But according to one regional analyst, Beijing may have overlooked something its own scientists could have warned it about: these islands sit on loose, waterlogged sand and coral.

Russia’s economic forecast is gloomy, with slow growth predicted for 2026. Economic forecasts range from around 0.8% to 1.1% of GDP, according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, respectively. Indeed, Russia’s central bank largely concurs with the forecast and estimates this year’s growth in the 0.5% to 1.5% range. Conservatively, Russia can expect about 1% growth this year, give or take a few tenths of a percentage point.

Why Growth is Slowing

China’s Xi Jinping. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

By some estimates, Russia has recruited tens of thousands of foreign fighters to support its war in Ukraine. The countries of origin of these foreign fighters are incredibly varied, but some of the biggest sources appear to be South and Central Asia, parts of Africa, and many post-Soviet countries. Investigations have pointed to recruits from at least 44 countries, depending on the source.

The Foreign Fighters of Ukraine

Su-34 Fullback Fighter-Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

A tribute to the fallen
Lieutenant Commander Ch

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

The second Choe Hyon class destroyer built for the Korean People’s Army Navy, the the Kang Kon, was confirmed on June 6 to have begun its maiden sea trials, over a year after its launch on May 21, 2025. Chairman of the ruling Kim Jong Un personally boarded the destroyer for the trails, and announced that North Korea will build 10,000 ton destroyers in the future, which only the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea have ever achieved.

Patrouille de France – the French Air & Space

This video describes the military situation in

Footage released on Chinese social media has provided a first clear look at the new heavyweight attack helicopter developed for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, which is reported to be designated the Z-21. Although Chinese authorities have not formally acknowledged the program or released official specifications, the aircraft first came to public attention in early 2024 after photographs of a prototype first appeared on social media. The program represents the first by China to develop a heavyweight attack helicopter, which will occupy a comparable weight range to the U.

After confirmation from Russian sources on June 4 that the Iranian Defence Ministry had ordered 12 Russian Su-30SM2 fighter aircraft, which will be delivered second hand from mid-2027 from frontline Russian Navy or Aerospace Forces units, analysts have speculated the reason for the expected procurement decision. The Iranian Defence Ministry was previously confirmed to have ordered 48 Su-35 fighters, which began production in Russia in 2025, while there have been multiple indications that orders for more advanced Su-57 fifth generation fighters have also been placed.

Recently, The Wellness Company announced a first of its kind human observational study of the off-label use of Ivermectin and Mebendazole in the treatment of cancer was published by the Anticancer Research Journal.
Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer for The Wellness Company, and one of the authors of the manuscript, praised the results of this groundbreaking analysis. “In this first of its kind human observational analysis, off-label use of Ivermectin+Mebendazole showed a remarkable 84% Clinical Benefit Ratio in the treatment of cancer.

Following confirmation on June 4 that the Iranian Defence Ministry had ordered 12 Russian Su-30SM2 fighter aircraft to modernise its combat aviation fleet, significant questions have been raised regarding how their service entry scheduled for mid-2027 will improve the combat capabilities of the Iranian fleet.

The Russian Su-57 fifth generation fighter was designed to be able function as an airborne command centre, according to a recent statement by the state defence conglomerate Rostec which is responsible for overseeing the aircraft’s development. “The Su-57 is a highly intelligent aircraft capable of acting as an airborne command centre, including for unmanned aerial vehicles. The aircraft is also equipped with a wide range of modern and advanced weapons,” Rostec announced. “The aircraft is capable of engaging both enemy air and ground targets.

Recent reports suggest a shift within Russia whereby influential voices within the political establishment are increasingly questioning the trajectory of the Ukraine war. The criticism is not necessarily anti-war; the Russian population has mostly been, at least passively, accepting of the war. But the shift reflects a growing concern that Russia is trapped in a quagmire with no obvious path to victory, one that promises only to erode its economy and political capital.

Last summer, I made a point of standing in front of both surviving YF-23 Black Widow II prototypes. I saw the first restored aircraft indoors at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and then the second, the Gray Ghost, sitting outdoors in Southern California near Los Angeles. The photos and video I shot of both run throughout this piece.

How the Army Rewards Self-Protection and Calls It Leadership

Public Domain

A subordinate walks into a commander’s office with a serious problem — a readiness shortfall, credible misconduct, a flawed decision, or evidence that someone is about to be treated unfairly. He believes leadership will want to know. After all, leaders are taught that integrity demands confronting problems before they grow.
Instead, the commander shifts uncomfortably in his chair. The issue is inconvenient. The people involved are influential. There are careers at stake, including his own.