The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has made its first ever submarine deployment to Russia, with a Kilo Class attacks submarine which was purchased from Russia in the 1990s sailing to Vladivostok for joint exercises. The warship was accompanied by two Type 052D Class destroyers and one Type 903A Class supply ship, as well as a submarine rescue vessel. The Russian Navy’s own fleet participating in the joint exercises will be led by a Soviet built Udaloy Class destroyer.
Author: Michael
HMS Prince of Wales departs Darwin after making
The 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue marked a subtle but telling shift in Indo-Pacific geopolitics. While the annual security forum retained its usual stagecraft between the United States and China, this year’s exchanges revealed a deeper disconnect: The zero-sum logic driving great-power rivalry contrasts sharply with the pragmatic, interests-based approach favored by many middle powers and small states.The old binaries of a U.S.-centered liberal order versus a Chinese-led alternative are giving way to a more dynamic regional system.
Footage released by the British Ministry of Defence has shown that the Russian Aerospace Forces are constructing hardened aircraft shelters at multiple airbases in the country’s western regions, which has been widely interpreted as a response to Ukraine’s multiple attacks on such facilities using various drone classes. Shelters at bases in Millerovo, Kursk Vostochny, and Hvardiiske have dome shaped roofs and thick blast doors and are reinforced with earthen coverings.
A U.S. Navy F-35C fighter has crashed at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California, with the pilot having ejected safely. The incident occurred in the late hours of July 30, with the Air Station reporting:
“NAS Lemoore can confirm an aviation incident on the Operations side of the installation. At 18:30, an F-35C attached to the VFA-125 [Strike Fighter Squadron 125] “Rough Raiders” went down not far from NAS Lemoore. NAS Lemoore can confirm the pilot successfully ejected and is safe. There are no additional affected personnel. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Every service member and military family out there knows how stressful and chaotic a PCS can be. With so much piling up on our to-do lists alone, we tend to lose sight of the fun and soulful moments we can still create to make memories before our big move.
The final month before the move can bring exciting opportunities to enjoy a duty station before the goodbyes start setting in. You’ve got thirty days, one big move coming up, and here are five things to do before the month is over to close out this duty station chapter.
1. Focus on your bucket list.
While some units in the Air Force have pulled the M18 from duty after a discharge killed an airmen last week, officials from the other services said they have no plans to modify or pause use of the pistol.
The US military is investigating its new service pistol after the fatal shooting of an Air Force guard — following claims that the gun can fire without the trigger being pulled, writes the New York Post.
The Sig Sauer M18, the military version of the popular Sig P320 handgun, has been at the forefront of multiple lawsuits alleging that the weapon can fire unprompted.
Public Domain
As demonstrated recently, the United States must maintain a strong global-strike capability. Can a future force of~200 bombers handle that? Experts say NOT NEARLY ENOUGH, but budgets, not strategy, are driving the issue!
Current Air Force budget-driven plans are to retire B-1s and B-2s (the only bomber that can carry the massive bombs [MOPs] dropped on Iran) as B-21s are produced, produce 100 new B-21s – which may increase to 145 – and keep dozens of ancient (but upgraded) B-52s. The result would be an inventory approximating 200 bombers.
A recent Army exercise in Europe revealed a generational gap with drones. Soldiers in the field are picking up new frontline tech within hours, while leaders at higher headquarters are still figuring out what their future battlefields will look like.
“This younger generation of soldiers and leaders, they have a lot of these skill sets already just from coming from their STEM-focused schools throughout their education,” Col. Donald Neal Jr., commander of the Grafenwoehr, Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment, said on a call with reporters Wednesday.
Military leaders overseeing operations in the Indo-Pacific face a daunting logistical puzzle. With forces dispersed across a vast theater that includes potential flashpoints like Taiwan in the South China Sea, ensuring that every base, ship, and unit has the right personnel, equipment, and supplies is a monumental task. That requires enormous intelligence at the tactical edge—and increasingly, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up decision-making.
Traditionally, that meant collecting and sending data back to command facilities in Hawaii or the continental U.S.