Footage released on Chinese social media has shown a new type of next generation main battle tank closely related to the new Type 100 tank, which appears to be considerably larger and heavier. The Type 100 was unveiled in September 2025, and is the only next generation main battle tank currently in service. The appearance of the new larger vehicle has raised the possibility that China will field two next generation tank types in a complementary high-low combination before any other country can bring a single one into service.
Author: Michael
Fast. Precise.
…money, action, inventory…
In spite of the rough lessons on the importance of mass in the Korean and Vietnam Wars in the second half of the 20th Century—and even the cold bucket of sand thrown in our face about what is required for even heavy imperial policing like we had in Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of the first decade of this century—a large segment of the national security nomenklatura was content with boutique-levels of warstocks in our relatively shallow magazines.
The Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) on May 30 confirmed that consultations remain underway for the production of Su-57 fifth generation fighter aircraft in India, following multiple reports that these talks have already reached advanced stages. “Russia is proposing to establish production of Su-57E aircraft in India.
A new weapons configuration for the Su-30SM long range fighter unveiled on May 28 has for the first time included Iranian glide bombs, marking the first time Iranian weaponry is known to have been integrated onto a post-Cold War Russian fighter type. The aircraft were operated by the Armenian Air Force, and flew over Yerevan’s Republic Square as part of a major military parade. The munitions in question appear to be Yasin class precision guided glide bombs, which allow the fighters to engage targets at beyond visual ranges at a small fraction of the cost of guided missiles.
The Republic of China Army has unveiled new the Hsuan-Chieh tactical electronic warfare vehicles, which were designed to support combined arms brigades, and provide a capability not only to jam enemy UHF/VHF military frequency communications, but also counter enemy electronic warfare jamming.
The M551 Sheridan was one of the U.S. Army’s most ambitious tanks: light enough to parachute onto a battlefield, able to swim rivers, and armed with a 152mm gun that fired both shells and the Shillelagh guided missile. Rushed into Vietnam in 1969, it proved fast and mobile, with HEAT rounds that shredded bunkers. But its thin aluminum hull was vulnerable to mines and RPGs, and its gun was unreliable. Retired in 1996, it was America’s last light tank.
Meet the M551 Sheridan
M551 Sheridan Light Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
M551 Sheridan U.S. Army.
Summary and Key Points: Years before the famous SR-71 Blackbird, the CIA built the A-12 Oxcart — a top-secret Mach 3 spy plane designed by Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works to replace the vulnerable U-2.
-First flown from Area 51 in 1962, the A-12 was America’s first stealth aircraft and hit a sustained Mach 3.2 at 90,000 feet, a piloted-jet record still unbroken. The Air Force’s SR-71 followed, carrying more sensors but flying a touch slower. The program ended in 1968.
Summary and Key Points: The B-47 Stratojet is one of the least-celebrated Cold War bombers — and one of the most influential.
-To build it, Boeing drew on captured German swept-wing research, pairing those wings with a cylindrical fuselage and podded jet engines.
B-47 Bomber. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force.
-That formula proved so sound it shaped the KC-135 tanker, the Boeing 707, and nearly every airliner since, from the 737 to Airbus.
-The B-47 was fast but flawed — six crashed in four days from metal fatigue — and retired by 1966.
The B-47 Bomber from the U.S.
Summary and Key Points: In 1983, the USS Enterprise — the world’s first nuclear-powered carrier — was returning from a Pacific deployment when it ran aground on a sandbar in San Francisco Bay, just 1,000 yards from its berth.
-Some 4,500 sailors and 3,000 waiting families were left stranded in sight of one another.
USS Enterprise. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Adding to the irony, Star Trek’s George Takei had flown out to welcome the crew, joking about “Enterprise on the Rocks.” Tugboats and the tide freed it after six hours.