Will President Vladimir Putin’s regime implode? Unfortunately, the media’s fixation with this question — understandable as it might be — has prevented us from gaining a more holistic understanding of how Russian politics are working right now. While fully in the grips of a new form of bellicose, authoritarian rule, Russia has not fallen down […]
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Author: Michael
Russian MoD Screencap
The Russian missile attack on an apartment building in Dnipro on Saturday was not just one of the deadliest strikes on a civilian target so far during this 11-month-old full-on war – there have now been 40 deaths reported and more anticipated – but it also highlighted what Ukraine claims to be a major vulnerability in its ever-evolving air defense capabilities. Ukraine’s Air Force says that it cannot destroy Russia’s Soviet-era Kh-22 supersonic cruise missiles.
Crown Copyright
Britain’s top defense official revealed today that his country is planning to send FV432 Mk 3 Bulldog tracked armored personnel carriers to the Ukrainian armed forces. This is part of a larger military aid package that will include Challenger 2 main battle tanks and AS-90 155mm self-propelled howitzers, along with other vehicles, weapon systems, and other materiel.
NASSCO/General Dynamics
National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a division of General Dynamics, has pitched some significant modifications to the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Bases (ESB), which is an existing highly flexible class of ship based on a modified oil tanker that supports the forward deployment of various forces. The proposed enhancements were conceptualized to address emerging U.S. Navy requirements and include the notable addition of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) bay.
Russian MoD Screencap
A report in the Russian media claims that the first production examples of the country’s Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedoes have been built. These will initially be provided to the Russian Navy’s shadowy Project 09852 Belgorod, the world’s longest submarine — but, at this stage, it’s unclear if the torpedoes actually have their nuclear warheads fitted.
According to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, “the first batch of Poseidon ammunition has been manufactured” for the Belgorod and will be delivered “soon.
In April 1943, Gestapo troopers stormed the office of Hans von Dohnanyi, an agent of the Abwehr, Nazi Germany’s intelligence agency. Von Donanyi had transferred funds illegally to Switzerland in order to help Jews he’d saved from persecution earlier in the war. In 1944, the Gestapo discovered the same man had a role in the July 20th plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and sent him to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
When the Nazis discovered proof of his role in the plot through his office papers, they labeled him “the spiritual head of the conspiracy” against the German Fuhrer.
The UK will examine whether it needs to increase its fleet of main battle tanks (MBTs) in its inventory as it prepares to send a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 MBTs to Ukraine, with the latest security assistance package to Kyiv also including AS90 self-propelled artillery systems, along with the commitment of hundreds of additional vehicles including the Bulldog armoured personnel carrier.
The British Army is modernising its Challenger 2 fleet, with 148 vehicles due to be upgraded to the Challenger 3 specification, and due to begin entering service in 2027.
Curt Sewell was a 21-year-old Army sergeant when he got the assignment of a lifetime. The assignment of several lifetimes, actually. The Texas native had an affinity for electronics and science. So when he got the chance to “end the war early” in the middle of World War II, he willingly went to the arid regions of New Mexico. “I worked on the Manhatten Project,” he remembered, with true humility.
A naturally humble guy, Curt was always quick to say he was just one of many, and he certainly wasn’t famous like Robert Oppenheimer or Edward Teller.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) has launched a new project to enhance the automatic target/threat recognition, identification, and targeting for land systems (ATRIT).
Launched on 13 January, the project is valued at approximately €2m and has a performance period of 18 months.
This ATRIT effort is being managed by the EDA as a ‘Category-B project’, and co-funded by member nations and other participants interested in joining the project.
A handful of airmen made an outsized impact in Afghanistan during Operation Allies Refuge using a Google Doc and a piece of paper. (Aaron Provost).
In moments of crisis, small details can make a big difference. That proved true during Operation Allies Refuge, the massive United States military effort to evacuate more than 124,000 people from Afghanistan during the last weeks of the U.S. war there in August 2021. Surprisingly, one of those small details was not an advanced drone or powerful weapon.