The air across the Central Command area of responsibility this January feels heavy enough to wear. If you are scrolling through Telegram or lurking on X, maybe veteran forums on Reddit, the consensus is that the fuse isn’t just lit; there are fuses being lit everywhere, and pyromaniacs are doing a little dance while spitting Everclear on them.

Women who have served in combat arms for the last decade say a new Pentagon-ordered review of their “effectiveness” is the latest frustrating chapter in what they say has been the theme of their careers: proving themselves capable in combat units on a daily basis. They worry that the Pentagon-wide review of the “effectiveness” of women in ground combat jobs ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could just be more of the same double standards and misinformation they live with every day.

Matthew Woessner, RCDefense
Why Military Colleges Should Not Go “All AI – All the Time”

Pippa Malmgren, UnHerd
The High North Is a Vital Strategic Asset

Heather Mongilio, USNI News
Fiscal Year 2025 saw the most fatalities among sailors in a decade, according to the Naval Safety Command.

Groves, et al.

Stephen Losey, Defense News
Northrop Grumman and

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The Russian Armed Forces on January 8 launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile strike on a target in Ukraine’s Lviv region, near its NATO borders. The missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar test range, and represents the type’s first combat use since it was confirmed to have entered service in December 2025. Russian government sources reported that the strike was launched in retaliation for an attempted Ukrainian drone attack using several dozen aircraft to target the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Following the crash of a Republic of China Air Force F-16V fighter into the sea on January 6, and the presumed death of pilot Captain Hsin Po-Yi, significant details regarding prevailing issues with the newly modernised American aircraft have come to light. This incident has raised particular concerns about when this type of aircraft will be equipped with the “Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System” (Auto GCAS), which was designed to save pilots’ lives.

Simultaneous disruption and progress, with a relentless Taiwan-focused capability development deadline.That’s the overriding theme of the 25th edition of the Department of Defense’s China Military Power Report, released on Dec. 23, 2025. Despite extensive leadership purges and ongoing disciplinary investigations across China’s military and defense industry, the 2025 report concludes that China continues to make progress toward General Secretary Xi Jinping’s 2027 “Centennial Military Building Goal” and associated warfighting capabilities against Taiwan.

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The Secretary of War Pete Hegseth continued on his Arsenal of Democracy Tour visiting cutting edge defense contractor Divergent Technologies in Los Angeles, where additive manufacturing is being developed to a high level to scale up weapons production in a cost-effective manner.
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The Department of the Air Force has taken initial steps to implement Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plans to overhaul Pentagon procurement by creating seven new acquisition organizations aligned with specific mission areas.
The Air and Space Forces intend to overhaul several of their program executive offices and consolidate them into seven new organizations called portfolio acquisition executives (PAEs), officials announced Thursday.

Airmen recently spent three days on the streets of San Francisco practicing how to avoid being captured as part of “Exercise Sourdough,” the Defense Department’s largest urban evasion training event, Air Force officials said.
Held from Dec. 8 to 11, the exercise encompassed more than 49 square miles and involved the Coast Guard, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and SWAT teams from other law enforcement agencies, an Air Force news release says. 
The most recent training event was planned and led by the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron from Travis Air Force Base, California.

Russian forces are continuing to attack on all

Northrop Grumman and Kratos have been selected by the Marine Corps to develop the service’s first batch of loyal wingman drones, the companies announced Thursday.
The Corps awarded the Northrop Grumman-led team an other transaction agreement worth $231.5 million for the program — known as the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Uncrewed Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR). A Northrop spokesperson told DefenseScoop that the contract funds the effort’s development with an initial period of performance of 24 months.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has always been more than polished granite. For decades, it’s been a meeting point for grief, remembrance, and the memories of camaraderie that can only come with military service.
Related: It’s never too late to honor America’s Vietnam veterans
“The Wall,” as it’s been known since its completion in 1982, is a part of the official Vietnam War Memorial, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The full memorial itself includes the famous statue of “Three Soldiers” (added in 1984) and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial (added in 1993).

Special Operations Command is exploring how artificial intelligence can process data gathered by its operators, according to a special notice, which also seeks industry information on facial recognition, speaker identification and DNA profiling capabilities. 
Elite U.S. troops use a process called sensitive site exploitation (SSE) to collect information from people or material during an operation. This data then helps the military build intelligence packets for future missions or support criminal prosecutions, according to the Army.

Derrick Anderson has taken the helm as the Pentagon’s top adviser, advocate and overseer for special operations forces and irregular warfare at a pivotal time for the SOF community.
On Dec. 29, he posted a photo on social media of him being sworn in as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — which the Trump administration refers to as “assistant secretary of war” for SO/LIC.
Anderson’s entrance into his new role comes as American commandos and their unique skills are in high demand and officials are pursuing new capabilities to enable them.

Defence Secretary John Healey has praised the “

In the early hours of Saturday, Jan. 3, U.S. forces went into Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. They now face federal criminal charges in New York. While not entirely unexpected, the move shocked the region — as did subsequent comments by President Donald Trump suggesting that Washington might take action against other countries. We asked four experts to provide their take on how several key regional actors — Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, and Brazil — reacted and implications for them going forward.Read more below.

Denmark says US threats to take Greenland by fo

The UK failed to deliver on its promise of Gravehawk air defence systems for Ukraine in 2025, although it is thought likely to do so in 2026.

The UK and France signed a declaration of inten

In 1526, Bartolomeo Beretta received a payment for making cannon barrels. Over the next 500 years, the Beretta company established itself as a premier firearms manufacturer and remains the oldest to continuously operate in the industry.
While combat has evolved multiple times over those five centuries, Beretta has also evolved to meet the most stringent demands of professional firearms users.
From champion competition shooters like Simon “JJ” Racazza to U.S. federal law enforcement and NATO militaries, Beretta firearms are trusted to get the job done. The 92-series pistol served the U.S.

In a somewhat odd but potentially smart move, t

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Meet the Navy’s new frigate. It’s definitely not the same as the old frigate.
Following the recent cancellation of the Constellation-class frigate, the Navy has decided that the design for its FF(X) frigate will be based on the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter.
Frigates have many missions, including protecting and escorting other ships and hunting submarines, but the Navy has been without such vessels for more than a decade.

The military is built on discipline, standards, and the comforting belief that the people in charge are making good decisions. Then someone with a rank that comes with its own parking spot decides to emulate George Washington in the only way they probably shouldn’t: trying to match the Father of America drink-for-drink.
Related: George Washington celebrated becoming president by running up an epic bar tab
Everyone, civilian and military alike, kind of expects service members to hit the bar. From the American Revolution onward, we’ve earned that reputation.

US President Donald Trump has proposed raising the country’s military budget to $1.5tn for the year 2027, amid ongoing global tensions.

Thousands of Arad rifles have been delivered to rapid response teams throughout Israel, following the completion of an agreement between the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI).

When most people think of U.S. presidents and fitness, images of jogging presidents or basketball games at the White House may come to mind. Few, however, know that President Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, maintained his health and energy during the grueling years of office with a unique and vigorous exercise: Hooverball. A vigorous hybrid of tennis, volleyball, and medicine ball throwing, Hooverball was more than just a pastime.

Global Defense News
The United States confirmed accelerated construction of USS John F.

CRS
In a series of announcements from November 25 to December 19, 2025, the Navy stated that it wants to restructure its frigate acquisition effort by (1) truncating the FFG-62 program to no…

Marine Corps Compass Points
Time for the Marines to set a better course.

Akhsan Erido Elezhar, NextGenDefense
The Knox-5 processor is built on an open SOSA-aligned architecture, supports air, land, and maritime missions, and runs cloud-native applications in…

D. Malyasov, Defence Blog
The U.S.

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This exclusive Cogs of War interview is with Bret C. Devereaux, an ancient military historian and Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at North Carolina State University. As one of the earliest detailed records of how technology drives war and statecraft, Thucydides’ history proves a valuable guide to the human element for strategists and practitioners amid a time of great technical change. Thucydides is often described as a founder of the discipline of history, a writer who sought to explain events through causes rather than divine will or myth.

The U.S. military spends billions trying to predict what its adversaries will do — and almost nothing testing whether its own plans make sense. In part, this asymmetry reflects the decline of red teaming, the practice of systematically challenging plans to expose biases, blind spots, and weak assumptions before they become operational liabilities. As U.S. adversaries become more sophisticated and the Department of Defense integrates AI into planning, restoring systematic self-critique isn’t optional — it’s urgent.

Multiple media outlets have reported that talks are currently underway for a $6 billion procurement of Chinese JF-17 fighter aircraft to equip the Royal Saudi Air Force. A portion of JF-17s are currently assembled under license and partly produced in Pakistan, with the delivery of the aircraft reportedly being considered to help Islamabad pay back part of its loans to Saudi Arabia. A report by Reuters cites two different Pakistani sources, one of whom said the JF-17 is the “primary option” being considered for procurement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel on December 6 executed a 37 year old a resident of the Twin Cities, Renee Nicole Good, during an incident that was captured on film and has ignited significant tensions within the United States. The mother-of-three was shot dead in the head during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, prompting calls for the agency’s personnel to leave the state. Footage showed Good inside her Honda Pilot outside her house surrounded by ICE personnel, one of whom opened fire and shot her in the head after she began to move the vehicle.

CEO of Russia’s state-run corporation Rostec in late December Sergey Chemezov revealed that Russian Aerospace Forces Su-57 fighter aircraft had demonstrated their ability toevade detection by multiple kinds of radar systems, as well as electronic attacks, when deployed for operations in the Ukrainian theatre. “At least our military is satisfied. The aircraft evades all kinds of obstacles very well, I mean radars and electronic warfare systems,” he stated before a State Council meeting in the final week of December.

New footage released b the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command showing the Justice Mission 2025 joint services exercises in late December appears to show a J-20 fifth generation fighter flying close to Pingtung Airbase on Taiwan Island, raising questions regarding the vulnerability of local defences. The base is operated by the Republic of China Air Force, which remains in a state of conflict with the People’s Liberation Army as part of the technically ongoing Chinese Civiil War between the rival Chinese governments in Taipei and Beijing.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that his administration will request $1.5 trillion in military spending for fiscal 2027.
That request would be a record high by far, exceeding recent annual defense budgets by hundreds of billions of dollars.
“After long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars.

The collection of ribbons military members wear on their uniform is sometimes called a “rack,” but a Montana National Guard helicopter pilot agreed this week he’d been caught trying to bring home several particularly large ones from a flight last spring.
In May 2025, Montana Army National Guard pilot Deni Lynn Draper landed his UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter on a private ranch in the foothills of the state’s Crazy Mountains — yes, the Crazy Mountains, sometimes called the ‘Crazies’ — to recover a set of elk antlers the crew had spotted from the air.

Defense technology executive and Project Maven alum Cameron Stanley is the frontrunner to serve as the next Chief Digital and AI Officer at the Pentagon, DefenseScoop has learned. 
Three sources suggested he could start in that capacity sometime this month. They requested anonymity to discuss the news before leadership releases an official announcement.

There was a time not too long ago when the U.S. Navy looked toward the Littoral Combat Ship with so much hope.
Take on enemies at sea? These fast, light warships could do that. Hunt mines? Yep, the LCS was down with that, too. Sink submarines? No problem.
Related: Did Russia actually get its LCS right?
But that’s the thing about hope: It can come crashing down when it runs head-on into reality. When it came to Littoral Combat Ships, we can charitably say that they weren’t billed as advertised.

As part of its ambitious push to get unmanned systems into the hands of its troops, the Marine Corps recently integrated drone familiarization into its foundational school for new infantry officers, service officials told reporters Wednesday.
The Infantry Officer Course (IOC) — based out of Quantico, Virginia — puts new infantry leaders through 15 weeks of training on crew-served weapons, patrols, reconnaissance and other job-specific skills to prepare them for being a platoon commander.