If one checks the Reddit reviews in Brooklyn, they might highlight the world-famous pizza, the multi-million dollar brownstones, or the hipster baristas who silently judge your coffee order (and your clothes, your voice, don’t get them started on your shoes). They rarely mention the doody-brown brick of Sunset Park’s waterfront. It is here that the world’s least popular power couple has just checked in.

Marine Corps Compass Points
World events provide the answer

Greg Hadley, A&SF
The Air Force inked a $2 billion deal with Boeing to install new engines on two

Gary Anderson, The American Spectator
America prepares for the wrong naval war with China.

Brian Everstine, Aviation Week
The Pentagon’s weapon buyer says there is a commitment to deliver a new fighter for the U.S.

R. Thomas, Naval Tech.
The decision by the U.S. at the end of 2025 to cancel the Constellation-class frigate for a new FF(X) design caught many by surprise.

Hungarian space and defence company 4iG Space and Defence (4iG S&D) has entered into an exclusive agreement with Tatra Trucks to distribute and sell the latter’s military and special-purpose vehicles in Hungary.

The U.S. Marine Corps 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit assigned has conducted advanced maritime interdiction operations training in the Caribbean Sea. The unit was deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which four days later on January 3 played a central role in an assault against Venezuela which aimed to destroy critical infrastructure and abduct President Nicolas Maduro.

Why are so many US military aircraft arriving i

This video describes the military situation in

In any war over Taiwan, American commanders will face a problem that barely existed a decade ago: China can hide lethal military systems inside standard commercial shipping containers. These “containerized” missile launchers are modern renditions of an old U.S. Navy concept first marketed in the Russian Club-K and are now reportedly fielded in Chinese variants. They ride on the decks of merchant ships, blend into global commerce, and give Beijing the ability to forward-deploy precision weapons without visibly deploying a single warship.For U.S. planners, the threat is not hypothetical.

This video describes the military situation in

The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro by U.S. Army Delta Force operators on January 3 fuelled considerable concerns in Taipei, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of China government, that it could set a precedent for similar operations by the Chinese mainland to reunify Taiwan Island and end the long frozen Chinese civil war. The issue of the need to condemn U.S.

Former Tier One special operators L Todd Wood and Pete Blaber delve into the Maduro raid with insight you won’t get anywhere else.
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The Japanese Ministry of Defence reported that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy deployed the Type 052C destroyer Changchun to sail between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island, as part of operations under the Justice Mission 2025 exercises which have simulated complex joint combat operations around the Taiwan Strait. The Changchun was accompanied by two Type 054A class frigates and a Vishnya class intelligence gathering ship, while in the air H-6K bombers, two J-16 fighters, two Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft, and two fighters of an unconfirmed second type flew between the two islands.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces units operating under the Eastern Theater Command troops used the ZRY222 tracked unmanned fire support vehicle to provide during exercises. The robots are each controlled remotely from a modified Mengshi off-road vehicle fitted with a control console, and each deploy four guided rockets, a 7.62mm gun, and reconnaissance equipment. First unveiled in September 2025, the semi-autonomous robots weigh approximately 1.

great nations can just do things

If you didn’t get a chance to listen to Sunday’s Midrats Podcast with Mark and me, give it a listen to hear a broader discussion with some additional detail thrown in. Today is going to be a bit different.
We are still just ~72-hours from the events, so there is an order of magnitude more of what we don’t know than we do, but some items are breaking out from the fog.
On yesterday’s podcast, I briefly mentioned a framework for discussion that I think is helpful to flesh out here—an addendum to my comments on the podcast, so to speak.

Commentary from a bystander relates that EW aircraft diverted the seeker head on the ManPad missile. In reality, EW aircraft don’t defend against ManPad seeker heads. The missile was likely diverted by EW infrared devices on the aircraft itself.
A surface-to-air missile is launched from a 9K338 Igla-S man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) against a helicopter of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers) during the attacks on the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, south of Caracas, Venezuela, during the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Few would argue that the special operations raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was a major tactical success, but in the aftermath of the “Forever Wars” of the 21st Century, veterans are left wondering if the operation marks a clean end to the Maduro regime, or if it is the start of another prolonged conflict.
Task & Purpose reached out to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars to gauge their reactions to the operation President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 3.
They included former U.S.

As a member of the Pentagon Press Corps, we have raised this issue with USAF management and look forward to their response on measures taken to address this serious threat.
If I was a domestic airbase commander, or overseas theater commander, this would give me nightmares — an 18-wheeler pulls up a click from an airbase, the top opens, and scores of armed drones fly out, targeting your aircraft lined up on the ramp. Think billions in American force projection capability destroyed in a few minutes…at home, or abroad…irreplaceable.

Early in the morning of January 3rd, 2025, Vene

Lithuania is one of the three Baltic states now

On Oct. 3, 1993, Army Rangers, crew members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Delta Force operators, and Navy SEALs, along with Air Force pararescuemen and combat controllers, collectively known as “Task Force Ranger,” engaged Somali militia fighters in the Battle of Mogadishu. It was part of Operation Gothic Serpent, the effort to capture warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in response to his attacks on U.N. peacekeepers during the Somali Civil War.

Posted Zero Hedge
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he will issue a letter of censure to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over the senator’s participation in a video released in November urging U.S. troops to resist “unlawful orders” made by the president. Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow, all veterans of the military and intelligence community, also participated in the video.
“We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community,” Sen.

The crew of HMS Oardacious enjoy the sunset as

These five American generals and admirals did things that played with the thin line between cunning and crazy, but they were awesome at their jobs, so most everyone looked the other way.
1. An admiral dressed up in a ninja suit to test security.
(U.S. Navy)
Vice Adm. John D. Bulkeley was an American hero; let’s get that straight right out of the gate. He fought to attend Annapolis and graduated in 1933, but was passed over for a Naval commission due to budget constraints. So he joined the Army Air Corps for a while until the Navy was allowed to commission additional officers.

A ballistic missile fired in anger is extremely

It’s college financial aid season, and prospective students across the US are receiving admissions and financial aid award letters for programs starting in the fall of 2026. These financial aid award letters are part of the decision-making process for where these students will attend school. If they have access to Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, understanding exactly how those benefits will impact their other financial aid awards is an essential part of the decision-making process.

In almost every war in history, spies have had a big role in the outcome of the war. Those who played both sides, put themselves in danger in order to learn secrets, and played the part to get helpful information — they played a huge part in the history books. And in most cases, they don’t earn the credit they deserve. Because they were successful, their roles were under the radar, leading few people to understand just how they helped turn the course of a given war. 
In the Civil War, female spies were especially helpful in providing key information.

The Australian government has allocated nearly A$40m ($26m) to support new technologies and AI, aiming to enhance the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) decisions making amid complex information conditions.

Less than two months after appearing in a viral video in which he and other Democratic lawmakers urged troops not to obey unlawful military orders, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is facing a potential reduction in military retirement pay.
On Monday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a post on X that the Pentagon was moving to reduce the retired Navy captain’s grade, which would cut his retirement pay. That grade determination process will be led by Hegseth.

This video describes the military situation in

India and Pakistan have announced conventional missile capability advancements throughout the winter holiday period.

Drone and aerial imaging solutions provider AgEagle Aerial Systems (EagleNXT) has sold six eBee TAC tactical mapping drones to the US Army.

Every year, tons of military supplies are labeled as “surplus” by the U.S. military, and these can be anything from rucksacks to rocket launchers. But when weapons or weapons systems are slapped with a surplus label, there’s an entire process in place for de-weaponizing them.
During the U.S. military’s post-Cold War drawdown, the process was so overwhelmed by surplus gear that some weapons-grade surplus managed to trickle through. That’s how Ron Garlick was able to rebuild one of the Army’s deadly Cobra helicopters and use it to hunt wolves.

Peter Garretson, RCD
The

Donald Vandergriff
The Army Way and the Right Way

Gregory K.

Army Technology
Special forces helicopters and dozens of U.S. fighters, bombers, surveillance platforms, and drones were used in dramatic U.S. operations over Caracas.

Josh Luberisse, RealClearDefense
Anatomy of a Modern Decapitation Strike

Imagine if you will, a low-cost, small weapons system. It could fly stealthily into enemy territory, not being mistaken for a bomber or any kind of missile. And then it could detonate a nuclear weapon onboard, hitting a desired target. That system? A balloon.
Back in the 1950s military researchers seriously explored using free floating balloons as a way to launch nuclear bombs at enemies. 
The idea was taken seriously enough by the United States government that nuclear researchers did a formal study on it.

On New Year’s Eve 1876, in a dusty little settlement on the Texas frontier, three Medal of Honor recipients ended up at the same party.
By sunrise, one of them was dead.
A double-barreled shotgun blast ended the life of Adam Paine, a Black Seminole scout who had earned the medal for fearless service on the Texas frontier. The man who pulled the trigger, Claron A. Windus, had his own Medal of Honor for equally selfless service. When Windus shot Paine, it became the only documented time in American history that one Medal of Honor recipient intentionally killed another.

A new variant of the Bulsae-4 electro-optical guided long-range anti-tank missile system has entered serial production in North Korea, with state media reporting that this will provide a major boost to the anti-armour capabilities of frontline units. Deliveries of the first units are expected to begin in the first half of 2026, while production capacity is set to rise by about 2.5 times.

This video describes the military situation in

When I look back at my 45 years of military service, one of the highlights of my military education was a battlefield tour I participated in during 2001 at the Somme battlefield, alongside other “high flying” students on the U.K.’s Higher Command and Staff course.The historical element of it was provided by the late Richard Holmes and we students reveled in his masterful narrative history. Holmes explained how the tank had been fielded in 1916 as a predominantly infantry protection platform to provide cover for troops as they moved across no-man’s land.

In 2025, the ongoing contest between the United States and China moved from tariff skirmishes to a confrontation over strategic choke points.Washington expanded semiconductor export controls under the Biden administration, limiting China’s access to advanced chips, design software, and lithography tools. The Trump administration tightened these rules on Sept. 29, extending them to foreign affiliates. Beijing retaliated ten days later with new licensing requirements on rare-earth oxides, metals, and magnet products.

Following the U.S. Armed Forces’ initiation of Operation Absolute Resolve against Venezuela on January 3, which saw multiple military and infrastructure targets across the capital destroyed and President Nicolas Maduro abducted by U.S. Army Delta Force operators, growing information has emerged regarding how South America’s most capable air defence network was rapidly penetrated. U.S.

Cuban government sources have confirmed that 32 Cuban Armed Forces personnel were killed in action when engaged by U.S. forces in Venezuela on January 3. This followed confirmation from Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Lopez that most of President Nicholas Maduro’s security detail was killed during the operation by U.S. Army Delta Force special forces to abduct him, although the full number of casualties was not specified. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many of the Cuban personnel killed in action were part of the president’s security detail, although U.S.

Iranian-designed Shahed 136 single use attack drones being produced under license in Russia as the Geran 2 have been modified to provide them with air-to-air capabilities, with Ukrainain Armed Forces personnel reporting that the Igla man-portable air-defence systems had been attached to the aircraft. The Shahed aircraft was fitted with a camera and a radio modem, while the missile launch is controlled by the drone’s remote operator. It remains unconfirmed whether this configuration is experimental, or has been more widely adopted.

Open Source Intel has reported a large deployment of USAF transport aircraft to RAF Fairford in England. After this deployment, SOF rotory-wing aviation assets were seen operating in the area according to reports.
An AC-130 gunship, a Navy P-8 reconnaissance aircraft, and fighter refueling tankers have also been deployed to the UK.
One theory is an airbridge being created for operations in Iran. However, the deployment of SOF aviation to the UK does not give them capability in Iran.