The head of the British Royal Navy First Sea Lord General Gwyn Jenkins has warned that British and allied forces could soon lose their advantage in the Atlantic Ocean, highlighting the significant strengthening of Russian naval capabilities and continued investments in further bolstering them. ”The advantage that we have enjoyed in the Atlantic since the end of the Second World War is at risk. We are holding on, but not by much. Our would-be opponents are investing billions. We have to step up, or we will lose that advantage,” Jenkins observed.

The Egyptian Defence Ministry has reportedly signed a contract to procure Chinese WJ-700 unmanned attack aircraft, in a potential landmark in the ongoing expansion of defence ties between the two counties. Local and Chinese sources indicate that the deal was signed in June 2025, and is set to make Egypt the second foreign operator of the type alongside Algeria.

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has offered Germany with possible entry into the the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) next generation fighter program, amid growing speculation that the country could leave the rival pan-European Future Combat Air System which it is currently a partner in alongside France and Spain.

Russian armored units in the Ukraine theater are going to extraordinary lengths to protect vehicles from FPV drone attack.
We have seen metal wire brush protection, but the containers are a new wrinkle of ingenuity.
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Fire up your smoker — this 12-inch Lodge cast-iron skillet pecan pie gets a double dose of smoke + whiskey swagger! We’re using King Aurthur All-Purpose Flour for the flakiest crust, Grill Your Ass Off seasonings in the filling, and their whiskey-infused salts & sugars. Perfect Thanksgiving/Christmas showstopper that looks pro but cooks easy.

(DVIDS) CHAPMAN TRAINING ANNEX, Texas — The Special Warfare Training Wing (SWTW) welcomed the Under Secretary of the Air Force, Mr. Matthew Lohmeier, for an early morning ruck with the inaugural Zulu Course on Friday, Dec. 5. The visit highlighted the wing’s continued progress in pipeline optimization and demonstrated Air Force Special Warfare’s (AFSPECWAR) strong focus on fitness.
Physical training and readiness have always been a foundational cornerstone for AFSPECWAR.

The United States Armed Forces on December 20 deployed heavily armed personnel by helicopter to take control of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the country’s coast, marking a major escalation in Washington’s ongoing efforts to topple its southern neighbour’s government and collapse its economy. This occurred amid a continuous United States military buildup surrounding Venezuela which began in late August, most recently with the redeployment of the carrier strike group lead by the USS Gerald Ford nearer to the country, and the deployment of U.S.

American forces boarded and seized an oil tanker in the southern Caribbean Sea today, the Department of Homeland Security said.
A Coast Guard tactical team boarded the oil tanker M/T Centuries after it departed from Venezuela, inserting via helicopter. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on X that the Coast Guard, with support from the Department of Defense, “executed a lightning strike operation to seize” the tanker.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region.

Guest post by Three Members of USAFA Class of 2026
Introduction
The current state of the United States Air Force Academy is far from its original glory.
For the current senior class (Class of 2026) who witnessed the old traditions, hard training, and a freshman year that molded them into tougher men and women through stress and discomfort, it is disheartening to see how the academy has changed for the worse.

Current leadership has stripped away meaningful training, our heritage, and the Academy’s soul, leaving us with nothing in return but a failing institution.

The U.S. military is sending a contingent of Air Force personnel to Ecuador in support of “anti-drug trafficking” operations.
The U.S. embassy in Quito announced the deployment in a statement on X on Dec. 17, saying that the American forces will operate out of the military base at Manta, with the Ecuadorian Air Force. 
The deployment comes a month after Ecuadorian voters rejected a proposal to lift the country’s ban on foreign military bases by a roughly 2-1 margin.

The Army is scrapping its Spiritual Fitness Guide after less than five months in use.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the change in a video on social media on Tuesday. He largely addressed changes to the Army Chaplain Corps, in which he said that “chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers.” As part of his comments he criticized the recently implemented tool, saying that the Army is “tossing it.”
“It mentions God one time. That’s it,” Hegseth said. “It mentions feelings 11 times.

The Department of Defense once again failed to pass its annual audit, the eighth time in as many years since Congress mandated a full accounting of the Pentagon’s expenses.
This year’s findings, released on Friday, show the Pentagon again struggling with proper accounting of its finances, resulting in misstatements. The Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Agency Report found 26 material weaknesses and two “significant deficiencies in the department’s controls for financial reporting.

“Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say, on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day”—and if you are stationed in Hawaii, then you know there is nothing quite like spending the holidays where the palm trees sway. Spending the holiday season on an island comes with huge contrasts from your typical holiday traditions on the mainland.
We get it, there is gratitude for being able to live in paradise, but you might also feel homesick. Whether you just started island living or you are finding yourself with PCS orders in time for Christmas, O’ahu offers many meaningful ways to celebrate the season.

This video describes the military situation in

The United States carried out large-scale retaliatory airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) targets across central Syria on Friday, responding to a deadly ambush earlier this month that killed two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter.
The operation, named Hawkeye Strike by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), involved fighter jets, attack helicopters, and rocket artillery systems that struck more than 70 ISIS positions, including weapons caches, command posts, and logistics sites. U.S. officials said the strikes delivered over 100 precision-guided munitions.

Weisgerber, et al.

Monique Tapie, RCDefense
Over the past few decades, we have seen history and critical thinking seep out of our public-school curriculums, lowering the quality of education and placing…

Joseph Trevithick, The WarZone
The Navy is leveraging the Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter to plug the gap left by axing the Constellation class frigate.

G. Agese, RCDefense
The most dangerous wolves are those that wear the fleece of impartiality, for they sway minds under the guise of wisdom.

Thomas B.

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

United States Marines have done some crazy things during deployments. We’re not even certain that becoming a Somali warlord takes the cake, because one Marine stole Princess Meriam al-Khalifa of Bahrain and another became the king of a Haitian voodoo island. So if you’re a Marine Corps NCO reading this, just ask yourself: Do you know where all your Marines are right now?
If the name Hussein Aidid kinda sounds familiar, it’s because his father, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, was a central figure in the 2001 film “Black Hawk Down.

FPV drones guided by fiber optic cable are the face of today’s warfare. The cables cover the town of Liman, Ukraine, about 3.5 clicks from the FLOT. A modern day spider web.
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Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, operational commander for the Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Region, Royal Canadian Air Force Major General Chris McKenna, has provided new insight into prevailing thought in the service on the procurement of F-35A fifth generation fighter aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force has deployed at least one E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) to support ongoing operations aimed at maximising military pressure against Venezuela. Compared to the carrier-based E-2D aircraft that have already been operating in the region for several weeks, the E-3 is capable of providing command and control functions for a much wider American force including strategic bombers, carrier air wings, and ground-based aircraft, while sharing invaluable targeting data with all these aircraft and even guiding their missiles to their targets.

U.S. forces launched a “large-scale strike” against multiple Islamic State-controlled sites in Syria on Friday, U.S. Central Command announced.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and U.S. Central Command announced the strikes, dubbed “Operation Hawkeye Strike” late Friday afternoon, saying it in response to last weekend’s shooting in Palmyra, Syria that killed two Iowa Army National Guard soldiers and a civilian translator. The strikes include ground artillery barrages and airstrikes. The focus is, according to Hegseth, “eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites.

Czech-born composer Julius Fucik was known for his love of military marches. Also known as the “Bohemian Sousa,” Fucik was raised in formal conservatory study, serious instrumental training, and the day-to-day rigor of military band life, which is basically musical boot camp with better hats. Not many Americans are going to be familiar with him (unless “late 19th-century Austro-Hungarian waltz composers” started trending on TikTok recently), but every one of them would instantly recognize at least one of his works.
And that work is “Entry of the Gladiators.

President Donald Trump nominated a Marine general with special operations experience to lead U.S. Southern Command, the Pentagon announced Friday, about a week after the organization’s former commander retired amid the administration’s controversial boat strikes.
Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan currently serves as the vice commander for U.S. Special Operations Command. His nomination was referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, but the congressional notice did not specify for which position.

Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Merv

Upgrade your business with AI-integrated softwa

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has given four companies contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion for a future tranche of its space-based missile warning and tracking architecture.
The agency announced Friday that teams led by Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris will each build and deliver 18 satellites for the Tranche 3 tracking layer of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The batch of 72 vehicles are expected to launch in fiscal 2029, according to SDA.

Some members of the Defense Department’s civilian workforce may soon receive sizable monetary awards under an edict from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
In a Dec. 15 memo to DOD leadership, combatant commanders, and defense agency and field activity directors, Hegseth ordered officials to reward high performers.

Operation Underworld is usually remembered as a secret pact between the Navy and the Mafia to secure America’s wartime docks, but its influence reached far beyond New York Harbor. At the center of this unlikely alliance stood Charles “Lucky” Luciano, an imprisoned crime boss whose power stretched from Sicilian villages to Manhattan boardrooms.

A royal reception👑
After the success of an

All Marines in combat arms fields will soon have to meet the same standards on their Physical Fitness Test, or PFT, regardless of their gender, under a service-wide policy announced Thursday. The new rules bring Marine PT standards in line with guidelines laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Sept. 30 mandate that all combat arms troops across the military should be held to gender-neutral fitness standards.

“Be proud of what you do for your country, and

The Navy launched a one-way attack drone from a ship in the Middle East for the first time on Tuesday, according to the service.
The USS Santa Barbara, a littoral combat ship, launched a Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS off its flight deck while afloat in the Arabian Gulf, marking its first launch from a ship at sea.
Earlier this month, U.S.

This video describes the military situation in

As Congress began hashing out the annual defense bill, military families began to celebrate a major policy win they believed they had secured after years of fighting. The measure included new rules that would have granted Tricare coverage to women pursuing in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to become pregnant.
Then reports came out that the language in the law requiring the coverage for IVF and intrauterine insemination, or IUI, was cut.

America’s launch vehicles are critical to strategic competition with China and Russia. Their ability to send large payloads to space, from communications satellites to mission supplies, is central to America’s commercial and national security space activities.Launch vehicles typically deliver payloads to two main orbits — Low Earth Orbit, where many satellites operate, and Geostationary Transfer Orbit, a stepping stone for higher orbits.

Coast Guard Adm. Kevin Lunday — whose nomination for commandant was temporarily held up by lawmakers amid a political controversy about policies related to hate symbols — was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday night to lead the sea service.
Lunday had been serving as acting commandant since January after Adm. Linda Fagan was fired from her post. He was formally nominated by President Donald Trump in October to hold the role on a more permanent basis.
Notably, his previous leadership roles in the sea service gave him a strong background in cyber.

Why are nations increasing the size of their re

KNDS Deutschland has entered into a contract with TATRA DEFENCE for the production of 150 hulls for the LEOPARD 2 A8 main battle tank.

Sweden’s Land and Environmental Court has granted approval to Sweden Ballistics (SWEBAL) for the construction of a new trinitrotoluene (TNT) production facility in Nora.

In January 2007, a group of Royal Marines threw together a crazy mission to rescue a wounded Marine trapped inside the compound. To get him back, four Marines strapped themselves to the outside of Apache helicopters and rode back into the compound.
Related: How AC/DC helped save a POW in Mogadishu
The situation arose after an attack on Jugroom Fort went sour quickly. During Operation Glacier, the Brits assaulted in armored vehicles with artillery and Apache support, but the insurgents returned a heavy volume of fire when the Marines dismounted.

Strength Isn’t Loud.

Sgt. Maj. Keith Platt was closely watching as a stream of Army paratroopers hustled out the door of a C-130. As one of the mission’s jumpmasters, Platt stood in the final safety position, closely scanning each of the soldiers for any potential problems in the last moments before they jumped.
After four jumpers safely passed Platt, he saw that the fifth soldier in line had something very wrong: the paratrooper’s static line was cutting across his neck.

Growing up in the 1980s, “M*A*S*H” was more than just a television show for me. It was a window into history, humor, and humanity. I remember sitting in front of the TV, captivated by characters like Hawkeye Pierce, B.J. Hunnicutt, Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan, Radar O’Reilly, and the ever-absurd Frank Burns. Their humor, irreverence, and courage made the horrors of war somehow accessible, balancing laughter with the harsh realities of conflict.

Haleigh Bartos & Sydney Laite, MWI