During World War II, while American soldiers fought across continents, the home front became a battleground of its own. Saboteurs, spies, and covert networks tried to exploit weaknesses in America’s defenses. At the very moment Nazi infiltrators slipped ashore in 1942 as part of Operation Pastorius, another secret war was already underway, one fought on the New York waterfront.
There, the U.S. government turned to an unlikely partner to protect the nation’s supply lifeline: organized crime.

Combat engineers of the Korean People’s Army 528th Engineer Regiment have removed mines on an area of almost 42,400 hectares of territory in the Russian Kursk region, destroying over 1.5 million explosives, according to a statement by the region’s Governor Alexander Khinshtein. “Combat engineers from the friendly republic have cleared almost 42,400 hectares of our territory from mines and destroyed over 1.5 million explosive devices. This is invaluable help in the work, without which our borderline territory cannot be rebuilt,” he stated.

A leaked U.S. wargame assessment known as the Overmatch Brief has concluded that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army could sink the U.S. Navy’s new Gerald Ford class supercarriers in a potential conflict over Taiwan. Multiple simulations showed that Chinese forces could destroy or disable the new carriers in a wide range of ways, and could do so before American air power was able to influence the course of hostilities.

This video describes the military situation in

The US Army and Navy have released their motiva

A Royal Thai Army VT-4 main battle tank has suffered serious damage during clashes with Cambodian forces, after the vehicle was conducting a direct fire mission against Cambodian positions in disputed border regions. The tank’s 125mm main gun reportedly ruptured, leaving the barrel shattered, with the tank’s fire control–related targeting system and its laser warning system also reported to have been damaged. Reports indicate that the crew survived unharmed.

U.S. Special Forces in November boarded a cargo ship in the international waters in the Indian Ocean, securing dual use goods that were being shipped from China to Iran. The operation was reported by the Wall Street Journal on December 12, with U.S. officials describing it as maritime interdiction aimed at slowing Iran’s attempts to rebuild parts of its missile arsenal. The cargo was reported to have been removed and destroyed, although analysts have speculated that it may have been seized for study.

CSAR indicates air strikes into Venezuela and Colombia may be imminent

The arrival of specialized CSAR indicates a requirement to quickly rescue air crews that may be entering the surface to air missile capabilities of Venezuela and Colombia. CSAR capabilities ensure a quick extraction if an aircrew has to bail out.
In addition to the CSAR resources, additional tankers are arriving in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The United Kingdom is no longer capable of running its nuclear submarine program, as years of mismanagement have seriously eroded fleet availability rates and a wide range of other performance metrics, according toformer director of nuclear policy at the Ministry of Defence Rear Admiral Philip Mathias. Sharply criticising the state of the submarine fleet, the former admiral argued that the fleet has suffered from “shockingly low availability” rates, with budget cuts and a “huge failure” in the management of key personnel having exacerbated the problem.

The Ministry of Defence has unveiled the new Mi

Public Domain

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll has been reportedly removed from U.S. negotiating team in Ukraine.
Regional media is reporting the move is due to Secretary of War’s ‘paranoia’ about Driscoll taking over DOW.
The move comes on the heels of our reporting on LTG Keith Kellogg (USA, Ret) also was removed due to his leaking of the Trump peace plan to the Zelenskiy regime prematurely.

If you have been waiting patiently for the official word on your 2026 paycheck, you can finally stop refreshing the Reddit feed. The numbers are in, and for the vast majority of the force, the news is pretty good, if less exciting than the last two years. As of early December 2025, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference report has confirmed a 3.8% pay raise for active duty and reserve troops. It does track with civilian wage growth, even if it does not quite match the historic highs of the past three years.

Check out why over 10,000+ customers join Odoo

Rain failed to dampen spirits as Her Royal High

Sailors should expect that the Navy will once again require them to take physical fitness tests twice a year, as mandated by the Pentagon, the service’s top enlisted sailor told Task & Purpose.
“What I believe is going to happen — because the [Navy Administrative Message] has not been released yet — is we will go to two PT tests a year,” said Master Chief Officer of the Navy John Perryman. “For the majority of our sailors outside of our combat arms ratings, it will be the PT test we take now. It will just be given twice a year.”
The Navy’s Physical Readiness Test involves a 1.

US President Donald Trump is seeking to reshape how the US operates in the defence space through the FY26 NDAA.

The Queen’s new equerry, Major Rob Treasu

U.S. Special Operations Command is gearing up to experiment with agentic artificial intelligence capabilities, and it’s now soliciting information from industry and other organizations that want to demo their technologies.
SOCOM will host an experimentation event in April at Avon Park Air Force Range in Florida to identify and assess emerging tech and give participants the opportunity to gain insight and feedback from special operations forces, according to an RFI released Friday.

If you could flip a switch and feel like a 30-year-old again, you would’ve done it yesterday. 
You’ve choked down caffeine like it’s rocket fuel. You’ve done the 10-step morning routines, cutting carbs, the 5 a.m. miracles, the keto crusades, the ice-bath insanity. Still dragging by lunch. 
Face it: if sheer grit and Google searches were enough, you’d be a walking dynamo right now. You’re not. The reason? Your mitochondria are on life support. 
Modern life is a cellular mugging—stress, bad food, blue light, all stealing what your mitochondria are screaming for.

Multiple provisions put forward by the House Defense Modernization Caucus made it into Congress’ compromise version of the annual defense policy bill for fiscal 2026 — including proposals that are intended to advance the U.S. military’s counter-drone arsenal, empower the defense innovation ecosystem and spark more seamless opportunities for collaboration between industry and the Pentagon.
Reps. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and Rob Wittman , R-Va.

The Ultra is described as a cross between a dro

I still remember the early 2000s, playing video games in my basement bedroom and counting down to high school graduation. When it came to shooters and strategy games, one metric was the most important of all to me and my friends: Realism. We wanted realistic military games.
Read Next: The inside joke names soldiers have for different unit patches
I remember the rumors that World War II veterans had seen their grandkids play “Medal of Honor” games and had flashbacks at the D-Day level.

This video describes the military situation in

Marine Sgt. Derrick McMillian, a recruiter based in New York City, did not hesitate when he saw a man fall onto the subway tracks in Manhattan recently.
McMillian quickly jumped onto the tracks and worked with others to pull the man to safety before an approaching train arrived, a Marine Corps news release says.
“I didn’t want to be a bystander,” McMillian said in the release. “Seeing the man fall, I knew I had to help. There was no time to waste with the train coming.

Forged in Silence, Proven in Battle — Militar

On Dec. 4, 2025, the Swiss Armed Forces announced that the SIG Sauer P320 was selected as the new service pistol to replace the SIG Sauer P220 (adopted as the P75). This is in spite of the fact that the P320 did not meet “all the mandatory criteria.”
Some might attribute this to nationalism; others might not understand why that is, but the Swiss reasoning for the P320 selection is very simple and surprisingly un-Swiss.
Related: A new patent says the Sig Sauer P320 is unsafe—but offers a fix
To start, let’s break down SIG Sauer and the Swiss connection.

Smartshooter has received a contract to supply its SMASH 3000 Fire Control System for technology evaluation by the ADF.

Saab has secured a contract from BAE Systems Hägglunds to supply the UTAAS sight and fire control system for the CV90.

Naval Technology
GE Aerospace’s Marine Engines & Systems division has secured orders for eight LM2500 marine gas turbine engines to equip the US Navy’s next two Flight III Arleigh…

The Hill
The U.S. Navy has submitted its report on the potential punishments for Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.

Bloomberg
The US Navy is turning to Palantir Technologies Inc.

Naval T.
The contract allows the U.S. Navy to buy APKWS guidance kits over five years to address rising demand in the U.S. and abroad.

Steve Cohen, RealClearDefense
Just a couple weeks after Thanksgiving, about seven million people will watch what is known as “America’s game”

Russia and multiple NATO member states have continued to expand their military buildups in the Arctic, as rising temperatures and receding ice levels are expected to expose vast energy and mineral resources which both sides are expected to seek to claim. As the Arctic has emerged as a central theatre for geopolitical conflict between Russia and the West, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Alexander Moiseyev has provided new insight into recent developments in the region. “I must say that the situation in the Arctic region remains difficult.

This video describes the military situation in

Planners today struggle to properly apply operational art in large scale war — and they don’t fully realize why. It takes something like firsthand experience in a strategic level wargame against a human red team to fully realize how much understanding of classical military art has been lost.The 21st century has witnessed the resurgence of great-power competition, with the Indo-Pacific theater emerging as a focal point for geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China.

The UK Armed Forces women’s football team

The U.S. Air Force has deployed two B-52H Stratofortress nuclear capable bombers for operations alongside Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighters, with the aircraft staging a joint show of force on December 11. Japanese government sources Tokyo described the show of force as a signal of alliance cohesion, while U.S. defense officials familiar with regional operations have confirmed the choice to deploy the B-52 was specifically intended to demonstrate combined long-range strike readiness.

To say that 2012 was a tough year for Ed Bambas is putting it extremely mildly. He lost his pension from General Motors, lost his family’s health care coverage at a time when his wife was sick, and the company took all but $10,000 of his life insurance. He was forced to sell his home and all his property to help him and his wife survive. Bambas took a job at a Meijer outside of Detroit, Michigan in order to make ends meet.
That’s the story he recounted to Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer and his 7.8 million followers in a video posted to his TikTok on Dec. 1.

The Croatian Defence Ministry has finalised the the procurement of 44 Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks from Germany, with a ceremony marking the occasion attended by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The acquisition will allow the Croatian Army to phase its Soviet-designed T-54/55 tanks out of service, which date back to the 1940s, and field a NATO-standard vehicle interoperable with its allies’ forces.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces have conducted an air patrol in the Asia-Pacific region, at a time of growing tensions in Northeast Asia and ongoing conflict between Russia and NATO in Ukraine. Chinese H-6K medium range bombers and Russian Tu-95MS intercontinental range bombers carried out an eight hour air patrol over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the Western Pacific Ocean. China and Russia are the only countries which currently produce strategic bombers, namely the H-6 and the intercontinental range Tu-160 respectively.

The Department of Justice released yesterday footage of U.S. special operations forces being fast roped onto the deck of an oil tanker off the shore of Venezuela. The tanker was seized by the U.S.
We have a lot of experience with SOF aviation at AFP, and this is great video – imagine however, the same ship takedown at night on goggles in rough seas!
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Public Domain

Guest post by George Agese
The credibility of the United States military depends not only on its ability to defend the nation but also on the integrity of its leaders. Allegations of misconduct against senior officers must be addressed swiftly and impartially, or else confidence in the institution erodes. The ongoing investigation into General Mark Milley USA (retired), ordered on January 29, 2025, has now dragged on for more than 300 days without resolution.

The Marine Corps is continuing to build its small unmanned aircraft system operator roster as it ramps up drone implementation across the force, according to a service message and official.
The Corps published its annual enlisted retention campaign on Thursday which outlines several efforts the service uses to help keep Marines in the force. For the second year in a row, it listed sUAS operators as a critical role that troops can transfer into from other military occupational specialties.

Flagship of Standing Nato Maritime Group One, H

Lithuania’s government is investing heavily in defense technology and surveillance systems via a strategic security plan to thwart what it views as escalating hybrid attacks involving balloons and drones from Russia-allied Belarus, which rejects allegations of wrongdoing.
While those neighboring nations established diplomatic relations in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union dissolved, their modern relationship is increasingly tense. Lithuania declared a national emergency this week, due to threats from meteorological balloons that it says violated its airspace and were sent from Belarus.

Does anyone do tradition quite like the Royal N

Since joining NATO in 2024, Sweden has taken on a more prominent role in European security. Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson joined Ryan in Washington to discuss how Sweden is supporting Ukraine, rebuilding its own military with more resources, and pushing for a faster, more agile defense acquisition system.Image: Lance Cpl. Frank Sepulveda Torres via DVIDS
The post Getting Faster, Stronger, Ready: Sweden’s Defense Minister on Reform and Resolve appeared first on War on the Rocks.

If you grew up watching 1980s action movies, you were sold a lie about the M60 machine gun. Rambo convinced an entire generation of future infantrymen that the M60 was the closest we’d get to a magic wand of destruction, and we couldn’t wait to get our grubby little hands on one.
They made it look like it could be fired one-handed, shirtless, while screaming and throwing your emotional baggage at the enemy; don’t forget the belt of ammo draped casually over an oiled-up bicep. You didn’t even need cover or concealment, just grip it and rip it, son.

Space Force Tech Sgt. Garry Springle said he would not be alive were it not for a smartwatch that the service issued him for an ongoing fitness study it’s conducting. 
Not long after starting the study, Springle noticed the smartwatch consistently told him he was falling short of the Space Force’s fitness standards. Specifically, the watch was saying he was not meeting his required intensity minutes — a measure of heartbeats during exercise. 
In order to meet the intensity requirement, Springle needed to get his heart rate up to 70% of the maximum rate for his age.