Many European countries are looking to replenish national stockpiles having donated thousands of rounds to Ukraine.

Ana Belen Montes spent 17 years spying for Cuba. She memorized massive amounts of data in the Defense Intelligence Agency and then transcribed it in notes to the Castros. The Cubans likely passed the bulk of that information on to Russia, Iran, and other buyers.
And she didn’t do it for money. She wasn’t blackmailed. She wasn’t forced or coerced. Cuba got the information nearly for free.
But they did try to satisfy one big ask by Ms. Montes: When she got lonely, she requested a lover. But, to be blunt, it turned out that Cuban intelligence sucks at matchmaking.

Finland will add another 40 6×6 CAVS vehicles to the 91 that Patria have already delivered, with Sweden also taking on units in the past year.

The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act includes multiple provisions that will push the Pentagon to use in-the-making and likely disruptive quantum computing capabilities to support emerging U.S. national security missions.
Broadly, quantum information science (QIS) and related technologies encompass the investigation and application of complex phenomena happening at atomic and subatomic levels to process and transmit data and information.

With a German minister saying Saudi Arabian Eurofighter combat aircraft have been intercepting Houthi missiles bound for Israel, Berlin has dropped its previous opposition to a follow-on sale to the Kingdom. (BAE Systems)
Germany has dropped its long-standing opposition to a follow-on sale of Eurofighter combat aircraft to Saudi Arabia, it was reported on 8 January.
German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock announced the shift in policy in comments made to journalists during a visit to Israel, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters, and other news agencies reported.

Finland has ordered 13 more Sisu GTP 4×4 off-road vehicles in addition to the 31 it is already procuring. (Sisu Auto)
Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen has authorised the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) to order 13 more Sisu GTP 4×4 off-road vehicles worth EUR9.7 million (USD10.6 million), the defence ministry announced in a press release on 27 December.
This is in addition to the 31 Sisu GTPs sold to the FDF in 2020 and 2022.

It is reported that several days passed between US Defense Secretary Lloyd J Austin’s hospitalisation and President Joe Biden being informed.

The Israeli army announced the discovery of a Hamas “cruise missile factory” in a tunnel under the city in the northern Gaza Strip.

Soldiers of the 933rd Nahal Brigade and Israeli special forces recently discovered a tunnel leading to Hamas’s underground weapons factory in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip.
“Soldiers found parts that show that members of the Hamas group learned how to operate and manufacture precision components and strategic weapons with instructions from Iran,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on July 7 /1 said.

Germany announced its readiness to approve the sale of the fourth-generation fighter Eurofighter Typhoon to Saudi Arabia after 5 years of blocking this.

“The German government does not object to the UK considering selling more Eurofighter fighter jets,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a visit to Israel on November 7, referring to the agreement Britain and Saudi Arabia reached in 2018, in which London will deliver 48 Eurofighter Typhoons fighters to Riyadh.

The potential market for parts and systems harvested from the MRH90 Taipan is large as 13 operators continue to operate 392 NH90 variants worldwide. (Commonwealth of Australia)
The Australian government has started the process of disassembling its fleet of NHIndustries MRH90 ‘Taipan’ helicopters.
Janes understands that the decision to dismantle and scrap the 45-strong fleet was made after no other countries or parties expressed interest in acquiring the helicopters as a whole.

Ukrainian officials said Russia launched a large-scale attack with cruise and ballistic missiles, forcing Kyiv to activate a nationwide air defense alert.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command activated a nationwide air defense alert from 6 a.m. today (11 a.m.), warning that a series of Russian cruise and ballistic missiles were targeting the country. The specific target and number of weapons deployed by Russia have not been determined.

Starved of funding and ammunition from its Western allies, Ukraine faces a difficult 2024 as Russia moves to a total war economic footing.

The 120 mm guided mortar round that was recovered in North Kivu province in the DRC in June 2023. (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo via the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo)
Sophisticated guided mortar rounds are being used to attack the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) in the eastern province of North Kivu, according to the latest report from the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

I led a special forces company outside Mosul in 2005 training Iraqi soldiers and hunting insurgents, an exercise in futility that left me pondering what brought me there. A decade later, I helped write the U.S. Army’s history of the war, a cathartic experience that provided me with many of the answers I sought. Our research spanned five years, and we declassified more than 30,000 pages of documents and conducted more than 300 interviews with individuals ranging from privates to presidents to understand what went wrong.

A news broadcast with file footage of North Korea’s artillery firing, at a railway station in Seoul on 5 January 2024. North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands that day, said the South Korean government. (Jung Yeon-je /AFP via Getty Images)
North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells into waters near the Seoul-controlled Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands early on 5 January, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Colonel Lee Sung-jun disclosed in a statement to reporters on the same day.

Australia’s extension of a sustainment contract for its Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers (pictured) is expected to support further upgrades for both variants. Australia will potentially operate the Super Hornets until at least 2030. (Commonwealth of Australia)
The Australian government has signed a AUD600 million (USD402.6 million) contract extension with Boeing Defence Australia to sustain and upgrade the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF’s) F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler fleet.

With three of 32 AW149 helicopters so far received, Poland has cleared the type for operations. (Armaments Agency)
Poland has formally cleared for operational use the first of the Leonardo AW149 armed battlefield utility helicopters it has received.
The Armaments Agency (AA) made the announcement on 5 January, saying that with deliveries of 32 helicopters ongoing, the AW149s so far received “passed all required tests and acceptances and have been approved for operation”.

The F-86 Saber not only changed the course of the air phase of the Korean War but also left a lasting legacy in military aviation.

Comprehensive analysis of the magnificent  F-86 Sabre, including its development, capabilities and historical comparisons.
The emergence of the F-86 Saber in response to the needs of the Korean War
The advent of the Korean War in 1950 marked the beginning of an era dominated by aerial combat between jet aircraft.

U.S. Army Spc. Jeffrey Santana, assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, provides security while dismounted in the amber zone, Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Nov. 18, 2022. (Sgt. Julio Hernandez/U.S. Army).
Iraq’s prime minister is calling to end the American military presence in his country, following an airstrike in Baghdad that killed a leader of the Harakat-al-Nujaba militia, one of the militias that make up the Popular Military Forces.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Juliana Londono)
Beale Air Force Base’s 9th Reconnaissance Wing and 940th Air Refueling Wing just executed an ‘elephant walk‘ — a readiness exercise that also showcases the airframes a base supports. Seeing the U-2 Dragon Ladies and the gloss black T-38A trainers (used to build U-2 pilot time and proficiency) lined up on Beale’s runway, along with resident KC-135Rs and the chase cars that help the U-2 land, is truly a sight to behold, and one that is somewhat bittersweet.

(Photo by Senior Airman Juliana Londono/U.S. Air Force).
A U-2 spy plane is by definition not meant to be seen. It’s at its best operationally when it’s in the sky, tens of thousands of feet above the surface, watching its targets.
That said, they also look pretty cool when lined up on a runway as a show of “air power” as the Air Force put it.
On Thursday, Jan. 4 the U.S. Air Force’s units at Beale Air Force Base in California staged an “elephant walk,” essentially bringing out all of its planes for one long showcase of what it can do.

Joe Buccino, RealClearDefense

The South Korean military said North Korea fired more than 60 artillery rounds toward the waters around the forward island of Yeonpyeong for the second time this week.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on January 6 that North Korea had fired more than 60 artillery shells into the waters surrounding Yeonpyeong Island, west of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea did not record any damage, and the shells fell into waters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at Israeli military facilities in “initial retaliation” for the death of the deputy leader of Hamas in Lebanon.

On January 6, the Israeli army announced that the Meron area in the north of the country suffered “about 40 raids” originating from Lebanese territory.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah force, an ally of Hamas, later said it had launched 62 rockets targeting an Israeli military watchtower. Hezbollah affirms that this is an important base for the Israeli army, used by the enemy for “air traffic monitoring” and “aviation control”.

Ukrainian officials said the country’s army had airstrikes and destroyed a Russian command center located at Saky airport on the Crimean peninsula.

In a post on social networks in the Crimean peninsula.
“Over the past few days, the Ukrainian air force has carried out several successful attacks on enemy targets in Crimea,” he said.
Accordingly, the Ukrainian Air Force is said to have launched an airstrike against Saky airport in the western part of the Crimea peninsula.

1986’s Top Gun was the highest-grossing film that year and cemented Tom Cruise’s Maverick into pop culture. Combine quotes like “Talk to me, Goose” and, “I feel the need, the need, for speed,” with aviator sunglasses and leather jackets and everyone knows exactly what you’re referencing. The 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, picked up the torch from its predecessor and became the 12th-highest-grossing film of all time. Vital to the success of both movies were their respective Navy technical advisors. These real-life TOPGUN instructors even had cameos in the films they helped make.

Detailed exploration of the possible cancellation of the expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and its comparison to the F-22.

Critical analysis of the feasibility of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
With an astronomical investment of 1.75 billion dollars, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is positioned as the most expensive in the history of world arms. This figure, which almost doubles the annual defense budget of the  United States, raises inevitable questions about the relevance of its continuation.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin listens to a question while speaking with reporters after a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Pentagon, Monday, May 23, 2022. (Alex Brandon/AP).
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent much of this past week in the hospital, the Pentagon announced Friday evening. The hospitalization came as a result of complications following an elective procedure, according to the Department of Defense. 
Austin was hospitalized on Monday, Jan. 1 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Royal Navy
The U.K. Royal Navy is so short on sailors that it is reportedly having to decommission two Type 23 class frigates in order to staff its new class of frigates. If this comes to pass, it would reduce the service’s current fleet of 11 Type 23s to nine. That the frigates may be decommissioned comes at a time when the Royal Navy’s major surface combatants are in high demand, including in the Red Sea.

World War II-era munitions found on the seafloor off of Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego).
The waters off of the coast of Los Angeles are a major dumping site for chemical materials and as it turns out also munitions and military waste from World War II. Researchers found large amounts of depth charges, boxes of ammunition and military smoke devices on the seafloor.
That’s according to findings shared by scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, released on Friday, Jan. 5.

So much for the Biden administration’s transparency – 
Unbeknownst to the American public during the Ukraine-Russia war, the Israeli-Hamas war, tensions with China, and attacks on US military in the Middle East, the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense intentionally chose not to inform Americans that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was out of commission.
The Secretary was hospitalized on Monday because of complications following an elective surgery, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Francis P.

Hunt, CNN State of the Race U.S.

The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
Army pilot Garrett Illerbrunn, badly wounded by a proxy militia of Iran, is a casualty of failed U.S. deterrence.

Brent Ramsey, RCD

John J. Waters, Spectator The lessons of war were grand, but my experience and those wartime heroes didn’t prepare me for life at home.

Brigadier General Don Bolduc (USA, Ret) asked for President Trump’s endorsement in his 2022 NH Senate race, but now endorses Nikki Haley.
Independent journalist Laura Loomer, who has been said will be selected as Trump’s press secretary if elected, put her take on the situation.

The COVID-19 Biological War
The Son Tay Raid

The post BG Don Bolduc Endorses Nikki Haley, After Taking Trump Endorsement appeared first on Armed Forces Press.

Russian Military Thought
Throughout the Cold War period, the Soviet Union saw itself as the spearhead of a historical struggle that would lead to a confrontation between the “capitalist” system and “progressive forces.” This perception of a permanent and inescapable war led the Soviets to study war in a quasi-scientific way, and to structure this thinking into an architecture of military thought that has no equal in the Western world.
The problem with the vast majority of our so-called military experts is their inability to understand the Russian approach to war.

The J-31 has been related to the Chengdu J-20 in technical comparisons, although with notable differences. An interesting aspect is adopting a double-wheel landing gear in the nose, suggesting its possible use on aircraft carriers.

A detailed analysis of Pakistan’s possible acquisition of the J-31 to renew its air fleet and its strategic implications.

Pakistan Air Force Modernization: A Pivot Towards Chinese Technology
Modernization of the Pakistan Air Force continues with firm and determined steps.

Ukrainian State Emergency Services photos
Ukrainian sappers have been very busy during this conflict and on Friday found themselves working to disarm the warhead of a Kh-47 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile. It was one of 10 that were claimed to have been shot down over Kyiv on January 2nd.
The Mobile Rescue Center’s explosive ordnance disposal team (DSNC) from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) worked in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district to neutralize the warhead, the service said.

USAF. USAF
U.S. Special Operations Command has laid out requirements for a new bolt-action Extreme Long Range Sniper Rifle that could replace its existing .50 caliber precision rifles. American special operators currently use variants of the iconic Barrett semi-automatic .50 caliber rifle and the less well-known bolt-action McMillan Mk 15 in the same caliber.
Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Center (SOF AT&L) first put out its sources sought notice for the Extreme Long Range Sniper Rifle (ELR-SR) in December.

In the realm of defense technology, 2023 witnessed the emergence of outstanding weapons and military equipment, each making a mark in its own right. Let’s delve into the winners across various categories, from the highly anticipated to the unexpected, and explore the effectiveness, scarcity, and cost of these remarkable assets.
1. The Most Anticipated: F-16 Fighter Jets

In the spotlight of anticipation for 2023 were the F-16 multi-purpose fighter jets.

Four crew members of an Air Force B-1B supersonic bomber safely ejected before their aircraft crashed Thursday during an attempt to land at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Photo by Photo by Tech. Sgt. Chris Hibben.
Four crew members of an Air Force B-1B supersonic bomber safely ejected before their aircraft crashed Thursday during an attempt to land at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. 
The bomber was assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth, which is one of the Air Force’s two B-1B bases. The bomber crashed at approximately 5:50 p.m.

Chinese internet
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) says it’s lining up a purchase of Chinese-made Shenyang FC-31 stealth fighters, a move that could make it the first operator of the medium-weight combat aircraft and which would add another type to an already highly diverse inventory.
Preparations to buy the FC-31 were announced by the PAF boss, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Sidhu, during a recent ceremony to showcase newly acquired types (not including the FC-31) at an undisclosed airbase in Pakistan.

The Space Force is on the cusp of releasing its first-ever strategy that outlines exactly how the service plans to buy from and partner with the commercial space sector for its missions.
“We are days away, hopefully, from signing a commercial strategy,” Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, said during a Mitchell Institute webinar Friday. The strategy will offer guidance for how commercial technology can be integrated into the Space Force and which capabilities industry can provide as a service.

John Davies – CYOW Airport Watch via Wikicommons
You gotta be shitting me (YGBSM) – no student would ever do that?!
At about 2,500 feet above ground, upside down, with the speed decaying below 100 knots (kts), the stick started to shake as our CT-114 Tutor jet trainer started to stall. In the right seat, my hands left my lap and hovered just inches away from my set of controls, but not quite ready to take over – unless things got worse than being out of speed, inverted.
Then, things got worse. Way worse.
“Okay, forced landing checklist: Throttle off.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has found no evidence of any crime behind a video that spread in 2023 of Marine Sgt. Jonathon Fehr claiming he helped bury a body after a murder at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.(Screenshot/TikTok).
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has found no evidence of any crime behind a video that spread last year of a Marine claiming he helped bury a body after a murder at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, an NCIS official said.

Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock assumed command of U.S. Cyber Command’s elite Cyber National Mission Force in a ceremony Friday.
Mahlock, the first Marine Corps officer to lead the CNMF, takes over for Maj. Gen. William Hartman, who will assume the deputy commander role at Cybercom and pin on a third star.
The CNMF’s chief mission is to defend the nation from significant cyber threats. It is made up of 39 joint teams and thought to have the Department of Defense’s most talented cyber operators at the cutting-edge of their profession.

Nick sat down with Mike Kofman to discuss where the Russo-Ukrainian conflict stands at the start of 2024. They talked through the situation on the front lines, naval developments in the Black Sea and Russia’s cynical diplomacy, as well as Moscow’s growing munitions advantage and what went wrong with the Ukrainian offensive. Don’t forget to listen to “All Quiet on the Second Front,” an amazing new show that supported this episode to receive a promo code for a limited number of free War on the Rocks memberships.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has received a solid boost to its comprehensive combat capabilities amid a deteriorating security environment, experts said on Wednesday, after China’s aviation industry ended 2023 with a warplane production that exceeded expectations.
Focused on empowering the military with high-end equipment and development, subsidiaries of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), including Chengdu Aircraft Industrial (Group) Co Ltd.