Washington appears to be searching for an Epic Fury off-ramp. With public patience fading, costs mounting, missile stockpiles dwindling, and naval assets tied up, the administration likely recognizes that it’s time to pivot. Doing so will require political tact and a claim to victory, even if a decisive strategic victory remains elusive. The most likely outcome is a managed de-escalation, followed by declarations of victory.

Washington Wants Out of Iran War

A U.S.

Is This How Putin Plans to Fight Back In Ukraine?: Amidst slowing gains on the front lines and an increasingly aggressive drone campaign by Ukrainian forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to be planning a “Hail Mary” winter offensive that, he hopes, will turn the tide and put Ukraine back on the defensive. After more than four years of war, in what was meant to be a weeks-long “special military operation,” Moscow is now facing a growing list of challenges.

In 2022, Scott Sweetow wrote, “Of Roadside Bombs and Drones: Putin’s Looming Insurgency Problem,” where he argued Ukraine’s fight against Russia would rely on a combination of conventional and asymmetrical insurgent tactics. Four years of combat later, we asked Scott to revisit his arguments.Image: National Information Warfare Center PacificIn your 2022 article, you argued that Ukraine’s tech-driven resistance could rapidly evolve into an insurgency-style force.

John Healey warns of defence funding risks in r

Even Putin’s Biggest Hawks Believe Russia Can’t Win In Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing increasing pressure both at the front and within the country.

The Russian army’s offensive has been stopped, resources are being depleted, and Ukrainian drone strikes are hitting the logistics and economy of the Russian Federation increasingly hard.

Putin at November 2023 Science Fair Russian Government Photo

Reports confirm that even prominent Russian war hawks are increasingly admitting that Moscow cannot achieve an outright military victory in Ukraine.

U.S. Special Operations Command is on the hunt for new technologies to enable a variety of robotic platforms to detect and process adversary signals.
SOCOM’s program executive office for tactical information systems and the SOFWERX innovation hub are spearheading a new market research effort to see what industry has to offer.

Despite reports that U.S. missile stocks are running low, the Americans launched 49 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iranian targets over the last 48 hours. Targets included enemy air defense systems and radar installations. The new American offensive sparked over the downing of an Apache helicopter gunship earlier this week. The crew was rescued, but the shoot down infuriated President Donald Trump, who ordered the execution of strikes by American warships in the region.

At Least 1,000 Tomahawks Have Already Been Employed

Tomahawk Block IV Missile. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aircraft carriers, interceptors, and hardened s

China’s Type 004 aircraft carrier is the fourth of China’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers. It’s also a representation of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) evolving into a true maritime power. Whereas the previous carriers China developed were essentially experiments upon which the PLAN could learn how to conduct complex carrier operations, the Type 004 is a fully loaded combat system prepared to dominate the seas beyond China.

A new battlespace could be opening up somewhere

Sturm, Ruger & Company Inc., better known as simply “Ruger,” has been a staple in American firearms manufacturing since its founding in 1949. Although Ruger started out of a rented machine shop in Southport, Connecticut and maintained its headquarters there, the company quietly moved its headquarters down to North Carolina on Jan. 1, 2026.
Also Read: Canada chooses Colt for new military service carbine
In May 2026, Ruger confirmed to Connecticut Insider that the company’s headquarters had relocated to Mayodan, North Carolina.

Pick-Up Day is the moment of truth for Marine recruits. Sometimes called “Black Friday” among Marines, it marks the first time they meet their drill instructors, who will train them for the next 13 weeks of boot camp.
The U.S. military recently published photos of recruits’ first encounters with their drill instructors at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, and you can almost hear the yelling.
The May 30 photos by Marine Cpl.

Ukraine is attacking Russia with a strategic drone and missile campaign that aims to exploit Russia’s immensity and transform it from a key strength into a fatal weakness. Russia’s immensity makes it difficult to defend.

Russia’s depleted and failing air defense systems are failing to shoot down the Ukrainian drones as they slam into oil storage facilities, supply convoys, and other military targets.

Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.

It looks like all-out war between Iran and the United States has sparked again. The two countries traded attacks over the last 48 hours, harkening back to military action at the beginning of the war. President Donald Trump said Friday that his forces will hit Iran “very hard tonight” again.

It all started with the downing of an American Apache attack helicopter earlier this week. The United States claimed it would retaliate with self-defense strikes, and these started again almost immediately.

Apache Helicopter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Yesterday, the head of the United States Department of Energy stated that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was beginning to increase and was confident it would continue to rise in the coming weeks. The Secretary of Energy said this as the war between the U.S. and Iran continues to ramp up, with both sides continuing attacks against each other. He also discussed current oil prices and offered his view on why they have not risen as much as anticipated.

There is still a widespread sense of unease and uncertainty as the war drags on and the economic ramifications are felt around the world.

President Donald J. Trump declared this morning that the United States will hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” for a third consecutive night, and then went further than he has at any point in this 103-day war: “We will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,” in what seems to be citing Venezuela as the model. Set aside the bravado and take the proposal seriously, because the military planning has reportedly been live for months.

For most of this war, the honest answer to the question of Russian losses was that nobody outside the Kremlin knew, and the Kremlin was not saying. Ukraine’s daily tallies ran high by design, Moscow published almost nothing, and Western intelligence kept its estimates classified or vague.

That era is ending.

The US Army awarded L3Harris a $106m contract for Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletised ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) counter-uncrewed systems.

Airbus Defence and Space and Diehl Defence have signed an agreement to further develop joint capabilities in integrated air and missile defence (IAMD), the companies announced at the ILA Berlin Air Show 2026.

This video describes the military situation in

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has resigned today (11 June), having issued his letter of resignation on the social media platform X.

Canada has spent so many years talking about replacing the Victoria-class submarines that it is easy to forget the project might actually happen. The Canadian Patrol Submarine Project began with a crowded field of twenty-five expressions of interest and has now narrowed to two serious contenders, Germany’s Type 212CD and South Korea’s KSS-III. Both formal proposals are in Ottawa’s hands. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the government intends to identify a preferred supplier before the end of June, though the contract itself is expected much later.

After Randy Bresnik flew combat missions in Kuwait as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he contemplated his next career move.
He recalled a friend who became an astronaut. Knowing someone who made that jump gave Bresnik a bit of confidence. He applied to NASA in 2004, fully understanding the chances of his selection were slim.
Also Read: The Artemis II mission mirrors the military life we already live
“I thought, ‘Wow! If they’ll select him, maybe they’ll select me,’” Bresnik told the Army in 2018. “The odds are so small.

As the war in Ukraine rumbles through its fourth year, the tide appears to be slowly turning in Ukraine’s favor. Several factors, including a sophisticated and expanding Ukrainian strike campaign behind the Russian front line and a fuel crunch inside Russia, have converged, giving Kyiv battlefield momentum for the first time since 2023.

An Expanding Front Line

T-64 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his country’s newest fighter jet to India for sale and joint production, potentially filling a capabilities gap long sought by New Delhi. Speaking to reporters at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum last week, the Russian president said, “We are ready to supply India with this aircraft, to keep developing it. We don’t have any issues or limitations,” Defense News reported.

Years of Defense Cooperation

Su-57 Felon Fighter from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Su-57 Felon Fighter. Image Credit: X Screenshot.

The American war against Iran has entered a weird phase. As the US searches for an exit, Israel and Iran are increasingly freelancing – ignoring America to fight a slow-motion war against each other. Both have long prepared for this and are ideologically committed to it. US President Donald Trump has set in motion forces he can no longer control.

Ned Marsh, Small Wars Journal
The Green Beret’s greatest legacy was never the beret. It was the audacity to imagine something that did not exist.

Stefano D’urso, The Aviationist
The announced enhancements include 25% larger wings, which allows…

CDR Salamander
. . . it is a gift, delivered right to our quarterdeck . . .

Ethan Gossrow, Naval News
The Columbia-class of SSBNs remains amongst the Navy’s top priority as the class continues to see investments

The Army has been on an as-of-yet unending quest for a true light tank or mobile gun capable of landing behind enemy lines alongside airborne troops. Just last year, the service canceled the M10 Booker — a light tank that never was. And that’s hardly the first of its weight class to end up in the Army’s boneyard — there’s the M56 Scorpion and the M50 Ontos, to name two. It hasn’t been since the M551 Sheridan that the service got what it needed out of a light tank, and even then, only kind of.
An M50 Ontos shown with its six 106mm recoilless rifles. Army photo.

Amidst reports of Russia losing more than 5,000 casualties per week in Ukraine, the Russian Army has been quietly building new bases along its border with NATO, most notably along the border near the Baltic and Finland. According to some estimates from NATO military officials, as many as 150,000 troops could be redeployed along the border once the war in Ukraine ends.

Valerie Insinna, BrD
The bill also restores funding for the E-7 Wedgetail after Defense Department leaders signaled their intent to continue the program.

This video describes the military situation in

Boeing has confirmed it is being approached by clients about the possibility of restarting production of the C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport, with company officials describing the discussions as “encouraging.” While the U.S. House Armed Services Committee has directed the Air Force to provide a detailed assessment on whether reopening of production for the aircraft is technically and financially feasible, however, assessments indicate that this will be far from viable.

A few months ago, I attended a panel discussion for a wargame simulating rapid industrial mobilization for armed conflict. Conducted by a leading university, with teams composed of former senior defense officials, the game probed how government and industry collaboration would play out given minimal coordination before the onset of a crisis. On the panel, the defense leaders confessed how infrequently they engaged with industry in real life to plan for a national emergency.

This year’s Army’s Inter Corps T20

Following the emergence of footage confirming that the Iranian Air Force has deployed F-14 Tomcat fighters to support its ongoing war effort against the United States and its strategic partners, significant questions have been raised regarding the extent of the aircraft’s ability to contribute to the war effort. The F-14 is by far the heaviest and longest ranged fighter type in Iranian service, and is the largest fighter ever developed in the Western world. Its sheer size and range reflect highly ambitious performance requirements to provide a long range air defence capability for the U.S.

The next war over Taiwan may be deterred not by aircraft carriers or nuclear arsenals, but by a Dutch lithography machine. ASML, headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, is the sole manufacturer of the extreme ultraviolet lithography systems required to produce the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Without its machines, the most sophisticated foundries on earth — including those of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) — cannot operate. This fact should be at the center of how the United States thinks about deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. Currently, it is not.

Washington is littered with the corpses of grand plans to restore the Merchant Marine. The Trump administration’s Maritime Action Plan is the latest attempt, and to its credit, the most comprehensive since World War II.The plan is the government’s blueprint to resurrect America’s commercial shipping and domestic shipbuilding industry. The goal is straightforward: build enough merchant ships and train enough civilian mariners to sustain the military through war, while cutting reliance on foreign supply chains in peace. With a $1.

Since the outbreak of open hostilities between Iranian forces, and the United States and Israel, in April 2024, followed by multiple subsequent clashes over the following years, the Iranian ballistic missile arsenal has played an indisputably central role in allowing the country to sustain its defences and limit its adversaries’ escalation through deterrence.

Footage released from Iran on June 10 for the first time showed F-14 Tomcat long range fighter aircraft landing after completing a mission, providing the first indication that the aircraft are actively involved the ongoing war effort against the Untied States and its Western and regional strategic partners. While previously Iran’s Vietnam War era F-4 and F-5 fighters, and newer Soviet MiG-29A and Russian Yak-130 fighters, were seen launching multiple sorties against hostile targets, the footage provides the first confirmation of ongoing F-14 operations.

Chinese Type 59D main battle tanks have begun deliveries to the Cambodian Army, with the vehicles appearing to have been drawn from reserves or possibly frontline units in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, which still operates the type widely in rear units. Following concerns that the delivery would cause controversy in neighbouring Thailand, which was engaged in a brief border war with Cambodia,Chinese military attache in Bangkok confirmed that, according to the annual military cooperation agreement, a total of 93 vehicles were being supplied to Cambodia.

Footage released on Chinese social media has shown the latest ever known grouping of Chinese nuclear powered submarines, including four Type 094A ballistic missile submarines and five Type 093B attack submarines. The image was published shortly after confirmation that China now has three shipyards producing nuclear powered submarines, with the second and third facilities, the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group facility and the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, effectively tripling productive capacity, while the original facility in Huludao, Liaoning Province, has been expanded.

Trump Can’t Afford Another Epic Fury Against Iran: Writing on Truth Social on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran had taken too long to negotiate a peace deal and said that the regime would “pay the price.” The comments came after the United States responded to an Iranian drone attack that downed a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon announced the “Cyber Mastery Incentive Pay” (C-MIP) program on Wednesday, an initiative defense officials described as an effort to attract and develop talented cyber operators through monetary compensation.
C-MIP will go into effect Oct. 1, according to the announcement. Officials billed it as part of the Defense Department’s Cybercom 2.0 initiative, an effort meant to modernize the way the military recruits, assesses, trains and retains a digital force.

As part of a string of other recent long-range strikes, Ukraine launched one of its most extensive campaigns on June 10, targeting military and industrial facilities and energy infrastructure hundreds of miles from the front line using domestically manufactured missiles and attack drones.

The latest round of attacks saw targets in the Chuvash Republic, Samara, and other regions severely damaged, and proved that Ukraine has no intention of slowing down its drone campaign.

Image Credit: Office the the President, Ukraine.

For months, the Strait of Hormuz has faced intense disruption, with traffic down by as much as 95%. The narrow waterway, which typically carries one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, has seen commercial traffic plummet amid hostilities between Iran, the United States, and Israel. Despite the disruption, oil prices per barrel have yet to reach some of the most severe estimates. In March, Wall Street analysts predicted that oil could soar to $200 per barrel. Today, Brent Crude hovers around $93 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is about $91.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is actively involved in the U.S. government’s fight to stop the resurgence of the flesh-eating, New World Screwworm parasite infecting pets and livestock in at least two Southwest states.
“Invasive species are a national resilience challenge with significant economic and food supply implications, which DARPA recognizes as a national security risk,” Catherine Campbell, program manager in the agency’s Biological Technologies Office, told DefenseScoop.

Since the early days of the war in Ukraine, man