If you listen closely to the sounds coming from the Donbas on this frigid Winter day, you won’t just hear the whistle of incoming 152mm shells or the persistent buzz of drone engines in the sky. You will hear the sound of Ukrainian men and women’s fingers tapping away, in a muddy dugout near Bakhmut, as they stare at a cracked tablet screen.
These warriors aren’t scanning Netflix or a social media profile. They are looking at a leaderboard. To the left of the screen, a stack of empty crates represents the “freedom weight” of a unit that has run out of thermal optics.

L3Harris Technologies has been awarded a contract worth around $400m to power the US Missile Defense Agency’s THAAD interceptors.

TTTECH North America has secured a contract to supply advanced TSN solutions for the US Army’s HADES aerial ISR initiative.

Dylan Malyasov, Defence Blog
The TRV-150 belongs to a family of cargo drones designed to improve rapid resupply operations across dispersed battlefields

Mikayla Easley, DefenseScoop
The command is interested in industry’s offerings for small cruise missiles following a successful demonstration of Leidos’ Black Arrow weapon from an…

Bill Rivers, RealClearDefense
It Looked Bad for America in the Winter of 1813

Joseph Trevithick, The WarZone
The F-35’s vendor locked software is becoming a greater concern as relations between the U.S. and longtime allies falter.

Carter Johnston, Naval News
A joint urgent requirement identified in the U.S.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has published new images showing its rare J-11BSH long-range twin seat fighter aircraft conducting a flight training exercise under the Southern Theatre Command. The Command is responsible for operations in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, with the PLA remaining in a state of civil war with the Republic of China Armed Forces based on Taiwan Island in the former, while safeguarding territory amid often heated maritime disputes in the latter.

The French security outlet Intelligence Online has reported that a squadron of veteran U.S. Air Force and Royal Netherlands Air Force pilots are flying F-16 fighters for the Ukrainian Air Force. A shortage of trained Ukrainian pilots was identified at an early stage as the main obstacle to integrating F-16s into the Air Force, which has throughout its history operated only Soviet origin fighter types.

If there’s one firm fact about military service, it is that you will eventually get out. Whether you retire or simply leave after a certain amount of time is, for the most part, your decision. The majority of service members actually do just that: they get out when their first contract is over.
Also Read: The grunt’s 250-year quest for a weapon that actually works
Every veteran’s separation story is different. Many leave with education benefits, and some go with disability benefits. Some simply return to civilian life with the unique experience they had while serving.

This video describes the military situation in

The Department of Defense’s acquisition and sustainment culture is pathologically risk-averse. The greatest threat to acquisition transformation is not the Federal Acquisition Regulation. It is not congressional oversight, statutory constraints, insufficient training, or an absence of strategy.The greatest threat is fear. Not fear as emotion, but fear as architecture.The defense acquisition system is not broken. It is functioning precisely as designed. It produces compliance. It produces documentation. It produces defensible process. It produces career survivability.

In the wake of 9/11, the newly established Office of the Director of National Intelligence produced the nation’s first National Intelligence Strategy, a document explicitly intended to guide reforms to the intelligence community and help prevent another terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland. The challenges U.S. intelligence faces today are no less dramatic. While crises in Ukraine, Iran, and Venezuela have each been driven by their own internal logics, together they reflect profound shifts in the balance and nature of power as a new international order begins to take shape.

The most consequential infrastructure decisions in Panama today are often not made at the locks of the canal, but in conference rooms where aviation security software, cargo-routing platforms, and port-scheduling systems converge. Sustained observation of Panama’s logistics and regulatory environment — reinforced by long-standing professional relationships within its institutions — points to a shift in how influence is accumulating.Panama’s strategic relevance is no longer confined to maritime geography.

The U.S. Central Command has published images and operational details showing EA-18G Growler air defence suppression aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 133, and F-35C fifth generation fighters from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 operating from the Nimitz class supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln while on forward deployment near Iran. The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reports that the carrier and its air wing are conducting continuous flight operations in support of regional security objectives.

15 shells a minute. Moving at 500mph.

This video describes the military situation in

The British Ministry of Defence has detailed plans to significantly expand the country’s military presence int he Arctic, including doubling the Royal Marines’ presence in Norway from 1,000 to 2,000 personnel over the next three years, and taking on a central role in NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission.

Why debunking the hype isn’t the same as understanding the requirement

There is a recurring pattern in how we talk about Russian weapons programs, and the MiG-41 interceptor is a clean example of it.
First comes a set of loud, extravagant claims: Mach 5 speeds, anti-satellite weapons, lasers, electromagnetic pulse effects. Those claims are then compared to what our own sixth-generation aircraft concepts promise. Then comes the rebuttal.

Influential aide to Kremlin and Chairman of the Russian Maritime Board Nikolai Patrushev has stated that a permanent naval presence is essential to prevent European countries from obstructing Russian civilian shipping’s access to international waters, stressing that the Navy is ready to use force to protect commercial vessels from Western attacks. He added that Russia is considering establishing a greater permanent presence of naval assets to international shipping lanes to prevent NATO members from attempting to seize or otherwise disrupt its merchant shipping.

2️⃣7️⃣5️⃣ days trapped behind enemy

This video describes the military situation in

Despite tensions at the top, senior defence ins

Roughly 100 American troops arrived in Nigeria today to help train and support the country’s military, a U.S. official confirmed to Task & Purpose. 
The deployment comes nearly two months after the United States carried out a series of strikes in Nigeria’s Sokoto state on Christmas, targeting Islamic State-linked militants. Earlier today a spokesperson for Nigeria’s armed forces said that U.S. service members arrived at Bauchi Airfield in northern Nigeria.

Posted Zero Hedge

The Pentagon is reportedly about to cut ties with Anthropic, makers of Claude, which is already embedded in classified systems
The company insists on implementing guardrails over how the US military can use Claude – specifically when it comes to mass surveillance and autonomous weapons – after it was used in the Maduro raid without their knowledge.

Do women lower military standards?

Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor whose own service and military upbringing informed a lifetime of tough, believable performances, died Sunday evening, Feb. 15, at his home in Middleburg, Virginia. He was 95.
Also Read: 6 War movie legends who died in 2025
Long before Hollywood knew him as Tom Hagen or Lt. Col. Kilgore, Duvall was a military brat, raised in a Navy household shaped by duty, postings, and expectations. His father, Rear Adm. William Howard Duvall, wanted his son to follow him into uniform by attending the Naval Academy.

Army Judo is making its move — and more servi

Italian Typhoons recently intercepted an extrem

Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark have formalised a Defence Cooperation MoU at the Munich Security Conference on 13 February 2026.

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war.

In a recent blog post, Dale Dye recalled standing at a base exchange in San Antonio, chatting with a young airman who’s been in for three years. The kid was wearing seven ribbons on his chest. Dye recognized the National Defense Service Medal, but the rest looked like a jumble of Skittles.
“There was a ribbon for just being in the Air Force and another one for successfully completing basic training,” Dye wrote. “Another one he said had to do with a year he spent out on Okinawa. About the rest he wasn’t really sure but they represented, you know, just military stuff.

The small sized, five megawatt nuclear reactor was transported from California to Utah in the back of a C-17 airlifter.

Jangoulun Singsit, Army Technology
The Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64 has completed a successful live fire trial of the new 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) ammunition

Tyler Rogoway, The WarZone
Micro nuclear reactors are being seen as a way to get critical bases off the grid, but they could also have a major impact on civilian energy production.

NGD
The U.S.

Laura Heckmann, NatDefense
The Marine Corps recently launched a new training program focused on turning hundreds of Marines into small drone operators.

Aviationist
The U.S.

As the United States marks Presidents Day ahead of its 250th anniversary, Americans are invited to reflect on the individuals who carried the weight of the presidency during moments of national peril. Standing tall among them is Abraham Lincoln, a leader remembered not only for preserving the Union and ending slavery, but also for evolving under fire into an active wartime commander.
Also Read: 12 strange and surprising facts about the Civil War
In May 1862, the second year of the Civil War, Lincoln did something few presidents have before or since.

Lithuania will allocate $265m in military aid to Ukraine in 2026, Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas has said.

Sitting at a beachside bar, Jeff Evans looked out into the waters of the South China Sea and wondered if his dad and uncle had ever shared a beer at the same bar.
“The rumor mill in the family was that they had got together once or twice,” Evans said. “And I would only like to hope that they’re like me, and I love the beach.”
Perhaps, he thought, his uncle David Lynn Evans had taken leave from his base outside Ho Chi Minh City and traveled to Nha Trang, where his brother, Norman Francis Evans — Jeff’s father — was stationed.

Finland has secured early funding as part of the ReArm Europe programme to boost defence capability in areas such as dual-use technologies.

This video describes the military situation in

Munich was warmer than Washington this weekend, both in weather and in sentiment. Neither development was widely forecast. The sense of crisis in transatlantic relations was plain, especially on the European side, and the world descended on the Bayerischer Hof hotel to sort it all out. At the Munich Security Conference there was beer to drink, brats to eat, statements to make, and bilateral meetings to hold. February’s foreign policy freneticism kicked off in earnest.And frenetic it was.

The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command has announced that it is prepared to restore nuclear weapons capability for the entire operational B-52H Stratofortress bomber fleet, after limitations imposed by the New START arms control treaty with Russia expired without a follow-on agreement in place.

The blueprint for returning America to be the dominant Maritime nation has been released. It will be Down to the Sea in Ships (again)

“A nation secures its borders, makes things, makes things that makes things, and has a maritime fleet in proportion to the size of its economy.
Otherwise you are a nation of coffee shops. No nation grew to greatness based on coffee shops. Greece was once a mighty nation, and became a nation of coffee shops.
Similarly, no nation ever regulated itself to greatness.

The U.S. Air Force has conduced an unprecedented operation to redeploy a micro nuclear reactor from March Air Reserve Base in Southern California using C-17 transports, with the destination being Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Three C-17s will bring the components of the Ward250 reactor, which is split between eight modules, to Utah, marking the first time the aircraft are used to redeploy reactors.

The United States is preparing a large sale of PAC-3 MSE interceptors for the MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence systems to equip the Republic of China Air Force, which are expected to be used to support the formation of at least one new Patriot battalion. According to sources in Taipei, the missiles are part of a package that includes IBCS command systems, NASAMS short range air defence systems, LTAMDS sensors, and vehicle-mounted counter-drone systems. The prospective package is reported by sources in Taipei to be part of a broader arms procurement plan valued at up to $20 billion.

Space Force wants to double the number of guardians in its ranks, and is making progress on that, having already beat its recruitment goals for this fiscal year.
This past week the six senior enlisted leaders for each branch of the military were testifying before Congress about quality of life in the armed forces. They spoke on a range of issues, from housing to women’s capabilities in combat. Along the way, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna said that the service is currently at 125% of its recruiting goal for the 2026 fiscal year.