Nuclear propulsion for space-bound rockets wasn’t science fiction even in the 1960s, and 60 years later multiple programs are rediscovering this promising technology.
By Mark LewisInside the shift: Trump, defense, and the road to 2025
Big changes are coming to defense in 2025, but the specifics remain uncertain. Catch our highlights and predictions from 2024 in Breaking Defense’s year-end reflections.
It is fitting that the last in our series from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on “Bad Ideas in National Security” should center on the role of ‘grand strategy’ in US foreign and military policy. Readers of history will recall that the pre-eminent grand strategy of the Cold War was ‘containment’ of…
By Matthew Fey
Last year while in Japan for a meeting with senior defense and military leaders, the question most often posed to me was, “How is Yoda?” The questions were in reference to the nickname given to Andrew Marshall, arguably the foremost defense strategist of the past sixty years, who passed away this week at the…
By Andrew Krepinevich
“The Battle of Guadalcanal was a brutal campaign, but shows us what the next fight could be like,” Vice Adm. Brown said. “Usually, the CO (skipper), XO (executive officer) and senior officers – even admirals – were killed immediately – but what happened?”
By Paul McLeary
The Arctic will become increasingly crowded in the coming years, and the US Navy’s Second Fleet is making it a priority to get up there more often.
By Paul McLeary
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States a new arms race would provoke a “quick and effective” Russian response and threatened NATO’s members. Democrat leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives predict an increased risk of “an unconstrained nuclear arms race.” Is it true? Has President Trump fired the first shot in a Cold…
By Matthew Costlow
How DISA’s new Indo-Pacific network meets the Great Power threat
Lumen is not just replacing aged transport pipes for the DoD, it is transitioning and transforming network capabilities for better speed, latency, availability, affordability, and security.
Just as AirLand Battle was aimed straight at the former Soviet Union, with its massed mechanized armies, Multi-Domain Operations is aimed straight at Vladimir Putin’s Russia, with its long-range missiles, electronic/cyber warfare expertise, and Little Green Men.
By Colin Clark
NATO is dusting off Cold War concepts such as deterrence, rapid reinforcement and battle readiness as it faces a Russian destabilization campaign. Our contributor James Kitfield is traveling with Gen. James Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as the Marine general attends the NATO summit in Warsaw. Kitfield spoke with Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, about the Russian threat…
By James Kitfield
“Look, the Obama administration indicated that Russia was in violation of the INF Treaty four years ago,” said a staffer from the House Armed Services Committee. “If the treaty’s being violated, we have to take steps to ensure that stability some other way.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Within the next several weeks, both Russia and NATO will kick off some of the largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. Hundreds of thousands of troops, tens of thousands of vehicles, hundreds of aircraft, and dozens of warships will charge into action in a series of mock engagements stretching from…
By Paul McLeary
It would be wrong for Europeans to conclude that President Trump wants to withdraw all US forces from Europe. The President simply wants the US military to be NATO’s security guarantor of last resort, not NATO’s “first responder.”
By Doug Macgregor
As NATO takes unprecedented steps to punish Russia, US Defense Secretary Mattis calls Russian attack in UK “attempted murder.”
By Colin Clark
Our partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies resumes with this piece by Seth Jones, part of a CSIS series on the National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review and the Missile Defense Review. As our intrepid readers would know, Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Undersecretary of State…
By Seth Jones
If the United States cannot better align its actions, messaging, and strategy and do it in a unified fashion — as it did during the Cold War — it risks reductions to military readiness and our ability to effectively compete with adversaries.
By William Mackenzie