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When will fate call you? What will you do? Will you take action on your own, or wait for someone to tell you to act? Remember the first terrorist attack at the shopping mall in Kenya back in 2013? Well, in 2019 there was another, when a member of the British SAS probably saved hundreds because…it was the right thing to do to run towards the gunfire. I give you a man known by his nom de guerre: Christian Craighead, The Attack: On the afternoon of January 15, 2019, five Al-Shabaab militants stormed the DusitD2 hotel and shopping complex using suicide bombings, grenades, and automatic rifles, killing 21 civilians and 1 General Service Unit (GSU) officer. The Man: Stationed in Kenya to train local forces, Craighead was off-duty when he learned of the attack from a friend. He drove to the scene in his pickup truck armed with combat gear, a rifle, and a pistol. The Moment: Entering the complex initially on his own—and later coordinating with Kenyan police, security units, and allied personnel—he helped evacuate hundreds of civilians, cleared buildings floor-by-floor, and engaged the gunmen through a multi-hour standoff. Aftermath & Honors: Craighead was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) by the British military for his bravery. Of note, go to the 25-minute mark of the video below to hear how he was received in the USA in 2019…and look at what his own nation is doing to him...just because he wants to write a book about what was seen by everyone as it took place. For some reason, the UK government hates its best. On top of going after geriatric SAS on trumped-up charges related to decades old “Troubles” issues, and now this. Mrs Justice Steyn has today refused Mr Craighead (a pseudonym) permission to publish a memoir that covers that Incident. As a member of the UKSF, Mr Craighead signed a contract which provides that he cannot publish such a memoir without Express Prior Authorisation in Writing (“EPAW”). He sought EPAW to publish a memoir that described the Incident, on the grounds that the Incident – and his role in it – were widely known and discussed in the public domain (including in extensive media coverage at the time). He relied, in support of that argument, on the fact that he was actively encouraged to speak about the Incident by his superiors, including to 640 teenage army recruits. During the course of the hearing the Secretary of State accepted that it was not appropriate to maintain the ordinary Neither Confirm Nor Deny position in relation to the Incident and accepted that Mr Craighead could state that he was the individual involved in it. The Secretary of State accepted that the claim was arguable but submitted that publication would be harmful to the operational effectiveness of UKSF. In particular he argued that publication would harm morale and would damage relations between the UKSF and other states. Mrs Justice Steyn found that, by virtue of signing the contract, Mr Craighead had qualified his Article 10 rights in two respects: first, he had to seek permission to publish (this was agreed); second the weight to be lent to his Article 10 rights, when considering the lawfulness of any refusal to publish, was diminished. Given the gravity of the harm that the Secretary of State argued would follow from publication, the Judge found that a “precautionary approach” was justified: the decision to refuse permission to publish was a proportionate interference with Mr Craighead’s freedom of expression. The hearing was held in private because of the sensitivity attaching to the Secretary of State’s evidence. As well as the open judgment, the Judge prepared a Confidential Schedule addressing matters that could not be addressed in public. FFS…there is nothing classified about what he did. It was all open source. This stinks of bureaucratic mindlessness and spite. That is from 2023, and it still has not been approved for publication in the UK. The MoD claims that Craighead’s book contains an alleged breach of a confidentiality contract that he had freely signed on joining the UK’s special forces. An interim injunction was issued this month, with government barristers returning to the high court on Thursday to ask for it to be extended until the legal claim is resolved. Oliver Sanders KC, for the MoD, told the court in London the claim that Craighead had breached the contract was “straightforward and really unarguable”. The book has been published in the US but Sanders said that this was not relevant because “the only reason it is available overseas is through the defendant’s own wrongdoing”. The good news is the USA fought for its independence from the UK, so his book, One Man In: The Explosive Firsthand Account of the Lone Special-Ops Commando Who Fought Off a Major Terrorist Attack in Kenya, was published here last month. Craighead, however, is still under considerable legal jeopardy for publishing it. His American publisher, Simon & Schuster, is largely protected. America’s First Amendment protections and a law called the SPEECH Act make foreign libel judgments or censorship orders (like a British MOD injunction) unenforceable in US courts unless they pass strict American constitutional standards. Freedom wins. Is Craighead in the UK now, or has he moved over here? What will happen to him should he return to the UK? No idea…but what I do know is that the SAS develops unique men. In Kenya and against bureaucratic pig-headedness and envy—Fullbore. h/t W.This Substack is reader-supported. 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Denmark will buy Anthem ground-launched cruise missiles from U.S. defense company Covenant Industries, giving the Danish military its first land-based option for striking targets deep inside enemy territory, the Danish Ministry of Defense announced on Oct. 22, 2026. The ministry said the purchase is meant to strengthen Denmark’s national and collective deterrence, describing the new […]View the full article

A drone strike sank a merchant ship carrying Ukrainian and Azerbaijani sailors off Romania’s Black Sea coast on Oct. 23, 2026, killing one crew member and leaving three missing, prompting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to condemn what she called another Russian escalation in the Black Sea. The Comoros-flagged Khoryv sent a distress […]View the full article

Denmark has rushed more than 50,000 rounds of 20 mm ammunition to Ukraine for the cannons on its F-16 fighter jets, and Ukrainian pilots are already firing them at Russia’s jet-powered Shahed-type attack drones, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Oct. 23, 2026. The ministry announced the delivery on X, saying Denmark sent the rounds on […]View the full article

Red Cat Holdings’ maritime division, Blue Ops, has opened orders for two new uncrewed surface vessels, an 18-foot boat built for reconnaissance and one-way attack missions and a 39-foot vessel already in low-rate production, as part of a new B-Series lineup named after each boat’s length. The company announced the family on Oct. 22, 2026. […]View the full article

Czech company KBP International has unveiled GRYF, a long-endurance drone designed to carry interceptor drones and small missiles aloft so it can hunt down hostile unmanned aircraft, presenting the aircraft on Oct. 21, 2026, at the Future Forces Forum in Prague in the presence of Czech President Petr Pavel. GRYF works as a flying weapons […]View the full article

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey has pushed back against critics of Warhound, a new Texas startup he conceived with Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm that plans to clone and gene-edit working dogs for the U.S. military, law enforcement and emergency responders. Warhound emerged from stealth on Oct. 22, 2026, with a $200 million seed round, which […]View the full article

L3Harris Technologies says it supplies the power distribution systems and universal modular masts on every Virginia-class submarine in the U.S. Navy fleet, and the company is now carrying that work into the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program while preparing for the heavier electrical loads expected from directed energy weapons and other new naval systems. The […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has started flight testing four MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopters that the U.S. Navy was retiring, turning aircraft headed for long-term storage into flying testbeds for Army sensors and saving the Army just over $70 million in procurement costs. The Army’s Redstone Test Center at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, received the four aircraft […]View the full article

A Typhoon uncrewed surface vessel built by California-based Splash Industries demonstrated naval interception during a drone demonstration at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on Oct. 21, 2026, as part of the Keen Sword 27 exercise between U.S. forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The demonstration put the small, fast drone boat through an intercept […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy is buying one more AN/SPN-50 shipboard air traffic control radar from Saab under a $14.3 million contract option, adding to a growing fleet of new radars that track and guide aircraft around aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, exercised the option on Saab Inc.’s […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has raised the ceiling on Raytheon’s life cycle support contract for the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, by $350 million, bringing the total potential value of the deal to $950 million. The modification lifts the contract from $600 million and extends work at Raytheon’s plant in […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Longbow LLC a $419.6 million contract to supply fire control radar systems and post-production support for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, keeping work on the Apache’s distinctive mast-mounted radar going into the next decade. The contract, announced on Oct. 22, 2026, covers the AH-64D and AH-64E versions of the helicopter […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has selected nine companies as finalists in a competition to find autonomous ground and air vehicles that can resupply troops spread across Pacific islands, and their systems will go before soldiers in Hawaii next month. The competition, called G-TEAD USARPAC ACE 27-01: Autonomous Sustainment, is run by the Army’s Global Tactical Edge […]View the full article

Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force has been carrying out live-fire air defense training since July 2026 at ranges in northern Japan and in the United States, where its medium-range missile units are firing alongside Japan Air Self-Defense Force Patriot batteries at McGregor Range in New Mexico. The Ground Self-Defense Force, Japan’s army, said on X that […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of War is preparing orders for 60,000 small attack drones from nine companies after the second round of its Drone Dominance Program, with Perennial Autonomy and Neros each set to receive the maximum initial order of 8,000 units. The Defense Innovation Unit, which runs the program with the Test Resource Management Center, […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of War and Lockheed Martin have agreed on a framework for a 10-year F-35 production and sustainment deal that covers 850 aircraft for the United States, along with spare parts, modification kits and international orders across production Lots 21 through 30. The framework keeps F-35 production at 156 aircraft a year and […]View the full article

Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence has delivered a new batch of Roketsan Tayfun Block 2 ballistic missiles to the Turkish Land Forces Command, adding to a missile force that began entering service only five months ago. The delivery was reported on Oct. 22, 2026, and in line with previous handovers, the ministry kept the number […]View the full article

I think I have posted as many pro-USAF posts in the last year as I have in the last decade…and I ain’t happy about it. However, you have to give the Boys-in-Blue a tip of the hat. They have their new fighter by number, even if they have not given it a name yet or given everyone a good view of it. They have their new bomber on the way. They still have some work to do in replacing the older-than-Sal C-135 Class derivatives and are overdue for new-build strategic airlift…but in the tactical and strategic air arenas, they are cooking with gas. They’re thinking right. Via Stephen Losey at Air & Space Forces Magazine, Currently, the fighter fleet—not counting A-10s—is split roughly 45 percent F-16s, 30 percent F-35s, 15 percent F-15s, and 10 percent F-22s. Beyond the mix of the fighters, the force structure report also provides a new estimate of the total number of fighters the Air Force says it will need in the years to come: 1,509 combat-coded aircraft by 2035. That’s up from the 1,271 the service estimated it would have in 2026 and the 1,369 combat-coded fighters it was shooting for by 2030 in last year’s report, Tabor said. The additional 140 jets would be a mixture of F-35s, F-15EXs, and F-47s. 2030 is as close to now as we are to 2022…which seems like yesterday. Getting to the new 2035 goal depends on two key factors falling into place, Tabor said. First, Congress will need to provide the funds the Air Force needs to buy the jets. And the defense industrial base—in particular, prime contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing—must produce enough aircraft in time. We’re seeing that all over the Navy side of the house, especially in the submarine side of the house. No one said re-industrialization would be easy. What did you think the Peace Dividend meant, vibes? Top Air Force officials have for years said the service needs to buy 72 new fighters each year to replace its older, retiring jets and modernize the fleet. The fiscal 2027 budget request doesn’t reach that level, proposing 38 new F-35s and 24 F-15EXs for a total of 62. Tabor said those purchases can “ramp over time” to hit the numbers the Air Force needs. “The question is, can industry produce at those levels?” Tabor said. “They’ve assured us that they can, and we believe them, but we also actually need to see it manifest.” OK, here is where I have to bring up something I’ve been proposing for years—we need to buy off the F-16 line that our allies are keeping running. The USAF has not purchased a new F-16 since 2005. Yes, that is correct, 21 years ago. Last month we heard rumors of an F-16G buy based off the exceptional Block 70. This needs to happen. The F-15EX is a winner, and so would the F-16G too. Older F-16s will reach the end of their lifespans in the mid-2030s, Tabor said, and “we are very conscious of that.” The simple—“and maybe the lazy”—way to approach that problem, Tabor said, is to automatically replace them with new F-16s. But that might not be the best strategy, he said. “There is a spectrum of capability that we might want to replace the F-16s with,” he said. “It’s not urgent, frankly. What we don’t want to get to is a point where it is urgent, and we haven’t done the homework and decided ‘hey, this is really the right place to be.’ We do have time to churn through that and make sure that we have a good option going forward.” Bullsh1t. We need to be ready for a war sooner rather than later. Your “we might want” can stuff it. While you figure that out and demonstrate how you’ll do it, we should keep cranking F-16s out of the factory. Likewise, we cannot let the F/A-18 line go cold-iron. Until the F/A-18 is in full-rate production, keep them coming—but it appears we are stupidly going to do that. We need numbers, just like the USAF does. That is just on the active duty side. Remember what Navy aircraft numbers in USNR looked like in the Cold War? I do. We need that surge capability again…but we need numbers to do that. The Navy is being stupid. The USAF is being smart. Go ahead, quote me on that. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

A U.S. Army Patriot air defense battalion at Fort Hood, Texas, has put its launchers, radars and support vehicles into the field for a battalion-wide readiness exercise, according to photos released by the service on Oct. 21, 2026. The exercise involves the 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, part of the 69th Air Defense […]View the full article

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters from Alaska are operating from Tsuiki Air Base on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu as part of Keen Sword 27, the largest iteration so far of the biennial U.S.-Japan military exercise. A photo released by the U.S. military shows an F-22 from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron parked […]View the full article

General Dynamics Land Systems has rolled out an upgraded version of PERCH, a bolt-on kit that lets M1A2 Abrams tanks and Stryker armored vehicles launch AeroVironment’s Switchblade 300 loitering munitions, small drones that can scout ahead of a vehicle and then dive onto a target as a guided weapon. The company announced PERCH 2.0 in […]View the full article

U.S. Navy engineers in California have tested a prototype camera system designed to spot a sailor falling overboard and alert the ship’s bridge automatically, throwing a 35-pound rescue dummy off the side of a decommissioned destroyer to see whether the cameras would catch it. The test took place on Aug. 14 aboard the Self Defense […]View the full article

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has published a detailed breakdown of Filin, a new Russian ground-launched cruise missile that Moscow began firing at Ukraine in late summer 2026. According to the agency, the missile combines a composite airframe and a Russian jet engine with onboard electronics built largely from American and Chinese parts. The Main Intelligence […]View the full article

Some posts are just sad to write, but they are often the ones you need to write. It is no fun watching a friend intentionally and deliberately destroy themselves for no reason. I guess it is time to pick up the conversation we had back in March and June. When I first saw this, I thought, ‘This is reporting from The Sun. Just tabloid trash.’ Not a single submarine commander passed the legendary Perisher course last year. … Only three were selected to attempt it, with two failing at the simulator stage. Surface ships fared little better with less than ten officers passing the command qualification known as CQ2. The Navy needs 35 passes a year to sustain its sea commands. Sources say the only reason the shortage has not affected operations is because so many ships have been scrapped or stuck in port for repairs. But no, it isn’t. Navy Lookout and others with very reliable track records are on it too. Senior naval sources told Defence Eye that the Royal Navy has not run a Submarine Command Course, which qualifies officers to take command of its submarines, since December 2024. The course, popularly known as ‘The Perisher’, dates back to World War One and is famous for its high standards and realistic training exercises. It has long been considered the ‘gold standard’ of submarine officer training, with navies from around the world sending officers to participate in the course. For the past two years, the Royal Navy Astute-class fleet has been hit by a series of breakdowns and a long maintenance backlog. This year alone, it has only been able to put one boat, HMS Anson, to sea for a four month-long cruise to Australia. Since she returned to Devonport naval base for repairs in May no Astute boats have been recorded as going to sea. With no boats available for operational tasking, it is not a surprise that training has had to be put on the back burner by the Royal Navy. The naval source briefed Defence Eye on the status of the Perisher Course in response to criticism from Australia, that the UK was unable to generate trained personnel to operate its submarines to meet its commitments under the AUKUS deal. “Since [December 2024], three officers have successfully qualified for command through allied submarine command courses, including programmes delivered by Norway and Australia,” said the source. He suggested that the Royal Navy submarine availability crisis was soon to turn a corner, commenting, that “the next UK Perisher Course is due to commence next month, with a further candidate scheduled to undertake the Norwegian course in January.” What submarines the British do have don’t get much underway time. You can’t be the best at something—or at least moderately competent—if you don’t actually do it. I don’t fault those who failed. There is no serious person who thinks there is the political or economic ability right now for a serious recovery in British military capability at sea or ashore, regardless of who gives what speech. How much further can it fall? Things can always get worse, but all the wiggle room is gone. Most are familiar with the rolling train wreck that is the once exemplary British submarine industrial capability. Even their closest Commonwealth allies have concerns. The admittedly challenged US submarine industrial base will have to carry the AUKUS load. All of Britain’s traditional allies and partners over the last century assumed that, should war come, they could rely on even a diminished Royal Navy to come over the horizon to help. That time is long past. Everyone needs to reconsider that assumption. Though Britain may have the desire at some point, it just doesn’t have the ability to provide anything more than token assistance from here on out. On paper, the Royal Navy today has 10 submarines: six SSN and four SSBN. Only a small fraction of those are combat-ready or could be made combat-ready in a reasonable time. The US Navy today has 81 submarines: 53 fast attack submarines, 14 ballistic-missile submarines and four guided-missile submarines. In the mid-1980s, at the height of the Cold War, the Royal Navy had 32+/- submarines: 4 SSBN 28 SSN and SSK patrol submarines. At the same time, the US Navy had roughly 138 submarines: 37 SSBN 97 SSN 4 SSK The Royal Navy’s relative collapse is shocking. Since the mid-1980s, the US Navy’s submarine force has shrunk to 59% of its 1985 level. The Royal Navy’s submarine force has shrunk to 31% of its 1985 level. Today, the Royal Navy should have at least five more submarines in service if they paced the US Navy’s post-Cold War drawdown. Back to the Perisher course. Here’s the BBC documentary on it from 1985. There were enough people in the course to have a proper dinner. Now? Sad. Behold the land where giants once tread—the Royal Navy Midshipman Salamander remembers. Share Leave a comment This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article