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Investigators have found a second impact crater from a North Korean ballistic missile fired at Ukraine, and the distance between that crater and the ruins of a family home that killed six people tells its own story about how these weapons actually behave once they leave the launch pad. Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner […]View the full article

A second prototype of France’s next military helicopter just left the ground for the first time, and it did so wearing an all-black paint job that makes the aircraft look considerably more menacing than the calm, ambulance-style rescue helicopters most people associate with the civilian version. Airbus Helicopters announced that Prototype 2 of the military […]View the full article

An aging French-built fighter jet has got a serious upgrade, and the company behind it wants the world to see exactly how far a decades-old airframe can stretch when paired with modern guided weapons. EDGE Group, the UAE’s state-owned defense conglomerate, published photos showing its Thunder (P-32 variant) precision-guided munitions mounted on a Mirage 2000 […]View the full article

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced on July 28, 2026, that construction of its Indiana Payload Integration Facility for Hypersonic Systems in Crane, Indiana, has been completed ahead of schedule. The $50 million facility, spanning 68,000 square feet (6,317 sq m), is purpose-built for rapid, affordable preparation of experimental payloads, the sensors, guidance systems, and […]View the full article

U.S. Army soldiers integrated the Picatinny Common Lethality Integration Kit onto the C100 drone during Project Convergence Capstone 6, a large-scale Army technology experiment held at Fort Irwin, California, that allows the Army, joint force, and multinational partners to test emerging capabilities and collect data supporting the service’s broader modernization push, according to the Army’s […]View the full article

British paratroopers has spent 96 hours firing anti-tank missiles from the Canadian prairie while riding electric bikes into position, testing whether an aircraft-portable e-bike can genuinely replace the boots-on-the-ground tactics paratroopers have relied on since World War II, the British Army reported. The Anti-Tank Platoon of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, known as 2 PARA, […]View the full article

At some point in the post-WWII era, someone looked over at that quiet, unassuming man and thought, “He’s just a banker.” Really? Picture in your mind a British officer from WWII. This man, John Cruickshank, is almost right from central casting Just a junior officer flying a slow seaplane out of the Shetland Islands, taking his crew north. Just another patrol. Flying Officer Cruickshank was twenty-four years old when he piloted a Consolidated Catalina anti-submarine flying boat from Sullom Voe on 17 July 1944 on a patrol north into the Norwegian Sea. The objective was to protect the British Home Fleet as it returned from the unsuccessful Operation Mascot raid on the German battleship Tirpitz. There, Cruickshank’s “Cat” caught a German Type VIIC U-boat on the surface. At this point in the war, U-boats had been fitted with anti-aircraft guns as an attempt to counter the aerial threat. Cruickshank nevertheless attacked the U-boat, flying his Catalina through a hail of flak. His first pass was unsuccessful, as his depth charges did not release. He brought the aircraft around for a second pass, this time successful as his charges straddled the U-boat, sinking it with the loss of all 52 crew members. The U-boat was first thought to be U-347, as Cruickshank’s VC citation states, but later research suggested that it was actually U-361.[6] However, the German anti-aircraft fire had been deadly accurate, killing Cruickshank’s navigator and injuring four other members of the crew, including Cruickshank and the less seriously wounded second pilot, Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett. Cruickshank was hit in seventy-two places, with two serious wounds to his lungs and ten penetrating wounds to his lower limbs. Despite this, he refused medical attention until he was sure that the appropriate radio signals had been sent and the aircraft was on course for its home base. Even then, he refused morphine, aware that it would cloud his judgement. Flying through the night, it took the damaged Catalina five and a half hours to return to Sullom Voe, with Garnett at the controls and Cruickshank lapsing in and out of consciousness in the back. Cruickshank then returned to the cockpit and took command of the aircraft again. Deciding that the light and the sea conditions for a water landing were too risky for the inexperienced Garnett to put the aircraft down safely, he kept the flying boat in the air and circled for an extra hour until he considered it safer, when they landed the Catalina on the water and taxied to an area where it could be safely beached. When the RAF medical officer boarded the aircraft, he discovered Cruickshank had lost a great deal of blood, and had to give him a transfusion before he was stable enough to be transferred to hospital.[7] John Cruickshank’s injuries were such that he never flew in command of an aircraft again. For his actions in sinking the U-boat and saving his crew he received the Victoria Cross, while Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett received the Distinguished Flying Medal. Later that month, Cruickshank was promoted to flight lieutenant (war-substantive), with effect from 10 July. A great short video from the Imperial War Museum from six years ago, right before his 100th birthday. His Victoria Cross Citation is well worth the read. Air Ministry, 1st September, 1944. The King has been graciously pleased to confer the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery: — Flying Officer John Alexander Cruickshank (126700), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. No. 210 Squadron. This officer was the captain and pilot of a Catalina flying boat which was recently engaged on an anti-submarine patrol over northern waters. When a U-boat was sighted on the surface, Flying Officer Cruickshank at once turned to the attack. In the face of fierce anti-aircraft fire he manoeuvred into position and ran in to release his depth charges. Unfortunately they failed to drop. Flying Officer Cruickshank knew that the failure of this attack had deprived him of the advantage of surprise and that his aircraft offered a good target to the enemy’s determined and now heartened gunners. Without hesitation, he climbed and turned to come in again. The Catalina was met by intense and accurate fire and was repeatedly hit. The navigator/bomb aimer was killed. The second pilot and two other members of the crew were injured. Flying Officer Cruickshank was struck in seventy-two places, receiving two serious wounds in the lungs and ten penetrating wounds in the lower limbs. His aircraft was badly damaged and filled with the fumes of exploding shells. But he did not falter. He pressed home his attack, and released the depth charges himself, straddling the submarine perfectly. The U-boat was sunk. He then collapsed and the second pilot took over the controls. He recovered shortly afterwards and, though bleeding profusely, insisted on resuming command and retaining it until he was satisfied that the damaged aircraft was under control, that a course had been set for base and that all the necessary signals had been sent. Only then would he consent to receive medical aid and have his wounds attended to. He refused morphia in case it might prevent him from carrying on. During the next five and a half hours of the return flight he several times lapsed into unconsciousness owing to loss of blood. When he came to his first thought on each occasion was for the safety of his aircraft and crew. The damaged aircraft eventually reached base but it was clear that an immediate landing would be a hazardous task for the wounded and less experienced second pilot. Although able to breathe only with the greatest difficulty, Flying Officer Cruickshank insisted on being carried forward and propped up in the second pilot’s seat. For a full hour, in spite of his agony and ever-increasing weakness, he gave orders as necessary, refusing to allow the aircraft to be brought down until the conditions of light and sea made this possible without undue risk. With his assistance the aircraft was safely landed on the water. He then directed the taxying and beaching of the aircraft so that it could easily be salvaged. When the medical officer went on board, Flying Officer Cruickshank collapsed and he had to be given a blood transfusion before he could be removed to hospital. By pressing home the second attack in his gravely wounded condition and continuing his exertions on the return journey with his strength failing all the time, he seriously prejudiced his chance of survival even if the aircraft safely reached its base. Throughout, he set an example of determination, fortitude and devotion to duty in keeping with the highest traditions of the Service. After the war, he returned to banking and only passed away last summer, aged 105—the last surviving Victoria Cross recipient from WWII. An interesting side note is the background of the U-boat he attacked. U-361 was sunk on her third patrol, less than a year before the war would be over. Not once on any of her patrols did she sink a single ship. Not a one. This was her crew. Here they were, bristling with their late-war AAA upgrade, right before the depth charge exploded on the second run, her hull breached, she sank, and all were lost at sea. I am sure those who were manning the AAA were on the surface for a while, but even in the summer in the North Atlantic, the cold gets you quickly. And here is where she was sunk, patrolling the convoy route to Murmansk. The wars we fight. Some come home. Some do not. Some see well into the next century. Some will never see another sunrise. Such has been the human condition for tens of thousands of years, and will be for tens of thousands of years. Also, that nice young banker that is helping you with your HELOC? If fate placed him there, he very well could be exactly like Cruickshank. Heroes walk all around us; they just don’t know it because fate dealt them a different set of cards, and we’ll never see it. 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 British-made uncrewed helicopter has flown faster than 100 miles per hour while carrying real cargo, and the company behind it says that single test run marks the opening move in a summer packed with flight trials meant to prove the aircraft is ready for military logistics work. Certo Aerospace, a UK aerospace company developing […]View the full article

An electric cargo drone that did not exist ten weeks ago just spent days flying nonstop supply runs for one of the U.S. Army’s biggest technology experiments, hauling everything from field rations to medical gear into locations a traditional cargo plane could never reach. Pyka, an autonomous aviation company based in Alameda, California, announced this […]View the full article

Turkish Aerospace Industries, known by its Turkish acronym TUSAŞ, released new footage showing the KAAN P1 fighter jet prototype successfully conducting powered taxi tests, confirming the aircraft has moved into ground testing ahead of its first flight. KAAN is Türkiye’s fifth-generation stealth fighter program, a homegrown effort launched after the United States removed Türkiye from […]View the full article

The U.S. Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon office tasked with pulling commercial technology into military use faster than traditional defense contracting normally allows, announced that it completed a successful unmanned stores separation flight test with Hermeus, an Atlanta-based hypersonic aircraft company, as part of the DIU’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program, known as […]View the full article

Amazing how a good night’s sleep can change the flavor of a post. On Tuesday when I read this spoof-worthy weak-cheese hit piece on the Chief of Naval Operations by Greg Jaffe and Kate Kelly over at the New York Times, I was—to be blunt—pissed. It was so clear what this was and the goal of it all. After a Wednesday at the paying gig that got too busy to finish the post, I found myself Wednesday night as I doing my final editing, feeling a bit bad. Not for Admiral Caudle—he’ll be fine as this smear is so lame—but for Jaffe and Kelly. It is such a poorly constructed hatchet-job that it couldn’t be something that a pair—a pair—of reporters would take to their editor and say, “We have something important…” This reads like an editor-or-higher directed a hit piece trying to—for reasons best known by the parties involved—to dirty up and politicize one of the more benign and mission focused people in DC, the CNO. I assume that is why Jaffe and Kelly put out this wildly unbalanced article. The authors cannot be all that proud of this work. It is narrowly sourced, has no smoking guns, no solid evidence, and no tie-ins with breaking news. Indeed, it mostly reads like the byproduct of a couple of interviews with bitter-ender leftists stewing over their regular paycheck, tired of being forced to defend their service to DJT’s Pentagon to all their DC-commute-range peers. So, they found someone at the NYT who still thinks diversity-uber-alles in mid-2026. I’m still a bit pissed that this hackery showed up in The Grey Lady, but I’m dialing it back. Accept my apology for not letting you enjoy an Old School Salamander rage-fisking…but let’s dive in anyway. As regulars have figured out by now, I hold no brief for or against Admiral Caudle. I feel about him about the same way as I did about his predecessor, Admiral Franchetti. Search my Substack for her and see for yourself. That being said, the NYT article just about radicalizes me towards giving Caudle a green range wherever he wants to go. The article does not even try to be informative, take middle ground, or look to inform. They’re not hiding the malicious intent. Heck, look at the pic at the top of the post. That is part of the cover photo for their article. You’d be hard-pressed to find a less complementary picture of the CNO. I’ll give the photo editor credit for their transparency…laughable transparency, but transparency. Because some people have never left middle school, of course they start with…DRAMA! Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it. That is their hook…and I kept looking for where it bites…but there is nothing there but a dull probe. Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials. No evidence. No “Ref. A”, just former defense officials (no clarifying if they were Biden political appointees or people who were let go after 2024…that would be nice to know). Wait, excuse me. USFF is a, “major Navy training command”? FFS. Just take two seconds to review the “Organization” part of their webpage. They are as much a training command as I am a farmer. These are NYT journalists, not a begging blogger. No excuse…this was an intentional attempt to degrade Caudle’s background. Even if an innocent mistake, the weaponized ignorance/laziness calls into question the veracity of everything else in the article. Additionally, would one of those “former officials” be that guy whom Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao let go recently? Sounds like it maybe. Who knows. Firings must continue until leak sources go away. The outreach was a breach of military ethics, the officials said. Senior military officers are supposed to avoid any hint of partisan bias or political activity. Huh. I did a search and found nothing written by the reporters about former CNO Gilday’s constant pimping of the hyper-political book by Ibram X. Kendi. Neither does my search find either of them covering former CJCS Milley’s pontificating about “white rage”. As Jaffe and Kelly frame this about “diversity”—I mean the sub-title of the article is, “Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.” —I think this is fair to point out. Oh, it is Thursday, isn’t it? I guess we will call this “Diversity Thursday Adjacent” and carry on with the plan of the day. This source deserves a name. The fact it doesn’t have one just dilutes all that follows: …soon after Mr. Hegseth took office, he fired the first woman to lead the Navy: Admiral Caudle’s boss. Days later, a senior officer on Admiral Caudle’s staff contacted Mr. Hegseth’s team in another breach of protocol. His pitch: Mr. Hegseth should choose Admiral Caudle to be the next chief of naval operations, the current and former officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Let’s speak as adults, shall we? Caudle was Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and a four-star. His deputy was a three-star. The Executive Director and Chief of Staff is a retired 30-yr Navy Captain. This is not a call that would be made by someone more junior than those two men. The only people who would know about that call and its substance on the other end would be, at most, three people on Hegseth’s staff. Literally just a handful of people would know of that call and would leak its substance…or just one person who made up the story. …and either by sloppiness or intent, the authors or their editors just told us who it is. The officer described Admiral Caudle in terms that matched Mr. Hegseth’s view of the values that military officers should embody. The Chief of Staff is a civilian. Retired military, yes, but a civilian now. He is not an “officer”. That leaves the Deputy. As in all things, I reserve the right to be wrong—but I very much doubt that the Deputy Commander of USFF (that is the acronym we are using now, isn’t it?) called to pitch his boss to Hegseth at the behest of Caudle. With every paragraph, this hit-piece becomes less credible. Before the defense secretary had even taken office, he had publicly singled out Admiral Franchetti as someone he believed had been promoted solely because of her gender. She knew that if Mr. Hegseth was confirmed, she would likely be fired. In December 2024, Admiral Franchetti called together the Navy’s four-star admirals to discuss potential replacements, officials said. She reminded them that their most important job in the coming weeks was to put the Navy’s integrity and its reputation as an apolitical institution ahead of their ambitions, according to people familiar with the meeting. … After Mr. Hegseth fired Admiral Franchetti, senior Navy officials, led by the service’s acting secretary, assembled a list of the three officers they believed were best qualified to fill her position. Admiral Caudle was not on it. Navy leaders thought he was better suited to lead the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear arsenal, the officials said. Just three? A list chosen by a group of leaders largely responsible for the state of the Navy at that moment in time? I would hope that list would be ignored. Even though Admiral Caudle was not on a list of candidates recommended by senior Navy officials, Mr. Hegseth chose him for the job. … His path to that position is a case study in how the military promotion process at the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth has deviated from tradition, leaving it susceptible in the view of critics to politicization and favoritism. I’m sorry, just look at how General Caine, USAF was chosen for the CJCS job. Look at how Admiral Burke, USN was chosen for CNO. Look at how Admiral King and General Marshall ran their plucking boards…heck, and how Eisenhower was pulled up to high command. Tradition? Picking deep or from a distant corner is part of our tradition…and has a very good track record. The authors know this. If not, they should be shifted over to the arts and leisure section of the Sunday edition. Now that the authors have called into question both the man and the process, this is where they make an effort to dirty him up. Before Admiral Caudle’s nomination could be sent to the White House, the inspector general had to complete its investigation, which had languished for more than a year. Sailors recalled Admiral Caudle telling them in an informal conversation at an awards banquet that the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program needed to focus more on helping troops avoid risky behavior. Oh, an IG. Everyone knows this game. My view of our disgracefully dysfunctional I.G. has been consistent for decades. Root and branch reform is the only thing that will fix it. Telling me someone is under an IG does little more than make my sympathetic to them. We all have stories to tell about the Navy IG—one I have firsthand knowledge of is a gobsmackingly unethical practice by one of the people who used to run it. It sounds unbelievable what he got away with, but he did and got promoted in spite of it. We put a fox in charge of the henhouse. Buy me a drink or three sometime and I’ll tell you the story. Before Admiral Caudle’s nomination could be sent to the White House, the inspector general had to complete its investigation, which had languished for more than a year. … The inspector general found the allegations of wrongdoing to be unsubstantiated, and Admiral Caudle took over as the 34th chief of naval operations last summer. "Unsubstantiated”. Many such cases. However, the damage was done. No accountability for false or misleading accusations. Of course. Look at that timeline. We had a rather simple but exceptionally dangerous accusation against a four-star languishing with the Navy IG’s fonctionnaires for over a year? In the first year after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy fought and won: Battle of the Coral Sea Battle of Midway Guadalcanal Campaign We also invaded North Africa. Over a year this sat. Outrageous we still allow such a dysfunctional organization to hang like a sword over the head of everyone. What were the details of the charge? According to the sailors, Admiral Caudle offered examples: If he strode naked through the forest, coated in honey, he should not be surprised if he were attacked by a bear, officials said. If he wore gold chains and a fancy watch on a visit to Harlem, he risked getting robbed. At least one sailor believed Admiral Caudle was blaming assault victims for provoking their attacks. When was that comment allegedly made? 2023? 2022? I will grant you that nukes are a strange bunch, submariners on top of that, but I’ve been around a bit, am just a few years younger than the CNO, come from the same cultural background, and have never heard a senior leader—especially after 1991—make any comment remotely like this. Even if he did...is this what the Navy IG picked its belly button with for over a year…and then dismissed it? This could be cleared up in a fortnight. It should have been. The fact is wasn’t should tell you more than what you want to know about the Navy IG. Firing everyone is the moderate option. The article then goes into detail about Caudle getting civilian counsel. Over the years, quite a few readers, friends and acquaintances here have reached out to me for advice here and there. Most of the time, I answer—correctly—that I am not the best person to ask, but persons Y and Z might be. Some found themselves under the unblinking eye of an inspector general or a criminal issue. My advice to them was always short: “Do not rely on the good graces of our Navy’s JAGs, legal process, or your Chain of Command. Hire the best civilian attorney with experience in this matter and working with the military legal system that you can afford. Innocent or guilty, Fair or unfair, I don’t care, and neither does the Navy. Get that legal team now. You can buy good legal counsel now, but you cannot buy your freedom or a good name later.” A large portion of the article focuses on the aforementioned civilian attorney Caudle hired, Timothy Parlamore. To be direct, the story and the nudge-nudge of it all are not convincing and is not worth my time. Read it yourself and put your thoughts in the comments if you wish. “The left captured the military quickly, and we must reclaim it at a faster pace,” he wrote in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors.” “We must wage a frontal assault, a swift counterattack, in broad daylight.” This throw away line quoting Hegseth was unneeded, but was probably thought to be cat-nip to the Mamdani-voting subscribers to the paper. Anyway, let’s go there with the authors. Make no mistake, DC attracts officers of a leftist bent. Not all the senior officers you find in DC are leftists, but their proportions are wildly skewed to the general population of that cohort. As a rule, the more years a General or Flag Officer (GOFO) has intentionally tried to get DC jobs, the more suspect they should be. Even if they show up in DC as apolitical or of center-right thinking—as we see with all but the most intellectually resilient persons—just soaking in the politically unbalanced DC area will pull people to the left. Besides marrying a leftist, the quickest way for someone to become left of center is to have them live for any length of time in DC. Also understand that the most political GOFO out there know each other and help shape the careers of “their projects”. I am still amazed that even after the 2024 election, some of the most rabidly leftist political Flag Officers—not the hidden ones, the ones out and loud during peak-woke (but then when the tide changed, deleted their twitter profiles)—were not just given additional stars, but were put in significant positions in DC, right where they want to be. Instead of being offered important jobs in, say, the Mariana Islands, they are kept inside the castle walls, positioning and promoting their fellow travelers, while spiking and sidelining anyone to the right of Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania. They have not changed. Heck, I saw one of the worst of them it in action at the last SNA Symposium a few months ago. Their OPSEC is as bad as their politics, but its working for them. It is a legit issue and has no equivalent structure on the right. Hegseth is not totally out of bounds with that quote. Let’s get out of that rabbit hole. We actually have someone who will go on the record. Capt. Dave Hecht, a spokesman for Admiral Caudle, said in a statement to The New York Times that the admiral planned to limit his discussion with Mr. Hegseth to “factual, operational matters.” He said that Admiral Caudle’s interactions with Mr. Hegseth always focused on military, not political, issues. “Adm. Caudle has consistently conducted himself in a professional, nonpartisan manner throughout his career,” Captain Hecht’s statement added. I have heard nothing else about Caudle from those who know him that is anything different. I run in some political circles, and have for two decades. When Caudle was announced, I asked around, and people much more political than I am replied with a roughly common answer, “Don’t know much about him.” or, “I’ve briefed him. Standard issue nuke. I have no opinion.” As I stated at the top, I’ve been as aggressively neutral with Caudle as I was with Franchetti. From here on out, I don’t think I will be. It is now clear to me that he is accumulating all the right enemies. I don’t care if it is earned or that he just appears to be a useful tool to the mil-left bitter-clingers and diversity Cicadas that infest the Pentagon to this day. As such, he gets every benefit of the doubt from here on out. He’s earned it. Oh, and I still see him as apolitical and have no idea—and don’t care really—who if anyone he votes for or which if any political party he is part of. One of the best Flag Officers I served under on staff was an open Bill Bradley Democrat and I’d trust him with the lives of my children. That hyper-political types that infest the Potomac Flotilla? They are not, on balance, like 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

An Israeli defense company just shipped its 1,000th version of a gun system that has become one of the most common ways navies around the world shoot down small boats and drones without putting a sailor’s life on the line to do it. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli state-owned defense contractor, announced the delivery […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has closed the book on one of its most consequential and controversial aircraft programs in decades, taking delivery of the final MV-22B Osprey after nearly two decades of production, the V-22 Joint Program Office reported July 28, 2026, in a story by Neil Lobeda. The milestone, marked in Amarillo, Texas, where […]View the full article

The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit recently fielded the Light Marine Air-Defense Integrated System, known as LMADIS, and immediately began working it into underway training aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island off the California coast, Staff Sgt. Michael Virtue reported for the 13th MEU. Marines assigned to the 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense […]View the full article

A sensor company that has spent 45 years building infrared cameras for the military just landed a piece of one of the Pentagon’s biggest new homeland defense contracts, supplying the eyes for a system built to spot drones before they ever reach American soil. Teledyne FLIR Defense, a division of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, announced July […]View the full article

The Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama, increased its live kinetic engagements, meaning exercises where students actually fly a drone armed with a real explosive payload against a target rather than practicing in simulation, from five to 12 per class, according to Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Gatta, the course manager. Gatta and […]View the full article

The U.S. military has signed on for its first-ever bilateral artificial intelligence unit with a Middle Eastern partner, a Tampa-based command confirmed Tuesday, betting that shared access to AI tools can speed up how fast American and Emirati forces detect threats across one of the world’s most volatile regions. U.S. Central Command announced an agreement […]View the full article

A California drone maker best known for supplying Ukraine’s secretive kamikaze drone fleet has landed another $88.1 million in orders to deliver long-range precision strike systems. AEVEX Corp., a Solana Beach, California-based defense technology company, announced on July 28, 2026, that it secured new production orders totaling $88.1 million to deliver long-range precision strike capabilities […]View the full article

The Russian United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Sevmash shipyard held a ceremony to move the multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarine Ulyanovsk out of its construction hall, marking the completion of the vessel’s slipway construction phase, according to a statement from the shipyard. Ulyanovsk is the sixth submarine built in Russia’s modernized Yasen-M class, known formally as Project 885M, a […]View the full article

Strategic bombing campaign theory has only been with us for a century. People are still arguing everything from the utility of B-17s over Germany, B-29s over Japan, or B-52s over Vietnam, but the theory has always held promise for those who are trying to find a way to achieve from the air what would otherwise be outsourced to a long bloody slog paved with the bodies of young men in the mud. Books are filled with the results—hundreds of thousands of civilians burned alive, starved, or crushed under rubble to take out one railroad junction moving soldiers and supplies, a ballbearing factory seen as the key to war production, mining the approaches to a port bringing in food, or simply to “bring the war home” and humiliate an opponent’s leadership in front of its people. In some cases, the mass destruction was the goal, but usually it was just collateral damage trying to play the odds that something critical would be hit given the weapons of the time. Accuracy. That was the issue—accuracy, or lack of it. Compensate for inaccuracy with volume. The Germans brought a new twist to the theory with the V-1 cruise missile and V-2 Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM), but again, besides bringing terror, the inaccuracy of both weapons limited real practical utility. With the atomic bomb, accuracy was not important…but if you go nuclear, even if you win, you lose. In the decades following WWII, we’ve seen the evolution of rocket artillery—something that has been with us for centuries—towards the ballistic missile arena. A perfect example of this is the U.S. HIMARS, which can fire everything from MLRS rockets through GMLRS to the SRBMs we know as ATACMS and PrSM. The Russo-Ukrainian War has normalized the use of not just the SRBM, but the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM) by the Russians. The Ukrainians have been limited to what few ATACMS they’ve received and the use restrictions that come with them. To compensate for their lack of ballistic missiles, the Ukrainians leveraged their ability to produce the slow, small warhead, but effective, series of drones to strike Russia at range. Recently, the large and long-range FP-2 Flamingo cruise missile has opened up even more of Russia to attack. Produced domestically, they don’t have limitations and produced in volume they can start to make significant effects. Let’s back up a bit. What do we have now that did not exist 80 or even a decade ago? Accuracy. Affordable, scalable accuracy. First tier nations could fly a cruise missile through your office window, or drop a missile down your chimney, but that was a national asset—complicated to build, required a vast infrastructure to support, and outrageous amounts of money to deploy. Miniaturization and advances in computing and navigation options have dropped those barriers. You no longer have to block out the sun with bombers and kill hundreds of thousands to disrupt industry and logistics in the deep fight—you just need range and precision. Now what Ukraine needs are weapons at scale to do with ballistic missiles what we have watched them do this year with their drones and Flamingo cruise missiles. The key here is not that ballistic missiles will replace the broad spectrum of drones and cruise missiles they produce domestically, but that they will add to it. More tools in the weaponeering toolbox. Diversity in weapons is hated by the Cult of Efficiency at peace, but are loved by those wanting effectiveness at war. It multiplies your effectiveness at the same time making it more difficult for your opponent to defend against your strikes. As such, should New Year’s 2027 find this war still ongoing, the Russians will have an additional challenge to contend with. Ukraine could launch its first strikes on Moscow using domestically developed ballistic missiles as early as this autumn, according to Denys Shtilerman, owner and chief designer of defense company Fire Point. Speaking in an interview with journalist Dmitry Gordon, published July 27, Shtilerman said the company is in the final stage of testing a new missile system. Once test launches are completed, the missiles could begin being used against targets inside Russia. … The company plans to manufacture between 10 and 20 missiles for test launches, with production potentially increasing to dozens of units once the weapon receives official codification and procurement approval. Fire Point is one of Ukraine’s largest defense contractors, producing the FP-1 long-range strike drones and FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles. The company announced the development of its FP-7 and FP-9 ballistic missile projects in September 2025. The first test launch of the FP-7 was shown in February. The missile is reportedly designed to strike targets at distances of up to 250–300 kilometers, while the larger FP-9 is expected to have a range of up to 850 kilometers. The challenge will be to launch as close to Russia as possible to reach the most targets. My assumption would be that the Ukrainians will use the modified flatbed trailer Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) system they use with the FP-5 Flamingo. Ungainly, not ideal, but affordable and already proven. Downside is that they are easy to find, hard to hide, and limited to the roads you can take them on. For much of the year, I would also assume they would be limited to paved roads. I’ll let the pros figure that out, but as always, let’s go to the map room and put some geography to those numbers. If you wanted to get as close as possible to the Russian heartland that runs from Moscow to St. Petersburg, you’d want to get your launch site as close as possible. For planning purposes, let’s pick the forested openings around Benzyky. Where would that get you? To start with, most people are familiar with the ATACMS and PrSM mentioned at the top of the post. In open source, generally you have a range of 300 km (Carolina blue) and 500 km (Duke blue). The FP-7 will get you 250 km (NC State red) and maybe more. The FP-9 will get you out to 850 km (Clemson orange). If instead you wanted to use these weapons elsewhere, just move around. Always have a good toolbox…and one note to put in your Future-Risk folder: Assuming Ukraine can finish this war to her rough advantage with independence, she will have a few challenges. Expunge the culture of corruption. Rebuild her economy. Make babies. In this scenario, she will have some of the most combat proven and affordable weapons systems out there in production. To meet #2, she has to leverage every competitive advantage she has to generate income and support well paying jobs. She will be selling her weapons to whoever has the hard cash to buy them. Just put that tidbit in your folder. 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

An unmanned fighter jet built to fly and fight alongside human pilots has left the sterile confines of a test range and flown its first real-world combat exercise in the Nevada desert, according to a release from Air Force Warfare Center Public Affairs published July 27, 2026. The exercise, conducted at Creech Air Force Base […]View the full article

A Calgary startup has built a missile that weighs about as much as a housecat, and it might end up deciding whether a $100,000 drone attack on a power plant succeeds or fails. North Vector Dynamics, a Canadian defense technology company based in Calgary, posted on social media on July 27, 2026, introducing the CM-70, […]View the full article

DRS Network and Imaging Systems LLC, based in Melbourne, Florida, has been awarded a $55.7 million contract to provide engineering services for the Improved Bradley Acquisition Subsystem, known as IBAS, the sighting, targeting and missile control system that lets Bradley Fighting Vehicle crews spot, track and engage enemy targets, according to a federal contract award […]View the full article

Patriot missile batteries have a blind spot, a literal gap in their radar coverage that an enemy missile or drone could exploit simply by approaching from the wrong direction, and the U.S. Army has committed another $347.5 million to closing it for good. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, based in Grand Prairie, Texas, has […]View the full article