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U.S. Special Operations Command is looking for companies that can build a helmet-mounted display that lets special operators fly first-person-view drones and see battlefield data without taking their eyes off their surroundings. The command posted a sources sought notice on Nov. 9 on the federal government’s contracting website, seeking a display module with a 50-degree […]View the full article

The Pentagon’s research and development arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is preparing a program called Anzio to develop technology that would let spacecraft use Earth’s upper atmosphere, rather than rocket fuel, to make large changes to their orbits. DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office announced the effort on Nov. 9 in a notice on […]View the full article

Japan’s defense procurement agency is building its own uncrewed ground vehicles in three weight classes, ranging from under 1 ton to as much as 10 tons, a display at the agency’s technology symposium shows. The display was shared by Rikuno Yuuno, a former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldier who now comments on military affairs, in […]View the full article

Poland has received its last batch of South Korean K9 self-propelled howitzers and K2 tanks for this year, Poland’s Armament Agency said on November 9. Several dozen K9 Thunder howitzers and K2 Black Panther tanks were being unloaded after arriving in the country, the agency said in a post on social media. The vehicles were […]View the full article

A Ukrainian lawmaker says she has blocked the final vote on a bill to create Space Forces within the country’s armed forces, just hours after parliament approved it in the first reading. Mariana Bezuhla, an independent member of the Verkhovna Rada who was elected on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party list, announced […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps is buying two RIPSAW M3 uncrewed ground vehicles from Textron Systems and its subsidiary Howe & Howe, the company said on November 5. The vehicles will go to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where Marines will use them as testbeds for experimentation. The lab plans to fit the […]View the full article

Unusual armored vehicles hidden under camouflage netting and tarps that turned up at a U.S. Army exercise in Hawaii have turned out to be mock enemy tanks used to play the opposing force. The vehicles arrived on semi-trailers at the Kahuku Training Area on Oahu on November 5, during preparations for Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness […]View the full article

Over the weekend on X, Singapore-based Alec posted a graphic that deserves a proper geographic explainer for an American audience. As we go through the below, I’d like you to ponder a few things: Were you the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), would you do anything else? Given the size of 1QFY27’s PLAN, do you really have any other options, given what the second largest navy, the U.S. Navy, needs to train and operate? A quarter century ago, the U.S. Navy and the national security apparatus thought nothing about sending two carrier strike groups through the Taiwan Strait. How does that CONOPS look in late 2026? Of course, that means we have to go to the chartroom. It is important here for people to understand the distances involved, what that means for how the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is operating, and the utility of its Interior Lines of Operation when it comes to the waters off Taiwan. A fair portion of the regulars here are familiar with VACAPES off Norfolk. For those who have led an incomplete life and have never been East Coast Sailors, that is the training area that everyone uses because it is close and easy to manage. Let’s all take a moment to ponder how much time we’ve spent in W72, because to get from Norfolk to the edge of Whisky-Seventy-Two, you’ve got to venture out roughly 172 nautical miles (nm), as represented by the red circle. Right opposite Taiwan is Quanzhou, PRC. If you were to travel 174 nm from there, roughly the same distance to the edge of W72 in VACAPES—the smaller of the circles below—you’ve pretty much covered all of the island of Taiwan. The larger of the two circles above represents the roughly 1,200 nm distance from NAS Key West to Caracas, Venezuela. That is about the same distance over which you see PLAN ships operating in Alec’s short video at the top of the post. For reference, the distance from Norfolk to the Strait of Gibraltar is about 3,300 nm. The distance from San Diego to Taiwan is 6,000 nm. I tried to find a map of the Puerto Rico Operating Area (PROA), but no joy on my end. If I recall correctly, it covers most of the Eastern Caribbean. Heck, the Caribbean itself is +/- an ‘American lake’. With the PLAN being the world’s largest navy, the argument can be made that the Western Pacific, roughly halfway out to Guam, is going to become its lake…or at least the PLAN is going to try to make it so. We need a larger Navy and one characterize by range and capacity. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Share Leave a comment View the full article

The U.S. Army has shipped its Arctic Beowulf all-terrain vehicles to Hawaii for a large training exercise in jungle and island terrain. Soldiers loaded the tracked vehicles aboard an Army transport ship at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on November 5 to support Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Rotation 27-01, the U.S. Army said. Staff Sgt. […]View the full article

U.S. Air Force leaders say C-17 and C-130 cargo aircraft will soon launch cruise missiles dropped from their cargo holds on standard airdrop pallets, with the service planning to field the capability in 2027 under a program now known as Dragon Cart. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach described the plan on […]View the full article

An uncrewed ground vehicle from Australian firm BIA5 was put through U.S. Army trials in Hawaii, where soldiers tested autonomous systems for evacuating wounded troops and moving supplies, the U.S. Army said. The company’s ATR platform, fitted with a remotely controlled monitor and several cameras, was evaluated on November 7 ahead of a multi-mission casualty […]View the full article

U.S. Army paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division flew nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from Alaska and jumped straight into a training assault in Hawaii, putting on their parachutes in the air along the way. The operation, called “Arctic Aloha,” was the division’s part in Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Rotation 27-01, a large Army […]View the full article

U.S. Army air defense soldiers in Poland spent five days learning to fly FD-1 interceptor drones into incoming targets over the Baltic Sea, as the Army looks for cheaper ways to stop large waves of enemy drones. The training, called Operation Audacious Fury, ran November 2–6 at the Ustka Training Area on Poland’s northern coast, […]View the full article

U.S. Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit rehearsed a land raid at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on November 7, clearing buildings and moving in Amphibious Combat Vehicles during the unit’s Realistic Urban Training, U.S. Marine Corps photos show. The Marines belong to Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, the ground combat element attached to […]View the full article

U.S. Army soldiers from the 25th Division Sustainment Brigade drove Swarmbotics AI’s FireAnt small uncrewed ground vehicles through a long-distance movement test in Hawaii on November 8, as the Army trialed autonomous systems for moving supplies and wounded troops in the Pacific, the U.S. Army said in a photo release. The test took place at […]View the full article

Ukraine’s parliament has taken the first step toward creating a Space Force within the country’s armed forces. On November 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading draft law No. 13255, which would set up Space Forces as a new branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The bill calls for developing space technologies […]View the full article

Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying a military satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on November 7, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The launch was carried out by a crew from the Space Forces of Russia’s Aerospace Forces. “The spacecraft was placed into its designated orbit as planned. Stable telemetry communication is […]View the full article

A Russian barrage balloon fitted with protective cables has brought down a fixed-wing drone weighing about 100 kg (220 pounds) for the first time, the head of the company that developed it said. Polina Albek, founder of the aviation design bureau Pervyi Dirizhabl (“First Airship”), made the claim in comments carried by Russian media. “Yes, […]View the full article

Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) and Dutch defense company Artillerie Inrichtingen Armaments (AIA) plan to build IWI’s ARAD 5 rifle and NEGEV UX machine gun in the Netherlands, the companies said in a joint statement. AIA will set up a new factory in the country to manufacture and assemble the two weapons. Under the plan, IWI […]View the full article

A U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130 transport aircraft landed at Hamat Air Base in northern Lebanon on the evening of November 8, according to LebanonJets, a local aircraft-spotting account that tracks military flights in the country. The account said the aircraft arrived from the east at 7:25 p.m. using the callsign SMOKE83, with […]View the full article

Belgium has brought back the 51st Squadron, an air defense unit that guarded NATO airspace with Nike Hercules missiles during the Cold War, after 37 years without it. Defense Minister Theo Francken said that the Belgian Air Force reactivated the squadron on November 9 at a ceremony at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, and that […]View the full article

Anyone who matters in the national security arena is familiar with the industrial espionage waged by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against the West—from unsecured networks to the graduate schools of our best research institutions. Most are also aware of the PRC’s penetration of our supply chains and production floors. What if they didn’t have to do that because they simply, well, owned the companies? The Chinese Communist Party is very good at using the capitalist system against itself—using access and leverage against the West in ways the PRC would never allow foreign companies to operate on its shores. Follow the money, as the saying goes. There is a lot of money moving around, and that money buys shares. If you own enough shares—as we’ve discussed before—you control who sits on the board of directors. When you control the board, you control the company. How much of a danger is this issue in the West? Returning to the Midrats Podcast this Sunday from 5-6 p.m. Eastern will be Dr. James S. Robbins. You can join LIVE at this link. If you are reading this after the show, check the Substack page later Sunday night for all the podcast links. We will use his recent article in Real Clear Defense, Beijing’s Trojan Yacht, as a starting point for our conversation. Jim serves as the Senior Vice President for Research and Business Development at IWP. He is a national security columnist for USA Today and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. Dr. Robbins is a former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in 2007 was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He is also the former award-winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at The Washington Times. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and other publications. He appears regularly on national and international television and radio. Dr. Robbins holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has taught at the National Defense University and Marine Corps University, among other schools. His research interests include terrorism and national security strategy, political theory and military history. Dr. Robbins is the author of five books, including The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero, This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive, and the critically acclaimed Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point. 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

The Defense Logistics Agency committed $2 billion during fiscal year 2026 to buy strategic and critical materials for the National Defense Stockpile, the U.S. government’s reserve of raw materials held for national emergencies, the agency said on November 6. The fiscal year ran from October 2025 through September 2026. DLA did not publish a list […]View the full article

Yemen’s Houthis launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia on Sunday, targeting Riyadh, the oil-rich Eastern Province and the southern border region. In the capital, the Aramco tower in the King Abdullah Financial District was damaged, witnesses said. Air raid alerts sounded in Riyadh and Najran, and in the Eastern Province cities […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has shown off a smaller, lighter version of the system its aviation units use to control airspace and manage air operations, the Common Aviation Command and Control System, or CAC2S. The new Small Form Factor variant was put through an operational demonstration last week, the Marine Corps’ acquisition office, Portfolio Acquisition […]View the full article