Taliban Back-Up Plan: Unleash the Assassins
Afghan National Police. Air Force Photo Taliban Back-Up Plan: Unleash the Assassins The Taliban can’t lose and can’t win. Now it’s shifted to other deadly tactics. On the morning of July 27, Brig. Gen. Asadullah Sherzad drove over a bomb. Sherzad, the chief of security for Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan... Read more
It’s Boom Time for Naval Spy Planes
Chinese Y-8J maritime patrol aircraft. Japan ASDF photo  It’s Boom Time for Naval Spy Planes Mike Yeo and Robert Beckhusen take a look at how U.S. and Chinese surveillance flights are surging along the Pacific Rim About 40 miles northwest of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, American spy... Read more
Mexico’s War Against the Cartels Just Exploded
Mexican troops. Secretariat of national defense photo Mexico’s War Against the Cartels Just Exploded Offensive against cartels and vigilantes hits a wall Two months ago the Mexican military sent thousands of troops into a state torn apart by warring cartels and a thriving militia movement. It’s a damned quagmire.... Read more
Someone Just Built a Robot Sentry Gun
nerf sentry gun. photo via instructbles Someone Just Built a Robot Sentry Gun It only shoots foam bullets, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be worried Here’s how German engineering student Britt Liv Ulrike Michelsen turned a Nerf gun into a robot. First, she connected the toy’s electric motor... Read more
This Cartel Boss Boiled People into Stew
Miguel Trevino, center, with associates. Mexican navy photo This Cartel Boss Boiled People into Stew Mexican drug kingpin nabbed after years of bloody mayhem  Early Monday morning, before dawn, a pickup truck carrying one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords was heading down a dirt road near the Texas... Read more
Mystery Weapon Terrifies America’s Admirals
USS Nimitz, left, and USS Essex near the Hawaiian islands on July 27, 2012. Navy photo Mystery Weapon Terrifies America’s Admirals Somewhere out there, someone has built something that has the Navy absolutely freaked The U.S. has the biggest, baddest Navy in the world by a wide margin. But... Read more
Your $170 Billion Missile Defenses Don’t Work
Ground-based interceptor launch. jose Davila/Navy Media Content Services Photo Your $170 Billion Missile Defenses Don’t Work Don’t tell me you’re surprised On Friday, July 5, a long-range ballistic missile blasted into the skies from the U.S. military’s remote Pacific Ocean test site at Kwajalein Atoll. Meanwhile, a second missile... Read more
This Old Aircraft Carrier is a Damned Embarrassment
INS Vikramaditya. Photo: Wikimedia/Alexey Popov This Old Aircraft Carrier is a Damned Embarrassment The Vikramaditya was supposed to be India’s premier warship, like five years ago On Wednesday, the Indian navy’s first relatively modern aircraft carrier sailed from its Russian port into the White Sea for a final set... Read more
The Disastrous Movie Career of America’s New Stealth Fighter
f-35 pilot in The Avengers. Marvel Studios screencap The Disastrous Movie Career of America’s New Stealth Fighter From Man of Steel to Die Hard, the F-35's appearances on the big screen have been an exercise in failure In real life, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the Pentagon’s most... Read more
The Feds Want to ‘Fingerprint’ Your Eyeballs
A U.S. Airman scans eyeprints in Afghanistan. Photo: Air Force The Feds Want to ‘Fingerprint’ Your Eyeballs New biometric tech means more of your unique traits are going to end up in a gov’t database The Department of Homeland Security wants handheld biometric scanners that can recognize your iris,... Read more

Robert Beckhusen

Managing Editor