I Went on the World’s Deadliest Road Trip
This story originally appeared in October 2013. This reprint is David Axe’s final story for War Is Boring. Sprinting through a gap in the barbed wired at the border between Turkey and Syria as a Turkish armored vehicle pursued us and soldiers fired warning shots in the air. Waiting... Read more
China’s New Submarine Nuke Could Hit America
The Chinese navy has tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, one that could eventually allow Chinese ballistic-missile boats, or “boomers,” to threaten the continental United States from waters that are close to China’s shores, and thus safer for the boomers. The People’s Liberation Army Navy tested the JL-3 missile... Read more
Nuevo dron sin superficies móviles de control
Investigadores de BAE Systems y la Universidad de Manchester probaron con éxito un vehículo aéreo no tripulado experimental sin superficies móviles de control, según informó BAE Systems en diciembre de 2017. El dron a reacción MAGMA, con una envergadura de 3’5 metros, puede ayudar a BAE en el desarrollo... Read more
The World According to the ‘Adults in the Room’
Leave it to liberals to pin their hopes on the oddest things. In particular, they seemed to find post-Donald Trump solace in the strange combination of the two-year-old Robert Mueller investigation and the good judgment of certain Trump appointees, the proverbial “adults in the room.” Remember that crew? It... Read more
The Royal Navy’s Message to Russia Was Pretty Sad
The ship the British Royal Navy deployed to the Black Sea in order to send a message to Russia lacks heavy weaponry and could not defend itself from intensive attack. HMS Echo, a 297-feet-long survey vessel, arrived in Ukrainian waters in early December 2018. “As long as Ukraine faces... Read more
Great Britain’s Future War Force
The British military is struggling to reorganize for a new cold war in Europe. A modest spending boost in 2018 could give planners some hope that budgetary shortfalls — a perennial problem for the U.K. armed forces — might not doom the effort. “After almost three decades of relative... Read more
The U.S. Air Force’s ‘Extraordinary’ Ukraine Mission Went Nowhere Near the Russians
The U.S. Air Force’s “extraordinary” surveillance flight over Ukraine in early December 2018 flew nowhere near Russian forces, one expert concluded. On Dec. 6, 2018, the Air Force deployed one of its OC-135 observation planes to Ukraine at Kiev’s request. American, Canadian, German, French, Romanian and British observers were... Read more
Jim Mattis insta a la Armada estadounidense a actuar de forma impredecible
Bueno, hay una razón por la que se le apoda «Caos». En abril de 2018 el Ministro de Defensa estadounidense Jim Mattis dejó a la comunidad naval afligida al cuestionar, estilo Hamlet, los esfuerzos de la Armada estadounidense por rotar sus fuerzas de superficie, anfibias y de portaaviones desde... Read more
The U.S. Air Force Probably Can’t Afford to Replace the F-22
A new fighter to replace the F-22 Raptor could eat the U.S. Air Force’s budget starting in the 2030s, the Congressional Budget Office reported. The Air Force on average spent $12 billion per year, in current dollars, on new aircraft between 1980 and 2018. But replacing the flying branch’s... Read more
The U.S. Navy’s Carrier Air Wings Lack Range
The U.S. Navy’s carrier air wings lack the range to win in battle with Chinese and Russian forces, according to one new study. The Navy’s nine front-line wings “lack the range, endurance, survivability and specialization to carry out the operational concepts needed to defeat great-power militaries,” the Washington, D.C.-based... Read more