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Brent M. EastwoodThe National Interest |
Summary: The Hunt for Red October not only revolutionized military thrillers but also spotlighted the Soviet Alfa-class submarine, which featured...
Summary: The Alaska-class battlecruisers, conceived by the U.S. Navy in the 1930s to counter foreign naval developments, became a case of strategic...
Summary: The Boeing X-32 and Lockheed Martin X-35 were contenders in the competition to become the next Joint Strike Fighter, which was eventually won...
Summary: The MBT-70, a joint U.S.-West German endeavor, was conceptualized to create a super tank that would address vulnerabilities exposed in the...
Summary: Sweden's Gotland-class submarines, equipped with advanced Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems, have proven to be a formidable challenge...
The US Navy loves big, super-sized aircraft carriers. What about something a little smaller - like a Medium Aircraft Carrier? - The Americans build...
The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker was designed to compete with the American F-15 Eagle and F-14 Tomcat, and it matched up very well 40 years ago. It came out...
If the F-22 Raptor went into maximum weapon configuration, what would that look like? Pilots and crew from two squadrons of the 1st Fighter Wing based...
Can the F-22 also go into 'Beast Mode'? While “beast mode” is a description, not a technical term, it refers to a fighter plane that is carrying...
If you love the outdoors, the word “Moab” might bring to mind a beautiful range of arches and canyonlands in the national parks of Utah. But in...
The XM17 was a big contract for any gun maker to score. CZ had a good shot with its CZ P-09 model. So why did this firearm fail? The Czech-made CZ...
No More NGAD? We have covered the U.S. Air Force’s Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter extensively. The NGAD has whiz-bang characteristics and is...
Meet the X-1: When it comes to testing airplanes the “X” designation means experimental. The first X aircraft was built in 1945 by Bell in...
The Enola Gay: With talk of the potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine over the last few years, it is illustrative to examine the...
Russia came up with quite a few really scary Cold War weapons over the decades. One idea, and thank god it was never created, was a nuclear-powered...
You may have read my previous commentary about the M16 versus the M4 carbine and why I prefer the M16 over the M4. I like the elongated barrel of the...
Russia’s quiet and improved Kilo-class submarines have been patrolling the Black Sea during the Ukraine war, carrying deadly Kalibr cruise missiles...
Putin would have loved to have had the T-95 tank in Ukraine. Sadly, he is stuck with the T-72 and T-80 The Russian T-95 main battle tank could have...
The JAS 39 Gripen had a very unique mission: protect Sweden during the Cold War from Russia - We’re talking Saab here. No, not the funny-looking...
Yasen-M: Russia's underwater missile truck that is also a sub - Russia is using long-range precision strikes from submarines to destroy Ukrainian...
J-20 - Did the Chinese Steal Secrets For One Of Their Favorite Fighter Planes?: When it looks like a copy, maybe it is a copy. The Chinese are proud...
My son had toy airplanes that looked like the X-20 Dyna-Soar – something resembling a stubby version of the space shuttle. But don’t be fooled by...
The old Soviet Union built a vast array of nuclear weapons during the Cold War but wanted to build far more nukes and bigger weapons. Moscow at one...
The next-generation U.S. Navy nuclear-attack submarine SSN(X) is already making a splash – at least in future dollars invested. Perceived as an...
What if I told you there is not only a U.S. space plane orbiting the Earth but that it had been in orbit for over two years? The X-37B robotic...
In the U.S. Army, when soldiers practice simulated combat, they go up against an Opposing Force. The “bad guys” are known as OPFOR, or the red...
What if the F-35 program was permanently canceled? After all, it happened to the F-22 when only 186 stealth Raptors were delivered before the...
X-40A: A Trailblazing Experimental Aircraft that Paved the Way for the Mini-Space Shuttle- After the space shuttle retired, it looked like it was the...
Meet the USS George H.W. Bush: Can you believe that it has been a hundred years since the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier? The USS George H.W. Bush...
Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, was originally designed to deploy a “missile farm” that was more powerful than the...
The worst submarine accident in Russian history and one of the most frightening naval wrecks of all time happened in 2000. The tragedy put the Russian...
Sweden’s Gotland-class Submarines are Quiet and Deadly: Diesel engines aboard submarines used to be considered out of date and something more in...
A new U.S. tank technology demonstrator called the next-generation AbramsX has many improvements over the latest Abrams main battle tank upgrades. The...
Every military service member who used it seemed to have an opinion on the Beretta M9 pistol. It was retired in 2017, but the memories linger. The...
The USS America: The Aircraft Carrier That Was Nearly Impossible to Sink - China lauds its anti-ship missiles that are nicknamed carrier killers, but...
The SR-72 Son of Blackbird: Is It Really Needed? By all accounts, the SR-72 Son of Blackbird spy plane will be one impressive aircraft. With plans for...
SR-71 Comeback Proved Elusive Despite Early Optimism: What if the SR-71 Blackbird came out of retirement like a hall of fame quarterback to save the...
F-22 Sea Raptor, Explained - The U.S. Air Force has a powerful stealth fighter in the F-22 Raptor. So why not take the F-22 and put it on U.S. Navy...
Russia Could Have Scored Armored Victory with the T-95 Tank: On paper, the Russian T-95 main battle tank had it all. It boasted a big and powerful gun...
If you were a sailor assigned to U.S. Naval aviation during the middle of 1943 and onward, you probably served on one of the Essex-class of aircraft...
Before the X-37B record-setting spaceplane that can orbit the earth for years, NASA had a precursor craft that planned to accomplish cheap spaceflight...
When the U.S. Navy wanted to take out targets 23 miles away, the battleship USS Wisconsin was the go-to ship for awe-inspiring naval gunfire....
SR-71 Spy Plane Story: In an unforgettable example of super-speedy and long-range flight, a pilot and his recon systems officer pushed the envelope...
Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, or jump jets, usually take off from smaller aircraft carriers and amphibious ships. The British had the...
The Reising M50 was one really terrible World War II firearm for many clear reasons – Marines in World War Two thought they had a winner. This...
While the United States is excited about the B-21 bomber it unveiled to the public in early December of last year, China has plans for a rival stealth...
The book Hunt for Red October changed everything regarding military thrillers in the 1980s. It was so richly detailed with unmatched amounts of...
Top 3 US Army Sniper Rifles: While the stand-off fight against near-peer competitors will involve over-the-horizon capabilities with missiles, the...