Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

“I give you my solemn warning that under the present trend, the next world war is inevitable,” declared the French military leader Ferdinand Foch. It was 1921, and Foch, the commander in chief of the Allied armies during World War I, was raising alarms in a speech from New York City. His concern was simple. After defeating Germany, the Allied powers had forced it to disarm with the Treaty of Versailles. But just a couple of years later, they had stopped enforcing the terms of their victory. Berlin, Foch warned, thus could and would rebuild its military. “If the Allies…

OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d’Armement / Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation) Feb 4 2026 Riva Trigoso (Genoa)/Italy, 4 February, 2026 — The First Steel Cutting ceremony for the eighth Multipurpose Patrol Ship (PPA 8) took place at Fincantieri’s integrated shipyard in Riva Trigoso (Genoa). The event officially marks the beginning of construction for the eighth unit of the PPA Class and represents a significant milestone for the Programme. PPA 8 will be built in the Full configuration, the most capable version of the class, designed to operate effectively in all main warfare domains: Anti-Air, Anti-Submarine and Anti-Surface.…

Top Aces uses F-16A fighters to provide a representative adversary against which air forces can hone their skills. (Top Aces)Top Aces exhibited at Singapore Airshow 2026, held from 4-8 February, as it promotes its services to the Asia-Pacific region. This was the first time the adversary air services company had attended such an exhibition in Asia.Now in its 26th year of existence, the company has a strong presence in North America and Europe, particularly in Germany, but it senses potential opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region too.David Bradshaw, Director of Business Development at Top Aces – and a former Royal Air…

Russia’s IL222M Avtobaza-M signals intelligence platforms have also been exported to Iran and Armenia. The system maybe undergoing an upgrade to provide it with accurate timing systems. New research by EW Analytics LLC reveals some serious deficiencies in the performance of Russia’s IL222M Avtobaza-M SIGINT system an upgrade programme is trying to remedy. In May 2024, Armada published an article examining Russia’s IL222M Avtobaza-M Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) collection platform, and its use by the Islamic Republic of Iran military. Alongside Iran, the IL222M is used by the Russian and Armenian armed forces. Regular visitors to the Armada website, and readers…

The UFC is finally in the new and improved APEX.This Saturday, the UFC returns to its flagship venue, the Meta APEX, for UFC Vegas 113, headlined by a ranked bantamweight matchup between Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira. It’s the UFC’s first event in the APEX in nearly two months, and the first since the venue got overhauled to add more seats, and No Bets Barred is here to break the action down.This week, host Jed Meshew flies solo to discuss the biggest fights at UFC Vegas 113. Topics discussed include a brief recap of UFC 325, the nip-tuck main event…

Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The European Union will resume work to implement a framework trade agreement with the United States after halting efforts in response to tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Last month, Trump floated potential levies on eight European countries as part of his push to wrest control of Greenland, leading European Parliament members to vote to indefinitely suspend a pact reached with the U.S. in August in Turnberry, Scotland. Although Trump later walked back the threat, the European legislative body maintained the…

The choice presented to Europe by the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) is not between alliance and autonomy, but between subordination without voice and sovereignty without American approval. In attempting to preserve US dominance, the strategy risks dissolving the very alliances that once made that dominance sustainable. The transactional signals outlined in the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) gave way to a fully articulated hierarchy in 2025, in which European sovereignty is conditional on US alignment. Most strikingly, the strategy positions the European Union not as a junior partner in confronting China, but as a distinct and immediate strategic obstacle,…

The largest defense conference in Saudi Arabia is set to begin early next week.

Picture a jet thundering off the runway at dusk, heavy with bombs, fuel tucked into its sides like clenched fists, radar sweeping the dark ahead. This isn’t a sleek dogfighter built for air shows or glossy posters. This is a working aircraft. A problem-solver.The F-15E Strike Eagle was designed to go long, go low, and come back, preferably after ruining someone’s night.What makes the F-15E Strike Eagle so fascinating isn’t just raw power (though it has plenty of that). It’s the contradiction baked into its DNA.Take an air-superiority fighter famous for speed and agility, then ask it to lug precision…

Planned and well-constructed defensive fortifications and lines can hold back an enemy for days, weeks, even months, or more, stalling their advance and forcing them to commit assets and men, with potential huge losses, into the fray. Breaching such defences is no easy task and tactics for doing so have evolved over a century of World Wars, and continue to evolve to this day. This article looks back briefly to WWI and WWII to understand how tactics for breaching major defensive fortifications have evolved. It then examines lessons currently being learned in Ukraine, as that nation continues to defend itself…