Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

The year 2025 was another record setter for global defense companies, so much so that production bottlenecks in Western nations — not the usual industry lamentations about lacking government spending — began creeping up as the key problem many NATO countries are facing today.Companies in the United States and Europe rode a wave of significant defense-spending increases on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, individual national budget increases, as well as the European Union’s increasing involvement in brokering and financing joint procurement, continued to increase the revenue of defense industry players large and small. In the United States, the…

Among its many advantages, the United States benefits from a rare form of geographic luck: it is bracketed on the east and west by two vast moats, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and on the north and south by only two neighbors, both of whom are relatively friendly. Adding to this good fortune is that, since the end of World War II, the United States has possessed a powerful nuclear arsenal and unparalleled military, economic, and technological might. Despite the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this mix of geography, deterrence, and power has led many Americans to feel almost untouchable at home.…

The draft Request for Proposal RFP for the US Army Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires (PAE Fires) Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) requirement issued in January 2026 aimed at producing and rapidly field up to 24 E-HEL systems. On 2 September, 2026, PAE Fires announced that AeroVironment was awarded a landmark contract valued at US$ 464.8 million under which the company will provide an undisclosed number of Locust X3 laser weapon systems “The Enduring High Energy Laser Program, is historically significant. It’s not simply about lasers defeating a drone. It is the transition of directed energy toward an enduring place in…

In August 2024, special forces from five Ukrainian military intelligence units crossed the Black Sea to raid Russian-held Kinburn Spit. The commandos of these units — Chimera, Aratta, Stuhna, Paragon, Terror, and the Siberian Battalion — landed, fought, destroyed equipment, and withdrew. Two years later, in July 2026, Ukraine returned, but left the soldiers behind. Instead, an uncrewed surface vessel carried a ground robot across the water and released it onto the shore. The robot, equipped with a Wolly 7.62 remotely operated combat module, featuring a machine gun and an AI-assisted targeting system, rolled onto shore and engaged targets. A…

Tim Wheaton of Calf Kick Sports and Beyond Kickboxing traces the journey from young talent to the professional SENSHI ring International sports journalist Timothy Wheaton, a contributor to the specialist media outlets Calf Kick Sports and Beyond Kickboxing, has dedicated a short documentary to SENSHI and KWU SENSHI. The video provides a detailed look at the model for the development of combat sports that the two international organizations are building in Bulgaria. In his feature, Wheaton places SENSHI within a much broader context than that of professional fight galas alone. The journalist explores how KWU SENSHI has gradually created an…

Joe Condello began training judo in Philadelphia with Takahiko Ishikawa. During his summer break from college, he and his then-girlfriend Becky visited Ishikawa and Helen Foos in Virginia Beach. The latter asked the couple to relocate to the southern state to assist Ishikawa and Foos. The couple accepted and spent the 1970s in Virginia Beach around judo. Later, Joe would relocate to Pennsylvania and founded the Liberty Bell Judo classic with Lou Moyerman. This interview was used in the writing of the book Takahiko Ishikawa: Judo’s Quiet Master, available now! MAYTT: It does sound that Virginia Beach was very different…

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org The Air Force Research Laboratory has signaled to industry it wants to develop a low-cost hypersonic cruise missile to deliver a wide range of payloads at a range up to 500 nautical miles. In a brief one-page notice released Sept. 1, posted on Sam.gov, AFRL gave the broad outlines of its new project, which falls under the broader Pioneering Aerospace Capabilities, Engineering & Research program. “Offerors are encouraged to consider modular…

Song Yadong has given his two cents on whether Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin Umar Nurmagomedov will be able to become an UFC champion someday, especially after what happened on August 29. This past weekend, Yadong locked horns with Umar in the main event of UFC Shanghai. Umar had a strong first round. He used his wrestling and grappling to control the fight. However, in Round 2, Yadong was game to prove the oddsmakers and many MMA fans wrong. While Umar grew frustrated not being able to score clean takedowns and dipped his head to the left to shoot, Yadong landed a…

Tammy Yard-McCracken is a psychotherapist, Krav Maga instructor, and founder of 500 Rising, a nonprofit that trains instructors and runs women’s and girls’ self-defense programs in North America and Europe. She founded Kore Self-Defense and Krav Maga in Northern Virginia, has taught with the Violence Dynamics instructor group, and works on conflict communication, scenario training, and instructor development. The second part of our talk with Q&A from my Patrons is here Summary Wim and Tammy pick up about three years after their last talk. She describes handing Kore Self-Defense and Krav Maga to her instructor team when the lease ended…

UFC 333 is still over a month and a half away, but the main event between featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and challenger Movsar Evloev is already heating up.Volk and Evloev have been circling each other for over a year, with “The Great” calling for a match-up with the No. 1 contender repeatedly. Evloev’s grappling style and inability to earn finishes saw him get passed over twice by Diego Lopes, but his time will finally come in Abu Dhabi on October 24th.In a new interview with MMA Junkie, the 32-year-old Evloev explained how he’d be the one to knock the 37-year-old…