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The infantry rifle is changing — and so is war: what modern assault-weapon design tells us about the battlefields of the 21st century
For most of the Cold War the infantry rifle was, in strategic terms, almost a settled question. You could walk into a Warsaw Pact armoury and find a Kalashnikov; into a NATO one and find some variant of the AR-15…
Telegram on the front line: Russia’s troops confront a communications squeeze
Russia’s battlefield communications are facing renewed uncertainty after Moscow moved to restrict Telegram, an app widely used by Russian forces and pro-war commentators to pass orders, share situational reports and coordinate logistics in Ukraine. On 10 February 2026, Russia’s communications…
“Sunray” prototype: Ukraine’s laser option for cheaper drone interception
Ukraine has tested a low-cost laser air-defence system designed to destroy small drones at close range, according to a report published by The Atlantic on 10 February 2026. In the article, staff writer Simon Shuster describes a field demonstration of…
How Sudan’s War Is Drawing in Its Neighbours
The war in Sudan has always threatened to become something larger than a mere domestic tragedy. Now, according to a striking investigation, it may already have done so. Fresh reporting suggests that neighbouring Ethiopia has been hosting a clandestine military…
US to hand two NATO command posts to European officers in Naples and Norfolk
The United States is set to hand over leadership of two major NATO operational headquarters to European officers, in a move that would alter a long-standing pattern of American command at senior levels of the Alliance. According to a military…
Mark Rutte’s Long View Is Giving NATO Strategic Confidence
Mark Rutte’s leadership shows NATO is as much political as it is military. There are two ways to understand NATO’s present moment. One is to see only the anxiety: a grinding war in Ukraine, a volatile Middle East, an increasingly…
The New Polar Front: Why Greenland Matters Again to Western Defence
In the long Arctic dusk, where the horizon blurs into a pale sheet of ice and the air itself seems to crystallise, modern air power is subjected to a test no laboratory can replicate. This winter the North American Aerospace…
AI Warfare and Europe’s Strategic Illusion
In a wind-swept conference hall on Spain’s Atlantic coast, diplomats last week assembled to discuss the most consequential military revolution since the atom bomb – AI. Artificial intelligence — faster than missiles, cheaper than tanks and more pervasive than any…
Russia accused of intercepting European satellite communications in orbit
European security officials believe Russian “inspector” spacecraft have been intercepting communications from a cluster of key European satellites in geostationary orbit, raising concerns about the exposure of sensitive data and the integrity of space-based infrastructure relied upon by governments, militaries…
New START expiry puts nuclear limits back on agenda as Washington and Moscow reopen channels
The expiry of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) this week has returned nuclear arms control to the centre of US–Russia diplomacy, as officials in Washington and Moscow explore whether any form of restraint can be preserved after…