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TWZ. Where the cutting-edge of military technology, tactics, strategy, and geopolitics collide.

The U.S. Navy is reportedly evaluating a major change to the Ford class aircraft carrier design that would move the island superstructure further forward on the flight deck. USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)

Why The Ford Class Carrier’s Island Superstructure Is Located So Far Back

Trump reportedly wants the Navy to move the Ford class island for aesthetic reasons, but its current position was a very deliberate decision.

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The U.S. Army has chosen Hanwha Defense USA to advance alone to the next phase of its Mobile Tactical Cannon (MTC) program.
M777 155mm Howitzter

South Korea’s Highly Mobile 155mm Artillery System Wins U.S. Army Howitzer Contract

The Army wants a new wheeled self-propelled 155mm howitzer to replace its towed M777s, offering a boost in range and mobility.

Ukraine's Brave1 offers new details about Ukraine's Equalizer homemade glide bomb.
Russia

New Details Emerge About Ukraine’s Homegrown “Equalizer” Glide Bomb

Ukraine is counting on the Equalizer to provide an affordable air-launched standoff weapon that doesn’t rely on foreign donors.

The Israeli Air Force is repositioning one of its AH-64 Apache attack-helicopter squadrons from Ramon Air Base in the Negev to Ramat David in northern Israel, bringing a portion of the service's attack-helicopter force significantly closer to the Lebanese and Syrian fronts. The move reflects a shift in how the IAF is positioning its relatively small Apache fleet for rapid-response missions, trading some concentration in the south for shorter transit times and greater persistence over the northern battlefield.
Israeli Air Force

Israel Moves AH-64 Apaches Closer To Critical Northern Front

An AH-64 squadron is moving from Ramon to Ramat David as Israel shifts more attack helicopter capacity toward the northern front.

A rendering of a 5GAT drone dueling with an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The drone appears to have released countermeasure flares to help evade an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile fired by the F-35.
U.S. Air Force

Air Force Wants Family Of Expendable Target Drones That Can Mimic Everything From Stealth Fighters To UAV Swarms

With rapidly evolving threats around the globe, the USAF’s target drones need to start making leaps to catch up and a new family of systems is wanted for this.

TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG)
Carrier Tracker

Where Are The Aircraft Carriers?: August 17, 2026

USS George Washington is en route to relieve USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, which leaves no carriers in the Pacific.

President Donald Trump said he curtailed U.S. participation in military training with South Korea over its decision not to help the U.S. fight Iran.
South Korea

U.S. Military Training With South Korea Reduced Over Iran War Snub

Trump’s decision comes amid growing concerns about America’s commitment to Asian allies, especially as the standoff with Iran grinds on.

New unit on Guam will bolster the extremely strategic island's defenses against Chinese missiles and grow the size of the Army's beleaguered Patriot force.
U.S. Army

New Patriot Battalion To Bolster Guam’s Defenses Within Months

The new unit will also have short-range counter-cruise missile systems that will enhance the strategic island’s defenses and grow the Army’s overextended Patriot force.

Hunt For New Lower-Cost Strike Missile With 1,000-Kilometer Range Underway By U.S. Army
U.S. Army

Hunt For New Lower-Cost Strike Missile With 1,000-Kilometer Range Underway By U.S. Army

Affordable High Speed Strike missiles could offer an important new way to hold enemy air bases, air defense nodes, and other high-value targets at risk.

Aircraft on flight line drone threat.
U.S. Homeland

U.S. Not Prepared To Handle Drone Attack From Inside Homeland: NORTHCOM Deputy Commander

A top general in charge of protecting the U.S. gave a refreshingly frank but also troubling assessment of America’s drone defenses.

The U.S. Army swatted down more than 1,400 Iranian missiles and drones in Epic Fury and the 12-Day War
Iran

Army Downed More Than 1,400 Iranian Missiles And Drones During Epic Fury And 12-Day War

The Army’s air and missile defense boss offered new context about how the service defended against Iranian threats in the two most recent Middle East conflicts.

MDA's main desire now is to find a more mobile radar system to make them less susceptible to enemy missile and drone attacks.
Land-Based Ballistic Missile Defense

Hunt For New Mobile Missile Defense Radar Reinforced By Lessons From Iran War

A successor to the AN/TPY-2 radar has to be far easier to move in order to survive against the ever-growing threat of missiles and drones.

Jet-Powered JDAM Production Is A Go For The U.S. Navy
Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)

Jet-Powered JDAM Production Is A Go For The U.S. Navy

Putting JDAM-LR into production will give the Navy an important new stream of lower-cost standoff munitions for its carrier air wings.

R66 U.S. Army training helicopter.
U.S. Army

Army To Use Robinson R66 For Its New Helicopter Pilot Training Concept

The R66 will be part of a fundamentally different, contractor-run approach to producing Army helicopter pilots.

Suaccessful launch of the FV-014 Loitering Munition System.
Germany

Rheinmetall Launches New Containerized Loitering Munition From Moving Truck

The ability to launch multiple loitering munitions from an unassuming container while on the move opens up tactical possibilities.

CENTCOM is creating a new multinational, multi-domain one-way attack drone task force.
Iran

U.S. Launching International One-Way Attack Drone Task Force In The Middle East

Task Force Falcon Strike will combine allies’ air, sea and underwater one-way drone operations.

President Donald Trump has given the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon 60 days to draw up a plan for installing steam-powered catapults and hydraulic elevators on the future Ford class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller.
U.S. Navy

Bringing Back Steam Catapults On Carriers Is A Huge Risk

Trump has long railed against electromagnetic catapults and elevators, but changing course now will be costly and could have huge impacts on a strained force.

The Polish Navy launched its largest surface combatant since the interwar period, when the frigate Wicher went into the water today. The warship, built locally according to a British design, is the first of three and part of a wide-ranging modernization program for the Polish Navy as it adapts to meet a growing Russian threat in the strategic Baltic Sea region and elsewhere.
Baltic Sea

Poland’s Powerful New Frigate Marks Major Shift For Its Navy

The 7,700-ton Wicher signals Warsaw’s push to build a larger, much more capable fleet in the Baltic.

TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG)
Carrier Tracker

Where Are The Aircraft Carriers: August 11, 2026

More than 20 American warships, including two carrier groups, remain on station in the Middle East with less than a week left for negotiations under the U.S.-Iran memorandum.

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Moscow has been upgrading its version of the Iranian Shahed drone at pace, deploying newer high-speed jet variants capable of reaching targets almost 620 miles away. Using new variants from the bases identified would put strikes against Poland’s capital within Putin’s reach.
NATO

Russia Is Expanding Its Long-Range Strike Drone Network

Satellite imagery reveals growing launch infrastructure for Geran-family one-way attack drones, including the capability of launching heavier, higher-performing types.

BALLYMENA, NORTHERN IRELAND - FEBRUARY 4: The communal recreation room at a nuclear bunker site on the Woodside Road industrial estate on February 4, 2016 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. The underground shelter has been put up for sale by the offices of the Northern Ireland First and Deputy First Minister. The bunker which was completed in 1990 was built to hold up to 235 people in the event of a nuclear bomb and is complete with kitchen facilities, dormitories and decontamination chambers. The site, one of approximately 1,600 nuclear monitoring posts built in the UK since 1955, is on the housing market with an asking price of £575,000. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
Bunker Talk

Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week

I have no idea if it’s day or night anymore.

Australia's first MC-55A Peregrine aircraft departs the United States for RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Australia.
Royal Australian Air Force

Australia’s MC-55 Electronic Warfare Jet Has Entered The South China Sea

The Peregrine’s first overseas deployment gives Canberra an extremely powerful new intelligence-gathering capability right in China’s backyard.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft flies in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility July 15, 2026.
F-15

Did Sensors On Iranian Drones Help Shoot Down F-15E?

A new account suggests Iran used drones to track the U.S. fighter and relay its position, speed, and direction to a missile team.

Panzermuseum East, a privately run museum in Denmark specializing in Soviet and Warsaw Pact armor, announced that it has completed its first shipment of armored vehicles to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Army

Ukraine’s Latest Armor Donor? A Military Museum

Scouring the globe’s arsenals to provide Ukraine with Soviet-designed materiel is nothing new, but sourcing systems from museums is less common.

This photo released by the US Navy 17 Decmeber 2001 shows flight deck personnel aboard USS John C. Stennis with "FDNY" (Fire Department of New York) inscribed on the cranial (headgear) while observing an F-14 "Tomcat" coming in for an arrested wire landing. Stennis and her embarked Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW 9) are supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. AFP PHOTO/Jayme PASTORIC (Photo by JAYME PASTORIC / US NAVY / AFP) (Photo by JAYME PASTORIC/US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images)
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We want to know from all of our readers: how we are doing — so have at it!

A U.S. Army Avenger SHORAD protected President Trump while he played golf.
U.S. Army

Avenger Surface-To-Air Missile System Protected Trump While Golfing

The danger to Trump from Iran has increased dramatically since he launched a war against that country.

The Navy has confirmed to TWZ directly that one of two Block V Virginia class submarines without the new Virginia Payload Module will have a one-of-a-kind seabed warfare configuration.
Virginia Class

Navy Is Getting A Unique Virginia Class Seabed Espionage Submarine

One Block V Virginia class submarine will be unlike any other, capable of highly specialized intelligence and sabotage missions on the seafloor.

Diego García has reported drone sightings.
Indo-Pacific

Drone Sightings Are Happening At Diego Garcia, America’s Remote Strategic Island Outpost

The sightings highlight concerns about drone attacks from the sea, especially at a time of extreme hostility between Iran and the U.S.

The U.S. Navy is planning to acquire 31 E-130J Phoenix II aircraft to replace 16 E-6B Mercury planes now in service, nearly doubling the number of planes configured to perform the Take Charge And Move Out (TACAMO) mission.
E-6

Navy ‘Doomsday Plane’ Fleet To Almost Double In Size With New E-130Js

A much bigger fleet of smaller turboprop E-130Js is set to replace the smaller fleet of larger E-6B jets, but the Navy has also acknowledged risks.

30 March 2026, Hamburg: The Kraken K3 Scout drone drives through the port while Federal Minister of the Interior Dobrindt meets Hamburg's Senator of the Interior Grote. Topics of the meeting include the expansion of civilian defense capabilities, security in the Port of Hamburg and effective defense against hybrid threats and attacks.
Royal Navy

Chinese Components In Royal Navy’s New Drone Boat Raise Cyber Security Concerns

The issue highlights supply-chain risks amid growing concerns over Beijing’s cyber access to Western military capabilities.

Inside the A-10 weapons school as it prepares to shut down once and for all.
A-10

The Last Days Of The A-10 Warthog Weapons School

The Weapons Instructor Course has been the center of excellence for the A-10 and its missions for nearly 50 years, but that’s about to end.

U.S. Marines with 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division patrol through an underground tunnel in support of offensive operations during the Korean Marine Exercise Program 25.1 at Camp Stanley, South Korea, March 10, 2025. KMEP is a semi-annual exercise that provides iterative opportunities for Republic of Korea Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps units to train together, improving their combined capabilities to deter threats and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Kendrick Jackson)
Bunker Talk

Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week

Sorry, the dust is staying.

A KC-135 Stratotanker damaged in a mid-air collision over Iraq is now undergoing full repairs at Tinker Air Force Base.
KC-135

KC-135 That Lost Its Tail In Deadly Collision Over Iraq Now At Tinker AFB Repair Shop

The KC-135 made an emergency landing in Tel Aviv with half its tail sheared off following the collision that occurred during an Operation Epic Fury sortie.

A Taiwanese military M1A2T tank is pictured during a drill simulating an enemy airborne assault at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan on August 7, 2026. Taiwan's largest military drills of the year began on August 5 as the island democracy attempts to prepare its population for a potential Chinese invasion.
Taiwan

New M1A2T Abrams Tanks Guard Taiwan’s Main Airport During Invasion Drill

First deployment of M1A2T tanks to Taoyuan Airport highlights ongoing preparations to counter a PLA airborne operation aimed at Taipei.

Officially designated an offshore patrol vessel (OPV), the Falaj 3 carries a weapons suite that would be impressive on a missile corvette and, in some respects, even a light frigate. At around 680 tons full load displacement, it may be one of the most heavily armed warships anywhere in the world for its size.
Uncategorized

The Falaj 3 May Be The World’s Most Heavily Armed Patrol Boat

Officially an offshore patrol vessel, the compact design carries the kind of combat capability normally associated with well-armed corvettes or even frigates.

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F-117 Nighthawks Now Appear To Be Flying As Adversaries In Red Flag Aerial War Games
Red Flag

F-117 Nighthawks Now Appear To Be Flying As Adversaries In Red Flag Aerial War Games

U.S. Air Force

Why Fighter Pilots Work Intensely For Eight Hours Just To Fly For 30 Minutes

SR-71

CIA’s Predecessor To The SR-71 Blackbird Tested Electron Guns To Hide From Radars

U.S. Navy

US Navy Aircraft Carriers Had Escalators Just Like At The Mall

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TWZ — previously known as The War Zone — has become an essential resource for the defense industry, the national security community, and the interested public at large since it was launched in 2016.

 

From its early beginnings to the present day, TWZ’s purpose remains the same.

 

The site stands at the nexus of military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. As a full-spectrum defense news and analysis website, TWZ covers the air, sea, land, space, and cyber domains of warfare, with an infusion of geopolitical context and technological analysis to offer readers deeper, yet easy-to-consume, insights than what they will find anywhere else….

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