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What will happen to highly strategic Russian air and naval bases in Syria is now very much now an open question following the downfall of long-time strongman Bashar Al Assad and his flight to Moscow.
Syria

Fate Of Russia’s Prized Syria Bases: What We Know

Moscow's naval port in Tartus and airbase in Latakia are in very precarious states after the fall of the Assad regime.

The United Kingdom has taken an important step toward its Tempest next-generation fighter, with the start of a trials campaign for the Flight Test Aircraft (FTA), nicknamed Excalibur, which will serve as a flying laboratory for the new combat aircraft. Based on a Boeing 757 airliner, the FTA joins a growing band of dedicated trials aircraft that are being used to prove out technologies for current and future-generation fighter programs, also in the United States and China.
Airborne Radar

UK’s 757-Based ‘Excalibur’ Avionics Testbed For Tempest Future Fighter Emerges

The 757-based flying laboratory will be tasked with helping get the Tempest future fighter into service, planned for 2035.

HMAS Brisbane fires a Tomahawk Weapon System off of the cost of San Diego, United States of America.
Royal Australian Navy

Australian Navy Fires Tomahawk Cruise Missile For The First Time

Tomahawks will give Australia the ability to reach deep into China's anti-access bubble, striking ships and land targets.

Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Shooting Machine Guns At Russian Helicopters, Boats
Naval Gun Systems

Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Shooting Machine Guns At Russian Helicopters, Boats

Gun-armed Sea Baby uncrewed vessels have emerged amid growing Russian efforts to stymie Ukraine's kamikaze drone boat attacks.

The entire fleet of U.S. V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft has been temporarily grounded after a mishap involving an AFSOC CV-22 last month at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC)

V-22s Grounded Again After Special Operations Osprey Mishap

The Navy, Marines, and Air Force have stopped or severely limited Osprey operations following a scare aboard a CV-22 out of Cannon AFB.

A huge underground bunker complex, said to be beneath the mansion of Maj. Gen. Maher al-Assad, the disposed dictator’s brother. Maher al-Assad was best known as the leader of the Syrian Army’s elite Fourth Armored Division.
Syria

Descend Into The Depths Of The Assad Regime’s Massive Bunker

The labyrinth of an installation is remarkably modern and deeply buried, filled with creature comforts and regime oddities.

A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured with its frame broken, in a Syrian regime's Political Security Branch facility on the outskirts of the central city of Hama, following the capture of the area by anti-government forces, on December 7, 2024. Syria's embattled government said on December 7 it was setting up a ring of steel around Damascus, state media reported, as rebels on a lightning advance said they were bearing down on the city. The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group which has headed the assault, told fighters to prepare to take Damascus, just over a week into a renewed offensive in the long dormant conflict. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran

The Assad Regime Has Fallen, Claims Swirl Around Possible Crash Of His Escape Jet (Updated)

In a stunning 12-day blitz, anti-regime forces have ousted Bashar al-Assad from Syrian rule.

Storage-tunnel for nuclear missiles at an abandoned soviet military in Brandenburg State, Germany
Bunker Talk

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

Better late than never!

The USS Zumwalt's hypersonic missile launchers are now installed.
U.S. Navy

USS Zumwalt Returns To The Water With A Hypersonic Missile Launcher Upgrade

It's hoped that the tiny and hugely expensive Zumwalt class might find new utility with its hypersonic missile launch capability.

F-35 CCA under trump admin
F-35

Former Trump Acting SECDEF Talks About The Future Of Big Ticket Defense Programs

Chris Miller offered some insights into how the next Trump administration could approach defense procurement.

Gen. Bussiere said the number and speed of delivery of the B-21 is a “valid discussion” to have “based on the age of the B-1 and B-2” and the advancing strategic capabilities of Russia and China.
B-21

B-21 Raider Numbers Could Be Boosted With Existing Production Capacity

As the Air Force grapples with questions over B-21 force size, the head of Global Strike Command says the capacity exists to ramp up production.

Homs, Syria.s third-largest city, is close to being captured by rebels opposed to Bashar Al-Assad.
Iran

Syrian Rebels Closing In On Homs, Cutting Off Damascus From Coast An Imminent Possibility (Updated)

Homs is the last major city on anti-Assad forces' road to Damascus and its capture would put them 75 miles north of the city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of forward deploying new conventionally-armed Oreshnik missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads in neighboring Belarus in the latter half of next year.
MRBMs/IRBMs

Experimental Ballistic Missile Russia Used On Ukraine Could Be Headed To Belarus

The broader ramifications of the secretive Oreshnik missile only continue to grow after its emergence in an unprecedented attack on Ukraine.

5 inch Mark 45 deck gun firing.
U.S. Navy

USS Carney’s Red Sea Operations Highlight 5-inch Deck Gun’s Anti-Air Capability

USS Carney executed a whopping 51 engagements of Houthi drones and missiles during its deployment to the Red Sea.

The Pentagon has released a summary of a new classified strategy to guide efforts to protect American forces abroad and across the U.S. homeland from growing drone threats.
Unmanned

This Is The New ‘Counter-Drone Strategy’ Just Unveiled By Pentagon

The new Pentagon strategy is an important acknowledgment of growing drone threats, but also highlights long-standing lag in addressing them.

Ngad punted to trump adminstration
NGAD

Future Of NGAD Fighter Punted To Trump Administration

While the Air Force continues its deep review into the NGAD future crewed fighter, a final decision on its fate will be taken by the Trump administration.

An anti-government fighter remotely fires rockets against regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on December 4, 2024. Syrian government forces pressed a counterattack against Islamist-led rebels around the key city of Hama on December 4 after suffering a string of staggering losses further north, a war monitor said.
Iran

Anti-Assad Forces’ Capture Of Strategic Hama A Critical Stop On Road To Damascus

Hama, a critical post on the road to the Syrian capital, is the latest city to fall to the rebels’ fast-moving offensive.

Bell has released a rendering showing updated design concepts for vertical takeoff and landing-capable crewed and uncrewed aircraft that feature wingtip rotors that fold away during level flight.
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC)

Revised Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Concepts Emerge From Special Operations X-Plane Program

Fast-flying runway-independent aircraft with folding rotors, crewed and uncrewed, could perform more than just special operations missions.

Russia is massing for a possible attack across the Dnipro River to draw in Ukrainian troops.
Russia

Russia Massing For Possible Cross-River Offensive In South Ukraine

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia is increasing attacks across Dnipro River to draw Ukraine's troops away from other areas of the front.

A recent drill by the Russian Armed Forces in the Mediterranean has provided us with a more detailed view of the shadowy Zircon hypersonic missile, a weapon that has only been glimpsed in the past and shown up in the form of fragments after being combat tested in Ukraine. The maneuvers come as Russia’s position in Syria — home to its two major Mediterranean bases — increasingly looks to be under threat, as rebels continue their rapid advance south, threatening the rule of Bashar al-Assad, a key Kremlin ally.
Russian Navy

Our Best Look At Russia’s Shadowy Zircon Hypersonic Missile

The Russian Navy launched the Zircon cruise missile as part of a large-scale live-fire exercise in the Mediterranean.