Key Developments

From the Seabed Up: Terradepth and the Ocean Operating System

06/17/2026
By Robbin Laird

The problem with maritime autonomous systems is not the robots. The problem is what you do…

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Who Really Commands? Reflections on Murielle Delaporte’s Series on AI and the Future of Military Command

06/16/2026
By Robbin Laird

Murielle Delaporte has been working through one of the most consequential questions facing allied militaries today:…

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From Sea Dragon to Kill Web Node: The CH-53K as Airborne Manager of the Mine-Warfare Fight

06/15/2026
By Robbin Laird

The MH-53E Sea Dragon’s role in mine countermeasures at the Strait of Hormuz has been indispensable…

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From Revolution to Reality: Lessons in Military Transformation

06/12/2026
By Robbin Laird

The history of American military power over the past four decades is, in large part, a…

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The Malacca Chessboard: And Shaping a Way Ahead for Deterrence

06/11/2026
By Robbin Laird

When Washington and Jakarta unveiled a new “Major Defense Cooperation Partnership” in mid‑April 2026, the language…

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Balancing Performance and Cognitive Dependence: The AI Learning Challenge

06/10/2026
By Murielle Delaporte

Article Summary: The article is clear-eyed about the risks. Conversational AI creates automation bias (the tendency…

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Special Reports
05/12/2026
Australia’s “fight tonight” question has become urgent. Fight Tonight: Exploiting Australia’s Strategic Advantage distils the 23 April 2026...
Book Review
04/28/2026
The fifth edition of The United States Marines: A History by Edwin Howard Simmons and Lt. Col. Charles Patrick Neimeyer stands as the definitive single-volume chronicle of America's amphibious force-in-readiness. Spanning from the Continental Marines of 1775 through modern conflicts, this Naval...
Featured Defense System
05/15/2026
By Robbin Laird

Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Matthew Isler has written a serious and well-grounded assessment of where integrated air and missile defense stands today and where it must go. Published in War on the Rocks on May 14, 2026, his piece, "The New Era of Air and Missile Defense", deserves close reading by anyone thinking through the future of distributed, networked warfare. More than that, it deserves to be placed in a broader analytical context, because what Isler describes as a structural failure of current defensive architecture is precisely what the kill web concept anticipated, and what recent combat, above all, Operation Epic Fury and the subsequent regional defense against Iranian retaliation, has now validated at operational scale. Isler's core argument is that modern air and missile defense...

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