Russia s MiG-25 Foxbat: The World-Beater That Wasn t
Deficiencies in design, manufacturing problems, and the disappearance of key aspects of its mission meant that it could not seriously compete on quality with the best fighters of the age, or on costs with models such as the MiG-21.
Here s What You Need To Remember: Designed to shoot down a bomber that never existed, the bugbear of the MiG-25 helped spur development of one of the finest fighters to ever fly. It would provide a template for the MiG-31, which remains in service today with the Russian Air Force, and which will continue to fly for the foreseeable future.
Which Country s Army Will Dominate the World in 2030?
Most ground combat forces of 2030 will very much resemble the most lethal forces of today, with perhaps a couple of important changes.
Here s What You Need To Remember: States that have access to enthusiastic populations with high human capital, that can cull the most innovative technologies from robust, modern economies, and that can structure their civil-military relations with just-enough-but-not-too-much independence will tend to do very well.
The focus of ground combat operations has shifted dramatically since the end of the Cold War. Relatively few operations now involve the defeat of a technologically and doctrinally similar force, leading to the conquest or liberation of territory. Preparation for these operations remains important, but ground combat branches also have a host of other priorities, some (including counter-insurgency and policing) harkening back to the origins of the modern military organization.
This Is How the Korean Peninsula Was Divided in Two
The truth was that if the State Department did not clarify who would administrate which parts of Korea, then the entire peninsula would fall under the control of advancing Soviet troops.
Here’s What You Need To Remember: By 1949, both Soviet and American troops had withdrawn from the peninsula, leaving behind violently irreconcilable regimes that both claimed to be the only legitimate government of Korea. A hastily conceived temporary compromise had resulted in the permanent division of a nation, and sowed the seeds for more than seventy years of conflict.
On July 12, 2018, the USS Racine met her grisly fate.
The 522-foot long tank landing ship was struck by four different types of guided missiles, one of which triggered a massive explosion that sent shards of debris spraying across the sea and ripped open part of her hull, exposing the inner decks. Finally, a Mark 48 torpedo struck the forty-six-year-old vessel beneath the waterline and nearly snapped off her bow. An hour later, the five-thousand-ton ship sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean fifty-five miles north of Hawaii.
At least four different military services participated in the Racine’s ritual sacrifice on the altar of the Pacific Rim (or RIMPAC) exercise known as SINKEX. Participants included P-8 Poseidon patrol planes of the Australian Navy, Type 12 surface-to-surface missile batteries of the Japanese Self Defense Ground Force, the U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class submarine Olympia, and artillerymen and helicopter pilots from the U.S. Army.
they could not withstand changes in technology, or in the international environment.
Battleships represented huge, long-term investments of national treasure. The took a long time to design, and a long time to construct. In the complex geopolitical and technological environment of the 20th century,
South Dakota (United States)
At the end of World War I, the British, Japanese, and American navies each embarked on an impressive battleship construction spree. The United States, relatively untouched by the war and with the world’s largest economy, was best positioned to win this incipient naval race. The first two American entries were the Lexington class battlecruisers and the South Dakota class battleships.