The UH-1Y’s Full Day at WTI 2-26

06/26/2026 Thirteen photographs from April 7, 2026, document a full operational day for the UH-1Y Venom near Yuma, Arizona, as part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26. The day moves from the MCAS Yuma ramp through rappelling operations in the rocky desert mountains, a hot-pad turnaround at a forward site, door gun employment across the desert floor, and into the… Read more »

From Hormuz to Taiwan: Why It’s Worth Revisiting Ratzel

06/25/2026 By Pasquale Preziosa In June 2026, the world watched with concern as the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz unfolded. Once again, a stretch of sea just a few dozen kilometers wide proved capable of influencing energy markets, military strategies, and political decisions of powers thousands of kilometers away. During the same period, Taiwan continued to be one of the… Read more »

Competitive Coexistence in a Fractured World Order, Authoritarianism, and the Kill Web Revolution

06/24/2026 By Robbin Laird This article is the convergence point of several analytical projects I have pursued in recent years: the breakdown of the post–Cold War order and the global war in Ukraine, the reconfiguration of power across key middle states such as Australia and Brazil in the shadow of China’s rise, and the emergence of a multi-polar authoritarian architecture that… Read more »

Building the MISR WTI: An Interview with VADM (Retired) Miller

06/23/2026 By Robbin Laird When the history of the Navy’s transition from kill chain to kill web is written, the creation of the Maritime ISR Weapons and Tactics Instructor — the MISR WTI — will be recognized as one of the foundational moves. The program did not emerge from a requirements document or a program of record. It emerged from a… Read more »

Keeping AI Online in Combat: The Striveworks Approach to Operational AI for the Defense Community

06/22/2026 By Robbin Laird James (Jim) Rebesco is the co-founder and chief executive of Striveworks, an Austin, Texas-based company now seven years old that works with the U.S. Army, Navy, and defense intelligence community to deploy and sustain artificial intelligence in operational environments. His background is as a PhD in computational neuroscience and applied AI, followed by years building algorithmic trading… Read more »

The Marine Corps MQ-9A at WTI 2-26: Unmanned Integration and the Kill Web

06/19/2026 By Robbin Laird Nine photographs from April 4, 2026, at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, document the UAS tactics exercise conducted as part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26. The subject is the MQ-9A Reaper, operated in Marine Corps service by MAWTS-1, and the Ground Control Station from which its crew flies it. Together, the photographs provide the most analytically… Read more »