“We Can’t Even Imagine”: Colonel Kate Fleeger on the CH-53K’s Unfinished Story

07/13/2026 By Robbin Laird Colonel Kate Fleeger took the helm of PMA-261, the Naval Air Systems Command program office responsible for the Marine Corps' heavy lift portfolio, in 2022. She arrived at a pivotal moment: the CH-53K King Stallion was moving out of its developmental phase and into full rate production, a transition that typically marks the point where a program… Read more »

Flight Deck Symphony: A Day in the Life of the USS Arlington

07/13/2026 Sailors signal to a CH-53K King Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461, during flight operations aboard San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) June 11, 2026. Arlington is underway conducting Type Commander's Amphibious Training, a military exercise designed to enhance mobility and integration between the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. The… Read more »

From Rheinmetall Slump to KNDS Retreat: Investor Sentiment Turns on European Defense

07/09/2026 By Pierre Tran Paris. KNDS, a Franco-German builder of land weapons, said July 1 it has suspended its announced flotation in Paris and Frankfurt, citing "market volatility" in the arms sector on European stock markets. The company told investors it was switching tracks just a week after launching a long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), backed by the French and German… Read more »

AST-3 at Twentynine Palms: The MV-22B and the Full-Spectrum Challenge

07/08/2026 By Robbin Laird On April 17–18, 2026, the high desert terrain around Twentynine Palms, California became the operational environment for Assault Support Tactics 3, one of the defining field evolutions of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26. The photographs from those two days capture what WTI is at its best: a realistic, multi-domain test of how Marine aviation and ground… Read more »

From Radio Shack to Revolution: The Real Story of Military Transformation

07/07/2026 By Robbin Laird In the early 2000s, a billion-dollar Predator drone circled over a combat zone, its high-definition cameras capturing perfect imagery of enemy positions below. On the ground, a Special Forces operator, weighted down with 80 pounds of gear and under enemy fire, was effectively blind. He knew the drone was overhead, but he couldn't see what it saw.… Read more »

The Portuguese Invented the Choke Point

07/06/2026 By Robbin Laird When visiting Bahrain some years ago, I made a point of seeing the Portuguese fort. Standing inside those ancient walls, looking at the stonework — Arab foundations overlaid with Portuguese military engineering — I was struck by a simple but powerful thought: the strategic logic that drove a small European nation to project power across half the… Read more »