As the global order undergoes profound transformation, middle powers are increasingly seeking ways to enhance their strategic autonomy while navigating the complex dynamics of great power competition. Among the most promising yet under-explored partnerships is the deepening relationship between Brazil and India which are two democratic giants that represent the…
A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion attached to Marine Heavy Squadron (HMH) 461 lifts off the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), during Composite Training Unit Exercise while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, July 10, 2025. During COMPTUEX, the IWO ARG and 22nd MEU(SOC), refine tactics,…
By CAPT (Ret) Christoper C. Misner, Senior Manager, Bell Strategic Pursuits The U.S. National Defense Strategy prioritizes the Indo-Pacific as a critical theater for national security. For naval and joint forces operating in that theater, an operationally limiting factor is the so-called tyranny of distance. Vast distances required to operate and…
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year, the conflict has fundamentally transformed modern warfare, with drones emerging as a significant force on the battlefield. Now, Germany is leading an ambitious initiative to translate these Ukrainian innovations into a comprehensive defensive system along NATO's eastern border—a 1,850-mile "drone wall"…
A recent Wall Street Journal article by Marcus Walker, outlines two main scenarios for the possible resolution of the ongoing war in Ukraine, as hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough faded after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. The first scenario envisions a partition with protection: Ukraine would lose about 20% of…
Sailors assigned to Air Department aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), guide an F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 213 on the ship’s flight deck, July 6, 2025. 07.06.2025 Photo by Seaman Jarrod Bury USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)
By Robbin Laird World leaders find themselves lurching from crisis to crisis with little time to catch their breath. This reactive scramble has become the defining characteristic of our era or what might be called the "anarchy of the moment." Unlike the grand ideological struggles or systematic breakdowns that marked…
Germany has emerged as Ukraine's most critical drone technology partner since February 2022, fundamentally transforming both nations' defense capabilities through unprecedented industrial cooperation. German companies have delivered over 900 advanced reconnaissance and strike drones to Ukraine while establishing full manufacturing facilities on Ukrainian soil - a level of wartime defense…
