Ukraine’s Robot Army: The Rise of Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Modern Warfare

10/10/2025
The battlefields of Ukraine are witnessing a technological revolution that is reshaping the nature of ground combat. While aerial drones have dominated headlines throughout the conflict, a new category of unmanned systems is quietly transforming military operations: unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). From experimental prototypes to mass deployment, Ukraine's ambitious push…

Investing in War Winners: Transforming Naval Aviation Training for Future Dominance

09/29/2025
By Robbin Laird Modern warfare has reached an inflection point. As technology accelerates and battlespaces become increasingly complex, military aviation faces a fundamental truth: the next generation of military superiority will belong not to those with the most aircraft, but to those who make the smartest investments in their human…

From Good Enough to Strategic Command: The Evolution of Military Pilot Training

09/23/2025
I talked with Tom Webster of Textron Aviation Defense on July 15, 2025 about the legacy of combat pilot training and the reshaping of that approach to embrace the fifth generation and multi-domain combat pilots needed for the high-end fight. This article deals with the first part of our conversation…

The Convergence of Strategic Vision and Operational Reality: From GBU-57 Development to Modern Air Supremacy

06/28/2025
By Robbin Laird The recent operations Midnight Hammer and Rising Lion represent the culmination of decades of strategic airpower investment, demonstrating how prescient weapons development from the early 2000s enabled decisive military options in 2025. However, these successes have exposed critical capacity limitations that require immediate attention to maintain credible…