Featured Article

Armenia’s Geopolitical Realignment: From Russia’s Orbit to Western Partnership

08/07/2025 Armenia is executing a careful but decisive pivot away from Russia toward closer integration with the European Union and United States, driven by Moscow's failure to protect Armenian interests during the Azerbaijan conflict and Russia's broader decline as a reliable security guarantor. The EU's nuanced approach, offering partnership without demanding complete severance from Russia, contrasts sharply with traditional binary geopolitical… Read more »
Featured Article

Strategic Realignments in South Asia: The New Power Dynamics Shaping Regional Order

08/06/2025 By Pasquale Preziosa South Asia, long considered the epicenter of geopolitical rivalry — particularly between India and Pakistan — is now entering a new era of heightened complexity. The region’s established fault lines are being reshaped not only by traditional animosities but also by global shifts: the redefinition of United States interests, the tightening China-Pakistan strategic partnership, and India’s relentless… Read more »
Featured Article

The Porcupine Defense: How the Philippines is Revolutionizing Maritime Security with “Small, Cheap, and Independent” Capabilities

08/05/2025 By Robbin Laird The Philippines is pioneering a revolutionary "porcupine defense" strategy that uses distributed maritime autonomous systems to create defensive geometries that complicate adversary attack profiles while providing multiple axis points for disruption — proving that innovative, cost-effective platforms can effectively challenge traditional maritime power projection. A New Paradigm in Maritime Defense As tensions escalate in the South China… Read more »
Featured Article

Congress Revolutionizes Combat Readiness with Osprey Nacelle Modernization

08/04/2025 By Robbin Laird In combat, reliability isn't just important. It's everything. Seconds count and missions hang in the balance. So it’s good news that Congress just made a $160 million investment in combat readiness with the Osprey Nacelle Improvement Program, which will keep America's most versatile aircraft in the fight. The global strategic landscape isn't waiting for 2035. While future… Read more »
Featured Article

Eyes in the Sky: Japan’s Historic Intelligence Leap

08/03/2025 When Putin decided upon a "special operation" in Ukraine, his focus was on Europe and his way ahead in his effort to emulate Catherine the Great. Only it has not turned out that way. The conflict has enhanced pressure on the multipolar authoritarian world which had been making significant gains with a relatively quiet game of advancement. But his invasion… Read more »
Featured Article

Beyond Moral Judgment: How Modern Historians Navigate the Past

08/02/2025 By Robbin Laird The challenge facing every historian is deceptively simple yet profoundly difficult: How do we understand people from the past without either excusing their actions or condemning them by today's standards? This methodological dilemma sits at the heart of historical scholarship, determining whether we produce genuine insight or mere moral posturing disguised as academic analysis. Mary Beard, in… Read more »
SLD Special Reports
View All »

Shaping a Porcupine Defense Strategy for the Philippines: The Role of Maritime Autonomous Systems

08/04/2025 This report analyzes the Philippines’ “porcupine defense strategy,” emphasizing its reliance on maritime autonomous systems (MAS) and distributed lethality to deter aggression in the South China Sea. It highlights the Taiwan-Philippines-Japan strategic triangle and the critical importance of the First Island Chain and Luzon Strait for regional security and global trade. The report details how U.S.-Philippines military cooperation, including fast boat bases and the deployment of unmanned surface vessels (USVs), is… Download PDF Now »
Whats New
View All »

The Unintended Architects: How Putin and Trump Shaped Xi’s Global Strategy

08/01/2025 In the complex chess game of global geopolitics, few developments have been as paradoxical as the way two of Xi Jinping’s most challenging counterparts may have inadvertently strengthened China’s strategic… Read more »

Beyond the Science Project: A CONOPS for Hypersonic Weapons in Today’s Fight

08/01/2025 By Robbin Laird The United States faces a critical strategic moment in the Pacific. While adversaries deploy operational capabilities — however imperfect — America continues to treat essential weapons systems… Read more »

How to Manage the New Fighter Project: The Dassault Perspective

07/31/2025 By Pierre Tran Paris – The key point on a planned European fighter jet lay in opting for clear program leadership with a prime contractor rather than assigning subcontractor work… Read more »

Looking Back at 2019: Presaging the Future

07/30/2025 By Robbin Laird The 2019 International Fighter Conference in Berlin brought together military leaders and industry representatives from nations living in the shadow of authoritarian powers. Their presentations, focused on… Read more »

Textron Aviation Defense Announces its New Trainer Plane: The Beechcraft M-346N

07/29/2025 On July 28th, Textron Aviation Defense announced that it’s proposing the Beechcraft M-346N jet trainer as a solution for the U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) program. The company… Read more »

Beyond Hedging: Democratic Middle Powers and the Crisis of International Order

07/29/2025 By Robbin Laird The comfortable world of middle power diplomacy is disappearing. For decades, countries like Brazil and Australia have thrived by maintaining strategic flexibility. They are trading with multiple… Read more »
In Briefs
View All »

Helicopter Evacuation Exercise

08/06/2025 U.S. Marines with Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico conduct a helicopter medical evacuation exercise at MCAF Quantico on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, June 4, 2025. Marines conducts training consisting… Read more »

a CH-53K King Stallion Visits Perth Amboy High School

08/04/2025 Perth Amboy High School students tour a CH-53K King Stallion from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461, Marine Aircraft Group 29, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing during an aircraft expo at Perth… Read more »

VMGR 252 Highlighted

08/01/2025 U.S. Marines with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 252 fly KC-130J Super Hercules in formation near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, June 18, 2025. VMGR-252 conducted… Read more »

King Stallion in Marine Air-Ground Task Force Distributed Maneuver Exercise 1-25

07/30/2025 A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion helicopter assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461, Marine Aircraft Group 29, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, departs for an air assault during… Read more »

USS Iwo Jima Conducts Flight Operations

07/28/2025 Sailors aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) display chocks and chains to the pilots of an MV-22B Osprey, assigned to the “Nighthawks” of Marine Helicopter… Read more »

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) Works on a King Stallion

07/25/2025 Artisans on the Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) H-53 aircraft line work on a CH-53K King Stallion, the first inducted for maintenance at the depot. FRCE inducted the aircraft April… Read more »

Training with the King Stallion: June 2025 at Quantico

07/23/2025 A pallet of explosive ordnance is staged in a Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion helicopter at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico, on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, June 4, 2025. Marines… Read more »
SLD BOOKSHOP
View All »

The Second Line of Defense team provides high quality publications with regard to key global strategic developments. You can purchase these on a number of booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

Video of the Month
View All »

VMM-162 in Anti-submarine Warfare Exercise

07/13/2025 U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 162 transport Marines with Company C, 1st Battalion 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division, during Atlantic Alliance 2025 at Pickerel Pond, Maine, July… Read more »
Our Partners