Latest Reports

Building a Strong Informatized Strategic Missile Force: An Overview of the Second Artillery Force with a Focus on Training in 2014

This report analyzes the training and personnel recruitment of the People’s Liberation Army Second Artillery Force (PLASAF), China’s main strategic deterrent force. While there has been a considerable amount of research on Second Artillery’s strategy, missions, equipment, and order of battle, two areas that have... MORE

Russia’s Zapad 2013 Military Exercise: Lessons for Baltic Regional Security

Zapad 2013 was a wide-scale military exercise carried out by the Russian and Belarusian military forces in September 2013. The joint maneuvers, which were held in Belarus and western Russia, simulated an incursion by foreign-backed “terrorist” groups originating from the Baltic States. This exercise—involving tens... MORE

A Net Assessment of Developments in Eurasia Since the Start of 2014

During the week of October 14–20, 2014, Eurasia Daily Monitor presented a series of special issues featuring net assessments of developments across Eurasia since the beginning of the year. Following Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity on the Maidan, and Russia’s ensuing cynical attack on the country... MORE

Zapad-2013: A View From Helsinki

As a full-fledged war between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed irregulars rages on in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas, Western defense experts are only now beginning to thoroughly assess the military lessons of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, the Russian military again looks poised to intervene in... MORE

Militant Leadership Monitor – November 2013 Issue

The November Issue of Militant Leadership Monitor features two briefs by Nicholas A. Heras. The first focuses on the recent announcement of the formation of al-Jabhat al-Islamiya (Islamic Front), a coalition of seven powerful opposition groups in Syria, with a look at one of its... MORE

The Rise of al-Shabaab: A Militant Leadership Monitor Special Report

In this Quarterly Special Report (QSR) on the rise of al-Shabaab, we focus on the various militants who are guiding al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-aligned militant organization that aims to impose Shari’a in Somalia. The group began as a radical youth wing of Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union... MORE

Militant Leadership Monitor – September 2013 Issue

The September Issue of Militant Leadership Monitor focuses on militant leaders in Africa and the Middle East. In the first brief, Nicholas A. Heras analyzes an Iraqi Shiite militia leader who has vowed vengeance if the United States and its Allies launch a strike on Syria. The... MORE