A May 3 article in the Russian tabloid Izvestia describes a series of military exercises—or rather, what it claims to have been one extended exercise—in Kaliningrad Oblast that took place during the last ten days in April (Izvestia, May 3). According to the piece, the... MORE

Almost 20 years ago, novelist John Griesemer’s dystopian book, Nobody Thinks of Greenland, captured the dominant attitude of most of his fellow Americans about the world’s largest island abutting the Arctic Sea. But that viewpoint, which truthfully was never completely true, changed dramatically in August... MORE

Baku has initiated large-scale weapons readiness efforts in Nakhchivan. The official YouTube channel of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense features a video showing Turkish-manufactured multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) stationed in the strategic western exclave (YouTube, May 2). Of these arms, the 300-millimeter TRG-300 Kaplan (Tiger)... MORE

The Donald Trump administration has signaled that it is not interested in prolonging the New START strategic nuclear weapons limitation treaty after its expiration in February 2021, expressing the need to focus on the strategic threats emanating from China instead; this has seriously complicated the... MORE

Introduction The early months of 2020 have seen a number of significant launches for the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s Long March series of rockets (长征系列运载火箭, Chang Zheng xilie yunzai huojian). The venerable—but steadily evolving—Long March series dates its active history back to China’s first... MORE

Introduction In addition to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Support Base in Djibouti, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has indicated ambitious plans for future “strategic strong point” naval bases in the Indian Ocean and Africa (China Brief, March 22, 2019), and has... MORE

Moscow’s continuing efforts to reduce the Black Sea to the status of a de facto Russian lake (see EDM, January 23) have forced Ukraine to seek increasingly inventive means of pushing back. Recently, some Ukrainian commentators have begun calling for a Timor Sea–type resolution for... MORE

Expanding its military presence in the Arctic is currently one of the main priorities of Russian defense policy. Cold War–era military bases, mothballed after 1991, have, in recent years, been reactivated, renovated and expanded, while additional ones are being built. In Soviet times, attack and... MORE

Russia’s Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil—VKS) are preparing to create a MiG-31K regiment in the Siberian city of Kansk, in the Central Military District (MD), fully equipped with Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. The training of flight crews will commence in late 2021, with the switch to... MORE

Despite the reported impact of COVID-19 on Russia’s military-industrial complex (Vedomosti, April 10), deliveries of new equipment continue (see EDM, March 25, April 1), including of modernized radios (Mil.ru, April 28) intended to improve the command-and-control (C2) capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces (see EDM,... MORE