Free Republic

Operation Epic Fury marks a turning point in the art of war. The key to 20th-century battles was air power. In the past, space and cyber activities have traditionally played supporting roles as so-called force multipliers. But this is no longer the case. In this conflict they have become mainstream, carving out new fronts for the wars of the future. The use of space is no longer something that is just nice to have, because everything from comms to intel to navigation uses space and cyber assets. Along with the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages US spy satellites, the US...

Today, there are nearly 70,000 women serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. More than 10,000 are fighting directly on the frontlines. They are not there because of a quota. They are there because they wanted to serve, and serve they are… The drone revolution: where women excel The character of the fight has altered. No longer is strength the limiting factor. Now it’s precision, focus, and problem-solving. Women fly the latest FPV drones, command unmanned systems units, and conduct intelligence missions in Ukraine. The Khartiia Corps claims a 20 percent increase in female recruits for combat technology positions. Why? Because...

Amid the raging conflict in the Middle East, the astonishing events at Barksdale Air Force Base earlier this month have attracted only limited media attention. It is reported that swarms of unidentified drones repeatedly loitered over Barksdale between March 9 and 15, drawing no publicly known effective response from the military or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Barksdale is the headquarters of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, which is responsible for the nation’s nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bomber forces, including B2, B1, and B52 aircraft. The base is home to the 2nd Bomb Wing B52s and...

For decades, Western military doctrine has rested on a comforting assumption: technological superiority would guarantee dominance on the battlefield. Advanced missile defenses, integrated sensor networks, and sophisticated command systems were supposed to create something close to an impenetrable shield over the world’s most developed nations. The ongoing confrontation between Israel and Iran is beginning to challenge that assumption. Israel fields one of the most advanced missile defense architectures ever constructed. Its layered system — including Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow interceptors — was designed to counter a wide spectrum of threats, from short-range rockets to long-range ballistic missiles....

As fascinating as drone warfare can be — particularly the seemingly sci-fi drone-vs-drone variety — keeping up with all the developments is a fool's errand. Yesterday's hot new thing is practically outdated today, and today's hot new thing may look obsolete tomorrow. That's an exaggeration, of course, but some days it doesn't seem like much of one. That's why today's news about Ukraine's Sting counter-drone caught my eye, and what it might mean for U.S. and other Western forces going forward. I vaguely remembered reading something about the Sting a year or more ago, but I just learned today that...

EXPOSED: Deputy AG Todd Blanche is hunting the people who reportedly bypassed him—while 47 leakers who sabotaged the Letitia James prosecution go untouched. Full Investigation🔗https://whitecollarfraud.com/2025/12/08/is-todd-blanche-undermining-the-letitia-james-prosecution/ Let me show you the receipts. March 21, 2025: ONE leak to the NYT. Blanche declares war: "We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump's agenda by leaking." He opened a criminal investigation. Sept-Dec 2025: FORTY-SEVEN leaks to 9 newsrooms. Grand jury secrets. Internal deliberations. Prosecution strategy. Every single one helped Letitia James. SIX made Todd Blanche the hero—the "reasonable" man who "questioned the legal viability" of the...

Drones are increasingly menacing the skies above, whether as buzzing nuisances destroying a scenic locale’s peaceful vibes or wielded as a kamikaze drone spreading terror. As such, world militaries are intensely interested in anti-drone weaponry right now. Take the latest demo from the British Armed Forces to take down these suckers: shooting them out of the blue with a powerful laser beam. The country’s Ministry of Defense recently tested the DragonFire laser at a facility in Scotland, according to a statement, where it was able to successfully shoot down high speed drones that “fly up to 650 km/h [404 miles...

Subjugation is a deadly cocktail of fear and chaos. You can’t fight what you can’t see. So allow me to ask a blunt question: How blind are we? Talk of war is everywhere. A good number of military academics would tell you that WWIII began sometime between the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks and President Obama’s decision to use the international banking system to freeze out nations deemed insufficiently compliant with the West’s brand of “globalism.” The more that Washington, London, and Brussels have insisted that the “rules-based international order” empowers Western officials to confiscate foreign assets or disrupt normal currency...

Despite U.S. sanctions, at least 130 Ram 1500 pickup trucks were imported into Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — eight of them via a U.S. company.

When North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles from its eastern coast in May, South Korea’s response was swift. Within hours, Seoul joined Washington and Tokyo in condemning the launch as a “serious threat” to regional peace and security. But just weeks earlier, when a North Korean KN-23 missile – designed to strike South Korean targets – hit a residential building in Kyiv, killing 12 civilians, Seoul said nothing. That silence fits a broader pattern. There was no response when Russia reportedly deployed a surface-to-air missile system to protect Pyongyang, nor when Ukrainian intelligence revealed that Russian instructors were training North...

On May 23rd, The Times published an extraordinarily candid probe into how militarised drones have irrevocably revolutionised warfare in the 21st century, with Russia far at the forefront of this radical shakeup of how conflicts are waged. Meanwhile, there is little indication NATO members even vaguely comprehend this battlefield reality, let alone a single one of them is undertaking any serious measures whatsoever to prepare for conflict such as that currently unfolding and evolving daily throughout Ukraine’s eastern steppe.The Times piece is a first-person report of a visit to the assorted headquarters of Kiev’s 93rd Mechanised Brigade, in basements of...

Hackers with links to Iran are threatening to disclose emails stolen from the US President’s inner circle. The hackers, who go by the pseudonym Robert, told Reuters in an online chat that they have 100 gigabytes of stolen emails from Susie Wiles, the White House’s chief of staff, Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s lawyer, Roger Stone, Trump’s advisor and Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the centre of the Trump camp’s hush-money scandal.The group, Robert, said they could sell the material but didn’t provide Reuters with any details on their plans, nor describe what was in the emails. The US Cybersecurity and...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. PSALM 145

On Saturday on MSNBC’s “Velshi,” one of President Donald Trump’s former lawyers, Michael Cohen, said Tesla CEO Elon Musk will lose in his feud with the president. Cohen said, “Elon said that he’s the one that delivered the election. I’m not so sure we can say that, but he certainly didn’t hurt.” He continued, “You know where Elon Musk is making a mistake? The feud should not have gone on the way that it did. And I say that because while Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the...

The audacious attacks on Russian airfields highlight the power of unconventional, asymmetric warfare — and the threat to U.S. strategic bases and ports, experts say.Ukraine’s surprise Sunday strike that used relatively inexpensive drones to knock out a significant portion of Russia’s long-range bomber capability was arguably the single largest blow to Moscow in its three-year war on its neighbor and a stunning display of asymmetric warfare. The out-of-the-blue drone blitz elicited glee among Ukraine’s backers in Washington, but also a chilling realization: The United States is increasingly vulnerable to just such a low-tech, low-cost strike. “The Pentagon should be very...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said he intends to partially reopen the “Jungle School,” where up to 9,000 troops a year trained in jungle warfare from the 1950s to 1999 in the former Panama Canal Zone. Secretary Hegseth made the announcement to U.S. troops in Panama amid an ongoing trip to the Central American country, where he will attend the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC). Thanking the troops for their service, Hegseth said, “We will have your back; President Trump has asked me to share that with all the groups of troops I talk to,” stressing the importance of...

Judge Boasberg blocks Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Tren de Aragua, despite intelligence linking the gang to Venezuela’s government and acts of sabotage in the U.S. As President Trump fulfills his campaign promise to deport criminal illegal aliens, a blatantly corrupt judge is trying to stop him. Judge James Boasberg, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has abandoned all pretense to fairness. I will leave it to others to focus on his conflicts of interest (the FISA Court, his wife, his daughter) and his double standard of justice. This article...

Reid Hoffman,venture capitalist and co-founder of LinkedIn, made a despicable joke Friday about Donald Trump that history will judge harshly. In Sun Valley, Idaho, at the Allen & Co. conference – an invitation-only gathering called the “summer camp for billionaires” – Hoffman and estranged friend and Trump supporter Peter Thiel got into a disagreement about Trump that spurred Hoffman to make a dark comment. Hoffman made his comment barely 24 hours before a Trump rally in Pennsylvania ended abruptly after what appeared to be a hail of gunshots and Trump being removed by Secret Service agents with what appeared to...

Kicking off Season 3, join us for an enlightening fireside chat on "Inside West Point: Ideas that Impact" with visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk. In this episode, Musk explores the intersection of advanced technology and modern warfare, focusing on the role of AI and drones in transforming the battlefield. He shares his insights on innovation, the existential risks of AI, and the future of autonomous systems in military operations. Musk’s unique perspective offers invaluable lessons for military and industry leaders, and anyone interested in the future of warfare technology. (This episode was created from Mr. Musk’s visit to West Point in...