An AWACS in Orbit

An AWACS in Orbit

For half a century, the West has tracked hostile aircraft the same way: a converted airliner with a radar dome, orbiting on station for hours at 9,000 metres (30,000 feet) while a crew in the back stares into scopes. On 29 May 2026, the U.S. Space Force committed...
One Switch From Armageddon

One Switch From Armageddon

A few minutes past midnight on 24 January 1961, a Mark 39 hydrogen bomb drifted down through the winter darkness over Wayne County, North Carolina, swinging beneath a 30-metre (100-foot) parachute. It settled nose-first into a field near the hamlet of Faro and came to...
The Navy Is Sinking Its Own Cruiser

The Navy Is Sinking Its Own Cruiser

Somewhere in the Pacific in the coming weeks, a US Navy cruiser that fired Tomahawks in two wars will be hit by torpedoes, missiles and bombs until she slips under — and the people shooting will be her friends. The decommissioned USS Mobile Bay is about to...