David Axe

To Protect Tanks From Drones, The Russians Revived An Idea From 1964: A Barrel Screen The Z-1 was unwieldy in 1964, but today's tankers might feel differently

To Protect Tanks From Drones, The Russians Revived An Idea From 1964: A Barrel Screen

What's Left Of The Russian Black Sea Fleet Is Trapped In Southern Russia Ukraine hasn't sunk a Russian ship in two years, but that doesn't mean it's not winning the Black Sea naval war

What's Left Of The Russian Black Sea Fleet Is Trapped In Southern Russia

Are Attack Helicopters Obsolete? Missiles and drones drive manned gunships toward irrelevance.

Are Attack Helicopters Obsolete?

It Turns Out Potting Clay Makes Poor Armor Old shell casing full of clay are the latest Russian anti-drone innovation

It Turns Out Potting Clay Makes Poor Armor

A Whole Russian Field Army Relies On This Southeastern Road. Cutting The Road May Be The Reason For Ukraine's Counteroffensive. The argument for the Velyka Novosilka-Huliaipole Road as the locus of the fighting in the southeast.

A Whole Russian Field Army Relies On This Southeastern Road. Cutting The Road May Be The Reason For Ukraine's Counteroffensive.

Ukraine Built A Fortress In The Southeast. A Russian Field Army Is Determined To Smash It. Shrugging off Ukraine's counteroffensive, the Russian 5th Combined Arms Army marches west from Huliaipole.

Ukraine Built A Fortress In The Southeast. A Russian Field Army Is Determined To Smash It.

Is The Ukrainian Counteroffensive A Lie? Difference observers reach different conclusions.

Is The Ukrainian Counteroffensive A Lie?

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To Capture An Important Russian Base, A Ukrainian Airborne Battlegroup Must First Climb a Difficult Hill Hill 134 stands between the 95th Air Assault Brigade and Uspenivka

To Capture An Important Russian Base, A Ukrainian Airborne Battlegroup Must First Climb a Difficult Hill

America's War On Iran Is Unsustainable The precision munitions U.S. forces are expending on regime change in Iran won't be available to defend Taiwan

America's War On Iran Is Unsustainable

How Long Can Ukraine Hold Hill 207? One stubborn contingent of Ukrainian troops is blocking a Russian march on Sloviansk.

How Long Can Ukraine Hold Hill 207?

Ukraine’s Mirage 2000s Finally Go On The Offensive Are there enough bombs?

Ukraine’s Mirage 2000s Finally Go On The Offensive

Ukraine's Offensive Just Slammed Into Russia's Offensive The southeastern battlefield is a chaotic mess

Ukraine's Offensive Just Slammed Into Russia's Offensive

Sound of Silence—The Russian Military Comms Collapse Russian military communications collapsed in early February along much of the 1,200 km front line; for Ukrainian forces it was a rare opportunity

Sound of Silence—The Russian Military Comms Collapse

How To Sink A Chinese Flattop The U.S. Navy is accustomed to defending aircraft carriers; now it needs to attack them

How To Sink A Chinese Flattop

How To Sink A Chinese Flattop The U.S. Navy is accustomed to defending aircraft carriers; now it needs to attack them

How To Sink A Chinese Flattop

Ukraine's Flamingo Missile Finally Did What It Was Always Supposed To Do: Blast A Russian Factory The Flamingo's belated success comes after months of controversy

Ukraine's Flamingo Missile Finally Did What It Was Always Supposed To Do: Blast A Russian Factory

Kansas informs trans residents their driver’s licenses become invalid on Thursday Some transgender Kansans said they had received the letters from the Department of Revenue. Others hadn’t by Wednesday evening.

Kansas invalidating trans people's driver's licenses is fucked up, dangerous, and cruel. If it's not clear how this will affect YOU, there is a future in which Republicans criminalize everyone who doesn't align with white Christian nationalist values as a way to force compliance.

Ukraine's Southeastern Counteroffensive Is Reshaping The Front Line Russian retreat improves Ukraine's position ahead of possible Russian attacks in the spring

Ukraine's Southeastern Counteroffensive Is Reshaping The Front Line

Can Taiwan Hold Out Long Enough? Dispersing forcing and deploying drones could buy time for Taipei to rally allies.

Can Taiwan Hold Out Long Enough?

Help Get Us To 600 Paid Subscriptions! We're just 40 subs away.

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The U.S. Air Force Has Too Few Missiles That means American leaders must pick and choose between war efforts

The U.S. Air Force Has Too Few Missiles

Russia May Have Just One Tank Factory, Not Two There's evidence Omsktranshmash isn't actually producing brand-new T-80s

Russia May Have Just One Tank Factory, Not Two

Just One Crew Member Died In The Three Ukrainian Strv 122 Tanks The Russians Have Destroyed The Swedish tank is very, very tough

Just One Crew Member Died In The Three Ukrainian Strv 122 Tanks The Russians Have Destroyed

SXSW 2026 Schedule Browse events, build your schedule, and get personalized recommendations for the 2026 SXSW Conference & Festivals from March 12–18, 2026 in Austin, TX.

Filmmakers attending #sxsw! I produced the horror feature AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE, premiering 3/14 at the fest. schedule.sxsw.com/films/2241463

I'll be looking to take on more features, so if you're making horror movies -- tinier & weirder, the better -- let's meet. david.t.axe at gmail

A Russian Field Army Was In Danger Of Encirclement. It Narrowly Escaped. The 36th Combined Arms Army has retreated east as Ukraine's counteroffensive grinds on.

A Russian Field Army Was In Danger Of Encirclement. It Narrowly Escaped.

Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missile Punched A 100-Foot Hole In a Russian Munitions Workshop But the Ukrainians aren't striking often enough to cause lasting damage to Russian industry

Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missile Punched A 100-Foot Hole In a Russian Munitions Workshop

Are Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missiles Finally Working As Advertised? There have been two recent successful strikes

Are Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missiles Finally Working As Advertised?

15 Russians Blundered Into The Path Of Ukraine's Counteroffensive—And Got Wiped Out Ukrainian drones, artillery and infantry took out a truck full of Russian troops

15 Russians Blundered Into The Path Of Ukraine's Counteroffensive—And Got Wiped Out

Their Starlink Terminals Bricked, Russian Vehicles Are Getting Lost—And Getting Blown Up Russian disarray is an opportunity for the Ukrainians

Their Starlink Terminals Bricked, Russian Vehicles Are Getting Lost—And Getting Blown Up