Alex Hollings

Alex Hollings

USMC
Alex Hollings writes on a breadth of subjects with an emphasis on defense technology, foreign policy, and information warfare. He holds a master's degree in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, as well as a bachelor's degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications from Framingham State University.

Dry run for WWIII: US Army to deploy 20,000 troops to Europe

Ever since Russia’s military annexation of Crimea in 2014, the United States military has increased its presence and overall readiness throughout Eastern Europe. However, despite the presence of some 17,000 American troops on the continent, defense officials have repeatedly called for additional support, pointing out that NATO forces throughout the region are too sparse to […]

Artificial Intelligence and SOF Selection: How MARSOC is looking for its future operators

For decades, earning your way onto an elite special operations unit has largely been about your performance on aptitude tests and during physically challenging assessments, but in the very near future, the Marine Corps’ special operations unit known as the Raiders, or MARSOC, may be looking to computers to help identify the best candidates. MARSOC […]

The aircraft’s software crashed mid-flight, what do you do? F-35 pilot speaks out

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is widely considered to be the most advanced air combat platform ever to take to the skies, but with the increased capabilities allotted by new technologies comes an inherent drawback: the possibility that the technology can fail. That’s exactly the situation Captain Robert Larson, a student F-35 pilot assigned to […]

The Navy has admitted that UFOs exist – will USOs be next?

Last month, the United States Navy confirmed formally that two high profile videos allegedly captured from the nose of an F/A-18 Super Hornet attempting an intercept on an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena were real and notably, weren’t meant for release to the public. The Navy did not suggest that the strange craft shown in the videos […]

What is the best fighter jet in America’s arsenal?

When it comes to American air dominance, no platform gets more attention than the high-cost and high-performance F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Of course, the F-35’s monopoly on the media’s attention makes a fair amount of sense: by most accounts, it’s the most technologically advanced and expensive aircraft ever to enter the fight, and thanks to […]

The Marines produced this video to remind you of what they do best

Despite its maritime roots, the Marine Corps has spent the vast majority of the past two decades conducting combat operations in the arid deserts of the Middle East. As a result, Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger wants to remind the world that, while Marines may be able to fight in any clime or place, the […]

China’s new rocket powered drone is a purpose-built carrier killer

Over the past few weeks, images of China’s new supersonic-capable, unarmed reconnaissance drone have begun making their way online, and SOFREP was among the first to notice that the design bears a striking resemblance to a similar platform employed over China by the United States in the 1960s. However, China’s propensity for stealing aircraft designs […]

The FBI has been running Facebook ads aimed at Russians working in Washington DC

In a story seemingly pulled right out of a modern espionage novel, the FBI has apparently been paying to run targeted ads on Facebook aimed specifically at Russian speakers that live and work in Washington D.C. The ads feature Russian language captions and a link that refers the user to a website that offers details […]

The assassination of Jeffrey Epstein

“Epstein was either killed or encouraged to kill himself. In the case of a likely assassination, it would have been very easy to make it look like a suicide in such a controlled environment. Switch off the cameras and get to work…” -Former Special Ops/CIA Operator Earlier this year, Jeffrey Epstein, a powerful, well connected […]

This is the helicopter Bell says will dominate future battlefields for the US Army

Bell recently unveiled their new proposal for a single-rotor Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft that they claim will be better suited for the urban conflicts of the 21st century. This new platform, dubbed the “360 Invictus,” will pack a similar punch to the long-serving Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, thanks to 20mm cannons and the ability to […]