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“No days off,” I grumbled, my breath forming a tiny cloud against the cold winter air. The hangar we’d been using as a gym offered little reprieve from the desert’s early morning chill, but I knew it would just be a few hours before the bitter dark gave way to searing light, and my workspace […]
U.S. Army Pvt. Tomas Ordonez prepares to fire his M4 carbine rifle during Garuda Shield 2015 in Cibenda in West Java, Indonesia, Aug. 24, 2015. U.S. Army Pacific sponsored the bilateral exercise and the Indonesian army hosted it to promote regional security and cooperation. Ordonez is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s Company C, 2nd […]
An amphibious assault vehicle prepares to exit the well deck during a ship-to-shore exercise aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset in the Pacific Ocean, Sept. 3, 2015. The ship is participating in Dawn Blitz 2015, a training exercise to build U.S., Japanese, Mexican and New Zealand amphibious and command and control capabilities. U.S. Navy […]
As long as there have been science fiction movies, directed energy weapons have been a part of popular culture. Call them laser guns, phasers, or blasters, when people imagine the future, they tend to prefer one where guns fire bright lights, rather than good, old-fashioned lead. In recent years, lasers have made the jump from […]
Anti-submarine warfare is an issue of increasing concern among NATO allies, as the Russian Navy has not only demonstrated a more aggressive stature throughout the Baltic Sea and Atlantic Ocean in recent months, but has made some particularly concerning claims about the training they’ve been conducting. Now, seven surface combatant vessels and three sub-hunting aircraft […]
Marines demonstrate a hip throw during Marine Corps Martial Arts Program training on the USS Bonhomme Richard in the Pacific Ocean, March 12, 2017. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Tiffany Edwards Watch Marines conduct Tan Belt martial arts training in the video below:
The digital age has, in many ways, been a revolution in narrative management and the transmission of propaganda, but the fundamental elements of managing perceptions both domestically and internationally have existed as long as there have been nations to exercise the effort. While some dismiss the effect of information and disinformation operations on the global […]
On Saturday, Russia announced their intentions to formally enter the world of fifth generation fighters with the first official order of their advanced Sukhoi Su-57, a platform intended to serve as a challenge for America’s fleets of fifth generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and F-22 Raptors. “The first contract for 12 aircraft has been agreed […]
In 2008, the Pentagon sent the first operational stealth combat jet, the F-117A Nighthawk, out to pasture — or at least, sort of. The F-117 flew as an entirely classified program for years before ever being acknowledged by the U.S. Air Force as an operational program in the 1980s, allowing a generation of young Americans […]
Soldiers conduct sling load training at the Baumholder Military Training Area in Baumholder, Germany, Jan. 26, 2017. The soldiers are assigned to assigned to the 8th Medical Company. Soldiers assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment provided helicopter support. Army photo by Erich Backes Watch how sling load operations are conducted in the […]
Late last week, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the U.S. Air Force announced two successful “end to end” non-nuclear system qualification flight tests aboard B-2 Spirits for the newest nuclear bomb to enter into the American arsenal, the B61-12 gravity bomb. These tests are intended to determine how effectively the bombs can be […]
Here at SOFREP, we do a lot of talking about gear, training, and general preparedness. Pulling from our military, professional, and hobbyist backgrounds with firearms, we do our best to relate our experiences to you in an approachable way, and often, those experiences suggest that training, not equipment, is what will save your life in […]