Best of Military Machine

Eighteen inches. At 400 mph. The margin for error is less than the length of your forearm. How the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds train their pilots to fly in formation so tight that one flinch would be catastrophic, and why the military considers air show teams a combat-relevant mission.

The Air Force's airborne radar platform is older than the pilots flying it. Its replacement has been in service with Australia for 15 years. The delay in adopting the E-7 Wedgetail cost decades of capability.

Hunting a submarine from 30,000 feet sounds impossible. The P-8 Poseidon does it every day, using sonobuoys, radar, and classified sensor fusion that turns the ocean into a transparent map.

In 19 hours, Marine helicopters flew 682 sorties and lifted 7,000 people off rooftops as North Vietnamese tanks closed in. Operation Frequent Wind was the largest helicopter evacuation in history, and it nearly didn't happen.

France built the only Western tank with an autoloader, a 56-ton machine designed for speed and desert warfare. Everyone said the autoloader was a mistake. Then the UAE bought 388 of them and took them to war. Here's how the Leclerc defied its critics and why France chose a fundamentally different path than every other NATO nation.

The BMP-3 carries a 100mm cannon, a 30mm autocannon, and three machine guns on a vehicle that can swim across rivers. The Bradley carries one 25mm gun on a vehicle that weighs almost twice as much. Both designs reflect fundamentally different philosophies about what an infantry fighting vehicle should do, and Ukraine has stress-tested both in combat.

According to the IDF, 5,400 anti-tank attacks have been stopped, with zero crew killed in a Trophy-equipped tank. Rafael's Trophy Active Protection System detects an incoming rocket or missile, calculates an intercept point, and fires a shotgun-like countermeasure, all in less than one-tenth of a second. Here is how the system works, why the U.S. Army is installing it on every M1 Abrams, and the one kind of round it cannot stop.

22 best diecast military models from $25 desk pieces to $170 collector-grade aircraft and tanks. Hobby Master, Corgi, Forces of Valor, and more.

The FIM-92 Stinger helped win the Cold War by turning Afghan mujahideen into a credible anti-aircraft threat. By 2023, the United States almost ran out of them, because Raytheon stopped making them for 13 years, and the first 10 months of Ukraine support burned through the remaining stockpile.

Memorial Day is the one day Americans pause to remember. These 10 military memorials, from the Vietnam Wall to the USS Arizona, make sure they never forget. Each one carries a story that goes far deeper than what the guidebooks tell you.

In 19 hours, Marine helicopters flew 682 sorties and lifted 7,000 people off rooftops as North Vietnamese tanks closed in. Operation Frequent Wind was the largest helicopter evacuation in history, and it nearly didn't happen.

In 19 hours, Marine helicopters flew 682 sorties and lifted 7,000 people off rooftops as North Vietnamese tanks closed in. Operation Frequent Wind was the largest helicopter evacuation in history, and it nearly didn't happen.

In December 2024, Ukrainian forces ran the first fully unmanned ground combat operation, with AI-coordinated drones identifying targets, engaging, and assessing damage without a human in the loop. The era of autonomous warfare isn't coming. It's here.

Laser weapons, robot dogs, see-through helmets - technologies that seemed impossible are now routine military equipment.

How military drones evolved from reconnaissance into a central pillar of modern warfare.

How sensor architecture transforms pilot awareness and decision-making.

Can a carrier be sunk? From Aegis destroyers to CIWS gatling guns, here's every layer of defense protecting a $13B aircraft carrier from missiles and torpedoes.