Conflict & Security

Armed conflict and military developments, reported from verified sources: capabilities, outcomes and the systems behind them.

Conflict & Security

The sky's balance sheet: what air defence costs, intercept by intercept

The argument that air defence is unaffordable rests on a simple comparison: a four million dollar Patriot interceptor against a thirty five thousand dollar drone. The comparison is real and it is also the least interesting number in the debate. Reported engagements show defenders firing three to four interceptors at each incoming target, which means the price list is not the bill. The number that decides a campaign is how much of a magazine one raid consumes, and 2026 produced a striking answer.

By Muhammad Mehdi · 8 October 2026 · 19 min read

Conflict & Security

The other side of the pole: Russia's and China's early warning networks, mapped and counted

A missile crossing the Arctic is seen by Russian radars long before it is seen by NORAD's. A census of the Russian ground ring, the collapsed Tundra satellite tier, China's ground radars and its new staring satellites, and what each network can and cannot establish about an attack on North America.

By Muhammad Mehdi · 24 September 2026 · 9 min read

Conflict & Security

The full map: every sensor in the North American early warning network, counted

From the phased arrays at Pituffik, Beale and Fylingdales to the 54 radars of the North Warning System, the Aleutian discrimination radar and the proliferated tracking constellations now launching by the dozen: every sensor that watches for a missile on North America, where each one sits, what it sees, and what it cannot.

By Muhammad Mehdi · 24 September 2026 · 9 min read

Conflict & Security

What Golden Dome actually is, and what no shield can promise

The Golden Dome programme combines an executive order's eight mandated elements, a $25 billion down payment and the existing missile defence fleet with a space-based interceptor plan whose own physics reviews demand a thousand or more orbiting weapons. What has been built, what has been bought, and what the record says can and cannot be intercepted.

By Muhammad Mehdi · 24 September 2026 · 11 min read