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The Defense Desk · Analysis

Defense Explainers

Background guides to the systems, terms and doctrines that recur in defense news. Explainers set out how a weapon works, what a military term means or why a conflict developed as it did, so readers can follow daily coverage with the context it needs.

Latest Explainers coverage

1–6 of 6

  1. Pete Hegseth looks up at rows of ship and drone silhouettes painted on USS Abraham Lincoln's island under the words Epic FurySea · Middle EastUSS Abraham Lincoln Comes Home Claiming 64 Iranian Vessels Sunk: Do the Kill Marks Add Up?5 min read
  2. US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress seen head-on at night with AGM-158 JASSM missiles on its wing pylons as crew boardAir · AmericasB-52 Bombers to Get the AGM-158C LRASM: Up to 20 Stealthy Ship-Killers per Aircraft5 min read
  3. A French Le Triomphant-class ballistic-missile submarine surfaced at sea off Brest, a second submarine on the horizonMissiles & Space · Europe & RussiaFrance Fires the M51.3 From Submarine Le Vigilant: How Capable Is Its New Nuclear Missile?5 min read
  4. Three Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16s in desert camouflage fly beside the wing of a US Air Force KC-135 tanker over MoroccoAir · AfricaMorocco’s First F-16 Block 72 Flies: Can It Match Algeria’s Su-57E and Su-35?5 min read
  5. JS Taigei, pennant 513, a black Japanese submarine with crew on deck, leaving Kobe harbor with shipyard cranes behindSea · Asia-PacificJapan Launches Seventh Taigei-Class Submarine Shogei: How Capable Is the Lithium-Ion Boat?5 min read
  6. Pakistan Army transporter-erector-launcher with raised Babur cruise missile canisters at a Karachi defence showMissiles & Space · South AsiaPakistan Tests an Extended-Range Fatah-4 Cruise Missile: How Far Can It Now Reach?5 min read