War Collage

Drones linger over battlefields all over the world, and over places that don&rsquo;t realize that they&rsquo;re battlefields until the Hellfire missiles strike.
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Drones of war: How smart will they get?

To understand just how strong China's military really is, it's important to understand its true mission and objectives. And those are very different from what the United States is trying to accomplish around the globe.

How China’s military might matches up with the U.S.

This week War College looks at some of the weirdest weapons that the U.S. military came up with for use during the Vietnam War. While the nuclear rifle didn&rsquo;t go anywhere, another invention can be found at raves around the world.&nbsp;

Weird weapons of Vietnam: Combat tree houses, a nuclear rifle and more

This week&rsquo;s War College looks at nuclear threats around the world and whether U.S. strategy has kept up. Thomas Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, says it hasn&rsquo;t and explains why that makes the world a more dangerous place.

What nuclear strategy? World powers play dangerous game by ear

From Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, few battlefields are as fought over in pop-culture as space. Which makes sense. Since the end of World War Two, people have looked to the stars as the next great frontier of both exploration and warfare.

For the United States, the Space Race was about both prestige and gaining an advantage over its Cold War enemies. And since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, peopled have looked to the skies above and wondered if the next great war might take place in literal vacuum.

But according to David Axe, editor-in-chief of War Is Boring, the war in space won’t look anything like what Hollywood has long pictured. Slow moving robots, lasers and logistics will dominate combat above the skies.

In this week’s War College, Axe dispels the popular myths of space as a battlefield and let’s us know what’s really going on in Earth’s orbit. Axe describes how to weaponize existing satellites, the missiles America and China have developed to knock those satellites out of the sky and the low-cost plans the Pentagon has to maintain its edge in the stratosphere.

Here’s what a real war in space might be like in 2015

It&rsquo;s the world&rsquo;s most famous weapon, popular with soldiers, insurgents and video gamers alike. As many as 100 million of the world's guns are descended from Mikhail Kalashnikov's original Avtomat Kalashnikova, first prototyped in 1947. How many lives they've taken is unknown.

The AK-47, a weapon so simple, even a child can use it - and they do

America&rsquo;s Special Operations Forces have become instrumental in the war against radical Islam. But few in America know their story or how they operate. Sean Naylor wants to change that. His new book, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of American Special Operations Command, gives readers a window into this secretive world. Naylor talks to us on this week&rsquo;s War College

Get a look inside the secretive world of U.S. Special Ops

North Korea sets off a nuclear bomb and how does the U.S. respond? The Pentagon sends a 65-year-old airplane to buzz Korean airspace. It wouldn&rsquo;t make a lot of sense if the warplane wasn&rsquo;t the B-52 bomber. Designed in the aftermath of World War Two, obsolete nearly before the last one rolled off the line in 1961 &ndash; the Stratofortress may remain in the air for another 25 years.

Why in the world is the 60-year-old B-52 bomber still flying?

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has used natural gas as a weapon against Ukraine and Europe as a whole. Threatening to turn shut off the pipes as the weather turns cold is a pretty effective way to influence foreign policy. But now it looks like one of Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s key weapons is losing some its punch.&nbsp;This week on War College we&rsquo;re looking at how shifts in the production of oil and natural gas are effecting global security, and where that leaves the United States.

Oil's long good-bye and what comes next

For a group of scientists working on weapons — some of which could end the world — DARPA has a surprisingly good reputation. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is credited with creating the Internet and runs public contests for human-looking robots and self-driving cars. This week on War College, we look at DARPA and some of the projects that still being carried out under the cover of official darkness.

DARPA brought us the internet - mind control could be next

In the West, people tend to think of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strongman dictator – a former KGB man who oppresses his people, censors the media and antagonizes Russia’s neighbors. From the outside, it’s hard for anyone to understand how Putin stays in power, let alone stays popular.  And Putin is popular. Pollsters put his approval rating at more than 80 percent. It makes perfect sense if you understand Russia. This week on War College, we sit down with Anne Garrels, a longtime Russia correspondent for NPR. Since the collapse of the USSR, Garrels has spent more and more time in smaller Russian cities and towns, getting to know people who don’t live the cosmopolitan lifestyle of the country's capital.  Garrels gives the reasons why Russians love Putin, and why it’s in the best interests of the West to understand them.

The simple reasons Russians love Putin

The United States has more aircraft carriers than any other country. Depending on what you call an aircraft carrier, it's 10 times as many. So why don't more countries have more carriers? Maybe they aren't such a great idea, anymore.

Subscribe to War College on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2

The age of the aircraft carrier may be over

Right now, America is fighting a war in Afghanistan – the longest in its history – a war against the Islamic State in the Middle East, a war against Islamic radicals in Pakistan, several different operations in and around the Horn of Africa and – if you ask the Houthi rebels – a war in Yemen.

That’s a short list. 

Today on War College, we sit down with freelance journalist and independent researcher Joseph Trevithick, who has spent the better part of the last year compiling a list of all the military operations America is fighting overseas. He uses the Freedom of Information Act and a spreadsheet to keep everything straight.

As of this recording, his list of American military operations is up to 190. The nature of these conflicts is often small-scale and powered by special operations forces and drones. Trevithick says most of these operations aren’t secret, it’s just that they’re complicated and often, through legal loopholes, avoid Congressional oversight.

Tracking America’s ‘shadow wars’

For his views on democracies and dictatorships, he’s been called a cynic. But NYU professor Alastair Smith doesn’t think that makes him wrong.  

This week on War College, Smith debunks popular ideas about dictators and how they stay in power. According to Smith, and his colleague Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, the West too often trades cash for policy favors from dictators.

International criminal courts for authoritarian leaders are bad ideas, Smith argues, because they create negative incentives for dictators to leave. And attempts to help the masses - as former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi attempted - can be a dictator’s biggest mistake.

Smith says that for dictators, it’s good policy to understand who keeps them in power and to keep those entities – which can sometimes include the West - happy.

By Matthew Gault
Produced and edited by Bethel Habte

How spreading democracy keeps dictators in power

War nerds love tanks. The battlefield behemoths drove onto the scene in the early days of World War I, replaced the cavalry and became synonymous with war. But which one is the best?

This week on the show, author Steven Zaloga walks us through the ins and outs of armored vehicles. He explains how the French Renault doesn’t get enough credit, how the Sherman came to dominate Europe and how people always forget about the Russians.

It’s everything you ever wanted to know about tanks but were afraid to ask on War College this week. How have wire guided missiles changed the game? What’s reactive armor and why does it explode? And what, if any, is the point of tanks in low intensity warfare?

One tank to rule them all

Pyongyang launches missile test after missile test. A carrier strike group moves through the Pacific with its sights set on the peninsula. U.S. President Donald Trump has called the entirety of the U.S. Congress to attend a briefing on the North Korean threat on April 26, 2017. And Seoul faces an election that could dramatically change the country’s relationship to both its neighbor to the north and its oldest ally.

But what does North Korea want?

This week on War College, B.R. Myers will help us figure that out. Myers is a professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea. He’s visited the north, speaks the language, and reads the literature and propaganda alike. He takes Pyongyang at its word when it says it wants to reunify the peninsula and he’s not hopeful for the future.

What North Korea wants

China’s military made international news in early July when it announced the opening of its first overseas military base in Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa. China says the base is simply a logistics building, poised to protect the country’s interests in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It’s an interesting location for a military instillation considering the American military base just four miles away.

This week on War College, retired Green Beret Derek Gannon walks us through China’s interests in East Africa and why so many American Special Operations forces are stationed there. According to Gannon, Africa will be the next stage in the global proxy conflict between superpowers.

Here’s why China built that military base in Africa

Despite some close calls, the United States and Russia never fought in a full-scale conflict during the Cold War. The fear of nuclear Armageddon loomed for decades but never occurred. The world avoided the devastation thanks to the efforts of politicians, spies and soldiers. If not for some special and unexpected relationships across the Iron Curtain, the world may look very different today.

This week on War College, author Eva Dillon talks us through her new book, 'Spies in the Family,' and one of the relationships that kept the world safe. Dillon’s father was a CIA operative whose most trusted asset was a high-level Soviet general and a close family friend.

By Matthew Gault
Produced by Bethel Habte

Growing up CIA

As tensions grow between the U.S. and North Korea, onlookers have increasingly called on China to intervene. Which makes sense. Beijing is Pyongyang’s biggest trade partner and the two countries have a relationship that stretches back to World War II. But just because China is North Korea’s closest ally doesn’t mean China has control.

According to Chinese history expert Adam Cathcart, China’s relationship with the DPRK is complicated. Cathcart lectures about China and Chinese history at Leeds University in Britain and he’s spent some time along China’s border with North Korea. This week on War College, he explains the relationship between the two countries, what the border looks like and what happens Chinese border guards interrogate you.

By Matthew Gault
Produced by Bethel Habte

Why China won’t stop North Korea

It's a blast from the past this week and Jason and Matthew get ready for 2018. Here's what we said back then: From Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, few battlefields are as fought over in pop-culture as space. Which makes sense. Since the end of World War Two, people have looked to the stars as the next great frontier of both exploration and warfare. For the United States, the Space Race was about both prestige and gaining an advantage over its Cold War enemies. And since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, peopled have looked to the skies above and wondered if the next great war might take place in literal vacuum.But according to David Axe, editor-in-chief of War Is Boring, the war in space won’t look anything like what Hollywood has long pictured. Slow moving robots, lasers and logistics will dominate combat above the skies. In this week’s War College, Axe dispels the popular myths of space as a battlefield and let’s us know what’s really going on in Earth’s orbit. Axe describes how to weaponize existing satellites, the missiles America and China have developed to knock those satellites out of the sky and the low-cost plans the Pentagon has to maintain its edge in the stratosphere. You can listen to War College on&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" target="_blank">iTunes</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" target="_blank">Google Play</a>&nbsp;or follow our&nbsp;<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" target="_blank">RSS directly</a>. You can reach us on our new Facebook page:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/War_College" target="_blank">@War_College</a>.

War Collage

Felix Gim