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Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.
The world's largest warship — a nuclear-powered supercarrier with electromagnetic catapults, built to sustain a ~75-aircraft air wing and project power globally, and the centerpiece of the US Navy's 11-carrier fleet.
China's most numerous modern AEW&C platform — a Y-9-based turboprop carrying a fixed three-array AESA radar for 360° coverage, in service with both the PLAAF and PLANAF and reportedly sought by Pakistan.
Russia's 1980s-era AEW&C aircraft on the Il-76 airframe, known for its rotating Shmel radome—a fleet severely diminished by two combat losses in early 2024.
The E-7 Wedgetail is Australia's and the US's next-generation AEW&C aircraft, built on a Boeing 737-700 airframe and equipped with a fixed MESA AESA radar — the chosen successor to the E-3 Sentry across NATO and a growing allied fleet.
China's first indigenous strategic airlifter — a four-engine heavy transport known as the Kunpeng that bridges the PLA's force-projection gap, and the basis for a fast-growing aerial tanker fleet that extends Chinese airpower far beyond the first island chain.
Russia's heavy four-engine strategic airlifter, in service since 1974 and now modernised as the Il-76MD-90A with PS-90A engines, serving as the backbone of operational lift and the platform for the A-50 AWACS and Il-78 tanker.
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a long-range heavy airlifter that combines intercontinental reach with the ability to operate from short, austere airfields, serving as the backbone of U.S. and allied strategic airlift since 1995.
China's primary long-range strike platform — a modernized Tu-16 derivative that carries up to six cruise missiles, conducts persistent bomber patrols around Taiwan and the first island chain, and forms the backbone of PLAAF/PLANAF bomber aviation.
Russia's Mach-2-capable strategic heavy bomber and standoff cruise-missile carrier — the largest and fastest supersonic aircraft ever fielded, modernized with new-build Tu-160M aircraft entering service despite aging fleet challenges.
Russia's air-droppable infantry fighting vehicle — a lightweight, amphibious tracked IFV armed with a 100 mm gun-launcher and 30 mm autocannon, fielded by the VDV airborne forces.
China's high-speed amphibious assault family — ZBD-05 IFV and ZTD-05 assault gun with a planing hull that achieves water speeds of 25–45 km/h, purpose-built for over-the-horizon landings and the Taiwan contingency.
China's core wheeled 8x8 armored vehicle family — an amphibious, modular platform fielded in over 20 derivatives from infantry carrier to 105 mm assault gun, and the backbone of the PLA's medium combined-arms brigades.
China's primary modern tracked infantry fighting vehicle — a BMP-3-influenced design built by NORINCO, armed with a 100 mm gun-launcher and coaxial 30 mm autocannon, and the backbone of the PLA Army's heavy and medium combined-arms brigades.
Russia's mainstay modern wheeled armored personnel carrier — an amphibious 8x8 with a 30 mm autocannon that first saw combat in Syria and is now heavily used in Ukraine.
The BMP-2 is the world’s most widely proliferated tracked infantry fighting vehicle — a lightweight, amphibious Soviet-legacy design that marries a 30 mm autocannon with anti-tank missiles and has been a fixture of every major ground conflict since the 1980s.
Russia's heavily armed tracked infantry fighting vehicle — a 100 mm gun-launcher with an integral 30 mm autocannon, amphibious, and a staple of mechanized units that has suffered catastrophic losses in Ukraine.
The U.S. Army’s modern tracked armored personnel carrier, built on a Bradley-derived chassis to replace the M113 family across the Armored Brigade Combat Team.
The Stryker family of wheeled 8×8 armored vehicles — the backbone of US Army Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, fielded since 2002 and exported to Ukraine, with variants from base troop carrier to 30 mm Dragoon and counter-drone directed-energy platforms.
The Boxer is a modular 8×8 multirole armoured vehicle – a common drive platform that accepts mission-specific modules to deliver protected mobility in roles from troop transport to infantry fighting vehicle and reconnaissance.
Germany's premier tracked IFV — a 30 mm airburst cannon, modular armor, and the most powerful engine in its class, equipping the Bundeswehr's Panzergrenadier units and the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force.
The CV90 is a Swedish tracked infantry fighting vehicle family — a modular, heavily protected design serving across NATO's northern flank and now combat-proven in Ukraine.
The M2 Bradley is the U.S. Army's tracked IFV — a 25 mm chain gun, TOW missiles, and a six-man infantry squad on a single armored chassis, proven from Desert Storm to the close-range tank kills of the Ukraine war.
China's export-tracked 155 mm self-propelled howitzer — the PLZ-05A's international face, offered by NORINCO but with no confirmed sales.
China’s premier truck-mounted howitzer — a 155 mm/L52 wheeled system designed for rapid shoot-and-scoot, air mobility, and export success, with a combat-proven record through Pakistan.