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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 most widely operated fourth-generation multirole fighter, continuously upgraded for over four decades, now fielded in its latest Block 70/72 "Viper" configuration with active electronically scanned array radar and network-enabled avionics.
China's leading export main battle tank — a 52-tonne, 125 mm smoothbore platform with a hard-kill active protection system, tailored for foreign buyers but never adopted by the PLA.
The Type 96B is the latest evolution of China’s most numerous main battle tank — a heavily upgraded 2.5-generation design that melds a third-generation turret with a second-generation chassis, first seen at the 2016 Tank Biathlon.
Russia's gas-turbine main battle tank — a deep modernization of the T-80BV with Relikt ERA, a 1,250 hp turbine, and extensive combat use in Ukraine.
Russia's most numerous modernized main battle tank — an upgraded T-72B with a 1,130 hp engine, Relikt ERA (on B3M) and a gun-launched ATGM, forming the backbone of its armored force in Ukraine.
Turkey's first indigenous main battle tank — a 65-tonne design derived from South Korea's K2 Black Panther, now entering service with the Turkish Army, featuring a 120 mm smoothbore, the Aselsan AKKOR active protection system, and a powerpack initially sourced from Hyundai.
Italy's sole domestic third-generation main battle tank — a 54-tonne, 120 mm smoothbore platform now undergoing a C2/AMV upgrade to address obsolescence and low fleet availability.
France’s high-speed third-generation main battle tank — a three-man design built around a 1,500 hp Hyperbar diesel and a 120 mm L/52 smoothbore with an autoloader, now undergoing a fleet-wide digital upgrade to the XLR standard.
The British Army's sole main battle tank since 1998 — a heavily armoured, 62.5-tonne brute with a unique 120 mm rifled gun, set to be replaced by the smoothbore-armed Challenger 3.
Russia's most modern serial main battle tank — a deeply upgraded T-90 with a new turret, Relikt reactive armour and a fire-control suite, fielded from 2020 and now the benchmark of Russian armour attrition in Ukraine.
China's expansive military ISR satellite constellation combining optical, radar, and signals intelligence with a NOSS-style naval-surveillance arm to form the space backbone of the PLA's anti-ship missile kill chain.
A Russian mobile broadband radar-jamming system built to blind airborne surveillance radars and disrupt satellite signals — deployed to Syria and Ukraine, and captured intact near Kyiv.
SpaceX's Starshield is a government/military satellite-communications constellation built on the Starlink bus—providing secure, high-assurance connectivity and hosting classified payloads for US national-security users.
Russia's most modern surface combatant — a multirole frigate built around long-range precision strike with Kalibr and Zircon hypersonic missiles, and the anchor of its future surface fleet.
China's largest and most powerful surface combatant — the Type 055 Renhai combines a 12,000-ton displacement with 112 universal VLS cells, serving as the PLAN's carrier-strike-group escort and flagship.
The backbone of the U.S. surface fleet — a 9,500-ton multirole Aegis destroyer with 96 vertical launch cells, evolving from the SPY-1 to the SPY-6 radar, and the platform that fought the heaviest air-defense battles since World War II in the Red Sea.
Ukraine's game-changing naval attack drone — a low-profile, satellite-controlled USV that has sunk multiple Russian warships and scored the first-ever uncrewed vessel air-to-air kill.
China's export workhorse medium-altitude long-endurance combat drone — a lower-cost MALE UCAV that has seen extensive combat with Middle Eastern and African customers, delivering persistence and precision strike without the restrictions of Western systems.
The MQ-9 Reaper is the U.S. military's workhorse armed MALE UCAV—a long-endurance, remotely-piloted aircraft used for ISR and precision strike, fielded by the USAF and over a dozen allies, with a combat record spanning from the Black Sea to the Red Sea.
Turkey's game-changing MALE armed UCAV — a low-cost, piston-engined platform that reshaped conflicts in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, proving that a cheap, recoverable drone can dominate the battlefield when air defences are absent.
China's indigenous long-range air-defense system, a Sinicized S-300 evolution with a claimed 260 km reach, limited anti-ballistic capability, and a growing operator list, though its combat effectiveness remains largely unproven.
Germany's medium-range air-defense missile system, combat-proven in Ukraine — a road-mobile, vertical-launch SAM built to engage aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones out to 40 km, and rapidly proliferating across European and allied forces.
The Patriot PAC-3 is the United States' premier long-range air-and-missile defense system — a road-mobile, layered SAM and lower-tier BMD platform that combines blast-fragmentation and hit-to-kill interceptors to defeat aircraft, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles.
China's road-mobile, dual‑capable intermediate‑range ballistic missile — able to strike land targets out to Guam and, in its DF‑26B variant, engage moving ships at sea.