Top 5     A year of strikes: US military operations surge under Trump (Military Times) President Donald Trump has presided over a rapid surge of U.S. military activity abroad since returning to the Oval Office.       Death of airman caused by multiple points of failure, report finds (Air Force Times) A U.S. Air Force special investigation found that a lack of following proper maintenance procedures and supervision led to the death of an Alaskan airman last year.       Pacifist Japan moving from exclusive self-defense to military buildup (The Associated Press) Japan is barreling forward with efforts to significantly boost its military capabilities to stand up to China’s growing threats by doubling annual arms spending.       Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech (The Guardian) Reunification "is unstoppable," says Chinese president, a day after the conclusion of intense military drills.       Taiwan's president pledges to defend island's sovereignty after Chinese military drills (NPR) Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te vowed to defend the self-ruled island's sovereignty in the face of what he termed China's "expansionist ambitions," days after Beijing wrapped up live-fire military drills near its shores.   US strikes in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific (updated)     A list of US military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels (Military Times) Since early September, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in support of what the Pentagon has called continued counternarcotics efforts.   Pentagon     Alleged drug smugglers jumped overboard in latest boat strikes, US military says (CBS News) Three people were killed when the first boat was hit, while individuals in two other boats jumped overboard, according to U.S. Southern Command.   Congress & Politics     Venezuela detains Americans amid growing US pressure (The New York Times) The number of American citizens held in Venezuela has grown since the start of the U.S. military and economic campaign against President Nicolás Maduro.   Your Military     When the military tried to give soldiers personal flying platforms (Task & Purpose) Alongside rocket-propelled soldiers, the U.S. military also once gave personal vertical take-off and landing machines a shot.   Air Force     AFSOC looks to add Starlink terminals to Ghostrider gunships (DefenseScoop) Air Force Special Operations Command is interested in equipping its AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft with SpaceX’s made-for-government Starlink/Starshield terminals.   Space Force     2025 in review: Space Force (Defense One) There’s a divide within the Space Force. Congress is forcing the service to address it.   Coast Guard     Cat gets laughs for aloof reaction to Coast Guard boat rescue (Stars and Stripes) A hyper dog and an extremely laid back cat were among the four passengers saved when a boat began sinking 65 miles east of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.   Veterans     WWII aviator celebrates 101st birthday in plane he flew more than 80 years ago (Stars and Stripes) An Army veteran who served as an aviator during World War II was given the chance to fly again for his 101st birthday, creating an unforgettable moment for himself and his family.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     ROTC students are helping the military defend against AI deepfakes (Military Times) The school doesn’t use these deepfakes to deceive the American public, as many hostile foreign actors seek to do; they use them to build tools that will help organizations including the U.S. military to distinguish truth from hoax.       China to debut reusable Long March 10-derived rocket in first half of 2026 (Space News) China is aiming for a first launch of a reusable, cargo-optimized variant of its new crew launch vehicle in the first half of the year.   Defense Industry     Europe’s 2025 defense winners include Saab, Rheinmetall; FCAS falters (Defense News) With Europe spending record amounts on defense in 2025 on everything from ammunition to battle tanks, air defenses and naval ships, local industry winners included Germany’s Rheinmetall, Sweden’s Saab and the United Kingdom’s BAE Systems.       Mid-sized South Korean shipbuilder Daesun completes sale of shipyard (The Maritime Executive) After two years of financial restructuring, the smallest of South Korea’s surviving midsized shipbuilders, Daesun Shipbuilding, completed the sale of its primary yard at the end of December 2025.   Israel-Gaza-Lebanon-Syria     Israel allowing traders to bring into Gaza ‘dual-use’ items barred from aid organisations (The Guardian) Israel is running a parallel system of controls for shipments into Gaza, allowing commercial traders to bring goods into the territory that are barred for humanitarian organisations.   Ukraine     Ukraine now has Europe’s biggest military. What happens to it when the war ends? (The Wall Street Journal) When the war with Russia eventually ends, Ukraine will be left with a military larger and with more recent experience than any of its European backers.   International     10 conflicts to watch in 2026 (Foreign Policy) Over the last year, fighting raged on in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, and the Sahel, as did gang turf battles in Haiti. The war in Gaza wound down, but only after Israel, having resumed its assault in March, razed much of what was left of the strip.       Five takeaways from China’s military drills around Taiwan (The Wall Street Journal) China’s steadily expanding military forces recently conducted large-scale drills around Taiwan, dispatching jet fighters, naval ships and coast guard vessels to encircle the island.       Thai Navy seizes vessel accused of smuggling fuel to Cambodia (The Maritime Executive) The Royal Thai Navy reported the details of a seizure of a small vessel that it said was operating without a visible identity.       What to watch in Africa in 2026 (Foreign Policy) High-stakes elections are scheduled in Ethiopia and other countries, Sudan’s and South Sudan’s crises may converge, and instability in the Sahel will likely continue to spread to anglophone nations.       He is being sued in the US for human rights abuses. He could be deported first. (The New York Times) Rafael Quero Silva faces a lawsuit brought by five people who say he oversaw their abuse and mistreatment as a military officer in Venezuela. But he could be deported before the case is heard.       Finland detains general cargo ship suspected of damaging subsea cables (The Maritime Executive) Finnish authorities moved quickly to find and detain a vessel suspected of damaging subsea telecommunications cables running between Estonia and Finland.       Chinese cargo ship converted to launch advanced combat drones emerges (The War Zone) What appeared to be a modular, road-mobile, electromagnetic aircraft launch system catapult capable of flinging advanced fixed-wing combat drones into the air is now set up on a ship.       Australia says ‘deeply concerning, destabilising’ Chinese exercises near Taiwan risk inflaming regional tension (The Guardian) Foreign affairs department statement says Australia opposes any actions that "increase the risk of accident, miscalculation or escalation."   Military Culture & History     How wine and champagne helped to defeat the Nazis (Military Times) “The French like to maintain that the outbreak of war is always marked by a poor vintage, and victory by a gloriously celebratory one. Thus 1945 was a great vintage, 1939 mediocre, 1918 good, 1914 dismal,” writes Julian Barnes.   Video     CavasShips Podcast (Defense & Aerospace Report) This week features Xavier Vavasseur and Richard Scott. We’ll hear about a number of international naval programs and developments and focus on frigates – a major topic in the US Navy over the past several years.   Commentary & Analysis     Putin again bungles strategy: Why his war of attrition will sink Russia (The Cipher Brief) Putin grossly underestimated Ukrainian will, overestimated the competence of his own military and intelligence apparatus and misjudged Western cohesion.       Afghanistan, a history already forgotten: Counterinsurgency lessons US senior military leaders must not ignore (Small Wars Journal) The United States fought a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, resulting in the loss of 2,448 U.S. military personnel, 3,846 U.S. contractors and over 100,000 Afghan lives.       Iranians have had enough (The Atlantic) Iranians have had such a terrible year — facing such a decline in living standards and such a sense of political impasse — that no one was terribly surprised when demonstrations filled the streets.