IW Weekly - 04 October 2026
IRREGULAR WARFARE WEEKLY Keep Warfare Irregular October 4, 2026 This Week Counter-narcotics in the Americas is becoming a military campaign. The Shield of the Americas declaration against nonstate actors, Pentagon escalation against cartels and the Haiti test point the same way. The Iran war is shifting Tehran's
The Airpower We Need for Irregular Warfare
Why does providing aircraft to partner forces so often fall short of building an effective air force? Retired Lieutenant General Anthony Rock, Michael Horowitz, and Tobias Switzer join Kyle Atwell to examine the gap between acquiring technology and turning it into military power.
Securing Europe’s Telecom Supply Chain
Europe's telecom operators still rely on network equipment from suppliers that European regulators consider high-risk from a national security perspective, and replacing it is not free. Removing that equipment from European fixed, mobile, and transport networks could cost approximately €35 billion, according to analysis from GSMA Intelligence,
Defense Industrial Mobilization Needs More Than Startups and Drones
Editor's note: The "Short of War" Podcast discussing this article is AI-generated. The wars of the 2020s have generated a powerful narrative about the future of defense industrial policy. Cheap drones, agile startups, venture-backed innovation, and commercial technology adapted for military use now dominate
To Disrupt Russia’s Shadow War, Follow the Money
Editor's note: The "Short of War" Podcast discussing this article is AI-generated. Just before eight o’clock on a September evening in 2021, two men opened a conversation on Telegram about how to kidnap a Russian fugitive. One, Orlin Roussev, was a Bulgarian information technology
War at Arm’s Length: Can Military Assistance Work?
U.S. military assistance often has a bad reputation, but it isn’t doomed to failure. This episode examines why assistance succeeds with some partners and falls short with others. LTG (Ret.) Charles Hooper, Dr. Richard Bennet, and Dr. Alexander Noyes are the guests.
Ukraine’s Drone Diplomacy: Turning Battlefield Expertise into Strategic Leverage
Editor's note: The "Short of War" Podcast discussing this article is AI-generated. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much of the international narrative centered around the extensive aid flowing towards Kyiv from Europe and the United States: the air defense systems, artillery, financial
Clipped Wings: The Power of Aeronautical Statecraft
When a Russian Airbus A320 made an emergency landing in a Siberian wheat field in 2023, it provided a striking visual of aerospace sanctions in practice. Ural Airlines publicly attributed the incident to a hydraulic failure, but the driver was likely crippling aerospace sanctions. Western sanctions choked off the flow
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
