Project on Defense Alternatives https://comw.org/pda/ adapting defense policy to emerging challenges and opportunities Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:29:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 Beyond pleasant lunches – How independent research and new ideas played a role in ending the Cold War: A retrospective on the years 1987-1989 https://comw.org/pda/beyondpleasantlunches-blurb/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:29:59 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25855 by Charles Knight, 05 July 2026.  First published as a guest post at Van Jackson‘s Un-Diplomatic, ➪ full-text of PDA version: PDF This retrospective focuses on the work of one researcher/thinker from West Germany, Lutz Unterseher.

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]]> Remembering Congressman Barney Frank https://comw.org/pda/remembering-congressman-barney-frank/ Fri, 22 May 2026 06:24:05 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25815 Carl Conetta & Charles Knight, 22 May 2026 The Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA) is saddened to learn of the passing on 19 May 2026 of former US House Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts – a

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]]> Aslı Ü. Bâli on Why the War on Iran Accelerates the Decline of U.S. Global Primacy https://comw.org/pda/asli-u-bali-on-why-the-war-on-iran-accelerates-the-decline-of-u-s-global-primacy/ Sat, 07 Mar 2026 20:04:34 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25807 I am a subscriber to Peter Beinart’s Notebook. I find him a generous and engaging interviewer of his very well-informed and insightful guests. This morning, March 7th, I decided to listen to the interview that I feature

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]]> The Future of the Tank https://comw.org/pda/unterseher-on-future-of-the-tank/ Sat, 28 Feb 2026 23:59:14 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25819 Unterseher surveys the evolution of anti-tank warfare—from artillery, mines, infantry weapons, and guided missiles to drones, precision munitions, and networked reconnaissance—and shows how modern defenses increasingly exploit top attack, long range, and coordinated fire. It then traces the tank’s history from World War I through the Cold War, emphasizing how armored forces repeatedly adapted to countermeasures and doctrinal change. The author concludes that large independent tank formations are less survivable today, especially under ubiquitous drone surveillance and precision fires, but tanks still matter when integrated into combined-arms systems. The likely future is a battlefield with fewer tanks with greater emphasis on networked defenses employing agile engineering, lighter forces, precise artillery, and drones.

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]]> The Future of the Tank https://comw.org/pda/unterseher-the-future-of-the-tank-blurb/ Sat, 28 Feb 2026 18:45:08 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25849 Unterseher surveys the evolution of anti-tank warfare—from artillery, mines, infantry weapons, and guided missiles to drones, precision munitions, and networked reconnaissance—and shows how modern defenses increasingly exploit top attack, long range, and coordinated fire. It then traces the tank’s history from World War I through the Cold War, emphasizing how armored forces repeatedly adapted to countermeasures and doctrinal change. The author concludes that large independent tank formations are less survivable today, especially under ubiquitous drone surveillance and precision fires, but tanks still matter when integrated into combined-arms systems. The likely future is a battlefield with fewer tanks, with greater emphasis on networked defenses employing agile engineering, lighter forces, precise artillery, and drones.

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]]> Ukraine War: A Practicable Ceasefire… and its Alternative https://comw.org/pda/ukraine-war-a-practicable-ceasefire/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 06:58:53 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25780 Carl Conetta, 4 Feb 2026 Summary Excerpts from “The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail,” Project on Defense Alternatives, 12 Jan 2026 Throughout 2025, the United States, its European

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]]> The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail https://comw.org/pda/ukraine-war-how-peace-plans-might-work-and-why-they-will-fail-blurb/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:06:58 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25742 Carl Conetta, 12 January 2026 – Full text⇒ HTML – PDF During 2025, multiple contending Ukraine peace and cease-fire proposals were put forward by the Trump administration and America’s European partners. This article examines how the leading

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]]> The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail https://comw.org/pda/the-ukraine-war-prospect-how-peace-plans-might-work-and-why-they-will-fail/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 08:52:55 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25681 Carl Conetta, 12 January 2026 During 2025 multiple peace and cease-fire proposals addressing the conflict in Ukraine were advanced. Most prominent among them are several put forward by the Trump administration beginning in February (2/28), May

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]]> Appendix: A Selection of 2025 Official Ukraine War Ceasefire and Peace Proposals https://comw.org/pda/appendix-a-selection-of-2025-official-ukraine-war-ceasefire-and-peace-proposals/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 19:55:16 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25679 [main article: The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail] ■ 20-point US-UA framework peace proposal – 23 Dec 2025 ■ European “Leaders’ Statement on Ukraine” – 14 Dec 2025

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]]> Contextualizing the “Lessons of Munich” https://comw.org/pda/contextualizing-the-lessons-of-munich/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:53:29 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25676 History does not teach lessons. Lessons are distilled at best, often selectively. The standard lesson of the 1938 Munich Agreement is that any compromise with aggression will lead to more aggression. But the danger of “conciliation”

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