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U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Raylin Carter, an aerial observer from Oklahoma with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 362 (Reinforced), 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, participates in flight operations with AH-1Z Viper pilots during a strait transit, Jan. 9, 2023.

July 15, 2025

From High Seas to Highlands: Framing U.S. Defense Strategy With Southeast Asia’s Geography

The 2022 U.S. National Security Strategy prioritized competing with China, and this focus seems likely to continue with the new administration.

People’s Liberation Army Air Force J-10 fighter jet under Southern Theater Command fires rockets at simulated ground targets during live-fire flight training exercise.

July 15, 2025

Rightsizing the PLA Air Force: Revisiting an Analytic Framework

Modernization of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has been an important priority for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) due to the strategic importance of airpower in modern military campaigns.

Supreme Court of the United States

July 15, 2025

Is Mobilization a Major Question?

It is early 2027, and Chinese provocations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait continue to escalate, as they have since 2018.

Representatives from the 469th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion overseeing administration for mobilizing Soldiers calculate unit throughput during the Level 1 Mobilization Tabletop Exercise, July 16-17, 2022, Fort McCoy, Wis.

July 15, 2025

Executive Summary

Having been a part of joint professional military education (JPME) for nearly 20 years and editor of this journal—dedicated to the joint force and the concept of jointness—for a decade and a half, every day I see the power that our war colleges and this journal give to our students, our graduates, senior leaders of the joint force, the interagency community, our partners and allies, and the interested public around the globe.

Soldier moves across rope during Wolf Blitz 25 at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany.

July 15, 2025

Joint Force Quarterly 118 (3rd Quarter 2025)

This issue of Joint Force Quarterly addresses key strategic, operational, and doctrinal questions shaping the future of the joint force.

"The German Defense-Industrial Zeitenwende: Implications for Transatlantic Security" by Brett Swaney, part of the Strategic Perspectives series (number 44) from the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS). The top section features the INSS logo and publication details. Below, a dramatic image shows industrial workers in heat-resistant suits working near a large foundry furnace with molten metal and sparks flying. The bottom includes the seal of the National Defense University and credits the INSS Center for Strategy and Military Power.

June 30, 2025

The German Defense-Industrial Zeitenwende: Implications for Transatlantic Security

The Zeitenwende, or “watershed moment”—announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—outlined a set of policy shifts, including the development of Germany’s first-ever National Security Strategy, that appeared to signal a greater role for Germany in the defense and security of Europe.

Cover page of the publication titled "China's Military Diplomacy" by Phillip C. Saunders and Melodie Ha, part of China Strategic Perspectives 19. The cover features a photograph of a formal meeting between Chinese military officials and foreign military representatives seated around a long conference table, with Chinese flags and a traditional landscape painting in the background. The bottom of the cover credits the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, part of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University.

June 23, 2025

China's Military Diplomacy

Chinese military diplomacy serves both strategic and operational goals. The main strategic goals are supporting Chinese foreign policy and shaping the strategic environment; operational goals include supporting People’s Liberation Army (PLA) modernization and collecting intelligence on foreign militaries. Military diplomacy is a tool for building foreign relations and an indicator of the quality of China’s bilateral relationships. When relations are strained, military-diplomatic engagements decrease or stop; when relations are good, engagements tend to increase.

Book cover titled "The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power" by Robert D. Kaplan, best-selling author of The Revenge of Geography. The background features a dark, stormy, abstract texture with gray and black tones, evoking a somber and contemplative mood. The title and author’s name are displayed in large, serif font across the center of the cover.

May 29, 2025

The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power

Robert D. Kaplan’s early 2023 book, The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power, is the latest of his nearly two dozen books over the past 35 years.

Three books superimposed over one another in the following order: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World; The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire; A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future For the Future Force

May 29, 2025

War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World | The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire | A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force

The war in Ukraine has been going on for 3 years now, and much has been written about Vladimir Putin’s strategic failures and the valor of the Ukrainian defenders.

Book cover titled "Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare and Strategic Competition in the 21st Century" by Rebecca Patterson, Susan Bryant, Ken Gleiman, and Mark Troutman. The cover features a stylized line drawing of a classical female warrior figure holding a sword, standing atop a globe marked with stars. The background is a solid dark blue with contrasting gold and white text.

May 29, 2025

Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare and Strategic Competition in the 21st Century

Winning Without Fighting is an excellent new book crafted by four veteran scholar-practitioners that presents a strategic framework for winning the competition between the United States and its allies on the one side and an emerging authoritarian axis that includes China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea on the other.