RBT's Defense Blog

For nearly two decades, the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper was the undisputed king of the skies in modern asymmetric warfare. It was the poster child of the Global War on Terror—an exquisite, hunter-killer platform that could loiter over a target for over 24 hours, beaming back high-definition video before quietly delivering a precision strike. But the geopolitical landscape has shifted dramatically. High-intensity conflicts and advanced air defense networks have exposed the Reaper’s Achilles' heel: it was designed for permissive environments, not contested ones. Faced with mounting combat losses and an unsustainable financial equation, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has officially set its sights on what comes next. In mid-2026, top military officials finalized the requirements for a successor program, colloquially dubbed "MQ-9 Next." Here is a look inside the strategic shift that is fundamentally redefining the future of unmanned aerial warfare. The Catalyst: The R...

In the rapidly shifting landscape of modern warfare, the skies are no longer dominated solely by multi-million-dollar fighter jets. As conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated, the newest and deadliest threats are often small, low-flying, and incredibly cheap: loitering munitions, kamikaze drones, and cruise missiles. To counter these ever evolving threats, militaries today require highly mobile, quick-reaction, Short-Range Air Defence Systems (SHORADS). For the Indian Army, this gap has been a pressing vulnerability. Now, a multi-billion-dollar solution that was once put on ice is heating up again; the South Korean K30 Biho (Flying Tiger) Mobile Air Defence System . What is the K30 Biho? Developed by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, the K30 Biho (Korean for "Flying Tiger") is a highly mobile, Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Weapon System (SPAAG). It has been designed to protect forward-deployed mechanized units threats emanating from low-flying enemy ...

Modern air combat is undergoing a quiet, brutal evolution. For decades, the recipe for destroying a heavily fortified enemy target followed two paths. At first you sent a fighter plane directly over the target to drop cheap, unguided "dumb" bombs —risking a multi-million-dollar plane and a pilot's life to enemy air defence. Next to avoid that loss came the idea of firing a sophisticated ballistic/cruise missile from hundreds of kilometers away at the cost of millions of dollars per shot. Then came the idea of armed drones that cost a fraction of missiles or cheaper kamikaze one-way drones. But the problem with the drones (e.g. kamikaze / FPV drones) is that, at the max. they can carry average 2 to 30 kg bomb/warhead . Even if they were precision guided, the problem is that drones being slow they could easily be shot down. So, what is the next best solution? Enter the Glide Bomb Kit . The ongoing conflicts worldwide have highlighted a desperate need for a middle gro...

  Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar metallic elements that are critical to innumerable high-tech applications. Despite their names, most if the REEs are not particularly rare in the Earth's crust—Cerium is as abundant as copper. But the problem is these REEs are rarely found in concentrated form, in economically viable quantities that can be excavated economically, and moreover extracting and processing them is a complex and environmentally challenging process. REEs are used in multiple applications but most importantly  in modern electronics, renewable energy, defence systems. Their unique magnetic, luminescent, and catalytic properties make them nearly irreplaceable in many uses. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) derive their value from unique magnetic, luminescent, catalytic, and optical properties. Below is a more comprehensive breakdown by sector and by key individual elements. 17 Rare Eart...