For more than a week, the United States and Israel have struck a wide range of targets in Iran with air and missile strikes. Iran’s response has included missile and drone attacks against targets in neighboring states in the Middle East—both US military and diplomatic facilities and public sites including Dubai’s airport. What weapons, on both sides of the conflict, have defined the conflict so far? To explore that question, John Amble is joined on this special bonus episode by Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

The United States has a new National Defense Strategy. Released about every four years, the document offers a window into the way senior defense officials view the global threat environment and identify US defense objectives. But how will the new strategy be interpreted by allies and partners? What about adversaries and competitors? And does formally delineating US priorities offer a degree of predictability on a contemporary strategic landscape characterized by growing instability and a fraying world order?

To examine the strategy, John Amble is joined on this episode by Frank Hoffman, Mark Cancian, and Pat Sullivan.

The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

Articles referenced during the episode:

"The 2026 National Defense Strategy by the Numbers: Radical Changes, Moderate Changes, and Some Continuities" (CSIS)

"Key Takeaways from the New National Defense Strategy" (WOTR)