As the world is increasingly urbanized, military forces must be prepared for cities to become battlefields. The Urban Warfare Project Podcast, from the Modern War Institute at West Point, features insightful discussions with scholars and practitioners as it sets out to explore the unique characteristics of urban warfare.
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For decades, underground warfare was viewed as a niche military problem. Today, it has become a defining feature of modern conflict. From Hamas's extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza and Hezbollah's underground infrastructure in Lebanon to Iran's hardened missile facilities and the expanding subterranean systems in Ukraine, North Korea, and China, military forces are increasingly using the…
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Stuart Lyle, urban operations research lead at the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, for a discussion on one of the most overlooked but critical aspects of preparing for future war: urban warfare training facilities. The conversation includes a survey of major urban warfare training centers across NATO member states, including…
John Spencer is joined on this episode by Colonel Kevin Black, commander of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Army’s premier opposing force at the National Training Center. Their discussion centers on the battle for Razish—a fight in which every rotational training brigade must attempt to seize a dense, multistructure city defended by a highly adaptive enemy. Col. Black explains how the…
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Anthony Tingle, an independent researcher who has made nine trips to Ukraine since the start of the war, most recently returning from Kherson and Mykolaiv. Drawing on firsthand observations from numerous urban battles, including Sumy and Kherson, the conversation explores how urban warfare is being reshaped by the persistent presence of drones,…
In 2003, one of the most consequential urban operations in modern military history took place as US forces approached Baghdad from the south—the battle for control of the Iraqi capital, including the armored " thunder runs " that collapsed Saddam Hussein’s regime. Drawing from his firsthand experience as the commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division during the battle, retired…
It's a holiday tradition for MWI and the Urban Warfare Project Podcast —the annual Christmas wish list episode. Once again this year, host John Spencer turns the podcast's focus to an important question: What items should be on a military force's urban warfare holiday wish list? To do so, he is joined as always by two urban warfare scholars to discuss the unique weapons and tools, programs and…
On November 26, 2008, ten Pakistan-based members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group infiltrated Mumbai and launched nearly simultaneous attacks on five sites across the city. They paralyzed a metropolis of nearly eighteen million people for more than sixty hours. By the end of the siege, the attackers had killed 174 people and wounded hundreds more. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by…
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, John Spencer has conducted research during seven trips to the country, and has had the opportunity to visit Gaza City. His firsthand experience gives him a deep and nuanced understanding of the vast tunnel network that runs underneath Gaza. In this episode, he shares his observations from this research. He also describes the ways Hamas…
In January 2018, Mossad operatives infiltrated a secret warehouse in Tehran, Iran, broke into dozens of massive safes, and in just under seven hours extracted more than one hundred thousand documents and over half a ton of material detailing Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program. The raid, code-named Operation Stealing the Reality, was the result of two years of planning. In this episode, John…
In 2005, then Colonel H. R. McMaster commanded the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Tal Afar. At the time, the city was a key stronghold for al-Qaeda in Iraq and a staging ground for fighters and suicide bombers crossing into northwestern Iraq from Syria. Operation Restoring Rights was launched to clear insurgents, restore order, and protect the civilian population from the…
