During the time of writing this editorial, two international armed conflicts have broken out, which are in fact just a new chapter in the long history of resolving international disputes with the use of armed forces.
Afghanistan and Pakistan carried out ground attacks on border positions, while Pakistan also used its air force to attack the Afghan capital. The Taliban retaliated with suicide terrorist attacks in Pakistan (BBC, 2026).
Israel and the US launched renewed air and missile strikes on hundreds of targets across Iran with the aim of replacing the Iranian regime; they succeeded in killing Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and several leading generals (Reuters, 2026). Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, other Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), and Cyprus (CNN, 2026; Guardian, 2026).
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing, now in its fifth year. In Mexico, following an attempted arrest in which the leader of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación was killed, the cartel carried out retaliatory attacks on the Mexican police and armed forces in several Mexican states (AP News, 2026). Armed conflicts are also ongoing in Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, the Sahel and the Central African Republic, among others.
The current international security environment is extremely dynamic, which affects not only the functioning of individual countries, but also entire regions, continents, and ultimately the whole world, due to our modern, interconnected civilization (Čas, 2025; Juvan, Csanyi, 2025).
Slovenia continues to be involved in international operations and missions which seek to improve the security situation. Currently (February 19, 2026), there are 351 members of the Slovenian Armed Forces serving abroad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Kosovo, Latvia, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia, three MOMs in the Mediterranean Sea, and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) mission in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel (Slovenian Armed Forces, 2026).
In response to the Russian-Ukrainian war, Europe has realized that the old continent is not (any longer) immune to major interstate armed conflicts, nor can it rely on American military power (within the framework of NATO), mainly due to the decision of the American political leadership to shift its political and military attention away from Europe. As a result, Europe has increased its efforts to strengthen its own armed forces and defence industry over the past four years.
The development of the latter is also important for ensuring strategic autonomy and independence for the European Common Security and Defence Policy. Slovenia has joined these efforts, and the first results are already visible. At the end of February this year, a presentation of research, development, and innovation activities at the Ministry of Defence was held at the Slovenian Armed Forces Central Training Area in Postojna, with the participation of companies from the Slovenian defence industry. The presentation included the advanced remote-controlled weapon stations Mangart, Loki, and Midgard, which were installed on various vehicles, as well as the multi-purpose unmanned platform VEPKOV 6×6, which was also developed for the needs of the Slovenian Armed Forces. The participants were also able to learn about an active trailer for light tactical vehicles, and projects in the fields of sensor technology, unmanned systems, simulations, and protection. At the presentation, Minister of Defence Borut Sajovic emphasized the great efforts made in this area: “Between 2022 and 2026, we have invested more than ever before in Slovenian security, resilience, and defence. We have increased development funding tenfold and the number of companies in the defence innovation cluster from less than 50 to more than 200. This proves that Slovenians know how, want to, and are capable of doing this, and that relying on our own knowledge and technology is the key to our security” (Gov.si, 2026).
This issue of Contemporary Military Challenges brings together contributions from authors who shed light on the problems of the international security environment from various perspectives.
In the first article, Slovenian Armed Forces 2040: Strategic foundations, model, costs and feasibility, Viktor Potočnik has written a proposal for the development of the Slovenian Armed Forces by 2040, based on the current strategic documents. He further substantiated the proposed model with an analysis of the cost and feasibility assessment, thus providing a starting point for further professional and political discussion.
Ian Garner has contributed an article entitled An ecology of everyday violence: Russian Telegram discourse and war atrocities in Ukraine. Garner has analysed the Telegram-based discourse during the first six months of the war, leading to clear results of the use of denial, euphemism and moral justification by Russian Telegram users discussing the war itself and cases of war crimes. Further, Garner points out how Telegram also contributed to the everyday militarization of the civilian population of Russia.
The article Assessing the relative distribution of naval power between China and Japan: From power advantage to relative balance of naval power, by Balazs Szanto, deals with the distribution of relative power between China and Japan, primarily based on maritime and air assets. The South China Sea has become a major strategic focus for China, resulting in a power struggle for Japan, based on smaller naval and air assets.
Gašper Ferme has written an article entitled Societal-military (mis)alignments in Slovenia: A socio-structural inquiry, which systematically examines socio-structural disparities between the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) and Slovenian society in order to explore potential misalignments. The study, based on survey data from a representative sample of the civilian population and a sample of SAF service members, shows that the SAF service members tend to be somewhat more right-leaning than the broader populace, while officers exhibit relatively centrist orientations.
The article by Valentin Areh, On the front lines of Kyiv: Tactical insights from the Battle for Hostomel Airport, analyses one of the key engagements of the initial phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022: the battle for the Hostomel or Antonov International Airport. The failure to completely secure the airport hampered Russian plans to use it for strategic airlift of additional forces for a planned attack on Kyiv.
The issue concludes with an article by Özkan Kantemir, Emre Osman Birdal, and Altan Özkil entitled Analysing the impact of survivorship bias on border security effectiveness. In their work, the authors reveal that survivor bias leads to an underestimation of border security risks, misallocation of resources, neglect of adaptive tactics, and distorted public opinion.