2042 takes place two decades after the events of the War of 2020. Extreme climate change events take place during the 2030s, causing massive global upheaval. The collapse of many government powers and the shuttering of borders has resulted in over 1.2 billion people becoming displaced. Many of these outcasts band together for mutual survival, becoming known as the Non-Patriated or "No-Pats" for short.

By 2037, advances in technology have allowed humanity to begin rebuilding a global society, and some of the remaining countries begin to open their borders once again. However, distrustful of the governments of the "Old World" that abandoned them, many No-Pats refuse to rejoin their former nations and create their own identity, unbound by loyalty to any country.

In this Talk we learn how the Pentagon dreams of surviving a nuclear war; how the German Bundeswehr is going back to its roots; how Poland's military still does not get it; and that the US is still 'unclear' on their hypersonic weapons development.