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TWZ. Where the cutting-edge of military technology, tactics, strategy, and geopolitics collide.

The U.S. used kamikaze drones boats for the first time in combat. Iran

Kamikaze Drone Boats Used By U.S. In Combat For The First Time (Updated)

After being the key to Ukraine running the Black Sea Fleet out of Crimea, the Pentagon made its first kamikaze drone boat strike.

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Canada’s Bombardier Defense announced today that its Global 6500 had been selected for South Korea’s second special mission aircraft program. The aircraft have been acquired by Korean Air, which will modify them for the electronic warfare role. Specifically, these will be standoff jammer (SOJ) aircraft, intended to disrupt enemy electromagnetic signals from a safe distance.
South Korea

South Korea To Get Huge Electronic Attack Boost With Global 6500 Jammer Jets

Korean Air will modify the two Global 6500 jets, drastically enhancing Seoul’s sovereign electronic warfare capability.

A scathing new War Department Inspector General's report found several problems at the General Dynamics munitions plant in Mesquite, Texas.
Artillery

New $500M Artillery Shell Plant Failed To Produce Any 155mm Parts

A scathing new Pentagon Inspector General report found problems at the plant delayed the Army’s 100,000 round-per-month goal.

TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG)
Carrier Tracker

Where Are The Aircraft Carriers: July 13, 2026

The blockade is back on tomorrow with more than 20 U.S. Navy ships on station and available in the region.

French President Emmanuel Macron says Ukraine is in line to get a license to produce Aster 30 missiles domestically.
Ukraine

Ukraine Getting License To Build Aster 30 Anti-Missile Interceptors

French approval for Ukraine to build Aster 30s follows a similar announcement from President Trump about Patriot interceptors.

The Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), the French government defense procurement and technology agency, announced the successful integration of the 68mm laser-guided rockets on the Rafale. The tests began in February.
Rafale

Rafale Fighter Adds Cheap Drone Killing Rocket To Its Armory

France has integrated laser-guided 68mm rockets onto its fighter, giving it a far cheaper option for Shahed-type threats.

The U.S. Army has announced that its future fleet of ME-11B High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) aircraft will be based at Fort Hood in Texas.
Q-1

New Jets, Drones Will Transform Fort Hood Into Army’s Aerial Intel Hub

The Army’s aerial reconnaissance forces are at a watershed moment after the service ditched its fleet of turboprop surveillance aircraft.

Ukraine says it has attacked nearly 50 ships in the Sea of Azov over the past five days.
Ukraine

Ukraine Claims Scores Of Russian Ships Struck In Sea Of Azov

The long-range drone attacks are targeting Russian oil tankers, adding to that nation’s burgeoning war-induced energy woes.

The U.S. Air Force has officially decided that the B-21 Raider will be flown by a crew consisting of two pilots, just like the B-2 is today.
U.S. Air Force

USAF Decides Against Flying B-21 Raiders With Just One Pilot

The Air Force has made a formal decision about how the B-21 will be crewed as it pushes to start fielding the bombers next year.

The U.S. Navy is evaluating new ways to ensure it can still conduct carrier landing touch-and-go training, at least in the virtual realm, as it moves ahead with plans to replace its T-45 Goshawk fleet.
U.S. Navy

Carrier Qualifications Still Happening For A Few Navy Fighter Pilots In Training

E-2 pilots and foreign student pilots still need to do carrier qualifications, but huge changes to the naval aviation training landscape are looming.

A robotic boat glides through the darkness, reaches an occupied shoreline, and releases an armed ground robot that rolls inland to fight without a single soldier setting foot on the beach. While this sounds like a scene from a future war, it recently played out in southern Ukraine, reflecting Kyiv’s rapid embrace of uncrewed systems as it seeks to counter Russia's invasion. Described as the first of its kind anywhere in the world, the operation took place on the Russian-occupied Kinburn Spit in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region, according to Ukraine’s 123rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, which carried it out on an unspecified recent date.
Ukraine

Ukraine Lands Armed Robot Ashore In Russian-Held Territory Via Drone Boat

Described as a first of its kind, the mission could be a glimpse of what’s to come for amphibious operations.

The U.S. Navy's Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been underway for 210 straight days – well over half a year – in support of Operation Epic Fury and the subsequent blockade of Iran.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)

Supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln Passes 200 Consecutive Days At Sea Mark

The flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3, which is currently operating in the Middle East, left port in Guam in December 2025.

Apparently for the first time, an image has appeared showing a Chinese J-15T carrier-based fighter launching while carrying four anti-ship missiles. The photo offers the clearest indication so far that China’s rapidly evolving carrier force is overcoming one of its longstanding operational constraints: getting heavily loaded strike fighters airborne from its flattops.
People's Liberation Army Navy (China)

Chinese J-15 Fighter Seen Launching From A Carrier With Four Anti-Ship Missiles For First Time

The catapult-equipped Fujian is now unlocking the J-15T’s strike potential.

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Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations. The CAOC is comprised of a joint and coalition team that executes day-to-day combined air and space operations and provides rapid reaction, positive control, coordination, and de-confliction of weapon systems. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joshua Strang)
Bunker Talk

Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week

It’s not fear, it’s patience.

Ten F-22 Raptors arrived at RAF Fairford on Friday from Ovda Air Base in Israel, where they took part in Operation Epic Fury.
F-22

F-22 Raptors Arrive In England After Deployment To Israel For Iran War

The F-22s are part of a larger retrograde of airpower out of the CENTCOM region while at the same time the prospects of renewed fighting grow.

Why Does The F-47’s Design Look So Different Than What Many Expected?
F-47

Why Does The F-47’s Design Look So Different Than What Many Expected?

Most sixth-gen fighter concepts have been tailless deltas, and China is pursuing that planform, but Boeing’s F-47 went a very different direction.

Strikes on Iran as exchanges of fire enters third day after breaking ceasefire.
Iran

Renewed Attacks Between U.S. And Iran Stretch Into Third Day (Updated)

The future of U.S.-Iranian peace talks remains very uncertain after a crescendo of tit-for-tat strikes.

Skyguard now have anti-drone nets in Taiwan.
Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA)

Taiwan’s Skyguard Anti-Aircraft Guns Now Equipped With Anti-Drone Nets

The protection reflects the growing threat Chinese drones pose to the very air-defense systems meant to shoot them down.

President Donald Trump has left Turkey on an older VC-25A Air Force One jet. The U.S. Air Force’s new VC-25B Bridge aircraft had brought Trump to that country yesterday for the NATO Summit, but left without him on board earlier today.
Air Force One

Trump Unexpectedly Swaps New Air Force One Jet For Old In Sudden Trip To British Base

It is unclear what caused the change, but there have been major concerns over the defensive and other capabilities on the new VC-25B bridge aircraft.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Porter (DDG 78), front, USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Ross (DDG 71) are moored at Naval Station Rota, Spain.
Mediterranean

What The U.S. Military Could Lose If Trump Cuts Off Trade With NATO Ally Spain

Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base provide vital air, maritime, and logistics capabilities that would be difficult to replace.

The shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is facing its greatest threat yet.
Iran

Deal To End Hostilities Between U.S. And Iran Faces Most Serious Challenge Yet (Updated)

Both Trump and Iran declare the ceasefire is over in the wake of the latest flare-up in fighting.

British and Dutch forces will be equipped ‌with new amphibious transport ships under a new maritime partnership, the British government has announced. Each nation will operate four of the vessels, which will bolster NATO’s amphibious forces and allow the alliance to respond to crises faster.
NATO

UK And Dutch Partner On Next-Gen Amphibious Assault Ships

A shared fleet of eight assault ships will improve interoperability, replace aging platforms, and prepare both navies for drone-enabled warfare.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft approaches a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to refuel in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility June 5, 2026. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Adriana Jordan-Alcaniz)
Iran

U.S. Strikes Iran In Retaliation For Multiple Attacks On Shipping In Strait Of Hormuz Over Last 24 Hours (Updated)

Earlier on Tuesday, three tanker ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, rattling an already shaky ceasefire.

TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG)
Carrier Tracker

Where Are The Aircraft Carriers: July 7, 2026

Boxer amphibious ready group re-aggregates in the Middle East as the U.S. beefs up its naval force posture there.

Pirate attacks on Gulf of Aden spiking, adding pressure on commercial shipping in the Middle East.
Red Sea

Pirate Attacks Spike Off The Horn Of Africa

The Houthis are likely backing their own proxies in the form of pirates as shipping is just recovering from the war with Iran and Red Sea battles.

Satellite imagery shows China has built what looks to be a new pattern of hardened structures with retractable roofs at a key missile test and training base in Inner Mongolia.
China

Mysterious Rectangle ‘Silos’ Spotted At Sprawling Chinese Missile Test Base

The structures with large rectangular retractable roofs could point to new strategic capabilities China could deploy more widely.

The next NATO airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform will be Saab’s GlobalEye, as announced today during the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey. The decision to buy up to 10 GlobalEyes for NATO comes after Sweden, France, and Canada all selected the platform, and amid a flurry of new orders for military equipment as part of a wider alliance defense spending drive.
Airborne Radar

NATO Picks Saab GlobalEye To Replace Aging E-3 AWACS Fleet

The GlobalEye acquisition comes alongside a raft of NATO capability announcements spanning drones, maritime patrol aircraft, tankers, and airlifters.

President Donald Trump announced that he will build a granite helipad on the South Lawn to protect it from the intense exhaust heat and rotor wash of the VH-92A "Marine One" helicopter.
VH-92

VH-92 Patriot Getting Granite White House Helipad Will Finally Allow VH-3D Sea King To Retire

After many decades of landing on the White House lawn, Marine One will operate from a helipad, which Trump says the VH-92’s maker is paying for.

North Korea's newest warship, the Kang Kon, has an unexpected feature: the ability to deliver a broadside of machine gun fire.
Frigates

North Korea’s Frigate Bristles With A Comical Number Of Machine Guns

North Korea’s Kang Kon warship released a full broadside of machine gun fire during a demonstration for Kim Kong Un.

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Must Read Features

Maj. Sandy Marquardt, Capt. Joe Hodges sit in the escape module of their F-111A
F-111

F-111 Aardvark’s Crew Escape Module Ejected The Whole Cockpit

U.S. Navy

Are Some Of The UFOs Navy Pilots Are Encountering Actually Airborne Radar Reflectors?

U.S. Air Force

How Fighter Jet Pilots Could Stop Worrying And Learn To Love The Drone

Russia

Low, Fast And Dangerous: A Firsthand Account Of Ukraine’s Secret Helicopter Rescue Missions

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TWZ — previously known as The War Zone — has become an essential resource for the defense industry, the national security community, and the interested public at large since it was launched in 2016.

 

From its early beginnings to the present day, TWZ’s purpose remains the same.

 

The site stands at the nexus of military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. As a full-spectrum defense news and analysis website, TWZ covers the air, sea, land, space, and cyber domains of warfare, with an infusion of geopolitical context and technological analysis to offer readers deeper, yet easy-to-consume, insights than what they will find anywhere else….

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