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North Korea's shadowy airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, based on a Russian Il-76 Candid cargo aircraft, has flown. North Korea

First North Korean Airborne Early Warning Jet Flies, Kim Shows Off Interior

North Korea’s radar plane, based on an Il-76 cargo jet, has been taking shape for more than a year.

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Airbus has unveiled LOAD, a new anti-drone drone concept — an adapted target drone that will be armed with air-to-air guided missiles, expressly designed to shoot down other uncrewed aerial vehicles. In recent years we’ve seen a proliferation of single-use drones with explosive warheads that are designed to bring down other uncrewed aerial vehicles. However, a reusable anti-drone drone, armed with its own missiles, appears to be something of a novelty.
Europe

Micro Missile-Slinging Drone-Killing Drone Concept Revealed By Airbus

The Airbus Low-Cost Air Defense or LOAD concept takes an existing target drone and adds small air-to-air missiles to bring down enemy UAVs.

The U.S. Air Force office responsible for the B-52 Radar Modernization Program (RMP) is asking for new information about options for derivatives of off-the-shelf multi-mode radars that could go into the bombers.
U.S. Air Force

B-52 Radar Upgrade Alternatives Info Sought By Air Force

The USAF says that an existing B-52 radar modernization plan remains unchanged despite delays, but it is clearly also looking at other options.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has simulated a successful intercept of a mock advanced hypersonic missile by a Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) as it works up to attempt the real thing.
Air

SM-6 Missile Closer To Proving Hypersonic Weapon Intercept Capability After Aegis Destroyer Test

The SM-6 is the U.S. military’s most immediate option for tackling growing threats posed by advanced maneuvering hypersonic weapons.

Iran showed off its latest underground missile city.
Iran

Iran Shows Off Underground ‘Missile City’

The facility holds some of Iran’s most advanced weapons, but there appears to be a glaring vulnerability in how it is constructed.

A significant force of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers looks to be currently wending its way to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
Iran

Signs U.S. Massing B-2 Spirit Bombers In Diego Garcia (Updated)

The U.S. is flowing in airpower to the Indian Ocean outpost as threats to Iran escalate and the bombing campaign against the Houthis grinds on.

Taiwan has revealed a new drone boat, or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), the Endeavor Manta, said to be the first of its kind for the Republic of China Navy (ROCN).
Taiwan

Taiwan’s Endeavor Manta Drone Boat Breaks Cover

Taiwan has not moved as fast as some may have expected to build an uncrewed surface vessel force, but that appears to be changing.

Just days after the U.S. Air Force announced that Boeing will build its next crewed stealth combat jet, now designated the F-47, the Navy looks set to choose its own its own carrier-based sixth-generation fighter. The Navy’s new combat jet is often referred to as the F/A-XX and is planned to enter service in the 2030s. So far, the program has been even more secretive than the Air Force equivalent, although, as we have explored in the past, the jet will be central to not only to the Navy’s future tactical aviation plans, but the future of the service more broadly.
F/A-18E/F

Navy F/A-XX Stealth Fighter Selection This Week: Report

The Navy is reportedly set to follow the Air Force’s lead and name the company chosen to develop and build its carrier-based sixth-generation fighter.

The U.S. Air Force's selection of Boeing's F-47 as the winner of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) combat jet competition raises new questions about plans for new stealthy aerial refueling tankers.
U.S. Air Force

F-47 Fighter Reveal Draws New Attention To USAF Stealth Tanker Plans

Proceeding with the F-47 will impact tanker needs and there have been questions about whether the USAF can even afford to buy both aircraft.

The puzzling canards on the F-47 could be an indicator of what the aircraft's design goals are.
NGAD

What The F-47’s Canards Say About The Rest Of Its Design

The most surprising feature on the F-47 Next Generation fighter are canard foreplanes that aren’t conducive to extreme degrees of stealth.

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10th July 1943: British Air Force officer Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, commander-in-chief of Bomber Command RAF, emerging from the bunker at Bomber Command after conferring with other RAF chiefs. Original Publication: Picture Post - 1473 - The Man Who Picks The Target For Tonight - pub. 1943 (Photo by Leonard McCombe/Picture Post/Getty Images)

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

Plenty of board games and hot cocoa in the ole bunker.

F-35 Hill AFB

F-35s From Hill AFB Arrive In England

The fifth-generation fighters arrived in England amid reports that the U.S. will send additional aircraft to the Middle East.

The European Union has created a new initiative to increase defense spending and boost local arms production.

New European Union Plan To Boost Local Arms Production Would Freeze U.S. Out Of Billions

Canada, angered by Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric, may also join this new initiative as concerns over reliance on U.S. weapons grow.

An apparent Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russia’s Engels-2 Air Base in the Saratov region 300 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to available imagery. At this stage it’s unclear whether any Russian aircraft were damaged in the incident, although there are indications that the primary target was a weapons storage area. Long-range bombers flying from the base regularly attack Ukraine and the airfield, and other like it, have long been high-priority targets for Kyiv.

Massive Explosion Rocks Key Bomber Base Deep Inside Russia

The strategic bomber base, 300 miles from the Ukrainian border, is a high-priority target for Kyiv as it struggles to curtail Russian aerial bombardment.

Ukraine armored vehicle in belgorod.

Russia Confirms Ongoing Ukrainian Assault On Belgorod Region

Russian officials say they face a “difficult” situation in the Belgorod region, with multiple reports of an incursion into the border area by Ukrainian forces.

Laser-Guided Rockets Shown Shooting Down Houthi Drones For First Time

Laser-Guided Rockets Shown Shooting Down Houthi Drones For First Time

A dedicated air-to-air counter-drone version of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rocket has also now been disclosed.

The U.S. Army has released a picture of a Bradley fighting vehicle using its BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missile launcher to fire something else referred to simply as the "670," which appears to be previously unseen.

Mysterious Weapon Fired From Bradley Fighting Vehicle During Exercise

An M2 Bradley recently fired a new projectile from its TOW anti-tank missile launcher during a major U.S. Army test event.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin reached a tentative agreement on a 30-day limited ceasefire.

Putin-Trump Limited Ceasefire Deal Reached, Ukraine Now Has To Agree

Ukraine Situation Report: The first-step agreement is narrow in scope and calls for a 30-day pause on power infrastructure attacks.

Our Best Look At Ukraine’s ‘FrankenBuk’ Air Defense System

Our Best Look At Ukraine’s ‘FrankenBuk’ Air Defense System

The best-known of Ukraine’s so-called ‘FrankenSAMs’ puts RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles on a Soviet-era Buk-M1 ground-based air defense system.

BlueHalo has, for the first time, launched its Freedom Eagle-1 (FE-1) kinetic missile, being developed for the U.S. Army’s Next-Gen Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) program. The new missile, intended to be cheap to procure and able to be built rapidly in volume, is part of a new multi-pronged Army effort to better meet the proliferating drone threat head-on.

BlueHalo’s FE-1 Low-Cost Surface-To-Air Missile Fired For First Time

The Freedom Eagle-1 missile is intended as a low-cost effector to tackle larger drones as part of the U.S. Army’s Next-Gen Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) program.

J36 second flight from its base in Chengdu.

China’s J-36 Tailless Stealth Fighter Seen Flying For Second Time

The largest of China’s two tailless tactical jet prototypes is in the air again, nearly three months since its first flight.

Israel has confirmed that its F-35 stealth fighters have flown airstrikes using external ordnance. The F-35’s so-called ‘beast mode,’ featuring heavier loads on underwing pylons, is well known by now, but as far as is known, has not been called upon operationally by any other countries. Meanwhile, Israel’s unique F-35I fleet — locally known as the “Adir” (Hebrew for mighty) — which features various local modifications, has frequently been at the forefront of demonstrating new capabilities.

Israeli F-35s First To Use ‘Beast Mode’ In Combat

The “thousands of sorties” flown by Israeli F-35Is in the latest Middle East conflicts have included the first combat use of external offensive stores.

15th September 1947: The 'ops' room at the secret operational headquarters at Uxbridge RAF station, from where the Battle of Britain was conducted, is now the control centre for the fly past for Battle of Britain week. (Photo by Fred Morley/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

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

Concrete and conversation.

New imagery shows the progress made on North Korea’s shadowy airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, based on an Ilyushin Il-76 Candid airlifter, and which you can read more about in our analysis of when it first broke cover. Since the start of this year the aircraft now had its rotodome fitted, putting paid to any suggestion that it’s intended for a role other than AEW&C.

Our Best Look At North Korea’s New Early-Warning Radar Plane

North Korea’s mysterious airborne early warning and control aircraft continues to take shape and has now received its radome.

A-4 being loaded with bombs during the Falklands War.

Argentine Air Force Went To War With Chaff Made By Pasta Machine

The assault on the Falklands surprised even the Argentine Air Force, which soon embarked on a sometimes-bizarre program to bolster its self-protection capabilities.

Two Ukrainian firms, both partnered with American companies, are among those now set to demonstrate long-range one-way drones to the U.S. military as part of a project called Artemis.

Ukrainian Long-Range Attack Drones To Be Tested By U.S. Military

Project Artemis will also evaluate American designs that could evolve into long-range kamikaze drones for the U.S. military.

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This U.S. Navy ‘Yellow Submarine’ Was A Target Shaped Like A North Korean Sub

Missile Defense Agency Seeking A High-Flying Drone For “Airborne Laser 2.0”

Nukes, Nubs And Coners: The Unique Social Hierarchy Aboard A Nuclear Submarine

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The War Zone — also known by the shorthand TWZ — 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.

 

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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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