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

The Air Force is beefing up its forward maintenance and repair work amid Iran fight. Iran

How The Air Force Patched Up A Shrapnel-Damaged KC-135

In addition, pushing advanced repair work closer to the front lines was critical in keeping as many airframes supporting the mission as possible.

Latest News

Unmanned

Cessna Cuts Cockpit Out Of SkyCourier Cargo Hauler For Uncrewed Logistics

As China moves at warp speed on uncrewed aerial logistics, Textron is offering a similar solution to the Pentagon with SkyCourier UX.

U.S. Air Force

Apache Crew Rescue Highlights Need For AI In Combat Says Joint Chiefs Chairman

AI enabled troops to manage networks of unmanned systems across thousands of miles of water and to pull assets together for a quick rescue.

U.S. Air Force

USAF Assessing Feasibility Of Restarting C-17 Production As Part Of Its Future Airlift Vision

The USAF is about to kick off a larger review of next-generation airlift options, and is still refining requirements for new tankers.

NATO

How The USAF Is Preparing For European Allies To Join The Collaborative Combat Aircraft Club

Allied interest in Collaborative Combat Aircraft is growing as USAFE works to ensure interoperability across a wide mix of future systems.

Yemen

Houthis Claim Saudi F-15 Kill Over Yemen

The incident is another reminder that the Houthis’ patchwork of air defenses remains a credible and deadly threat.

Israeli Air Force

Israel Is Bringing SPICE 1000 Standoff Weapon To The F-35

The standoff weapon could eventually give other F-35 operators a new path to a long-range precision strike capability.

U.S. Air Force

Industrial Base Concerns Over Building F/A-XX And F-47 Remain: Top Pentagon Procurement Officer

Gen. Dale White says while the F-47 will fly by 2028, doing F/A-XX at the same time is concerning, but that’s not unique to just next gen fighters.

U.S. Air Force

USAF’s Fighter Drones To Make Debut In A Large Scale Exercise

Exercise Emerald Flag will give the USAF a completely new opportunity to test how its CCA drones work together with crewed assets.

NATO

NATO Air Commander Details Thinking Behind The Alliance’s New Air Defense Plan

With alarming incursions into NATO territory by Russian drones and missiles, and the possibility that worse is on the horizon, NATO is adapting its air defense playbook.

U.S. Army

One Of These Missiles Is Set To Be The Army’s Next Mid-Tier Anti-Air Interceptor

The new Enduring Shield system paired with AIM-9X Sidewinders already gives the Army its first mid-range air defense capability in decades.

Americas

Army Now Testing Anthem Long-Range Strike Weapon Built for Mass Production

Serial production of the relatively crude but cheap weapon is slated to begin in Texas next year, with plans to also build the weapon in Germany and Israel.

Site Expansions Underpin Lockheed Martin’s Munitions Production Ramp

Branded Content: Bigger sites, advanced manufacturing techniques, and boosting the workforce are key industry commitments to increased munitions production.

FQ-42 Vengeance Fighter Drone Program Update

Branded Content: The latest from General Atomics on FQ-42 Vengeance and the company’s new Wildfire MQ-9 replacement platform.

AGM-158 Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)

Lockheed Flexes To Modular AGM-158 JASSM Missile Concept

FLEX aims to give the JASSM missile family modular weapons architecture spanning longer-range, anti-ship, and new launch configurations.

U.S. Air Force

YFQ-44A Fury Has Been Fit Checked With Air-To-Ground Munitions

New imagery highlights potential air-to-ground weapons integration on Fury, pointing to the possibility of a broader strike capability for production FQ-44s.

Russia

First-Ever Kill Of A Drone Boat By Another Drone Boat Claimed By Ukraine

The machine gun attack of one drone boat on another is the latest milestone in uncrewed surface vessel warfare.

U.S. Navy

Navy Destroyer Packs New ‘Piggy-Backed’ Point Defense System That Combines 30mm And .50 Cal Guns

The Mk 38 Mod 4 offers a major capability boost, especially against drones, and is now installed on at least one destroyer.

Carrier Tracker

Where Are The Aircraft Carriers?: September 9, 2026

The Navy is applying lessons learned from recent marathon carrier cruises to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which conducted an unreported maintenance availability ahead of deployment.

More Latest News

U.S. Air Force

Air Force Announces New Plans To Take Over Defending Its Own Bases From Aerial Attack

The Air Force’s top officer acknowledged that a lack of organic base defense was a factor in the destruction caused by Iran.

Drones

Fleet Of At Least 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft By 2032 Now In USAF’s Plans

500 CCAs is a step up from recently stated USAF plans, and the service also now wants 500 more new drones to succeed its MQ-9s.

U.S. Nuclear Control Mission Could Dramatically Evolve Under Looking Glass-Next

Branded Content: Modernizing command, control, and communications network is critical for the future nuclear era.

Drones

Everything We Just Learned About The Vectis Collaborative Combat Aircraft From The Skunk Works

We have new details on Lockheed’s tailless CCA, including about its exotic “submerged” air inlet and how its design puts a premium on survivability.

Iran

The Outlook Is Getting Grimmer By The Day For Oil Exports From The Red Sea

Iraqi militias strike a pipeline that’s the remaining lifeline to Middle East oil and the Houthis move into a better position to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait than ever.

Bunker Talk

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

Has it really been 25 years since that terrible morning?

Iran

Adversaries Using Claude AI To Target Americans And Develop Missiles Is A Sign Of What’s To Come

A new report from Anthropic presents a stark picture of how malign actors are using commercially available U.S. AI services despite safeguards.

Rafale

France Accelerates Rafale F5 Upgrade After Collapse Of FCAS Next-Gen Fighter Project

France is investing in a new Rafale configuration, along with drone wingmen, that aim to carry French tactical aviation deep into the 2030s.

Iran

Work At Underground Test Site A New Indicator Of Possible Strikes On Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain Bunker

Pickaxe Mountain presents immense targeting challenges and that’s where a key test range in New Mexico comes in to play, just as it did for Midnight Hammer.

Iran

Houthis’ Stranglehold On Strategic Bab Al-Mandab Strait Grows Stronger

The capture of the port of Mokha and possibly the islands of Perim and Zuqar can give the Houthis key points of control over the Red Sea and the Strait.

F-15

Operational F-15EXs Drop Live Bombs For The First Time

The first unit to get the F-15EX is already moving away from its exclusive air-to-air mission roots.

Russia

Ukraine Carried Out Its Deepest Drone Strike On Russia Ever

The strike hit an energy processing plant 1,700 miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s gas-rich Arctic region.

Air

Hermeus Unveils Air-Launched Ramjet Test Vehicle for High-Speed Experiments

The ramjet-powered vehicle could give researchers and developers a new way to put hardware into sustained high-Mach flight environments.

Q-9

First Look At General Atomics’ Wildfire, Its Successor To The MQ-9 Reaper (Updated)

The USAF is hunting for new lower-cost armed drones to perform the same missions as the MQ-9 in the wake of huge Reaper losses.

U.S. Navy

Everything We Know About The U.S. Navy’s Submersible Drone Iran Just Captured

Anduril’s Dive-LD uncrewed underwater vehicle falling into Iranian hands is significant, but the system was designed to be risked in contested waters.

Iran

Saudi’s Remaining Energy Lifeline To The World Under Threat After Successful Houthi Strikes (Updated)

Having the Strait of Hormuz and energy exports via the Red Sea shut down at the same time has long been a top fear for global oil markets.

See More

Must Read Features

Desert Storm

Recollections Of Life At Sea And Some Advice From A U.S. Navy Force Master Chief

People

Confessions Of An A-6 Intruder Pilot

China

China’s Own “Catfish” Flying Avionics Testbed For The J-20 Fighter Emerges

People

How A Canadian Pilot Became The First Westerner To Fly The Feared MiG-29 Fulcrum

SEE MORE

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….

More About Us

The TWZ Team