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Dramatic footage is emerging online as Iran has begun launching a huge ballistic missile barrage against Israel as part of its retaliatory strikes. Israel

Iran Strikes Back (Updated)

Iran has executed a large ballistic missile attack on Israel, with multiple missiles impacting amidst a barrage of interceptors.

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PHILLIPS, SOUTH DAKOTA - AUGUST 26: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been shot in black and white. Color version not available.) An underground former nuclear missile launch control facility officer's quarters displays a mural of deer on August 26, 2011 in South Dakota. Located in the rural farmland of the South Dakota plains, the bunker is now a national historical site open to visitors. Put out of service after treaties with the former Soviet Union, the missiles controlled by this room were probably capable of destroying the planet. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Bunker Talk

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

It’s a good time to hide.

Israeli officials are warning that the strikes that began to be launched against Iran overnight are just the start phase of a wider operation.
Iran

Israel’s Operation To Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program Enters New Phase (Updated)

A better sense of the scale and intensity of Israeli strikes on Iran is beginning to emerge as the crisis continues to evolve.

Israel strikes Iran's nuclear program.
Iran

Israel Launches Operation Rising Lion To Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program (Updated)

With tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program at an all-time high, Israel has executed a kinetic operation that included strikes in Tehran.

Israel hand commando teams inside Iran attack air defenses
Iran

Israeli Commandos Attacked Iranian Air Defenses With Drones From Inside The Country: Report

Mossad operatives went as far as setting up drone and missile bases near major air defense sites and other key targets.

North Korea’s Partially Sunk Frigate Has Already Been Ceremoniously Relaunched
North Korea

North Korea’s Partially Sunk Frigate Has Already Been Ceremoniously Relaunched

How North Korea managed to get the ship looking like it does now, even superficially, so quickly after it sat in the water for days isn’t clear.

A damning IAEA report and Iran's vow to build new enrichment facilities give Israel additional pretext for an attack on its longtime nemesis.
Israel

Damning IAEA Report Has Given Israel Additional Pretext To Strike Iran

The IAEA states Iran has hid its true nuclear ambitions and Tehran says it is going to build a new uranium facility as war drums grow louder.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has called into question the viability of using the C-130J Hercules cargo aircraft as the basis for a new plane, called the E-130J, to support the U.S. Navy's Take Charge And Move Out (TACAMO) mission.
E-6

Choice Of C-130 For New Navy ‘Doomsday Plane’ Questioned In Watchdog Report

The Navy is acquiring E-130Js to replace critical, but aging 707-based E-6B Mercury nuclear command and control aircraft.

A Dassaullt Rafale fighter and two Dassault Falcon business jets are on display 21 June 2001 at the 44th Paris-Le Bourget Air show, billed as the biggest ever event of its kind, bringing together 1800 exhibitors from the aviation industry from 43 countries.
Rafale

Rafale Reemerges With Conformal Fuel Tanks

More than two decades after they were first trialled, a Rafale has reappeared with range- and payload-enhancing conformal fuel tanks.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Reaper drones have been orbiting over Los Angeles amid the roiling unrest.
U.S. Homeland

Department Of Homeland Security Predator B Drones Are Orbiting Over Los Angeles

Department of Homeland Security is using its most powerful and persistent eyes in the sky as part of its response to the unrest in Los Angeles.

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Newly released footage records the unique formation flight over Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Air Base last November, which brought together U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters and Soviet-era MiG-21 and MiG-29 jets. The four-ship took to the skies to mark the passing of Col. Gail Peck (ret.), the former commander of the legendary 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron “Red Eagles” that conducted highly classified missions using Soviet combat jets in the late 1970s and 1980s.

F-22s Fly Alongside MiGs To Commemorate Founder Of America’s Secret Soviet Fighter Squadron

Col. Gail Peck gave birth to the Red Eagles who flew Soviet fighters against American ones in training in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Russia giving North Korea Shahed 136 production capability.

Russia Giving North Korea Shahed-136 Attack Drone Production Capability: Budanov

Ukraine’s intelligence chief says Moscow is giving Pyongyang advanced military technologies that could shift the balance of power on the peninsula.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) says it has developed upgrades for a family of modular, rapidly deployable protective structures to improve their ability to shield against drone attacks.

Growing Drone Threats Lead To Army Modular Shelter Kit Improvements

Upgrades to the Modular Protective System-Overhead Cover could offer important lower-cost layers of defense against drones at bases anywhere.

A new image appearing to show China’s ‘J-36’ 6th generation tactical jet parked on the ground has emerged online. If legitimate, this would be the best front view of the aircraft to date, notably providing clear proof of the canopy design and further confirmation of a side-by-side seating arrangement.

This Could Be Our Best View Yet Of China’s J-36 Very Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet

The latest image taken of the jet while on the ground appears to show new details, including two smaller weapons bays straddling a large main bay.

16th March 1940: Workmen putting the finishing touches to an old tube station (King William Street) which has been converted into an air raid shelter holding 2,000 people. It has air-conditioning and a first aid station, all at a cost of about £20,000. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

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

Oh my lord, are we out of coffee?

Russia launched revenge attacks across Ukraine for the destruction of its bombers.

Russia Executes Revenge Strikes Against Ukraine For Blowing Up Its Bombers

Ukraine also launched a flurry of drone attacks it said were preemptive against long-range Russian aviation bases.

Germany plans to buy Joint Strike Missile (JSM) cruise missiles from Norway, to arm its forthcoming fleet of F-35A stealth fighters. While these jets were primarily chosen as launch platforms for U.S.-owned nuclear gravity bombs, under a long-standing NATO agreement, Germany is increasingly viewing the F-35A as part of an expanding conventional long-range strike arsenal.

German F-35s Will Be Armed With Stealthy Joint Strike Missiles

The cruise missiles will give German F-35As a potent land-attack and anti-ship capability that doesn’t sacrifice the jet’s stealth advantage.

A North Korean frigate that partially submerged during a launch ceremony mishap is now floating.

North Korean Frigate Now Floating Upright After Partially Capsizing During Disastrous Launch

The vessel is now moored in the middle of the harbor as recovery efforts are ongoing, though the extent of the damage remains unknown.

The U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation combat jet program looks to have hit another setback, with the Pentagon reportedly prioritizing the Air Force’s F-47 stealth fighter, amid concerns about how to run the two efforts simultaneously. Already, the F/A-XX was in limbo, with a U.S. official telling TWZ last month that the future of the program was being reviewed. This came after reports that a contract award for the Navy’s new combat jet could be delayed by as much as three years. Navy officials, meanwhile, continue to stress the importance of the F/A-XX to their future plans.

Pentagon Wants To Shift Funds From Navy F/A-XX To USAF F-47: Report

Amid the uncertainty surrounding F/A-XX, the Navy continues to stress its need for the sixth-generation stealth fighter.

The U.S. Air Force says it has tested a modified 500-pound-class GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, optimized for use as an anti-ship munition as part of its Quicksink program.

Smaller Version Of Quicksink Ship-Killing Smart Bomb Tested By USAF

A 500-pound-class Quicksink bomb offers a lower-cost anti-ship weapon that bombers and fighters could carry in significant numbers.

Inside frontline drone operations in ukraine

Ukrainian Commander’s Exclusive Insights On Brutal Drone Warfare On The Frontline

The commander of Azov’s Unmanned Systems Battalion shares the latest details about how tactics are evolving in the bloody Donbas region.

New satellite imagery and an official video has revealed more about the scale of destruction and damage inflicted on Russian airfields in Ukraine’s unprecedented covert drone attacks last weekend. Today, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which carried out the drone attacks, published previously unreleased drone footage showing the attacks underway.

Confirmed Losses Of Russian Aircraft Mount After Ukrainian Drone Assault

Some of the bombers were armed with cruise missiles when Ukraine’s drones rained down on them.

North Korea looks to be making progress in recovering the second in its Choi Hyun class of frigates, which rolled over and was partially submerged after an incident at its launch ceremony last month.

Partially Submerged North Korean Frigate Appears Upright Again In Satellite Image

The frigate looks to be upright again, but the full extent of the damage remains unclear, as is how they will move it somewhere to get fixed.

Disruptor aircraft company Otto Aviation is aiming to achieve first flight with what could potentially be a revolutionary high-efficiency business jet-type aircraft with a tear-drop-shaped fuselage called the Phantom 3500 by the end of the decade, if not within the next two years or so.

Otto Aviation’s Phantom 3500 Aims To Massively Disrupt Private Jet Market

The Phantom 3500 follows Otto Aviation’s exotic, tear-drop-shaped Celera 500L with a targeted first flight in 2027.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery that TWZ has exclusively obtained from ICEYE points to multiple Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers having been damaged or destroyed at Belaya Air Base.

Latest On Russian Aircraft Loss Assessments From Ukrainian Drone Strikes

The full extent of Russia’s losses of bombers and other prized aircraft to Ukraine’s unprecedented covert drone operation is still emerging.

Ukraine's SBU said it mined the Kerch Bridge, severely damaging it. Russian sources downplay the damage.

Ukraine Strikes At The Heart Of Russia’s Highly Defended Kerch Bridge

This is the third time Russia’s prized span connecting its mainland with Crimea has been successfully struck, although the extent of the damage is unclear.

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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.

 

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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