The War Zone. Your daily source for military, defense, and geopolitics coverage.
Iran
The Massive Questions Surrounding A Major American Air War Against Iran
With the U.S. at the precipice of war with Iran, we break down the glaring questions surrounding such an operation and the reasoning for it.
Latest News
Former Air Force Fighter Pilot And F-35 Instructor Charged With Training Chinese Military
The ex-U.S. Air Force combat pilot also worked as a contractor F-35 instructor before allegedly providing expertise to China.
China’s Growing Armada Of Spy Satellites Is Pushing Space Force To Go On The Offensive
“You can’t run away from a bully forever. Sometimes you got to turn around and punch,” Space Force Combat Forces boss says.
General Running Air Force Reserve Wants Surplus F-15E Strike Eagles, New F-15EX Eagle IIs
The chief of the Air Force Reserve Command wants to overturn the depressing trend of aircraft divestments without getting new planes to replace them.
Number Of Nuclear Warheads New Sentinel ICBMs Will Carry Now An Open Question
We now know much more about the USAF’s sprawling plans for new Sentinel ICBM silos with features not found on Minuteman III.
F-16s Arrive To Protect Diego Garcia, F-22s Forward Deploy To Israel
It appears that much will depend on the result of the next round of nuclear talks in Geneva as U.S. combat capabilities continue to amass.
KC-390 With A Refueling Boom Seems Like A Perfect Fit For The USAF’s Agile Tanker Needs, But Will It Bite?
The idea of a KC-390 with a boom has gotten a new breath of life, and could be ideal for bringing fuel to far-flung edges of the battlespace.
General Atomics Is Turning The MQ-9 Reaper Family Of Drones Into “Cruise Missile Trucks”
Branded content: Giving MQ-9’s the ability to reach out over vast distances to launch standoff strikes after loitering for hours on its own is a unique capability for a tactical asset.
Upgraded F-22 “Raptor 2.0” Details Seen In New Model
A scale model of the new-look F-22 Raptor reveals details of its new stealthy external fuel tanks and underwing infrared sensor pods.
100 B-21 Stealth Bomber Fleet Size Target Unchanged For Now Despite Production Acceleration
The main goal of expanded B-21 production right now is getting the first Raiders fielded in 2027.
KC-130J’s Hellfire Missile-Firing Harvest Hawk Kits Retired By Marines
Developed to turn USMC C-130s into close air support platforms during the Global War on Terror, Harvest Hawk’s relevance has waned.
More Latest News
Straight Talk On State Of U.S. Airlift Capabilities From General Who Ran Air Mobility Command
General Minihan’s frankness about the China threat ended his career, but now as a civilian, he has much more to say.
Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week
Concrete is so hot right now…
F-16s Heading To Middle East Equipped With Angry Kitten Electronic Warfare Pods
The Angry Kitten pods will give the fourth-generation fighters often tasked with the Wild Weasel missions much-needed extra protection.
U.K. Denying U.S. Use Of Key Bases Would Impact Bombers’ Role In Iran Air Campaign
The U.K. is reportedly preventing the U.S. from using Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford to attack Iran.
Private F-16 Aggressors Just Brought A Huge Upgrade To The Fight
Top Aces’ advanced aggressor F-16 features an AESA, IRST, helmet mounted display, open architecture mission system and now Link 16 to tie it all together.
Russia Eyes Balloon Communications System To Fill Massive Gap Left After Losing Starlink
SpaceX has cut off Russia’s access to Starlink and now Moscow is scrambling to find a replacement.
What Iran’s Naval Exercise With China And Russia In The Strait Of Hormuz Actually Means
The Maritime Security Belt 2026 exercise comes as the U.S. is flowing forces to the Middle East ahead of a possible attack on Iran.
Major Deployment Of Rickety E-3 Sentry Fleet For Iran Crisis Highlights Worrisome Gaps
The shrunken E-3 fleet isn’t getting any younger, and a replacement is still far off while demand for its services would be far greater in the Pacific.
Final Pieces Moving Into Place For Potential Attack On Iran
The latest flurry of U.S. assets heading to the Middle East includes many of the missing capabilities needed for a sustained air campaign.
C-32A ‘Air Force Two’ Jet Emerges Wearing Trump’s New Air Force One Paint Job (Updated)
Donald Trump’s controversial Air Force One livery has made it onto its first Air Force executive aircraft.
F-16s Find Balloons, Not UFOs, After Sunday Scramble: NORAD
Alert F-16s out of California scrambled to hunt down mysterious targets over Nevada and California twice on Sunday.
AH-64 Apache Is Getting Proximity Fuzed 30mm Cannon Ammo For Swatting Down Drones
The XM1225 APEX ammo will offer another arrow in the Apache’s growing anti-drone quiver.
F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like An iPhone: Dutch Defense Secretary
The F-35’s vendor locked software is becoming a greater concern as relations between the U.S. and longtime allies falter.
Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week
We should have brought more DVDs man…
Mini Missiles Used To Shoot Down Incoming Missiles Eyed For USAF Tanker Fleet
Tankers are increasingly vulnerable as enemy long-range missiles evolve, leading the USAF to explore ‘hard kill’ solutions.
Navy’s Top Admiral Previously Said He Would “Push Back” Against Extending USS Gerald R. Ford’s Deployment
The admiral said keeping the carrier, which was just sent to the Middle East, at sea could result in big maintenance repercussions and crew strain.
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….
