The War Zone. Your daily source for military, defense, and geopolitics coverage.
Airborne Radar
World’s Most Secretive 737 Is Supporting NASA’s Historic Artemis II Launch
It is rare to see the unique NT-43A aircraft at all, let alone flying over Florida ahead of the first crewed lunar space mission in decades.
Latest News
Trump Threatens NATO Departure, Claims Iran Wants A Ceasefire Ahead Of National Address (Updated)
Iran has pushed back on Trump’s ceasefire claim as key allies distance themselves further from Epic Fury.
Secretive 737 Radar Jet ‘RAT55’ Has Begun “The Next Phase Of Its Career”
Making a peculiar appearance supporting NASA’s Artemis II launch is just the beginning of what comes next for RAT55. the world’s most secretive 737.
Ian Ellis-Jones Has Touched Down At TWZ
A letter from the editor as TWZ’s team and mission expands.
Amid Fears Houthis Could Close Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Red Sea Task Force Ready For Attacks
Concerns grow that the Iranian-backed rebels could close the waterway, drastically exacerbating the global oil crisis and opening a new front.
F-35 Crashes In The Nevada Test And Training Range Complex (Updated)
The aircraft went down in the range complex north of Las Vegas earlier today, with the pilot safely ejecting.
New EA-37B Compass Call Electronic Warfare Jets Cross Atlantic, Middle East Next? (Updated)
The jets could provide CENTCOM with America’s most advanced standoff jamming capability, including disrupting communications and air defenses.
Army Scales Back Barriers To Access Its Top Testing Ranges
The Pentagon needs to drastically accelerate its development and procurement cycle and giving more access to its best testing ranges will be key in doing that.
Epic Fury Already Stress Testing More Agile Army Acquisition System, General Says
The warp speed-like evolution of measures and countermeasures in Ukraine has forced the Army to change how quickly it gets new gear into the hands of its troops.
M1E3 Next-Gen Abrams Tank Production Could Begin Next Year
Test units will soon start experimenting with early M1E3 prototypes, with the Army now hoping production could kick off in 2027.
Bunkers For U.S. Bases In Middle East Now A Top Priority For Pentagon
A rush to harden bases in the Middle East should finally be a much needed wake-up call to glaring gaps globally.
Former KC-135 Wing Commander On What It Will Take To Fuel A Fight Against China
Retired Air Force Col. Troy Pananon offers candid insights into the strain a fight with China would put on the tanker fleet.
MQ-28 Ghost Bat Gains Major European Foothold As Rheinmetall Joins Forces With Boeing
The MQ-28 Ghost Bat could be fielded by the Luftwaffe, but the door is also open to a potentially very lucrative European CCA market.
U.S. Is Burning Through Tomahawk Cruise Missile Stockpile At An Alarming Rate: Report
The four-week conflict with Iran has so far consumed more than a whopping 850 Tomahawk missiles, officials have stated.
Is The U.S. Dropping Mines To Stop Iranian Missile Launchers?
Scattering mines around remote missile facilities and launch points would make sense in order to further degrade Iranian launches.
Navy’s Drone Ship Plans Get Shaken Up Again
The Navy wants to spend less time prototyping and focus on fielding already mature uncrewed vessel designs, which contractors might operate.
More Latest News
A-10 Warthogs Are Doing Bizarrely Long Strafing Runs In Iraq
A-10s making nine-second-long gun runs is absolutely not normal.
Israeli F-16s Appear To Be Carrying Cluster Munitions
The cluster munitions likely have a very particular purpose aimed at neutering Iran’s ability to launch long-range ballistic missiles.
Images Show E-3 Sentry Totally Destroyed From Iranian Strike (Updated)
A loss of an E-3 is a major blow for the dwindling fleet of increasingly rickety airframes and points to other capability and defensive gaps.
Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week
Remember what sunlight felt like?
Hardened Underground Facilities Now Being Sought For Al Udeid Air Base
Iranian attacks highlight the glaring need for hardened infrastructure and shelters to protect troops and military assets.
Private F-5 Adversary Jets Taking The Fight To Navy Fighter Pilots
TWZ Special Access: We visited TacAir to learn about their heavily upgraded F-5AT fighters and how they replicate enemy aircraft to keep U.S. fighter aircrews sharp.
Veteran KC-135 Base Commander’s View Of Epic Fury’s Strain On The Tanker Force
Retired Colonel Troy Pananon knows just how big a toll Epic Fury is taking on the fleet, its maintainers, and aircrews.
After Nearly A Month Of Epic Fury There’s No Off-Ramp In Clear Sight
Rejected proposals from the U.S. and Iran show how far off the parties are on any negotiated ceasefire.
First Series-Produced KF-21 Fighter Rolled Out In South Korea
Taking a less-orthodox approach to developing a new fighter means that Seoul’s KF-21 has made rapid progress.
B-2 Spirits Heading To Iran Appear With Puzzling Features On Their Wings
New images of B-2s heading out on an Epic Fury sortie show two jets with prominent squares arranged along their leading edges.
MV-75 Tiltrotor Already Part Of Army Officer Training, General Says
With the Army putting its MV-75 tiltrotor on a blazingly fast track, troops are already getting experience on the aircraft before the first one is even delivered.
Hellfire Missile Launcher Tucked Inside A Container Rolled Out By Lockheed
The Grizzly containerized launcher presents a readily deployable and discreet way to scatter Hellfire missile capability wherever it’s needed.
Retired Patriot Battalion Commander On The Challenges Of Defeating Iran’s Barrages
David Shank, former commandant of the Army’s Air Defense Artillery School, offers a frank assessment of how air defenses are performing against Iran.
New Army 6.8mm Carbine Recycles XM8 Designation From Failed “Starship Troopers” Rifle Program
For a time in the early 2000s, the Army looked poised to adopt a very different XM8 family of small arms.
Iran Wants To Make Deal To End War, Trump Claims (Updated)
The U.S. president says Tehran reached out to try to negotiate a deal, something that Iran has vehemently denied.
F-22 Raptor “2.0” Spotted Undergoing Flight Testing
We’ve gotten our best look yet at new stealthy underwing tanks and sensor pods for the F-22, and the B-52’s new AGM-181 nuclear cruise missile.
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….
