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

U.S. Air Force

New Details About Secretive RQ-170 Sentinel Drone Squadron Shared With New Award

The 30th Reconnaissance Squadron is one of two units known to operate RQ-170s, and it is very rare to hear any details about its activities.

Latest News

Bunker Talk

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

Tee Gee Eye Eff.

NATO

German Forces Surge Onto Baltic Island In First-Of-Its-Kind NATO Drill

Exercise Silver Wotan tests how quickly allied troops, ships, aircraft, and weapons can reach the strategically vital island of Gotland.

Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs)

Marine Colonel Who Led Mideast Combat Deployment Wants His Own Drone Boats

“If the first thing you’re putting through the breach isn’t a robot, something’s wrong.”

Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSNs)

Japan Opens The Door To Acquiring Nuclear-Powered Submarines

Japan’s naval capabilities are evolving rapidly in the face of growing threats and so are its undersea requirements.

Iran

USMC Used Its Expeditionary Operations Playbook In Combat For First Time During Epic Fury

The USMC set up remote forward refueling and rearming points for F-35Bs and other aircraft, as well as sensing locations during the war with Iran.

F-16

F-16 Crashes In Michigan

Dramatic ATC audio of the incident has emerged.

AIM-260

Pentagon Cuts New AIM-260 Air-To-Air Missile Production Deal, Testing Accelerating

The AIM-260 was originally slated to enter service years ago and it is seen as critical to counter China’s PL-15 air-to-air missile.

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.

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

New-Build F-16s For The USAF Is An Idea That Won’t Go Away, For Good Reason

Lockheed’s F-16G pitch could be part of the answer to the Air Force’s problem of trying to grow its increasingly geriatric fighter fleet.

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. 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.

Saudi Arabia

F-35 Sale To Saudi Arabia Approved By State Department

The proposed $24 billion stealth fighter deal has major ramifications across the Middle East.

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.

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.

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.

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F-15

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.

F-35

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

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.

Collaborative Combat Aircraft

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.

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.

Collaborative Combat Aircraft

Anduril’s YFQ-44A Fury CCA Has Flown Alongside F-35s

The YFQ-44 Fury has already taken to the skies alongside fifth-gen fighters as the company works toward a true crewed-uncrewed teaming demonstration.

F-15

Airmen Under Fire: Stories From Iranian Barrages On U.S. Bases

Air Force Chief Of Staff Gen. Wilsbach offered vignettes of airmen performing under punishing Iranian attacks.

Q-9

Cheaper Reaper? Swarm Aero Unveils Gamera

Swarm Aero’s Gamera is designed to be inexpensive but pack major range and the ability to be adapted to many missions beyond standoff strike.

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.

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Must Read Features

U.S. Navy

These Are The Images Of Three U.S. Supercarriers In Formation You’ve Been Waiting For

South Korea

This Out Of Control Cargo Ship Creaming A Huge Dock Crane Is Like Something Out Of Godzilla

Royal Canadian Air Force

Military Flight Instructor’s Most Important Lesson: Student Pilots Will Try To Kill You

U.S. Homeland

The 10 Best Military Arcade Games of the 80s

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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….

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