Drones (Page 2)

Latest in Drones

Here Is What Trump’s Gargantuan $1.5T Defense Budget Has In It
Drones

Here Is What Trump’s Gargantuan $1.5T Defense Budget Has In It

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Apr 8, 2026

BAE has test fired APKWS rockets from an RAF Typhoon for the first time.
Drones

Eurofighter Typhoon Test Fires Laser-Guided Counter-Drone Rockets

By Howard Altman

Posted on Apr 8, 2026

RQ-180 features seen in new videos shot in Greece.
Drones

New Views Of Massive RQ-180 Stealth Drone Flying Over Greece

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Apr 7, 2026

A secretive late Cold War-era drone program known as Quartz, intended to persistently monitor mobile nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles deep within the Soviet Union, offers a window into exactly why the RQ-180 could be in high demand in the Middle East now.
Drones

RQ-180’s Likely Role Over Iran Foreshadowed By Secret Cold War Stealth Drone Program

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Apr 6, 2026

An MQ-28A Ghost Bat loaded with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile during Trial Kareela at RAAF Base Woomera, South Australia.
Drones

MQ-28 Ghost Bat Gains Major European Foothold As Rheinmetall Joins Forces With Boeing

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 31, 2026

Ukraine is experimenting with private sector air defense.
Drones

Ukraine Using Private Air Defense Teams To Protect Industry Against Russian Drones

By Howard Altman

Posted on Mar 30, 2026

Soldiers from multiple units, to include members of the U.S. Army Drone Team, compete in the Hunter-Killer lanes at the U.S. Army Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, ALA., Feb. 17-19, 2026. Hosted by Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA), this inaugural Army Best Drone Warfighter Competition, themed “Agile, Adaptive, Lethal."
Drones

Epic Fury Already Stress Testing More Agile Army Acquisition System, General Says

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Mar 25, 2026

Kamikaze drones operated by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq appear to have struck a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter and an air defense radar at an American base in Iraq.
Drones

Drone Attack On Parked U.S. Army Black Hawk In Iraq A Harbinger Of What’s To Come

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 25, 2026

Barksdale Air Force Base in Lousiana, home to B-52 bombers, was the site of a wave of recent drone incursions.
Drones

U.S. Battled Drone Incursions Over Key Bases At Home After Launch Of Epic Fury

By Howard Altman

Posted on Mar 25, 2026

Drones launched from ships offshore is a highly plausible mode of attack that TWZ has been drawing direct attention to for years now as the United States continues to play catch-up in establishing domestic defenses against the dangers posed by drones.
Drones

Drone Attacks On U.S. From The Sea Are A Known Possibility

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Mar 13, 2026

Despite widespread interest across the Middle East in the wake of Iranian Shahed attacks, Ukrainian companies still can't export them.
Drones

Ukrainian Companies Prohibited From Exporting Shahed Interceptor Drones

By Howard Altman

Posted on Mar 13, 2026

We obtained first-hand accounts of police chasing down Jersey Drones.
Drones

What Cops Saw Chasing Down New Jersey Drones

By Howard Altman

Updated on Mar 12, 2026

The irony that lower-end long-range kamikaze drones are perhaps the biggest threat to extremely advanced radars capable of providing telemetry for intercepting targets traveling at hypersonic speeds, sometimes in space, is glaring. The losses of the radars should finally serve as a stark wake-up call regarding the vulnerability of these critical but largely static assets.
Drones

Iranian Attacks On Prized Missile Defense Radars Are A Wake-Up Call

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Mar 7, 2026

Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, lauds the LUCAS drone.
Drones

LUCAS Kamikaze Drones Lauded As “Indispensable” By U.S. Admiral In Charge Of Iran War

By Howard Altman

Posted on Mar 6, 2026

For more than three weeks, Ukraine was left with only “a handful” of U.S.-made AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for its F-16 fleet, after the supply of the weapons dried up. This is the conclusion of a Reuters report, citing three sources, all of whom are said to have direct knowledge of the situation. It also comes as Kyiv is increasingly in competition with the U.S. military and its Gulf allies as they come under continued pressure from Iranian drones and missiles in the Middle East.
Drones

Ukrainian F-16s Had Only A Handful Of Sidewinder Missiles Available: Report

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 5, 2026

The U.S. used LUCAS kamikaze drones against Iran, the first combat deployment of these weapons.
Drones

U.S. Military Has Used Long-Range Kamikaze Drones In Combat For The First Time

By Howard Altman

Posted on Feb 28, 2026

An Aerovironment Locust directed energy laser weapons took down a small Customs and Border Protection Drone.
Drones

Drone That LOCUST Laser Shot Down On Border Was Small And Belonged To Customs and Border Protection

By Howard Altman, Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 27, 2026

Shield AI says X-Bat will start flight testing this year.
Drones

X-BAT Drone ‘Fighter’ Will Begin VTOL Flight Testing In Kansas This Year

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Feb 25, 2026

MQ-9 being turned into cruise missile truck.

General Atomics Is Turning The MQ-9 Reaper Family Of Drones Into “Cruise Missile Trucks”

By The War Zone staff

Posted on Feb 24, 2026

Talon Blue drone from Northrop Grumman.
Drones

Talon Blue Is The New Name For Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A ‘Fighter Drone’

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Feb 24, 2026

YFQ-42A is now named Dark Merlin
Drones

Dark Merlin Is The Name Of General Atomics’ YFQ-42A Fighter Drone

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Feb 23, 2026

General Atomics' air-launched LongShort drone has made new progress toward its first flight with the completion of various tests on the ground, including a demonstration of its weapons release capabilities.
Drones

X-68A LongShot Air-To-Air Missile-Carrying Drone Moves Closer To F-15 Launch

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 17, 2026

AH-64 has tested APEX proximity fuse rounds
Drones

AH-64 Apache Is Getting Proximity Fuzed 30mm Cannon Ammo For Swatting Down Drones

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Feb 16, 2026

The recent use of a laser directed energy weapon to take down an aerial object in Texas highlights policy challenges in protecting U.S. skies.
Drones

Airspace Closure Over Laser Weapon Use A Glaring Example Of Drone Defense Policy Struggles

By Howard Altman

Posted on Feb 13, 2026

Drones operated by Mexican drug cartels flying across the border prompted a major clampdown in air traffic over El Paso, Texas, earlier today, a Trump administration official has told TWZ.
Drones

Claims Swirl Around Government’s Response To Cartel Drone Threat That Prompted El Paso Airspace Closure

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Updated on Feb 11, 2026

YFQ-42 selected for test program with the USMC.
Drones

YFQ-42 Fighter Drone To Test USMC’s Autonomy ‘Brain’ Alongside Crewed Jets

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Feb 11, 2026

Lockheed Martin has rolled out a new highly modular uncrewed undersea vehicle called Lamprey than can be configured to launch waves of aerial kamikaze drones.
Drones

Undersea Drone That Attaches Itself To Other Vessels Unveiled By Lockheed

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 9, 2026

The entire U.S. military is now pushing to acquire hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new drones, especially smaller types, in the coming years, spurred on by new direction from the Pentagon.
Drones

Hunt For Container Launchers Packed With Drones Kicked-Off By Pentagon

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 6, 2026

An MQ-28A Ghost Bat loaded with an AIM-120 during Trial Kareela at RAAF Base Woomera, South Australia.
Drones

Boeing Details New MQ-28 Ghost Bat Features, Eyes Indo-Pacific Sales

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 5, 2026

New footage has emerged showing how Ukraine is using adapted Antonov An-28 Cash twin-turboprop utility aircraft as part of its anti-drone inventory. While images of the aircraft, replete with multiple drone kill marks, had previously been published, we now get to see the aircraft’s armament — a six-barrel M134 Minigun — in action, too.
Drones

Watch Ukraine’s Minigun-Firing, Drone-Hunting Turboprop In Action

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 5, 2026

A U.S. Navy F-35C Joint Strike Fighter flying from the supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln has shot down an Iranian drone said to have “aggressively approached” the ship.
Drones

F-35 From USS Abraham Lincoln Shoots Down Iranian Drone (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Updated on Feb 3, 2026

The U.S. Marine Corps says it is planning to award a sole-source contract for a new AGM-114 Hellfire missile-armed mobile counter-drone system to defense contractor V2X.
Drones

Company Behind Drone-Killing Hellfire Missile-Armed Buggy Set To Get Marine Corps Contract

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 3, 2026

KestrelX KX-2s flew to simulate drone threats at Sentry Savannah exercise.
Drones

These Planes Are Mimicking Enemy Shahed-136 Drones In U.S. Military War Games

By James Deboer

Posted on Feb 2, 2026

New Pentagon guidance for defending critical infrastructure against drone attacks calls for the increased use of netting, cables, and other kinds of passive physical defenses.
Drones

Hardened Structures, Nets For Drone Defense Front And Center In New Pentagon Guidance

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 2, 2026

The Israeli Iron Fist active protection system has demonstrated its ability to down incoming drones.
Drones

Iron Fist Active Protection System For Armor Can Shoot Down Drones

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 30, 2026

As both sides in the war in Ukraine continue their campaigns of long-range drone attacks, the Ukrainian government’s internal security agency has released a compilation of strikes directed against Russian airbases.
Drones

Ukrainian Drone Strikes On Parked Russian Aircraft Seen In “Greatest Hits” Video

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 30, 2026

Anduril's bolt-m drone that will be used by the USMC
Drones

Inside Anduril’s Bolt-M Kamikaze Drone Program

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Jan 23, 2026

A new defense spending bill making its way through Congress would add $240 million to the U.S. Army's budget for the purchase of more MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones.
Drones

MQ-1C Drones The Army Has Called “Obsolete” Added In New Budget Plan By Congress

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 22, 2026

The Ukrainian Armed Forces using the U.S.-made V2X Tempest, a high-mobility vehicle with a launcher for AGM-114 Hellfire missiles that is optimized for the counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) role. Mounting Hellfires on a high-mobility vehicle provides a valuable new means of employing these weapons, not only against drone threats, but potentially also other targets, too.
Drones

Hellfire-Armed Drone-Killing Buggy Appears In Ukrainian Service

By Thomas Newdick, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Jan 12, 2026

The latest iteration of Russia’s Geran long-range one-way attack drone features a jet engine and is apparently being considered for launch from aircraft, to boost its range. The new drone, apparently first used at the beginning of this year, underlines Russia’s continued development of these drones, which bear the brunt of its relentless strikes on Ukraine, which ramp up during the winter months. It further points to Russia seeking to field drones that are better able to evade Ukraine’s air defenses, which are increasingly tailored to these kinds of threats.
Drones

Russia’s New Geran-5 Long-Range Kamikaze Drone Could Be Air-Launched

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 12, 2026

Kratos has confirmed to TWZ that the landing gear-equipped version of its XQ-58 Valkyrie drone being developed for the U.S. Marines will still be able to make rocket-assisted takeoffs from static launchers.
Drones

Marine XQ-58 Valkyries Will Launch Via Rockets Or Runways

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Jan 9, 2026

The Marine Corps' pursuit of a fully missionized version of Kratos' stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drone has taken another step forward with a new announcement that Northrop Grumman is now aiding in the effort.
Drones

USMC XQ-58 Valkyrie Development Makes Leap Forward With New Contract (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 8, 2026

Multiple video clips offer strong evidence that kamikaze drones were among the capabilities the U.S. military brought to bear during the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.
Drones

Did The U.S. Use Kamikaze Drones To Strike Venezuela?

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Jan 6, 2026

Shahed-136 crashed with a shoulder-fired heat seeking missile attached.
Drones

Russian Shahed-136 Kamikaze Drones Now Carrying MANPADS Missiles

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 6, 2026

RQ-170 Sentinel Stealth Drone Supported Maduro Capture Mission
Drones

RQ-170 Sentinel Stealth Drone Supported Maduro Capture Mission

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 3, 2026

Evidence that the United States employed AGM-114 Hellfire or AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) missiles in a covert strike on a target in Venezuela has now emerged.
Drones

Missile Fragments Add To Evidence MQ-9 Reaper Drone Carried Out Venezuela Strike

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 2, 2026

China has converted a cargo ship to a arsenal ship and drone carrier.
Drones

Chinese Cargo Ship Converted To Launch Advanced Combat Drones Emerges (Updated)

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Jan 2, 2026

A picture has emerged that looks to show Iran's Mohajer-6 drone has entered service, at least on a limited level, with the Venezuelan military.
Drones

Iranian Strike-Surveillance Drones Are Now Operating In Venezuela

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Jan 1, 2026

Over the past week or so, U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones have been spotted carrying increasingly greater numbers of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on sorties from Puerto Rico.
Drones

MQ-9 Reapers Flying With Unusually Heavy Weapons Loads Over Caribbean

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 30, 2025

New imagery of Chinese catapult-capable low-observable combat drones, or possibly mockups thereof, together with some unusual trucks, may point to plans to launch them from the ground, as well as ships.
Drones

Is This China’s Truck-Mounted Electromagnetic Catapult?

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Dec 30, 2025

Type 076 seen carrying loyal wingman drone mockup or prototype.
Drones

Chinese Loyal Wingman Drone Design Appear Set For Deck Trials

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Dec 27, 2025

Ukraine has expanded its uncrewed surface vessel attacks to the Dnipro River.
Drones

Ukraine Now Using Drone Boats To Attack Russian Riverine Targets

By Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 26, 2025

The U.S. Air Force has formally designated Northrop Grumman’s Project Talon drone as the YFQ-48A and described it as a "strong contender" to be part of its future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) fleets.
Drones

YFQ-48A ‘Fighter Drone’ Designation Given To Northrop Grumman’s Talon By USAF

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 22, 2025

The Marine Corps is seeking to bolster its supply of FPV drones.
Drones

Marines Seeking 10,000 First-Person View Drones At $4K A Pop

By Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 20, 2025

In a significant escalation of the ‘tanker war’ between Russia and Ukraine, which has so far played out mainly in the Black Sea, Ukrainian aerial drones have struck a tanker belonging to Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’ in the Mediterranean.
Drones

Ukraine Strikes Russia-Linked Tanker In The Mediterranean With ‘Bomber Drone’

By Thomas Newdick, Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 19, 2025

The U.S. Navy personnel in the Middle East have test-launched a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) long-range kamikaze drone from the Independence class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Santa Barbara.
Drones

Littoral Combat Ship Launches Shahed-136 Kamikaze Drone Clone

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Dec 18, 2025

A key Russian airbase in occupied Crimea has been targeted by a Ukrainian drone strike. According to Ukraine, the drones hit a MiG-31BM Foxhound interceptor, as well as elements of an S-400 air defense system, at Belbek Air Base, near Sevastopol.
Drones

MiG-31 Foxhound Among Russian Air Defense Assets Targeted In Crimean Drone Strike

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Dec 18, 2025

Satellite imagery is now available showing the aftermath of a Ukrainian attack yesterday on a Russian Navy Improved Kilo class diesel-electric submarine in the Black Sea naval stronghold of Novorossiysk.
Drones

Aftermath Of Ukraine’s Underwater Drone Attack On Russian Submarine Seen In Satellite Imagery

By Thomas Newdick, Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 16, 2025

Ukraine says it carried out the world's first uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) attack on a Russian vessel.
Drones

Ukraine Claims World’s First Underwater Drone Attack On Russian Submarine

By Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 15, 2025

We have got what could be our first look at China’s CH-7 stealthy flying-wing drone in flight. While it’s far from the biggest Chinese drone of this configuration, it’s still of impressive size and, as we have noted in the past, appears to be tailored for intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance (ISR), as well as strike missions as an uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
Drones

China’s Stealthy CH-7 Flying Wing Drone Has Flown

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Dec 15, 2025

Russia carried out a retaliation strike for Ukraine's attacks on its ships.
Drones

Russian Retaliation Strike Raises Stakes In Black Sea Shipping War

By Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 12, 2025

China's heavyweight jet-powered Jiutian drone, said to have a maximum takeoff weight of around 17.6 tons (16 metric tons), has flown.
Drones

China’s High-Flying Swarm Mothership Drone Has Flown

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 11, 2025

LUCAS drone being tested at Yuma Proving Ground.
Drones

American-Made Shahed-136 Kamikaze Drone Clones Being Tested By Marines

Howard Howard Altman, By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Dec 10, 2025

An AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile is launched from an MQ-28A Ghost Bat during Trial Kareela at RAAF Base Woomera, South Australia.
Drones

MQ-28 Ghost Bat Has Fired An AIM-120 AMRAAM Missile

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Dec 9, 2025