News &amp; Features (Page 29)

Posted on May 16, 2024

The US military has finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip. It means officials are now poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.

U.S. Navy Completes Gaza Aid Pier, Deliveries Imminent (Updated)

Updated on May 16, 2024

China

Mock-Up Patriot System Sparks China-Ukraine Conspiracy Theories

Posted on May 15, 2024

Heckler & Koch is looking at selling versions of its existing product line chambered in Soviet-designed cartridges, driven in part by the conflict in Ukraine.

Germany

Heckler & Koch Eyes Adapting Its Rifles To Fire Soviet-Designed Ammo

Posted on May 15, 2024

NASA's DC-8 airborne science laboratory banks low over the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., upon arrival Nov. 8, 2007.

NASA’s DC-8 Flying Lab Flies Into Retirement, Making The Type Nearly Extinct

Posted on May 15, 2024

Wreckage of S-400 engagement radar at airbase of Belbek in Crimea, May 15, 2024.

Russia

Russia’s Belbek Airbase In Crimea Hammered By Ukrainian Long-Range Strike (Updated)

Posted on May 15, 2024

The Viper Demo team has painted their jet in the YF-16's scheme to commemorate the type's 50th anniversary.

Viper Demo Team Secretly Painted Jet In YF-16 Scheme To Celebrate Type’s 50th Anniversary

Posted on May 15, 2024

China

China’s Mysterious Stealthy Warship Has Headed Out To Sea (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick, Oliver Parken

Posted on May 15, 2024

Drones

UH-72 Lakota Drone In The Running To Haul Cargo For The USMC

Posted on May 14, 2024

United Kingdom

Royal Navy To Get Up To Six New Amphibious Warships

Posted on May 14, 2024

Congress says the Navy's CMV-22B Ospreys can only fly 30 minutes from a divert airfield, limiting their ability to provide carrier onboard delivery services.

Navy CMV-22B Ospreys Only Allowed To Fly 30 Minutes From A Divert Airfield: Congress

Posted on May 14, 2024

Members of Congress are pushing to block the US Air Force from retiring more than half of its F-15E Strike Eagles.

Move To Block F-15E Strike Eagle Cuts Being Made In Congress

Posted on May 14, 2024

T-6 Pilot Dies In Ejection Seat Accident

Posted on May 14, 2024

Russia

Our Best Look At Russia’s Kh-38 Missile Now Being Used In Ukraine

Posted on May 14, 2024

History

Live Fast, Die Young: The Story Of The Navy’s F-16N

Updated on May 14, 2024

Drones

Every Marine A Drone Defender Under Three Part Counter-UAS Plan

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on May 13, 2024

A Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer 2S1 Gvozdika drives past a damaged car on a road in the Vovchansk district, Kharkiv region, on May 12, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of people have been evacuated from border areas in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, as Russia kept up constant strikes on a key town as part of a cross-border offensive, officials said on May 12, 2024. The surprise Russian attack across Ukraine's northeastern border began on Friday, with troops making small advances in an area from where they had been pushed back nearly two years ago.

Russia

Ukraine Situation Report: “Fierce Battles” Rage In Kharkiv Region

Posted on May 13, 2024

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works has released a new rendering of a stealth tanker concept amid uncertainty about the U.S. Air Force's future tanker plans.

New Skunk Works Stealthy Tanker Concept Unveiled

Posted on May 13, 2024

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) visits Naval Station Norfolk following a seven-month deployment, May 10. Throughout the ship’s seven-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operations, Carney successfully destroyed Houthi-launched weapons, including land attack cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, and unmanned systems.

Red Sea

USS Carney Destroyed 65 Houthi Targets During Its Cruise

Posted on May 13, 2024

American Special Operations Forces Are At A Crossroads

Posted on May 12, 2024

A black-and-white photo shows a man standing next to a surface (above ground) bomb shelter that is advertising Victor J. Nelson's sales and distribution business, circa 1951. (Jim Heimann Collection/Getty Images)

Bunker Talk

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

Posted on May 11, 2024

Russia

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Launches Offensive In Kharkiv Region

Posted on May 10, 2024

A B-2 Spirit taxis at Whiteman Air Force Base

Damaged B-2 Won’t Be Repaired, Fleet To Shrink To 19 Jets (Updated)

Posted on May 10, 2024

Africa

South Africa’s C-47 Dakotas Set For Retirement After 80 Years Of Service

Posted on May 10, 2024

The replacement for Barrett .50 caliber riles, a well as Mk 15s in the same caliber, in U.S. special operations forces inventories may be chambered in a new smaller cartridge.

Barrett .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Replacement For SOCOM May Fire A Smaller Round

Posted on May 10, 2024

A fourth Combatant Craft Heavy stealthy special operations boat is now on order for the Navy and testing of a loitering munition launcher for the Combatant Craft Medium is underway.

Navy’s Secretive Fleet Of Stealthy Special Operations Boats Set To Evolve

Posted on May 10, 2024

AEVEX Aerospace, makers of the Phoenix Ghost loitering munition, now makes sea drones.

Mako Is A Jet Ski Turned Into A Weaponized Drone

Posted on May 9, 2024

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), which won the contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s highly specialized Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) aircraft last month, has acquired five Boeing 747-8s from Korean Air. The likelihood is that these will be converted as the successors to the Air Force’s aging 747-200-based E-4B Nightwatch ‘doomsday planes,’ although at this stage we still don’t know how many of the new SAOC aircraft will be fielded.

South Korea

Former Korean Air 747s Slated To Become USAF Doomsday Planes (Updated)

Posted on May 9, 2024

The famed Little Bird helicopters used by the Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment are seeing a 'resurrection' after the Army's cancellation of the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft program, but their future is still murky.

H-6 Little Bird’s Future Upended Due To Army Axing Armed Scout Helicopter

Posted on May 9, 2024

STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA, Wash. (May 6, 2024) The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) transits the Strait of San Juan de Fuca escorted by U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and U.S. Coast Guard screening escort vessels. Joint operations, such as this one which involved the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy, ensure the U.S. military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad including commitments to our allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda/Released)

China

A-10 Warthogs Escorting A Ballistic Missile Submarine Is Certainly Different

Posted on May 9, 2024

KH-101s are now being fired at Ukraine with two warheads onboard.

Russia

Russia Now Firing Kh-101 Cruise Missiles Modified With Two Warheads At Ukraine

Posted on May 8, 2024

Unmanned Long-Endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft crew chiefs, assigned within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, prep an ULTRA aircraft for taxi across the flightline before an early morning takeoff at an undisclosed location, May 7, 2024. ULTRA is an unmanned aerial system capable of flight times up to 80 hours, providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to combatant commanders, with a smaller operational footprint than other UAS in its class.

UAE

Air Force’s ULTRA Long-Endurance Glider-Like Drone Is Now Operating In The Middle East

By Joseph Trevithick, Thomas Newdick

Posted on May 8, 2024

An annual special operations capability demonstration has included paragliding Marines on a mock drone hunt.

Marine Special Operations Paragliding Capabilities Emerge At Demonstration In Tampa

By Howard Altman, Joseph Trevithick

Posted on May 8, 2024

Drones

Rogue 1 Is One Of The Marine Corps’ Newest Kamikaze Drone

By Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on May 8, 2024

Drones

Rifle-Armed Robot Dogs Now Being Tested By Marine Special Operators (Updated)

By Oliver Parken, Howard Altman

Posted on May 8, 2024

US Special Operations Command says it has 'hit pause' on plans to convert an MC-130J special operations tanker/transport in a floatplane.

C-130 Floatplane Program Put ‘On Pause’ By Special Operations Command

Posted on May 8, 2024

North Korea

Ukraine Situation Report: Half Of North Korean Missiles Used By Russia Failed, Kyiv Says

Posted on May 7, 2024

161013-N-OI810-093 WATERS SURROUNDING THE KOREAN PENINSULA (Oct. 13, 2016) Petty Officer 1st Class (AW/SW) John Diwa, from Dededo, Guam, installs inboard and outboard bearings on a main tire mount of an F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the "Diamondbacks" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 102, in the hangar bay of the Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), during Exercise Invincible Spirit. Invincible Spirit is a bilateral exercise conducted with the Republic of Korea Navy in the waters near the Korean Peninsula, consisting of routine carrier strike group (CSG) operations in support of maritime counter-special operating forces and integrated maritime operations. USS Ronald Reagan is on patrol with CSG 5 supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class (SW/AW) Nathan Burke/Released)

Procurement

Navy Pays $100K To Replace Each F/A-18 Tire, 3D Printed Repairs Cuts Cost To $300

By Eric Tegler

Posted on May 7, 2024

The Air Force new 5,000-pound-class GBU-72/B bunker buster bomb could be a future addition to the B-2 bomber's arsenal.

B-2 Spirits Could Get New 5,000-Pound Bunker Busters

Posted on May 7, 2024

USMC is wanting to incorporate drones across its forces.

Artificial Intelligence

‘Robot Marines’ In Every Formation: Corps’ Robotics Chief Casts Vision

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on May 7, 2024

Russia

Putin Orders Tactical Nuclear Drills In Response To Western “Threats”

Posted on May 7, 2024

A US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter has suffered a mishap at an airport in Georgia today, May 6, 2024.

F-22 Raptor Ends Up On Its Side During Air Guard Exercise (Updated)

Posted on May 6, 2024

Russia

New Russian Turtle Tank With Cage-Like Armor Emerges On Ukrainian Battlefield

Posted on May 6, 2024

Switchblade 600 Kamikaze Drone Is The First Named Replicator Program Weapon

Posted on May 6, 2024

In a most unusual development in the Black Sea ‘drone war,’ Ukraine appears to have begun arming uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), better known as drone boats, with heat-seeking air-to-air missiles. The adaptation seems to have been made to provide the USVs with protection against the Russian helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that are increasingly being used to counter them, although many questions remain about how these newly added weapons are intended work.

Russia

Ukrainian Drone Boats Now Armed With Adapted Air-To-Air Missiles

Posted on May 6, 2024

We now have what looks to be the first look at the Army's uncrewed derivative of its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, and of it firing a practice round.

Our First Look At The Army’s Unmanned HIMARS Launcher Truck Firing

Posted on May 6, 2024

British telephonists on duty in a bomb-proof shelter on the southwest coast of Britain, in readiness to go into action with their artillery company against invading German soldiers. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Bunker Talk

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

Posted on May 4, 2024

Ukraine

JDAM-ER Winged Bombs With Seekers That Home In On GPS Jammers Headed To Ukraine

Posted on May 4, 2024

Russia

Russia’s Anti-Satellite Nuke Could Leave Lower Orbit Unusable, Test Vehicle May Already Be Deployed

By Oliver Parken, Joseph Trevithick

Posted on May 3, 2024

Saudi Arabia

Boeing Pitches F-15EX For Saudi Arabian Fighter Competition

Posted on May 3, 2024

Russia

Ukraine Situation Report: U.K. Says Its Donated Weapons Can Be Used To Hit Targets In Russia

Posted on May 3, 2024

We now have a look at the Marine Corps' new uncrewed Tomahawk launch vehicle actually firing a missile.

Our First Look At Marines’ Tomahawk Missile Launching Drone Truck Firing

Posted on May 3, 2024

The Marine Corps is now flight testing a new secretive stand-off missile for its AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters.

Secretive Long Range Attack Missile For Marine AH-1s Is Now Being Flight Tested

Posted on May 3, 2024

The Navy needs more SM-3 surface to air missiles says Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

Iran

More SM-3 Interceptors Needed After Downing Iranian Ballistic Missiles: Navy Secretary

Posted on May 3, 2024

Navy Names Next Amphibious Assault Ship USS Helmand Province

Posted on May 2, 2024

Israel

Israel Is Shooting Down A Lot Of Its Own Drones

Posted on May 2, 2024

The Marines' ACV is getting a big 30mm cannon.

Procurement

Marines Poised To Get Their 30mm Cannon-Armed Amphibious Combat Vehicle

Posted on May 2, 2024

The future of the Harvest Hawk armament kits for Marine Corps KC-130J tanker/transport aircraft are increasingly uncertain as focus shifts to planning for future high-end conflicts.

Marine KC-130Js May Lose Their Missile-Firing Harvest Hawk Kits

Posted on May 1, 2024

Manta Ray Underwater Drone Even More Enormous Than We Thought

Posted on May 1, 2024

Russia

ATACMS Volley Strikes Mass Of Russian Troops Training In Eastern Ukraine

Posted on May 1, 2024

Footage has been published, apparently for the first time, showing a Chinese H-6 bomber dropping one of the shadowy air-launched ballistic missiles known by the designation 2PZD-21. The missile is part of a growing armory of Chinese aero-ballistic missiles and is widely understood to be a ‘carrier-killer’ weapon designed to be used as part of the country’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy. However, many questions remain about the role of the weapon and its capabilities.

China

China’s H-6K Bomber Seen Firing Air-Launched Ballistic Missile For First Time

Posted on May 1, 2024

The Army has unveiled a new Bradley Fighting Vehicle variant, the M2A4E1, equipped with an Iron First active protection system and other upgrades.

This Is The Army’s New M2A4E1 Bradley That Features Iron Fist Protection

Posted on May 1, 2024

A 49th Wing F-16 Viper takes off Jan. 19, 2022, at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. Holloman is the Air Force’s premiere training base for F-16 Viper and MQ-9 Reaper aircrew. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Adrian Salazar)

F-16 Crashes Near Holloman Air Force Base In New Mexico (Updated)