Read the latest articles from The War Zone (Page 17)

An F-35A from Hill Air Force Base Utah, takes off during the evaluation in Switzerland in 2019.
F-35A

Swiss Poised To Slash F-35 Order As Costs Mount

Switzerland’s repeated efforts to induct a new fighter have hit a hurdle, with the planned 36 F-35As judged to be no longer affordable.

U.S. Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters, assigned to the 943d Rescue Group, conduct helicopter air-to-air refueling with an HC-130J Combat King II aircraft,
South America

Combat Rescue Aircraft, Tankers Arrive In Caribbean As U.S. Military Buildup Accelerates

HH-60W rescue helicopters and HC-130J rescue planes, along with additional USAF tankers, have joined the growing U.S. military presence in the Caribbean.

B-52 receives its first AESA radar
B-52

This Is What The B-52’s New Radar Looks Like

The B-52's new AN/APQ-188 active electronically scanned array radar is critical to the bomber's future relevance.

F-35A Lighting Joint Strike Fighters from the 158th Fighter Wing are headed to take part in Operation Southern Spear.
F-35A

F-35A Joint Strike Fighters Deploying To Caribbean (Updated)

The F-35s from the Vermont Air National Guard will join the growing U.S. force massed in the Caribbean aimed largely at the Maduro regime.

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

China’s High-Flying Swarm Mothership Drone Has Flown

The Jiutian is a heavy lifter with a large modular payload area that could be used for many missions, including the delivery of swarms of smaller drones.

Crew Optional Designs Could Be Barred By Law From Navy’s Drone Ship Program
U.S. Navy

Crew Optional Designs Could Be Barred By Law From Navy’s Drone Ship Program

Congress's annual defense policy bill includes a major restriction on the Navy's Modular Surface Attack Craft program plans.

LUCAS drone being tested at Yuma Proving Ground.
Unmanned

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

It's increasingly clear that the Pentagon has big hopes for LUCAS, ones that will likely span the services.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that his country has begun using homegrown Sapsan (which means peregrine falcon) ballistic missiles in combat against Russia. Such a weapon would give Ukraine a highly valuable new standoff strike option unlike any other in its inventory. It would also not be subject to any foreign restrictions on its use, as it continues to be the case with many longer-ranged weapons supplied by the United States and other Western partners.
Ukrainian Army

If Zelensky’s Claim Of Using Homegrown Ballistic Missile For First Time Is True, It’s A Big Deal

Ukraine has long pined for a missile of its own of this kind to provide a potent means of striking targets deep inside Russia without restrictions.

A contingent of six U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets, roughly a full squadron, is now forward-deployed at the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico.
EA-18G

EA-18G Growlers Deploying To Puerto Rico An Indicator Of What’s To Come (Updated)

The Growlers are not a standard show of force, with the jets offering capabilities that would be key in any future strikes in the region.

MiG-29 of the Polish Air Force take part in a NATO Air Force military drill on October 12, 2022 in Lask, Poland.
MiG-29

Poland’s Last MiG-29 Fulcrums Being Lined Up For Transfer To Ukraine

Poland plans to hand over its final MiG-29s to Ukraine, with drone and missile technology heading in the other direction.

Abrams drone launcher
M1 Abrams

M1 Abrams Tank Armed With Switchblade Drones Tested By Army

Loitering munitions are already revolutionizing the battlefield, and the U.S. Army is finally testing launching them from its main battle tank.

Japan and South Korea scrambled jets to respond to a joint Russian-Chinese bomber patrol.
H-6 Bomber

Joint Chinese-Russian Bomber Patrol Sends Japanese, South Korean Fighters Scrambling

The latest Chinese-Russian joint aviation exercise comes amid growing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.

Online flight tracking data shows that a pair of U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets flew right into the center of the Gulf of Venezuela earlier today, and stayed there for some 40 minutes.
EA-18G

F/A-18 Super Hornets Were Just Tracked Flying Deep Inside The Gulf Of Venezuela (Updated)

Openly sending fighters over a gulf bounded by Venezuelan territory on three sides is a new escalation in the pressure campaign against the Maduro regime.

The Antonov An-22 (NATO reporting name 'Cock') in the air. The aircraft powered by four turboprops each driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers, the design remains the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft. Several airframes are still in service with Russian Air Force.
Russian Air Force

There’s Likely No Way Back For Russia’s An-22 Turboprop Heavy Transports After Fatal Crash

The An-22 that crashed was reportedly the last airworthy example of what was once the world’s heaviest aircraft.

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.
MQ-28

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

Australia has ordered another six Ghost Bat drones, as it progresses toward an operational capability for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

The U.S. Navy has recovered an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz that crashed within half an hour of each other in the South China Sea on Oct. 26.
Indo-Pacific

Navy Recovers Crashed Super Hornet, Seahawk From Bottom Of South China Sea

The aircraft from the carrier USS Nimitz had both crashed on the same night within a half-hour of each other.

Congress has taken a new step toward blocking the Pentagon from axing the acquisition of new E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft.
E-7

E-7 Wedgetail Radar Jet Program Cancellation Reversal Advances In Congress

Lawmakers are pushing back on Pentagon plans to buy E-2 Hawkeyes instead of E-7s, as the Air Force looks to push more capabilities into space.

As it now stands, the Boeing 707-based E-6B is slated to be replaced by the E-130J aircraft, which Northrop Grumman will modify from Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 cargo planes.
C-130

Congress Wants To Know If The C-130 Hercules Could Be The USAF’s New ‘Doomsday Plane’

The National Defense Authorization Act demands info on what replaces the 'Looking Glass' ICBM-launching flying command post once the Navy retires the E-6B.

A stevedore sits in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle before loading it onto the ARC Wallenius Wilhemsen Jan. 25, 2023, at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina. The shipment of Bradleys were part of the U.S. military aid package to Ukraine, providing their military with additional offensive and defensive capabilities to protect their borders against Russia’s illegal invasion. (U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan)
Russia

Shift In Ukraine Support In Congress’s Proposed Pentagon Budget

The measure, if passed, would provide only a small fraction of what Ukraine received in direct military aid under the Biden administration.

The House Armed Services Committee has advanced a new draft of the annual defense policy bill that includes full funding for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based combat jet program.
F/A-XX

In Limbo F/A-XX Naval Fighter Gets ‘Full Funding’ Nod From Congress, But There’s A Catch (Updated)

The Pentagon had wanted to put F/A-XX on ice to prioritize the USAF's new F-47 fighter, causing concerns due to the looming China threat.