Read the latest articles from The War Zone (Page 18)

Naval aviators need to be able to trust any future drone wingmen as much as their human counterparts, a U.S. Navy strike fighter tactics instructor has told TWZ.
Loyal Wingman

Navy Fighter Pilots Need To Gain Trust In Pilotless Wingmen By Actually Flying With Them

A Navy strike fighter instructor says naval aviators will need a lot more than virtual training to have faith in their new drone companions.

Columbia lost a UH-60 to a drone attack.
UH-60

Colombian Black Hawk Downed By Drone Is A Glimpse Of What’s To Come (Updated)

Easy to access and employ, weaponized drones pose a rapidly increasing threat to combat helicopters around the globe.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has shared new insights with TWZ into its proposal to replace the U.S. Navy’s T-45 Goshawk jet trainers.
T-45

Everything We Just Learned About SNC’s Freedom Jet Trainer Aiming To Replace Navy T-45s

The Freedom uses a pair of commercially available FJ44 engines and was designed to balance extreme efficiency against raw performance.

Newly published footage shows an ADM-160 Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) fitted to a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker fighter. The video confirms that the store is used by both this and Ukraine’s MiG-29 Fulcrum jets and also that it is carried on the same specially adapted underwing pylon that is used for various Western-supplied guided munitions.
Su-27

Ukraine Shows Off ADM-160 Miniature Air Launched Decoy On Su-27

The rarely seen but highly valuable MALD helps Ukrainian-operated standoff weapons like Storm Shadow make it to their targets.

The U.S. Navy says the impacts from a fire that burned for approximately 12 hours aboard the USS New Orleans earlier this week are limited to forward areas of the ship, though a full assessment of the damage is still ongoing.
U.S. Navy

New Details On Status Of USS New Orleans After Fire

The amphibious warship USS New Orleans is now in port after suffering a 12-hour-long blaze off the coast of Japan.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has rolled out a new pitch for a successor to the Navy's T-45 Goshawk jet trainers.
T-45

SNC’s Freedom Jet Enters Race To Replace Navy’s T-45 Goshawk Trainer

SNC is pitching a trainer that is capable of doing carrier touch-and-goes, a requirement the Navy had controversially axed.

A former high-ranking FAA and White House official offers his take on the Jersey Drone scare.
Drones

What Were The New Jersey Drones? Former High-Ranking FAA Official Gives His Take

A former UAP Task Force Member and high-ranking National Security Council official tells us what he knows about the New Jersey drone scare.

Ukraine is hoping to see production of its Flamingo ground-launched long-range cruise missile, which just broke cover this past weekend, ramp up significantly by the end of the year.
Ukraine

Ukraine Aims To Build Thousands Of Flamingo Long-Range Cruise Missiles A Year

The new Flamingo cruise missile could put targets deep in Russia in Ukraine's crosshairs like never before.

S-97 Raider clone flying in China
Helicopters

China Has Cloned Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider High-Speed Helicopter

China's new helicopter with its coaxial main rotors and pusher propeller looks almost identical to the U.S.-made Sikorsky S-97 Raider.

Destroyers heading to Venezuela
U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy Destroyers, Submarine, Amphibious Ships Being Sent Toward Venezuela

The White House calls Venezuelan ruler Maduro a "narco-terrorist" and is deploying ships, planes and Marines in a major show of force.

An MH-53K does a test lift on a HU-25 Guardian slated to be delivered to nearby Tillamook Air Museum.P
CH-53K

CH-53K’s Delivery Of HU-25 Coast Guard Jet Called Off After Damage During Test Flight

The HU-25 suffered damage during a test that saw the CH-53K lift it into the air before setting it back down.

The U.S. Navy's San Antonio class amphibious warfare ship USS New Orleans suffered a fire today while it was anchored off White Beach in Uruma City on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
U.S. Navy

Fire Aboard USS New Orleans Burned For 12 Hours Before Being Extinguished (Updated)

The crew, with the aid of firefighting tugs, responded to the blaze, which began while the amphibious warship was off Okinawa's White Beach.

The Pentagon has created a new task force to deal with the threat from small drones.
Unmanned

Fiber Optic FPV Drones Featured In Navy Electronic Warfare Exercise

Fiber optic drones, a widespread threat in Ukraine, are immune to the kinds of electronic warfare capabilities at the heart of Exercise Silent Swarm 25.

A recently emerged image shows a very large, low-observable, flying-wing aircraft flying in China. While the identity of the aircraft cannot be definitively established, it matches, in many respects, the appearance of the huge drone that TWZ was first to identify in satellite imagery dating from earlier this summer, and which you can read more about here.
People's Liberation Army Air Force (China)

Large Stealth Flying Wing Aircraft Photographed Over China

The mysterious low-observable flying-wing aircraft bears a distinct resemblance to a huge drone that appeared in satellite imagery earlier this year.

A bevy of previously unseen missiles has been capturing particular attention as China prepares for a huge military parade on September 3, 2025.
Land-Based Ballistic Missile Defense

All The New Chinese Missiles Spotted During Its Massive Military Parade Rehearsal

Multiple previously unseen advanced missile designs are among the capabilities China will showcase at its huge upcoming military parade in Beijing.

F-22 Ukraine
U.S. Air Force

No U.S. Peacekeeping Forces On The Ground In Ukraine, Air Support Possible: Trump

Trump left the door open to supplying airborne capabilities, especially those unique to the U.S., to keep Russia in check after a peace deal.

The U.S. Army has opened the door to potentially acquiring new types of 70mm rockets that are similar, but different from the Hydra-70 family it employs today.
Laser Guided Rockets

Army Open To 70mm Rocket Alternatives To Shore-Up Stockpile

Tens of thousands of Hydra-70s are fired each year in combat and training, with the anti-air role against drones putting extra pressure on supplies.

For the first time since 1997, the Russian Navy’s nuclear-powered battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov is finally back in the water and moving under its own power, after years of repair work and modernization. The milestone comes after the 28,000-ton battlecruiser’s two nuclear reactors went back online earlier this year and the warship is now expected to become the future flagship of the Russian fleet, superseding sister vessel the Pyotr Veliky.
Russian Navy

Russia’s Upgraded Nuclear Battlecruiser Back At Sea After Nearly Three Decades

The deeply refitted Kirov class battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov is expected to become the new flagship of the Russian Navy.

Pickle Fork-Like Stealthy Drone With Buddy Refueling Capability Being Developed By Kratos (Updated)
Unmanned

Pickle Fork-Like Stealthy Drone With Buddy Refueling Capability Being Developed By Kratos (Updated)

The Clone Ranger drone is intended to carry a mix of munitions and sensors and fly from short fields over long distances.

A new cruise missile called Flamingo, which reportedly has a range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers), has emerged in Ukraine and is said to have already been used to strike targets in Russia.
Ukraine

New Ukrainian Cruise Missile With Claimed 1,800-Mile Range Breaks Cover

A weapon of such prodigious range and warhead size would be a major threat to targets across huge swathes of Russia.