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Ukraine's SBU said it mined the Kerch Bridge, severely damaging it. Russian sources downplay the damage.
Russia

Ukraine Strikes At The Heart Of Russia’s Highly Defended Kerch Bridge

This is the third time Russia's prized span connecting its mainland with Crimea has been successfully struck, although the extent of the damage is unclear.

Hardened aircraft shelters are up for debate as Russia experienced a major attack from Ukrainian drones.
Unmanned

Mass Drone Attack On Exposed Russian Bombers Puts Spotlight On Hardened Aircraft Shelter Debate

Ukraine's unprecedented covert drone operation serves as a dire warning as to the threat of drone attacks on unhardened airfields.

More details are emerging about the scope of the massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russian bombers and how it was pulled off.
Russia

What We Know About Ukraine’s Mass Drone Assault On Russian Bombers

New details are emerging about how Ukraine pulled-off its highly-coordinated drone strike operation at multiple airbases in Russia.

The future of Russia's bomber fleet after Ukraine's mass drone attack.
Tu-160

What Ukraine’s Unprecedented Drone Attack Means For Russia’s Bomber Force

Russia is currently in no position to replace large losses of its strategic bombers and future operations will likely be impacted by force protection needs.

Bear bomber struck by Ukrainian drone.
Russia

Russian Strategic Bombers Destroyed In Unprecedented Wide-Scale Drone Attack (Updated)

The attacks that went after the heart of Russia's strategic aviation capabilities and one arm of its nuclear deterrent should serve as a global wake-up call.

Russian sources claim Its force are using a Chinese laser to down Ukrainian drones.
Lasers

Chinese Laser Weapon Is Claimed To Be In Russian Service

Video of a purported Chinese laser system in use by Russia appears extremely similar to one Beijing has already provided Iran.

J-36 head-on image.
J-36

China’s J-36 Very Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet Photographed Head-On For First Time

The imagery underscores just how large the J-36 is and all but confirms it features a side-by-side crew arrangement under a huge bubble canopy.

Master control room of the engine test facility at the Arnold Engineering Development Center, which is part of the US Air Force's Air Research and Development Command.
Bunker Talk

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

Everyone is welcome as long as it's less than three people.

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claims it show down a Russian jet target drone converted to be a weapon.
Russian Air Force

Weaponized Russian Jet-Powered Target Drone Shot Down Over Black Sea: Ukraine

Russia's purported conversion of target drones into strike weapons or decoys isn't much of a surprise.

We now have a picture showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle down-range in the Middle East with an air-to-air loadout that includes six seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as four AIM-9X and four AIM-120 missiles.
F-15

F-15E Armed With Drone Killing Laser-Guided Rockets Appears In Middle East

With 42 rockets and eight missiles, an F-15E now has 50 air-to-air engagement opportunities, not including its gun.

Boeing’s F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter has been pitched to Japan by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to reports. The idea of an export-configured F-47 was brought up by Trump when he announced Boeing’s win in the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) manned combat jet initiative. Meanwhile, Japan is apparently also looking at increasing its buy of F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters, prompted by concerns over the timeline for the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), a sixth-generation combat jet being pursued jointly by Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
F-35

Trump Offers F-47 Sixth-Gen Fighter To Japan: Reports

Fears about delays to the Global Combat Air Program appear to be pushing Japan toward considering alternatives, including more F-35s.

Pilot-optional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters could be coming in the future as Lockheed Martin looks for ways to ensure the jets remain relevant for decades to come.
F-16

What We Just Learned A More Advanced “Ferrari” F-35 Could Include

Pilot optional capability, new coatings, and significant airframe changes could go into a 'fifth-gen-plus' F-35, but many questions remain.

Taiwan is looking to boost its drone boat capabilities amid a growing threat from China.
China

Taiwan To Hold Major Drone Boat Test Exercise As It Falls Behind In Fielding This Critical Capability

A demonstration set for next month seeks to help shape Taiwan's future sea drone plans.

The U.S. Army says it is on schedule to retire the last of its turboprop-powered intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft by the end of this year.
Airborne Radar

Army To Retire All Of Its Turboprop Surveillance Planes By The End Of The Year

The Army is buying new business jets for aerial surveillance, but may only get six of them after ditching its much larger fleet of turboprops.

Israel has used a new air defense laser to shoot down Hezbollah drones in the current conflict in the Middle East, it has been confirmed. What is described as an adapted version of the Iron Beam system made its combat debut last October and the definitive version should be fielded by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later this year, joining an already formidable, layered air defense network.
Lasers

Israel’s Iron Beam Laser Air Defense System Has Downed Enemy Drones

The high-power laser is the latest addition to Israel’s densely-layered air and missile defense array.

Saab of Sweden is pitching its GlobalEye multi-sensor surveillance plane to Canada, which is searching for a new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) capability. While the GlobalEye will face stiff competition from the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, which had been selected by the U.S. Air Force and NATO, among others, the Swedish solution will be combined with a Canadian-made Bombardier Global 6000/6500 airframe.
E-7

Saab GlobalEye Set To Challenge Boeing E-7 As Canada’s New Radar Plane

Saab hopes that its Canadian bizjet-based offering will edge out rival Boeing, which seems like a real possibility amid political tensions with the United States.

Lockheed Martin has shared new details about its QuadStar surface-to-air missile, which is taking part in the U.S. Army competition to replace the venerable Stinger.
FIM-92 Stinger

Everything We Learned About Lockheed’s QuadStar Missile Aimed At Replacing FIM-92 Stingers

Lockheed's QuadStar and a design from Raytheon are vying to win the Army's Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor competition.

A Ukrainian commander opens up about the benefits and challenges of using fiber optic cables to control first person view (FPV) drones.
Russia

Inside Ukraine’s Fiber-Optic Drone War

Ukrainian commander gives us new details on the advantages and limitations of using fiber optic cables to control FPV attack drones.

Starfighters international are working to secure F-4s from South Korea for space launch duties.
F-4

F-4 Phantoms Sought By Private Space Launch Company Starfighters International

The ex-South Korean F-4s would be used to launch small satellites into orbit in a far more flexible manner than what's currently offered.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded General Atomics a contract for work on what is described as a "hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system," or GHOST.
Avenger

Hybrid-Electric GHOST Strike-Recon Drone In The Works For USAF

General Atomics, which previously talked openly about work on stealthy hybrid-electric drones, received a nearly $100 million GHOST contract.