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

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

Tang and vodka is tonight's cocktail!

Russian Navy's lone aircraft carrier, the Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov, is towed to the 35th squadron shipyard for maintenance and repair works in Murmansk, Russia on May 20, 2022. It is aimed to be completed the maintenance and repair works by the end of 2023.
Air

Russia May Finally Abandon Its Cursed Aircraft Carrier

Russia's aspiration to return its only aircraft carrier to operational service may have finally been sunk.

An Antonov-124 Ruslan was spotted over Kyiv on Friday, the first such sighting since the all-out war began.
Russia

Lumbering An-124 Condor Cargo Jet Appears In Kyiv’s Highly-Restricted Airspace

We break down where the massive jet, which was unexpected to the citizens of Kyiv, likely came from and where it was going.

U.S. special operations Long Endurance Aircraft (LEA) surveillance drones, which are based on a popular civilian powered glider design, are set to gain the ability to launch smaller uncrewed aerial systems.
Loitering Munitions

Super Quiet Special Operations Drones Being Modified To Launch Smaller Drones

Air-launched drones would be a major force multiplier and open the door to all new operational possibilities for the Long Endurance Aircraft.

The Pentagon has announced sweeping new changes intended to surge the fielding of small drones, including weaponized types, across the entire U.S. military.
Loitering Munitions

Pentagon Just Made A Massive, Long Overdue Shift To Arm Its Troops With Thousands Of Drones

Sweeping changes mean small drones will be treated like ammunition and lower-level officers will have more authority to buy and employ them.

The Pentagon is waiting for comprehensive battle damage assessment to see how well the MOP worked against Iranian nuclear facilities and how it can be improved.
B-2

GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator’s Results From Iran Strike Will Inform Its Future: Defense Officials

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has offered new details about the development and employment of MOP, and how it will guide what comes next.

A column of mysterious vehicles, each of them covered by a notably large, box-like structure, passing through the Chinese capital recently, poses something of a mystery. At this stage, we know next to nothing about what kinds of vehicles are concealed beneath these bizarre carapaces, although it’s more than conceivable that they have some military or military-related purpose.
People's Liberation Army (China)

Mysterious Vehicles Rolling Through Beijing Spur Speculation Of New Chinese Tank

The nighttime movements of bizarre panel-clad vehicles have some thinking that new armor is being prepared for unveiling at an upcoming military parade.

Image of HMS Vengeance returning to HMNB Clyde, after completing Operational Sea Training. The trials were conducted in Scottish exercise areas. HMS Vengeance is the fourth and final Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy. Vengeance carries the Trident ballistic missile, the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Nuclear Policy

UK And France To Join Forces For Nuclear Deterrence

The British and French say that they can launch a joint nuclear response to a range of “extreme threats,” as fears that U.S. interest in Europe is waning.

M240 Medium Machine Gun Successor Now Being Sought By U.S. Army
Machine Guns

M240 Medium Machine Gun Successor Now Being Sought By U.S. Army

A replacement for the M240 under the Future Medium Machine Gun program could offer infantry and other units greater range and terminal ballistics.

An annual U.S. Navy wishlist sent to Congress reportedly includes $1.4 billion that would help keep its dreams of a next-generation carrier-based combat jet alive.
F-47

Navy Puts Gutted F/A-XX Next Generation Fighter Program In Wishlist To Congress: Reports

The Navy's move comes despite Pentagon insistence that the U.S. industrial base cannot do F/A-XX and the Air Force's F-47 at the same time.

The U.S. Air Force is moving ahead to add new external pylons onto its B-1B Lancer bombers after years of experimentation.
B-1

B-1B To Finally Get New External Pylons Drastically Expanding Missile Carriage Potential (Updated)

The Air Force sees external pylons as key to increasing the B-1's ability to launch standoff strikes ahead of the arrival of the B-21 Raider.

The Los Angeles class fast attack submarine USS Newport News made a historic visit to Iceland, marking the first time a nuclear-powered submarine made a visit to the island nation.
Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSNs)

U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Has Docked In Iceland For The First Time Ever

USS Newport News' visit to Reykjavík is yet another sign of the Cold War-like strategic shift for the island nation.

Drone strikes across Ukraine in largest Russian barrage ever.
Russian Army

Largest Russian Long-Range Drone Onslaught Of The War Rains Down On Ukraine

Ukraine Situation Report: The unprecedented Russian attack came just hours after Trump announced arms shipments to Ukraine would resume.

The Pentagon is brushing off concerns that it is running low on Patriot interceptors.
Russia

Patriot Missile Stockpile Concerns Grow, Pentagon Claims It Has Enough

After years of intercepting Russian weapons in Ukraine and recently engaging Iranian missiles, the Pentagon's supply of Patriots is a hot-button issue.

While the J-20S was officially unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow last year, there are rumors that it might be publicly unveiled as an operational PLAAF asset in September of this year, when the PLAAF marks the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
J-20

China’s Two-Seat J-20 Stealth Fighter Poised To Enter Operational Service

A new electro-optical sensor system, paint scheme, and other refinements suggest the two-seat J-20S is in operational service, or very close to it.

PLAN red sea laser incident.
People's Liberation Army Navy (China)

German Surveillance Plane Targeted By Chinese Warship’s Laser In Red Sea Points To Disturbing Pattern

The incident is the latest in which a Chinese naval vessel has been accused of firing a laser at a Western military aircraft.

Boom On KC-46 Tanker Just Broke Off During F-22 Refueling Mission (Updated)
KC-46

Boom On KC-46 Tanker Just Broke Off During F-22 Refueling Mission (Updated)

The KC-46 Pegasus was operating off Virginia when it lost its boom and declared an emergency.

The U.S. Navy has canceled a variant of its Razorback uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) designed to be launched and recovered via a standard submarine torpedo tube.
Ohio Class (SSGN variant)

Navy Cancels Nuclear Submarine Torpedo Tube-Launched And Recovered Underwater Drone (Updated)

The Navy has been pushing to give its submarines new ways to hunt and gather intelligence with drones sent out and retrieved via torpedo tube.

An unknown containerized launcher able to fire the same suite of artillery rockets and ballistic missiles as the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) seen at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg earlier this year has been identified.
MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS)

Mysterious Guided Rocket Launcher Disguised In A Shipping Container At Fort Bragg Identified

The Army's top general in the Pacific recently touted how "boxes of rockets" hiding out in the open creates dilemmas for adversaries.

A South Korean AH-64 Apache helicopter fires rockets during a combined live-fire exercise between the South Korean and US armies at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon on October 30, 2024. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP) (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
AH-64

South Korea Canceling AH-64 Apache Order A Sign Of What’s To Come

While claims the attack helicopter is irrelevant are hyperbolic, their survivability, employability, and return on investment are definitely in question.