Read the latest articles from The War Zone (Page 83)

Top Aces F-16
F-16

World’s Only Private Company With F-16 Aggressors Talks Rapidly Evolving Their Capabilities

Top Aces ex-Israeli F-16s are receiving upgrades, including new avionics, radars and infrared search and track systems.

For the first time in more than four decades, China has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) out in the Western Pacific, ostensibly for training purposes.
ICBMs

First Chinese ICBM Test Into The Pacific In Decades Is A Big Deal (Updated)

China last fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific in 1980 and its latest launch highlights its rapidly evolving nuclear posture.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to explore concepts for a new drone capable of lugging around up to 70,000 pounds of cargo, roughly twice what the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53K King Stallion helicopter can lift.
CH-53K

Search For Cargo Drone That Can Lift Twice As Much As A CH-53K King Stallion Kicks Off

Drones capable of lifting up to 35 tons could be valuable for sprinting cargo from ships to shore and getting forces inland across rivers.

Dutch missile ship
SM-2

New Dutch Navy Support Vessels Will Be Missile-Toting Wingmen To Frigates

Small and with a tiny crew, the new support vessels will add important magazine capacity to frigates, and launch loitering munitions.

The Ukrainian town of Vulhedar is about to fall to Russian forces.
Russia

Russia Poised To Capture Key Eastern Ukraine City

The city of Vuhledar has been a linchpin in the defense of the east but is now surrounded on three sides by Russian troops and appears ready to fall.

Canadian authorities have released an image of an unidentified object that was shot down over the country's Yukon Territory by a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter in February 2023.
F-22

First Look At Mystery Object Shot Down Over Canada By F-22 Raptor Last Year

This is the only image that has emerged to date of any of the three still-unidentified objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada.

An F-35 Lightning II test pilot conducts flight test Sept. 10 to certify the carrier variant of the fighter aircraft for carrying the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). As part of ongoing integration efforts, the Pax River F-35 Integrated Test Force (Pax ITF) team flew two days of test flights to evaluate flutter, loads, and flying qualities with two AGM-158 loaded on external stations. LRASM is a defined near-term solution for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) air-launch capability gap that will provide flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets. The Pax River ITF’s mission is to effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct safe, secure, and efficient flight test for F-35B and C variants, and provide necessary and timely data to support program verification / certification and fleet operational requirements.
F-35B

F-35 Shown Carrying Stealthy Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles For The First Time

Work is now underway to integrate the low-observable AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) on the F-35.

NGAD Lite
NGAD

What Would A Far Cheaper Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter Actually Look Like?

The Air Force now says it may want a 6th generation fighter that costs around $100M instead of $300M, but is that even possible?

The USNS oiler Big Horn suffered a mishap at sea in the 5th Fleet region, raising logistics concerns for the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group
Middle East

Navy Resupply Ship Mishap Could Have Big Impact On Mid-East Deployed Carrier Group

The USNS Big Horn is the Navy's only oiler in the U.S. Central Command region raising questions about logistics for the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.

The U.S. Air Force is interested in adding an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar to its X-62A test jet. The radar is part of larger plans to acquire a new modular sensor suite for the uniquely modified F-16 specifically to help expand its ability to support advanced autonomy developments.
Loyal Wingman

New Radar Sought To Help X-62A Test Jet Take Next Leap In Autonomy Testing

The radar is part of plans for a more elaborate sensor suite to help demonstrate advanced air combat capabilities for autonomous drones.

In a cloud of smoke the Russian destroyer Admiral Levchenko leaves Portsmouth for operation FRUKUS.
Russian Navy

Russian Destroyer Fired Warning Shots At Norwegian Fishing Boat: Report

The Admiral Levchenko is said to have opened fire to force the fishing boat out of international waters during a large-scale naval drill.

Satellite Images Show Massive Devastation At Russian Ammo Storage Sites Struck By Ukrainian Drones
Russia

Satellite Images Show Massive Devastation At Russian Ammo Storage Sites Struck By Ukrainian Drones

Before and after satellite images of the Oktyabrsk, Tikhoretsk and Toropets munitions storage facilities show the recent results of Ukraine's long-range drone operations.

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, arrives in Hong Kong waters on July 7, 2017.
People's Liberation Army Navy (China)

All Three Chinese Aircraft Carriers Were At Sea For The First Time

More signs of China's naval power projection capabilities rapidly evolving, with two operational carriers and one undergoing trials all out to sea at the same time.

Plans to slash F-16 aggressors at Nellis Air Force Base highlight broader questions about the future of the Air Force Viper fleets.
F-16

Aggressor F-16 Fleet Set To Be Slashed By Air Force

Planned cuts to F-16s at Nellis Air Force Base point to a looming aggressor gap and raise questions about the Viper fleet's overall health.

Tu-143 Hezbollah
Israel

Hezbollah Converted Soviet Tu-143 Jet Recon Drone Into Cruise Missile Says IDF, Just Like Ukraine

Israel has distributed video of a strike on what appears to be a Tu-143 hidden in a home in Southern Lebanon.

JSOW Ukraine
F-16

AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon To Equip Ukraine’s F-16s: Report

JSOW was always the most likely standoff munition to equip Ukraine's donated F-16s and it can provide precision attack capabilities over about 70 miles.

A private group bomb shelters, dug into San Francisco's seven hills by house-holders and apartment owners, came into realistic use as air raids and blackouts entered the city's life, December 11, 1941. Bettmann via Getty Images.
Bunker Talk

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

It's bunker time!

Collins Aerospace has put forward a vision for what a high-end air combat engagement between the U.S. and Chinese armed forces, with the American side employing crewed fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone wingmen, could look like in the future.
Loyal Wingman

What American Fighters And Their Drone Wingmen Fighting Chinese Jets Might Look Like

A recent Collins Aerospace video offers an interesting take on how fighters will control and otherwise work together with future drones.

An Israeli F-16I fighter jet taking off at an unidentified location.
Israel

Israeli Airstrikes In Lebanon Intensify

Multiple Hezbollah commanders were reportedly killed in an airstrike on Beirut, as the possibility of a wider conflict looms large.

Future offensive electronic warfare
F/A-18

How EA-18G Growler’s Next Generation Jammer Actually Works And The Future Of Offensive Electronic Warfare

Raytheon's Chuck Angus talks Next Generation Jammer, the state of play in offensive electronic warfare and how it might look in the future.