AFA Warfare Symposium 2025(Page 2)

Latest in AFA Warfare Symposium 2025

A novel type of jet propulsion, a rotating detonation engine (RDE), has been successfully tested by Pratt & Whitney. The development is highly significant for the U.S. military, with RDE technology at the center of the project called Gambit, which aims to provide a propulsion system for a mass-producible, low-cost, high-supersonic, long-range weapon for air-to-ground strike.

Rotating Detonation Engine For Future High-Performance Missiles Successfully Tested

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 4, 2025

The U.S. Air Force has designated the drones that General Atomics and Anduril are currently developing as part of the first phase, or Increment 1, of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively.

‘Fighter Drone’ Designations Officially Assigned To Collaborative Combat Aircraft By USAF

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 4, 2025

Lockheed Martin says it conducted six successful flight tests last year as part of work to add new capabilities on the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.

F-22 Raptors Completed Six Test Flights For New Sensor Upgrades

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 3, 2025

The U.S. Space Force is looking at reactivating a rocket launching site on a remote Pacific island to test technologies for future rocket cargo delivery missions. The site, on Johnston Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, around 860 miles southwest of Hawaii, is now earmarked for the potential construction of two landing pads. This is part of the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program, which seeks to use rockets to move military supplies from one point on Earth to another much more rapidly than is currently possible.

Launch Vehicles

Notorious Abandoned Pacific Island Outpost Eyed For Space Force Rocket Cargo Delivery Tests

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 3, 2025

Top Aces Viper in Blue camouflage

Private F-16 Aggressors Getting Ability To Insert Synthetic Bandits Into Live Training

Updated on Mar 3, 2025

The U.S. Air Force expects to continue utilizing QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) drones converted from F-16 Vipers fighters through at least 2035 despite moving in recent years to wind the program down.

QF-16 Zombie Vipers To Keep Flying And Dying Into The 2030s

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 3, 2025

Raytheon has revealed that’s working on a ground-launched version of its StormBreaker glide bomb, previously available only in air-launched form. The new development of the weapon should provide a follow-on to the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which made its combat debut in Ukraine, but which has reportedly performed poorly, including due to heavy Russian jamming.

Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)/Stormbreaker

Ground-Launched And Powered Air-Launched Versions Of StormBreaker Glide Bomb Are In Development

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Feb 26, 2025

The U.S. Air Force has confirmed that a recently released rendering from the AIM-260A does indeed reflect the actual design of what is also known as the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM).

This Is What The Classified AIM-260 Missile Actually Looks Like, Air Force Confirms

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Feb 26, 2025

The U.S. Air Force, in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is still exploring concepts for a reusable hypersonic air vehicle capable of performing strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

New Hypersonic Strike-Recon Aircraft Effort Eyeing Prototype Development By 2030

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 20, 2025

Satellite imagery shows the extent of the massive amount of work that has been done in the past year to restore more than 20 million square feet of runways and other World War II-era infrastructure at historic North Field on the U.S. island of Tinian in the Western Pacific.

Massive WWII B-29 Bomber Base Fully Reclaimed For Future Pacific Fight

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 19, 2025

The F-15EX, the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft, arrives to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida March 11. The aircraft will be the first Air Force aircraft to be tested and fielded from beginning to end through combined developmental and operational tests. The 40th Flight Test Squadron and the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron personnel are responsible for testing the aircraft.

F-15EX Nails Pentagon Test Campaign, Survivability Concerns Remain

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 6, 2025

U.S. Air Force F-16 Vipers have been using 70mm laser-guided rockets to down Houthi drones during operations in and around the Red Sea in the past year.

F-16s Have Been Using Laser-Guided Rockets To Shoot Down Houthi Drones

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Jan 29, 2025

The U.S. Air Force's XQ-67A drone is set to receive modifications and upgrades to demonstrate its ability to perform certain missions as part of a program called Demon Ape.

XQ-67 Getting Overhauled With New Capabilities As Part Of Demon Ape Program

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 24, 2025

F-35 AI-Enabled Drone Controller Capability Successfully Demonstrated

F-35 AI-Enabled Drone Controller Capability Successfully Demonstrated

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 23, 2025

F-22 Raptor To Get Distributed Infrared Search And Track System

F-22 Raptor To Get Distributed Infrared Search And Track System

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 22, 2025

An F-15E on a flight line in San Antonio, Texas. The aircraft was recently upgraded with Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System, advanced electronic warfare system.

F-15E Strike Eagle With New EPAWSS Electronic Warfare Suite Heads To Frontline Unit

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 17, 2025

A greater focus on long range strike capabilities is among the alternatives the U.S. Air Force is considering to a costly new crewed sixth-generation stealth combat jet as part of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. A lower-cost design focused primarily on acting as a 'quarterback' for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones is also still on the table.

$20 Billion Price Tag To Complete Development Of USAF’s Next Generation Fighter (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 13, 2025

Donald Trump has refused to rule out using the U.S. military to seize Greenland, citing economic security as a driving factor, saying that America needs it — as well as the Panama Canal — for “economic security.” Amid predictable kickback from Denmark — of which Greenland is an autonomous territory — it’s worth looking in more detail at the enormous significance of one of the world's largest islands, in economic, geostrategic and, above all, military terms.

Why Greenland Is Of Growing Strategic Significance

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 9, 2025