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Air Space & Cyber 2025

Latest in Air Space & Cyber 2025

For the Beacon program, Northrop Grumman has adapted the Model 437 Vanguard, adding digitally engineered wings and modifications for optionally autonomous flight. The first flight was achieved with a test pilot in the cockpit.
Loyal Wingman

Scaled Composites’ Model 437 Vanguard Jet Is Now Flying As An AI Testbed

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Sep 27, 2025

The U.S. Air Force is working to combine an aerial target designed to simulate ballistic threats and a liquid-fuel rocket motor into a new, lower-cost hypersonic missile dubbed Angry Tortoise.
Air-Launched Hypersonic Missiles

Angry Tortoise Liquid-Fueled Hypersonic Missile In Development For USAF

By Joseph Trevithick, Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Sep 26, 2025

A business jet converted into a tanker is among the options the U.S. Air Force has been considering as part of plans for a future aerial refueling 'system of systems.'
Tankers

Business Jet Aerial Refueling Tankers Eyed By USAF

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 26, 2025

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Maurielle Pankau, a 183rd Air Component Operations Squadron intelligence analyst planner, participates in the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis Experiment 3 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, June 13, 2025. Experiment participants were challenged to use human-machine teaming to deliver decision advantage in scenarios marked by complexity, speed, and uncertainty. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)
Artificial Intelligence

Air Force AI Targeting Tests Show Promise, Despite Hallucinations

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Sep 25, 2025

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 25, 2025. Aerial refueling allows Fighting Falcons to extend their mission and guarantee war-winning airpower throughout the CENTCOM AOR. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Natalie Jones)
F-15

Laser-Guided Rockets Now Primary Anti-Drone Weapon For USAF Jets In Middle East

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Posted on Sep 25, 2025

The U.S. military was totally unaware of the unprecedented Israeli airstrike on a Hamas compound in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month, one of its senior leaders has confirmed. In the aftermath of the raid, there had been questions as to why the various highly advanced air defense systems and sensors, both American and Qatari, that would normally provide prior alert to an impending attack on Qatar had apparently not functioned as expected. Now we have a better understanding of what happened, from a U.S. perspective.
Air-Launched Ballistic Missiles

New Info On How U.S. Military Was Caught Off Guard By Israeli Strike On Qatar

By Thomas Newdick, Tyler Rogoway, Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 24, 2025

Renderings from General Atomics offer new looks at how its air-launched LongShot drone might be employed from F-15 fighters, as well as B-52 bombers and C-17 cargo aircraft.
C-17

F-15 Depicted Launching LongShot Air-To-Air Missile Carrier Drone In New Renderings

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 24, 2025

Closing Kill Chains Before The Battle Begins

Closing Kill Chains Before The Battle Begins

By Jamie Hunter

Posted on Sep 24, 2025

Aggressor satellites for space force.
Anti-Satellite Capabilities

Space Force Wants Aggressor Satellites To Emulate Adversary Orbital Capabilities

By Hope Hodge Seck

Updated on Sep 24, 2025

Update from General Atomics from the show floor of Air, Space & Cyber 2025

We Talk YFQ-42A, LongShot, And 9M Flight Hours With General Atomics

By The War Zone staff

Posted on Sep 24, 2025

A long-range kamikaze drone that U.S. firm Kratos is working on together with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) is set to make its maiden flight early next year.
Unmanned

Jet-Powered Kamikaze Drone Kratos Is Developing With Taiwan To Fly Next Year

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Posted on Sep 24, 2025

Leidos has raised the possibility of eventually integrating its Black Arrow, also known as the Small Cruise Missile, in the MQ-9 Reaper drone and the OA-1K Skyraider II light attack aircraft. The roughly 200-pound munition has, so far, been tested from C-130 variants but offers the kinds of capabilities that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is increasingly looking at harnessing.
Q-9

Tiny Black Arrow Cruise Missile Demonstrates A Whopping 400-Mile Range

By Thomas Newdick, Howard Altman

Updated on Sep 24, 2025

The U.S. Air Force is currently looking toward a single next-generation airlifter to supplant both the C-17A Globemaster III and the C-5M Galaxy, starting in the mid-2040s.
C-130

C-17 and C-5 Cargo Planes Will Be Replaced With One Aircraft: USAF

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 23, 2025

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Olde, the F-15 director of programs and operations at Defense Contract Management Agency Boeing St. Louis, exits an F-15EX Eagle II aircraft at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, June 11, 2025. Olde brought the aircraft to the base as part of a site activation task force visit, one of the initial steps to ensure that when both the F-15EX and KC-46 Pegasus missions arrive at Selfridge ANGB, the 127th Wing will be fully prepared with the right infrastructure, personnel, and support to stand them up and operate them effectively.
Air

New APG-82(V)X Radar For F-15EX Announced By Raytheon

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Sep 23, 2025

The crew of a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle attempted to take down a long-range kamikaze drone with a Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (LJDAM) precision-guided bomb after running out of missiles in the frantic midst of an all-out Iranian barrage aimed at Israel.
F-15

F-15Es Tried To Shoot Down Iranian Kamikaze Drones With Laser Guided Bombs

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Updated on Sep 24, 2025

KC-390 USAF
Tankers

Despite Setbacks, Embraer Still Pitching KC-390 As Air Force ACE Tanker Of Choice

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Sep 23, 2025