Air, Space & Cyber '24

Latest in Air, Space & Cyber '24

Top Aces F-16

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

By Tyler Rogoway
Sep 25 6:09 PM EDT
Plans to slash F-16 aggressors at Nellis Air Force Base highlight broader questions about the future of the Air Force Viper fleets.

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

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 23 4:42 PM EDT
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.

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

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 20 4:31 PM EDT
Future offensive electronic warfare

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

By Howard Altman
Sep 20 1:53 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force says the once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) drone program has been fully folded into the service's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) effort. General Atomics has already disclosed that its current CCA design is derived from the XQ-67 drone it developed for OBSS.

Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program “Ingesting” Modular Chassis Concept Pioneered By XQ-67 Drone

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 19 8:52 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force's top special operations officer says AC-130J Ghostriders will continue being armed with 105mm howitzers for the foreseeable future despite the gunships evolving to as focus shifts to preparing for high-end fights.

AC-130J Ghostrider Gunships Will Keep Their 105mm Howitzers, For Now

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 19 1:35 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman have expanded testing of the B-21 thanks to two ground test articles, which are being used to evaluate the bomber's core construction and the time it takes before certain parts break. The tempo of flight testing of the initial pre-production Raider is also growing, with the jet now sometimes taking to the skies twice a week.

B-21 Ground Test Airframes Join Flying Pre-Production Raider

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 18 8:43 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force has released new video footage of its first pre-production B-21 Raider stealth bomber undergoing flight testing.

New Look At B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Flight Testing Released

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 18 3:46 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force is pushing ahead with experimentation that could lead to the transformation of KC-135 tankers into optionally crewed aircraft, as well as the development of other autonomous aerial refueling capabilities. U.S. military interest in autonomous airlifters, an area where China has been notably surging forward in the past few years, is also growing.

Work Toward KC-135 Tankers That Fly Themselves, Uncrewed Cargo Aircraft Pressing Ahead

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 18 2:34 PM EDT
Lockheed Martin's losing entry in the first increment of the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program was a very stealthy design, the head of the famed Skunk Works advanced projects division has disclosed. The company is now expecting future CCA increments to revolve around proposals that might lean closer to not just being lower-cost, but maybe even expendable, to support a concept of operations that requires tolerance for very high losses.

Skunk Works’ Losing Loyal Wingman Drone Was Very Stealthy “Gold Plated” Design

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 17 9:04 PM EDT
General Atomics CCA

General Atomics Says Its Collaborative Combat Aircraft Is Like A Bic Lighter

By Tyler Rogoway, Jamie Hunter
Sep 17 6:08 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force has no plans to acquire stealthy uncrewed combat air vehicles (UCAV) capable of operating with very high degrees of autonomy independently of crewed aircraft, at least in the near term publicly, despite surging Chinese developments in this domain.

No Flying Wing UCAVs Being Developed By U.S. Air Force While China Surges Ahead

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 17 2:03 PM EDT
AGM-158 XR

Everything We Just Learned About The Supersized AGM-158 XR Stealth Cruise Missile

By Tyler Rogoway
Sep 16 7:21 PM EDT
The U.S. Air Force's still evolving requirements for a next-generation aerial refueling 'system of systems' will directly impact the service's reassessment of plans for a new sixth-generation stealth 'fighter.' The Next-Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS) effort will also inform work on a second tranche of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones.

Future Stealth Tanker Plans Tied To NGAD 6th Generation Fighter’s Fate

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 16 1:57 PM EDT
Defense contractor Anduril has unveiled Barracuda, a new family of what it is calling "expandable autonomous air vehicles" that are scalable, highly modular, and already being flight-tested. The company is heavily focused now on "M" versions configured as relatively low-cost air-breathing precision munitions that could be launched from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, as well as maritime and ground platforms.

Anduril Introduces Barracuda-M That Aims To Disrupt The Cruise Missile Market

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 12 12:08 AM EDT
The Piasecki Aircraft Corporation's Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System Demonstration Vehicle (ARES-DV), a vertical takeoff and landing capable tilt-rotor drone designed to carry interchangeable payload modules, has left the ground for the first time.

Tilt-Ducted Fan ARES Drone Designed To Carry Modular Payloads Has Finally Lifted Off

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 10 9:00 AM EDT