The wraps have finally, officially, come off the mock-up of Russia’s new light fighter, the Sukhoi Checkmate, also known as the Light Tactical Aircraft, or LTS in Russian, with a formal unveiling at the opening of the MAKS international air show at Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, today. Observers who had been given a succession of tantalizing, Read more about Russia’s Checkmate Light Tactical Fighter Is Officially Unveiled (Updated)[…]

More and more as of late, some of the F-117 Nighthawks long retired from active duty are now enjoying their secretive second life as developmental and red air aggressor platforms. The Air Force Test Center pilots that fly the Air Force Materiel Command-owned jets out of the shadowy Tonopah Test Range Airport (TTR) have been Read more about F-117 flying more often as Aggressors[…]

A total of 46 F-35 stealth fighters are currently without functioning engines due to an ongoing problem with the heat-protective coating on their turbine rotor blades becoming worn out faster than was expected. With the engine maintenance center now facing a backlog on repair work, frontline F-35 fleets have been hit, with the U.S. Air Read more about Fifteen Percent Of U.S. Air Force F-35s Don’t Have Working Engines[…]

The Royal Netherlands Navy has now confirmed that its De Zeven Provincien class frigate HNLMS Evertsen, which has been sailing in the Black Sea together with the U.K. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender, was harassed by Russian fighter jets last week. The announcement comes after Russia and the United Kingdom entered something of a war Read more about Russian Jets Armed With Anti-Ship Missiles “Harassed” Dutch Frigate In The Black Sea[…]

one of the world’s largest private tactical jet air forces, is now set to add F-16A/B fighters to its roster after the Dutch government announced it had agreed to transfer 12 of the jets to the North American company. Draken will join fellow private contractor Top Aces in operating F-16s for “red air” adversary support, Read more about Draken Becomes The Next Red Air Private Contractor To Acquire F-16 Fighter Jets from the Netherlands[…]

The fallout from yesterday’s incident in the Black Sea involving the U.K. Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender and elements of Russia’s military and internal security forces has taken its next turn, with the release of a video showing some of the events from the perspective of a Russian Border Guard patrol ship. The Read more about Russian Video Proves Patrol Boat Was Far From British Destroyer When It Fired Warning Shots by Crimea[…]

[…] China’s heavy investment in airpower-related facilities in the region is already being leveraged by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), as evidenced by an unprecedented level of activity along the Sino-Indian border as of late. This is in addition to massive growth in ground-based air defenses, as well as the construction of Read more about Tracking China’s Sudden Airpower Expansion Along Its Western Border[…]

Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray test asset, known as T1, has conducted the first successful aerial refueling of a manned receiver aircraft by an unmanned tanker. The landmark is a vital one as the U.S. Navy looks forward to adding the MQ-25 to its carrier air wings, or CVWs, in the future. The Navy’s Naval Air Systems Read more about The Navy’s Tanker Drone Makes History By Refueling A Manned Aircraft For The First Time (Updated)[…]

Having relied heavily on machine learning, the Israeli military is calling Operation Guardian of the Walls the first artificial-intelligence war. “For the first time, artificial intelligence was a key component and power multiplier in fighting the enemy,” an IDF Intelligence Corps senior officer said. “This is a first-of-its-kind campaign for the IDF. We implemented new Read more about Israel’s operation against Hamas was the world’s first AI war[…]

KC-46A’s Remote Vision System (RVS), which the boom operators use to connect the boom with receiving aircraft. It’s a critical system on the Pegasus and fundamental to its ability to operate as a tanker for receptacle-equipped aircraft from the U.S. military and its allies. It’s also a new kind of technology for Air Force refueling Read more about Boeing KC-46A’s Vision System Can’t Reliably Show The End Of The Refueling Boom. Boom doesn’t work much anyway.[…]

In a follow-up to our big piece on Top Aces’ recently acquired fleet of second-hand F-16A/B ‘Netz’ fighters from Israel, the company has now taken one of these jets aloft for the first time. This also marks the first time a 4th generation fighter of any kind has been flown by a private adversary support Read more about The First Privately Owned F-16 Aggressor Jet Has Taken To The Sky[…]

In a 28-second video, which was posted to Twitter this week by a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to launch rocket attacks at Israelis from densely populated civilian areas. © Hosam Salem for The New York Times The Al Shrouq building in central Gaza, which Read more about How Lies on Social Media Are Inflaming the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict[…]

The ENVG-B is a helmet-mounted, dual-waveband goggle with industry-leading, fused white phosphor and thermal technologies. […] Flexible 40 Field-Of-View with options of white-hot, black-hot and outline modes […] Augmented Reality Soldiers keep eyes on target without having to look down to read maps or check radios for critical information. High-resolution goggle display Data display includes Read more about ENVG-B – latest iteration of night vision goggles offer augmented reality, stereo vision, white lines[…]

Five F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and a single F-22 Raptor “talked” with each other using their proprietary stealthy datalinks via a U-2S Dragon Lady spy plane carrying a specialized communications gateway payload, during a recent demonstration. This marks the first time that the Air Force’s two stealth fighters were able to exchange data freely in Read more about F-22 And F-35 Datalinks *Finally* Talk Freely With Each Other Thanks To A U-2 Flying Translator[…]

Both Russia and China appear to have employed information manipulation during the COVID-19 pandemic in service to their respective global agendas. This report uses exploratory qualitative analysis to systematically describe the types of COVID-19-related malign and subversive information efforts with which Russia- and China-associated outlets appear to have targeted U.S. audiences from January 2020 to Read more about Superspreaders of Malign and Subversive Information on COVID-19: Russian and Chinese Efforts Targeting the United States[…]

The U.S. Air Force has, for the first time, live-streamed data directly from the F-35A stealth fighter and onto a commercial computer tablet in the cockpit, during ground tests at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The March 31 trial, part of the Fighter Optimization eXperiment, or FoX, demonstrated that data from the jet could Read more about Project FoX Brings Avionics + Sensor Data to Commercial Computer Tablets In F-35 Stealth Fighter Cockpits[…]

Belgium’s entire fleet of F-16 fighter jets, the backbone of its combat air force, has been grounded since yesterday after one of the Vipers experienced problems with its Pratt & Whitney F100 engine. As of today, the air defense of the European country has now been taken over by the neighboring Netherlands. “While technicians work Read more about Belgium’s Hard-Worked F-16 with P&W F100 engines Fighter Fleet Has Just Been Grounded[…]

Satellite imagery shows that, earlier this year, construction began on a new, approximately 6,150-foot-long runway on Perim, an island right in the middle of the highly strategic Bab Al Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition to its location inside this critical maritime junction, which is an important Read more about Construction Of A Large Runway Suddenly Appears On Highly Strategic Island In The Red Sea[…]

[…] Jamming of the essential navigational satellite signal has caused enough headaches for the EU air traffic control organisation to prompt an investigation, complete with an instrumented aircraft designed to detect signs of GPS jamming. Airliners rely on GPS to a great extent, and air traffic management (the science of making sure airliners don’t come Read more about GPS jamming around Cyprus gives our air traffic controllers a headache, says Eurocontrol[…]

British Army troops in Mali are now reportedly using tiny unmanned aircraft that can be fired from standard 40mm grenade launchers. These diminutive quad-copter-type drones can be fitted with various payloads, ranging from full-motion electro-optical video cameras to small high-explosive or armor-piercing warheads, and that can fly together as a swarm after launch. Overt Defense Read more about British Troops Get Small Swarming Drones They Can Fire From 40mm Grenade Launchers[…]