Fightersweep

B-1B Lancers sit on the flightline during sunset at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, June 27, 2018. The BONE is currently deployed to the U.S. Air Forces Central Command’s AOR supporting a wide range of operations.   U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ted Nichols

Martha McSally, a Republican and freshman Senator out of Arizona, wasn’t always a lawmaker. Prior to 2010, she was a war fighter, completing combat deployments at the stick of the close air support legend A-10 Thunderbolt II before going on to command a combat aviation squadron that included both fighter and bomber elements. In both […]

Once upon a time, long before I found my way to writing for publications like Fighter Sweep, I was a punk kid with a wrench in my hand, sitting around pit lane at race tracks like Limerock, Laguna Seca, and Road Atlanta. Eventually, I’d leave those days behind to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, […]

Ever since news first broke that the Air Force was being pressured by Pentagon officials to procure new F-15 airframes in 2020, pundits, lawmakers and defense officials alike have protested in the name of America’s most advanced fighter platform, the F-35. Now, with the Air Force’s F-35 order looking like it will be short of […]

For some time now, the Australian military has been searching for new helicopters for its Special Operations Forces (SOF). The American company Bell is considered a favorite to win the contract. More specifically, Bell, in partnership with Hawker-Pacific, is proposing the Bell 407 or Bell 429 helicopters. In October, Australia’s Defense Capability Acquisition and Sustainment […]

Capt. Andrew “Dojo” Olson, F-35 Heritage Flight Team pilot and commander, performs a high-speed pass during the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Sept. 1, 2018.   U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook

Two Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets reportedly collided in mid-air over Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California on Tuesday. The fighters were reportedly conducting close-air support training when they came into contact with one another, causing what the Marine Corps has classified as a Class A mishap; indicating that the amount of damage […]

America’s first fifth-generation fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, is widely considered to be the best air superiority fighter on the planet. The combination of its low observability and high performance makes it America’s heavyweight contender in the battle for air supremacy, even in the era of the data-fusing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. While the […]

Mike Doyle is an active Special Weapons and Tactics team member, known as S.W.A.T. He also hosts a podcast called Tactical Tangents that delves into decision making, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork. The mission of the S.W.A.T. team is to provide the police department with the capability to resolve high-risk situations. Examples of […]

SpaceX has, in many ways, reignited America’s interest in rocketry and space travel. After decades of seemingly humdrum orbital operations (that are actually anything but humdrum), Elon Musk’s private space venture and its partnership with NASA is now on the verge of launching human beings into orbit from American soil for the first time since […]

A U.S. Air Force F-16CM Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 79th Fighter Squadron, takes off from the flightline during Exercise Red Flag 19-1 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Jan. 28, 2019. The 79th FS, otherwise known as the “Tigers,” served as an air superiority role, performing various missions intended to test their job proficiency […]

The introduction of drones has led to a number of shifts in the way America’s military conducts both combat and reconnaissance operations. Drones like the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper have demonstrated that large-scale drones, comparable in size to many aircraft already employed by the U.S. military, offer a real value to the war […]