Fightersweep

Depending on who you ask, the response to uttering the words “Iron Maiden” bring about very different emotions. Ask any fan of rock music and chances are the reaction is the sign of the horns. Ask any Naval Aviator, however, and the response is almost certainly dread. The trouble starts seemingly as a result of […]

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform a demonstration during the Mather Airshow at Mather Airport, Sacramento, California, Sept. 23, 2018. The U.S. Air Force Demonstration Squadron or “Thunderbirds” were created in 1953.   U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Lauren Parsons/Released

Hypersonic platforms, or aircraft and weapons that can travel at speeds in excess of Mach 5, have become a significant concern for the American defense apparatus over the past year or so. With the recent revelation that both China and Russia are quickly moving toward deploying operational hypersonic missile platforms, the U.S. has been forced […]

The early 1960s were a period of traumatic political upheaval for the Republic of the Congo. As a civil war raged that ultimately claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 people, America was particularly concerned with what would happen to the more than 3,000 Western missionaries scattered throughout the region. The decision was ultimately made […]

Beyond the “show up and go up” myth of military flying, the second biggest myth is that all pilots do is fly and go home to their hot supermodel wives (ok the second part is true…maybe). With ground jobs, additional duties, and endless amounts of general military training, this couldn’t be further from the truth. […]

U.S. Air Force Maj. John Waters, F-16 Viper Demonstration Team (VDT) pilot and commander, navigates an F-16CM Fighting Falcon, “Viper,” during a demonstration at Sakhir Airbase, Kingdom of Bahrain, Nov. 14, 2018. Waters demonstrated the flying capabilities of the F-16 before an international crowd at the Bahrain International Air Show in support of U.S. Air […]

In a tit-for-tat intercept following American F-22s and Canadian CF-18s being scrambled to intercept and escort Russian nuclear capable bombers off the coast of North America over the weekend, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker conducted an intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea as it “approached the Russian maritime […]

In the latest bit of tit-for-tat aggression between China and the United States pertaining to China’s contested claims of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, Chinese government-owned outlets released a flurry of stories arguing that China could sink America’s super carriers by firing at them with a flurry of hypersonic DF-17 anti-ship missiles. While […]

A little over one minute after launch, while traveling at Mach 1.92 and at an altitude of 46,000 feet the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in the cold bright blue Florida sky at 11:39am, on January 28, 1986. Most people at that time remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard of […]

Editor’s note: Justin Lee is an active duty U.S. Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilot. Lee has earned four Air Medals over the span of more than 400 hours of combat flight time throughout his eight+ years at the stick of the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35, and now he’s bringing his unique insight […]

Four U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors and a KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the 434th Air Refueling Wing, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind., conduct aerial refueling over the continental United States, Aug. 21, 2018, during the Northern Lightning 18-2 exercise. Northern Lightning is one of seven Air National Guard joint accredited exercises held at a Combat […]

January 27, 1967 NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Roger Chaffee were seated in their Apollo 1 capsule atop the launch pad in a pre-launch test when a fire broke out. An electrical spark ignited a fire in the 100 pure oxygen atmosphere of the capsule and the astronauts were not able to […]