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Latest Navy stories, analysis, and updates from SOFREP.
[Editor’s Note: Much like the Air Force’s ongoing budget woes, the Navy is in much the same boat. As we all know, the Department of Defense has gone all-in on the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II. Navy leadership is in a position where it needs to juggle priorities going into the future with the money available. […]
Happy Saturday, FighterSweep Fans! Today we bring you a cruise video from the “Bounty Hunters” of Strike Fighter Squadron TWO, recently home from a short cruise south of the equator. Known by their radio callsign of “Bullet,” Strike Fighter Squadron TWO is stationed at NAS Lemoore, California and is assigned to Carrier Air Wing TWO. […]
[Editor’s Note: Lieutenant Commander Michael Scott Speicher was a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot from VFA-81–the “Sunliners.” His aircraft was destroyed in flight on the first not of Operation Desert Storm, making him the first combat casualty. It was a long-held theory his jet was downed by a surface-to-air missile, or SAM. The more likely scenario is he was shot down […]
[Staff Note: It’s really hard to imagine a more perfect marriage of man and machine than a Blue Angels pilot and the Hornet. This story, provided to us by FighterSweep Fan Chris Finley, gives a little bit of background on how the Blues’ love affair with the F/A-18 began, way back in 1986. Enjoy!] To […]
Happy Monday, FighterSweep Fans! We wanted to start the week off correctly, and it’s hard to imagine a better way than celebrated the first flight of the ever-awesome, amazing, and mighty Grumman F-14 Tomcat! We all know The Big Fighter as the twin-engine, twin-tailed, swing-winged, death-dealing megastar of the movie Top Gun. She was developed for […]
Happy Monday, FighterSweep Fans! We wanted to start the week off correctly, and it’s hard to imagine a better way than celebrated the first flight of the ever-awesome, amazing, and mighty Grumman F-14 Tomcat! We all know The Big Fighter as the twin-engine, twin-tailed, swing-winged, death-dealing megastar of the movie Top Gun. She was developed for […]
In October 2015, a pair of Lockheed Martin F-35Cs from the US Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23) and a test team from Patuxent River deployed aboard the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) for the test period dubbed Developmental Test II. The “Mighty Ike” steamed off the mid-Atlantic seaboard while the two F-35Cs and […]
In October 2015, a pair of Lockheed Martin F-35Cs from the US Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23) and a test team from Patuxent River deployed aboard the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) for the test period dubbed Developmental Test II. The “Mighty Ike” steamed off the mid-Atlantic seaboard while the two F-35Cs and […]
Those who work in the airshow industry have heard rumblings of this for the past couple years, but it appears as though the long-held speculation has turned into fact: the US Navy has started the process to replace the Blue Angels’ existing stable of woefully aging Legacy jets with Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornets. According to a recently-released document, Boeing […]
Those who work in the airshow industry have heard rumblings of this for the past couple years, but it appears as though the long-held speculation has turned into fact: the US Navy has started the process to replace the Blue Angels’ existing stable of woefully aging Legacy jets with Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornets. According to a recently-released document, Boeing […]
Good evening, FighterSweep Fans! You’re about to see some great footage from a GoPro attached to the cranial of a VFA-87 “Golden Warriors” troubleshooter. The “shooters,” as we call them, are a Navy flying squadron’s maintainers and are selected from the best of their respective rates. These professionals reside in a squadron’s “line shack” and […]
Good evening, FighterSweep Fans! You’re about to see some great footage from a GoPro attached to the cranial of a VFA-87 “Golden Warriors” troubleshooter. The “shooters,” as we call them, are a Navy flying squadron’s maintainers and are selected from the best of their respective rates. These professionals reside in a squadron’s “line shack” and […]
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