Tag: Alex Hollings

Two Eurofighter Typhoons from Spain’s 11th Wing, along with their accompanying pilots and maintenance personnel, arrived in France late last week to conduct evaluation flights against the stealthy Dassault nEUROn drone (technically speaking, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle or UCAV). The intent of the exercises is simple: assess how effectively the Typhoon’s suite of onboard […]

It might sound funny to some, but having to pee can be a real problem for military aviators in the fight. Once holding it in becomes distracting, common sense dictates that you’ve got to let it go to focus on more important things, and for a long while, letting it go often meant soaking your […]

Two Eurofighter Typhoons from Spain’s 11th Wing, along with their accompanying pilots and maintenance personnel, arrived in France to conduct evaluation flights against the stealthy Dassault nEUROn drone (technically speaking, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle or UCAV) late last week. The intent of the exercises is simple: assess how effectively the Typhoon’s suite of onboard sensors […]

As the United States continue to mull over ways to fund a single capable icebreaker to allow America’s military access to the Arctic, Russia rang in the new year by acknowledging it had conducted more than 100 military reconnaissance and maritime patrol flights over the region using bases it already established during 2018. Moscow claims […]

On Tuesday, a B-2A Spirit from Whiteman Air Force Base’s 509th Bomb Wing kicked off the Rose Parade with an incredible flyover in Pasadena, California. While most of the folks in attendance may have been there to watch the game, aviation buffs were in for a treat when this legendary aircraft came swooping in over […]

As America’s secretive new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, continues development, it’s clear that the days of America’s legacy bomber platforms, the B-2 Spirit and the B-1B Lancer, are numbered. With the B-21 expected to enter into service in the mid-2020s, America’s current heavy payload stealth bombers and heavy payload supersonic bombers will begin their […]

The race for hypersonic missile supremacy is in full swing, with Russia testing yet another advanced platform this month. On December 10th, Russia conducted a test launch of their new Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missile. According to reports, the platform’s engines fired as they were intended and the missile achieved a sustained speed of approximately 6,138 […]

As people all over the world nursed their hangovers from the night before, the members of NASA’s staff that have continued to work despite the partial government shutdown rang in the new year by making history. “Congratulations to NASA’s New Horizons team, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Southwest Research Institute for making history […]

Late Monday night, as Americans were preparing to ring in the new year, Defense Secretary James Mattis was having a very different sort of evening. After decades of service, the former Marine general relinquished authority over the Pentagon to his former deputy secretary and current acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan. According to the Department of […]

A recently released video shows what it’s like to fly in the cockpit of one of the California National Guard C-130s currently working to contain the Carr fire, one of the largest wildfires in California’s history. These C-130s are specially equipped to assist in the firefighting effort, using Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) to […]

Images have recently surfaced on social media suggesting that China may be preparing to test a ship-mounted electromagnetic rail gun. The weapon system was first tested some three years ago, and reports of it being mounted on the deck of a People’s Liberation Army-Navy warship first surfaced late last year. Electromagnetic rail guns can fire projectiles […]

It can sometimes be easy to lose perspective when talking about historical events. Once timelines stretch beyond the horizon of our own recollection, they tend to get fuzzy. Most people would be surprised to know, for instance, that Cleopatra’s lifetime was actually closer to ours than it was to the construction of the pyramids, or […]