Shapeshifting drones: The new generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

After two years of research and testing, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Texas A&M University have made major developments in fluid-structure interaction testing, thus creating a tool that enables researchers to process aircraft structure designs in record time. The end goal of this cutting edge tool is to design an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) […]

Less Blackhawks, more Chinooks for Afghanistan’s premier SOF aviation unit

Afghanistan’s premier Special Operations Aviation unit is slotted to receive an unspecified number of CH-47 Chinooks from the U.S. Established in 2005, the Special Mission Wing (SMW) is the cream of the crop of the AAF. With less than 1,000 pilots and ground personnel in its ranks, the unit was initially designed to support counter-narcotics […]

An Air Force F-16 just shot down a cruise missile with a laser guided rocket

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon successfully shot down a mock cruise missile over the Gulf of Mexico, marking the first airborne intercept of a cruise missile with a GR-20A Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. As missile technology continues to mature, a number of national militaries have made missile defense a high priority; the […]

Russia just lost a 5th-gen fighter jet in a crash

In the first reported total loss of one of Russia’s exceedingly rare fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 “stealth” fighters, one of the jets crashed approximately 68 miles from the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft plant in Russia, where it was likely built. The pilot ejected from the aircraft safely and was recovered soon after the incident by Russian military MI-8 […]

NATO opens Spec Ops aviation school

Aviation and Special Operations go hand-in-hand. Whether it is rotary-wing or fixed-wing, SOF units have been using SOF aircraft to increase their effectiveness and lethality. Recognizing the lack of a dedicated SOF aviation program, NATO has decided to launch a training facility that aims to bring together the Alliance’s elite aviation units for training. The […]

What’s the deal with Maverick in Top Gun 2?

In yet another sequel to a film of old, “Top Gun: Maverick” is a much anticipated return to the movie world of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, some 33 years after the original film took place. The very premise of the movie alone forces us to suspend at least some disbelief, as the first trailer pointed out […]

Could China’s new H-20 ‘Stealth Bomber’ pose a serious threat to the US mainland?

America’s venerable B-2 Spirit may be thirty years old, but it still offers the United States a unique combat capability not found in any other nation. The stealthy platform can penetrate deep into contested airspace, delivering massive amounts of ordnance on unsuspecting targets while avoiding detection and — just as importantly — weapons lock from […]

Pulling G’s: A fighter pilot’s response to gravitational forces

“After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank thea, under the shade of some apple trees…he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative […]

The Air Force’s ‘arsenal plane’ concept will pair F-35s with missile-laden bombers

For all the strengths boasted by America’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and F-22 Raptors, these stealthy fifth generation platforms still suffer from one significant drawback during combat operations: their relatively low magazine capacity. In order to maintain their stealthy profile, these fighters have to carry their ordnance internally, limiting the firepower they can bring into […]

Turkey is getting Su-35s instead of F-35s, but how do the two fighters stack up?

In recent months, Turkey announced plans to purchase Russia’s advanced S-400 air defense system, a decision that cost them their opportunity to purchase America’s premier fighter, the F-35. Since then, speculation has run rampant about what fighter platform Turkey will procure in its place, with initial rumors pointing toward Russia’s fifth-generation Su-57. These rumors were […]