drone

China’s new armed quad-copter drones are being built specifically to engage hostile targets from ground level in urban combat environments — even engaging targets through windows — as a means of support for ground troops in the fight. This shift toward airborne drones for infantry support could mean that China’s “ground” drones could reach the […]

The U.S. military announced that it lost an unarmed drone that was flying over Tripoli. According to AFRICOM, the aircraft was engaging in reconnaissance in order to determine the current situation on the ground, namely security and violent activity by extremists. Tripoli has been the site of intense fighting in recent months. Libya is currently […]

The U.S. airbase in Agadez, Niger, which cost $110 million, has already begun carrying out missions in the region. Its primary tasks will be reconnaissance and surveillance flights, though it could potentially be used for carrying out strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles. Completed earlier this year, Air Base 201 (as it is officially called) was […]

American war fighters have the best equipment in the world, but the advanced technology at the disposal of U.S. infantrymen comes at a steep price: a whole lot of weight. The average war fighter today can expect to carry somewhere between 60 and 120 pounds of gear on their back while in combat zones. All […]

The United States Air Force is in the business of winning battles in the sky, but in order to do so, Air Force pilots needs to train in realistic combat environments. Just as ground troops hone their skills through force on force training, American fighter pilots have long flown against “aggressor” fleets of aircraft used […]

At the end of World War II, the United States boasted around 300,000 combat aircraft. Today, America has only around 13,400. Of course, the U.S. still has more air power than any nation on the globe, but there’s something to be said for that loss of sheer volume when it comes to developing strategies for […]

The U.S. Army has long been on the market for an unmanned combat vehicle that can approach ground fighting in a similar fashion to how airborne drones have revolutionized air superiority. That is to say that the Army isn’t looking for thinking Terminator drones that can make life or death decisions on their own, but […]

The United States has long possessed the most powerful, technologically advanced, and well-trained military force in the world — but powerful and invulnerable are very different things. America’s broad and diverse fighting force has been at war in multiple theaters for the better part of two decades, not only wearing American troops and equipment thin, […]

Over the past few weeks, images of China’s new supersonic-capable, unarmed reconnaissance drone have begun making their way online, and SOFREP was among the first to notice that the design bears a striking resemblance to a similar platform employed over China by the United States in the 1960s. However, China’s propensity for stealing aircraft designs […]

Russia’s long troubled fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57, was recently brought back from the brink of death with the announcement that the nation intends to actually put the platform into mass production. Until recently, Russia’s token fleet of a dozen or so Su-57s was expected to be the extent of the nation’s fifth-generation fleet. Despite concerns […]

The U.S. Navy’s new carrier-based refueling drone, the Boeing produced MQ-25 Stingray, took its first test flight on Thursday, potentially ushering in a new era of naval combat operations for the United States. Although not intended to serve as an armed aircraft, the carrier-launched autonomous refueler could help the U.S. Navy offset the tactical advantage […]

The national security media sphere is just as prone to buzz words as any other realm of journalism, and one that has popped up with increasing frequency in the past few years is “hypersonic.” The term usually precedes a noun like “missile” or “drone” and evokes an almost childish sense of speed — hearkening back […]