Chinese spy to be extradited for stealing US military aviation technology

On Wednesday, October 10, the U.S. Justice Department announced that a Chinese citizen indicted on espionage charges had been taken into custody in Belgium, and will soon be extradited to the United States to face trial. “This unprecedented extradition of a Chinese intelligence officer exposes the Chinese government’s direct oversight of economic espionage against the […]

Repairs on the USS Gerald R. Ford engines and elevators to cost another $120 million

Last week, SOFREP reported on a previously undisclosed breakdown of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, that took place in during sea trials in January of this year. The issue, determined to be a manufacturing defect in the GE sourced main thrust bearings, resulted in two separate breakdowns, the second of […]

Boeing has plans to turn the B-1B into a gun ship, but is it a flight of fancy?

On May 8th of this year, Boeing was granted a patent that shows a number of potential cannon configurations for legendary supersonic bomber, the B-1B Lancer. The patent’s details range from conformal pods that house turrets to a suspension system that would allow massive cannons to be lowered from the bomber’s payload doors. While the […]

More problems for the Navy’s newest carrier — now it’s the propulsion system

A previously undisclosed issue with the Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, forced it to return to port during shakedown testing in January, the branch admitted this week. For the second time, an issue with the carrier, which cost just short of $13 billion to build, has raised questions […]