military aviation

The U-2 is among America’s most legendary military aircraft, along with the likes of groundbreaking planes like the SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 Nighthawk. First flown all the way back in 1955, this high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft has a service record that stretches across six decades, and although talk of the U-2’s retirement has been around for […]

America’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) is world renowned for its ability to get special operators into and out of the fight with stealth and precision. The pilots that earn a place in the 160th, or Nightstalkers as they’re commonly called, operate some of the most capabile military aircraft on the planet under only […]

The F-15 is a legendary air superiority platform with an unscathed combat record and the title for fastest fighter jet in the U.S. arsenal. It, along with a limited number of F-22 Raptors, represent America’s dog fighting force, as these two aircraft are the only platforms built to fill the primary role of air-to-air interceptors. […]

In January, NEWSREP covered leaked images of Russia’s “stealth” combat drone, the Su-70 Okhotnik-B, in an effort to assess the validity of Russia’s claims regarding the platform. At the time, it seemed clear that the aircraft likely had the power required to carry some serious firepower (thanks to what appears to be a fourth generation, […]

The SR-71 Blackbird has had an almost immeasurable effect on the world we live in today. Its record as the fastest aircraft ever to take to the skies speaks to the incredible engineering and problem solving employed by Lockheed Martin in the 1960s, and the reconnaissance missions it carried out over the Soviet Union and […]

The 30 mm General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger rotary canon first entered into service in 1977. The 619 pound monster Gatling gun measured just shy of 2 feet wide and 20 feet long when completed, but more than compensated for its gargantuan size by boasting a terrifying fire rate of 3,900 rounds per minute, fired from […]

Although the B-2 Spirit may have entered American military service in the early 1990s, the nation’s fleet of deep penetration stealth bombers has managed to keep a great deal of its operations and equipment a secret despite the advent of the internet and America’s contemporary love affair with cell phone cameras. In many ways, the […]

Boeing raised eyebrows last year when it filed patents on the tech it would require to turn America’s only supersonic heavy payload bomber, the B-1B Lancer, into the world’s fastest gunship. While that pitch may not have been a home run with the Department of Defense, it does appear the legendary Lancer may have more […]

For the first time, the U.S. Air Force is deploying the world’s most advanced fighter to the Middle East to participate in combat operations. While Marine Corps F-35Bs have already participated in combat operations over Afghanistan, this deployment marks the first outing for the Air Force’s F-35A iteration of the platform. The first F-35As reached […]

Northrop Grumman’s B-21 bomber program has, in many ways, proven to be quite stealthy already. As development has progressed in recent years, Air Force officials have paraded out the same artist’s rendering of the aircraft to accompany statements about its progress, offering little in the way of details beyond the fact that it is indeed […]

The pilot of a Dutch F-16 reportedly managed to fly into his own trail of cannon fire in January, causing serious damage to the aircraft and forcing him to execute an emergency landing. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is, in many ways, the precursor to America’s new crown jewel, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Like the […]

Search and rescue teams located portions of the wreckage belonging to the downed Japanese Air Self Defense Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that went missing Tuesday evening. The search for the pilot is ongoing. At approximately 7:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, a Japanese F-35A disappeared from the military’s tracking systems somewhere off the coast […]