Stealth

The United States introduced the world to the concept of stealth-integrated “fifth-generation” fighters decades ago when the first F-22 Raptors took to the sky. Since then the U.S. has remained at the forefront of this new generation of fighter, but efforts from both Russia and China to close this capability gap have resulted in a […]

When it comes to fighter jets, the modern world is currently amid a transition. The combat-proven fighters we’ve grown to know and love over the years are reaching the ends of their operational lifespans, and while update programs are underway for many of them, technological strides made in the years since these platforms first took […]

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 […]

The Air Force has agreed to purchase 478 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from Lockheed Martin for an estimated $34 billion. This announcement represents a reduction in cost for the most advanced fighter on the planet and is sure to reignite debate about the proper makeup of America’s fighter forces. Last year, the U.S. Air […]

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 […]

When it comes to American air dominance, no platform gets more attention than the high-cost and high-performance F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Of course, the F-35’s monopoly on the media’s attention makes a fair amount of sense: by most accounts, it’s the most technologically advanced and expensive aircraft ever to enter the fight, and thanks to […]

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 […]

Over the past few days, headlines have popped up all around the world indicating that a German tech firm had managed to track a pair of American F-35s for nearly a hundred miles when they visited Berlin last year for an airshow. The company, called Hensold, used a new form of radar that reads and […]

On June 18, 1981, Lockheed’s F-117 Nighthawk took to the skies for the first time, forever changing the way warfare in the skies plays out. After decades of competing to field to the fastest or most powerful aerial platforms, the F-117 represented a transition away from brute force and toward technological supremacy. With a top speed […]

From a journalistic perspective, covering the F-35 program can be a bit of a quagmire at times. The aircraft is undoubtedly among the most advanced and capable air platforms ever to take to the sky, but the plane’s development has also been a clinic in poor planning, over-spending, and the inherent flaws in putting an […]

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is, without question, one of the most advanced combat aircraft ever to take to the sky. While most of the media coverage regarding the F-35 tends to focus on its stealth capabilities, the technology that makes the F-35 stand head and shoulders above its multi-role competition isn’t just skin-deep. By […]

Last week, China released a video that showed seven of their fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighters flying in formation, suggesting to the world that China’s most advanced warplane may have finally moved into mass production. The stealth platform, which is believed to be based on stolen plans for America’s F-22 Raptor, has run into a number […]