U.S. Navy

The reasons behind the decision to destroy all F-14 Tomcats

There was only one foreign customer for the advanced F-14 Tomcat fighter during its heyday: Iran. The Shah chose to buy 80 Tomcats instead of the F-15 Eagle — and they proved a good investment. Even after Imperial Iran gave way to the Islamic Republic of Iran after the 1979 revolution, the Iranian Air Force […]

SOFREP’s April Cartoon: The US Navy fights COVID-19

Our U.S. Navy is at war with the novel Coronavirus. Theodore Roosevelt, the aircraft carrier of former Captain Brett Crozier, is currently inflicted with Coronavirus to the tune of 678 sailors of its 4,069-man crew testing positive for the virus. The Navy is recommending that the ship’s recently dismissed Skipper Brett Crozier be reinstated once […]

Leadership roller coaster: Must be at least an aircraft carrier skipper to ride

Among a thousand other issues caused by the spread of COVID-19, the Navy’s leadership has been in turmoil this past week. It’s just not every day that we see a Captain removed from a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The situation reminds me of the movie Crimson Tide when on a nuclear-powered submarine, the XO (Denzel Washington) […]

The USNS Comfort sails into harm’s way

In the past several weeks the military has become more and more involved in the battle against the coronavirus. A notable event was the arrival of the USNS Comfort in New York City. With the fear that New York City might run out of hospital beds for the sick, Governor Cuomo pleaded for assistance from […]

What exactly is Close Air Support?

“Dogfighting makes movies. Close Air Support wins wars.” With the perpetual drama surrounding which aircraft is better suited for supporting troops in contact, Close Air Support (CAS) has become a hotly debated topic in military aviation. Both the A-10C Thunderbolt II and the Lockheed-Martin F-35, Joint Strike Fighter have pros and cons. But what exactly is […]

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 […]

Russian spy ship accused of operating in an ‘unsafe manner’ right off the US coast

The Vishnya-class spy ship has been traversing the international waters just off of America‘s Southeast coast for the better part of a week now, currently sailing south past the Carolinas and Georgia, toward Florida. As long as the vessel doesn’t come closer than 12 nautical miles to America‘s coastline, what it is doing is perfectly […]

China’s new rocket powered drone is a purpose-built carrier killer

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 […]

The Navy’s newest drone might save America’s aircraft carriers

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 […]