Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor is widely touted as the most capable of all air superiority fighters on the planet, thanks to its combination of stealth, speed, maneuverability, and situational awareness. So it seems pretty logical that this legendary platform has been the basis for more than one proposal for the development of new derivative aircraft […]
6 crazy DoD programs that sound like science fiction
TechAfter two decades of counter-terror operations, America’s Department of Defense, or DoD, is pivoting back toward great power competition with a slew of new programs and proposals that seemingly blur the line between science fiction fantasy and legitimate military capability. America’s combat operations in places like the Middle East have afforded its defense apparatus a […]
‘Missile barges’ could be US secret weapon in the Pacific
Military AffairsIn recent years, the United States has begun to shift its military focus away from counter-terror operations and back toward the possibility of a large-scale conflict with near-peer opponents like China. Unfortunately, nearly two straight decades of the Global War on Terror have left the American defense apparatus on the wrong footing for such a […]
NATF-22: The sweep-wing F-22 Congress wanted for carrier duty
AirpowerThe U.S. Air Force’s venerable F-22 Raptor is widely seen as the world’s most capable air superiority fighter, but for a short time, it was nearly joined by a sister platform modified specifically for the Navy in the NATF-22. The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor came about as a result of the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced […]
The F-14 Tomcat’s biggest threat was its TF30 engines
AirpowerWhen the F-14 Tomcat first entered service, it was powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney TF30 engines that had been designed for the F-111B, which was more multi-role bomber than fighter. These engines were powerful, but incredibly problematic, ultimately leading to the loss of as many as 40 Tomcats over the years. Eventually, […]
Here are the hypersonic weapons Russia and China have in service
AirpowerIn recent years, an arms race unlike any since the Cold War has begun to manifest, with the world’s most powerful nations competing to field the first, the most powerful, or the most capable hypersonic weapons. Hypersonic, while sounding like a term invented for a kid’s TV show about super heroes, relates specifically to traveling […]
America’s loitering radar-hunting missile is due for a comeback
AirpowerIn the 1980s, a controversial radar-hunting weapon system known as the AGM-136 Tacit Rainbow blurred the lines between missile and drone, leading to a loitering anti-radiation missile that could suppress or destroy enemy air defenses like no other weapon before it or since. Amid a slew of bad press, underwhelming performance, and a crumbling Soviet […]
The Navy’s fusion plans could produce a world-shattering weapon
TechIn 2019, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) filed a number of seemingly out-of-this-world patents that could, in theory, revolutionize not only military aviation, but just about everything. Chief among these strange new inventions is a High Energy Electromagnetic Field Generator, which if functional, could produce massive amounts of power with […]
Carrier Woes: The Navy’s fighters can’t reach China
Military AffairsAfter nearly two decades of counter-terror operations around the world, the United States military has recently begun shifting its focus away from this form of asymmetric warfare and back toward the potential for near-peer conflicts with nations like China or Russia. Despite maintaining the most powerful military apparatus on the globe, this pivot won’t be […]
The Soviets crashed into the moon while Apollo 11 was on it
HistoryEveryone knows the story of Apollo 11 landing on the moon, but fewer know about Luna 15: The Soviet lunar lander that was busy crashing into the moon’s surface as America’s astronauts toured the Sea of Tranquility. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history as they climbed out of the lunar […]
