On June 4th, a MQ-25 unmanned aerial tanker refueled a Navy F/A-18 Hornet during a flight test. The test marked the first-ever aerial refueling between a manned fighter and an unmanned tanker. Stationing the MQ-25 aerial tanker aboard aircraft carriers would increase the effective strike range of the carrier’s fighters by up to 400 nautical miles. NAVAIR writes (abridged): This successful flight demonstrated that the MQ-25 Stingray can fulfill its tanker mission using the Navy’s standard probe-and-drogue aerial refueling method. “This flight lays the foundation for integration … [Read more...]
Air Force Studying Global Rocket Deliveries in Under an Hour
Want a New York pizza in Antarctica? The Air Force might be able to get it there while it’s still warm. The Air Force has announced a fourth Vanguard program, which will study concepts for launching rockets to deliver 100-tons of cargo anywhere in the world in less than an hour. Obviously, the cargo carried will be more important than pizzas. Things like tanks, medical supplies, ammunition, and fuel are obvious choices. The Air Force Research Laboratory will lead the science and technology effort for the Rocket Cargo program, which is part of its transformational science and technology … [Read more...]
Navy’s Hypersonic Strike System Has Successful Live Fire Test
The Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Office has successfully tested the First Stage Rocket Motor (SRM) that will be used for the force’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) offensive hypersonic strike capability, and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW). The test took place in Promontory, Utah on May 27th. Read Lockheed Martin’s full press release on the test below. The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) team successfully conducted a significant live fire hypersonic strike system test in support of the U.S. Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and … [Read more...]
New Challenges for Israel’s Iron Dome
Al Qassam Brigades, a militant wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PJI), have been attempting to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome System with sheer volume. The militant groups have fired more than 2,800 rockets at cities and towns in Israel. Yaroslav Trofimov and Felicia Schwartz of the WSJ report that Iron Dome is maintaining a 90% kill rate during the recent barrage. They write: On Sunday afternoon, as air-raid sirens sounded across this southern Israeli city, people abandoned cars in the middle of the road and ran to seek shelter. Hiding under a tree, a man … [Read more...]
LEAKED: Sensitive U.S. Troop Movement Details Exposed
U.S. Defense contractor Planet Risk, Inc. discovered sensitive U.S. mission data buried in app data that is sold to data brokers. The data was pulled from popular apps such as weather, games, dating services, and social media apps that collect a user’s location. The sensitive data showed U.S. troops traveling to Syria from abroad and gathering at Lafarge cement factory in northern Syria. The contractor was working on a software prototype when its employees came across the sensitive data. Byron Tau of The WSJ writes (abridged): WASHINGTON—In 2016, a U.S. defense contractor named PlanetRisk … [Read more...]
S-97 Raider Puts On a Show for U.S. Army
Lockheed Martin’s S-97 Raider recently put on a show for the U.S. Army during two exclusive flight demonstrations at Redstone Arsenal. Kimberly Ballard of the Huntsville Business Journal writes (abridged): Those advanced military capabilities were on full display when the transformational Sikorsky S-97 Raider light-attack scout helicopter made its debut in a Future Vertical Lift Flight demonstration at the Redstone Army Airfield on Redstone Arsenal. New pics of @Sikorsky's S-97 Raider, which is the company's pitch for U.S. Army's Future Attack Recon Aircraft (FARA). … [Read more...]
U.S. Army Will Fight the Next War in Augmented Reality
The next war will not be fought only in the air, sea, and on land, but in cyberspace, space, and even in augmented reality. Recently, Microsoft announced it will begin moving from the prototype phase to production and rapid fielding of its HoloLens augmented reality system for the U.S. Army. The program will provide enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and assisted decision making in a variety of scenarios. Read Microsoft’s full write up of the technology below: The United States Army announced that it will work with Microsoft on the production phase of the Integrated … [Read more...]
DARPA’s ACE Program Notches Key Accomplishments
According to DARPA, the purpose of the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program is “to develop trusted, scalable, human-level, AI-driven autonomy for air combat by using human-machine collaborative dogfighting as its challenge problem.” In simple terms, that means staging mock fights between AI and human pilots to train the AI to be better. After humiliating an experienced F-16 fighter pilot in a 5-0 defeat in the AlphaDogFight finals, artificial intelligence (AI) is turning its attention to ACE's Phase 2 live-fly sub-scale aircraft scenarios scheduled for late 2021. The ability for AI algorithms … [Read more...]
The F-15E Strike Eagle’s New Role in the USAF – “Bomb Truck”
The USAF wants to use its F-15E Strike Eagle as a “bomb truck,” loading it up with 15 JDAMS for transport. A test conducted in Feb 2021 showed an F-15E loaded with 6 GBU-38 JDAMs on a single side of the aircraft. The test is proof of concept for the USAF’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE). The F-15E’s would carry weapons to remote airfields reducing the need for vulnerable C-130s which the USAF currently uses. Stefano D’urso of The Aviationist writes (abridged): The U.S. Air Force published an interesting photo of a recent test performed by the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, showing an F-15E … [Read more...]
US Army Wants to Vaporize Threats with Powerful New Laser
Imagine harnessing the power it takes to light up 1.7 trillion light bulbs and shooting it through a lens at an object. That is just what the U.S. Army’s new Tactical Ultrashort Laser (USPL) hopes to do. The laser will be the most powerful in the Army’s arsenal. It’s a million times more powerful than any other. It’s designed to reach a terawatt of output. That’s a mind boggling 1 trillion watts of energy. It will emit short, pulse like bursts, unlike conventional lasers who emit a continuous beam. It has the power to vaporize a drone’s surface and cause a blast wave. A working prototype is … [Read more...]
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