More from Joseph Trevithick (Page 2)

China has held a launch ceremony for its first super-sized Type 076 amphibious assault ship, now named Sichuan, but the vessel does not look to have gone into the water yet.

China’s Monster Type 076 Amphibious Assault Ship Seen Like Never Before At Launch Ceremony

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 27, 2024
Russian forces have begun using improvised counter-drone buggies each armed with a weapon made up of 24 barrels that fire shotgun-like ammunition, as well as six AK-series infantry rifles on a single mount.

Anti-Drone Weapon With 24 Barrels Firing Buckshot-Like Rounds Emerges On Russian Buggies

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 26, 2024
The construction of the first Polar Security Cutter (PSC) heavy icebreaker for the U.S. Coast Guard is now formally proceeding. Though the milestone is important, it also underscores the PSC program's already massive delays.

New Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker Construction Finally Underway

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 24, 2024
F/A-18F Was Shot Down By Friendly Fire As Jets Were About To Land On The Carrier

F/A-18F Was Shot Down By Friendly Fire As Jets Were About To Land On The Carrier

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway
Posted on Dec 24, 2024
The U.S. Army says it is planning to award a sole-source contract to BAE Systems to produce a prototype self-propelled 155mm howitzer for use as a novel air defense system.

Railgun Ammo-Firing 155mm Air Defense Cannon Set To Be Awarded To BAE Systems

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 24, 2024
A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet was conducting a refueling mission over the Red Sea when it was downed in a friendly fire incident this past weekend.

F/A-18F Shot Down By Friendly Cruiser Was In The Middle Of A Refueling Mission

By Joseph Trevithick, Geoff Ziezulewicz, Howard Altman
Posted on Dec 23, 2024
Recent satellite imagery of Belbek Air Base, near Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, shows new hardened aircraft shelters and additional construction to help shield aircraft from drone attacks and other indirect fire.

Russia’s Belbek Air Base In Crimea Is Getting Hardened Aircraft Shelters

By Thomas Newdick, Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 20, 2024
Substantial differences in the designs of the B and C variants of the F-35 mean that they each require variant-specific 25mm gun pods.

F-35B And F-35C Use Different 25mm Gun Pods Unique To Each Variant

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 20, 2024
In the face of post-Cold War drawdowns, the U.S. Air Force pushed ahead with buying the famously expensive F-22 Raptor stealth fighter in part because of a perhaps unexpected reason: concerns about Syrian air defenses.

Syria’s Air Defenses Helped Make The F-22A Raptor A Reality

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 20, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted today that his country is still exploring its options for retaining a pair of bases in Syria that have uniquely strategic value following the fall of longtime ally Bashar Al Assad.

Putin Claims No Final Decision Yet On Russia’s Bases In Syria Despite Withdrawals

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 19, 2024
Navy’s Future E-130J TACAMO ‘Doomsday Plane’ Seen In New Rendering

Navy’s Future E-130J TACAMO ‘Doomsday Plane’ Seen In New Rendering

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 19, 2024
China’s H-20 Stealth Bomber Unlikely To ‘Debut’ Until 2030s, According To U.S. Intel

China’s H-20 Stealth Bomber Unlikely To ‘Debut’ Until 2030s, According To U.S. Intel

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 18, 2024
New satellite imagery shows the continued withdrawal of Russian forces from its Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. Russia is also massing units at its Tartus naval base in the country, which also points to plans for their impending departure.

Satellite Imagery Shows Ramp-Up In Russian Forces Massing At Bases In Syria For Withdrawal

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 17, 2024
A new targeted strike involving the use of the secretive AGM-114R9X Hellfire missile, which features an array of pop-out sword-like blades rather than a traditional high-explosive warhead, looks to have occurred in northwestern Syria.

Secretive Bladed AGM-114R9X Hellfire Missile Looks To Have Reemerged In New Syria Strike

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 17, 2024
There is growing, but still circumstantial evidence that a Syrian Airlines Il-76 Candid cargo plane currently at Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in Syria is one that appeared to go missing in the final chaotic moments of Bashar Al Assad's regime.

The Mystery Of The Syrian IL-76 Cargo Jet That Went Missing As Assad Fled

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 17, 2024
A video and pictures have emerged showing testing of Chinese high-flying and high-speed uncrewed air vehicles related to a design called MD-22, including aerial releases from a TB-001 drone and a high-altitude balloon.

China Launches Hypersonic Test Planes From Drones, Balloons

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 16, 2024
Russian Forces Appear To Be Pulling Out Of Prized Syrian Air Base

Russian Forces Appear To Be Pulling Out Of Prized Syrian Air Base

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 13, 2024
The U.S. Army has finally test-fired its Dark Eagle hypersonic missile from its trailer-based launcher after attempting to do so for some two years.

Army’s Dark Eagle Hypersonic Missile Finally Blasts Out Of Its Launcher

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 13, 2024
Federal, state, and local authorities have not been able to corroborate any claimed visual sightings of mysterious drones in the skies over New Jersey, according to a top White House spokesperson.

None Of The New Jersey Visual Drone Sightings Have Been Corroborated: White House

By Joseph Trevithick
Updated on Dec 13, 2024
Apparent drones spotted in the skies over New Jersey, some as big as six feet across, look to be operating in a coordinated manner not consistent with hobbyists, according to state and local officials.

Drones Over New Jersey Show Signs Of Coordination, Elude Helicopters: State Officials

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 12, 2024
Any plans the Air Force might have for new hardened aircraft shelters or other physical defenses at bases are prominently absent from a new infrastructure modernization strategy rolled out today.

Plans For New Hardened Aircraft Shelters Notably Absent From New USAF Base Modernization Strategy

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 12, 2024
he U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy could soon be tasked with exploring whether extending the range of existing AIM-120 and AIM-9 air-to-air missiles is one path to help right-size stocks of those weapons.

Extended Range AIM-120s, AIM-9s Eyed To Meet Future Air-to-Air Missile Demands

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 11, 2024
Mk 41 launcher MDA Guam

Tilting Mark 41 Launcher Emerges During Guam’s First Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test

By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 10, 2024
Pictures and videos have now emerged of the aftermath of Israeli strikes on the Syrian port of Latakia overnight, which destroyed at least six Soviet-era Osa II class missile boats.

Israel Lays Waste To Syria’s Missile Boats (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 10, 2024
What will happen to highly strategic Russian air and naval bases in Syria is now very much now an open question following the downfall of long-time strongman Bashar Al Assad and his flight to Moscow.

Fate Of Russia’s Prized Syria Bases: What We Know

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 10, 2024
Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Shooting Machine Guns At Russian Helicopters, Boats

Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Shooting Machine Guns At Russian Helicopters, Boats

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 9, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of forward deploying new conventionally-armed Oreshnik missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads in neighboring Belarus in the latter half of next year.

Experimental Ballistic Missile Russia Used On Ukraine Could Be Headed To Belarus

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 6, 2024
The Pentagon has released a summary of a new classified strategy to guide efforts to protect American forces abroad and across the U.S. homeland from growing drone threats.

This Is The New ‘Counter-Drone Strategy’ Just Unveiled By Pentagon

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman
Posted on Dec 5, 2024
Bell has released a rendering showing updated design concepts for vertical takeoff and landing-capable crewed and uncrewed aircraft that feature wingtip rotors that fold away during level flight.

Revised Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Concepts Emerge From Special Operations X-Plane Program

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 5, 2024
Recent satellite imagery shows a curious white-colored object at the end of the runway at a remote airstrip in northwestern China.

Mysterious Object Appears At Remote Chinese Airfield Linked To Spaceplane Program

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 4, 2024
The Pentagon says more tests are required to verify that the 25mm automatic cannon mounted internally on the F-35A variant of the Joint Strike Fighter is indeed now an effective weapon.

F-35A’s 25mm Gun Still Needs Tests To Verify It Works

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 4, 2024
South Korean military forces have descended on the country's parliament building and other parts of the capital Seoul following President Yoon Suk Yeol's unexpected declaration of martial law.

Surprise Martial Law Declaration Throws South Korea Into Turmoil (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 3, 2024
A U.S. Air Force F-16C Viper fighter has conducted the first release of a test version of the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) missile.

Stand-In Attack Missile Released From Fighter For First Time In USAF Test

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 2, 2024
German firm Helsing says production of its HX-2 kamikaze drone, thousands of which are expected to be sent to Ukraine, is underway.

AI-Enabled HX-2 Kamikaze Drones Now In Production For Ukraine

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Dec 2, 2024
One especially interesting detail about the Phoenix Ghost family of kamikaze drones has now emerged: the different types can be configured to launch attacks straight down while passing overhead rather than having to careen into their targets and detonate.

Warheads In Phoenix Ghost Kamikaze Drones Blast Straight Down Like Air Burst Artillery Rounds

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 27, 2024
A mysterious Chinese vessel with a large open flight deck, which TWZ was first to report on, looks to have made its maiden voyage.

China’s Wacky And Puzzling New Aircraft Carrier Has Set Sail

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 27, 2024
ideos purporting to show a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian oil refinery may actually have been of a wayward civilian An-2 biplane.

An-2 Biplane Caused Major Scare When Russians Thought It Was A Long-Range Kamikaze Drone

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 27, 2024
Still unidentified drones continue to be spotted around air bases in the United Kingdom that host American forces.

British Troops Reinforce USAF Airbases Amid Mysterious Drone Incursions: Reports (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman
Posted on Nov 26, 2024
A human controller flying in an L-39 Albatros jet ordered a pair of L-29 Delfin jets with artificial intelligence (AI) driven flight technology acting as surrogates for advanced drones to engage simulated enemy fighters in a series of recent flight tests.

Skunk Works Tests See AI-Enabled L-29 Jets Fly Mock Air-To-Air Mission On Orders From Aerial Controller

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 23, 2024
While it has turned out that the RS-26-based Oreshnik that Russia fired at Ukraine was not a conventionally-armed ICBM, it still highlights the very real interest in, if not more active development and even potential fielding of, a weapon of that kind globally.

Conventionally Armed ICBM Concept Highlighted By Unprecedented Russian Missile Attack On Ukraine

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 22, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country's forces fired a previously unknown medium-range hypersonic missile called Oreshnik at Ukraine earlier today.

Russia’s Experimental Ballistic Missile Used To Strike Ukraine Is Based On The RS-26 Rubezh

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 21, 2024
Ukraine's domestically developed Dovbush T10 drone has taken on a new role acting as a mothership for first-person view (FPV) kamikaze quadcopters.

Watch A Ukrainian Uncrewed Aerial Mothership Launch Kamikaze Drones

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 21, 2024
The U.S. military has not seen demonstrable evidence of North Korea successfully testing a re-entry vehicle capable of bringing a nuclear warhead back down to Earth through the atmosphere, according to America's top officer in the Pacific region.

ICBM Reentry Vehicle Capability Still Unproven By North Korea, U.S. Military Says

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 20, 2024
The U.S. military risks going into a potential major fight with China with insufficient stocks of Patriot surface-to-air interceptors and other key munitions due to obligations in the Middle East and Ukraine, the top officer in the Pacific has warned.

Conflicts ‘Eating Into’ Critical Munitions Stockpiles Needed For China Fight, Top U.S. Officer In Pacific Warns

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 20, 2024
A Bayraktar TB3 uncrewed aircraft has successfully landed on and taken off from the Turkish Navy’s ‘drone carrier’ TCG Anadolu.

TB3 Operates From Turkey’s ‘Drone Carrier’ Amphibious Assault Ship For The First Time

By Joseph Trevithick
Updated on Nov 19, 2024
A unit charged with exploring how the U.S. Air Force will utilize its future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) is now set to get actual examples of the first tranche of those drones to experiment with.

Extra Collaborative Combat Aircraft Purchases To Give USAF Test Unit A Boost

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 19, 2024
Flight testing of the U.S. Air Force's Stand-In Attack Weapon (SiAW) missile is now set to begin following the delivery of an initial test article.

First Stand-In Attack Missile Delivered To USAF

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 18, 2024
The US Army has been exploring options for years now for a highly computerized 30mm Precision Grenadier System (PGS) that soldiers could use to engage targets ranging from enemy personnel behind cover to light armored vehicles to drones in the sky.

One Of These Futuristic Grenade Launchers Could Succeed Where The Army’s ‘Punisher’ Failed

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 17, 2024
The search for clues after a U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper fighter brought down a still-unidentified object over Lake Huron In February 2023 did result in the recovery of debris it has been disclosed. However, it remains unclear whether or not the wreckage was from that shootdown.

Details About Search For Mystery Object Shot Down Over Lake Huron Disclosed

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 15, 2024
The U.S. Air Force is accelerating work on low-cost air vehicles that could evolve into relatively cheap cruise missiles, and plans to scale up production of selected designs, with the help of the Pentagon's Replicator initiative.

‘Cheap’ Cruise Missile Program To Speed Up With Replicator Initiative Help

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 15, 2024
Giant Uncrewed Submarine Put Forward By Chinese Shipbuilder, Possibly Linked To Existing Design

Giant Uncrewed Submarine Put Forward By Chinese Shipbuilder, Possibly Linked To Existing Design

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 14, 2024
A new palletized ground-based launcher concept that can be loaded with up to two dozen 227mm guided artillery rockets at a time – four times what an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) can pack at once – recently broke cover.

Mobile Launcher That Can Fire Four Times More Weapons Than HIMARS Emerges

By Joseph Trevithick
Updated on Nov 13, 2024
U.S. Marine Corps F-35C Joint Strike Fighters took part in recent strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, the Pentagon has disclosed.

F-35C Naval Joint Strike Fighters Fly Combat Missions Against Houthis In Yemen

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 13, 2024
KC-135 AI Copilot testing

KC-135 Tanker With Artificial Intelligence Copilot Set To Fly Next Year

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 12, 2024
Chinese Hypersonic Boost-Glide Vehicle Concept That Launches Its Own Weapons Emerges

Chinese Hypersonic Boost-Glide Vehicle Concept That Launches Its Own Weapons Emerges

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 11, 2024
Clearer views of a new Chinese trimaran uncrewed surface vessel (USV) have emerged, highlighting a number of interesting low-observable (stealthy) and other features.

China’s New Stealthy Trimaran Drone Ship: Our Best Look Yet (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick
Updated on Nov 9, 2024
The curious North Korean Type 73 machine gun is getting new attention as a result of the Hermit Kingdom's expanding support for Russia's war in Ukraine, which now includes the deployment of thousands of troops.

North Korea’s Wacky Type 73 Machine Guns May Be Entering The Fight In Ukraine

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 9, 2024
The U.S. Navy recently used a drone control system now being installed on all its supercarriers to operate an actual uncrewed aircraft, a General Atomics Avenger, for the first time.

MQ-20 Avenger First Drone Flown Using Navy’s Carrier-Based Control System

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 8, 2024
Massive Chinese Anti-Drone High-Power Microwave Weapon Emerges

Massive Chinese Anti-Drone High-Power Microwave Weapon Emerges

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 7, 2024
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works advanced projects division has put forward a new vision for a stealthy pilot-optional aerial refueling tanker.

Skunk Works’ Latest Stealthy Tanker Concept Revealed

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 7, 2024
A new large jet-powered Chinese armed drone said to have a 10-ton maximum takeoff weight, or a mockup thereof, has emerged, and the design looks to be at least configurable to be a swarm mothership.

New Heavyweight Chinese Jet Drone Looks To Be A Swarm Mothership

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 6, 2024
The future outlook for the U.S. Air Force's top modernization efforts is even more uncertain after the service's civilian boss openly questioned the affordability of buying any combination of new stealth 'fighters,' advanced aerial refueling tankers, and highly autonomous drones.

Crisis Brewing Over Air Force’s Future Air Dominance Plans Which It Cannot Afford

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 6, 2024
Full Retirement Of Ticonderoga Cruisers On Hold, Trio To Remain In Service Into 2029

Full Retirement Of Ticonderoga Cruisers On Hold, Trio To Remain In Service Into 2029

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 5, 2024
President Donald Trump's administration reportedly considered employing a secret Central Intelligence Agency system capable of "covertly (and nonviolently)" disabling ships, including very large ones, in some way, against Venezuela oil tankers.

CIA Has Secret “Nonviolent” Way To Disable Large Ships: Report

By Joseph Trevithick
Posted on Nov 4, 2024