The AIM-174B, also known as the Standard Missile 6 Air Launched Configuration, received the new nickname in the recent Naval Aviation Playbook 2025. Almost a year after it was introduced in service, the AIM-174B long-range missile has now been officially nicknamed “Gunslinger.” The name was included among the new capabilities listed for the F/A-18 Super […]
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Internal disagreements at the Pentagon over future direction of the AEW role could lead to the E-7 Wedgetail becoming a victim of the 2026 budget, sources tell Aviation Week. Elements inside the U.S. Department of Defense, as reported by Aviation Week, favor a dramatic shift in focus from aircraft to satellites for the U.S. military’s […]
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The USAF Chief of Staff posted a graphic featuring the Boeing F-47 stating the aircraft will be in service in the 2025-2029 timeframe with 185+ units planned. Chief of Staff General David Allvin shared the graphic on X/Twitter on May. 13, 2025, commenting that the U.S. Air Force “will continue to be the world’s best […]
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The turbine-powered variant offers ten times the range of the original Grasshopper autonomous glider at a fraction of the cost of the manned platforms. DZYNE Technologies, the company that developed the Grasshopper autonomous glider meant to deliver cargo in contested environments, successfully tested a turbine-powered Long-Range Grasshopper with “10 times” the range of the original […]
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The aircraft is the first of 42 F-35B Lightning IIs that will be delivered to the Japan Air Self Defense Force. The Japanese F-35B BX-1 successfully completed its first test flight from Lockheed Martin Facility at NAS Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, on May 12, 2025. Our friends and contributors Gherardo and Victoria Fontana caught […]
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U.S. officials speaking to The New York Times said Houthi rebels ‘nearly struck’ U.S. F-16s and an F-35 within the first 30 days of Operation Rough Rider. A month into Operation Rough Rider, an intensified campaign of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, President Trump wanted to see results. Targeting Houthi air defence sites and […]
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U.S. Navy and Marine Corps RF-8A Crusaders played an important, often forgotten, high-speed low-level and dangerous recon role during a time the world was on the brink. Backyard Threat On Oct. 14, 1962, United States Air Force Major Richard Heyser flew a Lockheed U-2 belonging to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from Edwards Air Force […]
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