The Amateur Who Crashed His Way Across America
In 1911, flying across the United States was widely considered impossible. The newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst put money on it anyway, offering $50,000 to the first pilot to cross the country by air in 30 days or less. The men best equipped to try it looked...
America Lost a Hydrogen Bomb Off Georgia
Somewhere under the muddy shallows of Wassaw Sound, off the coast of Georgia, sits a 7,600-pound hydrogen bomb. The United States Air Force dropped it there in 1958, searched for ten weeks, gave up, and has left it alone ever since. It is one of a handful of American...
A Second B-52 Takes Over the Troubled Radar Test
Six weeks ago, a B-52 Stratofortress carrying the U.S. Air Force’s brand-new radar rolled down the runway at Edwards Air Force Base, lifted off, and crashed. All eight crew were killed. The single jet fitted with the upgrade the entire bomber fleet is counting...
A Bill Named BRRRRT Wants to Save the A-10
It is named after a sound. The BRRRRT Act — yes, really — is Congress’s latest attempt to keep the A-10 Thunderbolt II flying, and it wants more of the jets in the air than the Air Force is willing to keep. Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) is the sponsor....
Russia Loses a Su-57 Near Moscow
A Russian fifth-generation fighter came down west of Moscow on 23 July. The pilot ejected and survived; the aircraft did not. Russian media identified the jet as a Sukhoi Su-57, the country’s newest stealth fighter. The Defence Ministry confirmed that it had lost an...
Embraer Wants to Fire Cruise Missiles Off a Cargo Ramp
Here is a cheap way to terrify a naval planner: take an ordinary cargo plane, roll a pallet of cruise missiles out the back, and let them fly themselves to the target. The US Air Force has been perfecting that trick for years under the name Rapid Dragon. Now Embraer...
Six Flags, One Submarine Hunter
Hunting a submarine is a team sport. This year, at the world’s largest naval exercise, the team stopped stopping at national borders — and started sharing the same aircraft.For the first time at RIMPAC, the U.S. Navy is flying mixed multinational crews...
Manila’s Mach-1.5 Guard Dog Gets Sharper Teeth
The Philippines is doubling down on the little jet that guards its skies — and this time it is buying the version that finally bites back at range.The Philippine Air Force has confirmed that its next 12 FA-50 fighters remain on schedule, with the first aircraft...
Ten Nights of Fire Over Iran
Ten nights in, the pattern has become grimly familiar. Shortly after 9:00 p.m. Eastern on 20 July, U.S. Central Command announced it had finished another round of strikes on Iran — the tenth consecutive night — hitting military command centres, missile and...
Lockheed Just Halved the Price of a Patriot Shot
Modern air defense has a money problem, and everybody knows it. A single Patriot shot can cost more than the drone it swats down, and in a war where the incoming threats are cheap and endless, the math eventually breaks the defender, not the attacker. At Farnborough...
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