X-51A Waverider: 210 Seconds Above Mach 5 on a Scramjet
Share this story The X-43A proved a scramjet could work for ten seconds. The question the US Air Force asked next was harder: could one keep working for minutes, burning the kind of fuel a real aircraft could carry? On 1 May 2013, over the Pacific, the Boeing X-51A...
X-24B Lifting Body: How a Wingless Plane Taught the Shuttle to Land
Share this story It had no wings worth the name, no engine running at touchdown and only one chance to get it right. On 5 August 1975, NASA test pilot John Manke brought the X-24B lifting body down from 60,000 feet without power and landed it on the concrete main...
Bell X-1A: Chuck Yeager’s Mach 2.44 Record and 50,000-Foot Tumble
Share this story On 12 December 1953, Chuck Yeager pushed the Bell X-1A to Mach 2.44, faster than any human had flown. Seconds later the rocket plane went completely out of control. It rolled, yawed and tumbled end over end, slamming Yeager’s helmet into the...
X-43A Hyper-X: NASA’s Scramjet That Hit Mach 9.6 in 2004
Share this story Off the coast of southern California on 16 November 2004, a NASA B-52B released a rocket with a strange, flat, surfboard-shaped object bolted to its nose. The Pegasus booster lit, climbed to about 110,000 feet and let go. For roughly ten seconds, the...
Indonesia’s J-10CE Fighters Due in Six Months, Air Chief Says
Share this story Asked when Indonesia’s Chinese fighters will finally show up, the head of the Indonesian Air Force smiled and gave a two-word answer. “Just wait,” Air Marshal Mohamad Tonny Harjono told Republika on 5 October 2026, on the sidelines...
Ashutosh Dixit Named Next Indian Air Force Chief
Share this story India has picked a test pilot to lead its air force through one of its most demanding decades. The government announced on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, that Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, currently Vice Chief of the Air Staff, will become the next Chief of...
The 100 ml Rule: From the 2006 Liquid Bomb Plot to CT Scanners
Share this story In the small hours of 10 August 2006, British police arrested around two dozen people. By the time most of the country woke up, hand baggage had effectively been abolished. Passengers at Heathrow were told to carry their documents in a clear plastic...
First German F-35 Lands at Ebbing to Start Luftwaffe Training
Share this story Shortly after lunchtime on Monday, 5 October 2026, an F-35A wearing the Iron Cross of the German Air Force touched down at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and taxied under a ceremonial water arch. The flight from Lockheed...
L-39 Skyfox Drone Hunter Gets Thales Laser-Guided Rockets
Share this story The jet trainer most famous for teaching pilots to fly fast is learning a new trade: hunting drones. Czech manufacturer Aero Vodochody and Thales Belgium announced on 5 October 2026 that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the...
Ukraine’s AI Gun Turrets Shoot Down Jet-Powered Geran-5 Drones
Share this story Russia’s newest attack drones are fast enough to outrun most of the interceptor drones Ukraine sends up against them. On Monday, 5 October 2026, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had found an answer that does not need to fly at all: automated...
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