GE Wins Engine Contract for Autonomous Combat Jets
GE Aerospace has been awarded a contract for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the GE426 turbofan engine, purpose-built for the U.S. Air Force’s medium-thrust Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP). The contract, announced May 19, marks a decisive step in...
Joby Flies JFK to Manhattan in 7 Minutes
On April 23, 2026, a white, six-rotor aircraft lifted off from John F. Kennedy International Airport, tilted its propellers forward, and landed at the East 34th Street Heliport in Midtown Manhattan seven minutes later. No jet fuel. No noise complaints. No two-hour...
USS Ford Home After Record 326-Day Deployment
They left on a Tuesday in late June, 4,500 sailors waving from the flight deck as the Virginia coastline shrank behind them. It was supposed to be a routine deployment to Europe — six months, maybe seven, the kind of schedule Navy families have learned to set their...
MQ-9 Reaper Fleet Drops to 135 After Iran Losses: The Drone That Changed Warfare Meets Its Match
There is a number that keeps the people who manage America’s drone fleet awake at night, and that number is 189. That is the minimum number of MQ-9 Reapers the Air Force says it needs to sustain its worldwide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and...
Skyraider II: The Plane You Pack in a C-17
There is a war going on in the Pentagon’s procurement offices, and the OA-1K Skyraider II is winning it. At SOF Week 2026 in Tampa, Air Force Special Operations Command pulled back the curtain on one of the platform’s most remarkable tricks: the entire...
T-38 Talon Fleet Grounded After Alabama Crash: The Air Force’s Oldest Jet Gets Another Wake-Up Call
The entire U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon fleet has been grounded. Every single one of the venerable white-and-blue trainers — the jet that has taught virtually every American fighter pilot since the Kennedy administration how to fly fast — is sitting silently on ramps...
Israel Signs $34M Deal to Extend F-35I Range
On May 15, Israel’s Ministry of Defense signed a $34 million contract with Cyclone, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, to develop and produce external fuel tanks and conformal fuel tanks for the F-35I Adir. It is a deal born not of peacetime planning but of hard...
B-1B Gets 50% More Firepower With External Pylons
The B-1B Lancer is getting the biggest weapons upgrade in its operational history. The U.S. Air Force’s Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon program will restore six dormant external hardpoints on the bomber, boosting its total precision weapons capacity by...
YFQ-48A Talon Blue Completes Autonomous Taxi: Northrop’s AI Wingman Takes Its First Steps
Somewhere on a taxiway at a Northrop Grumman test facility, something remarkable happened last week — and nobody was in the cockpit. The YFQ-48A Talon Blue, Northrop Grumman’s contender for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program,...
MQ-25 Stingray Cleared for Production: The Navy’s Autonomous Tanker Drone Is Finally Happening
The Navy’s long wait for an autonomous flying gas station just ended. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao confirmed during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on May 19 that the MQ-25 Stingray — Boeing’s uncrewed, carrier-based aerial refuelling...
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