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The US Air Force has revealed its bomber for the 21st century, the Northrop Grumman B-21 long-range strike bomber. The official designation comes as the air force for the first time releases an artist's rendering of the still-classified bomber — a flying wing design similar to the Northrop B-2 and the company's concept for the previous Next-Generation Bomber (NGB) project. The air force hasn’t purchased a new bomber in this century and is still dependent on 54-year-old Boeing B-52H and 28-year-old B-1B. Its 21-year-old B-2 Spirit, the only in-service stealth bomber, will be in use through 2060, officials say. Revealed...

On 16 January 1991, seven Boeing B-52Gs fully loaded with AGM-86C conventional air-launched cruise missiles took flight from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana on a top-secret mission to destroy targets inside Iraq. Those 35h missions were the first combat sorties of Operation Desert Storm. Lesser known is that the mission, dubbed Secret Squirrel, also marked the combat debut of the AGM-86C, with 35 weapons fired and 85-95% of targets successfully destroyed, according to the US air force. A derivative of the nuclear-tipped AGM-86B, the B-52G would not have been deployed if only armed with nuclear cruise missiles and unguided bombs. Now,...

I have to say, it can certainly be quite frustrating to watch dispassionately how terrorism is discussed in the United States.... What all of this fear-mongering has done, which completely escapes my understanding, is create the impression that our enemy is generally devious and technologically intelligent on Bond-villain-esque levels. This is how you create a climate where a legitimate tool such as encryption is under attack as a threat. That's what makes it so useful to point out when would-be terrorists prove themselves to be bumbling idiots practically begging to be caught. Our own Glyn Moody wrote up a useful...

Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp said they will continue their protest against the Air Force's selection of Northrop Grumman Corp to build a new long-range strike bomber, calling that process "irreparably flawed".

Suicide bomber's belt containing 'Mother of Satan' explosives is found dumped in a dustbin with a mobile phone in Paris suburb - so did Europe's most wanted man abandon his deadly mission? Salah Abdeslam, 26, is believed to have fled the bloodbath that left 130 dead, rather than blowing himself up A suicide bomber's explosive belt was tonight found dumped in the southern Paris suburb from where terrorist fugitive Salah Abdeslam escaped the city. The 26-year-old fled the bloodbath that left 130 dead on November 13 rather than blowing himself up. Tonight's find in a dustbin in Montrouge, in the...

Helicopters are not known for being the most useful bombing platforms, but some of Russia’s combat helicopters, namely the Mi-24 Hind series, are still capable of hauling these weapons. Russia and the Assad regime are putting this capability to use in Syria, as you can see in the videos below, with horrific results. (Be warned that what you’re about to see is the bombing of an actual city caught on video, one that may have resulted in casualties.) There are real doubts as to what targets Russia is actually striking in Syria. Not just when it comes to what parties...

In the chaos of the explosion at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe, one of several targets hit in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, nurse David instinctively sought to help the wounded. Among them was a man lying amid overturned chairs and tables. David, who asked to be called just by his first name, lay him down. The man did not look to have massive injuries, but appeared unconscious, so David began CPR, the cardiopulmonary resuscitation he'd been trained for. When he tore open the man's t-shirt, David quickly realized that what he initially thought was a gas explosion at the cafe...

WASHINGTON – The Air Force said Tuesday it chose Northrop Grumman Corp., maker of the B-2 stealth bomber, to build its next-generation bomber, a highly classified, $80 billion project designed to replace the aging bomber fleet with an information-age aircraft that eventually may be capable of flying without a pilot aboard. The loser of the high-stakes bidding contest was a team formed by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Last month the Air Force announced it had received the final competing design submissions from Northrup Grumman and Boeing/Lockheed Martin for the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B), also known as the B-3. The Air Force will be reviewing the two submissions and in a few months will announce who has won the contract for its first new bomber in 25 years. At the low end, the contract will be worth some $55 billion. But factoring in development costs and the cost-growth patterns of the last 20 years for these types of projects, the value of the contract easily ends up exceeding...

The world's last flying Avro Vulcan is preparing for its final ever flights after the decision was made to permanently ground the Cold War veteran jet. The four-engined bomber, which saw action in the Falklands, is undertaking two final missions on October 10 and 11, flying long loops of the country from north to south. Chief pilot Martin Withers, who broke the record for the world's longest bombing mission in April 1982, is currently preparing a route for the final flights, which are being designed so as many people as possible will be able to see the jet.

SNIPPET: "A Black September terrorist who served only about half his 30-year sentence for planting three car bombs in New York City in 1973 was released Thursday into the custody of immigration officials to be deported. Khalid Al-Jawary, 63, was released from the Supermax maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, said Carl Rusnok, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. Rusnok said a federal immigration judge had signed a deportation order for Al-Jawary."

A former commander of the USAF’s bomber force says 80 to 100 new Long-Range Strike Bombers are not enough to meet American national security objectives, and the service should consider buying more to rejuvenate its “withering” combat fleet of Boeing B-1s and B-52s. In his testimony to Congress 9 September, Lt Gen Robert Elder, who directed the 8th Air Force before his retirement, said the production target released by the air force is too few, even though the new aircraft will be more capable. “Our capabilities are withering and we have less than 100 combat-ready bombers with an average age...

The Pentagon sank $400 billion into the F-35 stealth jet—only to have it come up way short. So they’re working on a secret new bomber to handle the job instead. Government officials and aerospace executives have met in secret. Engineers have drawn up blueprints, crafted components, and assembled prototypes, all under strict confidentiality agreements. Lobbyists are prowling the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, smiling, shaking hands, exerting influence. For the first time in more than three decades, the Pentagon and America’s aerospace industry are uniting to build a big, expensive, high-tech stealth bomber. And that’s a huge deal for...

The Soviet-era Tu-22M3 bomber entered service in 1989 but has been modernised since then Russian defence ministry sources say a squadron of Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers will be based in Crimea - but experts question the strategic value of such a move for Russia. Russia's Interfax news agency reported the plan, quoting an unnamed ministry source, though it has not been officially confirmed. Other Russian media also reported it. Russia has previously pledged to beef up its military forces in Crimea, which has been internationally isolated since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March 2014. Western nations imposed sanctions on...

Today just three countries operate long-range heavy bombers. Russia has 170 or so Bears, Backfires and Blackjacks. America fields 160 swing-wing B-1s, radar-evading B-2s and stalwart B-52s. China’s bomber force is smaller with around 130 H-6s. And most of the H-6s, copies of Russia’s Cold War Tu-16, lack the long range and heavy payload that many of the Russian and American bombers boast. But that’s changing. After years of work, the Chinese air force has reportedly outfitted two regiments—together possessing around 36 bombers — with a new, much more capable “K” version of the H-6. The H-6K is Beijing’s B-52 — a far-flying, fuel-efficient...

A fast-flying, heavy strategic aircraft is needed and long overdue, defense experts say. "Please try your best to develop new bomber aircraft." That was the last wish of the dying Lieutenant General Liu Yudi, 92, a flying ace from the Korean War and a former senior officer of the People's Liberation Army air force. Lying on his deathbed in the PLA Air Force General Hospital in Beijing, the legendary war hero used his last strength to write those words on a piece of paper and give it to General Ma Xiaotian, the air force commander who came to bid him...

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian military aircraft crashed Monday while taking off on a nighttime training flight and both pilots were killed, the Defense Ministry said. It was the fifth accident involving a Russian military aircraft in the past month, but the first with fatalities. The Su-24 bomber crashed while taking off from an airfield in the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East at 9:35 p.m. local time, the ministry said in a statement. Shortly after leaving the runway, the plane banked sharply to the left and struck the ground, the ministry said.

The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft.

Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said. The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft. The incident...

 One day a fun loving “partier” and then transformed into someone more closely resembling a devout Muslim when he returned. That is according to his friend. Rogerio Franca, who lived near the Tsarnaev family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told jurors Tamerlan was a partier before his trip to Russia but transformed into someone more closely resembling a devout Muslim when he returned. ‘Most of the time he was drunk, most of the time he was high,’ Franca said of Tamerlan before his transformation. Afterward, his neighbor Franca said he saw Tamerlan in downtown Boston and he appeared ‘different’ – he grew...