Free Republic

In a bold show of force, the United States launched an unprecedented B-2 Stealth Bomber attack on Houthi-controlled underground bunkers in Yemen, marking a dramatic escalation in regional tensions and a clear message to Iran. The radar-evading B-2s targeted five fortified weapons storage sites around Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi stronghold of Saada. The strike, the first of its kind against Iran-backed Houthi militants, underscores the US’s commitment to countering Tehran’s influence in the Middle East and protecting vital shipping lanes in the Red Sea. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the strike, calling it a “unique demonstration of...

...For several nights, military personnel had reported a mysterious breach of restricted airspace over a stretch of land that has one of the largest concentrations of national-security facilities in the U.S. The first drone arrived shortly. Kelly, a career fighter pilot, estimated it was roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers. The drones headed south, across Chesapeake Bay, toward Norfolk, Va., and over an area that includes the home...

Stealth is a great force multiplier. For aircraft in particular, being invisible may well be better than being fast or agile, as was proved with the first-generation stealth F-117 in Operation Desert Storm. In the event of a major war, stealth aircraft can penetrate enemy airspace, proceed to strategic targets deep within enemy territory, and deliver steel on target. The B-21 appears to be ready to redefine what stealth means. A recent paper from the Hudson Institute, which is advocating for the purchase and deployment of the B-21, claims that the new Raider has the radar cross-section of... an insect.The...

We could call this A Tale of Two Facilities. Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel in retaliation for the targeted strike on IRGC and Hamas commanders. That attack did little damage despite a volley of well over 300 missiles and drones, thanks to the regional defenses and the several hours of lead time necessitated by Iran's launch from its own territory.That demonstrated the facility Iran has for offensive operations in the region. Israel responded by demonstrating its facility, and as the New York Times hears from officials in Iran and the West, the result shocked the Iranians:An Israeli...

If I could show you some of the data that we collected, you would be astounded.There is a lot more that we can find. The bottom line on this is going to be that the types of monitoring systems that we have been developing since 2016, I am pretty sure at this point that they need to be permanent, large scale, and operating in all 50 states to protect our free-and-fair elections from interference by tech companies, which can flip elections any and all ways they please without anyone knowing.Tech will always be far ahead of laws and regulations, but...

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on Friday formally declassified an image then-US President Donald Trump tweeted in 2019 of a highly classified satellite photograph depicting the site of a failed Iranian rocket launch. NPR reported that the NGA declassified the image after a “grueling Pentagon-wide review to determine whether the briefing slide it came from could be shared with the public” in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the radio network. Many details on the original image remain redacted – a clear sign that Trump was sharing some of the US government's most prized intelligence on social media,...

We have extensively discussed China’s fifth-generation fighter – the J-20 Mighty Dragon, which is now based at all regional theater commands in China to deploy in times of war quickly. It has radar-evading characteristics allowing it to join the exclusive club of stealth fighters to challenge F-22s and F-35s. China seems to be pumping out more J-20 models each month. Now Beijing’s air force is raising the stakes with its sixth-generation fighter on display at the Zhuhai Airshow. This is again to match the planned American Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. When it looks like the United States Air Force...

ATLANTA, GA — CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky held a press conference to warn the public about a deadly new "stealth" COVID-19 variant that causes negative test results and causes no symptoms. "This deadly variant has bypassed our most sophisticated tests by ingeniously becoming harmless to the human body," said Director Walensky, "It is estimated that eight billion people have caught this variant. We must prevent it from spreading further by closing schools and locking up kindergarten children." The CDC director's guidance to close schools and stem the tide of this "stealth" variant is backed by data that has been...

Will the Su-75 “Checkmate” Reach Serial Production? – Earlier this month, it was reported that Russia’s highly-touted Su-75 “Checkmate” won’t make its maiden flight until at least some time in 2024 at the very earliest. However, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) – a division of the state-owned military-tech conglomerate Rostec – also announced that it would build four prototypes of the lightweight single-engine fighter in the coming months, with a goal to launch Checkmate serial production just three years later. “We use advanced super-computer technologies in the Checkmate project, which enables us to cut substantially the timeframe of building the...

The H-20 Stealth Bomber: An Ominous Sign of Chinese Airpower Projection? – As if it weren’t bad enough that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to make strides with its 5th Generation Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter – and flaunts that J-20 via intimidation exercises against Taiwan — the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is evidently also making strides in the arena of next-generation strategic stealth bombers. So then, what exactly do we know about China’s prospective H-20 bomber?

Because of the prohibitive cost of designing, developing, and fielding a strategic bomber force, only three countries field strategic bombers, able to hit continents thousands of miles away; China, Russia, and the United States. And the B-21 Raider stealth bomber is set to provide the U.S. Air Force with 100 bombers for at least the next 30 years. The B-21 Raider gets its name honoring the Doolittle Raiders, U.S. Army Air Force men during World War II. Just months after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. suffering defeat after defeat in the Pacific theater, President Roosevelt ordered...

The late, great Sean Connery offered several classic “one-liners” in his lengthy career, and among the best was in 1996’s The Rock, when as a former MI-6 operative, he states bluntly, “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen.” The YF-23 Story Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor can be seen as the winner in this case, and while it never had such relations with a prom queen, it has earned a reputation as the most capable air superiority fighter ever to fly. The “loser” was the Northrop-McDonnell Douglas YF-23, an experimental aircraft that competed in...

hina has begun sending its most advanced fighter aircraft, the J-20, to patrol the East and South China Seas, Chinese state media has reported. Early versions of the J-20 stealth jet used Russian engines -- but those have since been replaced with domestically-produced twin engines. The jets were first shown to the public with the new Chinese engines last year at Airshow China. The deployment is intended to "better safeguard China's airspace security and maritime interests," state-run tabloid Global Times reported on Wednesday, citing military experts. Ren Yukun, a spokesperson for the J-20's state-run manufacturer, added that it was a...

We have had a lot of talk this year about UFOs, with sightings popping up all over the place, so much so that the United States created a task force to deal with it all. What was spotted today flying over the Philippines certainly could be a UFO from beyond earth, but it’s just as likely to be a trial run of a super-secret and very powerful stealth plane of the United States, Russia or China. Watching Joe Biden handle the Afghanistan situation is no doubt emboldening our enemies to a very high degree. “And he spake a parable unto...

ere’s What You Need to Remember: When and if the PAK DA becomes operational, it would put an important arrow in Russia’s quiver—a theoretically very capable stealth bomber. Most military equipment in Russian arsenals today is legacy Soviet hardware. Russian bombers are no exception. Although some airframes in Russian inventories are quite old, they remain potent thanks to airframe, electronics and radar upgrades, along with improvements in standoff missiles and precision-guided munitions. Here are Russia’s most dangerous bombers. Tu-95 “Bear” In 1950, Andrei Tupolev was tasked with designing the Soviet Union’s new long-range heavy bomber, the Tu-95. It was to...

A mysterious aircraft caught flying over the Philippines could be the United State's ultra-secret new RQ-180 stealth drone, aviation experts believe.

Russia: Russia on Tuesday (Jul 20) unveiled its new Sukhoi stealth fighter jet designed to compete with the US F-35 and capable of striking six targets simultaneously. Dubbed "The Checkmate", the plane was first shown to a reportedly "pleased" President Vladimir Putin before the launch at a biennial airshow outside Moscow. Reports first surfaced that the jet was being manufactured in May last year. According to the launch video it was developed "in record time".

In February 2021, the Italian Navy’s aircraft carrier Cavour will begin qualification with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The carrier recently completed its maintenance and modernization efforts required to accommodate and operate the F-35B. The carrier, the flagship of the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) will reach Naval Station Norfolk in mid-February to start the F-35B qualification, which is expected to take around six weeks. Similar in size to the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A variant, the F-35B sacrifices about a third of the fuel volume...

Russia’s Okhotnik heavy unmanned aerial vehicle recently completed flight tests, RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency recently reported. Quoting a defense sector source with knowledge of the flight trials, RIA reported that, “from the strip of the military airfield of the Center for Combat Training and Combat Use of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Ashuluk training ground, several flights of the Okhotnik were performed with functional simulators of guided air-to-air missiles. Such missiles in the combat version are designed to destroy other aircraft.” The source also explained that the simulated missiles “have a casing and all electronic components...

A federal judge denied a motion Monday for a new trial in the case of a Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney rejected Chi Mak's motion after a hearing that included testimony from several defense witnesses. Carney set Mak's sentencing for March 24. Mak could face up to 45 years in prison. Mak, 67, was convicted last May of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that prosecutors said could make submarines virtually undetectable. A jury also found him guilty of...