Free Republic

No other U.S. Air Force aircraft could fly faster or higher than the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird,” and on its final flight, it set a truly impressive record. The reconnaissance aircraft flew from the west coast of the United States to the east coast – some 2,404 miles – in just 68:17 minutes. During that flight, it traveled from St. Louis, Missouri, and Cincinnati, Ohio, a distance of 311 miles in about eight and a half minutes.

On Christmas Day last month, it was announced by Russian state media that a regiment in the Russian Southern Military District received quite a notable “present” – it was the first batch-produced Sukhoi-57 Felon multi-role fifth-generation fighter jet. At least another four of the jets could be provided to the Aerospace Force this year. “The Aerospace Force has obtained the first batch-produced Sukhoi-57 plane,” a source in the defense industrial complex told Tass. “It was delivered to a regiment in the Southern Military district.”

The Lockheed SR-71 spy plane was – and still is – the fastest plane on the planet. The Goal Known unofficially as the “Blackbird” for its black paint job, which was developed to dissipate heat, the jet featured sleek lines that certainly were “futuristic” when it was flying top secret missions years before American astronauts headed to the moon. It was developed in secret in the late 1950s to cruise to 80,000 feet above the earth, near the edge of space, and out fly any missile that was launched at it.

It’s often fascinating when a seemingly forgotten film showing Soviet-era military technology is uncovered, not least because the weapons systems involved are frequently of a seriously impressive scale, or otherwise represent a remarkable approach to the various challenges of the era. Fitting both those descriptions is a 1959-vintage film about the Burya strategic cruise missile. The movie, which Dmitry Stefanovich, who tweets as @KomissarWhipla, brought to our attention, has been uploaded to YouTube in two parts. It was filmed in color and stretches to an impressive 74 minutes’ running time. While the quality of the footage may leave something to...

The U.S. Air Force just proved it can externally mount an advanced stealth cruise missile on the B-1B Lancer for the first time, a step forward in plans to have the B-1 carry future ordnance -- like hypersonic missiles -- outside of its internal bomb bay.In the demonstration, carried out by Air Force Materiel Command and Boeing Co., the B-1 carried an inert AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, known as JASSM, on an external pylon. Then, the aircraft demonstrated its "ability to safely release" a mounted AGM-158 separation test vehicle, according to Air Force Global Strike Command spokesman Lt. Col....

A lot is known about the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, but many of its details will remain very much shrouded in mystery. This week the action to correct hardware issues that contributed to the crash of a single-engine F-35A Lightning II that was part of the 58th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Wing in May will remain a secret. The F-35 Joint Program Office announced the decision on Monday. “Explicit details related to corrective actions have the potential to compromise operational security,” a JPO spokeswoman told Air Force magazine, without elaborating. What the JPO did confirm is...

Here are nine reasons why Congress should remove the authorization to acquire the F-15EX from the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. 1. Acquisition cost. In fiscal year 2022, the Air Force will pay $77.9 million for each fully equipped and ready-for-combat F-35A it acquires. Each F-15EX, on the other hand, will cost $87.7 million — but that’s for an airshow capability. If the Air Force wants to fly it in combat, then each jet needs a $12.2 million electronic countermeasures system known as the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability system, or EPAWSS, and a $900,000 targeting pod. This brings the...

An Arianespace Vega rocket carrying two satellites failed to reach orbit yesterday after experiencing a catastrophic failure eight minutes into the launch. Officials are attributing the loss of the rocket to a “series of human errors.” Vega Flight VV17 started off well, with the 98-foot-tall (30-meter) rocket departing the Guiana Space Center at 8:52 p.m. ET. The first three stages, all powered by solid-fuel, did their job, propelling the vehicle and its cargo over the Atlantic ocean toward space. It was when the liquid-fueled upper stage kicked in that things went sideways. According to satellite launch company Arianespace, the trouble...

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday cleared the Boeing’s 737 Max to fly again after a nearly two-year ban, a turning point in a protracted crisis for the aircraft giant stemming from two crashes of its top-selling plane that killed 346 people. “The design and certification of this aircraft included an unprecedented level of collaborative and independent reviews by aviation authorities around the world,” the FAA said in a statement. “Those regulators have indicated that Boeing’s design changes, together with the changes to crew procedures and training enhancements, will give them the confidence to validate the aircraft as safe to...

Tomcat may have been the F-14's official moniker, but its other nickname was 'Turkey.' Seeing as many of us will be slaving away in an attempt to cook perfect turkey today, it is only proper that we pay homage to the hard working sailors who had to the cook a perfect Turkey every time- those who maintained the crazily complex F-14 'Turkey.'The nickname 'Turkey,' or 'Turkeybird,' came from how the normally super-sleek, muscular and famous fighter looked on the catapult going through control checks or on approach to landing, when the aircraft's entire trailing edge seemed to fan out...

Hypersonic attack drones will definitely exist, the question simply is when. The prospect of surveillance drones or armed unmanned systems catapulting through space at five times the speed of sound, is already on the radar at high levels at the Pentagon. ypersonic attack drones will definitely exist, the question simply is when. The prospect of surveillance drones or armed unmanned systems catapulting through space at five times the speed of sound, is already on the radar at high levels at the Pentagon. “You can think of autonomy and hypersonics being integrated in the way you fly vehicles and the things...

US President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly approved the sale of advanced F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to Israel, Asharq Al-Awsat reported Friday. The Move said to come as part of efforts to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region after UAE is all set to get F-35’s from the US. According to the report, the announcement was made by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper during his recent visit to Israel. The US government also purportedly gave its nod to the selling of precision-guided munitions to the Israel Defense Forces. On Tuesday, Haaretz reported that Israel sought to procure...

Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission team received on Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of its main mission requirements -- acquiring at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of the asteroid's surface material.

Make sure to go to the link and click on the hotlink highlighted as "Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event" for a video of the touchdown. A photo sequence is also shown in the last hotlink in the Explanation or by clicking on the image at the link. Explanation: On October 20, after a careful approach to the boulder-strewn surface, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and touched asteroid Bennu. Dubbed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event, the 30 centimeter wide sampling head (TAGSAM) appears to crush some of the rocks in this snapshot. The close-up scene was recorded by the spacecraft's SamCam...

A Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed in California on Tuesday morning during a routine training flight. The pilot ejected safely and is being examined at a local medical facility, said Lt. Cmdr. Lydia Bock, a spokeswoman for Strike Fighter Wing Pacific. The crash occurred at about 10:10 a.m. local time near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Super Hornet, assigned to Naval Air Station Lemoore, was on a routine training flight when it experienced a mishap, Bock said. No additional details were provided about the cause of the crash. "The U.S. Navy...

Turkey has “activated” a Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft defense system to track F-16 fighter jets flown by several other NATO members, U.S. lawmakers and analysts suspect. “The whole problem with having the S-400 integrated is in order to do that, you have to betray some of the codes and some of the, basically, NATO technology to the Russians,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Rubin said. “And it appears that that's what they've done.” Western officials have eyed Turkey’s turn to Russian arms dealers with alarm in recent years, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defied the threat of U.S. sanctions to...

The Marine Corps has released new information about its F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter that crashed earlier this week after a mid-air collision with a KC-130J tanker. The F-35B, which crashed close to Ocotillo Wells, Calif., was assigned to the ‘Green Knights’ of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, a Marine Corps spokeswoman told USNI News. The KC-130J that made an emergency landing is assigned to the “Raiders” of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 352.

Boeing on Thursday said it plans to consolidate its 787 Dreamliner production at its South Carolina facility next year, a bid to lower costs amid weak demand, marking a blow for its Seattle-area production hub. Boeing in July said it would evaluate consolidating production lines for the widebody jets, which it currently has in both Everett, Washington, and North Charleston, South Carolina, a plant where the workforce isn’t unionized.

Information is very fragmented at this time, so details are bound to change, but reports state that a military aircraft has crashed somewhere near the Salton Sea in Southern California. Witnesses said they saw things dropping from the sky, possibly under parachutes, not long before an aircraft impacted the ground. We reached out to NAF El Centro, which is located nearby in the Imperial Valley, who told us that military and law enforcement air assets are on the scene, but they do not know specifically what crashed or even if it was one of the many Navy and Marine...

The U.S. is looking at ways to make the Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35 less stealthy for a sale to the United Arab Emirates, according to Reuters, as Washington tries to overcome resistance from Israel. Officials are working out how to sell the jets to the UAE while maintaining Israel's air superiority in the region. Israel typically gets a five-year head-start over other U.S. allies in the Mideast when buying new weapons. The first Israeli F-35 was delivered in December 2016. Sources told Reuters that officials are looking at ways to make the F-35s more visible to Israeli radar systems. The...