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In August, Russia unveiled the export version of its fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 fighter aircraft. Displayed at the Army-2020 International Military and Technical Forum, the Su-57E also took part in the arms tradeshow’s flight demonstration program. Among the nations that apparently expressed interest in the aircraft was India, which The EurAsian Times reported was “seriously considering exploring an initial batch of ‘off the shelf’ Su-57 jets from Russia to evaluate their capabilities – before entering into a contract for joint production.”

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.

It was over twenty years ago the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” was retired by the United States Air Force, and while surveillance satellites can provide that eye in the sky for intelligence gathering there is still a need for such high flying, ultra-fast aircraft. Such a platform would complement other manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), providing flexibility in how intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) is gathered. Back in 2013, Lockheed Martin proposed a follow-up to the SR-71. Fittingly, it was the SR-72, which has also become known as the “Son of the Blackbird,” and it was suggested that the...

A fedup American Airlines pilot threatened to “dump” a plane filled with “USA” chanting President Trump supporters in Kansas if they didn’t “behave” during a flight out of Washington D.C. Friday, video shows. “I’ll put this plane down in the middle of Kansas and dump people off, I don’t care,” the pilot can be heard saying over the loudspeaker in a video posted to Twitter.

It was December 20, 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany, 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Charlie” Brown struggled to keep the mortally damaged American bomber on course. Brown had been wounded in the shoulder, his tail gunner Sergeant Hugh “Ecky” Eckenrode was dead, and several other members of the crew were wounded, some severely. Their aircraft, B-17F Ye Olde Pub, had been hit twice by flak as it approached its target, the Focke-Wulf plant in the German city of Bremen, forcing the crew to shut down one of the engines and throttle back on another. This had left 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...

THEY WERE THE Navy’s last chance. It was 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 4, 1942. Forty-seven U. S. Navy dive bombers had found what they were looking for. Far below, four Japanese aircraft carriers were launching the first planes of a massive strike that could decide the Battle of Midway. So far, two days of American air and submarine attacks had failed to damage a single ship of the peerless Japanese Aircraft Carrier Striking Force. The priceless intelligence advantage the U.S. had gained through years of backbreaking effort by Navy codebreakers was about to be squandered. The heroic sacrifice...

"Holy crap!" my husband exclaimed. "What!? What's going on?" I responded, peering over his shoulder at the flight tracking map on his screen. "Usually there are no more than three military refueling tankers flying over the United States on any given night. I got to ride on one when I was a teen in Civil Air Patrol," he said. "But look! Tonight there are eleven refueling tankers in the air simultaneously. What the hell is going on!?!" What indeed. If military air traffic gets your motor going, your go-to guy is "MonkeyWerx" aka "MilSpecOpsMonkey." His profile describes him as a...

Russian state-owned media says the S-70 Okhotnik uncrewed combat aerial vehicle recently completed its first "fighter-interceptor" exercise, in which it carried simulated air-to-air missiles. There's reason to be skeptical of Russian state media, but this effort sounds a great deal like a number of programs that the US and its allies already have in progress.According to reports released by Russia's state-owned media outlet RIA, Russia's S-70 Okhotnik (Hunter) uncrewed combat aerial vehicle recently completed its first "fighter-interceptor" exercise, in which the drone carried simulated air-to-air missiles while completing a series of test flights. According to an unnamed source within the...

DENVER – United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced that Air Methods Corporation has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a civil case alleging that the company violated Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) regulations by operating an emergency-services helicopter with severely corroded pitot tubes. Pitot tubes are components of the pressure measurement system used to determine airspeed. If a pitot tube is not functioning properly, it can cause the airspeed reflected on a helicopter’s instruments to vary significantly from the actual airspeed, cause the helicopter’s auto-pilot to disengage, and present serious safety concerns.Air Methods, headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, is the...

China’s emerging “B-2 copycat” H-20 stealth bomber is expected to introduce an entirely new sphere of threat dynamics to the U.S., as it further cements China’s nuclear triad and massively extends its nuclear attack range to include major portions of the continental U.S. by Kris Osborn China’s emerging “B-2 copycat” H-20 stealth bomber is expected to introduce an entirely new sphere of threat dynamics to the U.S., as it further cements China’s nuclear triad and massively extends its nuclear attack range to include major portions of the continental U.S. The new H-20 bomber, likely to formally arrive in a matter...

American B-52s, the massive strategic bombers, arrived in the Middle East on Saturday. They are part of the Fifth Bomb Wing at Minot AFB in North Dakota. These veteran, giant aircraft were last deployed in the region in May 2019 and the US Central Command says they are here to “deter aggression and reassure US partners and allies.” The B-52s have been sent to the region as the US appears to be drawing down forces in Iraq. The Pentagon has said that hundreds of troops are leaving Iraq and Afghanistan. As the US seeks to end twenty years of involvement...

An Antonov An-124 Ruslan (NATO reporting name: Condor), belonging to Volga-Dnepr Airlines, an airline based in Ulyanovsk, Russia, and specialized in air charter services, with 14 people on board, overran the end of the runway at Novosibirsk, Russia, on Nov. 13, 2020. The aircraft, registration RA-82042, experienced what has been reported as an uncontained engine failure during the initial climb after take off from RWY 25 at Novosibirisk. The crew returned for an emergency landing on the same runway and performed a successful and seemingly normal touchdown but did not manage to stop the landing roll (the aircraft was loaded...

The plane appeared to have hit multiple parked vehicles, which caught fire, Sky5 aerial video showed. LAFD initially said the flames had spread to a structure, but later stated that the blaze made it as far as the vegetation and trees, and that crews were able to protect the residence.

Most of these days, spectacular movie sequences are created by an army of visual effects specialists. However, every now and then, a director prefers to go the more traditional, analog route. Cheaper than CGI Christopher Nolan is described as “doing nothing by halves.” Meanwhile, in the age of computer-generated images and green screens, even for him, crashing an actual 747 into a building is unexpectedly real and hands-on. However, it turned out to be cheaper to buy an actual jumbo jet rather than construct miniatures and use CGI for the scene.

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron conducted the last flight using its F/A-18 A/B/C/D Hornets on Wednesday. The aircraft, which the Blue Angels have flown for 34 years, will be replaced with F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets beginning with the team’s 2021 show season. The Hornets departed Florida’s Naval Air Station Pensacola at around 4 p.m. local time for a 30-minute flyover ranging from the Pensacola area to Alabama’s Fort Morgan.

========================================================================== A photograph appears to show a plane flying over Edwards Air Force base that's unlike any aircraft publicly acknowledged by the U.S. Air Force. The aircraft appears similar to the RQ-180, a high-altitude spy drone. The RQ-180’s existence has never been confirmed by the U.S. Air Force. ======================================================================== The image (above) depicts a flying wing-shaped aircraft leaving a contrail in its wake. An observer reportedly took the photo while the aircraft was over the Military Operating Area at Edwards Air Force Base in California. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, the aircraft “was flying in a racetrack pattern...

An Air Force jet was scrambled above Donald Trump's rally in Arizona on Wednesday after an unannounced plane flew overhead. 'Oh, look at that! Look, look, look!' the president yelled, pointing to the sky. The F-16 attempted to make contact, and the aircraft initially ignored the jets. The fighter plane then released flares, and the intruding aircraft then established radio communications and was escorted out the area.

Moscow has unleashed its 'Belladonna' drone killer system in Armenia to counter Azerbaijan's use of Turkish-made Bayraktar armed drones The electronic warfare system is known as “Belladonna”, a poisonous plant that gets its name from Renaissance women who used its extract for tinctures to dilate the pupils of their eyes, ostensibly to make them more attractive. While Belladonna translates to “beautiful woman” in English, in Russian it has a second meaning: it is the name of a Russian electronic jamming system now credited with knocking out at least nine Turkish Bayraktar armed drones used by Azerbaijan to target Armenia. If...

Cyclotech is planning an 80-kg electric demonstrator for test flights later this year using its unique "Cyclogyro" propulsion system Cyclotech ========================================================================== Austrian company Cyclotech is planning to begin flight-testing an 80-kg (176-lb) demonstrator of its unique electric VTOL airframe, which uses Voith-Schneider propellers instead of rotors for exceptional agility and control in the air. The prop design, which looks a bit like it belongs on the back of an 1850s paddle steamer, was patented nearly 100 years ago but hasn't made it into a production aircraft yet. Each prop is a spinning cylinder whose walls are formed by a number...