Free Republic

SINGAPORE – The navy’s second multi-role combat vessel (MRCV), Valour, was launched on July 23, nine months after the first one was launched in October 2025. Speaking during the launch at Benoi Shipyard, ST Engineering chief executive Vincent Chong said his teams had learnt from building the first vessel, Victory, and applied those lessons to improve the delivery of future vessels. “We were able to build and launch MRCV Valour three months faster than MRCV Victory,” said Chong. Victory and Valour are part of the navy’s new class of warships, designed to be highly configurable and integrated with a range...

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flew supersonic for the first time yesterday, achieving another milestone. The aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.05, or about 680 miles per hour. The test validated the F-35 Lightning II's capability to operate beyond the speed of sound and was accomplished with a full internal load of weapons on the one-hour flight. "The F-35 transitioned from subsonic to supersonic just as our engineers and our computer modeling had predicted," said Jon Beesley. "I continue to be impressed with the aircraft's power and strong acceleration, and I'm pleased that its precise handling qualities are retained in supersonic...