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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...

========================================================================== 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...

The US Navy destroyer USS Zumwalt fired a missile for the first time during a recent weapons test, the Navy announced Monday. The Zumwalt, a first-in-class stealth destroyer, test-fired an SM-2 missile from the ship's launcher last Tuesday at the Naval Air Weapons Center Weapons Division Sea Test Range in Point Mugu, California. The Zumwalt was commissioned in 2016, but it was not delivered to the Navy with a functional combat system until earlier this year. While the Zumwalt program has faced a number of significant setbacks, including cost overruns and major delays, a big issue was the ship's main...

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a Department of Defense (DOD) organization that accelerates commercial technology for national defense, announced the availability of five U.S.-manufactured drone configurations to provide trusted, secure small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) options to the U.S. Government. The announcement is the culmination of an 18-month effort with DIU’s initial work supporting the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program of record for sUAS. The SRR program is developing an inexpensive, rucksack-portable, vertical take-off and landing small unmanned aircraft that provides the small unit with a rapidly-deployed situational awareness tool. Small drones have been widely available in consumer...

US F-22 Raptors were sent out to intercept Russian bombers near Alaska on Wednesday morning, North American Aerospace Defense Command said. The US fighters were supported by KC-135 Stratotankers and E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System planes. The NORAD force intercepted two Russian aircraft formations consisting of bombers, fighters, and early warning aircraft in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. One group came "within 20 nautical miles of Alaskan shores," NORAD said. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. US Air Force fighters backed by support aircraft intercepted two pairs of Russian bombers in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone...

Stealth Trump voters are not ashamed of voting for the president. They just don’t want a target on their backs. Just the News spoke with three such voters — "Jane," John," and "Richard," all of whose names have been changed to hide their identities. Jane is a Chinese-American woman from the suburbs of Indianapolis who says she has to face the liberal politics of soccer moms all the time. “I'm scared to death,” Jane told Just The News. As a single mom to a teenager, Jane doesn’t need any extra burdens. “I worry that I would become a target of...

NYT just stealth edited the original story about Hillary Clinton to claim that she didnt say the Russians were grooming Tulsi But that Republicans were There is no correction, no notice, this was done quietly original story - https://archive.is/4K5cX

the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force's iconic SR-71 Blackbird ... also incorporated then-state-of-the-art features to reduce its radar cross-section. These included a combination of a stealthy overall shape and radar-evading structures, as well as the use of composites in its construction, and the incorporation of radar absorbing materials on its skin. A far less known, but still a key component of the Skunk Works plan to make the A-12 harder to spot on radar involved a cesium-laced fuel additive to dramatically reduce the radar signature of the plane's massive engine exhausts and afterburner plumes by creating an ionizing cloud...

The F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, the world’s first purpose-designed stealth aircraft, was recently sighted high in the skies over Death Valley, California. The fighter, part of a fleet of jets retired in 2008, was sporting a brand new camouflage paint job and accompanied by a NASA jet and aerial refueling tanker. What was it doing? That’s anyone’s guess.

China has reportedly developed an over-the-horizon maritime early warning radar system that its creator claims can detect stealth aircraft far beyond visual range, an advanced capability that could threaten US fifth-generation fighters operating in the area. Liu Yongtan, the team leader for the radar project, told Chinese media his high-frequency surface wave radar emits "high frequency electromagnetic waves with long wavelengths and wide beams" that travel along the surface of the sea, the Global Times reported Monday, citing a recent interview with Naval and Merchant Ships magazine. The radar system, part of China's ongoing efforts to prevent a sneak attack...

The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project of India has gone deep into the detail design phase now. Along with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), hundreds of scientists spread across at least 20 labs of Defence Research and Development Organisation are now engrossed in critical work to find solutions to a number of next-generation technologies that need to be proven. With the project definition phase (PDP) getting over in 2017, Onmanorama can confirm that scientists have already walked some distance designing the AMCA, India’s stealth fighter. ADA, the designer of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, is spearheading the AMCA mission....

Last summer, the world got its first glimpses of a massive, 20-ton stealth drone fighter being developed by Russia when defense industry sources passed them along to the Russian state-owned news outlet TASS. Though the aircraft (shown above) “has not yet taken full shape, its main features are already known,” a defense official told the newswire. Since TASS is completely run by the Kremlin, it’s safe to say that the images were ‘leaked’ on purpose. Since TASS is completely run by the Kremlin, it’s safe to say that the images were ‘leaked’ on purpose. The defense official noted further: “First...

China's J-20 stealth fighter jet represents a massive milestone for Beijing's armed forces and the first stealth aircraft ever fielded outside the US, but the impressive effort still falls noticeably short in some areas. The J-20 doesn't have a cannon, and represents the only entry into the world of fifth-generation fighters that skips the gun, which has seen 100 years of aerial combat.

Less than a week after Chinese state media said the H-20 stealth bomber program was making “great progress,” there are now reports that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF, might be planning to publicly reveal the plane during celebrations the mark the 70th anniversary of its founding in 2019. It has also emerged that the PLAAF showed off a logo featuring the silhouette of a flying wing-style aircraft at a recent official gala promoting plans to establish a “first-class strategic bomber division,” which may also be a nod to the up-coming H-20. Defence Blog was among the first...

The Severodvinsk certainly is a major upgrade for the Russian navy. With 10 missile silos and eight torpedo tubes, it’s a formidable offensive weapon. And, of course, it’s very stealthy. The U.S. Navy has been tracking the construction and development of this submarine for years. In fact, the boat has been under construction at various stages since 1993; the first boat of the class finally entered sea trials in 2011. U.S. Navy officials believe it is the most capable attack submarine ever built. But is it a game-changer for NATO? That depends on a couple of factors.

Russia is set to add a hypersonic missile to its arsenal which can hit targets almost 200 miles away, Moscow's official media outlet has reported. The R-37M missile, which is designed to target enemy aircraft and can travel at Mach 6 - more than 4,500mph - is an upgrade on a Soviet-era weapon first launched in 1985. The latest missile, which will be fired from Russia's planned SU-57 stealth jets, is said to be equipped with an active-seeker homing system to blast enemy planes out of the sky. The new air-to-air missile is intended to target enemy fighter jets as...

The esoteric subject of fighter aircraft contracting, usually restricted in the Indian context to the occasional headline, boomed within the walls of India’s Parliament a week ago. In the eye of the proverbial storm was — and continues to be — India’s purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France. With less than a year to go for the country’s next national election, one that promises to outstrip all earlier elections in its assurance of a historically no-holds-barred fight, the aircraft deal is now a fully loaded political weapon, where the noise has helpfully blurred many of the questions being...

“Catholica” is an international magazine of culture, politics, and religion, published in France, which in its more than thirty years of existence has brought in prestigious authors in their respective fields and specialties, from Émile Poulat to Robert Spaemann, from Ernst Wolfgang Böckenförde to Vladimir Bukowski, from Stanislaw Grygiel to Thierry Wolton, from Jacques Ellul to Pietro De Marco. It is directed by Bernard Dumont. Who in the latest issue of the magazine, just off the presses, puts his byline on the following editorial, which can be read online by non-subscribers as well:> Un temps pour parlerThe “word” that Dumont...