Free Republic

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...

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