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Here comes the X-59: Supersonic transport may hold a promise of super-fast travel, but it also promises to be extremely loud – and not just to those on the actual aircraft. That is why the Concorde, which was developed as part of an Anglo-French effort and while operated by British Airways and Air France, was typically only used for travel from Europe to North America. The American SST (supersonic transport) effort was grounded mainly due to noise and environmental concerns. Those concerns remain as multiple European nations and environmental groups seek to stop any comeback of supersonic commercial travel. Earlier...

Analysis: Taiwan is Relying on World War II Era Submarines – It is hard to put an expiration date on military hardware, and some platforms remain in service decades after first entering service. The United States Air Force continues to operate around 48 B-52 Stratofortress bombers that date back to the 1950s and early 1960s, while the United States Navy returned its four Iowa-class battleships to service in the 1980s, only to retire them nearly a decade later. In late 2020, the United States Navy also marked the 50th anniversary of the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), one of two amphibious...

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...

In the last couple of years, there has been a lot of attention on the build-up of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It has undergone a major modernization effort and is now the largest naval force in the world. Just last month, the PLAN launched its third aircraft carrier – the second to be entirely indigenously built. This will allow China to flex its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Likewise, there has been great speculation regarding China’s efforts to develop a capable fifth-generation fighter aircraft and a medium- to long-range stealth bomber. In very short order, Beijing...

How Many B-21 Raider Bombers Are Needed? At some point in the future, officials from the Department of the Air Force will likely be seated in a House subcommittee in our nation’s capital and asked a blunt question from United States lawmakers: How many B-21 Raider bombers do you actually need? Some U.S. Air Force officials are already pondering that query. Current plans call for the service to operate at least 100 long-range strategic bombers, but there have been calls for the Air Force to acquire upwards of 179 or more.

USS Jimmy Carter, A History – There are currently nine aircraft carriers named for former presidents of the United States, while a tenth is now under construction. However, President Jimmy Carter isn’t included in the list of former commanders-in-chief to be so honored – rather Carter has the distinction of being recognized for his service as a United States Navy submariner with a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered, fast attack submarine (SSN) named for him. Carter was the only submarine-qualified sailor to go on to become the nation’s chief executive. He was the nuclear engineer officer on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Seawolf (SSN 575)...

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...

The F-15EX Eagle II Soaring High After Weapons System Evaluation – Earlier this month, the United States Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 6 team members participated in two of the first developmental and operational test missile shots from the Boeing F-15EX. For the exercise, Engineers and analysts from the AFOTEC Detachment 6 F-15 division traveled to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) and Tyndall AFB, both in Florida, to draw results from the AIM-120D and AIM-120C3 missile shots performed as part of the Weapons System Evaluation Program (WSEP) conducted by Eglin’s 53rd Wing. These missile shots highlighted how...