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

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were caught on a hot mic mocking the military pregame flyover: TROY AIKMAN: That’s a lot of jet fuel just to do a little flyover. JOE BUCK: That’s your hard-earned money and your tax dollars at work! AIKMAN: That stuff ain’t happening with [a] Kamala-Biden ticket. I’ll tell you that right now, partner. Well, Aikman may have a point if Biden makes it across the finish line.

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- A heavy presence of fire trucks and police could be seen at the Daniel K. Inouye airport just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5. Residents nearby have reported hearing sounds of explosions. They said that they saw bright flashes of light that may have been fire coming from an aircraft. Video: Heavy police, HFD presence at Honolulu airport after reports of explosive sounds coming from aircraft According to the Department of Transportation, the aircraft is a military chartered jet that flew out of Hickam Air Force Base. Officials revealed that there was an in-flight emergency aboard...

The movie "Thirteen Days" is the latest dramatization of President Kennedy's showdown with the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Retired Air Force Maj. Gottlieb "John" Wilmsmeyer, 71, hasn't seen the film. But the Missouri farmer figures he can match that Cold War tale with a nail-biter of his own. It occurred about the same time. It might even have influenced the missile crisis. But for nearly 40 years, Wilmsmeyer had to keep quiet about "Operation Speedlight Delta." He was crew commander on a KC-135 tanker at Forbes Air Force Base, Topeka, Kan., in the summer of...

WASHINGTON: In a 5 to 0 sweep, an AI ‘pilot’ developed by Heron Systems beat one of the Air Force’s top F-16 fighter pilots in DARPA’s simulated aerial dogfight contest today. “It’s a giant leap,” said DARPA’s Justin (call sign “Glock”) Mock, who served as a commentator on the trials. AI still has a long way to go before the Air Force pilots would be ready to hand over the stick to an artificial intelligence during combat, DARPA officials said during today’s live broadcast of the AlphaDogfight trials. But the three-day trials show that AI systems can credibly maneuver an...

An Air Force helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a Virginia airport Monday after someone shot at it, injuring a member of the crew, local and military officials told McClatchy. The UH-1N Huey helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews and had been on a routine training flight, the base said in a statement. The injured crew member, who was not identified, was treated at a hospital and released. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident.

The FBI is investigating the incident, involving a helicopter assigned to President Donald Trump’s support detail. The UH-1N Huey helicopter, assigned to Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington, D.C., was conducting a routine training flight roughly 1,000 feet above the ground before it was forced to make an emergency landing at an airport in nearby Manassas, Virginia, after being struck by a bullet, an Air Force spokesperson tells U.S. News. The helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron, which supports the movement of the president and other senior government officials to and from Andrews, where Air Force One...

Yesterday a group of us discussed our prior military experiences, we had never met before and it was informal employment seminar for my business. I exclusively hire vets and being one, I know we are all capable of embellishing our careers with war stories. Amazingly, not one guy claimed to be a SEAL or Green Beret but, one woman in the group claimed that she was a former USAF Enlisted Tactical Air Controller. It just didn't smell right and I asked about her training. She said Keesler AFB. She couldn't "find" her DD 214. I told her I could go...

The Air Force, wary of losing its GPS satellites during a major war, is exploring alternatives. One alternative is using a magnetic field map of Earth. Maps of Earth’s magnetic field are very accurate, but we don't know how data is gained about possible enemy territory. =================================================================================== The U.S. Air Force, concerned that adversaries might target its fleet of GPS satellites in wartime, is looking into Earth’s magnetic field as an alternative, according to Defense One.Accurate and extremely difficult to jam, the magnetic field could be used as a means of navigation for ground troops, ships at sea, and...

Russian aircraft on June 26 again intercepted U.S. aircraft in international airspace, this time USAF and U.S. Navy reconnaissance planes along with a refueling tanker operating in the Black Sea. The intercept is at least the eighth interaction between U.S. and Russian aircraft across the globe within the last month. The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video showing a Navy P-8, along with a USAF KC-135 refueling an RC-135 reconnaissance plane over international waters. The MOD said an Su-30 fighter from the country’s Southern Military District responded, and “approached from a safe distance” to identify the aircraft, according to...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:45 P.M.) – The United States tested the new smart bomb, GBU-53 StormBreaker, using one of their modern warplanes. According to reports, the U.S. Navy’s FA-18E/F Super Hornet fighter and attack aircraft launched the GBU-53 StormBreaker all-weather bomb on a designated target. The new bomb can be used in all weather conditions, including poor visibility, Janes Defense reported last week. An RMD spokesperson told Janes that the U.S. Air Force determines the number of tests needed to validate the bomb, but did not specify when it would be available. “The USAF (US Air Force) program office, in co-ordination...

Steven Carrillo Biography – Wiki Steven Carrillo is named as the suspect who shot and killed Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputy in Ben Lomond, an unincorporated area near Santa Cruz on Saturday while making an arrest, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said. Two other law enforcement officers were wounded, according to authorities. Carrillo was shot during the arrest and is still being treated at the hospital.

Air Force researchers are designing an autonomous aircraft that can take down a manned plane in air-to-air combat, with the goal of pitting the two against each other in July 2021. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said the Air Force Research Laboratory team is pushing the boundaries of what the military can build, compared to the aircraft that already fill the service’s squadrons. “[Team leader Steve Rogers] is probably going to have a hard time getting to that flight next year … when the machine beats the human,” Shanahan said during a June...

The aircraft was on a routine night training mission when the incident occurred. BY TYLER ROGOWAY MAY 20, 2020 THE WAR ZONE Details remain scarce at this time, but an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was flying out of Eglin AFB, which is located on the Florida panhandle, has crashed. Thankfully, the pilot was able to eject and is safe. The incident occurred at around 9:30 pm local time and the F-35A was on a routine night training mission. This is the second crash of an aircraft operating out of the base in less than a week, with an F-22...

In what is a massive milestone for Boeing and potentially for unmanned aerial combat systems as a whole, the company officially rolled out the first of three pre-production unmanned teaming aircraft, which is the central component of a total system called the Airpower Teaming System, or ATS for short. The War Zone was part of a small roundtable of journalists that talked with two of the minds behind ATS ahead of the official unveiling and we learned a lot about this potentially game-changing system, to say the least. ATS is designed to work with manned aerial assets in the 'loyal...

After an intense period of restocking, Air Force precision weapon inventories are almost back to acceptable levels, Air Force leaders say. Now they are throttling back planned purchases for fiscal 2021. “We have been able to make a dent” in the munitions shortage, said Gen. Arnold Bunch Jr., head of Air Force Materiel Command during the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in February. The sharp reduction of U.S. air attacks against the Islamic State group “has allowed us to get in a better place and on a better trajectory” in terms of war reserves. Bunch has previously referred to...

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam confirms COVID-19 cases but details silenced by Pentagon US Army bases in Hawaii restricting non-essential visitors in wake of coronavirus pandemic By Mahealani Richardson | April 2, 2020 at 7:11 PM HST - Updated April 2 at 7:24 PM HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Leaders with Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam say there are COVID cases at the intallation, but the Pentagon says military operations cannot publicly release specific numbers to ‘protect operational security.’ “Are there any Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam service members that are sick with COVID, the answer is yes. Until recently we were providing that...

A second cadet has been found dead at the U.S. Air Force Academy, days after officials reported that a “firstie” who was due to graduate in May had died. Cadets and staff were told in an online briefing on Saturday of the latest death at the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based academy, several members of the institution’s community told Stars and Stripes, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to comment on the incident.

President Donald Trump nominated the first African American Air Force chief of staff, the highest ranking uniformed position. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is a veteran combat pilot and longtime officer currently the head of U.S. Pacific Air Forces. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced his nomination on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Brown is an F-16 pilot who has served in Asia and the Middle East and has been an Air Force officer since 1984. He has flown nearly 3,000 hours, including combat missions, the Wall Street Journal reports. Prior to leading the Pacific Air Forces, he was...

In June 2018, President Trump directed the Department of Defense to “begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.” The reason for a space force is simple: space is the strategic high ground from which all future wars will be fought. If we do not master space, our nation will become indefensible. Since that time, entrenched bureaucrats and military leaders across the Department of Defense, especially in the Air Force, have been resisting the President’s directive in every way they can. And this December, although Congress voted to approve a Space...