Crooked Bough News Round-up

— F-15EX To Replace Michigan Air National Guard A-10s

 

at 4/29/25 5:08pm

President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement today at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, which was losing its A-10 Warthogs to retirement, and possibly its tactical flying mission overall. Instead, the storied base and the 107th Fighter Squadron have been chosen to receive a squadron of Boeing F-15EX Eagle IIs. The news comes just a day after billions of dollars were earmarked for accelerating F-15EX acquisitions in a massive defense spending boost proposed by the heads of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Still, there are big questions of where these jets are coming from, as well as what exactly this means for the F-15EX basing structure and its future numbers in the Air Force overall. A row of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, also known as the Warthog, assigned to the 127th Wing, flown by the 107th Fighter Squadron sit ready for operation in the wake of morning day break at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan in 2022. Photo by Terry L. Atwell Terry Atwell Trump visited Selfridge Air National Guard Base today to deliver the very welcome news that the installation will not lose its fighter mission. Instead, it would grow with a new and far more advanced aircraft than the bases Warthogs. A squadron of KC-46 Pegasus tankers is already slated to call the base home towards the end of the decade, replacing the KC-135Rs stationed there now. @POTUS: "As commander-in-chief, I am proud to announce that very soon we will replace the retiring A-10 Warthogs with 21 brand new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets" at Selfridge Air National Guard base in Michigan. pic.twitter.com/3vi0yIbVvb— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 29, 2025 This is a major economic win for Michigan, and politicians and community leaders on both sides of the political aisle are lauding Trumps reprieve for the bases fighter mission. Trump said today that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is a member of the Democratic Party, made her controversial visit to the White House earlier this month to save Selfridge. Trump praising Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER at Selfridge Air National Guard Base: “She came to see me. That’s the reason she came to see me, by the way, to save Selfridge. She was very effective,” he said.— Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) April 29, 2025 BREAKING: After years of hard work, we’ve secured a new fighter squadron to protect operations at Selfridge Air National Guard Base for decades to come. That means jobs, a stronger economy, and a bright, lasting, and secure future for Selfridge and the entire state of Michigan. pic.twitter.com/H8YuL6b2sh— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) April 29, 2025 My statement on the announcement that 21 F-15EXs are coming to Selfridge Air National Guard Base: pic.twitter.com/v1uWD2dhPL— Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) April 29, 2025 Thank you @POTUS for recognizing the roll Selfridge plays in supporting our warfighters and contributing to our nation’s defense.This is something the Michigan Delegation and I have long fought for, and President Trump made it a reality. I look forward to integrating the F-15EX…— Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) April 29, 2025 What remains unclear is where the new F-15EXs will come from. As it sits now, roughly all the F-15EXs allotted under the 98 airframe procurement program of record have a future home. Each squadron would be made up of 18 jets, a reduction from the roughly 21 F-15C/Ds found today at units that still fly the older aircraft. Oregon, California, and Louisiana would all get one squadron, replacing their F-15C/Ds. Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa has at least been loosely understood to be in line to get two squadrons. This would leave eight aircraft for testing, training, and reserve. Now with the added 21 jets for Selfridge, either those assignments are changing or more F-15EXs are being bought. The latter is very possible, as indicated by the $3.1B set aside to increase production of the F-15EX in the recently proposed $150B defense spending package. However, it still isnt clear if those funds would be used to accelerate and fund current procurement plans or to expand them, although buying more jets seemed more likely. You can read all about this in our write up on it here. So, with yesterdays budgetary news and todays basing announcement, more F-15EXs appear to be planned for. Maj Benjamin Torch Naumann and Maj Mark Smack Smith from the 40th Flight Test Squadron flying the F-15EX Eagle II prepare to fire an AIM-120D missile during a test mission near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida in 2022. The F-15EX can hold up to 12 AIM-120D missiles. Photo by Tech. Sgt. John Raven Tech. Sgt. John Raven This would make a lot of sense based on the issues surrounding such a small force, the unique capabilities and efficiencies the F-15EX brings to the table, the popularity of the jet among key commanders, its testing performance, and especially the growing threats abroad. You can read more about the case for a larger F-15EX fleet in this past feature of ours. Alternatively, its possible that Kadena is now going to get just one squadron of F-15EXs instead of two, with those 18 jets going to Selfridge, plus three from the remaining eight testing, training, and spare aircraft pool. The 21-aircraft squadron structure for Selfridge — adopting the same inventory number as the F-15C/D force — is also curious. This could indicate that all F-15EX squadrons will gain three more jets under a larger overall buy. This would allow for 18 primary aircraft and three retained by each unit as backup inventory aircraft. If Selfridges F-15EXs are truly in addition to the 98 jets the Air Force currently plans to order, we also dont know if other squadrons will follow. Doing so would grow the overall program of record significantly. Originally, the minimum procurement target was 144 Eagle IIs. Finally, its worth mentioning that the F-15EX is primarily seen as an air defense asset, at least for now. F-15C/Ds tasked with that mission for homeland defense have been arrayed along the countrys coastlines, protecting from threats emanating from the maritime domain. Not since the short-lived Montana F-15C/D unit (120th Fighter Wing) was shuttered nearly a decade and a half ago have operational air superiority Eagles been stationed elsewhere in the country. So, regaining an Eagle squadron that is positioned for northern air defense is an interesting development. We have reached out to the USAF for clarification on the questions laid out here, and its worth noting that if these are extra jets, the spending bill that could help fund them still has to be passed and signed into law in order to definitively say this is a done deal. Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com The post F-15EX To Replace Michigan Air National Guard A-10s appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, F-15, Fighters] [Link to media]

— Marines Get Their First High Power Microwave Weapon For Taking On Drone Swarms

 

at 4/29/25 2:06pm

The U.S. Marine Corps has taken delivery of the Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS, weapon, its maker Epirus announced today to coincide with the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C. ExDECS will allow the Corps to start experiments with high-power microwave (HPM) technology in the increasingly critical low-altitude air defense (LAAD) role. This kind of counter-drone system is increasingly seen as a critical layer in force protection and something that is urgently needed to enhance current and future ground-based air defense capabilities. ExDECS is a derivative of the Leonidas HPM-energy-based counter-drone system developed by Epirus, whose products we will revisit soon in a very in-depth story. The company delivered the first ExDECS system to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Virginia earlier this year, where it completed government acceptance testing ahead of a planned test program. The trailer-mounted Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS. Epirus The mobile, solid-state HPM system has been developed as part of a contract awarded by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). In September 2024, the ONR awarded Epirus an additional follow-on contract to support further testing and evaluation of the system as part of the Preliminary Evaluation of Ground-based Anti-Swarm UAS System (PEGASUS) program. “Drone warfare is changing the fight — fast. Systems like ExDECS give Marines a decisive advantage by neutralizing multiple electronic threats at once with a single system — what we call a one-to-many capability,” said Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus. “This delivery is a critical step toward fielding non-kinetic counter-swarm solutions that enhance the mobility, survivability, and lethality of our Marine forces.” While the maximum effective range of ExDECS is classified, the Department of Defense has confirmed that Epirus HPM systems can affect targets at “tactically relevant ranges,” the company confirmed to TWZ. Generally, HPM systems are for point defense, effective within a handful of miles of the target. Leonidas Expeditionary was introduced in 2024 and is the latest addition to the company’s range of scalable HPM systems for counter-electronics. ExDECS is designed to integrate with light tactical vehicles and trailers to improve expeditionary short-range air defense (SHORAD) capabilities. HPM weapons belong to a broader category of directed-energy weapons, which also includes lasers. All of them tackle their target or targets without the use of a projectile. A close-up of the ExDECS directed-energy weapon. Epirus Specifically, HPM weapons use high-frequency radio waves to disrupt or disable critical electronic systems on a target — literally frying them if the weapons are powerful enough. Once targeted, aerial drones will crash or otherwise malfunction. An HPM system’s power levels and how it focuses its beam have impacts on its range and ability to engage multiple threats at once. A wide beam means HPM weapons have greater potential to counter drone swarms than lasers, which have to focus on one target at a time. A radiofrequency directed-energy weapon also offers notable advantages over ‘soft-kill’ options, like electronic warfare jammers, in that it can also bring down drones that are operating autonomously, or those using fiber-optic-cable guidance, by disrupting their onboard electronics. ExDECS and the Leonidas system are primarily aimed at defeating uncrewed aircraft, including large drones or networked swarms of drones. It could also potentially be employed against more traditional aircraft, as well as low-flying cruise missiles, and even threats on the ground. The U.S. Army previously acquired and field-tested a microwave weapon ostensibly designed for non-lethal crowd-control use. Like a laser, an HPM weapon is also cheap to use. Epirus estimates that defeating a drone with ExDECS costs just five cents. This becomes an even more important factor when faced with drone swarms, which a system like ExDECS is optimized for. As an Epirus spokesperson told TWZ: “It’s not about targeting one drone at a time — it’s about affecting everything within the volume of space covered by our electronically scanned array.” Epirus Epirus previously told TWZ that the technology behind Leonidas makes it particularly efficient since it uses “artificial intelligence-controlled solid-state power amplifiers to achieve extremely high levels of power output.” The company says this makes the core components of this directed-energy weapon highly scalable, as well. As we have discussed before, HPM directed-energy weapons are an area in which the U.S. military, including the Navy, and other armed forces around the world are currently investing. Epirus is among the leading players in this field, with its Leonidas having previously been integrated on the Stryker armored fighting vehicle. Other examples include the Tactical High-power Operational Responder, also known as THOR, a containerized counter-drone system that the U.S. Air Force has been testing. Outside the United States, systems include the British Army’s Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon demonstrator, or RF DEW, which has demonstrated the ability to bring down a swarm of drones during trials, which you can read about here. As for the Marine Corps, the service is forging ahead with plans to expand its counter-drone strategy, with a wide variety of systems, from vehicle-mounted solutions down to infantry-operated ones. These include the vehicle-based Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, and the lighter  L-MADIS. Both these systems use electronic jamming to disrupt enemy drone communications, but they can also be used in conjunction with kinetic effectors. In MADIS, the vehicles are provided with 30mm cannons and M240C coaxial machine guns, while L-MADIS can be teamed with shoulder-fired FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Company-16, 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group observe the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, December 13, 2023. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Virginia Guffey An early version of L-MADIS made headlines in 2019 when it shot down an Iranian drone from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operational debut. Since ExDECS is trailer-based, it could also be deployed aboard warships in this way. While MADIS and L-MADIS represent the initial effort to bolster the counter-drone capabilities of Marine Corps low-altitude air defense battalions, the service is also working on a broader, and more nebulous, effort that aims to give every Marine access to drone defense and detection capabilities. You can read more about this plan here. Another part of the Marine Corps’ counter-drone strategy involves installation defense. This involves weapons or technologies that can protect Marine Corps bases and facilities from hostile drones, with a focus on using non-kinetic means of disrupting drones or bringing them down. This has seen Counter small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (I-CUAS) installed at Marine bases. A small quadcopter drone during counter-unmanned aerial system tests over Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu. These were run by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) Pacific Target Marine Operations (PTMO) and Threat/Target Systems Department (TTSD). U.S. Navy photo by Ensign Drew Verbis/Released Ensign Drew Verbis With drones becoming better hardened against electronic countermeasures and jamming, and increasingly autonomous, counter-drone strategies are made more complicated. A fast-evolving threat means that a broad range of countermeasures is needed to keep pace, in what is a potentially deadly cat-and-mouse game. Now, with the receipt of the ExDECS, the Marines are ready to start trials with this HPM technology. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post Marines Get Their First High Power Microwave Weapon For Taking On Drone Swarms appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Land, Air, Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (C-UAS), Directed Energy, Drones, High Powered Microwaves, News & Features, Sea, U.S. Marine Corps] [Link to media]

— Lumberjack Jet-Powered One-Way Attack Munition Can Drop Its Own Precision Bomblets

 

at 4/29/25 12:33pm

Northrop Grumman has just unveiled its new Lumberjack loitering one-way attack drone at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C., at which TWZ is in attendance. We talked to Michael Bastin, Director of Technology for the firm, on the show floor to get the low-down on Lumberjack and what it brings to the table. The jet-propelled weapon falls into the U.S. militarys Group 3 uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) category, defined as designs weighing between 55 and 1,320 pounds, able to fly at between 3,500 and 18,000 feet, and having top speeds of between 100 and 250 knots. Lumberjack can be launched from the surface or the air. It carries a payload size similar to that of a 250-pound class Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). It can be configured for kinetic strike, including dropping submunitions of its own, or other roles, such as acting as an electronic warfare platform or reconnaissance. This flexibility comes via a modular center base compartment. Because it is air-launched and/or ground-launched, and it has a several hundred-mile range, you can basically put in kinetic effects from a forward-deployed ground base — very modular — its a two-man lift. So you can have an ability to sort of reach out and defend surface and land capabilities, as well as air deploy, and have non-kinetic electronic warfare protection for your main forces, Bastin told us. It can also trade its range for loitering endurance, staying in the air over an area for a couple hours. (Howard Altman) In terms of launch options, Bastin told us that weve demonstrated two different launchers. One is an electric rail system developed for the Navy, intended actually to launch off of ships. So you could actually launch this off of surface vessels. Weve also launched it using a pneumatic technique, which is field-deployable. Its very similar to whats being employed currently in Europe If the ground forces want it, its basically a large, effectively a potato gun. Very cheap, very easy to build. You can build it in, you know, local components. Cost-wise, Lumberjack is aiming to come in at around $75 to $100k, per weapon, according to Bastin. This would be a comparatively attractive price, especially for a modular kamikaze drone that is jet-powered and can fly at least a few hundred miles. This would equate to roughly half the cost of a Hellfire missile. Alternately, a single 227mm M31 GMLRS guided artillery rocket, which has a range of around 50 miles, costs around $150k. Lumberjack would not strike as fast as the M31, but it would cover a much larger area and do so more flexibly from a single position than current GMLRS offerings, and even the forthcoming GMLRS-ER, which has nearly double its progenitors range. An M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher vehicle fires a 227mm GLMRS guided artillery rocket. US Army With this in mind, from a single ground position, Lumberjack would allow a very small team to take on targets anywhere in a circle ranging at least 200 miles (possibly significantly further) in any direction, and do so relatively rapidly thanks to the Lumberjacks jet speed. Once again, this is a capability far beyond the range of traditional and guided rocket artillery systems, and one that can be employed without the need to put airpower overhead. That is a huge amount of territory that can be put at risk very cheaply. The ability for a single Lumberjack to attack multiple small targets geographically separated using submunitions on its one-and-only sortie it will fly is also a major plus, both in terms of value and flexibility. Lumberjacks potential use as a ship-based weapon is also attractive, especially due to its cost, range, and smaller size. Its loitering ability could come in use for many roles, from electronic warfare to reconnaissance, but especially for setting up force protection pickets between the ship and potential small surface threats. You can read all about how a weapon just like this could be a huge plus for surface combatants in this past feature of ours. As for air launch capabilities, that seems a little less defined as of now. The weapon has roughly the same size and mounting provisions as a Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), Bastin told us, and the company is working with a number of government partners investigating a variety of launch platforms. When it comes to the possibility of putting this on fast jets, not just slower helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, there are customers interested in certifying it for that, Bastin said. Then there is the fairly bizarre name, Lumberjack. Bastin wasnt sure how that came about, but as we look at the concept and its submunitions dropping capability, as well as other Northrop Grumman products, it may be that it is intended to drop Hatchet, the companys 6lb micro guided munition, which is already finding its way onto other Group 3 unmanned aircraft. The pairing of these two concepts together would be highly logical and would up the procurement case for Lumberjack. According to Bastin, Lumberjack has been undergoing test flights and demonstrations since last year in conjunction with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E). The system is at the point now that Northrop Grumman is looking for a customer to move it out of the experimental development realm. We will keep an eye on how Lumberjack progresses, but it certainly fits with the broader trends in warfare we are experiencing. Whether or not it will actually get a chance to take a chop at the enemy on a real battlefield, well have to wait and see. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com The post Lumberjack Jet-Powered One-Way Attack Munition Can Drop Its Own Precision Bomblets appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Drones, Loitering Munitions, News & Features, Unmanned] [Link to media]

— Liberty Lifter Ekranoplan Demonstrator Aims To Lift C-130-Sized Payloads

 

at 4/29/25 11:42am

Aurora Flight Sciences has provided new details about the demonstrator design it is working on for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencys (DARPA) Liberty Lifter X-plane program. Liberty Lifters core goal is to prove out a new ekranoplan flying transport design that employs the wing-in-ground (WIG) effect principle. A future aircraft based on the demonstrator could give the U.S. military a new way to affordably move large amounts of cargo and personnel across long distances, and without the need for traditional runways. Richard Koucheravy, business development director for manufacturing at Aurora, gave TWZ‘s Howard Altman an update on Liberty Lifter from the floor of the Modern Day Marine exposition today. In 2023, Aurora Flight Sciences and General Atomics received contracts to conduct initial Liberty Lifter work. Last year, DARPA selected Aurora Flight Sciences, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, to continue on alone in the development of what is hoped to be a flying demonstrator. The most recent concept art of Auroras Liberty Lifter design shows a flying boat-style arrangement with a v-shaped hull for a fuselage and a large straight main wing with wingtip floats, all powered by eight wing-mounted turboprop engines. It also has twin vertical tails joined at the top by a horizontal stabilizer. Cargo, including light amphibious armored vehicles, has been depicted being unloaded via a large rear ramp, as seen in the video below. General Atomics had proposed a more radical-looking twin-fuselage design that you can read more about here. So we are designing a demonstrator that is roughly about 80 percent scale to the objective airplane, Auroras Koucheravy explained. This is a scale that is representative enough that you can pull some really good lessons out of it without having to build the full scale objective aircraft. So now were talking something thats closer to C-130 cargo size, 25-ton [payload], he continued, adding that the demonstrator is expected to have a wingspan of around 216 feet. It will also use U.S. government-supplied engines, and Aurora said it would follow up with TWZ about exactly what type they are expecting to receive. DARPA has previously said the ultimate vision for Liberty Lifter is a design with a comparable payload capacity to the C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft. The C-17s stated maximum payload weight is some 82 tons, although the planes more typically fly around with around 60 tons or less worth of cargo and personnel inside. A C-130, in front, with a C-17 behind. USAF Liberty Lifter requirements that DARPA has released publicly in the past also include the ability to take off and land in open water in conditions up to Sea State 4 and “sustained on-water operation” at up to Sea State 5. These two Sea States are characterized by wind speeds of 11 to 16 knots and 17 to 21 knots, as well as wave heights between three and five feet and six and eight feet, respectively. Were building a demonstrator with an unpressurized cockpit, because the aircraft is primarily intended to fly in ground effect, which, for an aircraft this size, its going to be pretty close to the water. Youre going to be within a few 100 feet of the water, Koucheravy explained. And in order to do that, if theres any level of Sea State, youve got to have the right technology to enable the aircraft to maintain ground effect for very long distances, even though youve got potentially some heavy seas. So thats one of the technical challenges of the program. Aurora Flight Sciences/DARPA The idea of a flying platform utilizing the wing-in-ground (WIG) principle is not new, but designs of this kind have been met with very little success historically, especially for military use. The Soviet Union remains the most notable operator of military WIG designs, known in Russian as ekranoplans – a term now widely used as a catch-all for WIG designs – but even there their service was limited. Efforts to revive military ekranoplans in Russia in recent years have so far not produced any operational types. The video below shows the only Project 903 Lun class ekranoplan, a cruise missile-armed design, that the Soviet Union ever completed being moved in the Caspian Sea in 2020 as part of a plan to put it on display. In principle, ekranoplans offer a highly efficient over-water craft that can move at high speeds since it does not suffer from the drag associated with typical ship designs, while also benefiting from the lift generated by a wing. At the same time, high-speed sea-skimming flight presents challenges, as Koucheravy highlighted, including the risk of collisions with various objects on the surface or even just high cresting waves. To help get around these issues, DARPAs Liberty Lifter program has called for something of a hybrid design that is still capable of operating like a traditional flying boat, if required, at altitudes up to 10,000 feet mean sea level with a compromise on range. I think this early in an aircraft design where you have your preliminary design, you basically have the outer mold line of the aircraft, more or less set, you understand your configuration, but theres still design work to do once you go through that, Auroras Koucheravy said. And so were excited to move into the detail design phase and start building the airplane. DARPA is expected to make a decision about whether or not to proceed to the next step with Liberty Lifter this summer. Where Aurora might then begin actually building the demonstrator is still open question, according to Koucheravy. You know, one of the objectives of the program is to look at maritime manufacturing processes to the max extent possible, rather than approaching this purely from the aerospace build, he explained. So the aircraft will be built through a combination of maritime ship-building processes and aircraft build processes. This means were going to be looking for a location that has a robust maritime workforce that includes shipyards [and other] partners on the maritime build side that can help us build and assemble the aircraft close to the water, and then float the airplane, he continued. This will not have landing gear. The demonstrator will not be a land based airplane. So it, shortly after build, at some point in the build process, itll be floated, and it will live its entire life cycle, pretty much, on the water. Aurora Flight Sciences/DARPA Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox, a subsidiary of Leidos, has notably been part of Auroras Liberty Lifter team since the beginning. The maritime focus of Auroras designs speaks to the broader objectives of what DARPA is looking to demonstrate with Liberty Lifter. The Liberty Lifter program is currently designing and will build, float, and fly an affordable and innovative seaplane that can potentially transform fast logistics missions for the DOD and commerce, DARPA states on its current webpage about the program. Liberty Lifter’s innovative manufacturing techniques and materials offer a path to utilize existing infrastructure to rapidly build – at low-cost – a capability essential for our warfighters, helping to advance the efficacy of our defense industrial base to meet near-term needs. Liberty Lifter could also provide sea-based search and rescue and disaster response at the scale of ships with the speed of air transport. Moreso even than offering an alternative to traditional cargo aircraft, Liberty Lifter could provide a new tool for efficiently transporting large payloads at speeds far exceeding existing sea lift platforms, according to DARPA. An over-water logistics capability that is faster than existing cargo ships and is not runway dependent like many traditional cargo planes could be particularly valuable in a future conflict in the Pacific. Especially in a high-end fight against China, U.S. forces in the region would be greatly dispersed, including to more remote locations without well-established infrastructure, to reduce their own vulnerability to attack. Existing traditional airlift and sealift assets would be heavily tasked in general to support those distributed operations. In addition, Liberty Lifter would be able to avoid many maritime threats like submarines and anti-ship missiles. A very-low-altitude flight profile typically improves overall survivability by helping conceal an aircraft from defenders, especially their radars. With all this in mind, runway-independent aviation capabilities, or at least ones that are less dependent on traditional airstrips, are of growing interest to the U.S. military. U.S. Special Operations Command had also been working on a floatplane version of the MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transport aircraft, but shelved that project last year, citing budgetary issues. The very capable Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 seaplane has also been discussed as another potential path to this kind of capability. A rendering of the MC-130J Amphibious Capability (MAC) floatplane concept. USAF For its part, last year, the state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced the start of series production of the AG600, a large seaplane that has been in development since the late 2000s. TWZ has highlighted in the past how the AG600 would be particularly well suited to supporting far-flung island outposts like the ones China maintains in the hotly contested South China Sea. Whether or not DARPA decides to proceed with Liberty Lifter and when Auroras planned demonstrator may actually fly for the first time remains to be seen. The program is now looking at the potential start of flight testing in the 2028-2029 timeframe, a delay from the original 2027-2028 schedule. DARPA X-plane programs do not always come to fruition, something Aurora is directly familiar with from the cancellation of work on the XV-24 LightningStrike hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing-capable drone in 2018. DARPA is faced with a decision this year, this summer, on whether or not to move forward, execute [the] preliminary design review, and begin the detail design phase and the manufacture of the demonstrator, Koucheravy acknowledged. I think were as prepared as we can be to give DARPA what they need to make that decision, and were excited for the opportunity. For now, Auroras design for what could be the basis of a new ekranoplan transport for the U.S. military is already becoming firmer. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post Liberty Lifter Ekranoplan Demonstrator Aims To Lift C-130-Sized Payloads appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, C-130, News & Features, Testbeds, Transports] [Link to media]

— Liberty Lifter Ekronoplan Demonstrator Aims To Lift C-130-Sized Payloads

 

at 4/29/25 11:42am

Aurora Flight Sciences has provided new details about the demonstrator design it is working on for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencys (DARPA) Liberty Lifter X-plane program. Liberty Lifters core goal is to prove out a new ekranoplan flying transport design that employs the wing-in-ground (WIG) effect principle. A future aircraft based on the demonstrator could give the U.S. military a new way to affordably move large amounts of cargo and personnel across long distances, and without the need for traditional runways. Richard Koucheravy, Business Development Director for Manufacturing at Aurora, gave TWZ‘s Howard Altman an update on Liberty Lifter from the floor of the Modern Day Marine exposition today. In 2023, Aurora Flight Sciences and General Atomics received contracts to conduct initial Liberty Lifter work. Last year, DARPA selected Aurora Flight Sciences, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, to continue on alone in the development of what is hoped to be a flying demonstrator. The most recent concept art of Auroras Liberty Lifter design shows a flying boat-style arrangement with a v-shaped hull for a fuselage and a large straight main wing with wingtip floats, all powered by eight wing-mounted turboprop engines. It also has twin vertical tails joined at the top by a horizontal stabilizer. Cargo, including light amphibious armored vehicles, has been depicted being unloaded via a large rear ramp, as seen in the video below. General Atomics had proposed a more radical-looking twin-fuselage design that you can read more about here. So we are designing a demonstrator that is roughly about 80 percent scale to the objective airplane, Auroras Koucheravy explained. This is a scale that is representative enough that you can pull some really good lessons out of it without having to build the full scale objective aircraft. So now were talking something thats closer to C-130 cargo size, 25-ton [payload], he continued, adding that the demonstrator is expected to have a wingspan of around 216 feet. It will also use U.S. government-supplied engines, and Aurora said it would follow up with TWZ about exactly what type they are expecting to receive. DARPA has previously said the ultimate vision for Liberty Lifter is a design with a comparable payload capacity to the C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft. The C-17s stated maximum payload weight is some 82 tons, although the planes more typically fly around with around 60 tons or less worth of cargo and personnel inside. A C-130, in front, with a C-17 behind. USAF Liberty Lifter requirements that DARPA has released publicly in the past also include the ability to take off and land in open water in conditions up to Sea State 4 and “sustained on-water operation” at up to Sea State 5. These two Sea States are characterized by wind speeds of 11 to 16 knots and 17 to 21 knots, as well as wave heights between three and five feet and six and eight feet, respectively. Were building a demonstrator with an unpressurized cockpit, because the aircraft is primarily intended to fly in ground effect, which, for an aircraft this size, its going to be pretty close to the water. Youre going to be within a few 100 feet of the water, Auroras Koucheravy explained. And in order to do that, if theres any level of Sea State, youve got to have the right technology to enable the aircraft to maintain ground effect for very long distances, even though youve got potentially some heavy seas. So thats one of the technical challenges of the program. Aurora Flight Sciences/DARPA The idea of a flying platform utilizing the wing-in-ground (WIG) principle is not new, but designs of this kind have met with very little success historically, especially for military use. The Soviet Union remains the most notable operator of military WIG designs, known in Russian as ekranoplans – a term now widely used as a catch-all for WIG designs – but even there their service was limited. Efforts to revive military ekranoplans in Russia in recent years have so far not produced any operational types. The video below shows the only Project 903 Lun class ekranoplan, a cruise missile-armed design, that the Soviet Union ever completed being moved in the Caspian Sea in 2020 as part of a plan to put it on display. In principle, ekranoplans offer a highly efficient over-water craft that can move at high speeds since it does not suffer from the drag associated with typical ship designs while also benefiting from the lift generated by a wing. At the same time, high-speed sea-skimming flight presents challenges, as Auroras Koucheravy highlighted, including the risk of collisions with various objects on the surface or even just high cresting waves. To help get around these issues, DARPAs Liberty Lifter program has called for something of a hybrid design that is still capable of operating like a traditional flying boat, if required, at altitudes up to 10,000 feet mean sea level with a compromise on range. I think this early in an aircraft design where you have your preliminary design, you basically have the outer mold line of the aircraft, more or less set, you understand your configuration, but theres still design work to do once you go through that, Auroras Koucheravy said. And so were excited to move into the detail design phase and start building the airplane. DARPA is expected to make a decision about whether or not to proceed to the next step with Liberty Lifter this summer. Where Aurora might then begin actually building the demonstrator is still open question, according to Koucheravy. You know, one of the objectives of the program is to look at maritime manufacturing processes to the max extent possible, rather than approaching this purely from the aerospace build, he explained. So the aircraft will be built through a combination of maritime ship-building processes and aircraft build processes. This means were going to be looking for a location that has a robust maritime workforce that includes shipyards [and other] partners on the maritime build side that can help us build and assemble the aircraft close to the water, and then float the airplane, he continued. This will not have landing gear. The demonstrator will not be a land based airplane. So it, shortly after build, at some point in the build process, itll be floated, and it will live its entire life cycle, pretty much, on the water. Aurora Flight Sciences/DARPA Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox, a subsidiary of Leidos, has notably been part of Auroras Liberty Lifter team since the beginning. The maritime focus of Auroras designs speaks to the broader objectives of what DARPA is looking to demonstrate with Liberty Lifter. The Liberty Lifter program is currently designing and will build, float, and fly an affordable and innovative seaplane that can potentially transform fast logistics missions for the DOD and commerce, DARPA says on its current webpage on the program. Liberty Lifter’s innovative manufacturing techniques and materials offer a path to utilize existing infrastructure to rapidly build – at low-cost – a capability essential for our warfighters, helping to advance the efficacy of our defense industrial base to meet near-term needs. Liberty Lifter could also provide sea-based search and rescue and disaster response at the scale of ships with the speed of air transport. Moreso even than offering an alternative to traditional cargo aircraft, Liberty Lifter could provide a new tool for efficiently transporting large payloads at speeds far exceeding existing sea lift platforms, according to DARPA. An over-water logistics capability that is faster than existing cargo ships and is not runway dependent like many traditional cargo planes could be particularly valuable in a future conflict in the Pacific. Especially in a high-end fight against China, U.S. forces in the region would be greatly dispersed, including to more remote locations without well-established infrastructure, to reduce their own vulnerability to attack. Existing traditional airlift and sealift assets would be heavily tasked in general to support those distributed operations. In addition, Liberty Lifter would be able to avoid many maritime threats like submarines and anti-ship missiles. A very-low-altitude flight profile typically improves overall survivability by helping conceal an aircraft from defenders, especially their radars. With all this in mind, runway-independent aviation capabilities, or at least ones that are less dependent on traditional airstrips, are of growing interest to the U.S. military. U.S. Special Operations Command had also been working on a floatplane version of the MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transport aircraft, but shelved that project last year, citing budgetary issues. The very capable Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 seaplane has also been discussed as another potential path to this kind of capability. A rendering of the MC-130J Amphibious Capability (MAC) floatplane concept. USAF For its part, last year, the state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced the start of series production of the AG600, a large seaplane that has been in development since the late 2000s. TWZ has highlighted in the past how the AG600 would be particularly well suited to supporting far-flung island outposts like the ones China maintains in the hotly contested South China Sea. Whether or not DARPA decides to proceed with Liberty Lifter and when Auroras planned demonstrator may actually fly for the first time remains to be seen. The program is now looking at the potential start of flight testing in the 2028-2029 timeframe, a delay from the original 2027-2028 schedule. DARPA X-plane programs do not always come to fruition, something Aurora is directly familiar with from the cancellation of work on the XV-24 LightningStrike hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing-capable drone in 2018. DARPA is faced with a decision this year, this summer, on whether or not to move forward, execute [the] preliminary design review, and begin the detail design phase and the manufacture of the demonstrator, Koucheravy acknowledged. I think were as prepared as we can be to give DARPA what they need to make that decision, and were excited for the opportunity. For now, Auroras design for what could be the basis of a new ekranoplan transport for the U.S. military is already becoming firmer. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post Liberty Lifter Ekronoplan Demonstrator Aims To Lift C-130-Sized Payloads appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, C-130, News & Features, Testbeds, Transports] [Link to media]

— F-15 Eagles Win Big In Supersized Defense Spending Bill

 

at 4/28/25 4:17pm

Tactical airpower, and specifically the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15EX Eagle II, are big beneficiaries of recently proposed legislation put forward by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Of the roughly $150 billion in potential extra investments into defense, the spending package includes $7.2 billion set aside for tactical aircraft procurement and modernization. It should be noted that the Democrats still have the opportunity to amend the bill before it is sent to the House Budget Committee, although the packaging of the deal under the “reconciliation” process is designed to speed its progress and avoid a filibuster. Of the $7.2 billion for tactical airpower, the biggest winner is the F-15EX, with this program earmarked to get an additional $3.1 billion “to increase production.” An F-15EX assigned to the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, flies behind a KC-135 assigned to the 465th Air Refueling Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, Oct. 15, 2021. U.S. Air Force The F-15EX, which at this stage of its career is primarily an air superiority platform, was approved for full-rate production in June of last year. Most recently, the Air Force had said it wants to buy 98 F-15EX aircraft, although the numbers have been subject to various changes throughout the life of the program. The 98-aircraft fleet is just about sufficient for five operational squadrons of 18 aircraft, plus a handful of training and test aircraft. Previously, there were plans to cap the number of F-15EXs at 144 jets. We have reached out to the Air Force for clarity on the wording in the bill since it’s not immediately clear if the funds allocated are for additional aircraft production, beyond the 98, or whether they will be used to accelerate production of the aircraft already in the program of record. The unit cost of an F-15EX has been pegged at between $90 and $95 million in recent years. If the money in question is strictly for more airframes, it would buy between 32 and 34 jets, but funds for additional personnel and infrastructure would also have to come from other sources. In addition to being good news for the F-15EX, the proposed spending plan includes $127.46 million to prevent the retirement of F–15E aircraft. What exactly this entails isnt immediately clear, as the annual defense policy bill, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for the 2025 Fiscal Year, which was signed into law in December 2024, already blocked the retirement of any F-15Es Strike Eagles until October 1, 2027, at the earliest. That came in response to an Air Force plan to retire 119 of its 281 F-15Es, or roughly half of the Strike Eagle fleet, by Fiscal Year 2028, which quickly proved to be controversial, to say the least. A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle from Royal Air Force Lakenheaths 494th Fighter Squadron returns to formation after receiving fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker from the Fairchild Air Force Bases 92nd Aerial Refueling Squadron, over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 2, 2024. U.S. Air Force U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Devin Rumbaugh The Fiscal Year 2025 NDAA does make exceptions for individual F-15E aircraft that the Secretary of the Air Force determines, on a case by case basis, to be no longer mission capable and uneconomical to repair because of aircraft accidents, mishaps, or excessive material degradation and non-airworthiness status of certain aircraft. Additional funding could help the Air Force pay to maintain the F-15Es it is now legally required to keep in inventory, or avoid divesting individual jets it might otherwise decide are too costly to keep flying. It might also allow the service to upgrade and sustain the aircraft beyond 2027. The F-15Es that had been on the chopping block were the surviving examples powered by the older Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220E turbofan engines, with the remaining 99 aircraft being equipped with more powerful F100-PW-229s. As far as the Air Force is concerned, it needs to retire older F-15Es to help free up resources for its future modernization plans, but lawmakers have been concerned about dwindling numbers of available tactical aircraft if this were to happen. At the same time, the F-15Es are arguably the Air Force’s most in-demand tactical jets thanks to their highly desirable blend of speed, range, payload capacity, crew size, and other capabilities. Furthermore, with the F-15EX entering service primarily in the single-pilot air-to-air role, there’s no like-for-like replacement in the pipeline. In the meantime, work continues to upgrade the F-15E, with the most significant recent development involving the installation of a sophisticated new radar warning and electronic warfare suite, the AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS, which you can read more about here. An F-15E on a flight line in San Antonio, Texas. The aircraft was one of the first operational Strike Eagles upgraded with Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System. Boeing screencap Boeing (Screencap) Aside from funds for the F-15EX — the Air Force’s newest in-service fighter — and the well-established F-15E, the newly proposed spending package also adds funds for next-generation airpower programs. Both the F-47 crewed sixth-generation fighter and the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program get more funds to accelerate development and production: $678 million and $400 million, respectively. The Navy’s sixth-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, also gets a boost from lawmakers, with another $500 million to accelerate that program. In terms of older assets, the bill on the table now also allocates just over $361 million to prevent the retirement of older block F-22s. Like the F-15E, the F-22 has long been threatened with axing a portion of its fleet as the Air Force seeks to prioritize other programs. An F-22 assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron, Air Dominance Combined Test Force, at Edwards Air Force Base in California prepares to depart for a flight in support of unspecified test work on December 19, 2024. U.S. Air Force USAF In the past, the Air Force has argued that upgrading its 32 older Block 20 F-22s — almost a fifth of the current Raptor fleet — would be prohibitively expensive, but this proposal has been met with notable pushback. Last summer, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) made clear its concerns about the Air Force’s plans to discard those older F-22s in a report that we discussed at the time. Beyond tactical jets, the proposed legislation includes $4.5 billion to help accelerate the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program. There has been growing talk in recent months about potentially increasing purchases of the bombers beyond the current program of record for 100 aircraft. This also follows Northrop Grummans disclosure earlier this month of a $477 million loss on the B-21, which was described as “largely relating to higher manufacturing costs. The company announced a nearly $1.2 billion loss on the Radier last year, which was blamed on a combination of macroeconomic disruptions and higher [than] projected manufacturing costs. Elsewhere, the bill includes $440 million to increase C-130J production and $474 million to increase EA-37B Compass Call production. Finally, lawmakers propose to allocate $160 million to accelerate nacelle improvements for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Returning to the F-15EX and F-15E portions of the reconciliation bill, there remain questions about exactly how these funds will be used. In particular, there is a lack of clarity about F-15EX production numbers and how long a portion of the F-15E fleet will be protected from retirement. Overall, however, lawmakers have firmly made their position clear when it comes to the continued utility of the two closely related tactical air assets. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post F-15 Eagles Win Big In Supersized Defense Spending Bill appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, F-15, Fighters, U.S. Air Force] [Link to media]

— USS Harry Truman Was Evading Houthi Attack When F/A-18 Super Hornet Rolled Off Its Deck

 

at 4/28/25 3:00pm

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter fell off the side of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman while the ship was conducting evasive maneuvers in response to incoming Houthi threats earlier today, a U.S. official has told TWZ. A tow tractor that had been moving the aircraft at the time also went over the side in the incident, in which thankfully only a single sailor suffered minor injuries. CNNs Natasha Bertrand was first to report that the Truman making a hard turn in response to incoming Houthi fire may have been a contributing factor in the incident, citing an unnamed U.S. official. Military.coms Konstantin Toropin also subsequently reported this detail, again citing an anonymous U.S. official. UPDATE: A US official said that initial reports from the scene indicated that the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard. https://t.co/TqrvCDUy3T https://t.co/2NFimBjl0A— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 28, 2025 A US official has also confirmed this detail to me.The carrier was evading Houthi fire and made a hard turn ahead of the jet falling into the water. https://t.co/E3V4ahLdww— Konstantin Toropin (@KToropin) April 28, 2025 Navy supercarriers like Truman are capable of making very sharp and high-speed turns for ships of their size, including an evasive tactic, as seen in the video below. A full statement on todays incident from the Office of the Navy Chief of Information (CHINFO), the Navys top public affairs office, which does not mention any incoming Houthi threats at the time, reads: USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) lost an F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136 and a tow tractor as the aircraft carrier operated in the Red Sea, April 28. All personnel are accounted for, with one Sailor sustaining a minor injury. The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard. Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and embarked air wing remain fully mission capable. The strike group consists of flagship Harry S. Truman, the nine squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 1, three guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 28, and the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64). Whether any weapons or other stores were loaded on the aircraft at the time is unknown. Whether or not the Navy is already planning to try to recover the jet is also not known. An F/A-18E assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 136 (VFA-136), the Knighthawks, prepares to launch from the USS Harry S. Truman in August 2024. USN The exact scale and scope of the threats that the Truman and the rest of its carrier strike group were facing when the Super Hornet and tow tractor went off the side are unknown, but the Houthis have been actively targeting American warships in the region for months. Though the Yemeni militants have been unsuccessful in hitting U.S. naval vessels so far, the group has an arsenal of anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as kamikaze drones, that present real threats, especially when employed in large volume complex attacks. Incoming Houthi kamikaze drones may have been a factor in a friendly fire incident last December in which Trumans air wing lost an F/A-18F to a missile fired by the strike groups cruiser USS Gettysburg. Sustained combat operations, in general, present a higher-risk environment in various ways. Truman and the rest of its strike group departed on their current cruise in September 2024, and have spent much of the subsequent time conducting combat operations in and around the Red Sea. Those operations have been focused primarily on responding to threats emanating from Houthi militants in Yemen, but have also included strikes on ISIS-linked terrorists in Somalia. In March, the Pentagon extended Trumans deployment as part of a new and expanded campaign against the Houthis, which you can read more about here. 24/7 operations continue against Iran-backed Houthis from CENTCOM forces aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/ArFPA86WYo— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 26, 2025 Truman had only returned to sea on February 16 after repairs in Greece following a collision with a commercial ship in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt’s Port Said earlier in the month. Though the ship suffered damaged, none of the aircraft onboard were damaged and none of the crew were injured as a result. A look at some of the damage to the USS Harry S. Truman following the collision in February 2025. USN MCC Jose Hernandez Both the collision and the friendly fire incident remain under investigation. Capt. Christopher “Chowdah Hill, relieved Capt. Dave Snowden as Trumans commanding officer after the collision. Hill had previously commanded the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower during a deployment that also included months of intense combat in the region, as you can learn more about in our exclusive interview with “Chowdah. Again, thankfully, in this latest incident, none of Trumans crew suffered serious injuries. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post USS Harry Truman Was Evading Houthi Attack When F/A-18 Super Hornet Rolled Off Its Deck appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: News & Features, Air, Around The Globe, Carriers, Middle East, Navies, Nimitz Class, Red Sea, Sea, U.S. Navy, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)] [Link to media]

— Bringing Back Medium Range Ballistic Missiles Fast Tracked Under Proposed $150B Defense Boost

 

at 4/28/25 12:12pm

The U.S. Army could be in line to get nearly $640 million in extra funding for new medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM), including ones capable of hitting ships at sea. Work on MRBMs, a long-range strike capability the Army has not had since the end of the Cold War, is one of a slew of efforts that would be accelerated by a $150 billion defense spending package recently proposed by members of Congress. The Army is already looking at a medium-range version of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile, but the legislation on the table now may also point to a new design in the works. A PrSM seen just after launch during a test. Lockheed Martin The current Republican Party chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees rolled out the proposed multi-billion-dollar defense spending legislation yesterday. If passed and signed into law, it would provide funds to accelerate work on a host of advanced capabilities across the U.S. military, including, but certainly not limited to the Air Forces F-47 and Navys F/A-XX sixth-generation stealth fighter programs, the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, a new sea-launched nuclear-tipped cruise missile, new medium landing ships for the U.S. Marine Corps, and President Donald Trumps Golden Dome missile defense initiative. Additional funding to help expand the U.S. defense industrial base to meet these and other demands, as well as spur further research and development, is also part of the package. When it comes to Army MRBMs, the spending plan includes four separate provisions amounting to a combined $639 million: $175,000,000 for production capacity expansion for next-generation Army medium-range ballistic missiles $50,000,000 for the accelerated development of Army next-generation medium-range anti-ship ballistic missiles $114,000,000 for the production of Army next-generation medium-range ballistic missiles $300,000,000 for the production of Army medium-range ballistic missiles The legislation does not name any specific Army MRBM program, and TWZ has reached out for more information. For some immediate context, MRBMs are categorized as ballistic missiles with maximum ranges between 620 and 1,860 miles (1,000 and 3,000 kilometers). The Army has not had an operational MRBM of any kind since the retirement of the nuclear-armed Pershing II in 1991. Furthermore, between 1988 and 2019, the United States and Russia were both prohibited from developing and fielding nuclear or conventionally-armed ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with maximum ranges between 310 and 3,420 miles (500 and 5,500 kilometers) under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. A test launch of a Pershing II MRBM in 1983. DOD Since the collapse of the INF, the Army has been openly working to extend the range of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), which is still currently described as a short-range ballistic missile (SBRM). SRBMs have maximum ranges between 190 and 620 miles (300 and 1,000 kilometers). As of 2023, the baseline PrSM had demonstrated the ability to fly out to just under 310 miles (500 kilometers), and the Armys goal was to stretch that out to around 400 miles (650 kilometers), according to a declassified Pentagon Selected Acquisition Report. The Army currently has stated plans for a variant or derivative of the PrSM with the ability to reach targets at least 620 miles/1,000 kilometers away, as well as one with even greater range that would push it into MRBM territory. These are presently referred to as the Increment 4 and 5 versions, respectively. The service is also working on an Increment 2 anti-ship type based on the baseline PrSM SRBM, but with a new seeker, a prototype of which was successfully tested against a moving target vessel last year. Increment 3 of the PrSM program is focused on adding unspecified “enhanced” payloads to the missile, which could include swarms of loitering munitions. A PrSM with a new anti-ship seeker is fired during Exercise Valiant Shield 24. US Army The proposed Congressional plus-up of Army MRBM work could revolve entirely around plans for extended-range versions of the PrSM. However, the separate provisions for next-generation medium-range ballistic missiles and medium-range ballistic missiles, might also point to work on, or at least plans for, additional MRBM capabilities beyond the PrSM family. In the wake of the collapse of the INF Treaty in 2019, the Pentagon did announce a test of what it described at the time as a conventionally-configured ground-launched ballistic missile, which still has not been definitively identified. Earlier that year, U.S. officials had also announced plans to test an unspecified ground-based intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). IRBMs have maximum ranges between 1,864 and 3,418 miles (3,000 to 5,500 kilometers). NEW: USAF releases video of first US test of a post-INF prototype conventionally configured ground-launched ballistic missile. (Launched today from Vandenberg AFB.) pic.twitter.com/ELPup3STNp— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) December 12, 2019 The Army has previously disclosed that the hypersonic missile under development for its Dark Eagle weapon system, also known as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), has MRBM-like range. This is a common missile that the U.S. Navy also plans to fire from its Zumwalt class stealth destroyers and Block V Virginia class submarines. The Navy portion of the joint program is known as Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS). At the same time, while the Dark Eagle/IRCPS missile has a ballistic missile-like external appearance, the U.S. military does not refer to it as one. It also functions in a completely different way by releasing an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, as you can read more about here. The newly proposed defense spending package includes separate provisions to increase funding explicitly for hypersonic strike capabilities, as well. For reference, hypersonic speed is typically defined as anything above Mach 5. A picture from a test of the Armys Dark Eagle weapon system last year. DOD A purpose-built MRBM rather than one derived from an SRBM would offer the potential for increased overall performance and greater survivability, including through increased payload capacity that could allow for the addition of new decoys and other countermeasures against anti-missile interceptors. It could be easier to scale up that design even further, as well. At the same time, a new missile designed from the ground up as an MRBM would likely require a new, larger launcher, which could impose limitations on its deployability. The Army has previously expressed interest in shrinking down its Typhon missile system with its track-trailer-based launchers for this reason. Dark Eagle is also fired from tractor-trailer-based launchers. The goal so far is for extended-range PrSMs to be launchable for the same wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) that can fire the baseline version now. Regardless, any kind of MRBM capability, especially one with the added ability to strike moving ships, would give the Army an entirely new way to prosecute targets on land and at sea hundreds of miles away. Ballistic missiles also travel at very high speeds, with larger types reaching hypersonic velocities in the terminal phase of flight, making them well-suited to targeting time-sensitive threats and presenting additional challenges for defenders. High terminal speed provided an inherent ability to burrow deeper into hardened targets, as well. Army MBRMs could be particularly relevant in a future high-end fight against China in the Pacific, where options for forward-deploying land-based long-range missiles could be limited, in general, for political and geographical reasons. The service has already prompted the ire of the Chinese government with the deployment of a Typhon system in the Philippines. From where it is positioned now, Typhon, which can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 multi-purpose missiles, can reach areas in the southeastern part of mainland China. A launcher vehicle that is part of the US Army Typhon missile system battery currently in the Philippines. US Army PrSM, Typhon, and Dark Eagle reflect a larger push to expand U.S. ground-based missile capabilities with a particular eye toward the Pacific that also extends to the Marine Corps. The Marines just recently sent one of their Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction Systems (NMESIS), capable of firing Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) that can attack targets at sea and on land to a Philippine island in the middle of the highly strategic Luzon Strait as part of this years iteration of the multi-national Balikatan exercise. A NMESIS launcher vehicle on a Philppine island in the Batanes chain in the Luzon Strait during Exercise Balikatan 25. USMC Chief Warrant Officer Trent Randolph The Marines are also fielding Long Range Fires (LRF) launchers that use the same underlying uncrewed vehicle as NEMSIS, but can each fire a single Tomahawk before needing to be reloaded. The Army is now eyeing the LRF launcher as one possible complement to Typhon. Uncrewed launcher vehicles, which the Army has a broader interest in, present additional benefits when it comes to being able to push further in forward areas while minimizing risk to friendly personnel. For its part, Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has amassed a huge force of tactical land-based ballistic missiles ranging from SRBMs to IRBMs, including anti-ship types, as well as a similar array of ground-launched cruise and hypersonic missiles. The current gap between U.S. and Chinese ground-launched missile capabilities has been a key driver behind work to expand the PrSMs range and otherwise build up the Armys long-range missile arsenal. The Army has also previously announced its intention to begin conducting at least rational deployments of new ground-based long-range missile systems to Europe in the coming years. In 2021, the service reactivated the 56th Artillery Command in Germany to support those plans. Last active between 1963 and 1991, the 56th Artillery Command had notably overseen Pershing and Pershing II missile units in Europe during the Cold War. New Army MRBMs in Germany or elsewhere on the continent would send a particular message to Russia. The Russian military just demonstrated a new IRBM called Oreshnik in an attack on Ukraine last year, which sent similar signals to European capitals. MRBMs could also offer the Army a lower-cost and less complicated alternative to hypersonic weapons, which the entire U.S. military has suffered difficulties in developing and fielding. The Army only successfully launched a Dark Eagle missile from one of its trailer-based launchers for the first time last year after two years of failed attempts to do so. In an annual report released earlier this year, the Pentagons Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation also raised questions about the weapons lethality. An Army MRBM capability could be of interest to other branches of the U.S. military, including for launch from platforms in other domains. As already noted, the Army and the Navy are cooperating now on Dark Eagle/IRCPS, and there is something of a global trend emerging when it comes to arming surface warships with ballistic missiles. With plans for extended-range versions of the PrSM, the Army is already moving toward expanding its ground-based ballistic missile force into one that could again include MRBMs. Congress is now poised to potentially add hundreds of millions of additional funding to help speed up those efforts, which may also point to new types of missiles on the horizon. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post Bringing Back Medium Range Ballistic Missiles Fast Tracked Under Proposed $150B Defense Boost appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Land, Armies, MRBMs/IRBMs, Tactical Ballistic Missiles, U.S. Army] [Link to media]

— Tempest Future Fighter Aims For “Really Extreme Range,” Twice F-35 Payload

 

at 4/28/25 10:47am

The U.K. Royal Air Force officer in charge of defining requirements for the Tempest future fighter says the program’s top priority is a large payload — roughly twice that of the F-35A stealth fighter. The same officer says the service is eyeing “really extreme range” for the new aircraft, with potentially enough internal fuel to fly across the Atlantic without refueling. These requirements provide some more ideas about the size and capabilities of the sixth-generation stealth fighter and also parallel similar concerns that have driven the development of the U.S. Air Force’s Boeing F-47 under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative. The latest concept configuration for the Tempest fighter was unveiled at Farnborough last year. Leonardo The comments came from an officer known only as Group Captain Bill, who heads up the Requirement and Concepting team for the U.K. Ministry of Defense. This department is charged with defining the capabilities that the Tempest needs to meet the Royal Air Force’s evolving operational requirements. He was speaking earlier this month on a special edition of Team Tempest’s Future Horizons podcast, partnered with the Royal Air Force’s InsideAIR official podcast. GCAP, or Global Combat Air Program, is the effort under which the United Kingdom’s Tempest next-generation fighter is being developed, in partnership with Italy and Japan — the podcast raised the possibility that, once in service, the aircraft itself might not be known as Tempest, although that would still seem the most likely name for the Royal Air Force, at least. A demonstrator for the Tempest program is now being built, and although its precise relationship to the final aircraft is not completely clear. The aircraft is supposed to take to the air in 2027. The demonstrator for Tempest takes shape on the production line at Warton. Team Tempest Meanwhile, a Boeing 757-based flying testbed for the Tempest program, named Excalibur, is also now flying, with its sensors planned to include the Multi-Function Radio Frequency System radar from Leonardo, plus communications systems and electronic warfare equipment. More broadly, for the United Kingdom specifically, the Tempest will be part of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, a wide-ranging air combat initiative that also includes next-generation weapons, uncrewed platforms, networks and data sharing, and more. An earlier BAE Systems graphic from the Tempest program shows some of the key ancillary systems and technologies that are being developed alongside the crewed fighter. BAE Systems Group Captain Bill described the plan for Tempest, as the core platform within the FCAS system of systems, to be a “quarterback.” This is a term that’s cropped up before for emerging and future combat aircraft missions, as well as existing 5th generation fighters. The latter use their superior situational awareness and survivability to operate forward as a force multiplier for less capable assets. In terms of 6th generation tactical jets, it also refers to the ability to control uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) and/or other drones, as well as networked weapons. “It’s the platform that walks onto the field knowing the plan,” Bill continued. “It understands what plans it has available, it’s no longer able to maintain the connection back to the coach on the sidelines because you’re too deep into the field, and the other players that are there in that team, some of those will be expendable. They will not make it through the play that we’re executing, and that play will not go to plan either. The quarterback needs to have the ability, the strategic vision, and the reactions to be able to deal with what plays out when they start and then pick how it’s then going to deliver the tasks to what remains on the field, to look at what’s going on and then decide how it achieves the aim. It’s survivable enough to take a hit if needs be, it’s no kind of fragile back-row player. Also, if need be, it can score a touchdown itself. But the aim here is that it’s going to orchestrate many others, many other parts in that system of systems.” A graphic from BAE Systems shows a Tempest fighter working as part of a networked team together with Typhoon, F-35, E-7 Wedgetail, and ‘loyal wingman’ type drones. BAE Systems “This aircraft is going to approach replacing Typhoon in a different way,” Bill said. “The threat environment means that range has become a really big thing for all of us.” This is something that’s being recognized in sixth-generation combat aircraft programs around the world, whether in NGAD in the United States or in broadly similar Chinese developments. For the Tempest program, the kind of threat environment envisaged means that the fighter will likely “have to leave the tanker a long way behind” in various combat scenarios. This is pushing the demand for “really extreme range, kind of maybe getting across the Atlantic to America on internal fuel.” This compares with the Typhoon, which would normally need three or four tanker hook-ups to cover the same distance. A Royal Air Force Typhoon refuelling from a Voyager tanker while on a mission over Europe. Crown Copyright SAC Connor Tierney “We’re building an aircraft that is going to have an awful lot of range,” Bill continued, “but at the top of our list is the payload.” “Payload is what we’re all about,” Bill emphasized. “In fact, in pure capability terms, I don’t care how I get [the payload] there. It could be in the back of an A400, from a submarine, or from space. It just so happens that our analysis tells us the best way to get that payload there right now is in a fast jet. But the payload, now you’d expect weapons to be in there. So that’s obvious, and boy, will we have weapons.” According to Bill, the Tempest will have roughly double an F-35A’s worth of payload. It’s unclear how this would be broken down in terms of fuel and weapons, but just in terms of internal and external ordnance, for the F-35A, this equates to more than 18,000 pounds, according to the manufacturer. Considering the Tempests mission, as described above, this is likely referring to internal payload, which would put it at around 10,000lbs compared to the F-35As 5,000lbs — two 2,000lb-class guided bombs plus a pair of AIM-120s. This would be an impressive load and would give Tempest quite an arsenal of its own. Lockheed Martin graphic showing the F-35A’s weapons stations capacity. Lockheed Martin The weapons that would fill its big bays are also expected to include new types of missiles now in development. Here, there will very likely be a focus on ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles. Plans to arm the Tempest with larger air-to-air missiles offering a longer range than those currently used by any of the three GCAP partner countries were revealed earlier this year, as you can read about here. A “representative military fast jet fuselage” that was built on a high-tech, heavily automated new production line as part of the early development work for the Tempest. The configuration appears broadly similar to that used in the new demonstrator aircraft. BAE Systems While Bill said the Tempest should not be characterized specifically as a specialist for beyond-visual-range combat, it’s clear there is also an expectation that it should defeat aerial threats at longer ranges than the Typhoon, for example: “I think the idea of defeating an enemy by turning harder, we have to ask ourselves, is that necessarily the way you want GCAP to fight? Tempest may be able to defeat a threat without needing to turn at all, and that’s a really bold statement to make, remember, because we made that statement once before in the 1960s with Phantom where we said maneuverability was no longer a thing, and that missiles would be able to do the job, and radars would be able to do the job. That turned out to be the wrong assessment, and we had to go through a whole cycle to get ourselves back to a place where we understood how we were going to use combat air. So we’re not making any of these kinds of statements lightly. There’s an awful lot of analysis that goes on behind it, but I wouldn’t characterize GCAP as only a long-range platform at all.” Sidewinder air-to-air missiles ready to be mounted on a Royal Air Force F-4 Phantom in 1984. Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images Tom Stoddart Archive The prodigious payload for the Tempest will not just be made up of fuel and weapons. Just as important will be the sensors, especially bearing in mind the envisaged quarterback role. “Everywhere GCAP goes, it carves a picture of the world to support other military capabilities, to be able to exploit that, use that,” Bill explained. “And so getting the sensors forward is as important as getting the weapons forward. And those sensors also mean that when we go deep into enemy territory, and we may not be able to reach back to anyone else’s help, [or if] there’s no connection with the E-7 in the future, we still can complete the kill chain, so the ability to find and fix something, to identify it, to engage it, and then work out how that engagement went. We can still do that within our platform or within our formation.” The final piece of the payload puzzle will be the Tempest’s function as what Bill described as a ‘flying server rack’, specifically in support of complementary drones and other autonomous capabilities, including ones pushed even further forward into the battlespace. The “representative forward fuselage design” for Tempest, as used for ejection tests, coupled to the rocket sled. BAE Systems He continued: “We’re going to take the compute forward and then take the server rack forward. Because if you want low-cost autonomous systems, we all know from turning our iPhone on, how much data you pull to use ChatGPT. Well, where’s that server going to be if you’re deep in enemy territory? So if you want low-cost autonomous systems, they need a server to back them up, and they need sensors to back them up to make them capable. So that quarterback has a really important role now, because you’re carrying the sensors and the servers to enable that system-of-systems that’s forward in that contested area.” The importance of the Tempest as a resilient data-gathering and data-sharing hub also ties into its planned quarterback role, and this function becomes all the more critical bearing in mind that the aircraft will be expected to use its various capabilities, including stealth, to penetrate deep into enemy airspace. One of China’s two new next-generation fighter designs, commonly, but unofficially, known as the J-36. This design, from a key adversary, also stresses long range and extensive payload carriage. via X “So the idea of us being able to guarantee a connection back to our side, that’s not reasonable,” Bill explained. “What I can guarantee is a connection back to the GCAP, that core platform. That’s why I call it a quarterback. So we’ll be able to maintain, we have to maintain a local network.” Bill also reflected that the F-35 is already a good example of an aircraft that can gather huge amounts of data and distribute this to other assets, although the Tempest will take this a step further. “The F-35, when it’s in a formation, is greater than the sum of its parts,” Bill said. “But in some ways, that F-35 formation is a little bit selfish with the way it does that, with GCAP and sixth-generation, where we’re heading for is something that’s greater than the sum of its parts, but that benefit is shared across the domains, so with maritime, with land, with space and with other air assets. Our ability to connect is going to be fundamental to our success. And when we’re outside of the threat environment, we’ll be connected in a very broad, low-latency, high-speed, high-bandwidth way, and as we go in, we’ll narrow that down and manage that for our survivability.” A Royal Air Force Typhoon landing during Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, while a U.S. Air Force F-35 taxis behind. Crown Copyright Cpl Nicholas Egan RAF The fact that the connection back to a command center or other distant operational node cannot always be guaranteed is also the reason why, for now at least, the Tempest will have a pilot. Bill suggested that this will be a single pilot, although in terms of function, they will be closer to being a weapons system officer (WSO) than a traditional pilot. “We’re prepared, though, for the time when artificial general intelligence does catch up,” Bill added, pointing to the possibility of a future uncrewed version of the Tempest, an idea that U.K. officials have also raised in the past. Earlier this year, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said it was “absolutely” possible that an uncrewed version of the Tempest platform could be developed in the longer term. An official artist’s concept of a potential Tempest/GCAP configuration, with Mount Fuji in the background. MHI Group Captain Bill also tackled the issue of drones and whether the proliferation of uncrewed platforms threatens the continued relevance of crewed combat aircraft like the Tempest. While admitting that, for the cost of a fast jet, an air force could pay for perhaps 10,000 drones, the future threat environment will demand a balance of high and lower-end capabilities. After all, the key demands of air combat will be long range and some form of survivability, whether through stealth or speed, or a combination. “By the time you’ve made your long-range, high-speed, somewhat stealthy or completely expendable drone, you probably end up at a cost point, which isn’t necessarily where you’d expect,” Bill reasoned. “So there’s a balance to this. In all of it, if you want it to be low cost, you really want the sensors to be somewhere else, maybe in a GCAP. If you want that compute to be somewhere else, so they’re smart, they’re not dumb, you’re going to need a server rack in the right place where you can connect to with without getting them killed, because talking too loud can get you killed in a modern threat environment. So you need a server right there. Maybe that’s GCAP as well.” Despite that, Bill noted that there is “absolutely a place for saturation through autonomous and expendable systems,” characterizing this as “definitely one of our three S’s.” These are stealth, suppression (for example, electronic attack assets), and saturation. “We’ve done that for years with weapons already, but drones are the new form of saturation. Put those three things together, and you have got yourself a really nice mix. But if you pick any one antibiotic and just overuse it, what you breed is antibiotic resistance, you get yourself whacked by something that’s evolved to deal with you. So you need to have a spread.” Interestingly, Group Captain Bill mentioned all of these capabilities coming online somewhat later than in previous plans. He spoke about the goal for Tempest to replace the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon in the 2040s, while earlier official statements had suggested an in-service date of 2035. Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that developing the full range of planned exotic technologies in time and in an affordable manner will still be a huge challenge. And this is before negotiating the various political obstacles that likely still threaten to interrupt the Tempest program’s progress. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post Tempest Future Fighter Aims For “Really Extreme Range,” Twice F-35 Payload appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, Around The Globe, Europe, News & Features, Royal Air Force, Stealth, United Kingdom] [Link to media]

— North Korea’s New Frigate Has Ballistic Missile Launchers

 

at 4/26/25 6:02pm

North Korea has officially unveiled the Choi Hyon, its air defense-capable frigate that we previously had seen under construction. The warship, which was supposedly built in just over a year, carries the hull number 51, likely to emulate the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class destroyer that it bears a minor resemblance to. You can read our previous analysis on the vessel when it was under construction here, but now that we are seeing it in full, one thing is very clear, it intends to pack more weaponry than any ship of its size. As for that size, a displacement of 5,000 tons is being circulated, but its unclear if it actually hits that figure. Clearly visible on its bow is a large deck gun, possibly in the 127mm class. Then we also see a primary close-in weapon system (CIWS) towards the rear of the ships superstructure. This looks very similar to Russias navalized Pantsir-ME system that features both cannons and highly maneuverable short-range missiles. This could be a North Korean knock-off, or it could be from Russia directly as part of reimbursement for North Koreas support of Russias war in Ukraine. (KCNA) Giving the ship a credible CIWS capability would be very important, as the rest of its anti-air capabilities will take time to develop and may never reach the point of a highly reliable defense. A pair of AK-630 turreted six-barrel 30mm rotary cannons are also visible on each side of the ship, which can engage air and surface targets over very close ranges. We also see two countermeasures dispensers arrayed on both sides of the ship, along the outer edge of the superstructure, as well as what appear to be the same number of turreted four-cell launchers. These are most likely capable of firing loitering munitions and short-range guided missiles, as well as possibly anti-submarine charges. What could be an enclosure that houses angle-launched anti-ship cruise missiles is seen amidships, although its inconclusive as to what this structure is for. This enclosure does look broadly similar, but also appears to be thinner, than one that conceals angled cruise missile launchers on North Koreas new Amnok class corvette. (KCNA) When it comes to armament, the sheer number of vertical launch system (VLS) cells on this ship is remarkable. Not just that, but there appear to be at least four (possibly even five) distinct sizes of VLS cells that make up its two VLS arrays. This is of particular interest because it would maximize magazine depth for a given loadout and is capable of hosting a wide range of different weapon sizes. It is more complex than having one or even two VLS cell sizes only. In total, the ship features 32 small cells, 12 medium-sized cells, 20 large cells (although these could also be different sized, with 12 forward cells being different than the eight aft) and 10 very large cells, for a total of a whopping 74 cells. That is a remarkable number for a ship this size, which looks larger than it actually is. This is especially true considering some of those cells are quite large. For comparison, the upcoming Constellation class frigate will feature 32 cells, for instance, although, like all Mk41 VLS cells, they can be quad-packed with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles. An Arleigh Burke class destroyer has between 90 and 96 cells, depending on the variant, and like the Constellation class, all the cells have the same aperture dimensions. KNCA Its very likely that the Choi Hyons large cells will be able to accommodate long-range cruise missiles and the extra large ones will be able to launch ballistic missiles. North Korea has previously test-launched its Hwasal-2 long-range cruise missile, which is supposed to have strategic (nuclear) capability, from its new Amnok class corvette. Other cruise missiles and adapted guided artillery rockets could also fill the large cells. Hwasal-2 test launch. (KCNA) North Korea has a dizzying array of ballistic missiles in its weapons catalog, with short-range ballistic missile types (such as the Hwasong-11 family) being suited to fit inside the ships extra-large VLS cells. The adoption of ballistic missiles, both in a land attack and anti-ship capacity, aboard surface warships is an emerging trend. North Koreas arch nemesis and neighbor, South Korea, is adopting exactly this weapons capability for its far more capable top-of-the-line warships. So, when you consider this and Pyongyangs affinity to ballistic missiles, as well as the odd dual-role of this ship (which we will get to in a moment), it is unsurprising that North Korea is following suit. The Hwasong-11 family of SRBMs would be a prime candidate to fill the very large VLS cells on North Koreas new frigate. (KCNA) The smaller VLS cells would primarily support the ships stated anti-air warfare mission, carrying various surface-to-air missiles. In the new imagery, we also see the four-sided phased array radar system that will provide the ships primary sensor capability, as well as ancillary sensor and communications systems festooned atop its superstructure. A flight deck is also present on the ships stern, but with no hangar facility to house a rotary-wing asset. Overall, it is clear that this frigate was designed to absolutely maximize its weapons-carrying capabilities. (KCNA) While this ship should be capable as a launch platform for longer-range strike missiles, its other primary role as an air warfare asset is highly debatable. As with other new high-profile North Korean weapon systems, while they may offer advanced capabilities in relation to what the country already has, in a wartime scenario, they would be the first to be targeted and destroyed. Having a ship that looks loosely like more advanced foreign ones and packed with weapons is one thing, actually making it a survivable asset, with all the technology and training that goes with it, is a far higher bar to reach. Infusion of Russian technologies and assistance could help in this regard, but only to a degree. (KCNA) It is unlikely that Pyongyang will ever be able to build these ships in large enough numbers to give their fleet true depth and resiliency in combat, assuming they even stand a shot in a combat scenario at all. Even if multiple frigates are built, they would be tracked and sunk quickly during the opening stages of a conflict. This is especially true considering they could carry standoff weapons with nuclear warheads. Still, they may have enough time to send their long-range weaponry on its way before they reach their demise. Considering the unique weapons configuration we are seeing, that could very well be their point. An ambiguously assured second-strike deterrent. In that framing, this ship is certainly similar to what we have seen as of late from the nuclear-armed Hermit Kingdom. They may be token capabilities, but the fact that they could deliver strategic attacks makes them a threat that must be dealt with. Even the possibility of them getting a single nuclear armed weapon fired off works as its own deterrent value, although a relatively dubious one. Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com The post North Koreas New Frigate Has Ballistic Missile Launchers appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Around The Globe, Frigates, Indo-Pacific, Naval Munitions, Navies, News & Features, North Korea, North Korea Nuclear Crisis, North Korean Navy, Nuclear, Nuclear Proliferation, Sea] [Link to media]

— Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week

 

at 4/25/25 5:06pm

Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread. The caption to this week’s top shot reads: Abandoned bunker on an abandoned soviet military ground in the forests of Brandenburg State, Germany. Also, a reminder: Prime Directives! If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you.  If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else. No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like.  Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.   So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on.  Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard. The Bunker is open! Contact the editor: tyler@twz.com The post Bunker Talk: Let’s Talk About All The Things We Did And Didn’t Cover This Week appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: News & Features, Bunker Talk] [Link to media]

— F-35C Naval Joint Strike Fighters Have Been Shooting Down Houthi Drones

 

at 4/25/25 12:23pm

U.S. carrier-based F-35C Joint Strike Fighters have been shooting down Houthi drones in the course of recent operations over and around the Red Sea, in addition to striking targets in Yemen, according to a U.S. official. The disclosure comes amid an evolving U.S. aerial campaign in the region, in which the threats posed by the Yemeni militants air defense capabilities have become an increasingly pronounced factor, as TWZ just explored this week in a highly detailed feature. TWZ had first reached out about the possibility of F-35Cs being employed against Houthi drones after the Pentagon released a video, seen below, showing one of the jets aboard the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson with a live AIM-9X Sidewinder missile loaded on its right wing. STILL HERE. STILL CRUSHING THE ENEMY. The @CVN70 remains positioned to counter threats from Iran-backed Houthi forces. pic.twitter.com/mkWlOqoiDg— Department of Defense (@DeptofDefense) April 23, 2025 The U.S. official told TWZ that F-35Cs assigned to Navy carrier strike groups have downed Houthi drones at least since the beginning of this month, when the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson arrived in Middle Eastern waters. A Navy F-35C squadron – Strike Fighter Squadron 97 (VFA-97), the Warhawks – is part of the air wing currently embarked on Vinson. A second carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, is also operating in the region, but its air wing does not contain F-35Cs. An AIM-9X-armed F-35C seen onboard the USS Carl Vinson in April 2025. USN/Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Jordan Whether or not Marine F-35Cs assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln shot down any drones while that carrier was deployed in and around the Red Sea last year is unknown, and TWZ has reached back out for more information. Imagery released at the time showed some F-35Cs from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), the “Black Knights, flying combat sorties with underwing launch rails for AIM-9Xs installed, but without any missiles loaded on them. Though not conclusive, this could be a clue to the Marine jets having participated in counter-air duties. VMFA-314 F-35Cs with underwing pylons for AIM-9Xs, but no missiles on them, seen on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2024. USN F-35Cs, like all other Joint Strike Fighter variants, can also carry AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), as well as various air-to-ground munitions, in their internal weapons bays. The F-35C and the F-35B can also be equipped with gunpods containing a single four-barrelled 25mm Gatling-type GAU-22/A cannon, which can be employed against aerial targets and ones down below. F-35As have built-in GAU-22/As, a configuration that has suffered significant issues over the years, as you can read more about here. The U.S. official also reconfirmed that carrier-based F-35Cs have been participating in strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, something the Pentagon first disclosed in November 2024. It is also not known whether or not F-35Cs shooting down Houthi drones represent the first air-to-air victories for U.S. Joint Strike Fighters of any type. Israeli F-35Is have already been downing drones, as well as cruise missiles, for years now. A cruise missile launched from the southeast toward Israeli airspace was successfully intercepted by F-35i fighter jets. On the same day, the IAF’s Arrow Aerial Defense System intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea area. pic.twitter.com/jZn0wcqwUX— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 2, 2023 Making History:Last year, Israeli "Adir" (F-35I) fighter jets successfully intercepted two Iranian UAVs launched towards Israeli territory. pic.twitter.com/FQsEjKzxct— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 7, 2022 Carrier-based F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers belonging the Navy, as well as U.S. Air Force F-16C Vipers flying from bases on land in the region, have also downed drones, as well as cruise missiles, in the course of ongoing operations against the Houthis. The Navy jets have also sometimes been tasked to perform counter-air duties even when its not their primary mission. The basic fact that U.S. F-35Cs are now being regularly employed on combat missions in the Red Sea is an important milestone for the type. The F-35C was the last of the Joint Strike Fighter variants to reach initial operational capability, with the Navy announcing it had done so in 2019. The jets only began deploying on Navy carriers in 2021. Its also worth noting here that work is ongoing to enable F-35Cs, as well as A variants, to carry six AIM-120s internally, rather than just four, with the help of a device called Sidekick. The system, unfortunately, will not work with the internal bays on the F-35B variant, which are smaller due to the large lift fan behind the cockpit, one of several features unique to the short takeoff and vertical landing-capable jets. Plans have also been laid out in the past to allow for all versions of the Joint Strike Fighter to carry additional AIM-120s on their underwing pylons, but it is unclear whether or not that is an operational loadout option now. An F-35 carrying any stores under its wings does come at the cost of some of the jets low-observability (stealthiness). An F-35C with a full array of underwing pylons, including onboard ones with AIM-9Xs loaded onto them, seen during testing. Lockheed Martin Ongoing operations against the Houthis, as well as U.S. participation in the defense of Israel against multiple rounds of large-scale Iranian missile and drone attacks last year, have highlighted the value of additional magazine depth. The crew of at least one Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle switched to guns after running out of missiles while responding to Irans missile and drone barrage in April 2024, but was unsuccessful in bringing anything down. Starting last year, U.S. Air Force F-16C Vipers have notably been using 70mm laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets to down drones on missions over and around the Red Sea, which TWZ was first to report on. We have also now seen Vipers flying in the region with loadouts that include two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods on a single pylon, which more than triples the number of total engagement opportunities for the aircraft on a single sortie. A pair of US Air Force F-16s with air-to-air loadouts flying somewhere in the Middle East on Feb. 11, 2025. The Viper at the rear has two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods under its right wing. USAF APKWS II rockets, which have unit costs in the low tens of thousands of dollars, depending on their configuration, also offer a valuable lower-cost option for engaging less dynamic targets like drones and cruise missiles. Current generation versions of the AIM-9X and AIM-120 each cost around $450,000 and $1 million, respectively. APKWS II is not currently cleared for use on any F-35 variant, even from external underwing pylons, and it is unclear whether the Navy may be moving to integrate it onto its Super Hornets. A new dual-mode version of the APKWS II with an additional infrared seeker is now in development, which will further expand its capabilities, especially in the air-to-air role. Demand for cheaper anti-air munitions is growing across the U.S. military, in general, due in large part to drone threats. As for the F-35Cs downing Houthi drones, the news comes amid an expanded aerial campaign against the Yemeni militants that President Donald Trumps administration kicked off last month and that has been exposing some hard truths. This includes the real threats posed by the air defense capabilities available to the Yemeni militants, which TWZ just explored in great detail in a feature published this week. The United States looks to have lost at least 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones to the Houthis so far, and possibly more, including seven downed just since the beginning of March. | The Houthis show footage from the shootdown of another U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper UCAV.If Im not mistaken, that would be the 20th MQ-9 downed by the Houthis from Yemen. pic.twitter.com/SCwRVLSs7s— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) April 18, 2025 Houthi air defenses have been hindering the US’ ability to move into phase two of the operation, according to a report from CNN just today, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The US was hoping to achieve air superiority over Yemen within 30 days, officials said, and degrade Houthi air defense systems enough to begin a new phase focusing on ramping up intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance of senior Houthi leaders in order to target and kill them. TWZ has previously noted how an uptick in the use of standoff munitions against targets in Yemen, as well as the employment of stealthy aircraft like F-35s and B-2 bombers, has also pointed to Houthi air defense capabilities presenting greater challenges than have been widely appreciated. Another video that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released on Monday notably showed a U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler armed with a rare load of four AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles, highlighting ongoing efforts to suppress and destroy the Yemeni militants anti-air assets. USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) continues 24/7 operations against the Iran-backed Houthis #HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/6FcZHKG4HY— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 21, 2025 The F-35C could be proving particularly valuable in the current campaign, given their unique survivability among aircraft in the Navys current carrier air wings. The naval Joint Strike Fighters could be used to launch direct attacks in areas that might otherwise require the use of standoff munitions to reduce risk. At the same time, sending F-35s into more heavily defended areas could create different risks, especially if one of the aircraft were to go down for any reason. Launching a combat search and rescue mission to recover the pilot in that scenario would require sending significant resources into that same more contested environment. Regardless, U.S. officials have contended that operations against the Houthis have still been able to significantly degrade the groups ability to launch drone and missile attacks, including against commercial vessels and warships sailing in and around the Red Sea, per reports from CNN and Fox News. “Since the start of operations against the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists, USCENTCOM has struck over 800 targets. These strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, advanced weapons storage locations, and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, Dave Eastburn, a spokesperson for the command, told Fox News. Credible open sources report over 650 Houthi casualties to date. Additionally, Houthi ballistic missile launches have dropped by 87% while attacks from their one-way drones have decreased by 65% since the beginning of these operations.” The U.S. has not reached full air security over the Houthis in Yemen, due to the Houthis continuing to shoot down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones, a U.S. official tells Fox News. Seven U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones have been shot down since March 3rd, which has drastically impacted the U.S.…— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) April 25, 2025 Separately, Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel said during a virtual talk that the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) hosted yesterday that his service is already learning important lessons from the air campaign against the Houthis. Kunkel is currently the director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming within the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures at the Pentagon. The fight in Yemen right now, that is an air campaign. It is an air campaign, Kunkel stressed. How we conduct that air campaign, with a set of capabilities that are performing interdiction, that are performing counter-air, that are performing this counter-IADS-like mission – we need to think differently about how those things are coming together. IADS here refers to integrated air defense systems typically associated with the armed forces of nation states rather than non-state actors like the Houthis. The Navy has also made clear that it has been seeing significant lessons learned, including when it comes to maritime operations, from operations against the Houthis, something TWZ predicted would be the case more than a year ago. The issues that the current campaign has highlighted, including around magazine depth and air defense threats, would be even more pronounced in a future high-end fight against a near-peer competitor like China. Another AIM-9X-armed F-35C seen aboard the USS Carl Vinson in April 2025. USN If nothing else, we have now been told that the role of carrier-based F-35Cs in the current campaign against the Houthis has expanded to shooting down the groups drones, as well as targeting its assets on the ground in Yemen. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post F-35C Naval Joint Strike Fighters Have Been Shooting Down Houthi Drones appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Around The Globe, F-35, F-35C, Fighters, Middle East, News & Features, Yemen] [Link to media]

— StormBreaker Advanced Glide Bomb Lands In Yemen Largely Intact

 

at 4/25/25 10:01am

The wreckage of a GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bomb, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II), has appeared in Yemen. The weapon, which was only recently confirmed as being used in combat in that country, offers some very advanced capabilities, especially over the previous GBU-39/B SDB I. It is set to become one of Americas most important and widely employed weapons, across its own aerial fleets and many of its allies. With that in mind, the technological risk of the remains of this still near-completely intact weapon falling into an adversary’s hands is significant. A close-up of the data panel on the same GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bomb. via X An inert GBU-53/B StormBreaker loaded onto an F-15E Strike Eagle during a test. Raytheon Photos showing the StormBreaker laying in the sand began to circulate recently on social media. Reportedly, the weapon was found by citizens in the Asilan area within the Shabwah governorate, a region in southeast Yemen (not in the northeast of the country, as some accounts have implied). The weapon has clearly not detonated and appears to have had its impact cushioned by desert sand, leaving it in one piece. Its pop-out wings are seen in a partially deployed position. StormBreaker munitions are seen alongside Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles onboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). CENTCOM screencap Its unclear what happened to the StormBreaker, but the relatively limited nature of the damage strongly suggests it had had a technical failure, rather than being brought down by enemy fire. We don’t know if this is the first time this has happened, but it appears to be the first time it has been publicly documented. A month ago, TWZ reported on what appeared to be the first evidence of the StormBreaker being used in combat by the U.S. Navy, after official videos were published showing missions against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. This included footage of StormBreakers being carried by U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, as well as being prepared by armorers about the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Restoring freedom of navigation#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/lq6oU0rE6o— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 23, 2025 U.S Navy ammunition handlers aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) prepare ordnance for Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1).#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/z5PizSE1eJ— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 21, 2025 The new photos of the StormBreaker wreckage in Yemen confirm that the weapon has actually been used in combat. As we have reported in the past, many of the StormBreaker’s key advantages lie in the weapon’s tri-mode guidance system, which can find targets using imaging infrared or millimeter-wave radar or by employing semi-active laser homing to hit a designated aimpoint. Another notable feature of the StormBreaker is its ability to communicate with the aircraft carrying it via onboard datalink. This means the weapon can be launched and, if required, redirected to a new target once in flight, as well as receiving regular midcourse updates. The weapon can also glide fully on its own guidance using a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system, after which it can strike a specific coordinate or begin searching for a target. This provides considerable flexibility, with the weapon able to engage both stationary and moving targets, including at night or in bad weather, at standoff distances. An F/A-18F with a pair of StormBreaker munitions under the wing prepares to launch from the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). CENTCOM screencap Another view of the same F/A-18F on the catapult. CENTCOM screencap Based on figures released by the U.S. Air Force, the StormBreaker can hit stationary targets at a maximum of 69 miles and moving targets at 45 miles. The StormBreaker’s compact dimensions — including a length of just 69 inches, a diameter of no more than seven inches, and relatively light weight of 204 pounds — mean that an individual aircraft can carry a significant quantity, allowing more targets to be prosecuted. So far, however, the F/A-18E/F has only been seen carrying StormBreaker on twin smart racks, as evidenced aboard the USS Harry S. Truman during the Houthi strikes. A test F/A-18F with twin racks for StormBreaker. There are two such racks under the right wing, one of them loaded with a single munition. U.S. Navy The StormBreaker is being used as part of ongoing strikes by the U.S. military against Houthi targets in Yemen, launched by President Donald Trump last month, as we reported at the time. This latest campaign was spurred by the Houthis saying they would resume attacks on Israeli-linked ships over the blockade of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. As well as the StormBreaker, airstrikes against the Houthis have seen a wide variety of interesting weapons employed, including a significant proportion of standoff types. Among these, the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) glide bomb has been prominent, as well as the AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missile, and the more familiar Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM). Earlier this week, we saw an EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft carrying four AGM-88 series missiles, as you can read about here. A U.S. Navy EA-18G loaded with four AGM-88 series anti-radiation missiles launches from the deck of the carrier USS Harry S. Truman in support of operations against the Houthis in April 2024. U.S. Navy The extensive use of standoff weaponry, as well as the employment of B-2 stealth bombers, reflects the real threat posed by the Houthis’ air defense arsenal, something that you can read about in depth here. Most obviously, the Yemeni militants have been able to down a significant number of U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. A U.S. defense official told TWZ earlier this week that the militants have or are suspected to have brought down six MQ-9s since March 15. Last month, an unnamed U.S. defense official told Stars and Stripes that the Houthis had downed 12 Reapers since October 2023. S-75 (SA-2 Guideline) series surface-to-air missiles seen at a Houthi parade in 2023. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images Returning to the StormBreaker wreckage, the fact that this is now very likely in Houthi hands, as well as being notably intact, means that it could present a fairly significant intelligence windfall. Bearing in mind the Houthis’ sponsorship by Iran and that country’s military and broader strategic connections to both China and Russia, it’s very conceivable that technologies from the weapon could now be exploited by some of America’s key adversaries. In particular, the tri-mode guidance system would be of great interest, as is its datalink and navigation suite. Access to this kind of technology could help any of these countries in the development of their own weapons and, just as critically, reveal weaknesses in the U.S.-made system that could be exploited in terms of countermeasures. Along with the guidance package, each StormBreaker is packed with other high-tech components, including other electronics, a potent but compact warhead, and even the materials used in its construction. All of these would also warrant close study by an adversary. This is especially true as this advanced weapon is packed with high-end capabilities will that will be a backbone of U.S. weapons stocks going forward, including being a primary weapon for the F-35. It can be used to prosecute armored formations, SAM sites, and ships, among other target sets. So being able to dissect its exact capabilities and technological advancements is a big deal. While many weapons have been lost in a semi-intact state in Ukraine, none have been this new or densely packed with capabilities. It would be near the top of Russia and Chinas list of weapons with disruptive capabilities that they would want to copy for their own use and examine in order to learn how to better defend against it. Of course, before the StormBreaker was used in Yemen, the technological risk involved would have been considered. After all, whatever the reliability of weapons like this, every weapon has a failure rate and there’s always a possibility they will fall into an adversary’s hands once exposed to combat. But one falling into the enemys hands in such an intact state is certainly an unwelcome development for the Pentagon. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post StormBreaker Advanced Glide Bomb Lands In Yemen Largely Intact appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Force Munitions, Air-To-Ground, Around The Globe, Middle East, Navies, News & Features, Sea, Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)/Stormbreaker, U.S. Navy, Yemen] [Link to media]

— Air Force’s Next Batch Of Collaborative Combat Drones Could Be Less ‘Exquisite,’ Cheaper

 

at 4/24/25 2:33pm

We now have more clarity on the U.S. Air Force’s plans for its second tranche of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, known as Increment 2. This includes the likelihood that each CCA Increment 2 drone will cost less than was previously expected, as well as the increasing likelihood of its integration with assets in addition to fighters, including the B-21 stealth bomber and E-7 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. The information was provided by Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming and deputy chief of staff for Air Force Futures. Kunkel was speaking today at the Warfighters in Action virtual Q&A organized by the Air and Space Forces Association. Maj. Gen Joseph Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming, speaks at the Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, on March 4, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Adam R. Shanks SSgt Adam R. Shanks Kunkel confirmed that the Air Force is currently looking more deeply at the requirements for CCA Increment 2, noting that this contrasts with its approach to Increment 1, which focused on rapidly bringing a capability into service. The Air Force expects to buy between 100 and 150 Increment 1 CCAs, but has said in the past that it could ultimately acquire at least a thousand CCA drones across all of the program’s increments. The service’s stated initial focus is on acquiring CCAs that can act as weapons ‘trucks,’ electronic warfare platforms, and sensor nodes, to augment crewed tactical combat jets, but there is also significant potential for drones that can fulfill roles additional to these. “What we wanted to do with CCA Increment 1 was speed the field,” Kunkel said. “How quickly can we field this? And so we’ve got a capability that’s going to field very quickly. We’re flying the first things this summer, which is absolutely incredible from a timeline perspective, as we continue to do analysis.” The Air Force has chosen to build two different drones for CCA Increment 1, which are being developed by General Atomics and Anduril as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively. These are the U.S. military’s first-ever ‘fighter drone’ designations. The Increment 1 CCAs are expected to work closely together with crewed combat jets, primarily in the air-to-air combat role, at least initially. A composite rendering of the CCA designs that General Atomics, at top, and Anduril, at bottom, are currently developing, along with their new formal designations. General Atomics/Anduril Kunkel added that some of the analysis that’s now helping frame CCA Increment 2 requirements emerged from the Air Force’s studies for its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) ‘fighter’ initiative. The centerpiece of the NGAD effort is a new crewed sixth-generation stealth combat jet, the Boeing F-47, which the Air Force hopes to begin fielding in the next decade. A rendering of the Boeing F-47. U.S. Air Force Based on these findings, “We’re looking at a range of CCAs,” Kunkel continued. “I know that as Secretary Kendall left, he said, ‘Hey, it’s going to be more expensive and it’s going to be more exquisite.’ Well, it might be, but we’re also seeing that there’s going to be room for other capabilities that aren’t as exquisite.” Kunkel was referencing the words of former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, who suggested that the Increment 2 drones could be between 20 to 30 percent more expensive per airframe than those in the first batch. Kendall had previously said that the goal was for the price point for Increment 1 CCAs to be between one-quarter and one-third of that of an F-35. This would put the price tag of a single one of those drones at between $20.5 and $27.5 million, based on publicly available cost data. An increase of 20-30 percent in those figures would put the price range for Increment 2 CCAs at between approximately $24.6/$26.65 and $33/35.75 million. Artwork depicting various tiers of drones flying alongside an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works At the same time, Kendall did say he doesn’t believe the Increment 2 CCAs should evolve into high-end exquisite platforms. This came amid serious questions about the Air Force’s ability to afford its next round of CCAs, as well as other future advanced aircraft, including new sixth-generation crewed combat jets and stealthy tankers. “I think, personally, something that has some increase in cost over Increment 1 would not be outrageous,” Kendall told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this year, “20 or 30 percent, something like that.” Kunkel went further on that theme, noting that the Increment 2 drones — or at least some of them — will very likely be cheaper, to “provide mass.” “This whole CCA thing started a long time ago,” Kunkel reflected. “You had a bunch of baby F-22 drivers sitting around the bar at Elmendorf going, ‘Man, I ran out of missiles five minutes into the fight. If only I had this loyal wingman that wouldn’t talk back to me but would also be able to just shoot some missiles,’ and we dreamed about this loyal wingman. We didn’t call it CCA back then, but we’re now getting to the point where we’re realizing it.” A rendering of a notional sixth-generation crewed combat jet flying together with a trio of drones. Collins Aerospace As to what Increment 2 might look like, Kunkel said he expects to see “a range of options from low-end to potentially more exquisite. I tend to think that it’s probably going to be closer to this low-end thing.” We already know the Air Force is working to acquire what could ultimately be a fleet of multiple different types of CCA drones through iterative development cycles. Already, dozens of contractors are also working on other aspects of the program, including advanced autonomous technologies. When the Air Force starts to look at further CCA increments, Kunkel stated that the service will have to examine how it can best generate combat power. Although “generation of combat power from bases is important, there might be other ways to generate this combat power that don’t rely on bases,” Kunkel said. “So that might be something that we might be looking at as we start looking at future increments of CCA. That is a big portion of it. We’re not just looking at how it fights in the air. Were looking at how we generate combat power as well.” Kunkel’s words suggest that the Air Force will be looking at options to launch and recover CCA drones of future increments that don’t rely on traditional, vulnerable runways and expensive related infrastructure. On the one hand, this could involve drones launched from a rail or catapult, but it might also include scope for drones that can be launched from other aircraft. Kratos’ XQ-58 Valkyrie uses a trailer-based launcher, as seen here, to get into the air and uses a parachute recovery system at the conclusion of a flight. A similar solution could be used to make it easier to deploy CCA drones to remote or austere locations. U.S. Air Force In the past, TWZ has highlighted the value of CCAs able to operate from shorter and/or less improved runways, and the benefits would only increase if they were to be made entirely runway independent, which would also allow them to be more flexibly positioned in forward areas. Kunkel also provided some insight into how the CCAs (Increments 1, 2, and potentially beyond) will be operated in conjunction with crewed Air Force assets, confirming that the service is looking at integrating the drones with a range of platforms. The video below from Collins Aerospace presents one notional vision for how CCAs might operate together with crewed aircraft, at least initially: “The F-47 is going to be one of those platforms,” Kunkel said. “What CCA does in the fight is twofold. One, it provides affordable mass. But the other thing it does is complicate the picture for an adversary. And you know, as an air-to-air guy, we all know that the easiest picture is this single-axis, single-azimuth picture of the fight. Everyone’s coming right at you, and it’s like, ‘Okay, hey, diddle diddle, up the middle, we can take this on.’ What’s more complex and harder to fight is this multi-axis dense-threat environment, and with CCA, we have the opportunity to do that. So CCA integration with F-47 makes the F-47 better.” As well as a loyal wingman to the F-47, CCA drones will be integrated with the F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters, Kunkel said. Furthermore, “I would suggest potentially in the future, B-21 and E-7, and maybe just CCA on its own.” Concept image of a future U.S. Air Force E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control jet. Boeing All of these different options “complicate the adversary picture [and] put us in a better position where it makes the fight better for all of us. So yeah, CCA integration with a number of platforms is something that we’re looking at.” Back in 2023, Lt. Gen. James Slife, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for Operations, had also raised the idea of CCAs operating alongside B-21s, as well as aerial refueling tankers and cargo aircraft. Meanwhile, the potential of CCAs to assist the E-7 is something that has been discussed for some time, with General Atomics, in particular, having pitched CCA-like drones in an asset-protection role for AEW&C platforms, tankers, and other critical and more vulnerable aircraft. A General Atomics drone concept, called Defender, that is capable of air-to-air combat and mid-air refueling. The company says that its primary mission would be to protect “high-value airborne assets,” such as airborne early warning and control aircraft, standoff reconnaissance planes, and aerial refueling tankers. GA-ASI At this stage, there are still many unknowns surrounding CCA Increment 2, although it’s clear that requirements are taking shape. With the potential for CCAs to complement crewed platforms beyond fighters, and with what looks likely to be an emphasis on low cost and combat mass, it’s also likely that the Air Force’s future CCA fleet could grow significantly larger and include multiple different designs. That is, if all goes to plan. For all its undoubted potential, the CCA effort still has plenty to prove, and this is a concept very much in its infancy. Whether the Air Force’s CCA ambitions will pan out as Kunkel or other officials envisage them remains to be seen. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post Air Force’s Next Batch Of Collaborative Combat Drones Could Be Less ‘Exquisite,’ Cheaper appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, Drones, Fighters, News & Features, NGAD, U.S. Air Force] [Link to media]

— India-Pakistan Tensions On Verge Of Erupting After Deadly Terror Attack

 

at 4/24/25 2:32pm

With the world already on edge about events in the Middle East, Europe, and the Pacific, a potential new conflict is brewing between the nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan. The long-simmering tensions between the two neighbors have boiled over in the wake of Tuesday’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region. Since then, both sides have taken diplomatic and military measures that further escalate the situation and some observers believe it could erupt into an armed conflict. India and Pakistan cancelled visas for their nationals to each other’s countries on Thursday, and Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian aircraft. In addition, Pakistan “has issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen/Mariners) for the Arabian Sea and initiated a naval live fire exercise, while putting its military on full alert in anticipation of a possible military response by India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack,” The Print, an Indian news outlet, reported. Paramedics and police personnel carry an injured tourist at a hospital in Anantnag, south of Srinagar, on April 22, 2025, following an attack. Gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir opened fire on a group of tourists on April 22, with the chief minister saying the inhuman attack was one of the worst targeting civilians for years. At least five people were killed, a senior politician in the Himalayan region said. (Photo by Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP) TAUSEEF MUSTAFA India, meanwhile, has the aircraft carrier Vikrant in the Arabian Sea. While the vessel deployed before the Kashmir attack, it is now doing loops in the area as a possible contingency, posited Damien Symon, a geo-intelligence researcher for The Intel Lab intelligence consultancy. Imagery taken yesterday shows the Indian Navy Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant underway in the Arabian Sea Region off the coast of Karwar pic.twitter.com/ZfrgOub2fx— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) April 24, 2025 New Delhi is also weighing the possibility of a limited airstrike on Pakistan, something it last did in 2019 after another deadly terror attack. “There are a variety of military options, short of a full-blown war, on the table,” the Times of India (TOI) reported, citing a senior military official. “Its for the political leadership to take the final call. If there is a go-ahead, then the retaliatory strikes will be at a time and place of our choosing.” The escalation risk is very high,” TOI reporter Rajat Pandit surmised to us. However, any conflict “will be limited action if it happens.” With Pakistan already cranking up its entire air defence & alertness levels, India will have to very carefully weigh its #MilitaryOptions for limited punitive strikes, if it decides to exercise them, given risk of escalation with a nuclear-armed neighbour #PahalgamTerroristAttack pic.twitter.com/dGPokYlTD9— Rajat Pandit (@rajatpTOI) April 24, 2025 India’s top leader, under intense domestic pressure to respond to the attack, hinted at future action. “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a public rally on Thursday. “We will pursue them to the ends of the earth.” India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers.We will pursue them to the ends of the earth.India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism. pic.twitter.com/sV3zk8gM94— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 24, 2025 In another move that could lead to conflict, India suspended the Indus Water Treaty. Brokered by the World Bank in 1960, “it allows for sharing the waters of a river system that is a lifeline for both countries, particularly for Pakistan’s agriculture,” The Associated Press noted.  “In a communique issued following a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), Pakistan’s top civil-military decision-making body, Pakistan warned India that any disruption of its water supply would be considered ‘an act of war,’ adding it was prepared to respond ‘with full force across the complete spectrum of national power,” Al Jazeera reported. India has stopped the flow of Indus River water to PakistanIn a government-released video today, officials confirmed that all four sluice gates feeding Indus River water from India into Pakistan, via four dams and their corresponding canals, have been shut.Impact on Pakistan:… pic.twitter.com/5Cjwsm6aAB— Indo-Pacific News Geo-Politics & Defense (@IndoPac_Info) April 24, 2025 The Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been a major source of contention between the two countries ever since 1947, when each gained independence from Britain. India and Pakistan both control parts of Kashmir but claim the entire territory. Since independence, India and Pakistan have fought four wars, three of them over Kashmir. The last time these two nations came to blows followed a 2019 terror attack on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Kashmir. After that attack, the Indian Air Force hit a jihadi camp in Balakot, a city in Pakistan just west of Kashmir. A day later, the Pakistani Air Force retaliated with a strike on the Rajouri sector of Jammu. In the ensuing aerial battle, India claimed to have shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft while losing a MIG-21 whose pilot was captured after he was forced to eject over Pakistani-held territory. New photo circulating of Pakistani soldier posing on wreckage appears genuine as #IAF markings are clear and pitot tube (blue) and hatch/fairing position (red) confirm this is the starboard side nose section of a Mig-21Bis #IndiaPakistan pic.twitter.com/KoDhV86tr1— Justin Bronk (@Justin_Br0nk) February 27, 2019 The tit-for-tat airstrikes marked the first time Indian combat aircraft had crossed the line of control publicly since the two countries fought a major war in 1971 and the first time this has occurred since both countries acquired nuclear weapons. Later in 2019, Modi “overturned the status quo in Kashmir in August 2019, when his government revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status and brought it under direct federal control,” the AP explained. “That deepened tensions in the region, but things with Pakistan held stable as the two countries in 2021 renewed a previous ceasefire agreement along their border, which has largely held despite militant attacks on Indian forces in the region.” The Jammu and Kashmir region, sitting between India and Pakistan and claimed by both, has been a major source of tension between these nuclear-armed neighbors. (Google Earth) That relative calm has now been broken. While some observers believe that a new India-Pakistan fight would most likely be limited to surgical airstrikes, the fact that both nations possess nuclear weapons makes any conflict even more alarming. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com The post India-Pakistan Tensions On Verge Of Erupting After Deadly Terror Attack appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: News & Features, Air, Air Forces, Around The Globe, India, Indian Air Force, Indo-Pacific] [Link to media]

— F-47 6th Generation Fighter Future Force Size Questions Emerge

 

at 4/24/25 12:29pm

The U.S. Air Force is firmly of the view that its new F-47 6th generation stealth fighters are key to how we win in future fights, according to the services top general in charge of force structure planning. Though the Air Force previously said it would buy 200 of the next-generation combat jets, how many of the aircraft the service now plans to acquire is an open question as its vision of the core air superiority mission set continues to evolve. Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel talked about the F-47 and how it factors into his services current work on a new overarching force design during a virtual talk that the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) hosted today. Kunkel is currently the director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming within the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures at the Pentagon. Kunkel described the announcement in March that Boeings F-47 had won the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) combat jet competition as a fantastic day for the Air Force that has assured air superiority for generations to come. The Air Force had put the NGAD combat jet program on hold for a deep review last year, which ultimately concluded that the service needed to acquire the aircraft to be best positioned to achieve air superiority in future high-end fights. One of two renderings of the F-47 that the US Air Force has released to date. USAF The F-47, the capabilities that it brings to the fight, are game-changing for us, he continued. It doesnt change the character [of] the fight just for the Air Force, it changes it for the joint force. It allows us to get places allows the joint force to get places where it otherwise couldnt. It allows us to move closer to the adversary [and] allows us to counter the adversary in ways we cant [now]. Kunkel said that he could not provide any more granular information about the F-47s design and capabilities due to the high degree of classification currently surrounding the program. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported last week that the F-47 concept art that the Air Force has released to date has been heavily manipulated to obscure key details about the actual aircraft. You can find TWZs previous in-depth analysis of what has been shown so far here. The F-47, I think, is a perfect example of a war-winning story, a coherent narrative, [a] cohesive hey, this is how we win,' Kunkel added today. This is how the joint force wins. US Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel seen here speaking at the Air and Space Forces Associations annual Warfare Symposium in March 2025. USAF There are still questions about how exactly the F-47 will fit into the Air Forces future force structure and how many of the jets the service might actually purchase. We wont be able to get to F-47 force structure numbers in this conversation, Kunkel said today in direct response to a question from the author. It does point to a larger question of, weve got a force design, how do you transition that force design into force structure, and then is there a force-sizing construct that needs to accompany it? And that larger force-sizing structure or concept is something were working on right now. During a quarterly earnings call yesterday, Boeings CEO Kelly Ortberg also said he could not offer any details about the current F-47 contract beyond what the Air Force has already announced. In 2023, then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said that his service was working around a future force planning construct that included 200 NGAD combat jets. That aligned with the original vision for what was first referred to as the Penetrating Counter-Air (PCA) platform, which was intended as more or less a one-for-one replacement for the existing F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. In July 2024, Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of Air Combat Command (ACC), said that there was no longer a firm timeline for replacing the F-22 at all, and it is unclear how those plans may have further changed since then. Significant F-22 modernization projects are underway now, which have also been feeding into the larger NGAD initiative. An F-22 Raptor. USAF Staff Sgt. Lauren Cobin These questions are directly tied to the Air Forces still-evolving vision of what achieving air superiority – the primary expected mission of the F-47 – will look like in future conflicts. I was part of the group that did the [NGAD combat jet] analysis, and said, hey, is there a different way to do this? Can we do this with the current capabilities?' Kunkel said today. I guess we probably didnt need to do the analysis, because what we found is we found out that we were right, that air superiority, in fact, does matter. At the same time, theres an evolution in how we do air superiority, right? Kunkel added. All domains is [sic] enabled by air superiority. So the Air Force must continue to provide it. But there might be places where air superiority, it doesnt turn into air supremacy. And on this scale, it goes from blue or U.S. air supremacy, and goes down to your superiority, and then goes down to neutral, and then red is on the other side, he continued. Theres probably places where theres mutual air denial. Where no ones no one has air superiority, but were denying the air domain to the adversary. And I think, in some of these cases, that may be perfectly acceptable, where we dont have this dominant presence all the time. This is in line with a concept of pulsed airpower operations the Air Force has outlined in the past, defined as a concentrating of airpower in time and space to create windows of opportunity for the rest of the force. Now, is that your superiority? I dont know. I tend to think it is, but it may not be, Kunkel further noted today. The video below offers a view of how the Air Force has described the air superiority mission in the past. As already noted, the air superiority mission set was absolutely central to the development of the NGAD combat jet requirements that led to the F-47. Kunkel himself highlighted just earlier this year how critical the jets are expected to be in providing a forward airpower presence, especially in heavily contested environments. “You’ve got to be forward in order to sustain the tempo that’s required to bring the adversary to a sneeze. So an all-long-range force, … it sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? You sit in Topeka, Kansas, you press a red button, the war gets fought. Nobody gets hurt. It’s all done at long range,” Kunkel said during a talk at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., in February. “[But] it doesn’t win because it just can’t sustain the tempo of the fight.” The service has also previously made clear in the past that plans for the NGAD combat jet, as well as its future fleets of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones and next-generation aerial refueling capabilities, are all directly intertwined. The Air Force is still very much refining its vision for how it will employ CCAs and is similarly ironing out requirements for future aerial refueling capabilities. The forward drone controller role is still expected to be another key task for the F-47. CCA integration with F-47 makes the F-47 better, Kunkel said today. Boeing E7 #Wedgetail, Future Fighter & MQ28 Collaborative Combat Aircraft #CCA teaming.. (Boeing) pic.twitter.com/ciHbRvSGwP— AirPower 2.0 (MIL_STD) (@AirPowerNEW1) April 20, 2025 Budgetary considerations will have an impact on the ultimate F-47 force structure, as well. Just completing the jets development is expected to cost at least $20 billion on top of what has already been spent. The aircrafts estimated unit cost is unclear, but has been pegged in the past at three times the average price of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, or upwards of $300 million based on publicly available information. Separately this week, Lockheed Martin, which lost the NGAD combat jet competition to Boeing, also pitched the idea of a major “NASCAR upgrade” for the F-35 that could deliver 80% of 6th gen capability at 50% of the cost, according to the companys CEO Jim Taiclet. Kunkel said today he had not heard about this ambitious proposal, but would be interested in talking with Lockheed Martin about it. Regardless, a major realignment of priorities is currently underway across the entire U.S. military under President Donald Trump. Despite expectations that some existing programs will be cut, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the total U.S. defense budget request is set to rise to around $1 trillion. Kunkel and other Air Force officials have been and continue to be bullish on their service coming out ahead in the end budget-wise. So, when you say balance out the budget, what we cant do as a nation is say that the Air Force needs to balance out its budget, Kunkel said today. The Department [of Defense] needs to balance its budget, and the resources need to follow the strategy. If the strategy has changed – which I would argue that the strategy for the last 30 years is not the strategy for the future – if the strategy has changed, then the resources need to follow the strategy. Heres the truth. The truth is that future fights depend on the Air Force to a greater extent than they ever have. There are still concerns about what tradeoffs the Air Force may need to make in order to afford its F-47 plans on top of other expensive top-tier priorities, including the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and the forthcoming B-21 Raider stealth bomber. There has notably been renewed talk in recent months about increasing planned B-21 purchases. The first pre-production B-21 Raider. Northrop Grumman When I left the Pentagon, the Department of the Air Force had a list of unfunded strategic priorities that were higher priority than NGAD. At the top of the list were counter-space weapons and airbase defense, Kendall wrote in an op-ed for Defense News earlier this month. Our new F-47s – and all of our forward-based aircraft – will never get off the ground if we don’t address these threats through substantial budget increases. Kendall had already disclosed that he had been willing to trade the NGAD combat jet for new investments in counter-space capabilities and improved base defenses during an episode of Defense & Aerospace Report‘s Air Power Podcast put out in March. During the podcast, Kendall, together with former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Andrew Hunter, provided a slew of other new details about the F-47 and its origins, as you can read more about here. Overall, the Air Forces current leadership is clearly very committed to the F-47, but how the service expects to eventually weave the jets into its future force structure plans looks to be still evolving. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post F-47 6th Generation Fighter Future Force Size Questions Emerge appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, F-47, Fighters, News & Features, U.S. Air Force] [Link to media]

— New Views Of China’s Next Generation Fighters

 

at 4/23/25 6:05pm

Flight testing of Chinas two new next-generation fighter designs is continuing apace and offering new insights into both aircraft. The latest imagery of the larger of the two designs, commonly — but unofficially — called the J-36, offers the clearest look to date at the exhausts for its three engines and a new angle into its possible two-seat cockpit. Additional views of the second type, referred to as the J-XDS and J-50, show the interesting bay configuration on the side of the fuselage immediately behind the air intake and highlight other distinctive features like its swiveling wingtip control surfaces. TWZ has previously published a highly detailed analysis of both the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50, which readers can find here. There are no clear indications that the latest pictures and videos of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 have been fabricated, but this remains a possibility, albeit a very small one. Versions of some pictures of the aircraft that have been deliberately enhanced using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to try to glean more details are known to be circulating online. Many phone cameras now produce images that are similarly smoothed by default, as well. The newest views of the J-36 in a video and associated still images are seen in the social media posts below, which are said to have been shot in the city of Chengdu. The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which has its main plant there, is responsible for the aircraft. Finally got my hands on this video! Crystal-clear footage of Chengdus 6th-generation fighter jet soaring over Chengdu Airport. Absolutely amazing! #Chengdu6thGenFighter #MilitaryTech pic.twitter.com/Mmuz8kQA9h— GaoFrank (@gaofrank75) April 23, 2025 Wow! I hope this latest image of the J-36 is legit but usually @琴石2022 on Weibo is quite credible! pic.twitter.com/zkPLBZaku4— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 As noted, the new rear aspect view of the J-36 gives the clearest look weve seen at the engine exhausts for its trio of engines, which is already a highly unusual feature of the aircraft. As seen below, we can now see petals extending out over the top of the exhaust trenches that sit inward of the aircrafts tailing edge. This only underscores TWZs previous analysis about the J-36s exhaust configuration and its major similarities in form and function to that found on Northrops YF-23. The YF-23 also notably featured an exotic intake design with boundary layer pores to help improve airflow, as you can learn more about here. Chinese internet capture via X A top-down look at Northrops YF-23 offering a good view of its exhaust configuration, including the trenches that sit inward of the tailing edge and the petals that extend out over the top of a part of them. USAF As we have previously written about the J-36s exhaust arrangement in general: This is a clear low-observable play both for radar and infrared signature management. Recessing the engine exhaust before the aircraft’s upper trailing edge is a classic low-observable design element that Northrop largely pioneered with Tacit Blue, B-2 Spirit, and YF-23. The ejected exhaust is spread out and has the potential to be actively cooled by this upper deck area. Above all else, this provides very limited line-of-sight to the engine exhausts themselves, which helps significantly in minimizing infrared signature, as well as radar cross-section, from most aspects. The J-36 video also offers a new view into the aircrafts cockpit. Since the aircraft first emerged publicly, there has been speculation that it may have a two-seat cockpit with side-by-side seating. The imagery we have now is still inconclusive on this detail, but the possibility that two distinct heads-up displays may be visible has been raised by Andreas Rupprecht, a longtime Chinese military observer and contributor to this website. No, it clearly looks like two HUDs pic.twitter.com/SCvVvfc2DS— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 Additional pictures and videos of the J-XDS/J-50 from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation have also been circulating online in the past week or so. And the same one in cut-out form (Images via @Captain小潇 on Weibo by OPPOFind 8) pic.twitter.com/15axXJCbc8— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 Original image pic.twitter.com/bPi7XBpa3j— John Jones (@nibelogn1996) April 17, 2025 Another set of images showing SAC‘s J-XDS prototype with its landing gear down and from the side … unfortunately still very small & blurry!(Images via @琴石2022 from Weibo) pic.twitter.com/L1FeFV6b6s— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 A test flight of Shenyang’s sixth-generation aircraft took place today. It is clearly visible that the aircrafts swiveling wingtips are rotating. https://t.co/ROHRjHAo1R pic.twitter.com/PFKFSUffPs— 笑脸男人 (@lfx160219) April 23, 2025 As mentioned, most interestingly, a bay of some kind with a pronounced bulge at the front is now plainly visible on at least the right side of the fuselage behind the air intake. It is also positioned right in front of the main landing bay on that side of the aircraft. A close-up look at the J-XDS/J-50s bay on the right side of the fuselage. Chinese internet via X Whether or not the J-XDS/J-50s bay may be for weapons or intended to serve some other purpose is unknown. Questions have already been raised about whether there is enough internal space in this part of the aircraft to hold a relevant munition. It is worth noting here that Chinas J-20 stealth fighter has weapons bays in roughly the same location, which also have a novel configuration wherein the missiles inside pop out fully along with their launch rails before firing, as you can read more about here. We also have much clearer views of the J-XDS/J-50s unique swiveling wingtip control surfaces. TWZ has previously assessed that these wingtips most likely help provide additional stability for the tailless aircraft, and we have explored the advantages and disadvantages of such a design decision in detail. No idea yet, but also interesting what looks like massive actuators pic.twitter.com/9fGMn1GbY6— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 Though any new details about the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 continue to draw particular attention, they represent just a portion of significant military aviation development efforts known to be ongoing in China, as well as additional work assumed to be going on outside of the public eye. Also today, a satellite image available through Google Earth began circulating online showing a curious object with a stealth fighter-like appearance, including a modified diamond-like delta platform, canards, and twin vertical tails, on the apron in front of the passenger terminal at Jining Qufu Airport in Shandong Province in eastern China. Additional satellite imagery from Planet Labs that TWZ reviewed shows that it has been there since at least September 2024. This is all doubly curious given that Jining Qufu Airport, which had been collocated with the Peoples Liberation Army Air Forces (PLAAF) Jining Air Base, was officially closed in December 2023. A look at the object seen in the March 2025 image of Jining Qufu Airport available through Google Earth. Google Earth A wider view of the main terminal at Jining Qufu Airport and the apron in front as seen in the March 2025 satellite image. Google Earth While the airframe is unclear, it seems very likely to be a mock-up of some kind. It shows some rough similarities, but also significant differences to the Baidi Type-B, also known as the “White Emperor, an entirely fictional space fighter design that the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) displayed at the 2024 Zhuhai airshow. Comparisons have also already been drawn to vaguely J-20-esque shapes that emerged at the remote Lintao Air Base in north-central China in 2022. However, the structure of the wings and the nose of the object at Jining are distinctly different from those previously seen at Lintao, which may also be mock-ups or decoys. The still unidentified “shapes” seen at Lintao Air Base in 2022. PHOTO © 2022 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION A side-by-side comparison of one of the Lintao shapes and the object that has emerged at Jining. Google Earth A video is also now making the rounds on social media that has prompted questions about whether yet another new Chinese advanced military aircraft has emerged. What can be gleaned from the video is limited given how far away the aircraft is in the footage and its overall quality. Its provenance is also not immediately clear. What can be seen does not immediately appear to directly align with any known Chinese designs. Its overall shape also does not fit with a still-unidentified tailless fighter-like airframe that emerged at Shenyang’s main plant in January, which TWZ was first to report on. China is reportedly testing a third platform in northern China, according to the latest visuals that have emerged on social media.The aircraft appears to be different from the two previously known tailless designs currently undergoing testing.It is still too early to… pic.twitter.com/9SsfoHPsAi— International Defence Analysis (@Defence_IDA) April 23, 2025 Yes and as I noted here Im confused https://t.co/s5MNby9ZBlHowever it is so much blurry. The best guess would be some sort of UAV/UCAV. We simply need to wait for more. pic.twitter.com/SqHTBwxf8J— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025 At the same time, it would hardly be the first time a new advanced Chinese aircraft design has emerged suddenly. The dramatic appearance of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 flying on Dec. 26 last year, despite no imagery having previously emerged of either aircraft, is a prime example. Ongoing testing of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 is certainly continuing to reveal new details about those designs. We had previously predicted that reasonably high-resolution images of the two aircraft would emerge by early summer in line with the pattern of past Chinese rolling leaks. If other advanced Chinese military aircraft are now flying or are otherwise progressing into the latter stages of development, additional details may well begin to emerge about them, as well. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post New Views Of Chinas Next Generation Fighters appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, Around The Globe, China, Drones, Fighters, Indo-Pacific, J-20, News & Features, People's Liberation Army Air Force (China), Stealth, Unmanned] [Link to media]

— Ukraine Situation Report: U.S. Peace Plan Stumbles After Tumultuous Day

 

at 4/23/25 5:30pm

During a very turbulent day in which the Trump administration saw its plans to end the war in Ukraine sputter, Vice President JD Vance said Kyiv would have to give up territory now held by Russia in any such deal. He also said Ukraine would have to accept the annexation of Crimea by Russia and a prohibition on joining the NATO alliance. “It was the first time a U.S. official had publicly laid out a plan to end the war that favors Russia in such stark terms,” The New York Times reported. “The current lines, or somewhere close to them, is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict,” Vance told reporters in India. “Now, of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own.” What a disgrace"Vance Outlines U.S. Plan for Ukraine That Sharply Favors Russia "https://t.co/dX51fgs1Mc— Anthony Clark Arend (@arenda) April 23, 2025 Vance did not specify what territory in Ukraine would be given up by Russia, which currently occupies about 20 percent of it. Under those terms, Ukraine would have to surrender huge swaths of land. Vance also said both sides need to come to the table or the U.S. would walk away from further negotiations. JD Vance threatens to abandon Russia, Ukraine peace negotiations with Trump’s ‘final offer’ on the table https://t.co/AmTiuQMyHt pic.twitter.com/WLiUZX0pYL— New York Post (@nypost) April 23, 2025 The vice president’s comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back on any plan that would call for him to legally recognize Crimea as territory of Russia, which illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky said at a press conference on Tuesday in Kyiv. “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.” In the wake of Zelensky’s comments, a planned high-level summit in London on Wednesday was downgraded after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, a key American player in negotiations with Moscow, opted to stay home. That set off a chain reaction leading to lower-level U.S., Ukrainian and European diplomats replacing foreign ministers in meetings to find a way to cease the fighting and end the war. Zelensky’s comments also drew the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested that the Ukrainian leader’s stance was a threat to his own nation. “This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon on Truth Social. “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.” https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114388111141848447 Later on Wednesday, Zelensky took a more conciliatory tone, thanking the U.S. and European allies for continuing to negotiate, even if at a lower level. Emotions have run high today. But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, France and Germany. The sides expressed their views and respectfully received each other’s positions. It’s important that each side was not just a participant but… pic.twitter.com/lDFV5WK8tw— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 23, 2025 Meanwhile, in Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman on Wednesday welcomed the terms outlined by Vance. “The United States is continuing its mediation efforts, and we certainly welcome those efforts,” the spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said. “Our interactions are ongoing but, to be sure, there is a lot of nuances around the peace settlement that need to be discussed. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already offered to halt his invasion of Ukraine at the current front line as part of efforts to reach a peace deal with Trump, The Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. During a meeting in St. Petersburg this month, Putin told Witkoff that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, three of the people said, the publication explained. That includes parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Putin offers US to freeze Ukraine war along current front line, FT reports.This could be the first formal indication from Russian President Putin since the full-scale war began in 2022 that Russia may consider scaling back its territorial demands.https://t.co/tsI8TMIz1C— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 22, 2025 Despite Trump’s efforts, peace remains elusive. And the fighting continues as both sides seek to get a better bargaining position ahead of any deal. The Latest On the battlefield, fighting rages on in both Russia and Ukraine but little territory has changed hands. Here are the key takeaways from the latest Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessment. Kursk: Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast. “Geolocated footage published on April 22 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced along the 38H-609 Sudzha-Guyevo highway south of Oleshnya (southwest of Sudzha),” according to ISW. Belgorod: Fighting continued in Belgorod Oblast but there were no confirmed gains by either side. Sumy: Russian forces continued offensive operations in northern Sumy Oblast on April 22 but did not make confirmed advances. Kharkiv: Russian forces continued limited offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast on April 22 but did not advance. Luhansk: Russian forces continued ground attacks in the Borova, Lyman and Kupyansk directions on April 22 but did not make confirmed advances. Donetsk: Russian forces advanced in the Toretsk direction, but made no gains toward Chasiv Yar, Kurakhove, Novopavlivka, Pokrovsk or Siversek or Velyka Novosilka. Zaporizhzhia: Russian forces continued offensive operations in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast on April 22 but did not advance. Kherson: Russian forces conducted limited ground assaults along the Dnipro River on April 21 and 22 but did not advance. NEW: The Financial Times (@FT) reported that Putin is willing to end the war in Ukraine on the current frontlines. Kremlin officials, including Putin, have repeatedly and explicitly emphasized that Russia maintains its territorial demands over all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia,… pic.twitter.com/WK3NOTl1VZ— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) April 23, 2025 Russia launched a wave of drone attacks on Ukraine overnight, killing at least nine and wounding scores of others, according to Ukrainian authorities. The biggest toll came from a strike on a bus in the city of Marhanets, transporting workers from a mining and processing plant, said Zelensky. 1/2 At night, Russian occupiers attacked the Dnipropetrovsk regionA fire broke out at an agricultural enterprise as a result of an enemy UAV strike in the Synelnyky district. 2 people were injured. pic.twitter.com/TJelEvYwIJ— Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22 (@anno1540) April 23, 2025 A wave of Russian drone strikes overnight left destruction across Ukraine, killing civilians, injuring dozens, and damaging homes, businesses, and infrastructure in multiple regions, including Dnipro, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv, and the Kyiv area. (1/6) pic.twitter.com/gyCsospmbl— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) April 23, 2025 Ukraine carried out a drone attack on the Alabuga Shahed drone factory in Russia’s Tatarstan region, according to Ukrainian and Russian media reports. The facility is located about 760 miles from Ukraine. It is unclear whether there was any damage inflicted. Russian officials claim that four drones were shot down and that there was no damage or injuries. However, the nearby Kazan airport was temporarily closed as a result of the drone activity, according to the Mash media outlet. The Tatarstan drone assembly plant was established by Russia in April 2023, but that manufacturing effort initially used exclusively Iranian components. According to the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, by August of the same year, the Russian plant had “reassembled drones provided by Iran but … itself manufactured only drone bodies, and probably for not more than 300 of the UAVs.” The factory is said to have transitioned to largely using Russian components. It was previously struck in April 2024 by Ukraine using a light aircraft converted to a drone. At the time, it was the longest-range attack on Russian soil. Video emerged on social media showing the drones attacking the facility on Wednesday and at least one being shot down. Unknown friendly drones are striking Yelabuga in Tatarstan, where Iranian-Russian drones are being assembled. pic.twitter.com/PnX1X9rwNH— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) April 23, 2025 Yelabuga, the moment of the fall of UJ-22 Airborne pic.twitter.com/PX2skqHlz4— MAKS 24 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) April 23, 2025 /1. Right now, Yelabuga in Russia is under drone attack. Yelabuga is a known location where Russians assemble their Geran/Shahed kamikaze drones. pic.twitter.com/0YSMVmRqXJ— Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) April 23, 2025 One of Russia’s largest ammunition depots was heavily damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack on Tuesday, satellite imagery shows.  A before-and-after comparison using Sentinel SAR imaging shows that much of the 51st Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry was destroyed by the attack and resulting explosions. The facility is located about 37 miles from Moscow. Before and after the recent explosions at the 51st GRAU arsenal near Moscow, as seen in Sentinel SAR imagery made available through Copernicus Browser. The images come from April 17 and 23 of this year. pic.twitter.com/644x0pEaOS— Misty Prowler (@MistyProwler) April 23, 2025 The facility was still burning a day later, according to data provided by NASAs Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS). FIRMS ESAs Sentinel-2 satellite just passed over Russias 51st GRAU Arsenal, still burning today after yesterdays series of massive explosions. Several major fires can be seen on IR imagery as multiple areas of the munition dump, one of Russias largest, burn. pic.twitter.com/OzoPwPYWJU— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 23, 2025 The facility stores about 105,000 tons of munitions, including “significant reserves of artillery shells, missiles of various types, including Iskander, Tochka-U, Kinzhal, ammunition for the Pantsir-S1, S-300, S-400 complexes, as well as Grad, Smerch, and Uragan, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraines Center for Countering Disinformation, said on Telegram. It is considered one of the most challenging targets to strike, given the level of security around it, according to Kovalenko. It had a designed capacity of 264,000 tons of various munitions and was protected by Russia’s most concentrated air defense system, Defense Express noted. Videos emerged on social media showing massive explosions and huge fires said to have resulted from the strike. This is epic.51st GRAU depot pic.twitter.com/w7BWJR5ZZx— ??? ???? ????????△ (@TheDeadDistrict) April 23, 2025 51. Grau Arsenal east of Moscow last night pic.twitter.com/d2LZasxPUM— C4H10FO2P (@markito0171) April 23, 2025 Long video of secondary explosion sounds from the Russian 51st Arsenal. https://t.co/ULHsfkUJC1 pic.twitter.com/RK5fKaqyAO— Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) April 22, 2025 An image emerged on social media showing the inside of the facility, with stores of missiles and ammunition. A look inside Russia’s 51st GRAU arsenal. https://t.co/TNByHJWHf6 pic.twitter.com/KToblHYdbn— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) April 22, 2025 The sheer brutality of war was captured in a recently released video showing a Ukrainian soldier use his rifle butt to repeatedly pound the head of a Russian soldier during hand-to-hand combat in a trench. The Ukrainian removed the Russians helmet and continued striking. Finally, after the Russian appeared to be dead, the Ukrainian shoots him. Ukrainian forces released a rare image of a U.S.-donated Special Operations Craft-Riverine in service with Kyivs special operations forces. The vessel was equipped with a pair of M134 Miniguns, a 40mm Mk.19 grenade launcher, and an M2 Browning HMG. Rare look at a US-supplied Special Operations Craft – Riverine in Ukrainian SOF service.Seen here carrying a load of Ukrainian operators from the 144th Fire Support Center, a pair of M134 Miniguns, a 40mm Mk.19 grenade launcher, and an M2 Browning HMG. pic.twitter.com/KmvVPtU0we— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 22, 2025 Russia showed off its first-person view (FPV) drone skills, flying one with fiber optic cables into the basement of a monastery in Kursk containing Ukrainian troops. Though shortened here, the full video shows a Ukrainian soldier hiding in a vain attempt to avoid being struck. Video of a Russian fiber optic cable FPV flying into the basement of a building reportedly in the Nikolskiy Belogorskiy monastery in Kursk oblast targeting soldiers. I cropped the end of the video.https://t.co/jiQaaTU43v pic.twitter.com/pnTx0BI4v8— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 22, 2025 Moscows forces also showed one of their fiber-optic controlled FPV drones striking the turret roof of a donated Leopard 24A tank that was hiding in a make-shift shelter. Though it was a direct hit, the crew survived unhurt. A Russian fiber-optic drone struck the turret roof of a Leopard 2A4 in cover. The cumulative jet hit the gunner’s periscope near the PERI-R17 sight. The crew emerged unscathed. pic.twitter.com/3Nh0PneYTL— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) April 20, 2025 Not to be outdone, Ukraines Birds of Magyar drone unit released a new video compilation of its FPV drone attacks. Perhaps most impressive is at the 29-second mark, where an FPV drone is seen flying into a barn, then into the open hatch of an armored vehicle parked inside. In an apparent race to the death, a Russian soldier on a motorcycle tried to outrun a pursuing Ukrainian FPV drone. As you can see from the following video, he could not escape. A russian on a Motorcycle Loses the Race to DIU FPV MastersA deadly front-line rally was captured by the FPV drone operators of DIU special unit “Kabul 9” in the Zaporizhzhia region. pic.twitter.com/4gO1lSrkQu— Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) April 22, 2025 Earlier this year, we told you about how Russia had erected a mile-long mesh net tunnel to protect its forces against Ukrainian drone attacks. Well, it turns out that these tunnels, which Ukraine has also started using, have a potentially huge downside. Used largely to protect logistics movements, the netting can be easily spotted, giving a clear indication of troop and equipment movements. Russian take on how protective CUAS nets along the roads can also be dangerous, since " this defensive architecture is clearly visible from the air — from the same UAVs from which it is designed to protect. Each stretched net, especially on flat terrain or in a gray zone,… pic.twitter.com/UncniUujyO— Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) April 21, 2025 Finally, a U.S.-donated M1117 Guardian armored personnel carrier was recently spotted in Ukraine sporting a custom up-armor kit with a large amount of so-called cope caging. Of the more than 400 Guardians delivered to Ukraine, only at least 11 have been lost, according to the Oryx open-source tracking group. That figure could be higher because Oryx only tabulates losses for which it has visual verification. US-supplied M1117 Guardian APC in Ukrainian service, sporting a custom up-armor kit with extensive drone cages. pic.twitter.com/XADqlv4SN8— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 21, 2025 Thats it for now. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com The post Ukraine Situation Report: U.S. Peace Plan Stumbles After Tumultuous Day appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: News & Features, Around The Globe, Europe, POTUS, Russia, Ukraine] [Link to media]

— What Air Defenses Do The Houthis In Yemen Actually Have?

 

at 4/23/25 1:59pm

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have proven to have an air defense arsenal that presents real threats, as evidenced by a still-growing number of shootdowns of U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. Still, many details about the scale and scope of Houthis air defense capabilities continue to be obscure and ambiguous. The U.S. militarys use of an increasing variety of air-launched stand-off munitions against targets in Yemen, as well as the employment of B-2 stealth bombers, also point to the danger posed to aircraft being even higher than is widely appreciated. So what actually are the Houthis air defense capabilities? Thats a clear question with at best a murky answer, but here is what we know. The Houthi Surface-To-Air Missile Arsenal And MQ-9 Losses Questions about the full extent of Houthi air defense capabilities have been growing for months now as the Yemeni militants have been able to down an alarming number of U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. A U.S. defense official told TWZ yesterday that Yemeni militants have or are suspected to have brought down six MQ-9s since March 15. Fox News reported today that U.S. officials have acknowledged the loss of another Reaper, the seventh one since the beginning of last month. Back in March, an unnamed U.S. defense official told Stars and Stripes that the Houthis had downed 12 Reapers since October 2023. DAY 40 of US CENTCOM bombing the Houthis.NEW Fox Exclusive: Another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down by the Houthis in Yemen on Tuesday, two U.S. officials tell Fox News. This is the 7th MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down by the Houthis since March 3rd and under the Trump…— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) April 23, 2025 The Houthis themselves have claimed the destruction of at least 22 Reapers since October 2023, including the one just yesterday, but this cannot be readily verified independently. That tally does not include a number of drones belonging to the United States and other countries that the Yemeni militants shot down prior to October 2023. Yemeni Houthis (Ansar-Allah group) claim that they have shot down yet another (26th) US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone today (April 22, 2025) in the Al-Hajjah governate.This is the 7th Reaper shot this April (22nd in the recent war after Oct 7, 2023). pic.twitter.com/chAiBnx4JZ— Mehdi H. (@mhmiranusa) April 22, 2025 Time for another, not too long, #Yemen UAV Roundup for November 2024. As always claimed means no visual evidence.8th Houthi forces down a MQ-9 over Al-Jawf governorate. pic.twitter.com/RGJZsvtraW— Vleckie (@VleckieHond) December 2, 2024 The U.S. military has pushed back against Houthi claims about MQ-9 shoot-downs in the past, while also acknowledging an unspecified number of losses. It is also possible that some number of Reapers have gone down in and around Yemen in recent months due to accidents, which are not unheard of for the type, but this could not account for the bulk of the losses. Who specifically the lost MQ-9s belong to is also unclear, with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps being current operators of the drones. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also flies Reapers. A stock picture of a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper. USAF The MQ-9 losses come amid a renewed and expanded aerial offensive against Houthi targets in Yemen that President Donald Trumps administration launched in March. The U.S. military has been actively engaged against the Iranian-backed militants since October 2023. That month, the Yemeni militants launched a campaign against maritime traffic in and around the Red Sea, as well as attacks on Israel, ostensibly in response to that countrys intervention into the Gaza Strip. The Israeli operations had, in turn, followed large-scale terrorist attacks launched from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. It is also worth noting here that the Houthis routinely boast that the vast bulk of their overall missile arsenal, along with their drones, is domestically developed and produced. Irans involvement is indisputable, but Yemeni militants are capable, at least to a degree, of developing, producing, and/or assembling missiles and other weapon systems within the country. “We’ve been surprised at times with some of the things that we see them do, and it makes us scratch our head a little bit,” a senior U.S. defense official told TWZ and other outlets earlier this year about the Houthis, adding that the group is “not super technologically advanced, but we do think they’re pretty innovative.”  “There’s a good bit right now we don’t know about the Houthis.” Houthi missiles and other materiel on parade in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2023. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images Mohammed Hamoud Surface-To-Air Missiles From Iran Among the most modern and capable surface-to-air missiles the Houthis are currently understood to have in service are the Barq-1 and Barq-2, which were publicly unveiled in September 2023. Houthi Barq surface-to-air missiles on parade in 2023. MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images MOHAMMED HUWAIS The Yemeni militants claim the Barq-1 and Barq-2 have maximum ranges of around 31 miles (50 kilometers) and close to 43.5 miles (70 kilometers), and can engage targets at altitudes up to some 49,212 feet (15 kilometers) and 65,616 feet (20 kilometers), respectively. There does not appear to be any independent confirmation of these figures. #Yemen’s #Houthis may have downed the #US MQ-9 drone with a modified SA-6s 3M9M4 surface-to-air missile, sourced from Republican Guard arsenal, specifically the Barq-1 and Barq-2 variants, with an approximate range of 70 kilometers and an altitude capability of 20 kilometers pic.twitter.com/7KJHg3yRJw— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) November 8, 2023 Note entirely certain, but it does look a lot like a Houthi Barq 2 surface-to-air missile (Iranian Taer) to me. Note the 90-degree angle at the rear of the lateral wings, the wing attachment, and the clamps used to attach the cable raceway. https://t.co/T2cHk52i9m pic.twitter.com/EXBRRgRWYi— Fabian Hinz (@fab_hinz) March 22, 2024 Experts and observers have generally assessed that the Barq-1 and Barq-2 are at least based on Irans Taer family of medium-range radar-guided surface-to-air missiles. The Taer series missiles are themselves at least heavily influenced by Soviet-era and subsequent Russian-made interceptors for the 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) and the 9K37 Buk (SA-11 Gadfly) air defense systems, if not direct copies or clones of them. #Commentary Possibly a surface-to-air missile #SAM allegedly landed in the Wadi [valley] area of Al Shabwan in Marib #مأرب , which is controlled by the Internationally Recognized Government #IRG of Yemen #اليمن. Some reports indicate the missile exploded in mid-air. This has… pic.twitter.com/e0A31GJcQl— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) March 23, 2024 How the Houthis employ Barq-1 and Barq-2 is not entirely clear, but Taer missiles in Iranian service are fired from various wheeled launchers, some of which have their own integrated fire control radars. Some of Irans air defense systems capable of firing Taer variants also reportedly have electro-optical and/or infrared cameras to aid in target acquisition, identification, and tracking. Off-board radars can also be used to spot and track targets, and help cue Taer missiles to them. An Iranian Raad mobile air defense system armed with Taer-series surface-to-air missiles. Government of Iran The Tabas seen here is another Iranian air defense system that employs Taer-series surface-to-air missiles. Iranian State Media In 2018, U.S. and Saudi Arabian authorities also said that components for Iranian Sayyad-2C surface-to-air missiles had been intercepted on their way to Yemen. However, to date, there is no clear evidence of these missiles being in Houthi service. While we have seen a Sayyad-2 interdicted by the Saudis on its way to Yemen and the Sayyad-2 is known to be in service with other pro-Iranian non-state actors (Lebanese Hezbollah), we have not seen any evidence for it being actively deployed by the Houthis. This stands in contrast to missiles of the Taer series, Fabin Hinz, a research fellow for defence and military analysis at International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank in the United Kingdom, told TWZ. It is unclear whether the Sayyad-2 is operated by the Houthis and simply has not shown up, or whether the Iranians changed their plans. A Sayyad-2C missile body intercepted on its way to Yemen seen here during a press event at the U.S. militarys Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., in 2018. DOD Lisa Ferdinando Saudi officials did previously release what they said were images of a possible truck-based launcher for the Sayyad-2C, but these look instead to have shown one for firing Badr-1s. The Badr-1 is variously described as a heavy artillery rocket or a close-range ballistic missile (CRBM). CRBMs are defined as a subset of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) with ranges under 186 miles (300 kilometers). Looking at this again, it seems a Saudi surveillance aircraft filmed the Houthis as they filmed the Badr-1 promotional video at Sanaa airport pic.twitter.com/dfeylyC2ea— Jeremy Binnie (@JeremyBinnie) April 4, 2018 The baseline Sayyad-2 is derived, at least in part, from semi-active radar-homing American RIM-66 Standard Missiles supplied to Iran during the time of the Shah. The Long War Journal, part of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank in Washington, D.C., has previously estimated the missile to have a range of between around 50 and 93 miles (80 and 150 kilometers) and be able to reach targets at altitudes of between 20,000 and 30,000 feet. How the 2C variant differs from the initial version is unclear. The fragment of the Iranian Sayyad-2C anti-aircraft missile on place of the Israeli strike in Najjarieh area, Lebanon. This is the first direct evidence, that Hezbollah has the Iranian SAM systems from the RaadTabas3rd Khordad family. Although there was little doubt about it pic.twitter.com/lQ1xxkI8SQ— Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) May 17, 2024 In Iranian service, Sayyad-2s are employed using a similar array of wheeled launchers, as well as radars and other sensors, as the Taer family. Some Iranian air defense systems, like the Sevom Khordad (3rd Khordad), can reportedly fire both types. Sevom Khordad was notably the system Iran said it used to shoot down a U.S. Navy RQ-4A Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) flying over the Gulf of Oman in 2019. Iranian Sevom Khordad (3rd Khordad) air defense systems on parade. ARMIN KARAMI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images In addition, the Houthis have previously claimed to have developed a surface-to-air derivative of the Badr-1P, a precision-guided version of the aforementioned Badr-1. Other details about the weapon, referred to variously as the Maraj or Miraj, are scant. The Miraj bears a strong resemblance to several of the Houthis’ shorter-range, precision-guided surface-to-surface missiles, but it remains unclear whether the system is operational, and if so, how effective it is. IISS Hinz also told TWZ. Artillery rockets and ballistic missiles are not typically designed with the kinds of maneuvering required for an effective anti-air weapon in mind. Whether or not Maraj/Miraj might leverage a guidance system and other components from Iranian-supplied surface-to-air missiles is also unknown. The Maraj/Miraj may represent an effort to extend Iran’s proliferation model, enabling local missile production supplemented by externally sourced guidance components, from the surface-to-surface to the surface-to-air domain, Hinz added. A United Nations panel of experts previously assessed the baseline unguided Badr-1 to be a domestically produced weapon built from steel tubing very likely sourced from the oil industry. A composite of captures from videos of Houthi parades in 2022 and 2023 showing purported Maraj/Miraj surface-to-air missiles. via the Oyrx open-source tracking group Iranian Loitering SAMs Of the Houthis known air defense capabilities, and one of the few that U.S. officials have confirmed to be in active combat use, a curious Iranian-supplied design, it has received the most public scrutiny. Most commonly referred to simply as the 358 and now sometimes as the SA-67, and powered by a small turbojet, this surface-to-air missile is generally described as a loitering design, though its exact capabilities remain unclear. Typical surface-to-air missiles use solid-fuel rocket motors for propulsion. A 358 missile recovered by US forces. US Department of Justice US Department of Justice The 358, which the Yemeni militants also call the Saqr-1, first emerged publicly after the U.S. Navy seized components for the weapons after boarding a small vessel bound for Yemen in the Arabian Sea in 2019. Now confirmed to be in service with the Houthis, 358s have also been recovered from Iranian-backed proxies in Iraq and Lebanon. An infographic for an unclassified US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report published in 2024 discussing the 358/Saqr surface-to-air missile. DIA The roughly nine-foot-long 358 has three sets of fins for maneuvering and stabilization in flight, one at the nose end, one at the tail end, and one along the middle of the missiles cylindrical body. The design shares various components, including a satellite navigation-assisted inertial navigation system guidance package, vertical gyroscope, and air data unit, with multiple kamikaze drone types that are in Iranian and Houthi inventories. A graphic US Central Command (CENTCOM) released in 2020 highlighting component commonality between 358 missiles recovered the year before and various kamikaze drones in Iranian and Houthi service. CENTCOM Additional details about the 358/Saqr from the 2024 DIA report. DIA “The weapon flies in a figure-eight pattern and looks for targets,” The New York Times reported in 2020, citing unnamed U.S. military officials. A dozen infrared lenses arranged in a ring around the missile are believed to be able to defeat heat-seeking countermeasures that coalition helicopters typically use. Close-up views of certain 358 missile components, including the infrared sensor array. United Nations Additional close-up views of certain 358 missile components, including the infrared sensor array. United Nations As TWZ subsequently wrote about this unusual anti-air weapon: However, it is not immediately clear how such a conclusion was made [by The New York Times sources] or how such a setup would overcome countermeasures. If the two rows of sensors are redundant, but work on different wavelengths, this could help reduce the impact of one countermeasure type over another. It’s also possible that one row is made up of infrared sensors as part of the guidance systems and the other are laser proximity fuze sensors, like those on many traditional SAMs and air-to-air missiles. One other possibility is that the ‘collar’ array, or at least one row of those sensors, works to detect a potential target initially and then cues the primary sensor in the nose onto that target to discriminate it and execute an attack if warranted. It is, of course, very possible that multiple versions of the 358 could exist now, including ones that leverage some form of passive homing and/or that can receive updates from offboard sensors. At least one known example, seen above, has a particularly prominent antenna on the back, which could provide for some level of basic semi-autonomous control. Members of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) show a 358 missile to a visiting Russian delegation, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in 2023. Russian Ministry of Defense Altogether, the viability of this concept remains an open question. The low speed of the missile already means it is not useful for engaging fast-moving combat jets in many scenarios and is better suited for attempting to intercept slower targets like helicopters and drones. Still, the underlying concept behind the 358 missile is very intriguing. If the weapon works as described, they could be launched into forward areas where drones or helicopters are known or expected to travel through, and hunt and kill them without any need for additional advanced offboard sensors. This could be particularly useful for engaging incoming drones, which can be very hard to spot and engage with traditional air defense systems. Beyond all this, groups of 358s flying figure-eight orbits would just present additional hazards an opponent would have to contend with or attempt to plan around, which could be problematic seeing that they can fly out to remote locations. If the 358 is low cost, then it could be even easier to deploy large numbers of them at once to increase the probability of success and otherwise try to disrupt enemy air operations. In 2023, the Houthis did unveil a Saqr-2 missile, which lacks the tail fins found on the Saqr-1/358. How else the Saqr-2 differs from its predecessor is not known, but observers have noted that it looks as if it might be slightly shorter overall. A smaller design could allow for more compact launchers and otherwise make the missile easier to handle. Saqr-2 missiles on parade in Yemen in 2023. MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images Iran has also now developed a larger and more capable 359 based on the general form and function of the 358 design, which is claimed to have a maximum range of (150 kilometers), be able to reach a top speed of (1,000 kilometers per hour), and be able to get up to an altitude of 30,000 feet. The 359, which is not yet known to be in Houthi service, can reportedly be recovered via parachute and reused if it does not prosecute an intercept. The parachute recovery feature on the 359 could possibly allow for its use in a secondary surveillance and reconnaissance role, as well. Iran unveils the “359” surface-to-air loitering missile.An upgraded version of the “358,” the “359” features a larger design, likely powered by a Tolou-10 turbojet engine, extending its range to 150 km and altitude to over 9 km. It reaches speeds of up to 1,000 km/h and… pic.twitter.com/GWUDDgQlam— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 16, 2025 Repurposed Air-To-Air Missiles In addition to Iranian-supplied designs, the Houthis have also repurposed a number of Soviet-era and Russian-made air-to-air missiles for use as ground-based anti-air weapons. This includes R-73Es, R-27Ts, and R-77s, which the Houthis refer to in their new surface-to-air configurations as Thaqib-1, Thaqib-2, and Thaqib-3, respectively. Russia originally delivered these missiles to Yemen in the early-to-mid 2000s to go along with MiG-29SMT fighters, a fleet that has become increasingly inoperable, if not outright destroyed, in the past decade or so. Houthi Thaqib-1 (R-73) missile in front with Thaqib-2 (R-27) and Thaqib-3 (R-77) behind. Houthi-controlled media A closer look at a Thaqib-2 (R-27) missile. Houthi-controlled media Thaqib-3 (R-77) missiles. Houthi-controlled media The R-27Ts and R-73Es are both infrared-guided missiles, and target acquisition and cuing are generally understood to be done via improvised infrared sensor systems on the ground. Radars could also be employed to at least help spot targets initially. Infrared sensors are known to be part of the unrelated Gravehawk surface-to-air missile system in use in Ukraine, which also uses repurposed R-73s as its interceptor. Ukrainian forces have a number of other systems in service that also fire R-73s in the surface-to-air mode, including modified 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko) air defense vehicles, which have an array of onboard radars, as well as a Humvee-based design and anti-air configured drone boats. When used in the surface-to-air mode, the R-73 has the immediate benefit of being a weapon with a high-off-boresight (HOBS) engagement capability. This means that it has an articulating seeker with a much wider field of regard than non-HOBS designs, which would aid in locking onto more dynamic targets while loaded onto a fixed launcher on the ground, as well as engaging them after launch. The seekers on the R-27T and R-73E are also passive. As such, the crew of any aircraft without electro-optical missile approach warning sensors would have to rely on visually spotting the incoming threat before it is too late, something that well come back to toward the end of this story. The versions of the R-77 that the Houthis appear to have turned into Thaqib-3 surface-to-air missiles look to be typical radar-guided types, which could require a different kind of initial cuing than their R-27 and R-73-based counterparts. Thaqib-1s and 2s have been seen in use by the Houthis loaded on truck-mounted launchers, but there does not appear to be any clear evidence of the Thaqib-3 having entered real service. Imagery previously released by Saudi authorities of Thaqib-1 (R-73) missiles on truck-mounted launchers in Houthi service. Government of Saudi Arabia A truck-mounted launcher armed with a Thaqib-2 (R-27) missile is seen in an image that Saudi Arabian authorities previously released. Government of Saudi Arabia At least one example of an older Soviet-designed R-60 heat-seeking air-to-air missile loaded on a launch rail mounted on a Houthi pickup truck has emerged in the past, as seen below. Whether this combination, which is not known to have received a Thaqib designation, is or was intended to be employed in the surface-to-air or the surface-to-surface role, or if it has been used operationally at all, is unclear. Houthi-controlled media via Oryx Inherited Soviet-Designed SAMs When the Houthis unseated the internationally recognized government of Yemen in 2014, the group also seized a variety of purpose-built Soviet-era surface-to-air missile systems, including fixed-site S-75 (SA-2 Guideline) and tracked 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful), both of which are radar-guided designs, and man-portable Strela (SA-7) heat-seeking types. As a base level, the 2K12/SA-6 represents a particularly serious mobile threat with the ability to engage crewed jet aircraft flying at higher altitudes. Houthi fighters in #Yemen have access to 2K12 "Kub" SAM systems. Theyll hopefully be put to good use. pic.twitter.com/0E3tTL5PSq— H. Sumeri (@IraqiSecurity) March 26, 2015 Various air defense radars, including Soviet-designed P-18 air surveillance, P-19 air surveillance and target acquisition, and PRV-13 height-finding types, also passed into the hands of the Yemeni militants. Houthi P-19 and PRV-13 radars on parade in 2023. A smaller radar of a type typically used to direct anti-aircraft guns is also seen in the foreground. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images The current status of these inherited surface-to-air missile systems is unclear. The Houthis are known to have converted some number of S-75/SA-2 missiles into Qaher-2 and Muhit (also written variously as Mohit or Moheet) ballistic missiles for use against targets on land and at sea, respectively. S-75/SA-2 series missiles seen at a Houthi parade in 2023. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images In 2019, the Houthis also unveiled a surface-to-air missile that they dubbed Fater-1, which was at least a copy or clone of the Soviet 3M9 for the 2K12 Kub/SA-6 system. The following year, the Yemeni militants released a picture of Fater-1s loaded onto a Kub launcher vehicle. Whether or not the Houthis inventory of Faher-1s has included refurbished 3M9s from existing Yemeni stocks, examples supplied by Iran, and/or ones acquired from other sources is also unclear. Video of the “brand-new made in Yemen” #Houthi air defence missile which appears to be an 3M9 missile from the #Russian 2K12 Kub SAM system (thanks fo @Obs_IL for highlighting this) pic.twitter.com/AEZuEh9DXG— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) August 24, 2019 Whether the Houthis now have additional platforms for firing 3M9/Fater-1 missiles is unclear. The missiles have been seen paraded on trucks in the past, but those do not appear to be actual launchers. Similarities between the 3M9/Fater-1 design and the Barq-1/2 and Taer surface-to-air missiles might allow the sharing of launchers between these missiles, as well. 3M9/Fater-1 missiles on parade in Yemen in 2023. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images Assessing The Overall Houthi Air Defense Threat While Houthi air defenses clearly present real threats to MQ-9s, the full scale and scope of the groups ability to engage more capable targets in the skies over and around Yemen remains difficult to assess in many regards. For one, the groups ability to effectively employ surface-to-air missiles is heavily tied to the availability of relevant associated sensors, and details about the Houthis inventory in this regard remain limited. In particular, the capabilities of available radars, and the coverage they can provide, have direct impacts on the engagement envelopes for surface-to-air missiles that rely on them for target acquisition and cuing. U.S. forces have been actively targeting Houthi radars, including types also used for coastal surveillance and anti-ship operations, since October 2023, and continue to do so. A US Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft loaded with four AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) launches from the deck of the carrier USS Harry S. Truman in support of operations against the Houthis in April 2024. USN There has been discussion in the past about whether the Houthis might be leveraging alternative means for spotting and tracking hostile aircraft, including passive radiofrequency sensors that could be capable of acting as what have been described as virtualized radars. In 2018, Saudi Arabian authorities said they had seized electronic tracking systems manufactured by the Iranian company Behine Pardazan Rizmojsanat (BP-RMS)—specifically, a transponder interrogator (aka virtual radar receiver, or VRR) that passively gathers air traffic control signals given off by military and commercial craft, according to analysis at the time from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Drawing from satellite-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast systems and other passive tracking options, Iranian-supplied VRRs could help the Houthis monitor, decode, and display accurate geolocation, altitude, roll/track angle, heading, speed, nationality, and call sign of all coalition aircraft within a radius of over 250 km [155 miles]. This information could then be used to derive targeting solutions for air-defense batteries, allowing Houthi SAMs to operate without the telltale emissions produced by surveillance radars, that same analysis added. With this capability, the Houthis may be able to launch dangerous pop-up attacks in which operators use passive systems to track a target and then launch a missile in the right direction; the missiles infrared or radar guidance system does not activate until it nears the target. In addition to improving the Houthi tactic of converting heat-seeking air-to-air missiles into SAMs, Iranian-provided VRR could help the rebels conduct SAMbushes with semi-active radar-guided SA-6 missiles. Other kinds of purpose-built electronic support measures (ESM) systems designed to detect, categorize, geolocate, and/or track targets via their radar and other emissions also exist. Examples of these could potentially make their way into Houthi hands, including by way of Iran. This all underscores the aforementioned value of using passive infrared sensors and seekers for initial targeting and terminal guidance. It also aligns with Houthis practice of releasing infrared camera footage following claimed surface-to-air engagements of U.S. and foreign drones, as well as crewed aircraft, something militants have been doing for years now. | The Houthis show footage from the shootdown of another U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper UCAV.If Im not mistaken, that would be the 20th MQ-9 downed by the Houthis from Yemen. pic.twitter.com/SCwRVLSs7s— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) April 18, 2025 Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis release footage showing American MQ-9 Reaper UAV being shot down over Yemeni territorial waters. pic.twitter.com/sU0eI5d7vi— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 8, 2023 Yemeni Houthis intercepted Saudi F-15 by Fatter-1 missile ( its SA-6 SAM that were restored or supposedly modernized with Iranian assistance). Judging by how close the missile exploded it was quite likely that F-15 could have been damaged, but still managed to fly away. pic.twitter.com/Qmdpb9ER2Q— Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) December 10, 2021 “The Houthis and the Iranians went electro-optical, because it is a completely passive system, The Washington Institutes Michael Knights also told CBS News for a story published last September. It’s hard to hunt those things down because they don’t really have any signature before launch. In an unclassified report published in July 2024, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) also explicitly confirmed that the Yemeni militants have used the Saqr[-1/358] with their passive infrared seekers to attack U.S. UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles]. Irans 358 SAM, known in Yemen as the Saqr SAM, has had an outsized impact on the Houthi aerial threat, particularly against US unmanned systems over the last year and a half and is likely to continue to play a major role in the Houthis ability to generate costs for the U.S., Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, also told TWZ. Iran has also previously released video footage, seen in the social media post below, showing what appears to be Houthis 358s intercepting Predator XP drones. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the only known operator of the XP variant of the Predator, which is readily distinguishable from other versions of the drone by its winglets. In Iranian documentary"Parchamdar" for the first time showed the archive footage wuth launch and strike of the famous Iranian-made anti-aircraft loitering missile "358" against Predator UAV. Apparently this video is from Yemen, where the Houthis used them very actively. pic.twitter.com/D9R25lhlWb— Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) November 13, 2023 It is worth noting here that drones like the Predator XP and Reaper were originally designed for medium-altitude operations (MQ-9s typically flying at between 25,000 and 30,000 feet based on publicly available information) in permissive airspace, and they are not generally fitted with threat warning sensors by default. Self-protection pod options for the MQ-9 do now exist, something we will come back to later, but there are no indications as yet that these are in use on Reaper flying over and around Yemen, if the U.S. military has acquired them yet at all. There has also been some evidence in the past of the Houthis striking Saudi and Emirati crewed combat jets with passive infrared seeker-equipped R-73s and/or R-27s employed in the surface-to-air mode. フーシ（※Houthi：イエメンの武装組織）が交戦するサウジアラビアのF-15を撃墜したとする様子を撮影したFLIR動画が・・・ヤバス。 pic.twitter.com/mw1Ib2iDaR— act (@zaylog) January 9, 2018 Use of mobile systems, especially ones with some degree of shoot-and-scoot capability, would further increase the threats posed by Houthi air defense capabilities, regardless of the mix of sensors they use for target acquisition and cuing. It would also increase the demand for more persistent surveillance assets like the MQ-9 to help find and fix their locations so that they can be targeted and/or avoided. At a hearing in March, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, head of DIA, also told members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence explicitly said the Houthis have attempted to use their mobile 2K12 Kub/SA-6 Gadfly surface-to-air missile systems against U.S. aircraft. Kruse did not provide any details on the specific interceptors those systems have been employing or otherwise further elaborate. A stock picture of a transporter-erector-launcher associated with the 2K12 Kub/SA-6 Gadfly surface-to-air missile system is shown while Jason Crow, a Democratic Party Representative from Colorado, questions DIA Director U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse about Houthi air defense threats at the hearing in March. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Tom Williams The 2K12 Kub/SA-6, as well as its successor, the 9K37 Buk/SA-11, are particularly good examples of self-contained air defense threats that are magnified by their ability to pop up suddenly, turn on their radars relatively briefly, shoot, and then run. By extension, they are also very hard to find and target, as well as predict where they might be in order to have countermeasures in place or otherwise plan around them. The mobile air defense systems Iran has developed for its Taer and Sayyad surface-to-air missile families present similar challenges. At the time of writing, U.S. officials do not appear to have explicitly confirmed the Houthis employment of any other air defense systems, successful or not, against American forces. The Houthis so far havent downed any crewed U.S. military aircraft. The Yemeni militants did recently declare their intention to try to damage or destroy an American B-2 stealth bomber, but their ability to do so is questionable. That being said, even B-2s do not operate alone and make use of offboard electronic warfare and suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) support during missions when possible. Soon, pic.twitter.com/sBfQsLciKL— Yemen Military (@Yemenimilitary) April 20, 2025 It is also important to remember that stealth does not mean invisible or invulnerable. This is something that Serbian forces famously demonstrated with the shootdown of a U.S. Air Force F-117 Nighthawk stealth combat jet over that country in 1999. It has since been confirmed that Serbian forces succeeded in damaging a second F-117 in the course of the same campaign. Just damaging even a non-stealthy crewed U.S. military aircraft would be a major propaganda victory for the Yemeni militants. All of this raises further questions about whether the U.S. militarys employment of B-2s and a growing array of stand-off munition types against Houthi targets in Yemen is being driven in larger part by air defense concerns than have been publicly acknowledged. The B-2 currently represents the U.S. militarys most capable known platform for penetrating through dense air defenses to prosecute heavy strikes deep inside hostile territory. As TWZ has highlighted previously, the forward-deployment of six B-2s to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia in March, as well as the use of those stealth bombers in strikes on Yemen in October 2024, is also heavily tied to broader strategic messaging aimed at Iran. Six B-2 bombers seen at the airfield on Diego Garcia in April 2025. PHOTO © 2025 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION Since March, there has also been a notable increase, at least publicly, in non-stealthy U.S. tactical jets employing more types of stand-off munitions against the Houthis. The current campaign has seen the first known use of GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bomb, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II), in combat, launched from U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. U.S Navy ammunition handlers aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) prepare ordnance for Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1).#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/z5PizSE1eJ— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 21, 2025 In March, images also began emerging showing Navy Super Hornets armed with AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) cruise missiles during Yemen strike sorties. The Navy had previously disclosed the use of AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) glide bombs and AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM), as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that do not offer standoff range, against the Houthis. 1/ Aside from the launch of F/A-18E/Fs armed with JSOW C/C-1s, the video also shows F/A-18Es armed with SLAM-ER ATAs parked on the fligh deck. https://t.co/3TC4kKIn17 pic.twitter.com/OqQBbRrYGY— Guy Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) March 16, 2025 Already, the Houthis have shown the world that even the most cash strapped actors in one of the poorer parts of the world can punch well above their weight when they have a state patron [Iran] willing to float advanced state level military capabilities into the hands of a non-state actor and demonstrated the ability of the adversary to adapt and learn on the battlefield, FDDs Taleblu also told TWZ. The Future Of The MQ-9 Circling back to the MQ-9, the losses to the Houthis since October 2023 underscore larger questions about the Reapers continued relevance, especially in future high-end fights with far denser air defense threats. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps currently operate around 230 Reapers between them, with the vast majority of the drones belonging to the former service. In 2020, the U.S. Air Force abruptly announced its desire to stop buying MQ-9s, citing concerns about growing vulnerabilities. The service has also said in the past that it could retire the drones for good by 2035, but has continued to take deliveries of new examples in the meantime. The U.S. Marine Corps only started its journey to becoming a full-fledged MQ-9 operator in 2019, and currently plans to operate the type for the foreseeable future. The Marines have already been steadily working to add new capabilities to their Reapers, including a podded electronic warfare system to help shield the drones from enemy radars. The U.S. Air Force has at least tested the same system in the past for use on its MQ-9. A Marine MQ-9 with a podded system under its right wing. USMC The MQ-9s manufacturer, General Atomics, has also developed a podded self-protection system that includes direction infrared countermeasures designed to detect and defeat incoming heat-seeking missiles. The company said in 2023 that it was getting close to a sale of the Self Protection Pods, which also have the ability to launch decoy flares, chaff, and other expendable countermeasures, to an unspecified U.S. customer. As TWZ has highlighted in the past, the loss of any drone is inherently less impactful than the downing of a crewed aircraft, given that there is no danger of friendly personnel being injured or killed. Combat search and rescue missions to recover downed pilots and other aircrew, especially if they go deep inside hostile territory, also require significant manpower and material resources, which are themselves then put at risk. Still, losing tens of MQ-9s does carry a significant monetary cost. The average unit price of Reapers now in U.S. service has been pegged at around $30 million, which doesnt factor in the cost of any weapons and other systems they might be carrying that are not part of the baseline configuration. If at least 18 MQ-9s have been lost to the Houthis so far, thats $540 million – and likely much more– worth of Reapers downed. The steady loss of Reapers will have at least some degree of operational impact, as well. TWZ has noted in the past that any sustained aerial campaign against the Houthis requires persistent surveillance to keep tabs on the groups movements, including to help provide time-sensitive actionable intelligence about potential missile and drone attacks. If nothing else, the Houthis have demonstrated that they have enough air defense capability to put U.S. military aircraft at legitimate risk, which looks to be prompting increased use of standoff munitions and other kinds of risk-related decision making. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@twz.com The post What Air Defenses Do The Houthis In Yemen Actually Have? appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: News & Features, Around The Globe, Drones, Land, Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), Middle East, Red Sea, Short-Range Air Defense Systems (SHORADS), Surface-To-Air Missile Systems, Yemen] [Link to media]

— French Rafale Fighters Project Power Forward To Sweden

 

at 4/23/25 12:51pm

French Air and Space Force Rafale fighters are among the aircraft taking part in a power-projection exercise including operations over Sweden, which joined NATO a little over a year ago. The latest edition of the Pégase (Pegasus) drill comes as European NATO members look at bolstering their deterrence capabilities independent of the United States, with France very much at the center of these discussions. Notably, the maneuvers are also being accompanied by an exercise in which French military aircraft have been rapidly dispersed to alternative airfields, something that would be required in a large-scale conflict with Russia, for example. A French Air and Space Rafale B from the nuclear-tasked 4th Fighter Wing takes on fuel from a tanker. French Air and Space Force Far North | PEGASE 25 kicks off combat power deployed to Northern Europe. A concrete commitment to European security, side by side with our allies, to deter and defend.Next stop: pic.twitter.com/jcZ84pAQQQ— The Joint Staff Military operations (@FrenchForces) April 22, 2025 The French Air and Space Force today published details of Pégase 25, which saw aircraft launch from the airbases of Mont-de-Marsan, Istres, Saint-Dizier, and Orléans yesterday. The aircraft involved comprise six Rafales, two A400M transports, and a single A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), known locally as Phénix. French Air and Space personnel board an A330 MRTT Phénix. French Air and Space Force The Pégase Grand Nord phase, described by the service as “an unprecedented edition of our annual power-projection mission,” saw these assets heading for Sweden and “demonstrating the Air Force’s ability to deploy rapidly, far, and autonomously.” Notably, the French Air and Space Force described this as a strategic exercise, designed “to assert our presence, strengthen our partnerships, and demonstrate our commitment to European security, alongside our allies.” Supplies are loaded aboard a French Air and Space A400M. French Air and Space Force Writing on X, Etienne Marcuz, an associate fellow of the French think tank FRS, who focuses on strategic systems and nuclear deterrence, noted that at least some of the six Rafales deployed on Pégase 25 have been drawn from the airborne component of France’s nuclear deterrent. Specifically, this is the 4e Escadre de Chasse (4th Fighter Wing) of the Strategic Air Forces, home-based at Saint-Dizier. It did not take long, we now have the answer, part of the 6 Rafale taking part of #PEGASE25 operation that flew yesterday to Sweden belong to the French strategic air forces And the word "deter" is once again used (though without "nuclear")This is a significant1/ https://t.co/D4eLORFxO7 pic.twitter.com/4AJlcv9PJN— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) April 23, 2025 As you can read about here, France has around 50 two-seat Rafale Bs assigned to the nuclear mission, armed with ASMP-A supersonic missiles and supported by a fleet of A330 MRTT aerial refueling tankers. These aircraft are dual-role, however, and are capable of a wide range of air-to-ground missions, and air defense ones, in addition to their strategic strike role. A French Air and Space Rafale armed with an ASMP-A nuclear missile. MBDA At this stage, it’s unclear what particular missions the aircraft are taking part in during Pégase 25, and we have reached out to the French Ministry of Defense for more details. As to the Pégase Grand Nord component, it appears that at least some of the French aircraft have landed in Sweden and will be operating alongside Swedish Air Force assets. However, it’s not clear if they will remain deployed in Sweden for a period or if they will move on to another country. | The six Air Force Rafales taking part in the PÉGASE 25 mission are part of the French deterrent. https://t.co/PgGq3SMUfR pic.twitter.com/mMqj6Xninz— French Aid to Ukraine (@aidefranceukr) April 23, 2025 Reflecting the overall strategic nature of the exercise, Pégase 25 is also being run concurrently with a second set of maneuvers, known as Exercise Jade (standing for Jaillissement d’Escadre, or ‘wing burst’). In the Jade drills, the French Air and Space Force is training to disperse aircraft from their home bases to alternative airfields, reflecting the kind of thinking that was prevalent during the Cold War, but which fell out of favor in the years immediately after that. Having aircraft dispersed over a larger number of bases, including ones that don’t have a permanent combat aircraft presence, is also key to avoiding the destruction of these assets in any kind of initial attack launched by an aggressor and for sustained operations to keep ahead of the enemys targeting cycle. These tactics have been critical to the Ukrainian Air Forces survival and are now underpinning U.S. air combat doctrine in the Pacific with the USAFs ACE and Marines EABO playbooks. In the latest Jade maneuvers, which began yesterday, all the operational Mirage 2000Ds and Mirage 2000Bs assigned to Nancy Air Base were ordered to disperse to five other airfields, without prior notice. These alternative airfields included two training bases that don’t normally host fighter aircraft. le second exercice, JADE pour "Jaillissement dEscadre"Il sagit dun type dexercice qui était en vogue durant la Guerre Froide et qui vise à sexercer à la dispersion des appareils dune ou plusieurs bases aériennes vers dautres terrains daviation pour éviter8/ pic.twitter.com/8poNlE5qRv— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) April 23, 2025 [Notre Défense] Ce 22 avril 2025, la 3e escadre de chasse de la BA 133 #Nancy a reçu un ordre inattendu : dispersion de ses Mirage 2000D et 2000B vers cinq bases aériennes différentes Une manœuvre sans avertissement baptisée « Jade » https://t.co/dXOg8AqV8N pic.twitter.com/tEKj8gwsxb— Laurent Albaret (@laurentalbaret) April 22, 2025 Although nuclear-capable aircraft don’t appear to be involved in the latest Jade drill, the ability to disperse aircraft at short notice is especially important for the Strategic Air Forces. This reduces the risk of nuclear-capable Rafales being knocked out on the ground in a pre-emptive strike, ensuring the credibility of the French deterrent. Potentially, dispersal of aircraft in this way can also make use of civilian airfields, which opens up many more opportunities to ensure the security of French Air and Space Force assets, by making it that much harder for an adversary to target them. At the same time, sending Rafales and support assets to Sweden opens up the possibility of dispersing these aircraft to airfields outside of France. This could have multiple advantages in times of tension. As well as further complicating an adversary’s targeting plans, sending combat aircraft to Sweden, for example, puts them closer to potential targets in Russia. It also sends a clear signal that France will be willing to support its NATO allies should these come under attack. It is likely no coincidence that Sweden, which is that much closer to Russia and is strategically located in the Baltic region and in proximity to the High North, was chosen for Pégase 25. A Swedish Stridsfordon 90 armored vehicle on patrol on the strategic island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea in January 2022. KARL MELANDER/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images Taken together, Pégase 25 and Jade indicate that France is increasingly preparing for large-scale military contingencies that might be fought both on its own territory as well as elsewhere across Europe. For Marcuz, it was not a surprise that the French Air and Space Force would send combat aircraft — specifically nuclear-capable ones — to Sweden, in light of broader security issues in Europe. “At the end of February, I had identified the dispatch of Strategic Air Forces aircraft along Europe’s eastern border as a possible first step towards extending our deterrent to our neighbors,” Marcuz said. “At the time, I imagined a single long flight, but a mission such as Pégase 25 over several days offers the advantage of ‘visiting’ countries and training in greater depth with our allies.” Depending on how long Pégase 25 continues, airbases in other countries could also be visited, increasing the opportunities for cooperative training as well as sending a deeper message to potential adversaries. “However, we’ll have to wait for further communications, probably at a higher level, to find out whether this mission has an official ‘nuclear’ character, or whether it’s just implied (with a correspondingly weaker message),” Marcuz added. Whatever the specific function of nuclear deterrence within Pégase 25, this is an area that France is currently looking to expand, to meet the resurgent Russian threat. Last month, TWZ reported on how France will establish another nuclear-capable air base — its fourth — that will be equipped with two squadrons of the latest version of the Rafale. The new nuclear base will be Luxeuil, in eastern France, which will join those already operational at Saint-Dizier, Istres, and Avord. Notably, the nuclear base at Luxeuil is planned to receive the advanced F5-standard Rafale as well as the ASN4G missile, the next-generation standoff nuclear weapon for the French Armed Forces, which will fly at hypersonic speed. French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the French Air and Space Force base at Luxeuil, in Saint-Sauveur, northeastern France, on March 18, 2025. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP LUDOVIC MARIN The fact that France operates an independent nuclear deterrent has brought this capability to greater prominence in recent months. As TWZ has noted in the past: France, meanwhile, has both submarine-launched ballistic missiles and air-launched nuclear missiles of its own design. More importantly, these weapons are technically independent of NATO nuclear planning, unlike the British nuclear deterrent, which is also closely intertwined with that of the United States. How this would all play out when confronted by the realities of a nuclear conflict involving NATO is unclear, but it does at least provide Paris with more flexibility when it comes to discussions of how its nuclear umbrella might be extended to European NATO allies. Earlier this year, it was reported that France is looking at the possibility of deploying air-launched nuclear weapons to Germany, an idea driven by growing concerns that the United States may no longer guarantee European security under NATO. Before he was appointed German leader, Friedrich Merz meanwhile described talks with his British and French colleagues as being about European “nuclear sharing or at least nuclear security.” According to a report in the British newspaper The Telegraph in February, citing an unnamed French official, “Posting a few French nuclear jet fighters in Germany should not be difficult and would send a strong message” to Russia, which would aim to bolster Europe’s nuclear deterrent. A French Air and Space Force pilot boards a Rafale at the nuclear-tasked Saint-Dizier Air Base in March 2021. Photo by FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI/AFP via Getty Images  More generally, France is currently witnessing an increasing focus on building up Europe’s capacity to provide a defensive bulwark against Russia, driven to a significant degree by concerns about U.S. security guarantees. Of course, this includes a wide range of conventional capabilities, underpinned by the nuclear-tasked Strategic Air Forces. The importance of the Pégase 25 drills in the wider European security context is also made clear in the French Air and Space Force’s own statement on the maneuvers: “Pégase 25 is more than an exercise: it’s a concrete commitment to European security alongside our allies. Deter, protect, act together.” While we don’t know for sure to what degree the Pégase 25 exercise is focused on nuclear warfighting, it’s significant that nuclear-capable Rafales and their strategic support assets are involved. More generally, it’s notable that the maneuvers are being highlighted as an explicit demonstration of the French commitment to broader NATO security in Europe. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The post French Rafale Fighters Project Power Forward To Sweden appeared first on The War Zone.

[Category: Air, Air Forces, Air Launched Nuclear Missles, Around The Globe, Europe, Fighters, French Air Force, NATO, News & Features, Nuclear, Rafale] [Link to media]

— Rapid Strike On Smuggling Ship Off Africa Highlights Increased Authorities Given To Commanders

 

at 4/22/25 5:00pm

When an unflagged vessel smuggling advanced arms to the al-Shabaab jihadi group was spotted in the waters off Somalia last week, there was no time to send a boarding party to interdict it, a U.S. defense official told The War Zone Tuesday morning. So, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) made a rare decision, calling in an airstrike. The ability to do so was, in large measure, made possible by new authorities given to commanders to act, the official told us. This is meant to speed up critical kill chains and increase the effectiveness of the force that has to keep ahead of enemies on a fast-moving modern battlefield. But even with the clear benefits of increased authorities down the chain of command and forward in the field, there can be added risks. “This was a time-sensitive issue,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “They have to do things quickly. They did not have time to pull in boats.” “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted airstrikes against advanced conventional weapons aboard a flagless vessel and a smaller supporting vessel inside Somalia territorial waters on April 16, 2025,” the command announced. “The weapons were en route to al Shabaab terrorists inside Somalia and posed an imminent threat to partner and U.S. forces in Somalia. AFRICOMs initial assessment is that no civilians were harmed.” In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted airstrikes against advanced conventional weapons aboard a flagless vessel and a smaller supporting vessel inside Somalia territorial waters on April 16, 2025. https://t.co/AcpcQYDRrq— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) April 22, 2025 Everyone aboard both vessels was “neutralized,” the Somali Ministry of Information added. Press ReleaseIn a joint operation, the @USAfricaCommandAfric collaborated with the Federal Government of Somalia to execute a precision airstrike against vessels laden with advanced military equipment destined for the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab Read moer pic.twitter.com/cSKY3GVcUu— Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism (@MOISOMALIA) April 17, 2025 AFRICOM declined to say what kinds of weapons were involved, how the strike was carried out or by what branch. Interdiction of arms at sea is not unusual in this part of Africa and the Middle East. Smuggling everything from AK-47s and ammunition to advanced missile components are regular occurrences around the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Illicit arms deals to extremist groups and support for proxies in the form of weaponry has plagued the region for a very long time. Some of the voluminous weapons and ammunitions seized by U.S. Centcom forces via AP Though routine, these operations remain inherently dangerous, as borne out last year by the deaths of Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram. The two Navy SEALs were attempting to board a vessel in the Arabian Sea carrying Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components from Iran to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. When boarding the boat, Chambers slipped into the gap created by high waves between the vessel and the SEALs’ combatant craft, officials said. As he fell, Ingram jumped in to try to save him. Both men perished. An airstrike against vessels, meanwhile, is practically unheard of. The U.S. official said it has been at least five years, and probably longer, since that last happened, if at all, in the AFRICOM region. AFRICOM forces struck a vessel off the coast of Somalia it says was carrying advanced weapons to the al-Shabaab jihadi group. (Google Earth) The ability to rapidly carry out attacks like this one is the result of U.S. President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth giving local commanders more authority to act, the U.S. defense officials told us. That AFRICOM is doing so is the result of increased activity and presence by groups like al-Shabaab and ISIS operating in northern Somalia. “Commanders have been given more delegated authorities, than under the previous administration, to act and a wider range of targets,” that can be hit, a second U.S. defense official told The War Zone. These changes are reflected in the drastic increase in airstrikes against al-Shabaab and ISIS targets. “So far this year, we conducted 20 airstrikes against both ISIS Somalia and al-Shabaab,” the official told us. “We did 10 all of last year.” The last strike on a ground target came the same day as the vessels were hit. The attack took place near Adan Yabaal, according to AFRICOM. “Al-Shabaab has proved both its will and capability to attack U.S. forces,” AFRICOM said in a statement at the time. “AFRICOM, alongside the Federal Government of Somalia and Somali Armed Forces, continues to take action to degrade al Shabaab’s ability to plan and conduct attacks that threaten the U.S. homeland, our forces, and our citizens abroad.” Footage obtained by #Africalix from an MQ-9 “Reaper” drone shows U.S. AFRICOM precision strikes on ISIS targets in Somalia’s Cal Miskaad Mountains, a known militant stronghold. Ordered by President Trump, this decisive action reinforces U.S. commitment to eliminating terror… pic.twitter.com/hbPotqFmG3— Africalix (@Africa_lix) February 2, 2025 Retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel, former commander of U.S. Central Command, told us the value of having greater authority to act. One example of an authority that I asked for and received was the ability to move forces back and forth between Iraq and Syria, explained Votel, now a Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute. Prior to 2017 our policy had been strict management of the numbers and capabilities in each country. As the campaign progressed, we needed more flexibility, especially in Syria. Being able to move forces back and forth under my own authority, as opposed to seeking approvals through the National Security Process, gave us the flexibility and agility we needed to finish the campaign. I think the big idea is to get decision-making at the lowest competent level the commander/leader who has the knowledge of the situation as well as the requisite judgment and experience. This does not always mean the most junior or most senior leader it is the one who is best enabled to make the decision. Conversely, he added that he had to get approval for certain operations in Yemen. While reducing the need to seek permission has its advantages, there are potential downsides. Speeding up the kill chain can introduce higher risks, including misidentification, collateral damage, and unintended geopolitical ramifications. In addition, as in the case of the boat attacked by AFRICOM, the decision to make a swifter strike removed any intelligence value that could have been gained if there had been time to capture it. The new authorities, which affect airstrikes and commando operations, were implemented in response to a much more restrictive process under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, CBS News noted in the first story about the easing of the rules. Under the Obama administration, before launching a drone strike in Somalia or Yemen, “military commanders had to ensure it met a number of strict criteria and obtain approvals from seven decision makers — including the president,” the network explained. “The individual targeted had to be confirmed as a member of an approved terrorist organization using two independent forms of intelligence. Civilian casualties had to be projected as minimal. And there could be no ‘contradictory intelligence’ muddying the waters.” The Biden administration had similar restrictions. An official interviewed by CBS “added that Mr. Trumps approach carries both risks and rewards because the streamlined process can potentially degrade foreign terrorist organizations capabilities faster, given the lower threshold required to strike and widened target selection, but it inherently raises the risk of flawed decisions and unintended civilian casualties.” It is unclear if these new permissions extend beyond AFRICOM. Earlier this month, AFRICOM’s commander, Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, testified before Congress that the new authorities have spurred action. “Al-Shabaab is especially a heightened terrorist threat, namely because theyre colluding with the Houthis across from Yemen,” he stated. “So were watching that closely. The president and the Secretary of Defense gave me expanded authorities … I will say, were hitting them hard. I have the capability to hit them hard.” JUST IN: General Michael Langley of @USAfricaCommand warns of “heightened terror threats” as Hawiye Al-Shabaab, ISIS Saleebaan Mahmoud Majeertenia, and the Houthis team up in failed Somalia. pic.twitter.com/peT2GFXP4d— Checkmate Halyeeyed (@CheckmateEA) April 5, 2025 Langley further stated there was good reason to have that additional authority. Groups like al-Shabaab and ISIS, he told senators, are a “direct threat on the homeland, whether its just their networks or even their ideology.” He pointed to the Jan. 1 terror attack in New Orleans, when 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a truck into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens. Jabbar had an ISIS flag in his truck and was motivated by their beliefs. “This is an event that was inspired by a foreign terrorist ideology,” then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN at the time. “This individual ascribed to the heinous beliefs of ISIS.”  Police investigators surround the white Ford F-150 pickup truck that crashed into a work lift after allegedly driving into a crowd of New Years revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 1, 2025. At least 10 people were killed and 30 were injured. (Photo by Matthew HINTON / AFP) MATTHEW HINTON Though AFRICOM has increased the tempo of its attacks, as we previously noted, the Trump administration is looking to pull back from Africa. That includes the possibility of making AFRICOM subordinate to U.S. European Command (EUCOM). Both are currently headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Even if it is subsumed, commanders of AFRICOM or what remains of it, will likely still have a major role in kinetic actions on the continent. The additional authorities provided under Trump and Hegseth should continue to speed up the kill chain if more attacks against these groups are required. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com The post Rapid Strike On Smuggling Ship Off Africa Highlights Increased Authorities Given To Commanders appeared first on The War Zone.

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