The War Zone

A strong offense for the world of defense.

Featured in The War Zone

By Joseph Trevithick Mar 3, 2020

Air Force Boss Alludes To Work On New Top Secret Air-Launched Anti-Ship Weapons

The US military sees the ability to reach out with airpower and take out enemy ships as increasingly critical to beating a major adversary.

By Tyler Rogoway Mar 3, 2020

USS America Is Flying A Giant Captain America Flag While On Patrol In The Pacific

Captain America is one of the most iconic military characters of all time, one that bridges generations and evokes patriotism and a sense of duty.

By Joseph Trevithick Mar 3, 2020

Sale Of KC-46 Tanker To Israel Approved While New Delays For Key Fixes Revealed

The US Air Force says it won't use the tankers for aerial refueling, except in an emergency, until critical fixes are completed years down the road.

By Tyler Rogoway Mar 3, 2020

Mystery Objects Simultaneously Emerge From Hangars Again At Secretive Tonopah Airport

We first spotted this type of unprecedented activity in satellite imagery of the clandestine base three months ago.

By Joseph Trevithick Mar 3, 2020

Boeing Reveals Its Contender To Be The Army's Future High-Speed Armed Scout Helicopter

The Army expects the winning design will replace nearly half of its AH-64 Apaches, which are also Boeing products.

By Tyler Rogoway Mar 2, 2020

Watch A Su-25 Attack Jet Blast A Tu-16 Bomber Out Of The Sky With An Anti-Tank Missile

The Russian missile's high-explosive anti-tank warhead ends the bomber's life quite spectacularly.

By Joseph Trevithick Mar 2, 2020

Concerns About U.S. Military Supply Chains And Readiness Grow As COVID-19 Coronavirus Spreads

The Pentagon says that it is working to mitigate these issues, but it's unclear how severe their impact could be if the virus' spread accelerates.

By Joseph Trevithick Mar 2, 2020

Russians Tag Along With Assad's Forces To Deter Turkish Strikes As Syrian Air War Heats Up

This comes a day after Turkey announced a new intervention into the country, which included shooting down two Syrian Air Force Su-24 combat jets.

By Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick Mar 1, 2020

General Atomics Wants To Give Aerial Tankers Their Own Missile-Laden Loyal Wingmen Drones

The "Defender" concept is a potentially promising way to address the increasing vulnerability of Air Force tankers and other lumbering support planes.

By Tyler Rogoway Feb 29, 2020

Bunker Talk: Hope For The Best, But Prepare For The Worst Edition

We can talk about Elon Musk's crystal ball, Turkey taking a big hit in Syria, geopolitics, and, well, Coronavirus—you know, kinda a big whoop.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 28, 2020

Navy Instagram Tells China "You Don't Want To Play Laser Tag With Us" After Pacific Incident

The Navy posted a photo depicting a laser show on one of China's South China Sea bases, a reference to how common these incidents are there.

By Tyler Rogoway Feb 28, 2020

Elon Musk Says Era Of Fighter Jet Is Over And F-35 Should Have Drone Competitor

The SpaceX and Tesla founder pulled no punches in his remarks, which are bound to raise the eyebrows of Air Force and defense industry officials.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 28, 2020

Turkey Strikes Back And Calls For No-Fly-Zone After Its Troops Die In Syria Airstrikes (Updated)

Tensions have soared between Turkey and Russia, which is supporting the Syrian government's new offensive against Turkish-backed Syrian forces.

By Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway Feb 27, 2020

NASA Airstrip Deep In The Mojave Desert Has Been Turned Into A Military Drone Base

Located inside the Army's National Training Center among deep space listening antennas, Goldstone Airport has taken on a very different new mission.

By Tyler Rogoway Feb 27, 2020

Abrupt End Of Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Buys Points To New Focus On Survivable Drones

General Atomics has supplied the backbone of America's drone force for decades. Now that may be ending due to stark tactical realities.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 27, 2020

Air Force Names New HH-60W Rescue Helicopters After The "Jolly Green Giants" Of Vietnam

The nickname originally referred to the "green footprints" the older rescue helicopters would leave when they landed in the fields of Vietnam.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 26, 2020

Watch NBA Legend Karl Malone Take The Controls Of A B-52 Bomber In Flight

The retired NBA Hall of Famer and 14-time All-Star had a multi-day visit to Barksdale Air Force Base in his native Louisiana earlier this month.

By Brett Tingley Feb 25, 2020

The Air Force And SpaceX Are Teaming Up For A 'Massive' Live Fire Exercise

The exercise will involve SpaceX Starlink satellites, a variety of military assets, and a new command and control system working together.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 25, 2020

General Warns Of Aerial Tanker Shortage As Air Force Looks To Retire 13 KC-135s And 16 KC-10s

The Air Force wants to retire a number of older KC-10A and KC-135R tankers in the next fiscal year, but its new KC-46As are not yet ready for combat.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 25, 2020

Photos Surface Of The Army's Crazy 1,000 Mile Range Supergun Concept: Here's What We Know

The Army says the super-long-range cannon could help engage targets deep inside hostile territory and blow apart an opponent's defenses.

By Brett Tingley Feb 24, 2020

Internal Air Force Emails Show Confusion And Concern Over Colorado's Mystery Drones

Emails obtained through FOIA show that security forces and officials at F.E. Warren AFB were just as perplexed with the drones as the public.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 24, 2020

Crazy Video Out Of Syria Shows An Armored Personnel Carrier Brawling With A T-72 Tank

The armored personnel carrier eventually rams the tank and then appears to chase it away. It's almost like a scene out of National Geographic!

By Joe Copalman Feb 22, 2020

This Workhorse Huey Rescue Helicopter Flew President Reagan As Marine One In Its Previous Life

The many lives of aircraft are fascinating to ponder, but one well-worn Huey that's the last of its kind in USMC service has a uniquely colorful past.

By Tyler Rogoway Feb 22, 2020

Bunker Talk: Let's Chat About All The Stories We Did And Didn't Cover This Week

We can talk about the cost of missiles and bombs, surplus F-117 fuselages, geopolitics, flying bio-containment units—you know, no big whoop.

By Joseph Trevithick Feb 21, 2020

The Navy Wants A Rapidly Deployable Version Of Its Cold War Era Submarine Monitoring Network

The containerized concept would allow various types of ships to readily emplace these sonar arrays wherever and whenever necessary.

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