The War Zone

A new type of submarine that appears to lack a traditional sail has emerged in China. The same shipyard launched a smaller ‘sailless’ submarine — a technology demonstrator — eight years ago. More recently, a top Chinese shipbuilding conglomerate put forward a concept for an uncrewed u...

Today, the U.S. Marine Corps celebrated the end of more than half a century of Harrier ‘jump jet’ operations with a sundown ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. For more than 20 percent of the history of the republic, the British-originated jump jet helped to defen...

The prestigious Russian Navy base at Kronstadt, near St. Petersburg, came under Ukrainian drone attack overnight, in what may well be the first strike of its kind against the Baltic Fleet . Ukrainian drones targeted the naval base, including the Project 20380 Steregushchy class corvette Boikiy , ...

The unmistakable howl of the AV-8B Harrier II has been a soundtrack to U.S. Marine Corps aviation for more than four decades. From the deserts of the Middle East and Afghanistan to the decks of amphibious assault ships at sea, the aircraft’s ability to take off from short runways, operate from au...

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Tuesday evening said “U.S. forces successfully defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones” in attacks launched at allies Kuwait and Bahrain. Iran said the strikes were in response to U.S. attacks . This is yet another round of tit-for-tat st...

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has confirmed that it has no plans for a direct replacement for the U-28A Draco , which is primarily used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The command had previously said it was exploring requirements that might lead to a successor ...

A French-made Mirage 2000-5F , streaking low over Ukraine in a newly emerged video, provides a relatively rare glimpse of the fighter in Ukrainian Air Force service. Compared with the more numerous F-16 fleet , Ukrainian Mirage operations are much less widely seen. Until now, accounts and imagery...

The U.S. Air Force is already moving to lay the groundwork for the fielding of the replacement for its GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb. In the process, it has also revealed that the follow-on Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) has now been designated as the GBU-76/B. T...

From an early point in the Russian war in Ukraine, we’ve seen many unorthodox efforts to try to improve the chances of survival of fighting vehicles. Now, Russian trucks are receiving ‘ dazzle paint ,’ borrowing the same kind of tactic Russia has used for some of its most important military aircr...

The U.S. military has confirmed the loss of an “MQ-1” drone to Iranian fire this weekend. This has led many to question whether American forces are flying the venerable Predator again, some eight years after the type’s official retirement . It is also very possible, if not likel...

The pressure is mounting on the shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran with an increasing pace of tit-for-tat strikes between the two foes and Iran’s breaking off peace talks blaming Israel’s deepening advance into Lebanon. Exacerbating tensions, Tehran claimed it will “completely block” ...

Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG), using publicly available open-source information. Given the carrier picture is largely unchanged compared to last week , this week’s tracker highlights ...

Turkey’s new electronic warfare jet appears to be moving closer to operational status, with by far the clearest imagery yet of the aircraft emerging in an anniversary video for the Turkish Air Force. The platform is loosely similar to Western standoff electronic attack platforms such as the U.S. ...

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-t...

President Donald Trump on Friday announced he was lifting the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports enacted last month. The move comes amid media reports and administration messaging that Washington and Tehran appear to be drawing closer to a deal that could lead to ending the conflict. Iranian official...

The U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $4.16B deal to help accelerate work on what could be a game-changing space-based air moving-target indicator (AMTI) sensor network. The service says it now hopes to have an “early capability” in orbit by 2028, years ahead of the timelines offi...

In what appears to be the first incident of its kind, a Russian kamikaze drone strayed into Romanian airspace before striking a residential building, injuring civilians. While Russian drones flying into NATO airspace, whether accidental or deliberate , have become a feature of the war in Ukraine ...

Members of Congress are moving to push the U.S. Navy to develop a containerized version of its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system. Containerized designs could help accelerate the service’s fielding of laser directed energy weapons on a wider a...

Boeing is now conducting test flights of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone out over the Pacific from the U.S. Navy’s base in Point Mugu, California. The company says its main goals are to demonstrate the maturity of the design, originally developed for Australia , and promote export sales . The spe...

A recent video out of Russia once again highlights the drastic efforts being taken to provide Moscow with additional air defense coverage against the threat of long-range Ukrainian drones . While we have seen examples of the Pantsir short-range air defense system installed on buildings in Moscow ...

The use of high-altitude balloons is becoming ever-more routine for U.S. Army units in the Pacific. The service is pushing to deploy more of these lighter-than-air platforms as a key component of a new persistent surveillance and reconnaissance ecosystem across the region. The same kinds of ballo...

During the 39-day war with Iran , the U.S. used so many key offensive and defensive weapons that it will take three or more years to rebuild some of these stocks to pre-war levels, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The report, compiled by Ma...

A timeline has been provided for the arrival of Saab Gripen fighters in Ukraine, with the first jets to be delivered early next year. Significantly, as well as getting another modern Western combat jet, Ukraine expects to receive highly capable Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, Ukra...

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is about to kick off the search for what it is calling a Flyweight Assault Machine Gun (FAMG). This will be a new 5.56x45mm caliber belt-fed machine gun to succeed the Mk 46, a lightweight special operations-specific cousin of the M249 Squad Automatic Weapo...

With ground maneuver a huge risk thanks to the ubiquity of deadly aerial drones, Ukraine is increasingly relying on uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) to move supplies, rescue the wounded, shoot down drones, lay mines and even fight battles. As a result, the head of the country’s defense technology ...

With the pan-European Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which is supposed to include a crewed New Generation Fighter (NGF) aircraft, mired in difficulty, Airbus has raised the possibility of teaming with Saab on the manned tactical component of it — the fighter. As well as France and Germany, Spai...

Members of Congress are looking to block the U.S. Navy from starting construction of the first nuclear-powered Trump class battleship until the service provides assurances that key weapon systems are “sufficiently mature.” The battleships are to be armed with railguns , high-power las...

The U.S. Navy appears to be preparing to replace its remaining F-5E/F Tiger II adversary jets with F/A-18E/F Super Hornets , continuing the modernization and rationalization of these critical training assets. The Navy’s apparent acknowledgment that even upgraded F-5s are no longer sufficient for ...

For more than 2,000 years , fishermen in Israel’s Sea of Galilee were famous for using nets to catch St. Peter’s Fish, a form of tilapia with a biblical backstory . Now these anglers have gained new notoriety, helping keep some Israeli troops safe from Hezbollah first-person view (FPV) kamikaze d...

The cost to connect each of the U.S. military’s Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) one-way attack drones to space-based networks has risen from $5,000 to $25,000 a month, according to a new report. This is said to be the result of a switch from using the commercial Starlink netw...

Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG), using publicly available open-source information. Check out last week’s map here . The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remains in full effect an...

The most recent flare-up of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran yet again highlights that while the future of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions remains at the heart of peace negotiations, the status of the Strait of Hormuz is the key flashpoint. On Tuesday, Tehran vowed retaliation a day after U...

South Korea has confirmed plans to develop a new class of nuclear-powered submarines under the Jang Bogo N Project. These will put South Korea in an exclusive class of nations operating nuclear-powered subs , with currently only China, France, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United Sta...

In another visible sign of the damage inflicted by Iran during the now-paused war, a KC-135 Stratotanker was spotted over the weekend at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom peppered with temporary shrapnel damage repairs. The aircraft is at least the second to transit through the installation wi...

Less than a year after we got our first proper look at China’s wing-in-ground effect (WIG) craft, dubbed the ‘Bohai Sea Monster,’ the aircraft has appeared again, with evidence that it has a combat role, likely including launching weapons. We can also confirm that, contrary to some earlier assess...

The U.S. Air Force plans to send a new version of the glider-like Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) drone with a turbocharged engine to the Middle East for an operational evaluation. The ULTRA Turbo can fly faster and higher than the original design, while still bei...

This summer, the U.S. Navy will demonstrate the ability of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford , with its two A1B nuclear reactors, to power a base on land. The test at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia is part of a larger effort to ensure facilities can remain up and running even if existing...

On the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the de Havilland Canada Chipmunk basic trainer, an aircraft that generations of British and other military pilots learned to fly on, it’s worth recalling perhaps the most unusual episode of its career. Between 1956 and 1990, a handful of these propel...

Welcome to Bunker Talk, Memorial Day Weekend Edition. For all our American readers/commenters, I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. And, of course, I want to give a huge thanks to all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. We owe you everything. This week’s capti...

Iran is reportedly working to solidify its control over the Strait of Hormuz despite U.S. objections by seeking a joint deal to impose fees on ships transiting the strategic waterway with Oman. The move comes amid increasing hopes of a peace deal to end the war that began Feb. 28 and highlights j...

The U.S. military has finally released video footage showing an Air National Guard F-16 shooting down an object over Lake Huron back in 2023 , which appears to be a balloon. American fighters downed three still-technically unidentified objects over the United States and Canada that month. Only on...

Recently published imagery confirms that the A-10C attack jet is now operating in the Middle East with its new refueling probe fitted, something that has been achieved remarkably fast. As we reported at the time , the Warthog’s probe-type aerial refueling capability was first demonstrated in earl...

When it comes to machine guns and rifles, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wants its operators to have deadlier weapons that shoot further with greater accuracy, are lighter to carry. The command also wants some to be able to chamber hypervelocity ammunition that is under development . To ...

Special operations MH-47 Chinooks offloading fuel to other aircraft in the air is one possible future scenario that U.S. Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is eyeing as it begins to work out what the future Block III iteration of the twin-rotor helicopter might look like. While hypothetical ...

Trump’s White House ballroom, the controversy that keeps on giving, will of course be much more than just a ballroom and offices. This was always a given. Taking down an entire wing of the White House would be seen as the biggest opportunity in generations to install modernized hardened inf...

The U.S. military’s Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System , or LUCAS, the recently combat-proven long-range one-way attack drone designed for massed operations, will be equipped with Hivemind autonomy software from Shield AI . The company was selected for the integration effort by the Office of ...

Plans for a new tranche of upgrades for U.S. Army special operations MH-60M Black Hawk helicopters are heavily tied to continued progress, or lack thereof, on an improved engine. Work on the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) is ongoing now, but there have also been threats to ca...

The U.S. Navy sees a future in which uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUV) work together with submersibles loaded with SEALs . The service has already been conducting tests to explore how crewed-uncrewed teaming under the waves might work. UUVs could help extend the operational reach of operators ri...

The new Tranche 4 Eurofighter for Germany has been unveiled by Airbus Defense & Space. The appearance of the jet comes at a time when the pan-European multirole fighter is enjoying renewed momentum , bolstered by upgrades that include advanced radars and new weapons . At the same time, the Eu...

Nine American destroyers stand at the vanguard of the U.S. Navy’s efforts to integrate laser weapons into the battlefield of the future. Lasers and other directed energy (DE) weapon systems went from an elusive dream to reality over the past decade, which TWZ has covered extensively . We’ve...