Author: Michael

When the United States Air Force was looking for a fifth-generation air superiority fighter, the two competing planes were the YF-22 Raptor and the YF-23 Black Widow II. Ultimately, the Air Force chose the Raptor. Alas, we have a special place in our National Security Journal for the YF-23, as we have visited the only two of these warplanes ever built. We have included original photos of those visits in this article.

But the Black Widow was the preferred plane among the pilots–including the great Chuck Yeager–who argued the better bird was the YF-23.

Rheinmetall’s Mission Master Unmanned Gro

When the Human Genome Project was announced in 1990, its leaders specified three main goals. They sought to sequence the 3.2 billion letters in the human genome, or DNA; map other genomes important to studying biology; and improve DNA analysis. 
Realizing the challenge ahead of them, organizers set a timeline of 15 years to complete the project. Scientists from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, and China didn’t need that long. The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium announced the project’s completion on April 14, 2003.

China’s upcoming H-20 stealth bomber does not compare with either the United States Cold War-era B-2 Spirit bomber — nor with the upcoming B-21 Raider, a sixth-generation bomber. This comes according to the Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, General Stephen L. Davis. Though General Davis did concede that the Chinese are fielding increasingly sophisticated aircraft, he regards their designs as less sophisticated and therefore less capable.

Heavy armour such as IFVs and tanks are driving a forecast surge in the global armour market over the next decade.

The Republic of China Army has taken delivery of its final batch of M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the United States, with the vehicles delivered to the service’s Army Armor Training Command at Hsinchu, in the northwestern region of Taiwan Island. The tanks will be deployed with the 6th Army Corps, based in near the capital Taipei in the city of Taoyuan, which is responsible for operations in the island’s northern regions.

Tank manufacturer KNDS has initiated an “independent investigation” into a 2013 transaction with the Qatar Armed Forces.

The United States has pledged to provide $2 billion in military support to the Republic of China Armed Forces to accelerate modernisation efforts, with funding prioritising the rapid delivery of operational capabilities. Aid will reportedly prioritise the strengthening air defense, anti-ship strike, and battlefield awareness, to support an anti-access area denial strategy built around survivable, mobile, and distributed systems. The aid was pledged under the U.S. Department of War’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request, which has seen major surge in defence spending to $1.

Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty has confirmed that a review of plans to purchase 88 F-35A fifth generation fighter aircraft is currently ongoing, with no timeline given for a final decision, adding that procurements from non-U.S. sources was under consideration. “The review of the purchase of the F-35s is continuing,” he stated, adding: “We are taking the necessary time to study very, very closely the question of the fighter fleet.

As Joe Kittinger fell more than 76,000 feet out of the sky, his parachute failed to deploy.
The mishap in late 1959 caused Kittinger to spin horizontally at about 90 revolutions per minute and lose consciousness. Without his reserve chute automatically activating, the U.S. Air Force pilot was going to die.
Also Read: How this Air Force spy plane traveled from coast to coast in record time
However spooked Kittinger was after the nearly tragic event, it didn’t dissuade him from free-falling again.