The U.S. Navy is informally calling it the Nimitz Gap. The USS Nimitz, the oldest carrier in the fleet and originally scheduled for decommissioning, is now leading a task force in U.S. Southern Command. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower’s retirement has been pushed past 2028. The Ford-class replacements — the USS John F. Kennedy and the USS Enterprise — are both delayed. The $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford just returned from a 326-day deployment, battered by a laundry fire and broken plumbing. America has 11 aircraft carriers on paper.
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Russia’s Avangard is the only operational hypersonic glide vehicle in service anywhere in the world. Developed from Soviet Project Albatross, which began in the 1980s to defeat Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the system rides an R-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile into the upper atmosphere, separates, and glides toward its target at speeds between Mach 20 and Mach 27. Estimates put the warhead at 800 kilotons to 2 megatons, with a range exceeding 6,000 kilometers. Russia revealed the system in 2018 after Putin first teased it in 2004. The U.S.
The Pentagon is moving to fast-track the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation carrier-launched stealth fighter after months of internal debate over whether the program could be deferred in favor of upgraded F-35Cs. The shift reflects a hardening assessment of China’s air power trajectory: the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is on track to field roughly 1,000 J-20 fighters by 2030, the Chinese Navy has moved its J-35 carrier stealth fighter into mass production, and the PLA is now flying two sixth-generation prototypes — the J-50 and J-36. The F/A-XX will be designed for Mach 2.
US defence spending could be set to increase significantly in the medium term, with a focus on military fixed-wing aircraft and missiles.
The International Energy Agency’s May report shows global oil inventories fell by 250 million barrels across March and April, with the Q2 drawdown running at 8.5 million barrels a day. The U.S. just released another 53.3 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Trafigura, Marathon, and ExxonMobil — the second major release this spring, leaving the reserve below 300 million barrels. President Trump set five new preconditions for resuming talks with Iran, including the delivery of Tehran’s full enriched uranium stockpile to the United States.
The Air Force now has 18 new light attack aircraft that are designed to support special operations forces on the ground, and it expects to receive “a handful more” by October, said Lt. Col. Robert Wilson, of Air Force Special Operations Command, or AFSOC.
The single-engine turboprop OA-1K Skyraider II is “essentially a Swiss Army Knife of airborne capability,” that can fly armed reconnaissance, close air support, and precision strike missions, said Wilson, AFSOC’s armed overwatch requirements branch chief.
The F-14D Super Tomcat was the final and most capable version of the most famous American naval fighter ever to launch from an aircraft carrier deck – we know, we have seen quite a few of them up close, and have included the videos and photos we took for your viewing pleasure. New General Electric F110 engines, a digital glass cockpit, the upgraded AN/APG-71 radar, infrared search and track, and precision strike capability — the F-14D fixed nearly every flaw of the original F-14A. It dropped JDAMs over Afghanistan and Iraq. It flew its last combat mission in February 2006.
“I am sorry, but the best submarine on Earth isn’t American.” That’s what a former British naval offical told me yesterday. The bias is clear, but it is worth noting that such a bold claim is not made lightly. His point was clear: “That title belongs to the Asute-class nuclear attack submarine.”
The Astute-Class Submarine: How Britain Built The Best Hunter-Killer Submarine It Could — And Why Only One Of Them Can Currently Go To Sea
Astute-Class Submarine Royal Navy. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Astute-Class. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Russian state run United Aircraft Corporation has released the first images showing a new variant of the Su-57 fifth generation fighter, reportedly designated the Su-57D, making its first flight on May 19. This occurred just a day after the first image of the aircraft was leaked, confirming its development which Russian officials have alluded to for over half a decade. Compared to the baseline Su-57, the aircraft’s cockpit canopy is elongated significant with a steep elevated position for a second airman behind the pilot.
The Republic of China state defence research institute, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, has publicly unveiled a next-generation handheld anti-tank missile system that promises to provide a significant improvement to infantry’s ability to counter adversary armour. The new system, the Kestrel II, was reported to be able to achieve 67 centimetres of armour penetration in testing, and to be able to engage targets at 500 meter ranges.