Lockheed Martin’s $11 billion F-22 Raptor 2.0 upgrade adds stealth-compatible conformal external fuel tanks and infrared search and track pods on the outer wings — extending the F-22’s combat radius by up to 850 nautical miles without sacrificing stealth. Katie Ciccarino, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s F-22 program, said the new Low Drag Tank and Pylon fuel tanks can stay on the aircraft through combat. The F-22 Raptor’s current unrefueled combat radius is roughly 590 nautical miles — a critical limitation in the Pacific.

Operation Epic Fury has effectively saved the A-10 Warthog, an aircraft we have seen up close – our original videos and photos included below. The U.S. Air Force, which spent years trying to retire the venerable close air support platform, is now extending the A-10 Thunderbolt II’s service life into the 2030s — driven in part by the aircraft’s surprising success hunting Iranian small boats and coastal threats at low altitude during the campaign. The A-10 is engineered around its GAU-8/A 30mm Gatling gun, which fires 70 rounds per second from a 1,150-round magazine.

During NATO Exercise JTFEX/TMDI 99 in 1999, the Dutch diesel-electric submarine HNLMS Walrus (S802) penetrated the layered defensive escort screen around the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and notionally sank her in simulated torpedo attacks. The Walrus displaces only about 2,800 tons submerged, measures 222 feet, carries roughly 50 to 55 crew, runs on near-silent battery power, and is armed with four 533mm torpedo tubes and Harpoon missiles. The USS Theodore Roosevelt cost more than $4.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on May 21 that Chinese President Xi Jinping may travel to Pyongyang as early as next week, according to a senior government official in Seoul. An advance team from China’s Central Security Bureau and protocol officers from the CCP Central Committee have already traveled to the North Korean capital. South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong Young said a Kim Jong Un-Donald Trump summit will be discussed if Xi visits Pyongyang. Trump met Kim three times during his first presidential term.

Airbus Defense and Space chief Mike Schoellhorn told an Airbus event that he would support a two-aircraft solution for the European Future Combat Air System sixth-generation fighter program if a single fighter cannot work for France, Germany, and Spain. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury added that the assumptions behind FCAS — launched in 2017 to deliver a European sixth-generation fighter by the 2040s — are no longer valid after the war in Ukraine. France is the only partner with an aircraft carrier and an explicit nuclear weapons delivery requirement.

Australia’s HMAS Waller, a Collins-class diesel-electric submarine, ‘notionally’ sank a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in a wargame simulation and several escorts at the RIMPAC 2000 exercise. The Waller penetrated the carrier strike group’s defenses through patience, acoustic discipline, slow deliberate movements, and the natural advantages diesel-electric propulsion offers at low speed in the littorals. The Collins-class is 77.8 meters long, displaces 3,400 tons submerged, carries 58 crew, runs to 20 knots underwater on battery, and is armed with six 533mm torpedo tubes.

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told investors that the company’s F-35 Ferrari concept — an advanced fifth-generation-plus derivative of the F-35 Lightning II incorporating technology from the company’s failed NGAD demonstrator — is now being discussed at the Department of Defense and may soon reach the White House. Lockheed Martin lost the Next Generation Air Dominance program to Boeing’s F-47 sixth-generation fighter in 2025. Taiclet claims the proposed F-35 Ferrari could deliver 80% of sixth-generation capability at half the price.

A French Dassault Rafale fighter notionally shot down an American F-35A Lightning II at Exercise Atlantic Trident over Finland in 2025. Cockpit video shows the French pilot acquiring radar lock and saying take the shot — observer-controllers ruled the engagement a kill. The exercise involved roughly 40 aircraft and 1,000 personnel, including Finnish F/A-18 Hornets and British Eurofighter Typhoons. The Rafale is a non-stealthy fourth-generation-plus fighter equipped with the SPECTRA electronic warfare suite, an AESA radar, and the Meteor beyond-visual-range missile.

GE Aerospace and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a U.S. Air Force contract on May 19 to design the GE426 expendable drone engine — a compact propulsion system intended for attritable, next-generation unmanned combat aircraft built for one-way missions or limited operational lifespans. The program now enters the preliminary design review phase. The GE426 is part of the Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft strategy that pairs manned fighters like Boeing’s new F-47 with autonomous wingmen capable of reconnaissance, electronic warfare, strike or decoy missions.

In 1985, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered USS Enterprise aircraft carrier hit Bishop Rock at Cortes Bank — an underwater seamount roughly 100 miles west of San Diego — during an Operational Readiness Exercise. The collision opened a massive gash along the port side and damaged the propellers, but the nuclear reactors were unaffected. The crew executed a counter-flooding operation to stabilize the carrier. Captain Robert L. Leuschner Jr. then decided to continue the exercise before returning to port for $17 million in emergency repairs. Leuschner was relieved of command afterward.

The U.S. Navy took delivery of its 25th Virginia-class fast-attack submarine — the USS Massachusetts (SSN-798) — in November 2025. The seventh Block IV boat in the program was built jointly by General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII Newport News Shipbuilding. The submarine measures 377 feet long, displaces 7,800 to 8,000 tons, dives below 800 feet, and reaches roughly 25 knots underwater. It carries 12 VLS tubes, four 21-inch torpedo tubes, Mk-48 torpedoes, and BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles.

When responding to a call for fire, mortar crews have to verbally yell out deflection, charge, and elevation before dropping a round in the tube, but a new mortar system being developed for the Army and Marine Corps could automate much of that process.
The Scorpion Light 81mm mobile mortar system allows crews to use a map-like device to digitally enter the information needed to hit targets, and then the tube is moved into firing position automatically, said James Knight, director of business development for Global Military Products.

In 1995-96, the U.S. Navy sailed two aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait after Beijing tried to blockade Taipei. China stood down and was humiliated. Senior National Security Editor Brandon Weichert argues China spent the next 30 years building the answer. The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force’s anti-access and area-denial arsenal now includes the DF-21D carrier killer, the DF-26 Guam Killer with a 4,000-kilometer range tested for anti-ship use in 2020, and the DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has agreed a deal with Smart Shooter for SMASH Hopper lightweight remote-controlled weapon stations.

Robert Knievel was in his late teens, and he already faced a crossroads.
It was of his own making. Hell-bent on testing the limits of authority, Knievel ran afoul of the authorities in his native Montana several times. The judicial system finally tired of Knievel’s criminal antics and offered him a choice: Spend time in prison or enlist in the military.
Also Read: History Channel doc revisits boxing’s most politically charged rivalry
While Knievel was a troublemaker, he was not dumb. He joined the United States Army and became a paratrooper.

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has been the backbone of the U.S. Navy carrier air wing since 2001. Eight hundred and thirty-eight built. Roughly 550 are still in active service. Combat missions over Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and now Iran during the opening waves of Operation Epic Fury. The aircraft Tom Cruise flew in Top Gun: Maverick. The aircraft that every American carrier strike group has built its operations around for the past two decades. Boeing is shutting down the production line in 2027, and the Navy has to make the existing fleet last into the 2050s.

The South Korean Defence Ministry has initiated the formal process to procure nuclear powered attack submarines, after the Navy submitted relevant documents to the Joint Chiefs of Staff outlining the need for the program and specifying requirements. The Joint Chiefs are now reviewing the Navy’s proposal, and are expected to hold a meeting before the end of the month to finalise the requirements for the program.

“The Dodge Durango of submarines.” That’s how a former U.S. Navy admiral described the Virginia-class attack submarine. The framing is correct by every credible technical measure. The Virginia-class is the most capable nuclear attack submarine ever built — quieter than the Russian Yasen-class, more heavily armed than the British Astute, and now carrying 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles per boat in the Block V configuration. It is also produced at half the rate the Navy actually needs.

The Cuban Armed Forces have deployed Soviet-supplied S-125M/M1 medium range surface-to-air missile systems for air defence exercises, at a time when the country faces an imminent threat of a U.S. led assault. Trump administration officials have since the beginning of the year provided multiple indications of plans to use military force against Cuba, with the bringing of charges by the United States against former Cuban leader Raul Castro, among other leadership figures, on May 20, considered a significant escalation intended to provide pretext for attacks.

Andrew White, Breaking Defense
The U.S.

Stars and Stripes
Somewhere between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro on May 10, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz became the longest-serving flattop in Navy history, the service said this…

Sandy Clark, RCDefense
In the Navy’s force of helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft, we live and die by the “3-for-2” rule.

USNI N.

Tyler Rogoway, WarZone
We now know the building goes six floors underground and will have “the greatest drone empire you’ve ever seen that’s going to protect Washington” on its roof.

United States officials speaking to the Washington Post have reported that the Israel Defence Forces conserved its stockpiles of anti-ballistic missile interceptors during the 39 day war with Iran, which placed more pressure on U.S. forces in the Middle East to expend very high portions of their own stockpiles. According to three officials who spoke to the outlet, the U.S. Army expended over half its stockpile of interceptors for the THAAD system, making around 200 launches, while the Navy expended over 100 SM-3 and SM-6 anti-ballistic missiles.

This video describes the military situation in

China’s diplomats are on an “AI governance” offensive. At a May 5 United Nations meeting, China’s vice minister of science and technology championed China’s role in shaping U.N.-led frameworks that determine how the technology should be built and used. Just a week earlier, two top Chinese AI experts actively involved in Beijing’s governance efforts appeared by video on a Capitol Hill panel discussion hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders, touting China’s contributions to AI safety and cooperation.Norms and standards on AI development and applications are still being defined.

This video describes the military situation in

Gaza did not have to look the way it looks. That is not a moral claim. It is an operational one.Claims of necessity are invoked to explain the scale of civilian harm, but they founder in the face of operational logic. Supporters of Israeli methods argue that Gaza’s urban battlefield — tunnels, rocket fire, extreme population density, hostages held underground — left no viable alternative to large-scale destruction. That argument rests on a false assumption: that large-scale fires were inevitable rather than chosen, and that the only tradeoff was between more fires and mission failure.

Every time reports emerge about a potential reduction of U.S. forces or capabilities in Europe, the old continent falls into the same cycle of anxiety and panic. The same applies to announcements about delayed or suspended deployments, planned rotations, or broader force posture reviews.A brief historical reminder here is necessary.  The 2014 Wales Defense Investment Pledge is still often misunderstood in Europe as little more than an American demand for higher defense spending.

Join us as The Royal British Legion hosts “Re

The Cuban Armed Forces have launched live fire air defence exercises, deploying modernised Soviet S-125 medium range surface-to-air missile systems, in what analysts have assessed to be a simulation of a U.S. assault on the country. This has occurred as the U.S. Navy deployed the nuclear powered supercarrier, USS Nimitz, and its strike group, into the Caribbean Sea. The exercises closely follow the bringing of charges by the United States against former Cuban leader Raul Castro and others in the country’s current and former leadership for allegedly conspiring to kill U.S. citizens.

Footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry has shown the delivery of Russian nuclear warheads to equip Belarusian Armed Forces Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile systems, as part of the nuclear-sharing arrangement between the two countries that has been in effect since 2023. State media reported that several Iskander systems have been stationed in Belarus, while “special munitions,” the Russian military term for nuclear payloads, are stored separately at a secure facility.

The Russian Aerospace Forces scrambled Su-35 and Su-27 fighter aircraft to repeatedly intercept a British Royal Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft operating near Russian forces over the Black Sea. The British Ministry of Defence on May 20 published footage of the incidents, which included a very close approach by a Su-35 that triggered the British aircraft’s onboard emergency systems and automatically disable its autopilot. A Su-27 subsequently made six passes directly in front of the RC-135, closing to within six metres of its nose.

The Chengdu J-20A — the upgraded variant of China’s J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter — is being assigned to top-tier PLAAF formations within direct operational reach of Taiwan and the First Island Chain. Senior National Security Editor Brandon Weichert argues the J-20A is best understood not as China’s answer to the F-22 Raptor but as a long-range battle manager — a flying quarterback designed to orchestrate the wider kill chain across PL-15 long-range missiles, drone swarms, naval forces, ground-based missile batteries and airborne early warning aircraft.

The U.S. Navy’s Block V Virginia-class fast-attack submarine adds an 84-foot Virginia Payload Module that triples Tomahawk cruise missile capacity from 12 to 40 per boat. The increase matters because Operation Epic Fury against Iran depleted nearly one-third of America’s prewar Tomahawk inventory — over 1,000 of 3,100, according to CSIS. The U.S. Navy is also retiring four Ohio-class SSGNs between 2026 and 2028, removing 616 Tomahawk cells, and twelve Ticonderoga-class cruisers, removing another 2,080 vertical launch cells. Tomahawks cost between $1.

The Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) — the joint sixth-generation fighter program between Britain, Italy, and Japan — is facing its first major crack. BAE Systems has warned that roughly 4,000 British engineers and personnel working on the program will be reassigned within ten weeks if the British government does not finalize longer-term contracts before the temporary bridge funding ends in June. Britain has already paid £686 million into Edgewing, the industrial venture combining BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co.

TAMPA, Fla. — While U.S. forces deployed to the southern border employ several fixed and mobile counter-drone systems, the top general in charge of stateside defense said troops lack adequate technology for patrols.
Within days of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, troops quickly flooded to the southern border as part of the administration’s crackdown on immigration, soon taking to mounted and dismounted patrols along the barrier.
Since then, the region has become what officials dubbed a testbed for counter-UAS systems, part of an effort to zap drones coming over the border. Gen.

Australia transferred 49 retired M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks to Ukraine as part of a roughly $160 million military aid package, with Washington’s approval. The tanks were being replaced in Australian service by newer M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams. Ukraine’s First Separate Assault Regiment then welded anti-drone cope cages, explosive reactive armor bricks, electronic warfare protection, anti-FPV spike barriers, and locally adapted communications onto the tanks before sending them into combat.

Israel operates a fleet of German-built Dolphin II submarines designed by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems as the cornerstone of the country’s sea-based nuclear deterrent. The 225-foot boats displace 2,400 tons submerged, reach 25 knots, and use air-independent propulsion to stay submerged for up to 18 days. The INS Tanin and INS Rahav were commissioned in 2014 and 2016.

In case you didn’t already know this, James Stewart—yes, “It’s A Wonderful Life” Jimmy Stewart—set down his Academy Award and put on the uniform of the Army Air Corps to fight in World War II. He enlisted as a private and by the time the war was over, he had flown 20 combat missions over Germany as leader of a squadron of B-24s, earning him the rank of colonel, not to mention his two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the French Croix de Guerre.

China’s J-15 Flying Shark, the backbone of the PLAN’s carrier air wing, traces its origin to a single T-10K-3 Su-33 prototype that Beijing bought from Ukraine in 2001. Russia had refused to sell production Su-33s unless China ordered at least 50, citing past Chinese reverse-engineering of the Su-27 into the J-11. Beijing reverse-engineered the aircraft instead. Early J-15s used Russian AL-31F engines; since 2022, newer J-15T variants fly on domestically produced WS-10B engines.

The Kitty Hawk-class — the USS Kitty Hawk, USS Constellation, and USS America — were America’s last great conventionally powered supercarriers. Each ship displaced about 84,000 tons fully loaded, exceeded 32 knots on eight boilers and four Westinghouse steam turbines, and carried up to 90 aircraft ranging from the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet to the E-2 Hawkeye and EA-6B Prowler. The class anchored U.S. naval aviation through Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf, and the Global War on Terror. The USS Kitty Hawk earned a Presidential Unit Citation during the Tet Offensive.

The U.S. Air Force announced in May that the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program completed its Critical Design Review, clearing Boeing to begin converting the first two B-52H bombers into the upgraded B-52J configuration later this year. Rolls-Royce will supply eight F-130 engines per aircraft to replace the Pratt and Whitney TF-33s that have powered the bomber since the Cold War. The Air Force has warned the TF-33 becomes unsustainable beyond 2030. The first two converted aircraft will test at Edwards Air Force Base before fleet-wide conversion.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation confirmed on May 19 that the new two-seat Su-57D Felon stealth fighter completed its first flight, with Sukhoi chief test pilot Sergei Bogdan at the controls. The Su-57D features an elongated canopy and a tandem cockpit configuration, with the second crew member positioned behind and above the pilot. First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said the aircraft will function as a combat trainer and a command-and-control platform. UAC CEO Vadim Badeha said the aircraft is intended for export. Algeria, India, and North Korea are among potential customers.

A remarkable story of resilience and courage un

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle told Congress this month that the Trump-class nuclear-powered guided-missile battleship will use the A1B nuclear reactor — the same one that powers the Ford-class aircraft carrier. The lead ship will be named the USS Defiant. The Navy considered conventional propulsion to speed delivery but ultimately returned to nuclear, with Caudle saying nuclear is the exact right answer. Existing Ford-class reactor plant components — steam generators, pressurizers, reactor coolant pumps — will carry across.

In future fights, deployed troops could be resupplied with critical supplies by a six-wheeled vehicle that is small enough to be transported in an MV-22B Osprey, so it can go places larger vehicles can’t reach, according to Polaris, which is developing the vehicle for the military.
The Polaris MRZR Alpha 6×6 can carry up to 3,000 pounds of cargo, which is about 1,000 pounds more than what can be carried by the Marine Corps’ four-seat version of the vehicle, said Erin Telander, defense program manager for Polaris.

Israel’s F-16I Sufa — Storm in Hebrew — is a heavily modified two-seat F-16D Block 50/52 built by Lockheed Martin and customized by Israeli defense industries for the Israeli Air Force. The Sufa can reach Iran or Libya without refueling thanks to Israeli-designed conformal fuel tanks that extend its range by 50% and let it carry 50% more weapons. Israel operates more than 360 F-16s — second only to the U.S. Air Force globally. Half of the aircraft’s avionics are Israeli, including the Elisra SPS 3000 self-protection jammer and Elbit’s DASH IV helmet.

Rear Admiral Mike Brookes testified to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in March that Beijing is building an undersea Great Wall of sensors — integrating air, surface, seabed, and undersea systems into a networked architecture designed to track American submarines and push them out of contested waters. China’s Blue Ocean Information Network combines a seabed sensor grid with satellite imagery from the Ocean Star Cluster, smart buoys, wave gliders, autonomous underwater vehicles, and the Deep Blue Brain data integration system.