NASA’s experimental X-59 jet, which could make supersonic commercial travel a reality, has been cleared for final assembly. The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft, designed by Lockheed Martin, could take its first flight as soon as 2021. NASA’s first large scale piloted X-plane in more than three decades is …
Read More »55 Years Ago Today The Legendary SR-71 Blackbird Flew For the First Time
On Dec. 22, 1964, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flew for the first time at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The Lockheed Skunk Works (now Lockheed Martin) built the original SR-71 aircraft. The first aircraft to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at …
Read More »U.S. Air Force F-16 Successfully Tests Shooting Down Small Drone At Low Altitudes
An F-16C flown by Maj Jeffrey Entine, 85th Flight Test Squadron test pilot, prepares to fire a rocket at a test drone at Eglin Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. John Raven) According to a statement issued by the 40th Flight Test Squadron, the U.S. Air …
Read More »Russia Unveils Images Of Previously Cancelled Fifth Generation Fighter Program
Sukhoi C-22 Next Generation Reverse Swept Wing Fighter – concept art – Credits: Sukhoi Design Bureau The Sukhoi Design Bureau, now a part of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, has released the concept art of a previously canceled fifth-generation fighter program that was under development in the final years of the …
Read More »31 Years Ago Today Pan Am Flight 103 Was Destroyed By A Bomb Killing 270 Innocents
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. 31 years ago on 21 December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew …
Read More »Pakistan Air Force To Get 36 New F-16 Jets & Upgrade Old F-16s: Report
According to Pakistan media reports, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is all set to upgrade its F-16 program with technical assistance and possibly 36 advanced fighter jets from the United States. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. has won a fixed-price $9.1 million contract for technical security team support services for Pakistan’s F-16 …
Read More »U.S. Air Force F-16C Receives New “Have Glass V” Paint Scheme
A U.S. Air Force F-16 from the 149th Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guard with a new, darker single color paint scheme is on the ramp at the Iowa Air National Guard in Sioux City, Iowa on December 17, 2019. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Vincent …
Read More »Trump Says USAF F-35 Pilots Are Better Looking Than Tom Cruise & With Better Bodies
U.S. President Donald Trump says F-35 pilots are “better looking than Tom Cruise and with better bodies.” “You’ve got to see them,” the Republican leader told a crowd of supporters at Battle Creek rally in Michigan discussing a meeting with U.S. Air Force (USAF) personnel. “They’re just like central casting” …
Read More »China Now Has the World’s Second Largest Active Carrier Fleet
Credits: Peak Liu China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has commissioned its second aircraft carrier into active frontline service – the Type 001A Class warship ‘Shandong.’ Shandong was commissioned at the Yulin Naval Base, on China’s Hainan Island. China’s military watchers had been waiting for weeks for the commissioning ceremony. …
Read More »Russia’s Su-57 Fifth-Generation Fighter Jets Passed Second Phase Of Testing In Syria
According to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets have successfully passed the second stage of testing in Syria. Gerasimov said that during the second stage of testing in Syria, Su-57 completed all the planned tasks. No further details …
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