Top Defense & Space Stories Of 2022

Credit: Tony Osborne / Aviation Week. The European Union (EU) has said it will provide fighter jets to Ukraine as part of a €450 million ($502.3 million) support package of lethal aid. View full article here.

Credit: Northrop Grumman. The Northrop Grumman B-21A Raider is a U.S. bomber under development that is projected to reach initial operational capability in the mid-2020s. View full article here.

Credit: Steve Trimble/Aviation Week. A cryptic news release by Safran Landing Systems Canada Inc. hints at the existence of a secret Lockheed Martin aircraft project. View full article here.

Credit: Russian Defense Ministry. Russian supplies of munitions are being drained and the country’s forces are being exhausted by Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the head of the UK’s signals intelligence agency has indicated. View full article here.

Credit: SpaceX. When SpaceX debuted the Block 5 version of its Falcon 9 rocket in 2018, it expected to fly the reusable boosters 10 times before taking them out of service for major refurbishment. But last summer, the company quietly moved the goalpost. View full article here.

 Credit: Neil Mockford/FilmMagic/Getty Images. Top Gun: Maverick is—no spoiler!—a movie. And here are two things the Paramount blockbuster, which netted $151 million on its opening weekend, is not: a documentary, or a fictional account based on a true story. View full article here.

With Russia and China improving their air defenses at a startling rate, Congress has ordered the U.S. Air Force to consider restarting production of the F-22. View full article here. 

Credit: Tupolev. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, subsequent sanctions by the West and embargoes on the supply of aerospace components do not appear to have deterred Moscow from development of its next-generation strategic bomber, the Tupolev PAK DA. In fact, the first flight of a prototype aircraft may come in 2024. View full story here.

Credit: U.S. Air Force. The U.S. military has sent threat emitters, built to replicate aircraft and weapons for American pilots in training, to Ukraine to confuse Russian aircraft in the latest innovative way for the Pentagon to assist Kyiv. View full article here.