Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A U.S. Air Force news release on Sept. 1 announced a puzzling claim: three Boeing F-15Es had released newly modified, 2,000-lb. GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions on moving ships.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
South Korea has successfully test fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile from its newly commissioned diesel electric submarine, making it the first non-nuclear state to possess such a capability.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Brian Everstine
While the House Armed Services Committee in its $778 billion version of the 2022 defense bill, allows the U.S. Air Force to go ahead with its planned cuts to the A-10 fleet, the committee presses the service to upgrade the attack aircraft with modern defensive systems that both the Air National Guard and Reserve have requested.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Baykar Makina’s twin turboprop drone has entered service with Turkey’s air force and army, and the company is seeking exports.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
The Japanese Ministry of Defense has requested billions of yen to study and develop both defensive and offensive capabilities in the unmanned, hypersonic, electronic warfare and space domains.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
A discovery of ICBM silos in China has prompted a warning from U.S. Strategic Command about the future balance of nuclear competition.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
The SCiFIRE project is expected to build on the DARPA Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept program and mature technology for the follow-on Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile program.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
Another new variant of a stealthy Lockheed Martin cruise missile has appeared to highlight the surging popularity of powered, expendable munitions and reveal a fundamentally vital new capability.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A second stage motor for a hypersonic missile in development by the U.S. Army and Navy has completed a ground test, Lockheed Martin said on Aug. 26.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Navy has approved Northrop Grumman to launch production of the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile - Extended Range (AARGM-ER) for Boeing F/A-18E/Fs, EA-18Gs and Lockheed Martin F-35B/Cs.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
Russia has said that deliveries of Pantsir ground-based air defense systems to Myanmar are on track despite February’s military coup in the Southeast Asian country.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo and Northrop Grumman have agreed to a long-term pricing arrangement for the laser pointers/trackers used in the Northrop Grumman-made Common Infrared Countermeasures system used by the U.S. Army.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
Taiwan’s defense ministry is considering spending as much as NT$200 billion ($7.1 billion) to accelerate mass production of indigenous long-range missile systems.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
Chinese state media reported on the launch of the weapon without specifying the designation, but the images suggest the system strongly resembles the Dong Feng-15B class of missile with a new series of warhead.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
The baseline Product 305 missile will equip the Russian military’s Mil Mi-28NM and Kamov Ka-52M helicopters.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A new class of offensive hypersonic weapons and architectural refresh of defensive interceptors is on drawing boards for the U.S. Navy.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A Coalition aircraft shot down an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with an air-to-air missile near a U.S. military base in eastern Syria on Aug. 21, U.S. Central Command told Aviation Week.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
An EC-130SJ and a C-17A have airdropped pallets containing simulated cruise missiles during demonstrations at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the U.S. Air Force said on Aug. 20.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Jen DiMascio
In the last 20 years, the Missile Defense Agency has seen a shift in focus, from spending time defeating missiles that are deploying countermeasures to defending against coordinated attacks with maneuver and speed, MDA director Vice Adm. Jon Hill says.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
A sea-based Aegis missile defense system could be the next program to be abandoned by Tokyo.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A Raytheon-designed laser weapon prototype will be fielded to four mobile, short-range air defense platoons by the end of fiscal 2022, U.S. Army officials said on Aug. 18.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble, Graham Warwick
The Glide Breaker program is working on a new divert and attitude control system to counter hypersonic glide vehicles.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble, Jen DiMascio
A key test for the U.S. Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon has been postponed for several months, adding a new wrinkle to the tightly choreographed plan to introduce the land-based missile in fiscal 2023, program officials say.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Jen DiMascio
Contractors vying to develop the future system that would defend the U.S. against intercontinental ballistic missiles say they can meet the aggressive schedule being pushed by military leaders.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Jen DiMascio
The four-star admiral urged industry to deliver systems on time as the U.S. faces two peer, nuclear-capable forces for the first time.
Missile Defense & Weapons