Aircraft Systems

Tactical Manned Aircraft Systems

Russian Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Flies at Mach 27, and Can Make ‘Sharp Maneuvers’ around Opponent’s Defenses, according to Claims

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence December 30, 2019 Well, this one’s gonna’ be a tough one to deal with, assuming it works as advertised, of course. DefenseReview’s been writing about Russian and Chinese hypersonic missile tech for quite some time now (see “Related Articles” below), but Russia’s latest one, the Avangard …

Read More »

DARPA Gremlins Program: Attack Drones Eventually Carried by Low-Observable/Stealth ‘Mothership’ Carrier/Launching Aircraft! Northrop Grumman B-21, Anyone?

By David Crane January 2, 2018 Last updated on 1/03/18. Nasdaq recently published an article titled “Air Force Could Test Flying Aircraft Carriers” as Early as Next Year, that caught DefenseReview’s (DR) attention, thanks to its provocative title hinting at giant electrogravitic-propulsion (anti-gravity) aircraft carriers flying around like alien craft. The article itself actually alludes to a much less provocatively-titled …

Read More »

Chinese Military Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) Strike Aircraft/Missile Tech Being Developed to Attack US Military Missile Defense Systems, with Nuclear Payloads: Can the US Military Win World War III (WWIII)?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Image(s) Credit: CCTV and The Washington Free Beacon November 12, 2017 The Washington Free Beacon recently published a piece on the latest Chinese military “secret hypersonic strike aircraft being developed to deliver nuclear warheads through U.S. missile defenses”, including the DF-ZF, and it’s an interesting read, albeit one to be taken with …

Read More »

Lockheed Martin Laser Advancements for the Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE) Air-to-Air/Air-to-Ground Fiber-Optic Laser Weapon System for Supersonic Fighter Jet Aircraft: 60-Kilowatt+ Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control (ABC) Laser Weapon Turret by 2021?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Image(s) Credit: Lockheed Martin November 8, 2017 DefenseReview (DR) has been discussing air-to-air laser weapons for fighter jet aircraft since late 2013, when the US Air Force put out a solicitation for “Lasers Systems for Future Air Dominance Platforms”. Well, according to a recent Daily Mail article it would appear that the …

Read More »

Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 ‘Raptorsky’ Going into Production as Sukhoi Su-57 5th-Gen Multi-Role Low-Observable/Stealth Fighter Jet Manned/UAS/UAV/Drone Aircraft!

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: Russian Defense Ministry August 14, 2017 DefenseReview’s (DR) been publishing information on the Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 “Raptorsky” prototype 5th-Gen low-observable/stealth fighter jet aircraft since February 2010, and we’ve been following its development ever since. Well, Russian media’s just gone public with the PAK FA T-50 being prepared to go …

Read More »

DIUx/Kratos UTAP-22 Mako and XQ-222 Valkyrie Combat UAS/UAV/Drone Aircraft: Developmental Artificially Intelligent (AI)Attack Aircraft Wingmen on Their Way for Future Warfare!

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Image(s) Credit: Kratos Defense and Security Solutions (KDSS) and Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) June 15, 2017 According to a recent Washington Post piece, it would appear that the EDI UCAV (Extreme Deep Invader Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle), featured in the 2005 film Stealth, is about to come to life as future …

Read More »

Chinese CASC CH-5 (Caihong 5) Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Armed/Weaponized UAS/UAV/Drone Aircraft to Patrol the South China Sea?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: Kelvin Wong, IHS Jane’s 360 and RUPTLY November 9, 2016 Oh, and speaking of advanced, deadly chinese combat aircraft, they recently unveiled the CASC CH-5 (Caihong 5) medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) armed/weaponized UAS/UAV/drone aircraft, made by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and billled as the “world’s most powerful drone”, at …

Read More »

Chinese Chengdu J-20 Low-Observable/Stealth Jet Fighter Aircraft: How Big a Threat is It?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: ImagineChina/REX/Shutterstock November 4, 2016 Last updated on 11/05/16. As if the Russians developing hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missiles (HSICBM’s), hyper-powerful thermonuclear weapons/warheads, and advanced future soldier/warfighter technology, equipment and gear weren’t stressful enough, the Chinese have been busy little militaristic Asian beavers themselves and developed themselves some advanced low-observable/stealth fighter aircraft …

Read More »

Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) + FlyBoard Air Ducted-Fan Hoverboard = Flying Super Soldiers: Future Military Special Operations Forces (SOF) Assaulters/Operators to Fly Themselves to the Target in Exo-Armor ‘Iron Man’-Type Combat Suits?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com September 21, 2016 Last updated on 10/09/16. DefenseReview (DR) first reported on the TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit) Exo-Armor Combat Suit program in October, 2013, and while we were healthily skeptical about it, we were also cautiously optimistic, as is our way. Cut to the present, and the TALOS program is …

Read More »

DARPA/Northrop Grumman ‘Tail-Sitter’ UAS/UAV/Drone Aircraft for Airborne Recon (Reconnaissance) and other Missions: Can it be Gun/Laser-Weaponized for Combat? Why not?

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Image(s) Credit: DARPA and Northrop Grumman December 22, 2015 Last updated on 12/23/15. Speaking of interesting new military aircraft designed and developed by Northrop Grumman (NG), as well as futuristic Terminator-like cyber-soldiers and Skynet-like supercomputers, AND DARPA, Northrop Grumman and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) are apparently also developing a “radical ‘tail-sitter’ …

Read More »