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4 mins read
US Special Operations Command wants to transform its biggest planes to gain an advantage against China
To ensure US special operators can operate against a more capable enemy, SOCOM wants to give its bi…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
4 mins read
One of the Air Force's biggest planes has helped pull off every major special ops mission since Vietnam
"We don't kick in any doors, but we enable the special operators on the ground to kick them," a for…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
3 mins read
US Special Operations Command is working on a new weapon for its 'Ghostrider' gunship: lasers
For decades, the AC-130 gunship has been support troops on the ground with heavy firepower. In a fe…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
2 mins read
American F-35 stealth fighters landed on a highway in Europe for the first time in training with one of NATO's newest allies
Highway landings, as part of the US' focus on its agile employment concept, allow forces to be disp…
Chris Panella
2 mins read
Another European country is flying fighter jets off highways like NATO has been doing to protect its warplanes
Switzerland is the latest country to train with non-traditional airstrips as a way to practice forc…
Jake Epstein
4 mins read
US Air Force special operators' search for new runways is expanding from highways to beaches
The US Air Force has been looking at "every single piece of concrete in the Pacific" to find new ru…
Christopher Woody
3 mins read
Photos capture US special operators landing one of the Air Force's biggest planes on a Wyoming highway
The MC-130J Commando II, a MQ-9 Reaper drone, A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes, and MH-6M Little B…
Jake Epstein
2 mins read
A US Reaper drone made its first-ever landing in the dirt, breaking away from the 'leash' of traditional runways
Last week's mission followed the MQ-9's first-ever highway landing during a series of drills prepar…
Jake Epstein
4 mins read
How a record-setting 'Ugly Baby' mission allowed US special operators to outmaneuver Iraqi forces
To get into northern Iraq in March 2003, US special operators had to pull off the longest low-level…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
4 mins read
US Air Force special operators turned cargo planes into bombers. Now they're showing other militaries how it's done.
The Air Force has shown it can drop "palletized munitions" from its cargo aircraft, and now other m…
Christopher Woody
4 mins read
A US plan to drop bombs from cargo planes hit another milestone, but the Air Force is still figuring out how it would use it in a war
"We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory," a US officer said before …
Christopher Woody
3 mins read
Worried about vulnerable airbases, a US ally landed a F-35A stealth fighter on a highway for the first time in NATO's newest member
A Norwegian military official said the goal of the exercise is to make it more challenging for an e…
Jake Epstein
3 mins read
The US Air Force's special operators are hustling to turn their biggest planes into flying boats
Aircraft that can operate on land and sea create "even more complex dilemmas" for rivals, a US Air …
Christopher Woody
4 mins read
A first-of-its-kind exercise on a Michigan highway shows the aging A-10 Warthog can still make history
The US Air Force is working on how to spread out its aircraft in order to counter the Chinese milit…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
4 mins read
How atomic bombs work and why Manhattan Project scientists designed two types of bombs during WWII
Atomic bombs work via nuclear fission. When enough radioactive material undergoes fission, it trigg…
Adam Barnes
3 mins read
DARPA's latest 'Gremlins' test shows how the US military's biggest planes could be motherships in future wars
If Gremlins can do what the military has in mind, they could help US aircraft stay out of range of …
Stavros Atlamazoglou
4 mins read
Recent drills with US Navy missile subs show how Marine special operators would get to the frontline in a fight against China
Launching operations from submarines makes them harder for enemies to detect, but doing it that way…
Stavros Atlamazoglou
3 mins read
China tests new version of world's largest amphibious aircraft as US interest in sea-going planes grows
Few militaries still use amphibious aircraft, but the US is reexamining that capability as it shift…
Christopher Woody
2 mins read
The US Air Force is turning cargo planes into flying munitions trucks able to unleash a mass of standoff weapons
The service has been experimenting with using cargo planes to drop lots of long-range weapons that …
Ryan Pickrell
5 mins read
How a disastrous mission in Iran 40 years ago changed the way US special operators fight
On November 4, 1979, Iranians stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. The fa…