The Navy’s unmanned X-47B lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Aug. 17, 2014. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s move toward developing a carried-based unmanned combat aircraft might eventually afford the service the ability to strike targets at long-range, but there are ethical and legal questions that linger should the Pentagon develop a fully autonomous system. Read More
Russian troops in Crimea in March. REUTERS Photo
The way out of the Ukraine-Russia crisis lies in both countries realizing they “are not just neighbors, but relatives”—a goal not easily reached, a former senior State Department official said. He added, “Let’s just hope they survive the next week” as fighting has stepped up around separatist strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk. Read More
A pair of Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound
Russia is hoping to start developing a replacement for the Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor starting in 2017 according to state media outlet RIA Novosti.
India’s P-8I Neptune.
In the last three years, the U.S. has surpassed Russia as the number one military vendor to India, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Indian parliament on Tuesday. Read More
An April 2014 photo of a Russian Ilyushin Il-38 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft. The U.S. denied reports a similar aircraft chased off a U.S. Virginia-class submarine from the Barents Sea.
Reports that a U.S. Navy submarine was chased from away from Russian controlled waters by Russian anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft on Aug. 7 are false, U.S. European Command (EUCOM) officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) transits the Atlantic Ocean on March 19, 2014. US Navy Photo
The U.S. has sent a guided missile cruiser into the Black Sea on Wednesday as part of an ongoing presence mission following the Russian seizure of Crimea, U.S. Navy officials told USNI News. Read More
Boeing RC-135V/W Rivet Joint. US Air Force Photo
An “attempted engagement” of a U.S. surveillance plane by Russian fighters in the skies above eastern Europe has prompted leaders at U.S. European Command to reevaluate its air operations tactics in the region, according to Pentagon officials. Read More
Launch of R-500 complex “Iskander-K” in 2007.
The Obama administration, in a step widely seen as an attempt to put further diplomatic and political pressure on Russia, has accused Moscow of violating a longstanding and relatively noncontroversial arms control treaty, the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty (INF).
An F-35B Lightning II aircraft takes off from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in 2013. A former senior Navy official told USNI News its stealth protection could be pierced by new Chinese and Russian radars. US Navy Photo
A growing trend in Russian and Chinese radar could make U.S. stealth fighters easier to see and — more importantly — easier to target for potential adversaries, a former senior U.S. Navy official told USNI News. Read More
Pro-Russian separatists at a check point in Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine.
As summer rolls on, Russian-built anti-aircraft missiles continue to down aircraft over eastern Ukraine. While a great deal of ink has been spilled over exactly what kind of missiles are deployed, and who is giving the launch authorizations and actually launching them, one fact is salient: This is an escalation, intentional or not, that elevates the simmering Ukrainian civil war beyond Donetsk. Read More
