Page 10 - David Axe News Today

Various subvariants of the Model 147S flew more than half of all Lightning Bug sorties between December 1967 and the end of the war in 1972. The four longest-serving Lightning Bugs were Model 147SCs, most notably “Tom Cat,” which completed 68 missions, compared to just three missions for the typical Lightning Bug. Teledyne Ryan photo…

In the span of just a few years, the Air Force went from employing only a few hundred drone operators, analysts and maintainers to needing tens of thousands of them. There were some growing pains. 

Quantity, Not Quality: Why Iran Will Never Abandon Its Missile Forces Iran’s conventional weaponry is hopelessly out of date, and the country’s leaders know it, according to one expert. Heres What You Need to Remember: When the United States in early January 2020 assassinated Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force, Iran retaliated by firing scores of rockets at two bases in Iraq where U.S. forces reside. Dozens of Americans were injured. Iran’s conventional weaponry is hopele...

Expensive and just plain useless? Heres What You Need to Know: It took the Navy nearly two decades to realize the LCS program had failed. The sailing branch in 2014 cut LCS acquisition from 55 ships to 32. Congress eventually added three vessels, boosting the class to 35 ships. After spending $30 billion over a period of around two decades, the U.S. Navy has managed to acquire just 35 of the 3,000-ton-displacement vessels. Sixteen were in service as of late 2018. Of those 16, four are test shi...

Russia Could Give Chinese Aircraft Carriers the Power Boost They Need “While China has good experience in the development of nuclear reactors for use on land, it has yet to master the miniaturisation process that is needed to make a nuclear power unit suitable for an aircraft carrier,” South China Morning Post reported. Heres What You Need to Remember: “Russia has the technology but no money, China has the money, but doesn’t have the technology,” Zhou said. “By working together Ch...

Air Force Crisis: U.S. Pilots Aren’t Confident They Can Defeat China The present crisis has its roots in the period of relative geopolitical calm that followed the end of the Cold War Heres What You Need to Remember: “In a way, China and Russia have rendered the U.S. military a service through their prowess and sheer cheek. Formidable competitors are compelling U.S. fighting forces to survey the tactical and strategic environment anew, sharpen their skills, and fortify their nerves.” A p...

How Japan’s pledge to defend Taiwan against China may tip Asia’s balance of power Joe Evans © Provided by The Week Japan would join the US in defending Taiwan against the “existential threat” of Chinese invasion, Tokyo has announced. Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said that “if a major problem occurred in Taiwan”, his country would “need to consider seriously” that the neighbouring Japanese island of Okinawa “could be next” in Beijing’s list of target...

Iran is continuing to develop increasingly long-range ballistic missiles -- and is firing some shorter-range missiles in combat. Heres What You Need to Remember: If the Trump administration truly wanted a diplomatic deal to curtail Irans missiles, it wouldnt have torn up the JCPOA. The administration wants fewer arms-control regimes, even if rolling back decades of painstakingly-negotiated agreements means a much greater risk of an out-of-control arms race that could end with nuclear war. Iran...

The May tests of at least one apparently nuclear-capable short-range missile startled foreign observers and threatened to elevate tensions between the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan on one side and, on the other side, North Korea and its main patron China.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois reported the following activity on May 27 in the suits below: