Did Chinese cyber spying cause the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s cost spikes and production delays? That’s the question Pentagon budget officials are asking according to Aviation Week. Chinese spies apparently hacked into secure conference calls and listened to meetings discussing the classified technologies aboard the jets. In particular, China may have stolen info about the […]
Planes, Copters, Blimps
Check this out. We’ve been wondering how the cancellation of the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft would impact the Army’s tactical airlift needs. While the Air Force says canning the JCA won’t hurt anyone, it looks like the Army is eying the optionally-manned K-MAX helo to carry realatively small but urgent loads of cargo to remote […]
Check out these latest photos of China’s newest attack helo, the Z-19. The twin-seat bird, an updated version of the Z-9W that’s been in service since the 1990s, is just one more example of China’s military modernization. If the chopper’s lines look vaguely familiar, it’s because the bird is based on the Eurocopter Dauphin series, […]
Aviation Week dropped a heck of a story yesterday when it revealed the Air Force’s newest X-plane, the X-56A. The the flying wing is being designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks to test out the technologies that will allow a new crop of reconnaissance planes to stay aloft at high altitudes for long periods of times; think days or weeks. […]
In case you guys haven’t seen this video, it’s awesome. It shows a swarm of tiny quadrotor UAVs flying in numerous formations, performing figure eights with each other and even flying around obstacles. Talk about sense and avoid! The little drones (monsters?) were developed and programmed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, […]
