Air Combat

The AC-130J Ghostrider carries a 105mm howitzer, a 30mm chain gun, Hellfire missiles, and precision bombs inside a cargo plane, then flies in a continuous banking turn at 12,000 feet while placing every round inside a 10-meter circle. Here's how the fire control system makes that possible.

Three NATO allies spent over $100 billion developing three separate fighters when they could have built one. France built the Rafale for global power projection, four nations built the Typhoon for European air defense, and Sweden built the Gripen for national survival against Russia. Each designed for a fundamentally different war, and each thinks they made the right call.

The F-16 was born from a radical idea: build a fighter that was small, light, and cheap enough to buy in massive numbers. Over 4,600 built, 25+ countries operating it, and an unmatched combat record later, the "cheap fighter" became the most successful Western fighter jet ever produced.

Both nations needed a twin-engine, two-seat fighter that could penetrate enemy air defenses, destroy ground targets, and fight its way home. Russia and America came up with radically different machines.

South Korea went from no indigenous fighter program to first production aircraft in seven years. The F-35 took twenty-five. The KF-21 Boramae costs $65 million. The F-35A costs $80 million. But the numbers alone don't tell you which one wins, because they're not trying to do the same thing.

17 best aviation radio scanners from $30 to $700. Hear ATC, military demos, and tower comms at airshows.

These 10 aircraft have destroyed more enemy hardware than every other weapon system combined. From the F-22's undefeated exercise record to the A-10's tank-killing legacy, these are the most lethal combat aircraft still in active service.

After an F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, the CIA used a classified quantum tool called Ghost Murmur to locate the wounded crew member by his heartbeat alone. 155 aircraft launched to bring him home. Here's what we know.

The AIM-260 JATM is the most important American weapon you've never seen a photo of. Developed to counter China's PL-15 long-range missile, it promises to restore the range advantage American fighters have held for decades, and it's so sensitive that even close allies had to wait years for export approval.

The F-22 Raptor has been at war since 2014, dropping hundreds of bombs over Syria, deterring 587 enemy aircraft in a single deployment, and scoring history's highest-altitude air-to-air kill, against a Chinese balloon. Here's the full combat record most people don't know exists.

The AH-64 Apache fired the opening shots of Desert Storm, survived 2,300+ combat hits across three decades of continuous warfare, and still has no true peer among the world's attack helicopters. Here's why, from the helmet-mounted sight to the Hellfire's kill record.

The Air Force needs roughly 2,000 fighters to meet its obligations. It has the budget for about 1,200. The F-22 and F-35 were supposed to solve different problems, one clears the sky, the other penetrates and strikes, but production shortfalls and cost overruns have turned complementary programs into a fleet-planning nightmare.