Aircraft

22 best diecast military models from $25 desk pieces to $170 collector-grade aircraft and tanks. Hobby Master, Corgi, Forces of Valor, and more.

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.

The Navy's most important drone won't fire a single weapon. The MQ-25A Stingray is a carrier-based unmanned tanker that delivers 15,000 pounds of fuel at 500 nautical miles, freeing up F/A-18s from tanking duty and extending the carrier air wing's strike range by 300-400 miles.

20 military gifts under $25. Books, models, puzzles, patches, and gear that military enthusiasts actually want.

20 best beginner model kits from snap-fit to starter sets with paint. Aircraft, tanks, and ships for first-time builders.

An F-22 Raptor has the radar signature of a marble. A B-52 has the radar signature of a barn. The difference comes down to five engineering disciplines: shaping, materials, inlet masking, exhaust design, and the limits of 1970s computing power that explain why the F-117 looks nothing like the B-2.

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.

62 people have died in V-22 Osprey crashes since testing began. The Marines won't stop flying them. Both facts make complete sense when you understand what the Osprey does that no helicopter on Earth can match, and the engineering tradeoffs that make tiltrotor flight inherently more dangerous.

The Chinook entered service in 1962 and will fly until at least 2060. No other military aircraft in history has been, or will be, that durable.

Almost everything the public knows about stealth aircraft is wrong. Here's how radar cross section, shaping, and coatings actually work, and why the F-117 shootdown proves the opposite of what most people think.

At $2.1 billion per aircraft, the B-2 Spirit is the most expensive plane ever built. But one B-2 sortie can replace a 75-aircraft strike package, and it has done exactly that in every major conflict since Kosovo. Here's why the Air Force considers it worth every penny.

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.