This just in – Iran’s reverse-engineered RQ-170 drone flies

Iran has released video of what it claims to be a reverse-engineered version of a captured RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aircraft. The jet — pretty loud jet at that — is seen flying overhead multiple times. The two-minute thirteen second video then shows numerous air-to-air views of the aircraft, apparently from a helicopter chase plane. The…

We Now Know Why The F-117 Is Still Flying

Mystery solved! In October, Intercepts wrote about the F-117 Nighthawk and how recent photos had shown the stealth jet flying from Tonopah Test Range in Nevada — despite the plane having been retired in 2008. Given the secretive history of the Nighthawk, speculation immediately arose as to what the jets could be doing. General consensus was that…

F-35C Carrier Variant Is At Sea – Finally!

With US Navy test pilot Commander Tony Wilson at the controls, an F-35C Lightning II of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) lined up on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the California coast early Monday afternoon and swooped in to make the first arrested carrier landing of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) carrier variant. It…

The F-117 is still flying. But why?

File this one under oddities and curiosities…. The F-117 “Nighthawk” was officially retired in 2008, and in theory the fleet of stealthy fighters has mothballed up. But rumors have persisted in recent years about one or more Nighthawks still flying out in the desert. Those rumors were proven this month when posted photos appeared to show an F-117 taking…

Air Force Mystery Spaceplane Comes Home

The X-37B, the Air Force’s top secret spacefaring drone, has come home. The Air Force announced today that the unmanned space system had landed safely at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Although it had been expected to land sometime this week, just when it would occur was a bit of a mystery — fitting, because the…

See the First US-Built Super Tucano

At a ceremony held in late September, Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) and Embraer rolled out the first US-produced A-29 Super Tucano. Unsurprisingly, it looks an awful lot like the traditional Super Tucano, of which Embraer has produced more than 170, but it’s still a milestone for the team behind the plane. Without rehashing the tortured history…