Manned military aircraft news and discussion

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DARPA greenlights Bell's rotor-folding X-plane
By David Szondy
July 13, 2025
https://newatlas.com/military/bell-gets ... r-x-plane/

Bell's revolutionary X-plane rotorcraft has received the green light to progress to the building and testing of a demonstrator aircraft. DARPA has down-selected the craft to move to Phase 2 of the agency's Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) program.

Rotorcraft such as the V-22 Osprey, with tiltable blades sitting on nacelles at the end of the aircraft's wings, have been around for decades, but DARPA's SPRINT program wants to push these to the next level by introducing a bit of Transformer's technology. A joint effort with the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), SPRINT aims to combine the runway independence of a rotorcraft with the high-subsonic speed and performance of a jet airplane with cruise speeds of up to 400 to 450 knots (740 to 833 km/h, 460 to 518 mph).

Based on Bell's Valor-280, the X-plane ups the speed and performance by using nacelles with rotors that can be feathered and stopped before folding away as the aircraft transitions from propeller horizontal flight to jet propulsion. This gets rid of the drag produced by the rotors as they become redundant and allows for much higher speeds and stability.

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America is fucking screwed. China will be leading the world within the decade at this rate. Loserterianism has destroyed America as a world power.

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Sixth-gen fighter takes shape and edges closer to takeoff
By David Szondy
July 28, 2025

One of the world's first sixth-generation fighters has moved closer to its first flight, as BAE Systems unveils the prototype Combat Air Flying Demonstrator, now under construction for the Global Combat Air Programme by Britain, Italy, and Japan.

Known as Tempest in the UK, which began the effort, the supersonic Global Combat Air Programme fighter is not only the first fighter to be built in Britain in 40 years, it's one of the first of a whole new class of combat aircraft with an advanced design incorporating a raft of new technologies and capabilities that verge of science fiction.

https://newatlas.com/military/sixth-gen ... onstrator/

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Northrop Grumman's F/A-XX 6th-gen fighter breaks cover
By David Szondy
August 17, 2025

The US Navy's secretive F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter plane is a bit less secret after program competitor Northrop Grumman unveiled a new concept image of its version of the carrier-based warplane, giving us a few design clues.

Like the US Air Force, the Navy is keen on getting its hands on a sixth-gen fighter. However, due to the need for specialized carrier aircraft and good old-fashioned inter-service rivalry, the Navy would much rather have a dedicated aircraft of its own rather than a carrier variant of the planned F-47 NGAD.

It's a squabble that gets a lot of back channel chatter and the F/A-XX is often looked upon as the sacrificial lamb during defense budget talks as Congress questions whether America needs two advanced fighter aircraft in an age of budget cuts increasingly dominated by drone warfare.

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Boeing's F/A-XX sixth-gen fighter peeks out from a vapor cone
By David Szondy
August 31, 2025

In August, we saw Northrop Grumman unveil (slightly) its contender for the US Navy's F/A-XX competition. Now, Boeing is stepping in with a misty rendering of its entry for the sixth-gen carrier-based fighter plane to replace the aged F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Six months ago, the F/A-XX Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter competition looked as though it was on its last legs, stumbling toward the ash heap of failed programs. Where the US Air Force's F-47 commanded a US$3-billion budget, the F/A-XX limped along on an anemic US$76 million.

With Lockheed Martin dropping out of the running in March 2025, the smart money was on the Navy competition soon dying from lack of funds, but Congress pushed against this, with the Senate Appropriations Committee approving an additional US$1.4 billion for the F/A-XX, and the House putting up US$972 million.

This second lease on life was bolstered by remarks by US Navy Vice Admiral Daniel Cheever saying to the press that the F/A-XX was "eagerly awaited." Since the next step is to reduce the two competitors, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, to one, this optimism seems to have goaded the companies into ginning up public interest in their proposals.

https://newatlas.com/military/boeing-fa ... ter-image/

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Second B-21 Raider nuclear bomber makes maiden flight
By David Szondy
September 21, 2025

The US Air Force's second B-21 Raider nuclear bomber has taken to the skies for the first time. The second of a planned fleet of 100, the sixth-gen aircraft took off from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, California facility on September 11 at 8:00 am.

Thursday's maiden flight of the B-21 took place less than two years after the first prototype flew on November 10, 2023 from the same location. This marks a major acceleration of the testing program for the bomber that will work alongside and eventually replace the Air Force's fleet of B-1B, B-2, and B-52 bombers that form the airborne leg of the US nuclear deterrent force.

https://newatlas.com/military/second-b- ... en-flight/

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