Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Russia Built the MiG 1.44 to Beat the F-22 in the 1990s — Its Design Data Now Lives On in the Su-57 and Su-75 Stealth Fighters Russia’s Mikoyan Project MiG 1.44 was conceived in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union’s answer to the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter... Brent M. EastwoodMay 9, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More China Has 300 J-20 Stealth Fighters in Service — But Its Radar Cross-Section Is Still 100 Times Larger Than the F-22 Raptor China’s Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter entered service with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in March 2017, and by 2025 the PLAAF had built... Jack BuckbyMay 9, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Lockheed Spent Years Designing the X-44 Manta as a Tailless F-22 in 1999 — It Never Flew, But Its Design May Have Inspired the F-47 In 1999, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works designed the X-44 Manta — a “Multi-Axis, No Tail Aircraft” built on the F-22 Raptor fuselage with a... Stephen SilverMay 9, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Boeing Won a $20,000,000,000 Contract for the F-47 NGAD — 185 Aircraft Designed to Replace the F-22 and Outclass China’s J-20 In March 2025, President Donald Trump and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin announced that Boeing had won a $20 billion... Steve BalestrieriMay 9, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Russia Spent Years Building the MiG 1.44 to Beat the F-22 Raptor — It Flew Once for 18 Minutes in 2000 and Was Mothballed Forever Russia’s MiG 1.44 was developed by Mikoyan in the 1980s and 1990s as the Soviet Union’s answer to the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Tactical... Caleb LarsonMay 8, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Canada Built a Mach 2 Fighter in 1957 and Destroyed Every One in 1959 — Its Engineers Went to NASA and Helped Build the Apollo Program On October 4, 1957, Avro Canada unveiled the CF-105 Arrow — a Mach 2 supersonic interceptor capable of climbing to 50,000 feet, the most... Brent M. EastwoodMay 8, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More Chinese Computer Simulations Just Showed a Single J-20 Has Less Than a 10% Chance of Beating an F-22 Raptor in Combat China’s own computer simulations show that a single J-20 Mighty Dragon has less than a 10% chance of defeating an F-22 Raptor in combat.... Steve BalestrieriMay 8, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More The Air Force Just Sent F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters to China’s Backyard The U.S. Air Force has deployed additional F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to Kadena Air Base in Japan as part of its ongoing effort to... Jack BuckbyMay 6, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More The F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Will Never Fly from a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier The U.S. Navy nearly built its own version of the legendary F-22 Raptor stealth fighter—a swept-wing carrier variant called the NATF-22 Sea Raptor that... Steve BalestrieriMay 6, 2026