Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More The CIA Built 13 A-12 Oxcarts to Spy on Russia — Then Lost 5 of Them in Accidents Before the Program Was Killed in 1968 In April 1962, Lockheed Skunk Works flew an A-12 Oxcart spy plane that required an entirely new American titanium industry just to manufacture and... Jack BuckbyMay 8, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More In 1982, Northrop’s Tacit Blue ‘Whale’ Had a Radar Cross-Section Smaller Than a Bat — and Stayed Classified for 18 Years In 1982, Northrop quietly flew a stealth aircraft so radar-invisible the U.S. Air Force later said its radar cross-section was smaller than a bat’s.... Steve BalestrieriMay 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
Dollars and Sense Lockheed Martin Just Won an $11.4 Million Contract to Upgrade Israel’s F-35I Adir — Funded by Israel In March, an Israeli F-35I Adir shot down an Iranian Yak-130 over Tehran — the first time an F-35 stealth fighter ever destroyed another... Stephen SilverMay 7, 2026
Dollars and Sense The U.S. Military Will Now Reject Recruits With 28 Medical Conditions — Including Peanut Allergies, Diabetes, and Sickle Cell A peanut allergy will now disqualify you from joining the U.S. Military. So will diabetes, sickle cell disease, an active cancer, a pacemaker, or... Isaac SeitzMay 7, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More 2,455 Miles Per Hour Battle: 6 Russian MiG-31 Foxhounds Tried to Trap a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird Over the Barents Sea In June 1986, six Soviet MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors tried to trap a single American SR-71 Blackbird over the Barents Sea. The Soviet pilots had... Brandon WeichertMay 7, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More 2,000 Miles Per Hour Test: Every Iranian Chinese-Made CM-302 Missile the Navy Shoots Down Is a Free War Plan for Beijing Iran absorbed the kinetic loss in the Gulf — China absorbed the engineering data. Every Chinese CM-302 cruise missile the U.S. Navy has shot... Andrew LathamMay 7, 2026
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More The F-14D Tomcat U.S. Navy Fighter Could Make the Ultimate Comeback The F-14 Tomcat that Tom Cruise made famous in Top Gun is coming back to the sky. Congress just passed the Maverick Act of... Brandon WeichertMay 7, 2026
Dollars and Sense The F-47 NGAD Stealth Fighter Has a 1,000-Mile Combat Radius — Nearly Double the F-22 and F-35 The F-47 stealth fighter will have a 1,000-mile combat radius — nearly double that of the F-22 — and is built for the Indo-Pacific.... Harrison KassMay 7, 2026