President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine issued a stark warning at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24, saying the weapons being developed to fight the war raging in his country pose a grave threat to humanity.
Mission autonomy testing has started on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., competitor for the initial U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the company president tells Aviation Week. The milestone means the YFQ-42 prototype is already exploring the suite of software designed to make tactical choices when given broad commands by a human partner flying in a different aircraft.
Iran’s infamous Shahed drones have been used to devastating effect by Russia to strike Ukraine. Now the U.S. and its allies are racing to develop copycat versions of the low-cost, long-range weapon.
Air & Space Forces Magazine Editor-in-Chief Tobias Naegele visited Veterans Healthcare at AFA’s 2025 Air, Space & Cyber Conference and spoke to the organization’s founder, Taylor Miller, about how his team helps veterans and retirees navigate the often confusing world of Medicare, Tricare for Life, VA coverage, and CHAMP VA.
As it supports operations around the globe, the Air Force’s electromagnetic spectrum reprogramming wing has sped up the cycle for testing and deploying different waveforms to stay ahead in the cat-and-mouse game of electronic warfare, according to a key service official.
The US Air Force is aiming to award “concept refinement” contracts for the second iteration of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program in early fiscal 2026, an Air Force official said Sept. 24.
The Space Force hopes to release a draft request for proposals by the end of 2025 for its new space domain awareness constellation—comprising satellites that can be refueled from space.
The Air Force is working on a new defensive cyberspace operations campaign plan as it moves to protect military bases and utility companies against digital threats, according to a top commander.
The Black Arrow, also known as the Small Cruise Missile (SCM), flew for more than 400 nautical miles in a test earlier this summer. Leidos disclosed the milestone and also raised the possibility of eventually integrating the missile with the MQ-9 Reaper drone and the OA-1K Skyraider II light attack aircraft.
Special operations Airmen are ready for potential missions focused on Venezuela amid President Donald Trump’s controversial campaign against alleged narco-terrorism groups in the region, the leader of Air Force Special Operations Command said Sept. 24.
For the United States to keep pace with the changing global threat environment, advanced defense innovations must be properly balanced with mass producibility, the president of Anduril said Sept. 24.
The email arrived in Michelle Curran’s inbox at a most inconvenient time, shortly before she was to report to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for her next assignment. Under almost any other circumstance, Curran would have ignored it. This email—a final callout for applications to join the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration team—could not be so easily dismissed, however.
