Terror group Islamic State is employing scientists and weapons experts to train jihadists to carry out sophisticated "spectacular" attacks in Europe, while also modifying weapons systems capable of targeting passenger jets and military aircraft. From a "jihadi university" in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the scientists have stunned western weapons experts by producing a homemade thermal battery for surface-to-air missiles.

Naval aircraft testing over the Atlantic Ocean created the sonic booms that caused rumbles and house-shaking that could be felt from the southern Jersey Shore to Long Island and the Connecticut coast and prompted thousands of tweets and 911 calls from residents thinking they were feeling the tremors of an earthquake. Officials with the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland said they were conducting testing of F-35C fighter jet over the Atlantic...

Hackers from the AnonSec group who spent several months hacking Nasa have released a huge data dump and revealed they tried to bring down a $222m Global Hawk Drone into the Pacific Ocean. The hack included employee personal details, flight logs and video footage collected from unmanned and manned aircraft. The 250GB data dump contained the names, email addresses and phone numbers of 2,414 Nasa employees, 2,143 flight...

They zip and dart across the sky in a three-jet formation, a six-second apparition in a 30-second commercial touting the achievements of defense contractor Northrop Grumman. Unlike modern jets, such as the F-22 Raptor or F-16 Fighting Falcon, they have no tail and are likely to be armed with lasers that are straight out of a science-fiction movie. They’re sixth-generation fighters, and Northrop Grumman appears poised to show them...

Hypersonic missiles could be here faster than you know it. By 2020, the Air Force is likely to have operational prototypes ready for a program of record and testing to develop an operational unit, said Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello, the commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The Chinese military is poised to send submarines armed with nuclear missiles into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, arguing that new US weapons systems have so undermined Beijing’s existing deterrent force that it has been left with no alternative. Chinese military officials are not commenting on the timing of a maiden patrol, but insist the move is inevitable. They point to plans unveiled in March to station the US Thaad anti-ballistic system in South Korea, and the development of hypersonic glide missiles potentially capable of hitting China...

A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense. Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole. The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity...

As a witness to the removal of fallen U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Army Chaplain Christopher John Antal can’t recall a time when that solemn ceremony wasn’t conducted without the presence of drones passing along the horizon. They were sleek and quiet, making a gentle humming noise as they flew over the flight lines — where aircraft can be parked and serviced — of the Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan, where he was stationed in 2012. Not everyone had access to the flight lines, according to Antal, but he was responsible for participating in dignified transfer ceremonies...

At a breakfast with defense reporters this week, US Marine Corps Lt. General Robert Walsh, the commanding general of the Corps' Combat Development Command, said that directed energy weapons are "where we want to go." That includes eventually mounting lasers on the F-35B fighter—and virtually everything else in the Marine Corps' inventory.

The crew of a guided-missile destroyer fired three missiles to defend themselves and another ship after being attacked on Sunday in the Red Sea by two presumed cruise missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi-forces, USNI News has learned. During the attack against USS Mason (DDG-87), the ship’s crew fired the missiles to defend the guided-missile destroyer and nearby USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) from two suspected cruise missiles fired from the Yemini shore, two defense officials told USNI News.

DARPA's goal to develop a UAV that can launch from small-deck ships in the US Navy and Marine Corps fleets, for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as targeting and strike missions, is a step closer to getting off the ground, according to Northrop Grumman's latest progress report on the Tern program.

The country’s sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was sent deep into the disputed South China Sea. And whilst it was at it, it sailed menacingly close to Taiwan; a self-governing island that China claims as its own. It comes only days after state-run media called for China to invade Taiwan, showing its “resolution” to “recover [it] by force”.

Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is considered one of the most realistic and challenging aviation warfare exercises, and pilots from this year's event say the Air Force's F-35A exceeded expectations by dominating the air space and improving the lethality of other legacy aircraft. It's stellar performance is a major victory for a war plane that's been criticized for its high costs and plagued with several development setbacks.

Romania is looking to increase the size of its fighter fleet after the government decided to apportion 2% of GDP for defence in 2017. The Parliament and Supreme Defence Council (CSAT) have approved the decision. "My intention is to finalise this year the decision to have another 20 F-16 fighters. The Romanian Air Force has nine now and there will be 12 by the end of the year, but we need more to strengthen our air force capability. As a matter of principle Romania intends to buy these 20 F-16 fighters from the United States.

Earlier this week, General David Perkins, the commander of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) spoke at the Association of the US Army’s Global Force symposium, where he discussed the threats that the US military would begin to face in the coming years. One notable example is how a US ally recently shot down a $200 consumer drone with a Patriot Missile.

The attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military left 36 Islamic State group fighters dead and no civilian casualties, Afghanistan officials said Friday. The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that several ISIS-Khorasan caves and ammunition caches were destroyed by the giant bomb, which terrified villagers on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with its "earsplitting blast."

A fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets has arrived in Europe from the United States as part of a planned NATO exercise aimed at “deterring” Russia. The F-35A Lightning II jets landed at Royal Air Force Base in Lakenheath, England Saturday, having made the journey from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. “The forward presence of F-35s support my priority of having ready and postured forces here in Europe,” said NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe General Curtis M. Scaparrotti in an official statement.

When is it ethical to hand our decisions over to machines? And when is external automation a step too far?

The US Navy railgun program is making great technical progress according to the Office of Naval Research program manager Tom Boucher. The Navy is now working towards installing railguns at permanent land-based test sites which would provide more and better data for fewer dollars than an ad hoc installation aboard a repurposed fast transport.

Preparing for North Korea’s growing threat, the Pentagon will try to shoot down an intercontinental-range missile for the first time in a test next week. The goal is to more closely simulate a North Korean ICBM aimed at the US homeland, officials said Friday