Latest news with #IRST
Los Angeles Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
U.S. launches airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites: A turning point in U.S.–Iran relations
On June 21, 2025 (June 22 IRST), President Donald Trump announced that U.S. military forces had conducted coordinated airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites— Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan . The attacks, which involved B‑2 stealth bombers armed with bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles , mark the first time the United States has struck nuclear infrastructure inside Iran. The operation signifies a turning point in long-standing tensions between Iran and its regional adversaries, particularly Israel and the United States. Trump said that the mission was 'very successful and historic,' including that all U.S. aircraft returned safely and that the Fordow facility was hit with a 'full payload' . Tensions between Iran and Israel have simmered for over four decades, beginning with Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the regime's subsequent opposition to Israel's existence. ' For 40 years, Iran has been saying, 'Death to America,' 'Death to Israel.'' said President Trump. Over the years, this rivalry has manifested through proxy wars, cyberattacks, and regional destabilization. During the 1980s to 2000s, Iran supported militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, while Israel launched targeted airstrikes on Iranian weapons shipments and personnel. In the 2010s, the conflict turned digital, with cyberwarfare incidents like the Stuxnet virus attack on Iran's enrichment facilities. More recently, in 2024 and 2025, Israeli airstrikes on Iranian infrastructure and Iran's missile retaliation brought tensions to new heights. The U.S. strikes targeted: Fordow : A hardened underground uranium enrichment facility near Qom Natanz : Iran's primary enrichment center Isfahan : A nuclear storage and uranium conversion site B‑2 bombers reportedly released 30,000-pound GBU‑57 bunker-buster bombs, while naval forces fired Tomahawk cruise missiles. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the strikes as 'acts of war' and vowed retaliation. The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned of 'very, very dangerous consequences,' signaling possible responses from Iran's military or regional proxies. In Washington, reactions were sharply divided. While several Republican leaders praised Trump's decisiveness, others—on both sides of the aisle—questioned the legality of the strikes, noting the absence of congressional authorization. Around the world, U.S. allies urged restraint. France and Germany pushed for immediate de-escalation. Portugal, Romania, and Serbia began evacuating citizens from the Middle East. An emergency session of the UN Security Council was convened on June 22, 2025, at the UN Headquarters in New York City. The meeting was urgently called by Iran to address the escalating conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, and to urge immediate action to prevent further regional destabilization. As the situation develops, key questions remain regarding the potential next steps by Iran and the broader implications for regional stability. For now, the U.S.–Iran conflict has entered a new phase, with global attention focused on what may unfold in the coming days. Related
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New Details On F/A-18 Super Hornet's Troubled IRST Pod
More details have emerged about the problems the U.S. Navy is facing with its ill-starred podded Infrared Search And Track system, or IRST, an important capability planned for its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters. The latest issues to be highlighted come after TWZ previously reported on delays caused by production quality problems with the system and a Pentagon assessment of 'significant reliability problems during operational testing,' which emerged earlier this year. The latest status update on the ASG-34A(V)1 IRST pod is provided in the Weapon Systems Annual Assessment that was published today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The centerline-mounted IRST pod is intended to provide the F/A-18E/F with a long-wave infrared sensor — the Lockheed Martin-developed IRST21 — that can search, detect, and track airborne targets. Very importantly, it is an ideal tool for detecting stealthy targets, which are proliferating. The IRST sensor assembly is installed in the front portion of a redesigned FPU-13/A centerline fuel tank. According to the GAO, each pod costs $16.6 million. For the full background on the pod, you can read our interview with the Super Hornet program manager responsible for it, back in 2020, here. The GAO report notes that, although the IRST pod achieved initial capability on schedule in November 2024, including delivery of the first lot of low-rate initial production pods, a full-rate production decision has been delayed. At one point, a determination on full-rate production was planned for January 2025, but this was missed 'due to delays incurred during flight testing.' As a result, the program has now breached its baseline schedule for the second time in three years. 'IRST officials told us that operational tests were delayed by two months due to software defects that caused IRST pods to falsely report overheating,' the GAO notes. Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) officials told the GAO that the problem 'was relatively easy to fix and would likely have been addressed during developmental testing had the program allocated more time for that testing.' Thanks to those operational testing delays, the publication of the DOT&E report that informs the full-rate decision production slipped until March 2025. A corresponding decision is now expected sometime this month. Until then, the program is somewhat in limbo, although it has achieved some good results, notably demonstrating 'capability at tactically significant ranges during operational testing.' This has been tempered, however, by how often the pods failed during that same testing. DOT&E officials told the GAO that the pods were 'extremely unreliable.' While we previously knew of issues with reliability, today's report confirms just how bad these are. Although 'the program improved pod reliability as it made software updates, [it] only managed to achieve 14 hours mean time between operational mission failures — short of the 40 hours required.' Not surprisingly, the DOT&E determined that deploying the IRST pods without improving their reliability would transfer risk to the Navy's fleet. Of course, this is bad news for the Navy, and for the F/A-18E/F community specifically, with IRST sensors — which can detect and track objects from a distance and in environments where radar may be ineffective — is increasingly seen as a vital air combat tool. Seemingly ever since it was first flown on a Super Hornet in late 2019, the IRST pod has faced issues. A previous GAO report, in 2023, noted that 'between 20 and 30 percent of the manufactured components [in the IRST pod] failed to meet performance specifications due to microelectronics issues.' These problems persisted more than four years after limited manufacturing had begun and served to delay the launch of developmental and operational testing. The same 2023 report also described how 'staffing challenges' at a critical software development contractor were leading to holdups in the program. Then came a DOT&E report, which looked at the results of tests involving Infrared Optimized Configuration (IROC) pods, described as 'operationally equivalent' but designated for flight test. IROC pods were used for operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) between April and September 2024. This report noted that 'operational test events were adversely affected by IRST Block II system reliability failures' and concluded that the pod 'demonstrated significant reliability problems.' 'Throughout the test period, IRST Block II suffered from hardware and software deficiencies, which required the aircrew to restart the pod multiple times,' the DOT&E report said. 'Troubleshooting and repair often exceeded the abilities of Navy maintenance crews and required assistance from Lockheed Martin.' In the meantime, however, earlier iterations of the pod have already been deployed on operations, carried by Super Hornets in the Middle East, with photos emerging of this appearing in late 2020. As the Navy awaits the decision on whether or not to pursue full-rate production, there's no doubt about the utility of an IRST pod — provided that it works. The specific advantages of the IRST pod are something we have discussed before, including with the Super Hornet program manager: 'Very importantly, the IRST pod provides an entirely passive capability, relying exclusively on the infrared spectrum to detect and track airborne targets, including those at far beyond visual range. With no radio-frequency emissions, the target won't be alerted to the fact that they've been detected and are being tracked. At the same time, the IRST does not give away the location and presence of the host platform. This kind of sensor also provides a vital companion to the Super Hornet's AN/APG-79 radar, functions of which may well be compromised in a heavy electronic attack or radar-denied environment.' Meanwhile, similar kinds of sensors have been found on fighters operated by potential adversaries for decades. China and Russia operate tactical fighters such as the Su-35 and Su-30 Flanker series that incorporate IRST sensors as standard. In Western Europe, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen E, for example, also offer them. Closer to home, the U.S. Air Force has already put equivalent sensors on its F-15Cs and F-16Cs, making the delays to the Navy's program all the more puzzling. On the other hand, we don't know exactly how reliable the Air Force's IRST pods are, and we do know that there are substantial differences between the Air Force and Navy versions, although they both use IRST21 as a base the fact that a functioning IRST capability can be integrated on even older platforms without too much difficulty is also evidenced in the contractor-operated adversary community, which is increasingly flying fast jets with IRST sensors to better replicate potential threat aircraft. On the other hand, it should be recalled that not all IRST sensors offer the same level of capabilities, with significant differences also in terms of depth of integration and fusion between different types and aircraft, especially over time. This applies especially to the higher-end IRST pod for the Super Hornet and some of the cheaper off-the-shelf options that are now available. Threat aircraft with IRST capabilities continue to proliferate, but so do the kinds of threat platforms for which a sensor of this kind would be most useful to counter. China, especially, is making rapid developments in stealth technology and advanced electronic warfare, two areas that make the introduction of an IRST sensor all the more compelling. These kinds of infrared sensors are immune to radar-evading stealth technology and are not affected by electromagnetic jamming and other electronic attacks. For Navy Super Hornets, a fully functional ISRT pod would help to detect and target advanced Chinese platforms in a future conflict in the Pacific theater. At the same time, these pods can significantly boost the flight crew's situational air-to-air 'picture' in conjunction with more traditional sensors. As noted previously, there has been some good news with the latest iteration of the IRST pod, specifically the fact that it has, in a test environment, demonstrated that it can detect targets at long ranges. Furthermore, it can translate this data into stable system tracks that would be suitable for weapons employment. With its clear potential, it's certainly alarming for the Navy that it is still being kept waiting for the vital capabilities promised by the IRST pod. Contact the author: thomas@
India.com
27-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
India Gives Nod To AMCA: Know The Nation's First Stealth Fighter Jet That Is Likely Redifine Air Combat
New Delhi: With an aim to bolster national security and strengthen indigenous defence manufacturing, the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday approved the development of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) – a fifth generation stealth fighter jet. The programme will be implemented by the Aeronautical Development Agency in collaboration with industry partners. The decision has enabled India enter the elite club of countries that develop the medium-weight and multi-role aircraft – which will be capable of carrying out deep-strike missions. The AMCA will be equipped with low observable technologies to lessen its radar signature. It will help the aircraft evade infrared tracking system and enemy's radar. The technology will allow it to operate with least chances of detection and high degree of survivability in a contested environment. The jet will use radar-absorbent material and have a stealth-optimised airframe and internal weapons bay to further reduce the chances of radar detection. Apart from its stealth capabilities, the AMCA will feature advanced avionics – including electronic warfare systems and sensor fusion. It will also have artificial intelligence-supported flight systems, infrared search and track (IRST) system and active electronically scanned array (AESA). It is expected that the fighter will offer supercruise capability that will enable it to fly at supersonic speeds even without using afterburners. The jet will be capable of carrying air-to-ground and air-to-air weaponry. It can be upgraded in future – with provisions of directed energy weapons and for integration of unmanned systems. The AMCA project is strategically seen as a response to evolving regional security challenges – especially in the context of reports about stealth air cooperation between Pakistan and China. The project is aimed at enhancing India's ability to maintain air dominance and carry out precision operations across a wide range of threat environments. It also reflects India's commitment to self-reliance in defence manufacturing sector. Both public and private sectors will take part in the project under a competitive bidding model that will support the growth of domestic aerospace ecosystem. The estimated expenditure on the initial development phase has been calculated at around Rs 15,000 crore. The AMCA is a long desired requirement of the Indian Air Force.
AllAfrica
24-04-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
Outgunned on NGAD, Lockheed doubles down on F-35
Bested at the next-generation US fighter competition, Lockheed Martin is betting big on turning the F-35 into a 'fifth-gen-plus' fighter — retrofitting tomorrow's tech into yesterday's jet to stay in the game. This month, multiple media sources reported that Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet announced that the defense giant will not challenge the US Air Force's decision to award the US$20 billion Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter contract to rival defense contractor Boeing. The company said it plans to integrate technologies from its unsuccessful NGAD bid into upgraded versions of its F-35 and F-22 fighters. During an earnings call, Taiclet said Lockheed aims to deliver '80% of sixth-generation capability at 50% of the cost' by transforming the F-35 into a fifth-gen-plus fighter. Enhancements will include stealth, passive infrared sensors and advanced tracking and missile systems — some already in development under the F-35 Block 4 upgrade. Lockheed executives said the company intends to export some of these improvements, subject to US government approval. With a projected global fleet of 3,500 F-35s, Lockheed hopes its upgraded jets will offer a cost-effective alternative to the yet-undefined, potentially multi-hundred-million-dollar NGAD aircraft. The NGAD decision, announced in March 2025 by US President Donald Trump, leaves Lockheed temporarily sidelined from all publicly known advanced fighter programs. The US Air Force confirmed Boeing offered the 'best overall value' for NGAD. Naval News mentions in a March 2025 article that under the Next Gen 2.0 OML Coating Program, the F-35 would receive a new mirror coating designed to improve maintainability and survivability, critical for the harsh corrosive maritime environment involved in aircraft carrier-based operations. Further, David Cenciotti and Stefano D'Urso mention in an August 2022 article for The Aviationist that the mirror coating could hide the F-35 from infrared search and tracking (IRST) systems or protect the aircraft from low-power lasers. In terms of propulsion upgrades, John Tirpak mentions in an October 2024 article for Air & Space Forces Magazine that the F-35 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) is intended to increase the durability and life expectancy of the F-35's Pratt and Whitney F135 engines, which has suffered in recent years due to increased and new equipment installed on the aircraft. Tirpak notes that the ECU upgrade supports the cooling, performance and electrical power requirements for the F-35's Block 4 upgrade. While the F-35 is different from most US fighters as it was designed with an Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) IRST system from the start, the Advanced Electro-Optical Targeting System (A-EOTS) upgrade offers improved resolution, multi-spectral range, greater reliability and reduced costs per operating hour. In addition to A-EOTS, TWZ reported in January 2023 that the new AN/APG-85 radar, which is most likely a gallium nitride (GaN)-based system, could drastically increase the F-35's radar range and resolution and support more dynamic electronic warfare tactics. Combined with the Distributed Aperture System (DAS) that provides F-35 pilots a 360-degree view through the aircraft, the A-EOTS + AN/APG-85 + DAS combination can give the aircraft a substantial 'see-first shoot-first' advantage. New armaments, such as the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), could give the F-35 a substantial range and lethality upgrade over the legacy AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in US military service, though much of the secretive weapon's capabilities are classified, as stated by TWZ in a February 2025 article. However, integration constraints mean upgrades will be evolutionary, not revolutionary – the F-35 must work within the physical and technical bounds set years ago. For example, the US Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) FY2024 Annual Report mentions that integrating the Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) avionics upgrade, essential for Block 4 mission capabilities, has encountered substantial hardware and software issues. According to the report, these problems forced the program to delay the delivery of aircraft equipped with TR-3, resulting in newly produced planes being placed in long-term parking due to inadequate mission systems software performance. It says the F-35's existing TR-2 architecture's constraints compounded these issues, limiting the scope of feasible enhancements and highlighting inherent limitations established by legacy design choices. The Asia Live mentions that some analysts say sixth-generation fighters involve fundamental design changes that can't be replicated by upgrading existing platforms, such as the F-35. According to the report, these include airframe shapes for better stealth, adaptive engines for optimized performance and a 'digital first' architecture designed with AI integration from the ground up. In addition to those challenges, the F-35's reliability issues, if not addressed, would leave upgrades pointless. The US DOT&E FY2024 Annual Report says that the US F-35 fleet falls short of several reliability requirements defined in the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Requirements Document (JSF ORD). It states that in FY23, the F-35A, F-35B and F-35C did not meet key thresholds for mean flight hours between critical failures (MFHBCF), which measures how often serious failures occur that prevent mission completion or compromise flight safety. Additionally, the report mentions that trends in the mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean corrective maintenance time for critical failures (MCMTCF) have shown little improvement, indicating ongoing difficulties in maintaining aircraft readiness. Lockheed Martin's push to retrofit the F-35 with some sixth-generation technology could make it a viable alternative for other upcoming sixth-generation aircraft. For instance, the UK's Future Combat Air System (FCAS) received a red rating in the country's Annual Report on Major Projects 2023-2024. According to the report, a red rating means the success of the project appears to be unachievable, with major issues appearing unmanageable or unresolvable. Further, in an April 2023 article for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Justin Bronk mentions that the UK-Italy-Japan Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) is unlikely to produce a product more competitive than the F-35. The GCAP is a component of the UK's FCAS. The former is an international collaboration, while the latter is a UK initiative that aims to leverage its partners' technology and industrial expertise for advancement. While Bronk points out that the F-35 is far from a perfect program, decades of US expertise and investment in state-of-the-art sensors, weapons, electronic warfare, stealth, constant upgrades and retrofitting have produced undeniable results. He mentions that every air force that has tested the F-35 versus European or US competitors picked the F-35, as its ability to operate in contested airspace is unparalleled. Bronk assesses that if the GCAP is built in the 2030s, it would not compete with current-generation F-35s. However, Lockheed Martin's evolutionary approach towards the F-35 program may not be sufficient against adversaries who prefer technology leapfrogging. Even with 3,500 F-35s eligible for the fifth-generation-plus upgrade, China may have already flown prototype sixth-generation fighters and could be gearing up for serial production, making such improvements too slow, too little and too late.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Canopy Seen Clearly On China's Next Gen Tailless Stealth Fighter For First Time
China's next-generation tailless heavy fighter from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation seemed to have taken a months-long hiatus between its first known flight and its second. Since then, it has been seen in the skies at an increasing rate. New images and video coming out of China show the jet – referred to unofficially by a number of designations, including J-XDS and J-50 – on another recent test sortie, with clearer shots of the enigmatic stealth fighter than ever before. This includes what appears to be our first real view of its cockpit canopy. The aircraft's canopy has been of particular interest since the plane first appeared to the public on December 26th, 2024. Up until now, no images have clearly shown it. The plane's broad nose, paired with the ground-based perspective of the photos, and their low quality, previously made only what may have been a part of a canopy visible in imagery. This led to the question of whether the heavy fighter-sized aircraft was crewed at all. J-XX/Shengad may have flown again today — 東風 (@eastwind6699) April 16, 2025 Our very in-depth analysis on this aircraft, and its larger tri-engined Chengdu Aircraft Corporation counterpart, came to the conclusion that the aircraft was almost certainly crewed. With this latest imagery, we can finally put that question to rest conclusively. One image shows a side-on view of the aircraft, providing a new perspective to analyze. Above all else, it depicts a very streamlined bubble canopy that blends closely with the upper fuselage. Canopies and cockpits can be a major hot spot for radar reflections. Minimizing their return is critical to the survivability of a low-observable crewed aircraft. In this case, for the same reasons that the canopy was so hard for us to see until now — it is difficult to view from lower aspects — also helps with keeping it out of line-of-sight of radar systems positioned below it. These can be on the surface or lower-flying aircraft. The service ceiling of the fighter is unknown, but it should be quite high in order to maximize its performance, as well as its sensor and weapons reach. It remains unknown if the jet has one or two crew. The canopy does look quite long, which could possibly accommodate a tandem crew layout. As it seems, we finally have a quite decent side shot of SAC's J-XDS from its flight today and also for the first time a clearer proof it has indeed a canopy. — @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 16, 2025 This side view also provides a bit better sense of scale and form of the new jet. Its diamond-shaped forward fuselage with a prominent chine line high up near the cockpit is also readily visible. The blister under the nose that could represent a faceted aperture for an electro-optical targeting and/or infrared search and track (IRST) system, similar to what's found on the J-20 and the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is also visible. Another angle from the lower rear gives us a clearer view of the aircraft's exhausts. As expected, they are 2-D and likely thrust vectoring types, very similar to the U.S. F-22 Raptor's arrangement. This configuration would balance low observability, performance, agility, and especially stability, considering just how unstable a tailless tactical jet like this would be. China has been displaying its thrust vectoring engine concepts since at least 2022, with the one subscale model on the show floor at Zhuhai looking very similar to what we see in the latest imagery. We also see the unique swiveling wingtip control surfaces in action here, with the right side one highly deflected. Airshow China 2022: #China displays thrust vectoring engineshttps:// #airshowchina2022 #airshow #airdefence — Janes (@JanesINTEL) November 14, 2022 With each passing week, we are getting more and more detailed imagery of Shenyang's tailless stealth fighter, just as expected. If the flights continue, we should have a much better understanding of the aircraft's observable features by summer. Contact the author: Tyler@
