Military

UK’s DragonFire Laser Takes Down High-Speed Drones in Latest Test

By Jackson Chung November 30, 2025

On November 20, 2025, Britain’s DragonFire laser targeted drones flying through the air at 650 km/h, twice the speed of a Formula One car along Scotland’s Hebrides Range, and brought them down with precision. Engineers from MBDA, QinetiQ, and Leonardo watched as their brainchild worked its magic once more, identifying, tracking, and disabling objects that resembled the fast-moving dangers already common on the battlefield. DragonFire is five years ahead of schedule and one step closer to being deployed on Royal Navy ships.

Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Takes the Lead Over a Wingman Drone

By Jackson Chung November 29, 2025

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works engineering team knocked it out of the park earlier this month. An F-22 Raptor hurtling through the Nevada sky at breakneck speeds was communicating with an unmanned drone from inside the cockpit. The pilot flew the fighter with ease, commanding the drone’s motions from the plane’s seat. This test flight was a first for a fifth-generation aircraft, since it seized full control of a loyal wingman while still airborne.

Anduril’s Fury Unmanned Jet Flies Solo for the First Time

By Jackson Chung November 10, 2025

Late October is typically a quiet time in aviation, but that was not the case at a California test site. A sleek matte gray jet with a mostly empty interior took off from Victorville’s runway, rose slowly, and was able to negotiate its own path through the sky without even a remote pilot at the controls. It was a historic event; no one was inside, and the entire route had essentially been left in the hands of the YFQ-44A, also known as Anduril’s Fury.

First Look at Shield AI’s X-BAT, a Stealthy Fighter Jet That Needs No Runway and No Pilot

By Jackson Chung October 23, 2025

Shield AI debuted its latest creation Wednesday in front of a crowd of military leaders, lawmakers, and industry watchers in Washington, D.C. The company already received a $200 million contract from the US Coast Guard last year for their smaller V-BAT scout drone, but the X-BAT puts them in heavier ground, literally: it’s a Group 5, the biggest class of unmanned aircraft, weighing more than 1,320 pounds.

Palmer Luckey Builds a Battlefield Heads-Up Display Soldiers Might Actually Want to Wear, Called EagleEye

By Jackson Chung October 19, 2025

Palmer Luckey stands in a Washington, D.C. conference room getting some sunlight, fiddling with a couple of high-tech glasses that look a lot like something you’d expect to see a fighter pilot or mechanic wearing . These are prototypes for EagleEye, the latest foray into wearable battlefield tech from Anduril Industries. Now the guy who kickstarted the whole virtual reality thing with Oculus in his parents’ garage way back in the day, Luckey has been circling around to this exact point for years.

Lockheed’s Sikorsky Transformed a UH-60L Black Hawk Helicopter Into the Autonomous S-70UAS U-Hawk

By Jackson Chung October 13, 2025

Lockheed’s Sikorsky engineers began with a leftover US Army UH-60L Black Hawk. They purchased the helicopter earlier this year and converted it into something altogether new: the S-70UAS U-Hawk, an autonomous aircraft. The entire project, from initial sketches to a working prototype suitable for presentation, took only 10 months.

Lockheed Martin x Sikorsky’s Nomad Drones Arrive Ready to Roam

By Jackson Chung October 10, 2025

Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky just introduced the Nomad family of drones, a series designed from the ground up for lengthy flights and remote locations. These vehicles rise straight up like helicopters, hover in the air to explore or deliver, and then tilt forward into smooth, rapid glides that lengthen their time aloft.

Helsing’s CA-1 Europa Set to Become First Autonomous Combat Drone in Europe

By Jackson Chung October 4, 2025

Europe has traditionally had to play catch-up in the drone conflicts, but CA-1 Europa is an unmanned combat drone built by a Germany-based Helsing that places a high value on intelligence over brute force.

First Look at BlackSea’s MASC, the Navy’s New Autonomous Powerhouse

By Jackson Chung September 28, 2025

An aluminum catamaran has a deck stacked with cargo containers that can hold everything from missile launchers to sensors. This is BlackSea Technologies’ Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC), a 66-foot unmanned surface vessel (USV) that’s about to change the way the US Navy operates.

How Epirus’ Leonidas Turned a Drone Swarm into a Pile of Wreckage

By Jackson Chung September 27, 2025

Drones are everywhere, cheap and stealthy enough to turn any open space into a nightmare. Swarms of them can overwhelm traditional defenses—bullets or nets can’t keep up when hundreds come at once. Epirus’ Leonidas microwave technology fries their brains with one invisible wave.