NATO Archives

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Scored the Lockheed Martin F-35A at 57.1 Out of 60 Points for Military Capability in Its 2021 Fighter Competition. The Saab Gripen E Scored 19.8. On Mission Performance It Was 97 Percent Against 22 Percent, and Ottawa Is Still Considering Buying Both.

The F-35 price has moved. Canada's Auditor General put the fighter project at C$19 billion in 2022 and C$27.7 billion by 2024, and that...

Georgia GilholySeptember 15, 2026

Forty-nine F-16 Vipers and MQ-9 Reapers assigned to the 49th Wing line up on the runway during an elephant walk at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, April 21, 2023. The 49th Wing is the Air Force’s largest F-16 and MQ-9 formal training unit, building combat aircrew pilots and sensor operators ready for any future conflicts. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Victor J. Caputo)

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s F-16s Have Shot Down 2,500 Russian Drones in Two Years. Now Pilots Are Using the 20mm Cannon Because Missiles Are Running Low.

Ukraine waited years for the F-16, and for more than two years the jets have flown combat missions. They never fought the air-superiority campaign...

Jack BuckbySeptember 14, 2026

Neptune Anti-Ship Missile. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s Fire Point Is Building 2 Ballistic Missiles of Its Own. The FP-7 Reaches 200 Kilometres With a 150-Kilogram Warhead. The Longer-Ranged FP-9 Could Strike 600 to 800 Kilometres Into Russia Within Minutes.

Fabian Hoffmann of the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies put a number on it: around 50 FP-9s a month, accurate enough to hit high-value...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 14, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A Russian Attack Drone Struck a Locomotive at Yahodyn on 14 September, 1.2 Miles From the Polish Border, Minutes After a Train Carrying Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and EU Security Advisers Had Passed Through. Passengers on the Train That Was Hit Got About 15 Minutes of Warning.

Locomotives have become a favored Russian target. Ukrzaliznytsia reports 492 locomotives destroyed or damaged and 249 rail carriages lost since the full-scale invasion began....

Reuben JohnsonSeptember 14, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

‘Usually Only in the Single Digits’: Just a Tiny Amount of Donated American-Made F-16 Fighters Can Fly for Ukraine Against Russia Because of Spare Parts Problems

Moving past the F-16: Every new-build fighter now scheduled for Ukraine is European. Twenty JAS-39E/F Gripens are on contract against a letter of intent...

Reuben JohnsonSeptember 14, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The A-10 Warthog Was Designed to Destroy Soviet Tanks in the Fulda Gap With a 30mm GAU-8 Cannon. In the Iran War It Used That Same Gun Against Drones and Missiles Over the Gulf, and in April 2026 the Air Force Reversed Its Early Phase-Out and Kept 3 Squadrons Until 2030.

The Air Force has wanted this aircraft dead for over a decade. Then it spent a war shooting down drones with a gun built...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 13, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine Has Received Its First RCH 155 Wheeled Howitzers Nearly 4 Years After Ordering Them. The Vehicle Fires While Driving, Carries 2 Crew Instead of the PzH 2000’s 5, and Ukraine Is the Only Country on Earth Operating It — Ahead of Germany, Britain, Qatar and Switzerland.

A NATO-standard 155mm/L52 gun on a Boxer 8x8 hull: 40 kilometers with base-bleed rounds, roughly 54 with V-LAP, eight rounds a minute, 30 rounds...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 13, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

France and Germany Launched FCAS in 2017 to Field a €100,000,000,000 Sixth-Generation Fighter Like the F-47 NGAD by 2040. They Killed the Aircraft in June 2026 Because Dassault and Airbus Could Never Agree on Who Was in Charge.

By March 2026 Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier had stopped being diplomatic on FCAS: "Airbus doesn't want to work with Dassault, full stop. I...

Jack BuckbySeptember 12, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen E Costs About $4,700 to $9,900 per Flight Hour Against $38,000 to $42,000 for an F-35A and Up to $68,000 for an F-22 Raptor. It Has No Stealth Airframe, and a Handful of Conscripts With 1 Technician Can Rearm It on a Public Road in Under 20 Minutes.

Saab's JAS 39 Gripen answer to low observability is not shape. It is the Arexis suite — spherical electronic warfare coverage built on gallium...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 12, 2026

The Challenger 3 Main Battle tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Britain Is Spending Close to £2,000,000,000 to Field 148 Challenger 3 Tanks by 2030. An Investigation Found the Program May Slip 2 Years Because the Turret Power Traverse Gearbox — a Part Carried Over From the Challenger 2 — Is Not Strong Enough to Turn the Heavier New Turret.

The Ministry of Defence awarded RBSL £800 million in May 2021 for 148 Challenger 3 vehicles, near £2 billion across the whole of life....

Brandon WeichertSeptember 11, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "NATO"

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Scored the Lockheed Martin F-35A at 57.1 Out of 60 Points for Military Capability in Its 2021 Fighter Competition. The Saab Gripen E Scored 19.8. On Mission Performance It Was 97 Percent Against 22 Percent, and Ottawa Is Still Considering Buying Both.

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s F-16s Have Shot Down 2,500 Russian Drones in Two Years. Now Pilots Are Using the 20mm Cannon Because Missiles Are Running Low.

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s Fire Point Is Building 2 Ballistic Missiles of Its Own. The FP-7 Reaches 200 Kilometres With a 150-Kilogram Warhead. The Longer-Ranged FP-9 Could Strike 600 to 800 Kilometres Into Russia Within Minutes.

Aerospace & Defense

A Russian Attack Drone Struck a Locomotive at Yahodyn on 14 September, 1.2 Miles From the Polish Border, Minutes After a Train Carrying Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and EU Security Advisers Had Passed Through. Passengers on the Train That Was Hit Got About 15 Minutes of Warning.

Aerospace & Defense

‘Usually Only in the Single Digits’: Just a Tiny Amount of Donated American-Made F-16 Fighters Can Fly for Ukraine Against Russia Because of Spare Parts Problems

Aerospace & Defense

The A-10 Warthog Was Designed to Destroy Soviet Tanks in the Fulda Gap With a 30mm GAU-8 Cannon. In the Iran War It Used That Same Gun Against Drones and Missiles Over the Gulf, and in April 2026 the Air Force Reversed Its Early Phase-Out and Kept 3 Squadrons Until 2030.

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine Has Received Its First RCH 155 Wheeled Howitzers Nearly 4 Years After Ordering Them. The Vehicle Fires While Driving, Carries 2 Crew Instead of the PzH 2000’s 5, and Ukraine Is the Only Country on Earth Operating It — Ahead of Germany, Britain, Qatar and Switzerland.

Aerospace & Defense

France and Germany Launched FCAS in 2017 to Field a €100,000,000,000 Sixth-Generation Fighter Like the F-47 NGAD by 2040. They Killed the Aircraft in June 2026 Because Dassault and Airbus Could Never Agree on Who Was in Charge.

Aerospace & Defense

Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen E Costs About $4,700 to $9,900 per Flight Hour Against $38,000 to $42,000 for an F-35A and Up to $68,000 for an F-22 Raptor. It Has No Stealth Airframe, and a Handful of Conscripts With 1 Technician Can Rearm It on a Public Road in Under 20 Minutes.

Aerospace & Defense

Britain Is Spending Close to £2,000,000,000 to Field 148 Challenger 3 Tanks by 2030. An Investigation Found the Program May Slip 2 Years Because the Turret Power Traverse Gearbox — a Part Carried Over From the Challenger 2 — Is Not Strong Enough to Turn the Heavier New Turret.

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