With a top speed of Mach 1.8, an impressive assortment of missile and bomb configurations, and a 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon, the F/A 18 is one of the US Navy’s deadliest pieces of equipment. It also happens to be an amazing ride from a purely aeronautical perspective.
Hollywood is going back to "Top Gun" school with its upcoming sequel to the 1986 film, but hotshot pilot Maverick won't be flying any killer robot drones. Instead, Tom Cruise is set to return in the starring role as a test pilot for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — a plane that could well be the last manned fighter aircraft made in the West.
Aeronautics researchers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently completed flight tests of a unique experimental jet engine inlet design in the Channeled Center-body Inlet Experiment, or CCIE.
UAV's are big, but they're not jet big—something the Navy's trying to correct with its X-47B, which aims to replace traditional fighters. Y'know, the ones with humans in them. Watch the drone killer stretch its wings a little.
