2023

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Boeing Exits Air Force’s ‘Doomsday Plane’ Competition: Report

The Drive

In a surprising development in the program, Boeing has reportedly been dropped from the competition to build a successor to the U.S. Air Force’s E-4B Nightwatch ‘Doomsday Plane.’ If true, the latest move would appear to leave the door wide open for Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to provide the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) that will supersede the E-4B, which is based on a Boeing 747-200 airframe.

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Tesla Cybertruck Deliveries Finally Start, Here Are All The Specs You Need To Know

Jalopnik

On Thursday afternoon, Tesla finally delivered a ten-pack of Cybertrucks to company employees and investors. It’s hard to call this a ‘production’ launch, as they’ll still be effectively in the hands of in-house beta testers, but it’s a lot closer to production than the truck was a year ago. During the unveil event,… Read more.

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Tesla Model 3 Is the Car That Failed the Most in Germany's Mandatory Vehicle Inspection

autoevolution

All European countries that I am aware of try to make sure used cars are in good condition to keep on the road. This is why they promote regular inspections, which varies from country to country. The Tesla Model 3 has just started going through these inspections in Germany, and it has already earned an unpleasant title: the vehicle with the most inspection failures among 111 other models.

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Tesla beats lawsuit claiming it monopolizes repairs, parts

Autoblog: Maintainence

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Tesla , Maintenance , Ownership , Electric Continue reading Tesla beats lawsuit claiming it monopolizes repairs, parts Tesla beats lawsuit claiming it monopolizes repairs, parts originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch as submerged Tesla Model X at Florida boat ramp burns underwater

Autoblog: Car News

Filed under: Video , Green , Weird Car News , Tesla , SUV , Electric , Luxury , Performance Continue reading Watch as submerged Tesla Model X at Florida boat ramp burns underwater Watch as submerged Tesla Model X at Florida boat ramp burns underwater originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How The Navy Got Its P-8A Poseidon Out Of The Water In Hawaii

The Drive

USN The U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane that ended up in Hawaii’s Kaneohe Bay on November 20 is finally out of the water. The plane was floated from where it had come to rest using inflatable airbags and then slowly rolled – sometimes at a pace of just five feet per hour – across those bags back onto the runway. Much of the aircraft remains intact, including its landing gear, and the Navy is hopeful that it can return to service after what are expected to be significant repai

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F-35C With Mirror-Like Coating Photographed Aboard Carrier

The Drive

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sonny Escalante The sudden arrival of mirror-like coatings on all of America’s stealthy tactical jets (F-22, F-35, F-117) definitely grabbed a lot of interest starting in late 2021 and appeared repeatedly through 2022 in various forms. But all the known instances of combat aircraft receiving these exotic treatments, which are thought to decrease the signature of the aircraft, most likely in the infrared spectrum, have been on examples

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Roadrunner Reusable Anti-Air Interceptor Breaks Cover

The Drive

Anduril A novel missile-like air vehicle called Roadrunner, with high degrees of modularity and autonomy, and that can be readily reused, has been unveiled by defense contractor Anduril. There is already a version, the Roadrunner-M, with a high-explosive warhead that can be used as a low-cost loitering anti-air interceptor with the ability to return home for refueling and reuse if it isn’t expended in the course of its mission.

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World’s Largest Plane Is One Step Closer To Launching A Hypersonic Vehicle

The Drive

Stratolaunch The first powered example of Stratolaunch’s Talon-A reusable hypersonic vehicle has taken to the air for a captive-carry flight under the wing of the same company’s enormous Roc , the largest plane ever flown. As we have discussed in the past, Stratolaunch is working for the U.S. military on a target that will mimic hypersonic threats to support the development of new defensive capabilities, and which is expected to be a Talon-A derivative or at least utilize some of the same techno

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F-35 “Franken-Bird” Being Made From Two Badly Damaged Jets

The Drive

USAF Large sections of two U.S. Air Force F-35A Joint Strike Fighters that were seriously damaged in separate accidents years ago are being grafted together into a single fully operational jet. The hope is that the process of creating this aircraft, which has been nicknamed the “Franken-bird,” will demonstrate new equipment and procedures and help improve and expand the U.S. military’s capacity to repair or repurpose severely damaged F-35s in the future.

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No, This Is Not A Secret UFO Crash Retrieval

The Drive

USAF With claims of that the U.S. government has been clandestinely retrieving crashed UFOs for decades making their rounds these days, some images posted by the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF) today will definitely raise some eyebrows — at first glance. The images show a weathered flying saucer being unloaded from the cavernous cargo hold of a C-5 Galaxy at Wright Patterson AFB, the home of the NMUSAF, and also a place that is steeped in UFO lore.

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Army Is Looking For Hybrid Drivetrains For Its Strykers

The Drive

U.S. Army photo by Georgios Moumoulidis The U.S. Army is interested in exploring hybrid-electric options for its 8×8 Stryker wheeled armored vehicles. The service has become increasingly concerned with developing hybrid-electric propulsion systems in recent years, which offer numerous benefits including reduced fuel usage as well as being far quieter than standard diesel engines, for its armored and unarmored vehicles as well as tanks.

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Inside Ukrainian Frogmen Raids On Crimea

The Drive

GUR screencap The men of the Stugna unit were cold and tired as they approached the Crimean shoreline a little to the north of Tarkhankut Bay. The mission was a struggle even before they had to evade shore patrols, breach defensive lines and attack a building full of troops. For 10 hours, they battled five-foot waves and chilly October water traversing the Black Sea on Sea-Doo GTX 300 personal watercraft.

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I Recreated Gran Turismo Photos in Real Life and Can’t Tell the Difference

The Drive

Chris Rosales Video games as a vector for car enthusiasm is one of the greatest things to happen to our collective passion since the first bedroom posters of the Lamborghini Countach. There have been many challengers: Forza , Test Drive , Driver, Need for Speed. But none have done it better than the best to ever do it: Gran Turismo. But that’s just it–It’s virtual.

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V-22 Osprey Tilt-Rotor Crashes Off Japanese Coast

The Drive

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jessica Avallone At least one service member was killed when a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan today. Details of the incident are still emerging, but local officials have confirmed that there were six service members onboard at the time of the crash, and not eight as some previous reports had stated.

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Nearly 400 Dealers Drop Out Of Ford’s EV Program

Jalopnik

Ford’s EV dealer requirements have caused a bit of drama since they were announced in late 2022. With EV sales slowing , some dealers are getting antsy at the thought of sinking thousands or even millions of dollars into a lukewarm EV market. Still, 2,000 dealers bought into the program. Now, Electrek reports,… Read more.

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It's Still Very Funny That 1,000 People Gave Tesla $250,000 For A Roadster Six Years Ago

Jalopnik

The Tesla Semi launch event was held on November 16th, 2017, exactly six years ago last week. At the end of that launch event, Elon Musk had a signature “one more thing” that was the unveiling of the incredible second-generation Tesla Roadster. Back then the car was promised to be delivered in 2020, which obviously… Read more.

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Signs Point To Less Range, Higher Performance For CCA Drones

The Drive

Collins Aerospace The U.S. Air Force says it’s considering drone designs capable of being aerial refueled for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program with range capabilities similar to its existing fighter aircraft. It has also revealed new details about what kind of payload it wants these highly autonomous uncrewed aircraft to have from the start, as well as a price tag that is at the top of what was supposedly being considered before.

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Tesla Offers $1,000 To Cybertruck Reservation Holders To Get A Different Tesla

Jalopnik

Tesla is offering a $1,000 discount to Cybertruck reservation holders who place an order or lease for another model. The new discount does raise a few questions in the wake of the Cybertruck Delivery Event. Why would someone purchasing a Cybertruck want to buy another vehicle immediately? How long are reservation… Read more.

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Netflix Gave An Unproven Director $55 Million For A Sci-Fi Series, And He Blew It On Rolls-Royces, Crypto, And Dodgy Stock Bets

Jalopnik

Netflix essentially took a $62 million television contract out to the shed and shot it in the head, according to an ongoing arbitration case against director Carl Erik Rinsch. After an ambitious and expensive bet on an unproven director in 2018 , the deal had gone sour, the director allegedly lost his senses, and he’d… Read more.

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Ukrainian Su-25 Struck By Lancet Drone Was An Elaborate Decoy

The Drive

via X A recent video shows a Russian Lancet loitering munition — a type of ‘kamikaze’ drone with an integral warhead that can loiter in a target area, before attacking its chosen target by flying into it and detonating — just blew up Ukrainian Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft… Or did it? It turns out the footage is not all that it appears to be at first glance, with the Lancet’s actual target being a remarkably accurate decoy of the aircraft in question.

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CH-53E’s Rotor Mast Absolutely Dwarfs Marine Sitting On It

The Drive

U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Sgt. Patrick Katz The CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter is, by all accounts, a truly monstrous machine. A recent image taken by the Marine Corps gives an excellent visualization of its gargantuan proportions, framing its giant rotor mast in relation to a Marine sitting atop it. The image, seen above, depicts U.S.

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Look Inside Navy’s ‘New’ NC-20G Missile Test Support Jet

The Drive

USN Earlier this year, the U.S. Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 (VX-30), the “Bloodhounds,” took delivery of a unique NC-20G range support aircraft. Now pictures have emerged that offer a look inside this modified Gulfstream IV business jet, which is primarily configured to visually document missile tests using a specialized camera system called Cast Glance.

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Starship’s 33 Engines Created The Mother Of All ‘Shock Diamonds’

The Drive

SpaceX SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket lifted off for its second test flight over the weekend. Among the stunning imagery and video to have emerged from the launch that caught our attention was the sight of its super-heavy rocket booster generating gargantuan “mach diamonds” or “shock diamonds.” What’s particularly impressive is how the rocket booster’s 33 Raptor engines combined to create a perfectly formed mach diamond as the stack lifted off the pad.

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Jetpack Features Glock Autopistol Aimed By Moving Your Head

The Drive

Richard M. Browning capture via TikTok The idea of a jetpack armed with a pistol that the operator aims remotely just by moving their head and looking at the target sounds like something ripped out of a Hollywood blockbuster or a first-person shooter video game. However, Richard Browning, founder of United Kingdom-based jetpack startup Gravity Industries , has now demonstrated this as a real capability to go along with his company’s signature Daedalus Flight Pack.

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New ‘Attack’ EA-37B Moniker For USAF Electronic Warfare Jets

The Drive

L3Harris The U.S. Air Force has quietly changed the designation of its new electronic warfare jet from EC-37B to EA-37B. The service says this new moniker better reflects the aircraft’s roles and missions , which it says includes attacking and destroying certain targets. The War Zone has long highlighted how powerful active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas like the ones on the EA-37B could be used to send out highly focused beams of electromagnetic energy that can damage electr

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Navy P-8A Poseidon Runs Off Runway Into The Water In Hawaii (Updated)

The Drive

USN A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet reportedly overshot the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) Monday afternoon local time, according to local media reports. According to a spokesperson at MCBH, the jet was landing at the base when it ran off the runway and ended up partially submerged in Kaneohe Bay, KITV reported. “The incident happened about 2 p.m.,” Hawaii News Now reported.

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China’s New Aircraft Carrier Begins Catapult Testing

The Drive

Chinese Internet via X Testing of the catapults on the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian has begun. This is an important step forward in the construction of this ship, which is set to be the first carrier in the People’s Liberation Army Navy , or PLAN, that launches aircraft in this way rather than via a ski jump at the bow. Videos and pictures emerged over the weekend showing a red-colored catapult test ‘truck’ on Fujian ‘s deck.

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MQ-25 Stingray Tanker Delays, Risks Come Into View

The Drive

USN A top Pentagon watchdog has raised concerns that the U.S. Navy is pushing ahead too fast in its plans for the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone , and inviting new risks in doing so, in a new report. Separately, the U.S. military has announced that Boeing is being given an additional $36 million to support the MQ-25’s continued development specifically to help “mitigate component obsolescence” in six subsystems as part of a preliminary design review.

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Electronic Warfare Typhoon EK Fighter To Join German Air Force

The Drive

Airbus The German government has now formally decided to transform 15 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters into radar-busting electronic warfare aircraft. The resulting Typhoon EK jets will feature an Arexis electronic warfare suite from Saab and be able to employ AGM-88E Advanced Anti-radiation Guided Missiles to suppress and destroy enemy air defenses, a mission set also known SEAD/DEAD.

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Shahed-136 With Cellular Modem Found In Ukraine: What It Means

The Drive

Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images The largest single attack against Ukraine by Russian Shahed-136 type drones last week led to an unusual discovery. Technicians from a Ukrainian drone training and development company said they found a 4G modem with a SIM card from the Ukrainian Kyivstar telecom firm inside some of the downed drones. This could have implications of varying degrees of impact.

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Skunk Works Teases Tailless NGAD Fighter Design In New Ad

The Drive

Lockheed Skunk Works Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works is celebrating its 80th anniversary. A marketing push around this milestone has been underway and today we got a new ad for it that includes a look at an intriguing tailless manned tactical jet concept. It’s in line with what we have seen from the bleeding edge design firm in the recent past surrounding the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative.

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Toyota Admits Mass Production Of Solid-State Batteries Won't Really Mean Mass Production

Jalopnik

Toyota is still moving forward with its plan to produce solid-state batteries that it says will give future electric vehicles a range of more than 900 miles. And while production won’t exactly start tomorrow, the current plan to begin in 2027 isn’t too terribly far in the future, either. Except, as it turns out,… Read more.

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President Biden Guilty Of Helping Hunter Biden Buy Ford Raptor With Dirty Chinese Money Or Something

Jalopnik

If you’re not glued to your television screen and mainlining Fox News 24 hours a day, it can be hard to keep up with all the nefarious things that President Biden is accused of doing. Apparently, he’s incredibly corrupt, and, in fact, he’s so corrupt that no one can even find actual evidence of his corruption. Don’t… Read more.

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EVs Are Losing Half Their Value In Just Three Years

Jalopnik

Good morning! It’s Monday, December 4, 2023, and this is The Morning Shift , your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. Read more.

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Iran’s Jet-Powered Shahed Drone Could Be A Problem For Ukraine

The Drive

Iranian State Media Iran has officially presented a new version of its notorious Shahed ‘kamikaze drone,’ now powered by a jet engine rather than the previous piston-propeller arrangement. The Shahed-238 was also shown with new guidance systems, with radar and electro-optical/infrared guidance now apparently being offered in addition to earlier Shahed versions, which primarily employed a combination of inertial and GPS navigation to hit fixed targets.

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Private Aerial Refueling Tankers Are Now Gassing Up USAF Fighters

The Drive

U.S. Air Force A privately-owned KDC-10 aerial refueling tanker has performed the first contractor mid-air refueling of U.S. Air Force fighters. It also marks the first time a KC-10 derivative has done so. That particular tanker, which is owned by the Virginia-based company Omega Air Refueling , has remained dormant for several years. For some time now, the Air Force has looked to utilize privately-owned aerial tankers to ease the burden on its tanker fleet, freeing them up for combat and other