closer

More talks are planned for Thursday between Iran and the United States, which is mobilising its largest military force since the invasion of Iraq more than two decades ago.

Amid mixed messages from US President Donald Trump, Tehran says it wants talks, but is ready for war, too.

So, where do both sides stand?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Jamal Abdi – President of the National Iranian American Council

Hassan Ahmadian – Associate professor at the University of Tehran

Richard Weitz – Senior fellow at the NATO Defense College

General Atomics’ air-launched LongShort drone has made new progress toward its first flight with the completion of various tests on the ground, including a demonstration of its weapons release capabilities. LongShot, now also designated the X-68A, is set to be carried aloft first by an F-15 fighter. The goal of the program has been to explore how an uncrewed aircraft capable of firing air-to-air missiles could extend the reach and reduce the vulnerability of the launch platform, among other benefits.

The U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released new details about the LongShot program, which it is leading, today. A “multitude of U.S. government stakeholders” have also been involved, including elements of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and NASA, according to DARPA.

General Atomics, as well as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, received initial contracts to work on competing concepts for the drone in 2020. DARPA chose General Atomics’ design for continued development in 2023. The original hope had been that the uncewed aircraft would make its maiden flight before the end of that year. The current goal is to begin flight testing before the end of the year.

“DARPA’s LongShot with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has successfully completed a series of technical milestones, moving its air-launched uninhabited vehicle – recently designated the X-68A – closer to flight testing,” according to DARPA’s release. “Recent achievements, including full-scale wind tunnel tests and successful trials of the vehicle’s parachute recovery and weapons-release systems, demonstrate significant progress in developing this next-generation capability.”

Previously released renderings of LongShot have depicted it as capable of releasing at least one AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) from an internal bay running along the bottom of the fuselage.

The overall LongShot design that has been shown to date is akin to that of a cruise missile, with an elongated fuselage and a chined nose. It has reverse-swept main wings toward the rear of the fuselage and small canards at the front, both of which pop out into their deployed positions after launch. It also has an inverted V-shaped twin-tail configuration and a vertical strake that sticks up just slightly from behind the top-mounted dorsal engine air intake.

The official entry for the X-68A in the U.S. Mission-Design-Series (MDS) designation system says that the drone is powered by a single Williams WJ38-15 turbojet, according to the Designation-Systems.net website. The use of the WJ38-15 may point to a high subsonic top speed for LongShot. This engine is also used on the German-Swedish Taurus KEPD 350 air-launched cruise missile, a 3,000-pound-class design with a stated maximum speed of Mach 0.95.

It is also worth noting that LongShot’s parachute recovery is intended, at least at present, for use in testing and training, rather than any actual combat employment of the drone.

“LongShot is intended for conflict. In combat scenarios, recovery isn’t really practical, and the price point doesn’t make it necessary,” C. Mark Brinkley, a General Atomics spokesperson, told TWZ last year. “However, for test and training, it is recoverable, and we have options for that.”

As mentioned, the first live test launch of a LongShot drone is set to be from an F-15 fighter, an aircraft type particularly well known for its ability to carry outsized payloads. F-15 variants have already been used in the United States, as well as in Japan, as aerial launch platforms for jet-powered drones. For years now, TWZ has been highlighting the particular potential of the Air Force’s new F-15EX Eagle II to carry oversized payloads and act as airborne drone controllers.

DARPA and General Atomics have also talked about the potential to launch X-68As from bombers’ internal bays, as well as from cargo aircraft using the Rapid Dragon palletized munitions system.

As TWZ has previously written:

“LongShot is intended to extend the range at which a launch platform can fire on targets, which, in turn, helps keep them further away from threats. The drones can fly forward into higher-risk areas before launching their own missiles. As designed, LongShots also simply expand the total area in which a launch platform, especially a tactical jet like an F-15, can engage threats.”

“LongShot drones could also leverage targeting data from sources other than their launch platforms. This would rely on, but also take immense advantage of long-range ‘kill web’ architectures in development now. As those kill webs expand in scale and scope, the likelihood of munitions engaging targets outside the range of a launch platform’s organic sensors will only grow. You can read more about these developments here.”

These capabilities could be further magnified by bomber or cargo aircraft carrying larger numbers of LongShot drones. Larger launch platforms could saturate a particular section of the battlespace with air-to-air assets quickly, enabling the rapid deployment of a temporary counter-air screen. The uncrewed aircraft could also provide more localized defense for larger and more vulnerable aircraft, and they would only have to be deployed as necessary in that role. That, in turn, would help reduce strain on escorting assets.

The LongShot program has so far been described in terms of scenarios that center more on direct control for the launch platform. However, control of the drones after launch could similarly be localized or executed across longer distances via beyond-line-of-sight datalink capability and/or signal relays. This could also allow for control to be handed off from one node to another. Higher degrees of autonomy would allow for the performance of tasks after launch with fewer direct human inputs, as well.

“We’ve got a program right now with DARPA that we’re working on. It’s called LongShot. And that effort is really, if you think about, it’s about an air-launched fighter,” Patrick “Mike” Shortsleeve, Vice President of DoD Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI), told TWZ‘s Jamie Hunter in an interview at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference last September. “So, we’re talking about a smaller UAS [uncrewed aerial system], … but it also will be able to carry air-to-air missiles and be brought into the fight in mass when needed. So LongShot represents sort of another iteration of what we’re doing for disruption, to help the Air Force change or revolutionize the way air dominance is being done.”

General Atomics Update From Air, Space & Cyber 2025: CCA, LongShot, 9M Flight Hours

There are still questions about how efficient it would be in real combat to use an expendable drone like LongShot to get missiles closer to potential engagement areas, as well as offer some loitering capability. What the cost equation might be, in particular, compared to using more advanced, reusable drones and/or longer-ranged missiles, is unclear. Still, the Air Force and/or other services could see LongShot as a necessity for meeting certain operational needs that cannot be addressed by any other solution.

As we have highlighted in the past, LongShot could feed into other uncrewed aircraft efforts, especially separate, but intertwined Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programs now being run by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy. In an interview with Breaking Defense last year, David Alexander, President of General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems, Inc., division (GA-ASI), said that LongShot could be a “great fit” for Increment 2 of the Air Force’s CCA program. General Atomics and Anduril are already developing separate drone designs, designated the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively, under Increment 1 of that program. The Marines are also now set to utilize the YFQ-42A design at least as a surrogate for a future CCA capability.

When it comes to LongShot, DARPA says that “ground and integration testing currently underway” is now steadily building up to “the safe and effective employment of the X-68A from an F-15, confirm the flight worthiness of the LongShot vehicle, and demonstrate its ability to safely eject a captive sub-munition” after years of schedule slips.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Team GB’s men’s curlers took a step closer to securing a Winter Olympics semi-final place as they compiled an accomplished victory over Germany.

Bruce Mouat’s world champions have now won four of their opening five matches in northern Italy, with six victories almost certain to guarantee a place in the last four and a shot at the medals.

The Scottish quartet beat their German counterparts in both the European and the World Championships last year and were rarely in danger here.

Level at 2-2 after three ends, the British rink moved smoothly into a 5-2 advantage at the interval, then accelerated clear with a further steal of two in the seventh end.

Germany were floundering at that stage and, although they cut the deficit, Mouat closed out another couple in the ninth end to secure the win.

The men are back on the ice later on Sunday, against the unbeaten Switzerland (18:05 GMT).

Before then, the GB women will play their fourth match, with the fancied Sweden their opponents (13:05) as they try to revive their own semi-final hopes.

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (UPI) — South Korea will seek closer cooperation with China to stabilize supplies of rare earth minerals critical to its high-tech industries, the government said Thursday, as Seoul unveiled a strategy to strengthen supply chain security.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced a comprehensive plan calling for expanded cooperation channels with Beijing, including the establishment of a government-to-government hotline and joint consultative body to help prevent supply disruptions.

The initiative comes as South Korea, one of the world’s top high-tech exporters, remains heavily reliant on imported raw materials essential to manufacturing.

“South Korea has developed advanced industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries, but as a resource-importing country, we face many challenges in managing supply chains,” Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said during a visit to a rare earth magnet manufacturer in Daegu.

“Our national competitiveness depends on industrial resource security, and the government will focus its policy capabilities on building a resilient industrial structure that is not shaken by external changes,” he said.

Rare earth elements — a group of 17 metals used in components such as permanent magnets, electric motors and advanced electronics — are widely considered vital to next-generation manufacturing. China’s dominance of rare earth processing and refining has left global manufacturers vulnerable to export controls and geopolitical tensions.

Under the plan, South Korea will designate all 17 rare earth elements as core strategic minerals and create new customs classification codes to improve monitoring and demand forecasting.

Seoul also aims to expand domestic production and recycling capacity through regulatory reforms and subsidies for new facilities, while creating a dedicated rare earth research and development fund under an existing industrial innovation investment program.

To support overseas supply diversification, the government will increase policy loans for overseas resource development to $46.2 million this year, up from $26.6 million in 2025, while expanding the state financing coverage ratio to 70% from 50%, the ministry said.

Beyond China, South Korea said it will pursue supply partnerships with countries including Vietnam and Laos as part of efforts to diversify procurement channels and reduce reliance on any single supplier.

The announcement comes a day after South Korea was tapped to chair Washington’s Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, or FORGE, a U.S.-led framework aimed at strengthening supply chain resilience among allied economies for critical minerals and emerging technologies.

It will now cost visitors two euros ($2.36) to get close enough to the Trevi Fountain to toss more coins into it. Officials say the new fee will bring in up to six million euros ($7.1 million) to help preserve the historic landmark in Rome.

A GIANT new theme park ride that’s the “tallest of its kind” in the UK has taken a major step forward.

The iconic amusement site is gearing up for a massive landmark moment as engineers have now installed the ride’s giant gondola.

Structural work has begun on the £8.72m mega attraction, with steel frameworks now emerging on site.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort is currently busy installing its newest ride – a record-breaking gyro-swing called Aviktas.

When everything is finished, the mega ride will officially be the tallest of its kind in the UK.

The scream machine will carry 40 people at a time, swinging them through a massive 120-degree arc that reaches 138ft above the promenade.

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Riders’ legs will dangle giving them the feeling of flying.

With its gigantic pendulum finally hanging in place, the structure is starting to look like a finished ride.

Frames are popping up to create the loading area where the first brave riders will eventually wait for their turn.

The latest crowd-pleaser will drastically change the way the seaside resort’s coastline will look.

While an exact opening date has not yet been confirmed, the ride is expected to welcome its first passengers later in 2026.

Amanda Thompson OBE, CEO of Pleasure Beach Resort previously teased: “This ride will be colossal, daunting, exhilarating and an incredible addition to the town.”