Fly

THE first look at the plane set to serve the world’s longest flight has been revealed – and it even has a wellbeing area.

Qantas and Airbus have unveiled the first look of the aircraft that is due to travel non-stop between Australia and London and New York.

Nicknamed Project Sunrise, it will be the longest flight available to date -lasting 22 hours – thanks to an additional 20,000 litre fuel tank.

The flight is expected to cut up to four hours off total travel time compared to today’s one-stop services.

Onboard the plane, the cabins have been developed with the help from aviation experts.

Sleep scientists have even helped to combat jetlag on the plane, through features including unique lighting and a timed meal service.

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The cabin will also give passengers more space than usual.

There will be 238 seats, compared to over 300 seats usually found on other A350-1000 operators.

Also onboard the plane, there will be a Wellbeing Zone located between Premium Economy and Economy.

In the Wellbeing Zone, there will be stretch handles, guided on-screen exercise programmes, a hydration station and a range of refreshments.

For First Class, there will be six spacious suites that feature a flat bed and separate reclining arm chair.

Each suite will also have work and dining space for up to two people, a full-length wardrobe and other storage areas.

For entertainment, each suite will have a 32 inch touchscreen, with Bluetooth connection.

There will also be a Business Class, Economy Plus and Economy cabins.

Key features of an Economy seat include 13.1-inch screens, a six-way adjustable headrest, multi-use seatback table, two USB-C outlets and a shelf for personal devices.

And there will be free Wi-Fi across all cabins.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said: “Given Australia’s position in the world, Qantas has a long history of breaking aviation barriers.

“Project Sunrise will not only overcome the tyranny of distance, it will fundamentally change the way our customers travel the world.

“These flights will cut up to four hours off the journey and transform how people experience ultra long-haul travel, through science backed design to minimise jetlag and maximise wellbeing.”

The first of 12 new aircraft will be delivered in late 2026, with the first commercial flight due to take off in the first half of 2027.

The initial flights launched will be from Sydney to London and New York.

The news follows Qantas’ announcement of new Economy Plus seats.

The airline’s new Economy Plus cabin features extra legroom for passengers.

The new cabin will launch in February 2026 on the Airbus A321XLR, A220 and Boeing 737 aircraft.

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“You have control.” I grip the control column with my right hand and follow my pilot “Lambo’s” instructions, rolling the M-346 jet trainer into a left-hand turn and applying back stick pressure to ramp up the g-force. “Keep pulling, keep pulling,” he says calmly as I watch the g-meter in the top left of the head-up display tick up past 5g. As he eases the throttles back to idle power, the speed begins to bleed off. As it does, the jet automatically responds by reducing the amount of g-force my stick pressure allows. The jet’s programmable safety system is preventing us from exceeding a pre-selected angle-of-attack limit that means we can’t depart from controlled flight – a critical element of the M-346’s flight control system that enables carefree handling.

TWZ was provided the opportunity to experience many of the M-346’s training-related design safety features first hand during a visit and demonstration flight at the Beech Factory Airport in Wichita, Kansas, in October. Beechcraft, part of Textron Aviation, and its industry partner Leonardo of Italy, shipped a prototype M-346FA (Fighter Attack) variant to the U.S. in September for a series of demos designed to help cultivate awareness of the jet’s capabilities. The two companies are jointly preparing to offer a bespoke M-346N variant in response to the U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) competition, which seeks to replace the aging T-45 Goshawk.

Fly along with us in the M-346 by clicking the video at the top of the story and check out our full walk around tour of the jet in the exclusive video below:

Leonardo test pilot “Lambo” went on to demonstrate what’s known as the Pilot-activated Recovery System, or PARS, which at the touch of a large red button on the console takes control of the jet and returns it to stable flight, should the pilot become disorientated. I was also able to get a feel for the handling performance through a series of aileron rolls and tight turns. Having got a hands-on grasp of the flight control safety features – we moved onto what Leonardo and Beechcraft see as a fundamentally important element of the M-346 – its embedded tactical training system (ETTS).

“Lambo” selected an air-to-air training scenario in the ETTS menu, and a computer-generated radar scope appeared on the left-hand multifunction display. Although the M-346FA variant can be equipped with a real radar, the training variant relies on virtual mission systems generated by the jet’s computers. Acting as my instructor, “Lambo” tee’d up an enemy target on the synthetic radar display on one of the cockpit’s three multifunction screens. Out of beyond visual range, an “Su-27” was now being tracked. He walked me through how to identify and then target and fire upon the hostile aircraft with one of our virtual AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. As well as air-to-air modes, the M-346’s embedded training system can also generate synthetic targets on the ground for attack training with smart munitions, as well as other important air combat scenarios such as engagements by surface-to-air missiles. 

“Lambo” set up another target, this time a C-130 transport aircraft flying within visual range of us. In addition to a radar track, the software can generate a synthetic electro-optical image from a virtual targeting pod. This enables the student to manipulate the pod imagery, in this case to gain a positive visual identification of a target. The set of demonstrations was carefully planned to illustrate some of the many facets of the ETTS, which enables development of mission management skills during flight training and much more, as I’ll explain later.

After 50 minutes, we were back flying the pattern at the Beech Factory Airport before touching down for a full-stop landing.

M-346 development

The baseline M-346 configuration stems from development of the Yak-130, which started in 1991. In search of a technology partner, Russia’s Yalovlev teamed up with Alenia of Italy in 1993 during the improved relations between Europe and Russia in the post-Cold War thaw, and the joint venture resulted in the first flight of a prototype Yak-130/AEM-130 in 1996. This partnership was dissolved in 2000, and both companies parted ways to pursue separate programs.

Alenia (today known as Leonardo) developed its own substantially modified and aerodynamically different version of the jet trainer. The resulting M-346 embodied many of the attributes found in modern front-line fighter aircraft such as multifunction displays, hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls, carefree handling and a helmet-mounted display. The first M-346 was rolled out at the now Leonardo plant at Venegono on June 7, 2003, and made its maiden flight on July 15, 2004.

The lead customer for the M-346 was the Italian Air Force, which procured the aircraft to replace the Aermacchi MB339 jet trainer. As the M-346 entered service with the Italian Air Force, it exposed other air forces and NATO air arms to the aircraft, some of which ultimately seized upon the opportunity to train fighter pilots in partnership with the Italian operator. As the overseas requirement gathered pace, the M-346 became the basis for a new International Flight Training School at Decimomannu in Sardinia from 2018 under a collaboration between the Italian Air Force and Leonardo. Leonardo has also secured sales of the M-346 to Israel, Poland, Singapore and Qatar.

Having initially partnered with General Dynamics and then with Raytheon as prime contractors, Leonardo proceeded alone in offering a version of the M-346 – dubbed the T-100 – for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer competition to replace the T-38 Talon. After a long procurement process, Boeing’s clean-sheet design T-7 Red Hawk was selected by the USAF in 2018.

Leonardo is now partnered with Beechcraft to offer the M-346N to the Navy for the UJTS jet trainer competition, which also looks set to invite proposals from Boeing for the T-7, as well as for the TF-50 from Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin, and from SNC for its new Freedom Trainer.

Suitability to replace the T-45

The T-45 Goshawk has been in service for three-and-a-half decades, and it soldiers-on as the Navy’s singular fast jet training aircraft. The Goshawk is used to teach student naval aviators coming from the T-6 Texan II basic trainer, taking them to their first fast jet “hop,” to then learning the skills required for taking off and landing from an aircraft carrier, as they navigate the challenging path towards gaining their coveted ‘wings of gold.’ 

The Navy has been exploring replacement options for the T-45 for several years, although the timeline for acquiring this new aircraft was pushed back substantially in 2023. The Goshawk has had its fair share of issues in recent years, from a high-profile onboard oxygen generation issue to a number of crashes and subsequent groundings, which have had a significant impact on training output.

The M-346 is powered by twin non-afterburning Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofan engines that produce 6,280 pounds of thrust each, which enables transonic speed performance for the aircraft. Having two engines is noteworthy as a significant number of single-engine T-45 losses have been caused by bird ingestion. “This airplane is a fantastic replacement for the Goshawk because it is not only a high performing twin-engine, fly-by-wire jet, but also because it’s part of an entire training system.” says Steven Helmer, a Textron Aviation and Defense Flight Test and Demonstration pilot.

The initial climb rate of the M-346 is in the region of 22,000 feet per minute. After getting airborne, a pilot can raise the gear and flaps and pitch up to 20-25 degrees nose high, and leave it there as the jet climbs away. “A high thrust-to-weight ratio translates to very good turn performance as well – the aircraft will sustain as much as 8g at low altitude, and 5-6g at medium altitudes,” comments Helmer, who is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Helmer says that despite having two engines, the M-346N is expected to save in the region of 25-30% in fuel costs per hour compared to the T-45. The bespoke Navy variant is also expected to be offered with an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS).

“The twin-engine setup provides built-in redundancy, particularly for critical systems like electrical and hydraulic, which are independently powered by each engine,” Helmer explains. “This design helps eliminate single points of failure, enhancing overall safety. This advantage becomes even more important with modern aircraft, which demand more onboard power. In contrast, single-engine aircraft with afterburners must rely on highly dependable emergency power units and duplicate several systems to meet safety standards.” 

“The U.S. Navy has indicated to us that they will not require supersonic performance for the UJTS aircraft. There is no advantage to having a supersonic aircraft, particularly in the era of digital fly-by-wire flight controls, which compensate for the change in aerodynamics as an aircraft accelerates through Mach one,” says Helmer. “The ability to sustain supersonic flight comes at a cost in terms of fuel and engine complexity, which would negate some of the operational cost advantage of M-346N. It’s also worth noting that the maximum speed for M-346 is 1.15 Mach, yielding transonic training capability and safety margin for students.”

Blending simulation with live flying

Synthetic training has become an intrinsic element of military flying training and a key requirement for any modern training aircraft. This reflects a desire to “download” flying handling and mission systems management to training aircraft, which are cheaper to operate than frontline platforms. It also helps to simplify the path for new aviators as they progress to type conversion for their operational aircraft.

“It’s incredibly important to have a mature synthetic element because that gives you multiple ways to inject different things into the scenario,” says Helmer. “The maturity of it allows you to inject things in a way that’s realistic and that has already been fed back from the customer to the OEM [original equipment manufacturer] to make the system match reality in the best way possible, and that’s going to allow you to have massive cost savings.”

The M-346 aircraft itself sits at the center of a significant integrated training system. Student aviators coming to the M-346 start their fast jet journey with a set of ground-based training aids that promote familiarity with the aircraft, teach safety procedures and mission systems so they are suitably prepared for live flying in the actual aircraft. The simulator elements include desktop procedural training devices and full-motion dome simulators, which afford students realistic handling and a mission systems training environment. 

The live, virtual, constructive (LVC) element of the training system is particularly noteworthy, as it sits across both the simulator and live flying. The simulators can be connected to real M-346s flying missions. This allows live flights to be linked with simulator ‘flights,’ with a student in the air able to “fly” alongside a student wingman in the simulator on the ground, all overseen by an instructor in a real time monitoring station and all connected together via data link.

“Instead of sending up two jets with two red air aggressor jets for perhaps a 2-v-2 mission to generate one student exercise, with this system we can send up a pair of M-346s and generate two virtual jets that are being flown in the simulator. It means we are using half as many actual aircraft,” Helmer says. “With the same number of airplanes on the line, I can generate sorties faster and get students through the syllabus with a lot less friction, or I can have fewer jets and save money that way as well. So either way it’s going to allow a lot more bang for buck for the U.S. taxpayer.”

“The embedded tactical training system, or ETTS, gives us the live, virtual, constructive capability. That’s the live airplane, the virtual part is all of the tracks we can inject synthetically – whether that’s other friendlies, enemy aircraft, enemy ground troops, surface-to-air threats, things of that nature – into the scenario. The constructive part would be having two airplanes [for example], but each one of us has a virtual wingman, either synthetically injected and working in concert, or being flown in the simulator. So, I’m in the airplane and we’re wingmen or we’re fighting each other. It gives the Navy a lot of flexibility in how they train going forward. We’re going to bring in a lot more virtual training and a lot more flexibility to the syllabus to start introducing some advanced concepts sooner.”

The ETTS utilizes a mission computer inside the jet that enables a fully-integrated live virtual constructive menu of options for the instructor and student. It also allows the students to train with simulated stores and sensors, which were demonstrated during our flight. “You can have imagery that looks like you have a [targeting] pod on the airplane even though you don’t. So when I slew around using my HOTAS controls, just like I would in an F/A-18, that’s going to show me an image on the ground that actually matches reality, because we geo-rectify those images based on where we are. So you set up a scenario based on each base you’re at or the en route portion of a flight, for example, and that’s going to show you that relevant imagery,” says Helmer. 

The M-346’s synthetic radar can simulate a mechanically scanned array radar or an electronically scanned radar. It also includes electronic warfare modes that provide a simulated radar warning receiver, missile approach and launch warning system, laser warning system, countermeasures dispensing, and an active electronic countermeasures system. “It really is up to the customer on what they want to see. So you’re bringing in sensors. It’s not just tracks.”

“As far as looking outside is concerned, you’ve got everything on your screens to cue your eyes in the right direction, but what am I actually going to see when I look outside?

From that point, we go forward into augmented reality, which starts with a helmet mounted display, similar to what F-35 and F/A-18 pilots use in the fleet,” says Helmer. Beechcraft says the M-346N is planned to feature computer-generated imagery in the helmet visor for close range air-to-air training. “Now you’re seeing tracks when you look outside, you’re at least seeing a data link track if not seeing some kind of representation of an airplane. So you may be going to the merge [in a dogfight] with an empty piece of sky, but the system is showing you something that’s actually there. There’s a huge training value in that. Granted, we still want pilots to learn how to work with actual other airplanes, but there’s a huge constructive piece that’s allowing you to build a scenario with very few physical assets.”

The maturity of the M-346 ETTS is viewed by Beechcraft as being a very important factor for UJTS, especially as there will be some critical uses of simulation by the Navy as it retires the T-45 and moves to its next jet, particularly when it comes to training for operations from aircraft carriers.

No call to fly from the aircraft carrier

In March this year, the U.S. Navy publicly released new requirements for its T-45 replacement program, which said the new training aircraft would not need to perform Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) to touchdown. The Navy had already eliminated the requirement for the jets to be able to land on or take off from aircraft carriers, as T-45s have done in the past for student carrier qualifications (CQs).

FCLPs are flown at a land base, and as they are currently flown are designed to mimic as closely as possible the experience of touching down on a real carrier. However, the repeated heavy touchdowns impose a significant structural impact on the airframe and the undercarriage. The current UJTS requirement from the Navy says the new trainer will only be required to fly FCLPs to a wave-off. This means that the student would apply power and perform a go-around instead of touching down. This change to the FCLP syllabus – eliminating repeated touchdowns – means that the new trainer will not “bounce” (touch-and-go on the runways) as students build up their carrier landing skills at their training airfield. Removing FCLP to touchdown from the UJTS requirement opens up the competition to existing land-based training jets, without the need for significant structural modifications.

SNC says that its newly-unveiled clean-sheet Freedom Trainer is the only UJTS competitor currently being offered with a structural design that would allow it to fly FCLP to touchdown. You can read more about this here.

The Navy has already fundamentally changed the way it trains new naval aviators, many of whom don’t fly off a carrier at all until they reach their Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) in charge of the aircraft type they have been assigned to fly in the fleet. “It’s not new,” one former navy instructor pilot told TWZ. “It was done as an experiment initially, but it has now become the default to do initial CQ in the FRS.”

Naval aviators were previously required to fly manual approaches to aircraft carriers, requiring uncompromising levels of skill and competence, with little margin for error. This required skilled throttle and control column inputs to coax an aircraft down onto the deck with precision in order to catch one of the arresting wires. Delta Flight Path technology was conceived to help make the F-35C Lightning II easier to land on an aircraft carrier, even with a pitching and rolling deck. This led to a spin-off program for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler that is known as Magic Carpet or Precision Landing Mode (PLM). Advances in flight control software using PLM have dramatically reduced the piloting challenges of landing carrier-borne strike fighters on a narrow flight deck. PLM features enhanced flight control logic that is designed to make the carrier landing easier and more predictable for the pilot. This has facilitated an evolutionary change in the way that both new aviators train, and how more experienced fleet pilots maintain their carrier currency.

“The Navy has signaled to us that they are already not taking students to the aircraft carrier in all cases [during training], and that their intention going forward is to not take student naval aviators to the aircraft carrier at all in an advanced jet trainer,” Steven Helmer explains. “So as we understand it, the customer is signaling to us that they do not need a carrier-capable airplane.”

The M-346 doesn’t feature a tailhook, even for use on runway arrestor gear in the event of emergencies. “This airplane has multiple redundant hydraulic systems and multiple redundant braking systems, so a tailhook is actually not required for the aircraft, so it was never built into the aircraft,” comments Helmer. “Could we add one if it was required? Absolutely.” The M-346N that will be offered to the Navy could feature PLM in its flight control software, but this will depend on the final requirements when they are issued later this year.

The M-346’s standard landing gear is set up for regular airfield operations. If the Navy decided that FCLP to touchdown would be needed, it would require modifications. “If you were going to do full-rate FCLP touchdowns, i.e., fly the [meat]ball all the way to touchdown, we would need to reinforce that landing gear structurally,” says Helmer. “That’s certainly something we can do and we’ve done a lot of background engineering for that, so that’s an offering we can give to the customers should those requirements change. But as we understand it now, there will be no shipboard operations and no FCLPs to a touchdown.”

The virtual training in the M-346 system would now introduce the aircraft carrier to the students. “We’re going to be bringing in precision landing modes in the simulator, and we’re going to be teaching students how to operate around the carrier using a virtual environment,” Helmer adds. “Then what they get in the jet is the physical feel of it going fast, the g-forces, actually thinking in that dynamic environment so that they have the experience they need when they get to the fleet.”

Building the M-346N

Having been in operation and training new aircrews for over a decade, the M-346 is promoted by Beechcraft as being a proven option for the Navy. “Leonardo has produced about 140 airplanes and they’re on a hot production line. They’re training a number of different air forces, including pilots that are flying the F-35 today. So the airplane has a proven track record of training pilots for 4th, 5th, and eventually 6th-generation fighters. On top of that, the ETTS has proven its worth as they’re using that every day with all the scenarios that I talked about.”

“We’re jumping in at a really good time too, because the airplane is on the verge of a major avionics upgrade [under Block 20],” says Helmer. The M-346N version would be based on the new Block 20 standard. “Leonardo is changing from a multi-function display format to a single large area display touchscreen, really bringing the airplane into the modern fold for avionics. One of the requirements the Navy has signaled to us is that they want to have a large area display, which makes sense because the advanced Super Hornet and the F-35 both have large area displays as well. So it’s really training the aircrew on the same kind of system they’re going to see in the fleet, and that’s kind of the point of an advanced jet trainer is to do that. You’re introducing a lot of new concepts and bringing them into something that’s more in alignment with what they’re going to see when they actually get to their fleet jet.”

Beechcraft has a notable relationship with U.S. Navy aviator training, as Helmer notes. “I flew the Beech T-34 when I was in flight school in 2006. That airplane was getting close to retiring, and it was replaced by the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II. That’s flown by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and 14 other countries. We have produced more than 1,000 of those, creating decades of experience in the trainer market. On top of that, Beechcraft has involvement in the multi-engine trainer market with the T-44, the C-12, and now the T-54A that’s servicing the Navy’s future needs. So that really gives us a lot of experience in the fixed wing trainer market.” Leonardo is also connected to U.S. Navy training through its TH-73 Thrasher, which is replacing the TH-57B/C Sea Ranger as the undergraduate rotary and tilt-rotor helicopter trainer for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

M-346s are currently assembled in Venegono, Italy, but Beechcraft revealed on October 28, 2025, that M-346Ns would be assembled by the company in Wichita if selected by the Navy.

Current indications call for a formal request for proposals to be issued this coming December, leading to a contract award in 2027. Leonardo will collaborate with Beechcraft on updates for the new M-346N variant to meet U.S. Navy UJTS specifications. “The M-346 is well positioned to address the U.S. Navy’s requirements for an advanced jet trainer, which are unique to the Navy,” Helmer concludes.

The M-346 is clearly a proven solution as an advanced jet trainer that has been teaching new fast jet pilots for over a decade. The International Flight Training School alone has taught student pilots from Austria, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and now the United States, with 10 USAF cadets having arrived in Sardinia in September 2025 to train on the M-346.

At the same time, the M-346 faces stiff competition. Boeing’s T-7A is already in the U.S. military inventory and hundreds of these aircraft will eventually be in service with the USAF as its advanced jet trainer. Korea Aerospace Industries developed the TF-50 in partnership with Lockheed Martin, and it was extensively evaluated under the USAF T-X competition. It too is proven, with variants of the aircraft in service with seven nations. SNC’s Freedom Trainer is a clean sheet design and not proven, yet it is currently the only contender that is offering a structural configuration that would permit FCLP to touchdown.

The T-45 Goshawk is old, it’s struggling with reliability, and the Navy needs a new jet trainer fast that is capable of preparing pilots for the modern platforms they will be flying. Time will tell if the solution will be the M-346N or not, but it certainly has a strong case to make.

Contact the editor: [email protected]

GOING away to visit a Christmas market is a fun way to celebrate the festivities, and it’s even better when you can do it on the cheap.

If you head to this ‘underrated’ city, you can get a cup of mulled wine for less than £1, and other sweet treats will be a bargain too.

The city of Sibiu is known for being Romania‘s most popular Christmas destination, and it has a popular annual Christmas fair.

Whilst Sibiu may not be high on the must-visit list for Brits, it’s becoming much more accessible thanks to Wizz Air flights – and you can be there in just over three hours.

The city was even named as the 18th most underrated destination by Time Out earlier this year.

From November 14, 2025 to January 4, 2026, Sibiu will hold its Târgul de Crăciun din Sibiu which is one of the biggest Christmas markets in the city.

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Last year it had a huge Ferris wheel and a 600-square-meter natural ice rink with room for 300 skaters, there was also a merry-go-round and Santa’s Workshop.

Here, a cup of mulled wine will cost between five and 10 leu which is just 86p, according to eurochange.

In comparison, last year at London‘s Winter Wonderland, a cup of mulled wine set Brits back £6.10.

It’s not just the Christmas treats that are cheap, according to Wise, the cost of a three course meal for two in Sibiu costs an average of 175lei (£30).

A pint of beer can cost as little as 11lei, which translates to just £1.91. And the price of an average Cappuccino is 12.20lei (£2.11).

For an overnight stay, options on Booking.com start from £26 based on two people sharing – so that works out at just £13pppn.

In December, you can fly from Birmingham to Sibiu with Wizz Air from £17.

Another airport with direct flights to the city is from London Luton with one-way flights from £27.

There’s plenty of sightseeing to do too as the city is known for its charming old town and there are lots of medieval walls and towers to spot.

Head over to The Bridge of Lies which has lots of legends and myths behind it – and when lit up at night, it makes for a great picture spot.

According to Tripadvisor, another must-see spot in Sibiu is Muzeul Astra, the largest open air museum in Europe.

The Grand Square, which is historic and filled with market stalls, cafes, restaurants and shops – this is where the Christmas fair will be set up.

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For more Christmas markets, here are the 15 cheapest in Europe for 2025.

To see Christmas markets in the UK, here are where you’ll find the prettiest in Britain.

One Wizz Air flight attendant reveals the one speciality to try in Sibiu…

When Sun Travel interviewed a Wizz Air flight attendant, she recommended a trip to Sibiu – one of her favourite places.

Flight attendant Niko said: “I’ve been to Sibiu in Romania several times already.

“You have the mountains, so there’s lots of nature, the food is amazing, everything is cheap and the people are so friendly.

“And you should try Papanasi. It’s a Romanian dessert that’s like a doughnut. It tastes amazing, but not good if you’re on a diet.”

Essentially, a Papanasi is a fried or boiled cheese doughnut usually served with sour cream and jam – and you can pick one up for around £4 in Romania.

U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers look to have just flown close to the Venezuelan coast, as well as outlying islands belonging to the country in the Caribbean Sea. Just last week, a trio of the Air Force’s B-52 bombers was tracked in the same general area of the Caribbean. The U.S. military subsequently confirmed those sorties and that the bombers had been accompanied by U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighters. There is a larger U.S. government effort to put pressure on Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, ostensibly over illegal drug trafficking, with a growing possibility of direct military action against targets in that country.

Online flight tracking data shows at least two B-1 bombers departing Dyess Air Force Base in Texas earlier today. KC-135 tankers were also tracked leaving MacDill Air Force Base in Florida some 90 minutes later. What appeared to be B-1s, using the callsigns BARB21 and BARB22, were subsequently tracked flying near Venezuela. The available online tracks, which may not be entirely accurate, suggest that the bombers may have come within around 50 miles of the Venezuelan coast, and even closer to the Los Testigos islands.

Hoy cerca de las 8:30UTC salió de Dyess AFB el bombardero B1-B Lancer de la Fuerza Aérea 🇺🇲 registro 86-0127 en dirección Este. Aproximadamente 1 hora 30 minutos más tarde salió de Macdill AFB en Tampa el tanquero KC135R Stratotanker registro 63-8879 código de llamada DREW14 pic.twitter.com/RC8G8s7MTk

— 𝘼𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙤 (@Arr3ch0) October 23, 2025

Flight tracking data and publicly available air traffic control audio also subsequently pointed to a flurry of other U.S. military air activity over the Caribbean near Venezuela at the time, including the presence of KC-135 tankers and an RC-135 intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. What type of RC-135 may have been in the area is unclear, but RC-135V/W Rivet Joints have been tracked in this general region in the past.

In addition, one of the Air Force’s E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft was tracked flying in the general direction of Puerto Rico — where the U.S. is staging significant military capabilities — today. Whether or not that sortie was directly related to the other U.S. military aerial activity in the southern end of the Caribbean is unknown, but the presence of this aircraft is of particular note. It facilitates communications and data sharing across a substantial portion of a theater and is uniquely capable of enabling complex military operations, relaying information to desperate ‘customers’ and fuzing and rebroadcasting data from various datalink waveforms. It is especially useful for enabling communications from the surface of the planet to aircraft in the air and other platforms around the battlespace, as well as supporting special operations missions.

A very interesting movement into the Caribbean today also seems to be this E-11A airborne communication aircraft heading from Robins AFB towards Puerto Rico pic.twitter.com/PXQLdWQzss

— CNW (@ConflictsW) October 23, 2025

The Wall Street Journal has further confirmed the B-1 sorties, citing anonymous officials. However, remarks from President Donald Trump have also now caused some confusion.

“There’s reporting that the US just sent B-1 bombers near Venezuela to ramp up some military pressure there. Is that accurate, and can you tell us more about that mission?” a reporter asked Trump at a press conference today.

“No, it’s not accurate. It’s false,” he responded. “But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons.”

Q: There’s reporting that the US just sent B-1 bombers near Venezuela to ramp up some military pressure there?

TRUMP: No, it’s not accurate. It’s false. But we’re not happy with Venezuela. Drugs are one reason. But also they’ve been sending their prisoners into our country. pic.twitter.com/Qw650DFfGb

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025

TWZ has reached out to the Pentagon, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), and Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) for clarification and more information. STRATCOM redirected us to the Pentagon.

Regardless, as TWZ noted following the B-52 sorties last week, there is a well-established precedent for employing Air Force bombers in counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean. The range and targeting capabilities that the B-52 and the B-1 possess can be and have been employed to help spot and track suspected drug smuggling vessels.

As was the case last week, the online flight tracking data at least clearly points to a show of force aimed at Venezuela. The U.S. military itself described last week’s B-52 flights as a “bomber attack demonstration mission.”

Any direct action against the U.S. military might take against Venezuela could easily involve standoff strikes launched from B-1s, as well as other platforms. The bombers could also prosecute targets on land and at sea with other conventional munitions as part of any such operation. Venezuelan armed forces have limited air defense capabilities, but they could still pose a credible threat, as TWZ has previously explored in detail.

Just yesterday, Venezuela’s Maduro pointedly claimed that his country’s military has 5,000 Igla-S man-portable short-range surface-to-air missiles in “key air defense positions” across the country. Reuters also reported yesterday that it had reviewed documents that appeared to corroborate this assertion. However, that same story noted that Venezuelan forces are only understood to have 1,500 so-called “grip stocks” that are needed to actually fire those missiles.

The video below, from 2009, shows Igla-S shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles in Venezuelan service.

Other Venezuelan air defense assets also continue to be spotted in forward-deployed positions.

The Venezuelan military’s other ground, air, and naval capabilities are similarly limited, but there are certain elements that could still present some degree of a threat in the event of a violent U.S. intervention. The country’s stocks of Russian-made Kh-31 air-launched supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles are one example of this, as TWZ highlighted just this week.

Any aerial activity off the Venezuelan coast today notably follows remarks yesterday from Trump about the possibility of ordering attacks on drug cartels on land. This comes as the administration’s current campaign of strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats has now expanded from the Caribbean Sea into the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.

The… pic.twitter.com/PEaKmakivD

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 23, 2025

Trump talked about the potential for strikes against cartel targets on land during a joint press conference with visiting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House last night. The president’s initial comments came in direct response to a question about strikes on boats in the Eastern Pacific. The Pentagon had announced the first known strike in that body of water earlier in the day. American authorities disclosed a second one some hours after Trump had made his remarks alongside Rutte.

“I will say, there are very few boats traveling on the water right now. Actually, that includes fishing boats, that includes any other kind of boat. But there are very few boats traveling on the water, so now they’ll come in by land … to a lesser extent,” Trump said. “And they will be hit on land also.”

.@POTUS on potential land strikes against drug-runners: “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land, and they haven’t experienced that yet but now we’re totally prepared to do that.” pic.twitter.com/auepQKpWcX

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 22, 2025

Trump was then asked a question about legal authorities to conduct such strikes. Questions have already been raised about the legality of the U.S. strikes on boats alleged to be involved in drug smuggling, as well as the underlying intelligence. U.S. forces are known to have targeted at least eight small boats as part of this ongoing campaign since September, six in the Caribbean and two in the Eastern Pacific.

Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.

The vessel was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025

“Yes, we do, we have legal authority. We’re allowed to do that. And if we do by land, we may go back to Congress. But this is a national security problem,” Trump said. “And we will hit them very hard when they come in by land, and they haven’t experienced that yet, but now we’re totally prepared to do that. We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain what we’re doing when we come to the land.”

Trump did not elaborate on where strikes on land targeting drug cartels might occur.

The president’s comments yesterday were widely taken in the broader context of the U.S. government’s recent efforts to put particular pressure on the Maduro regime in Venezuela. However, Venezuela does not share a land border with the United States, or have an Eastern Pacific coastline. Mexico, among other countries, does. There have also been reports in the past that the Trump administration has been considering taking direct action against drug cartels in Mexico. That remains a possibility, but one that would be fraught with its own particular set of complexities and risks, as TWZ has previously explored in detail.

At the same time, Venezuela does continue to be a focal point in the U.S. government’s current ostensible counter-drug operations across the Western Hemisphere.

Beyond the flights by the B-1s and other aircraft today, there has also been a larger U.S. military build-up in the region, which includes a host of crewed and uncrewed aircraft. F-35Bs and AC-130s have also been forward deployed, for instance, among other aircraft. Among the U.S. naval flotilla is an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) packed with Marines with USS Iwo Jima at its center, as well as a handful of destroyers, a cruiser and a nuclear submarine. The appearance of the Ocean Trader, a shadowy special operations mothership, has been a particular stand-out. Helicopters belonging to the U.S. Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment have been spotted flying over waters near Venezuela, as well.

The M/V Ocean Trader, a highly customized roll-on/roll-off cargo ship converted into a special operations command center and “mothership” operated by U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC), was spotted today in the Southern Caribbean Sea off the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands,… pic.twitter.com/AL62ZFBYWx

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 24, 2025

Coincidentally, photos have been posted to Facebook of MH-6Ms and MH-60Ms belonging to the 160th SOAR (A) ALLEGEDLY operating off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.

Credit: Ian Alleyne via Facebook (DM for original credit, if needed). https://t.co/Gcx6R3eKO2 pic.twitter.com/6GOcEylYMG

— LatAmMilMovements (@LatAmMilMVMTs) October 8, 2025

All of this comes amid reports that American forces could be poised to launch covert operations against Maduro and his regime. Last week, Trump confirmed reports that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to undertake covert activities in Venezuela.

“Wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?” Trump said at a press conference last week when asked if the CIA now has the authority to depose Maduro. “But I think Venezuela is feeling heat. But I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat, too.”

It is worth noting that Trump has also been increasingly sparring with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the past week or so. Petro has accused the U.S. government of “murder” in its strikes on the alleged drug-smuggling boats. Over the weekend, Trump had responded by calling his Colombian counterpart “an illegal drug leader” in a post on his Truth Social social network.

Trump:

President Gustavo Petro, of Columbia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Columbia.

It has become the biggest business in Columbia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large… pic.twitter.com/py7f67dQ71

— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 19, 2025

The scale and scope of any U.S. operation against ostensible cartel targets on land in Venezuela, or anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere, remains to be seen. Depending on the chosen course of action, such as standoff missile strikes, American forces would not necessarily have to be present on the ground, even briefly, either.

“Several people familiar with internal administration deliberations said any initial land attack would probably be a targeted operation on alleged trafficker encampments or clandestine airstrips, rather than a direct attempt to unseat Maduro,” The Washington Post reported yesterday. “Some said the U.S. deployments and boat strikes were psychological warfare to promote fractures in the Venezuelan armed forces or persuade Maduro to step down.”

However, “having declared war against narco-terrorists, and designated Maduro as the head of at least one of them, ‘there really is no turning back unless Maduro is essentially not in power,’ said one person among those interviewed for this article who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue,” that report added. “‘At the end of the day, if you have authority to take out cartel runners … you can take out the cartel boss,’ the person said.”

Today’s B-1 sorties, coupled with Trump’s comments yesterday, only add to concerns about the potential for further major escalations in U.S. military operations aimed at Venezuela’s Maduro and other actors in the region.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The U.S. Army is in the very early stages of formulating a vision for fleets of advanced and highly autonomous drones in a similar vein to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy are now developing. The Army’s CCA endeavor may ultimately be linked, at least in some way, with work already being done on so-called “launched effects,” a term generally applied to smaller uncrewed aerial systems designed to be fired from other platforms in the air, as well as on the ground and at sea.

Army aviation officials talked about the current state of the service’s CCA plans during a roundtable on the sidelines of the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. The topic had also come up elsewhere during the three-day event, which ended yesterday. Army CCAs would be primarily expected to operate in close cooperation with the service’s existing crewed helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors.

“So, one, we’re following the other services very closely as they’re looking at this, this [CCA] concept,” Brig. Gen. Phillip C. Baker, the Army’s Aviation Future Capabilities Director, said. at the roundtable. “I think for the Army, especially launched effects, it comes down to a discussion of mass. … A platform, a loyal wingman, a CCA concept, allows you to increase mass while also reducing the amount of aviators you’ve got to have in the air.”

Baker noted that the Army is working in particular with U.S. military commands in the Pacific and European regions as it begins to explore potential CCA requirements, which might lead to an operational capability in the next few years. For the past year or so, the Army has been working to figure out “the capabilities that they need in order to deliver that mass, and really survivability,” he added.

At present, a key aspect of the ongoing discussions within the Army seems to be focused on where the service’s existing work on launch effects ends and where a CCA-like effort might begin.

“Launched effects, if you think about it, is a CCA, right?” Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, also said at the round table. “These are things that we’re going to launch off of aircraft and are going to operate in a collaborative fashion, potentially autonomously, but we’re going to give them instructions, and they’re going to operate based off of guidance, either off of something on the ground or maybe they’re being quarterbacked in the air.”

“Manned-unmanned teaming is the future. We’ve talked about the potential of launched effects off the aircraft, or a potential loyal wingman,” Col. Stephen Smith, head of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, better known as the Night Stalkers, had also said during a separate panel at this year’s AUSA conference. Smith had talked about increased use of drones as part of larger efforts to help his unit operate more effectively and just survive in higher-threat environments during future high conflicts, which you can read more about here.

The Army is already envisioning at least three categories of launched effects, broken down into short, medium, and long-range types. They could be configured for a variety of missions, including reconnaissance, electronic warfare, communications relays, and as acting as loitering munitions or decoys. The service has long said that it sees these systems, which could also be networked together in highly autonomous swarms, operating forward of friendly forces, extending the reach of their capabilities, while also reducing their vulnerability.

In some broad strokes, the benefits that launched effects and CCA-types drones offer do align, on top of the “affordable mass” they both promise to provide. However, as the Army currently describes them, even the largest launched effects are substantially smaller and less capable than something in the generally accepted CCA, or ‘loyal wingman,’ category. Most, if not all launched effects are also expected to be fully expendable, unlike a CCA. Any Army CCAs would likely carry launched effects themselves, further extending the reach of the latter drones into higher-risk environments, as well as the overall area they can cover quickly. This, in turn, would allow for a crewed-uncrewed team capable of executing a complex and flexible array of tactics.

When asked then to clarify whether a future Army CCA effort would be distinct from the service’s current launched effects efforts, Maj. Gen. Gill said that “it could be, yes.”

“So, last fall, we actually asked industry what they can provide for a Group 4 VTOL/STOL [vertical takeoff and landing/short takeoff and landing] perspective,” Brig. Gen. David Phillips, head of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation (PEO-Aviation). “So we use that as a great set of information on what the state of the art of technology is from a range, speed, payload, and really effects perspective. What can we bring to bear, given modern technology versus some of our older UAS [uncrewed aerial systems].”

The U.S. military groups uncrewed aircraft into five categories. Group 4 covers designs with maximum takeoff weights over 1,320 pounds, but typical operating altitudes of 18,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) or below. As mentioned already, this is far heavier and higher-flying than any of the UASs the Army is currently considering to meet its launched effects needs.

“I think we’re informing Gen. Gill and Gen. Baker’s teams on what industry has told us on what requirement that shapes out to be,” Phillips added. “It might not look like some of the things we’ve seen on the [AUSA show] floor today. But I can tell you, we received a very robust response from industry, and it’s a combination of maybe some of the things you’d seen on the floor, but we’re excited to start thinking about that space.”

Boeing announced plans for a family of new tiltrotor drones, collectively called Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft, or CxRs, at this year’s AUSA conference, which you can read more about here. The company said the designs will fall into the Group 4 and Group 5 categories. Per the U.S. military’s definitions, the only difference between Group 4 and Group 5 is that the nominal operating altitude for the latter extends above 18,000 feet MSL.

Last week, Sikorsky, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, announced its own plans to expand existing work on a VTOL drone with a so-called rotor-blown wing configuration into a full family of designs dubbed Nomad, which is set to include a Group 4 type. You can learn more about Nomad, which was also showcased at AUSA, here.

Nearly a decade ago now, Bell also announced it was working on a design for a Group 5 tiltrotor drone called the V-247 Vigilant, aimed originally at a Marine Corps requirement. The V-247, or a scaled-down derivative, could be another starting place for a future Army CCA. Bell has notably shown renderings, like the one below, depicting V-247s operating together with versions of its crewed V-280 Valor tiltrotor design, which the Army’s MV-75A is based on.

Brig. Gen. Baker said that experimentation with CCA concepts, to varying degrees, is already underway, and that more is planned for the near future. He also pointed out that the Army is presented with unique questions to answer compared to the Air Force, Marines, and Navy, given that those services primarily expect CCA-type drones to operate collaboratively with higher and faster-flying fixed-wing tactical jets. The Army, in contrast, as noted, sees any such uncrewed aircraft partnered with its existing helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors, with much lower and slower operational flight profiles. It is worth noting here that the other services still have many questions to answer when it comes to their future CCA fleets, including how they will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, let alone employed tactically.

The video below from Collins Aerospace offers a relevant depiction of what the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy expect future air combat operations involving their CCAs to look like.

“So, our experimentation really lies in two areas. One, our modeling that we do constantly. We do that with the feedback that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips talked about from industry. How do you put that [notional system] into a threat environment, and how does that play out, and really render the specifications that we’re looking at,” Baker explained. “The second piece is, we do an annual experimentation out west. That will be the second quarter this year. And, so, we are looking at vendors, potentially, to come out and partner with us to build off the study that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips did, of what’s truly [the] capability out there.”

“When you look at a CCA role for – really linked to rotary wing, that is a different dynamic than you have at 20-to-30,000 feet,” he added. “So it’s a whole set of different behaviors, a whole set of different capability you need to marry that up with an aircraft that’s flying at 100 feet, at 150-plus knots, at night. So that is what we’re really looking at, is what is the state of technology right now to develop a requirement that we can deliver.”

Altogether, the Army still clearly has many questions of its own to answer as it begins to explore concepts for future CCA-drones in earnest, including how such a program would fit in with work it is already doing in the uncrewed aerial systems space.

Contact the author: [email protected]

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Rebekah and Jamie Vardy have signed a huge TV deal with ITV which will give viewers an insight into their personal and professional lives as they start a new life in Italy

Rebekah Vardy may be able to put the humiliation of Wagatha Chrisitie firmly behind her after landing a lucrative TV deal to film a reality show with her husband and family. According to reports, Rebekah, 43, will document the couple’s personal and professional life as they film their transition to Italy.

Jamie has now signed for football team US Cremonese. As yet an official title has not been confirmed but The Sun has reported a working title of The Vardys. The family have already relocated to Lombardy with their five children.

And a source told the publication: “There is huge interest in Becky and her life as a Wag, a mother and a TV personality, not to mention the relationship between her and Jamie.”

They added: “She’ll be seen opening up her home and heart as she provides unprecedented access at a crucial point in their history. It’s a real coup for her to have this with a channel as huge as ITV.”

ITV declined to make an official comment. Rebekah was caught in a legal dispute with Coleen Rooney after she was accused of selling information to the media about Coleen’s private life.

News of Rebekah and Jamie’s TV deal with ITV comes after it was confirmed by Disney+ that Wayne Rooney and Coleen have signed a ten-part series focusing on their family life.

Viewers will get to see how Coleen deals with her business life while Wayne, who has retired as a professional footballer, now takes on the school run. Keen to give viewers a real insight into their life, fans will witness the highs and the lows.

Sean Doyle, Executive Director of Unscripted at Disney+, said: “We’ve seen great success over the past couple of years with our Disney+ Original unscripted series such as Finding Michael, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story and more recently, Flintoff.”

He added: “Our distinctive offering of combining the most talked-about household names and their incredible life experiences has hit the right note with our audiences who are looking for authentic and captivating real-life stories.”

Sean went on to say: “As our slate evolves, we want to continue working with world-class producers and homegrown talent in the reality space, with a focus on female-skewed factual.”

Another addition to the reality TV sector of the streaming platform is Jamie Laing and his wife Sophie, who were on Made In Chelsea.

Due to the success of their podcast the couple have become popular with the nation.

READ MORE: Little-known benefits of bamboo bedding as shoppers ditch cotton for this unusual material

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

A long-range kamikaze drone that U.S. firm Kratos is working on together with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) is set to make its maiden flight early next year. The jet-powered Chien Feng IV (Mighty Hornet IV) will feature artificial intelligence (AI) enabled systems and is being developed with a particular eye toward use as an anti-ship weapon. It could also be employed against targets on land and act as a decoy.

Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, offered new details about the Chien Feng IV while speaking with TWZ‘s Howard Altman on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference yesterday. A model of the design, which is derived from Kratos’ MQM-178 Firejet target drone, was shown to the public for the first time last week at the biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. NCSIST is a government-run organization in Taiwan charged with conducting advanced military research and development and test and evaluation work.

Chien Feng IV will fly “soon, early next year,” Fendley said. “The basic aircraft exists. So what we’re doing is we’re integrating mission capability.”

“Our Fire Jet performance characteristics are public, and it’s [Chien Feng IV] a little bit better, pretty much in every category, a little bit more speed, a little bit more altitude, a little bit more endurance,” Fendley added.

“The modified MQM-178’s high-speed capabilities, including a speed of Mach 0.8, high G maneuvering, and a service ceiling of greater than 35,000 feet, make it an ideal base platform for this transformation,” a press release Kratos put out last week had noted.

At the time of writing, the company’s website also says the MQM-178 can fly at altitudes anywhere between 20 and 35,000 feet, can pull turns down to -2 and up to +9 Gs, and carry around 70 and a half pounds of payload internally, as well as 35 pounds more under each wing and an additional 20 pounds in pods on each wingtip. Range and endurance figures for Firejet are not provided, but are offered for an existing derivative called Airwolf, which is configured for tactical mission sets, including acting as a ‘loyal wingman’ for crewed aircraft. Airwolf, also known as Tactical Firejet, has a stated maximum range of 400 nautical miles and a maximum endurance of 1.3 hours. Both Firejet and Airwolf are designed to be launched via pneumatic catapult, and the latter design at least can be recovered at the end of a mission via parachute.

The Chien Feng IV is “our aircraft and NCSIST, so the Taiwanese government, [their] mission systems and warhead,” Fendley said, and deferred to the Taiwanese side for more details about the latter components of the drone’s design.

A brief video on the Chien Feng IV that NCSIST released around the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, seen below, highlights an electro-optical/infrared camera system (EO/IR) in the nose, as well as an AI-driven computer and datalink, as being among the design’s features. In terms of terminal guidance, an EO/IR system would make sense as it is immune to electronic warfare and is passive in nature, meaning it doesn’t pump out signals that can alert the target to the incoming threat.

The Chien Feng IV model shown at the exhibition in Taipei was fitted with small underwing pods, which might be able to hold defensive countermeasures or other equipment, or even just more fuel. It also had an opaque nose cone, which could point to additional sensor options, such as a radar seeker.

The NCSIST video also mentions at least a degree of swarming capability, though it is unclear if Chien Feng IVs will be able to operate in a fully networked collaborative manner.

In terms of missions, Chien Feng IVs are expected to be tasked with “ship-hunting, ship-attacking, ground force-hunting, [and] ground-force attacking,” according to Kratos’ Fendley.

As noted, NCSIST has put particular emphasis on the anti-ship mission, which makes sense for Taiwan. Authorities on the island face the real prospect of the Chinese government on the mainland attempting to impose a blockade or even launch a full-scale military intervention across the Taiwan Strait. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and its steadily growing fleets of more capable surface warships would play a critical role in either scenario.

At the same time, the Taiwan Strait is just under 100 nautical miles across at its widest, and Chien Feng IVs with ranges of around 400 nautical miles would also be able to hold Chinese targets at risk on the mainland. At the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, NCSIST representatives said the drones could just be employed as decoys, according to a report last week from Jane’s.

If the Chien Feng IV’s AI-enabled systems give it the ability to find and engage targets in a highly autonomous manner, the drone’s capabilities could be magnified greatly in a maritime or land attack scenario, especially against moving targets. This, in turn, could present major complications for an adversary like China. TWZ previously explored in great detail how the steady infusion of AI and machine learning technology, especially when it comes to dynamic targeting and swarming, is pushing development of uncrewed aerial systems toward a revolutionary moment, broadly.

As noted in TWZ‘s past reporting on the Chien Feng IV, massed attacks involving these drones would also compel the PLA to expend commensurate amounts of anti-air interceptors, putting additional strain on Chinese air defenses. More capable interceptors would also be required to engage the higher-flying jet-powered attackers.

Taiwan is also now pushing to significantly expand its inventory of various lower-tier kamikaze drones, including in cooperation with U.S. defense contractor Anduril. This is in line with a larger strategy that American officials have discussed for helping to defend the island from any future Chinese intervention, which has been called “Hellscape” in the past. What is envisaged is the Taiwanese military heavily saturating the air and waters around the island with relatively low-cost uncrewed platforms.

NCSIST also reportedly has an eye toward exporting Chien Feng IV. There is certainly growing global interest in long-range kamikaze drones, driven heavily by observations of their use on both sides of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Attacks by Iran and its regional proxies on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, as well as targets in and around the Middle East, have also underscored the value of this kind of capability. Back in 2019, TWZ called out a then-unprecedented drone and missile attack that Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen launched against Saudi Arabia as a sign of things to come.

“I would say that our recent program with Taiwan, I’m going to call as a spin off of, sort of a combination of Apollo and Athena,” Kratos’ Fendley also told TWZ yesterday.

Fendley did not further elaborate. Details about the Apollo and Athena programs remain limited, but the company has previously told TWZ that they are aimed at the European market. The possibility is now raised that one or both of those designs could be long-range kamikaze drones, or at least be capable of being employed in that role.

Kratos is otherwise pursuing new opportunities globally. This includes a partnership with Airbus on a version of the stealthy XQ-58 Valkyrie drone for the German Luftwaffe. Kratos has now sold two XQ-58s to Airbus, which are expected to start flying in Germany next year following the integration of new mission systems, according to Fendley. The Valkyrie has already been flying for years in a largely experimental role with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marines are now in the process of transitioning their XQ-58 efforts to an operational capability.

“Many, many domestic and international customers, who I’m going to say have been at the interest level, have transitioned to the we’re ready to do something level,” Fendley added, speaking more generally. “So, think some Asian countries, think some European countries, and the timeline is in, I would say the next 24 months, you’re going to see those happen pretty quickly.”

When it comes to the Chien Feng IV, specifically, more details may continue to emerge as Kratos and NCSIST get closer to the planned first flight next year.

Contact the author: [email protected]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson continued firing verbal shots at each other Friday, escalating a week-old battle that risks extending into next month’s Democratic National Convention.

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, suggested that Jackson is using “for his own purposes” the controversy that followed Clinton’s condemnation of a black rapper during a Rainbow Coalition speech last Saturday.

Responding to questions during a televised appearance before a convention of radio talk-show hosts in Washington, Clinton said Jackson’s continuing anger over the incident is “a mystery to me,” especially considering the fact that Jackson seems more angry now than he did a week ago.

“Each day the temperature has been turned up,” Clinton said.

In an interview published Friday in the New York Times, Jackson was quoted as saying Clinton used the speech before his organization to “stage a well-planned sneak attack, without the courage to confront but with a calculation to embarrass.”

Jackson also said Clinton was using the rapper’s comments to advance his presidential campaign with white voters by “containing Jackson and isolating Jackson.” Such a racial appeal, he said, “again exposed a character flaw” in Clinton, a reference to questions about Clinton’s morality that the candidate has worked hard to erase in the minds of voters.

The interview was the latest in a series of efforts by Jackson to exclaim how offended and embarrassed he was by Clinton’s behavior.

In a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times earlier this week, Jackson said Clinton failed to address his proposal for a $500-billion program to aid urban areas at the Rainbow meeting, but chose to engage in “a divisive political maneuver” aimed at him.

“Clinton has a ploy and I have a plan,” he said.

In his speech before Jackson’s organization, Clinton complained that rapper Sister Souljah urged blacks to kill whites instead of killing each other. He also chastised the coalition for recognizing Souljah at a convention which was honoring a white man who filmed the Rodney G. King beating and several blacks who risked their lives to rescue white riot victims.

“After I gave that speech, Jesse Jackson invited me to come back that night and play the saxophone,” Clinton told reporters here Friday. “He went back and had a very cordial meeting with me. So all these discoveries of things after the speech are for his own purposes.”

Clinton said he would “not back down” in his criticism of Souljah. “If Jesse Jackson wants to ally himself with that now and claim that’s the way he felt then, that’s his business,” Clinton said. He added: “Something has happened since the speech. This is not about the speech.”

If Jackson continues drawing attention to his dispute with Clinton, it risks becoming an issue at the July nominating convention, a prospect that Clinton forces had not anticipated.

Many key Democratic Party officials are former Jackson associates, including chairman Ronald H. Brown, but they were hoping for a harmonious meeting that could showcase Clinton. The dispute dominated discussions during convention planning sessions in New York on Friday, where Washington, D.C., Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly was reportedly selected as a keynote speaker.

Some officials feared that Jackson would use delegates pledged to former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. to seek the vice presidential nomination, but Jackson denied he was interested.

Jackson is publicly flirting with the independent candidacy of Texas businessman Ross Perot. But Clinton said he does not believe the controversy with Jackson will cost him black votes. “I’ve got to stand for what I believe and say what I believe and voters either respond one way or the other,” Clinton said.

Times staff writer Geraldine Baum from New York contributed to this story.

Business class can mean champagne before takeoff, big seats, and stress-free boarding. But who can pay the price tag of three to five times what economy costs?! (Not me.)

But here’s the secret: savvy travelers rarely pay full price. Copy these habits and you could be flying business for far less.

1. Buy tickets with miles, not money

Most airlines give you two ways to book a ticket: pay cash or redeem miles. And while paying cash might work fine for economy, business class prices often offer discounts for redeeming miles.

For a long international route, it’s not uncommon to see fares north of $3,000 if you pay in dollars. But you might be able to book the same business class seat for around 70,000 miles (plus a small amount for taxes and fees). That’s an incredible deal.

So how do you rack up enough miles to pull that off? Well, it starts with joining an airline’s frequent flyer program. But if you want to speed things up, using credit cards will help.

2. Use travel credit cards for everyday spending

Travel credit cards are the secret weapon for earning enough miles to fly business class. There are two main types you can choose from:

• Cobranded airline cards that earn miles with a single airline.
• Flexible travel cards that earn points you can transfer to various airlines.

Personally, I prefer cards that give me transfer flexibility. For instance, I use travel cards from Chase and Capital One. Each one earns points I can send to a dozen or more airline partners, which gives me way more choices when I’m ready to book.

The best part is it doesn’t cost you anything. Since you earn points on everyday purchases like groceries, gas, and shopping, you can continue doing what you’re already doing, but quietly build up points/miles in the background.

Many travel cards also offer large welcome offers for new customers. So you could even snag a quick 50,000 points or more after you meet the spending requirement.

See our top-rated travel credit cards here and start stacking points toward your next business class upgrade.

3. Keep travel dates flexible

Award seat availability is limited, and airlines release business class deals sporadically. So being flexible — even by just a day or two — can save you thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands of miles).

Some tools, like Google Flights and airline award calendars, make it easy to spot the cheapest days to fly. Flexibility isn’t always convenient, but it’s often the difference between flying up front or in the back.

4. Shop for airfare way in advance

Landing a business class bargain often comes down to playing the numbers. If you’re booking last minute, you’re stuck with whatever high-priced seats are left. So you need to shop as early as possible.

So, when should you start your hunt? According to Going, a site that tracks flight deals, the sweet spot is about one to three months before takeoff for domestic trips, and anywhere from two to eight months out for international flights.

These windows are when airlines typically drop their best fares.

If you’re planning to fly during busy seasons — like summer holidays or spring break — you’ll want to extend that search window by a few extra months.

5. Join loyalty programs and try to score elite status

Most airline loyalty programs are tiered. The more you fly and spend, the higher you climb up the ranks. The top tiers often come with free upgrades to business class when seats are available.

Chasing elite status is only worth it if you travel a lot. But even if you’re not aiming for top-tier perks, signing up for loyalty programs never hurts anyway. It’s usually free.

And pairing a good travel rewards credit card with airline loyalty programs gives you more ways to earn points and snag better seats. From there, it’s just a matter of keeping an eye out for business class deals and working your way up to those elite perks.

Ready to earn your first business class ticket? Explore our favorite travel credit cards and start turning your everyday purchases into luxury travel rewards.

The Istrian peninsula is one of the most underrated destinations in Europe and is the perfect place to soak up some September sunshine – and what’s better? Flights can cost as little as £20

September has arrived, and with the school holidays now officially behind us, it presents the ideal opportunity for a spontaneous getaway to prolong summer and soak up some rays before the lengthy winter nights set in.

Whilst France, Spain and Italy remain the go-to destinations for British holidaymakers, anyone who’s experienced Venice will tell you that swarms of tourists can completely destroy any hopes of a peaceful break.

However, one location that’s frequently overshadowed by its more famous neighbours has been hailed as the ideal spot to bask in some September sunshine – and here’s the cherry on top – flights can be snapped up for as little as £20.

Tucked away at Croatia’s most northern tip, and merely kilometres from both Slovenia and Italy, the Istrian peninsula stands as one of Europe’s most undervalued gems.

Encircled by the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Adriatic Sea, this destination is perfect for those seeking coastal adventures, both cultural and gastronomic, reports the Express.

Istria is frequently passed over in favour of its southern counterparts like Dubrovnik or Split, yet it offers a superior alternative for avoiding the masses.

Featured as one of Lonely Planet’s premier September hotspots, the travel bible declared: “Overflowing with asparagus, olives and oysters, there are few tastier destinations than Istria, the triangular peninsula nudging into the Adriatic in far northwest Croatia.

“And there are few tastier times to explore Istria than September, when grapes are harvested and truffles ripen beneath the forest floor.”

Istrians are passionate about their truffles, and a stroll through Pula, the region’s principal city, reveals market stalls and shops selling this culinary treasure in various forms – as crisps, preserved in oil, or served whole.

To build up an appetite before indulging in the delightful Adriatic gastronomy, take a walk through this ancient settlement and discover its massive Roman amphitheatre. Often confused with the Colosseum, Pula Arena stands as the sole surviving ancient theatre where all four corner towers remain completely intact.

Like much of Croatia’s shoreline, the beaches feature mainly pebbles with some rocky inlets, occasional sandy patches, and are encircled by verdant vegetation.

Dramatic islands also dot this peninsula, providing the perfect setting for sunrise views that create an unforgettable panorama.

Following a day of sea swimming, you’ll have built up quite a thirst, and fortunately for wine enthusiasts, Croatia crafts some excellent vintages.

The guide added: “But for the real gastro treats, crank up the calf muscles and explore the truffle-centric hilltop settlements of medieval Motovun, Buzet and tiny Hum in the north, and the wine regions around Buje and Momjan to the northwest – white Malvasia and red Teran are top local tipples.”

Ryanair operates direct services to Pula from several UK airports, with September flights available for as little as £23 at the time of writing. For those preferring to stay closer to home, the guide also recommends a September break to the Cotswolds.

A man who relocated to Benidorm from the UK has shared three ‘dangerous situations’ he has found himself in since the move, and issued some advice to those planning to visit

A man who has “lived in Benidorm for at least seven or eight years” has shared three hair-raising moments that made him question his decision to move, and whether he should hotfoot it back to the UK.

Harry, known as @harrytokky on TikTok, regularly posts about his life in Benidorm – and recently shared the “most dangerous slash scariest situations” he’s found himself in while living in the Spanish party hotspot. However, he did admit that these things could definitely happen in other places and he said he wasn’t trying to put anybody off visiting Benidorm, as he loves his life there.

Almost being hit by a bus

“Yes, you heard, ran over,” Harry elaborated. He went on: “It was one of these back roads here in Benidorm where people drive at mental speeds, and to be honest, they were so close to hitting me.

“I literally had to run out of the way of the road, it was awful,” he said.

Unexpected police search

Harry recounted how he’d been stopped by police, and they “literally said random search” to him. He alleged they were looking for “the naughty stuff,” which Harry insisted he “didn’t have.”

“They did a full-on search on the side of the road here in Benidorm. I honestly thought they were going to handcuff me, chuck me in the back of a car and throw away the key,” Harry claimed.

Nearly being robbed

“This is definitely number one by far,” Harry divulged, explaining: “I was walking down one of the back alleys […] from the beach to the main road and a guy came up to me, shook my hand, twisted my arm around my back and all of this”.

He described the incident as an attempt to “rob” him of his possessions, labelling it as the “worst experience,” that would leave anyone rattled.

However, he clarified that his intention wasn’t to “scare anyone off Benidorm,” but rather to arm people with the awareness that such incidents can occur, enabling them to take precautions.

“Stuff like this does happen everywhere in the world,” Harry emphasised. “But because I live here, it’s happened to me, and I wanted to speak about it.”

Responding to a comment suggesting he’d led a “crazy life” in Benidorm, Harry added: “I know right, super crazy”.

Despite the incident, Harry highlighted some of the benefits of living in Benidorm – including the cheap McDonald’s.

As he sat outside, he announced: “And just like that, the food has arrived. Now you will not believe how cheap this was. We’ve got two meals here. Guess how much this costs? €11 (£9.53)”.

Harry went on to detail the contents of the meal, which included two portions of fries, two burgers, two drinks, and a side of chicken nuggets.

He enthused: “I mean, €11? What do you think guys? I think that’s an absolute bargain, let’s be honest. €11? In the UK, that’d probably be at least £20.”

A large Big Mac meal in the UK typically costs around £7.69, depending on location, while six chicken nuggets are priced at approximately £3.49.

The U.S. Air Force is hoping to see a second pre-production B-21 Raider stealth bomber take to the skies before the end of the year. The service also says it has conducted four more flight tests of the AGM-181A Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) cruise missile, which will be a key nuclear weapon for the B-21, so far this year.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, provided updates on the B-21 program and other topics today during a virtual talk hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“So this is an event-based process, based on the test team, the contractor, [and] the program office. I believe it [the first flight of the second B-21] will happen by the end of the year, but we’re not going to ever give them an artificial date that they have to make if it doesn’t bring the test program along to where they need to be,” Gebara said. “We’re going to proceed as we can, efficiently, effectively, and with a sense of urgency, but we’re also going to be event-based.

“That’s really been the secret sauce to the B-21 right now, is no undue pressures. Let them do what they’re doing, and they’ll get us the world’s best aircraft here,” Gebara added.

In July, Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), had told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the second B-21 could take to the skies “shortly.” The service had previously told that outlet that its goal was for two B-21s to be flying in 2026.

The first of six pre-production B-21s made its maiden flight in November 2023. As of September 2024, the bomber was said to be flying around two sorties every week from Edwards Air Force Base in California in support of ongoing testing.

The B-21’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, has also delivered two non-flying airframes to help with the test campaign. As of January, Northrop Grumman had received two contracts for low-rate initial production of additional B-21s, as well.

“The B-21 [program] is producing, its results-oriented in flight tests, basically on time, [and] basically on budget,” Gen. Gebara added in his remarks today.

U.S. military officials and members of Congress have described the Raider as a model acquisition program for years now. The Air Force’s goal is to begin flying B-21s operationally before the end of the decade.

When asked today about the expected size of the B-21 fleet, Gen. Gebara said that work is still ongoing to reach a firm number. The Air Force’s stated plan now is to acquire at least 100 Raiders, but that figure is widely expected to grow. Congress notably included $4.5 billion in funding to help accelerate B-21 production in a reconciliation funding bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July. The Pentagon is asking for billions more to support the Raider program in its 2026 Fiscal Year budget request.

“I think the work you’ve seen from the Congress to get us those additional funding [sic] tells me a couple things that are very important. One is, it’s going to go a long ways to be able to help us facilitize and get to the point where we can build this thing at scale,” Gebara said. “I think the other piece to it, though, is it’s an absolute show of confidence by the Congress that we’re on the right track on this program. We’ve done a lot of work to hold changes to the minimum, to allow the program office and the contractor to get after it, and it’s paying dividends.”

The final B-21 fleet “numbers will absolutely be reliant on the work STRATCOM [U.S. Strategic Command] is doing, on what is sufficient,” Gebara added. “But it’s important to remember this is also the backbone of our conventional force. And so we aren’t building out B-21 numbers only for our [nuclear] triad. We’re also building it out for our long-range [conventional] strike capability. And so all that will that will go into it.”

Gebara’s latter points here are directly in line with comments from Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost at a separate Mitchell Institute virtual talk earlier this month. Armagost, who is commander of the Eighth Air Force, which oversees all of the Air Force’s current bomber fleets, spoke at length about the new operational possibilities that will come from having a substantial number of B-21s, particularly in light of the ‘silver bullet’ nature of the current B-2 force. The Air Force has just 19 B-2s, not all of which are ever available for taskings, conventional or nuclear, at any one time. This inherently imposes limitations, which the B-21 is not expected to be burdened with, despite being a smaller aircraft with less ordnance capacity per bomber, as you can read more about in detail here.

“Our bomber force right now is optimized for raids and small-scale, a few nights at a time [type operations],” Gen. Gebra said today, something that was highlighted by the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on nuclear sites in Iran in June. “There’s no guarantee that’ll be the case in the future.”

All this being said, the B-21 will still have a critical nuclear deterrent role, including as a launch platform for the stealthy AGM-181 LRSO cruise missile. The LRSO is also set to be part of the future arsenal for the Air Force’s B-52 bombers, which are being deeply upgraded, overall, as you can learn more about here.

“Our LRSO missile, which will go on our bomber force, has had four successful flight tests in 2025 alone,” Gebera said during today’s talk. “Based on time, based on budget, it’s going very well.”

Flight testing of the LRSO has already been underway for years. However, other details about the highly classified missile, which Raytheon is been developing, remain limited. The Air Force released the first-ever public rendering of the missile, seen below, in June. You can find TWZ‘s previous analysis of that image, which may not necessarily reflect the current design, here.

The B-21 and LRSO are also both part of a larger Long-Range Strike (LRS) family of systems, much of which remains in the classified realm, as TWZ has explored in the past.

By all indications, the B-21 program continues to make steady progress, with a second Raider set to take to the skies sometime in the coming weeks or months.

Contact the author: [email protected]

DOG chew toys of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are flying off shop shelves.

The plush likenesses of the Sussexes, being sold near Windsor Castle, promise “hours of fun for you and your pooch”.

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One customer said: “Apparently the Harry and Meghan ones are proving extremely popular, which says a lot about how they’re regarded in Windsor.

“I think that shows how far they’ve gone from heroes on their wedding day to zeroes.”

The toys, which are “100 unofficial and unendorsed parody pet toys”, have two squeakers in their heads and stomachs.

They are stocked by A Dogs Life Co in the town’s Royal Station shopping centre, and cost £17.99 each.

They are made by Pet Hate Toys and available in small and regular sizes — with squeakers in the head and belly.

It says the Meghan figure is the “picture of elegance” in a shirt, tailored trousers and watch.

Harry is described as having a realistic “bald spot and stern face”.

The blurb continues: “Harry looks so dapper in his fav- furr-ite blue suit, with dog design tie and trademark bangle.”

The shop in Windsor, Berks, also stocks “pawlitical parody” toys of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Sir Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage and Elon Musk.

The customer added: “I think they’re hilarious.”

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Claire Martin, from Devon, decided to travel across Europe by ferry – and she managed to save money doing it too.

One traveller said goodbye to airport queues and decided to travel around Europe by ferry instead. Even better, she secured some brilliant bargains in the process.

Claire Martin, from Devon, is a YouTuber and travel content creator who typically spends much of the year globe-trotting as she adores the chance to “explore new cultures and spend time in nature”.

Speaking to OMIO – an online travel comparison site – Claire revealed her European ferry route, her adventures and expert advice for staying within budget.

When questioned about why she opted to journey by ferry, Claire explained to OMIO: “Ferry is often the most direct route, and I love the feeling of sailing over the seas; it feels like a proper adventure.

“The sunsets and coastal views are always stunning too. I also love how you’re never constrained to a seat – there’s a whole ship to explore.”

The adventurer visited numerous European destinations by ferry:

Claire has journeyed to and from more than eight countries and has also revealed which destination was her top pick and the reasons behind it.

She explained: “I loved travelling from France to Algeria by ferry. The experience of sailing across the Mediterranean was awesome and I loved seeing the different cultures on either side of the sea.

“It was a really nice ferry and I had my own cabin, so I thought of it as a mini Mediterranean cruise!”

Claire confessed that when she journeyed between Tallinn and Helsinki in an “ultra-modern” ferry, she failed to “soak the experience in” owing to it lasting just two hours.

However, the traveller managed to save a substantial amount of money by opting for ferries over flights, allowing her to travel extensively without emptying her wallet.

She calculated that she saved an estimated £200 across her travels, reported The Express.

Claire pointed out that for certain routes, such as southern Spain to Morocco or Tallinn to Helsinki, there’s “no need to fly”.

The journey from Aberdeen to Shetland was also significantly cheaper by ferry, costing around £40 per person with a cabin, compared to a hefty £200 flight fare.

She revealed that she is planning a unique “ferry-only trip”, where she will spend four nights on different ferries, hopping between Spain, France and Italy.

Chelsea have given permission to Borussia Dortmund to fly Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Anselmino to Germany to complete moves that will take player sales at Stamford Bridge this summer to beyond £270m.

Chukwuemeka, 21, spent the second half of last season on loan at Dortmund and is set to sign on a permanent basis for a fee of about £24m, with a significant sell-on clause included.

The England Under-20 international was keen to move back to the Westfalenstadion despite interest from RB Leizpig and is in the process of finalising his return.

That deal would take Chelsea’s income from player sales this summer to a league-high £273.4m, which almost balances out the £277m spent on incoming transfers.

Uefa have told Chelsea they must record a positive transfer balance this window in order to be allowed to register their new signings for this season’s Champions League.

It follows them having been fined £26.7m for a breach of Uefa’s football earning rules and having had a squad cost ratio – the proportion of their income paid out in wages – above 80%.

Meanwhile, Anselmino has agreed to join Dortmund on a season-long loan deal without any option to buy clauses included.

The Argentine defender was told by manager Enzo Maresca that he needed a loan move to play the minutes he needs to develop amid competition for places in the Chelsea first-team squad.

But he remains an important part of future planning at Stamford Bridge, and moves to Dortmund to cover the recent injuries of defenders Niklas Sule, Emre Can and Nico Schlotterbeck.

Chukwuemeka has played 32 matches for Chelsea since joining in a £20m move from Aston Villa in 2022, while Anselmino made a single substitute appearance at the Club World Cup having joined the west Londoners from Boca Juniors in January for £15.6m.

Chelsea hope to sign to more players in the nine days remaining in the window, with Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons targeted.

Forward Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku and Tyrique George are expected to leave, while Chelsea could sell as many as nine players, including in the so-called ‘bomb squad’, with the Blues looking at options for Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi amongst others.

Aug. 22 (UPI) — Russian spy planes entered U.S. air space near Alaska twice in the past three days, said North American Aerospace Defense Command, though it said the incidents weren’t out of the ordinary.

In separate incidents on Wednesday and Thursday, Russian IL-20 COOT surveillance and reconnaissance planes flew into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, prompting NORAD’s response, according to a statement. Neither plane flew into U.S. or Canadian airspace.

On Wednesday, NORAD launched a pair of F-16 Fighting Falcons and a KC-135 Stratotanker for refueling as they identified and monitored the Russian plane.

On the following day, NORAD again sent up two F-16s and a KC-135, along with an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft to intercept and monitor the Russian IL-20. Both planes flew into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.

The Alaskan ADIZ, like other such zones, is a defined area of international airspace beginning at the edge of sovereign airspace around the state that requires any aircraft entering into it to be identified for national security reasons.

“This Russian activity in the Alaskan [airspace] occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” NORAD said about both incidents.

The timing and type of aircraft involved draw special attention. These intercepts happened less than a week after a meeting between Trump and Putin, in which the war in Ukraine was the central topic. The Russian flights are seen by U.S. defense officials as routine but underscore continued military posturing near American airspace.

While the U.S. Air Force frequently monitors Russian Tu-95 bomber flights in the area, the use of an Il-20, equipped for electronic intelligence gathering, is rarer, Newsweek reported.

“NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America,” NORAD said in a press release.

“An ADIZ begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” the release said.

Last month, NORAD intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers and Su-35 Flanker fighter jets that were escorting them when they strayed into the ADIZ for some three hours.

Passengers who are not on their best behaviour could face jail time or a fine, according to a campaign led by the country’s biggest airports

Brits jetting off have been warned to be on their best behaviour or their summer holidays could “ruined” this year, officials have warned. A nationwide campaign going around the UK’s airports is encouraging holidaymakers to “fly responsibly” or risk “paying the price”.

With experts predicting this summer to be one of the busiest ever for air travel, the One Too Many campaign is cautioning travellers that having too much alcohol before flying out could result in serious consequences. Promotional material even warned Brits they face jail time if they flout any rules.

Travellers who cause disruption on flights may find themselves denied boarding, hit with a lifetime band or fines of up to £80,000 should their conduct force an aircraft to change course mid-journey. “One too many is all it takes to ruin a holiday, cause a delay, land YOU in jail, cancel a flight, [and/or] divert a plane,” one of the campaign’s warnings said.

READ MORE: Boozy holidaymaker warning as police start breathalysing at UK airportREAD MORE: Brit in Benidorm warns tourists could be fined for innocent childhood activity

The One Too Many campaign resources have been deployed across more than 20 UK airports including London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol, reports the Liverpool Echo. The campaign said on its website: “The industry is committed to tackling disruptive behaviour through a voluntary Code of Practice.

“Signatories to the Code work together to prevent and minimise the number of disruptive passenger incidents, and promote a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour; the identification, pre-emption, management and reporting of disruptive incidents; the responsible sale and consumption of alcohol; and education and communication with passengers.”

Karen Dee, the chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said: “UK airports are committed to providing a safe and enjoyable travel experience for all passengers. We urge travellers to enjoy their journeys responsibly and not ruin their holidays or the holidays of others. Airports will continue to monitor and act against any disruptive behaviour to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The One Too Many campaign was first launched in 2018, with support from the Government and includes endorsements from the Department for Transport and the Home Office. The campaign came just days after police in the north launched their own campaign to curb boozy Brits who came back from their holidays.

Officers stopped drivers leaving Teesside Airport as part of ‘Operation Take Off’, which targeted passengers who had flown into the airport and had struggled to control their boozing during their flights.

Only one person out of the more than 100 checked was found to have alcohol in their breath. The amount found was below the legal limit, according to police, who gave the person a warning after they admitted to having one glass of wine on board.

Earlier this year, Ryanair called for airports to limit passengers to having no more than two drinks before they board, claiming it would lead to “a safer travel experience for passengers and crews”.

At the time, a spokesperson for Ryanair criticised governments across Europe for what it saw as their “repeated failure to take action when disruptive passengers threaten aircraft safety and force them to divert”. They added: “It is time that European Union authorities take action to limit the sale of alcohol at airports.”

Greece is among the countries in southern Europe battling wildfires this summer as firefighters continue to tackle blazes on both the mainland and on several of its islands

Greece is currently grappling with wildfires, as blazes rage across both the mainland and several of its islands. Over the weekend, areas near Athens were evacuated due to more than 50 wildfires breaking out, with residents in the suburb of Kryoneri being advised to leave their homes.

Firefighters are also tackling fires on the islands of Crete, Kythira and Euboea, while numerous smaller fires have erupted locally. These fires have been fuelled by scorching temperatures and dry conditions across southern Europe, with neighbouring countries Turkey and Montenegro also dealing with wildfires this summer.

READ MORE: Foreign Office’s summer 2025 rules for Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Portugal

A heatwave in Greece, which saw temperatures soar to 44C in Athens last week, has increased the country’s fire risk. These wildfires coincide with the peak travel period, causing concern for many British holidaymakers heading to Greece for the school holidays.

If you’re wondering whether it’s safe to visit Greece, here’s what you need to know. It’s worth noting that large parts of Greece remain unaffected by the wildfires.

What the UK Foreign Office says

The UK Foreign Office, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, hasn’t issued any further guidance on specific wildfires since its last update on July 4, which remains current on July 28.

It advises there is a high risk of wildfires during the summer season from April to October. It recommends reading the wildfires section on its Safety and security page which states that travellers “Ensure that your mobile phone is registered to receive emergency alerts to be warned of wildfires near your location.”

The advice page for Greece state the following

“There is a high risk of wildfires during the summer season from April to October. Ensure that your mobile phone is registered to receive emergency alerts to be warned of wildfires near your location.

“Wildfires are highly dangerous and unpredictable. The situation can change quickly. To avoid starting wildfires:

• leave no litter, especially not glass which is known to start fires.
• make sure cigarettes are properly extinguished.
• do not light barbecues.

“Causing a wildfire or a forest fire is a criminal offence in Greece – even if unintentional. If you see a fire, call the emergency services on 112. Be cautious if you are in or near an area affected by wildfires:

• follow @112Greece for official updates.
• follow the guidance of the emergency services.
• call the Greek emergency services on 112 if you are in immediate danger.
• contact your airline or travel operator who can assist you with return travel to the UK.
• Always check the Foreign Office page for the latest advice before you travel.

Refunds for cancelled flights and travel insurance

Whether you’re covered for wildfires by your insurance hinges on the specifics of your policy and the breadth of your coverage; wildfires typically fall under “unforeseen circumstances”. This implies that you might be covered for medical evacuations, cancellations, or delays brought about by severe weather conditions, as per Travel and Tour World.

When it comes to flights and hotel reservations, most airlines or travel insurance providers won’t offer a refund or compensation if you decide to cancel your journey due to worries about wildfires – unless there’s an official travel advisory in place.

It’s crucial to touch base with your holiday provider for the most recent information before you set off.

In the past year, seven of the UK’s 10 busiest airports have increased the cost of dropping off a loved one before travel – to the point that London Luton is now more expensive than a stay at the Ritz

Drop-off charges at one major UK airport have risen so much it’s more expensive – minute by minute – seeing a loved one off than staying at the Ritz hotel in London.

Most of the UK’s busiest airports have upped the prices of their drop-off zones, commonly known as “kiss and fly” areas, where travellers can say a quick farewell to their loved ones before jetting off. In the past year, seven of the aviation hubs have either increased prices or reduced how long drivers can stay before higher fees are applicable.

Luton Airport currently has the highest per-minute cost the UK’s busiest airports – charging £5 for five minutes before the £1 a minute fare rolls in for a maximum of 20. These prices rose steeply following the renovation of Luton’s drop-off zone after it was torched in a fire in October 2023. Before the fire, it was £5 for 10 minutes followed by the £1-a-minute charge.

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For a deluxe king room at Mayfair’s Ritz hotel, you’d pay £1,149 per night, which works out at around 91p a minute. The airport said the charge helps maintain the flow of passengers and traffic, claiming that the majority of visits are within five minutes. They signposted customers to the mid-stay car park, which is a ten-minute walk to the airport terminal.

It tells The Times: “With a £5 fee, the barrierless system keeps passengers and the traffic flowing, with the average time spent in the area well within five minutes. For those with more time, drivers have a range of free and paid-for drop off, pick up and parking options to choose from.”

According to the RAC, these kiss and fly charges are “bordering on the ridiculous”. Rod Dennis from the RAC said: “Drivers will be understandably aghast at the prospect of paying as much as £7 for what amounts to nothing more than opening the boot so a friend or relative can collect their luggage and catch their flight.

“The problem is a lack of practical — and affordable — alternatives for getting to many airports. Faced with the choice of a double-decker bus with lots of luggage, or forking out for a taxi, it’s easy to see why people feel they have no option other than to drive.”

Many of the major airports ask drivers to pay before or after they arrive and late payment charges are issued if a payment isn’t made within 24 hours or by midnight the following day.

Graham Conway from Select Car Leasing, based in Reading, said: “Failingto pay for drop-off parking or exceeding your time limit can really hit you in the wallet. It’s all too easy to forget to log on and to then remember with a sense of dread when it’s too late.”