Hey, welcome to this week's lowdown newsletter where we talk everything, aviation defense, stuff that's going around the globe that I think you'll find interesting. This week, we have AI wingmen. We have the B-21 F-16s that are moving out of Japan onto Korea, plus the threat of the day, which is SA21, Grauhr, one of Russia's advanced surface air missile systems, and a whole bunch more. So that being said, let's jump into this week's

lowdown. First, if you like this kind of content, you can check out the lowdown newsletter by clicking the link down below. You get it each and every week. I won't spam you because it's just a lot of work to put the stuff out there to begin with. So if you do like it, check that out. Again, it's absolutely free. And you get great little graphics like Dusty Prop Hopper, which we're going to talk about here in just a little bit. So first, we're kicking things off with the Air Force

where they're teaming up with AI wingmen.

Now, this has been ongoing with collaborative combat aircraft, CCAs, and we're just furthering.

This past week at EGland Air Force Base in Florida, F-16s and F-15E strike eagles control to XQ58 Valkyrie drones.

Now, this is an autonomous platform that I think will ultimately be game changers or something of the like where it will be a game changer.

Imagine having your fifth generation stealth fighter or your next generation air dominance platform that is able to operate in a manned or unmanned

configuration but also have a bunch of its friends hanging out with them, bringing weapons, sensors to the fight,

enhancing lethality, enhancing survivability, and all the above.

It will operate in high-risk zones with some human oversight, again, enhancing that

combat capability. So that's happening and it's developing fast. I think we'll ultimately see a lot more

this in the future. We talked about last week, the J20S, which is the latest variant of the J20,

but the Chinese have pumped out recently, which has a two-seat variant of the J20. Speculation

being that that backseat is for a weapon system officer, which would be

able to enhance lethality controlling potentially their version of these drone wingmen.

So time will tell, but totally drones like this will reduce pilot risk and boost mission

flexibility.

And I think we're going to see a lot more of it in the near future. All right, and for your newsletter subscriber, you get to

participate in the Tribute of the day, which which country was removed from the F-35 program. They

were in it and they got removed. And they did some stuff that wasn't, wasn't so good for the

whole F-35 program. Check that out. Next on to the B-21 Raider, which is gearing up for a 2026 debut.

Two bombers have flown by Northrop Grumman are out there and they're testing.

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