The Afterburn Podcast

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Taiwan’s first two F-16 Block 70 fighters have landed at their new home, plus the US Air Force is weighing new-build F-16s for the first time since 2005. Today we discuss the Block 70, the proposed F-16G, Viper Shield, and the fighter shortfall driving it.
Sources:
The War Zone: https://www.twz.com/air/new-build-f-16s-for-the-usaf-is-an-idea-that-wont-go-away-for-good-reason
Air and Space Forces: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-eyes-new-build-f-16s-to-boost-fighter-force/
The first two of 66 F-16 Block 70s ordered by Taiwan in 2019 touched down at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on October 2, 2026, after a ferry flight from Lockheed Martin’s Greenville, South Carolina line that stalled in Hawaii for more than a month. Today we discuss what that roughly $8 billion package actually contains, from the APG-83 AESA radar and Link 16 to smart bomb tail kits, towed decoys, and the integrated offensive and defensive electronic warfare suite that L3Harris Viper Shield answers.

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Watch on Afterburn Defense: https://youtu.be/4Er8ciSvT84
KC-135 battle damage repair: Air Mobility Command commander Lt Gen Daniel
Tulley revealed how maintainers saved a Stratotanker loaded with 200,000
pounds of fuel after an enemy attack during Operation Epic Fury.
Ogden Air Logistics Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUDBQ8fmr8Ek

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Watch on Afterburn Defense YouTube: https://youtu.be/F21BnqlbCow
Today we discuss the Air Force naming its first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the FQ-42A Vengeance from General Atomics and the FQ-44A Fury from Anduril, plus the plan for 1,000 drones by 2032.
On 14 September 2026, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced a target of roughly 1,000 autonomous combat aircraft by 2032: 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft and 500 Massed Modular Aircraft. The F in FQ-42 and FQ-44 is deliberate. These are being designated as fighters, not surveillance drones.
Vengeance has been delivered to Creech Air Force Base and has already flown in formation with the F-35 and the F-15E Strike Eagle. Fury fired an AIM-120 AMRAAM at a digital target in July with a human retaining oversight of the shot. Contract award to first flight ran about 18 months, a pace almost unheard of in defense acquisition.

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Watch on Afterburn Defense: https://youtu.be/DZTWj7NfOgc
Today we discuss the SR-71 Blackbird that vanished from NASA Armstrong. Tail 844, the last Blackbird ever built and the last to fly, is gone from its display and NASA will not say where.
Aviation Week: https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/nasa-quietly-removed-sr-71-storage-amid-x-plane-push
The Warzone: https://www.twz.com/air/a-sr-71-blackbird-has-vanished
Aviation Week defense editor Steve Trimble broke the story using satellite imagery showing the aircraft missing since at least 17 May 2026. Joseph Trevithick at The War Zone followed up, and NASA's response was that it has no additional information to share, while noting it continues to explore opportunities to build on that legacy.

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Brad Young spent six years in the Air Force as a Korean linguist, including time at the National Security Agency in Hawaii, before an inter-service transfer put him in Army warrant officer flight school. He flew the AH-64D and then the AH-64E for just shy of 17 years across four combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, and retired in 2025 out of 5-17 Air Cavalry in Korea. His unit at Fort Lewis was the first to receive and combat deploy the Echo model.
Brad's book "Full Blooded Apache: An Attack Pilot’s True Story of Family, Faith and the Fight" https://amzn.to/4hOLb1j
0:00 The most feared helicopter in the world
0:48 From Air Force linguist to Apache pilot
4:37 9/11, a schoolteacher, and four recruiters
8:58 The DLAB: learning a made-up language
11:25 Korean linguist at DLI and NSA Hawaii
13:16 How a Google Earth search ended in a kill cam
16:51 Crossing over to Army aviation
22:45 Army aviation paths and flight school
24:38 The dunker and stress inoculation
30:01 TH-67 primary and the airframe selection board
34:09 Please bless daddy to get Apaches
34:47 AH-64D vs AH-64E: what the Echo changed
40:55 APKWS and the counter-drone fight
43:19 Drones hunting helicopters
44:34 The Apache 30mm and its new proximity fuze
48:30 FPV drones vs helicopters
49:40 Staying over the shoulder of ground forces
50:57 Hit twice near Jalalabad
53:18 The round that nearly brought him down
55:02 Counter tech and the 3 to 1 advantage
57:25 Two cockpits that can't see each other
59:52 Flying night combat through one eye
1:03:00 Front seat vs back seat sensors
1:04:48 Why he wrote Full Blooded Apache
1:07:20 Four Hellfires in eight minutes
1:12:55 Wrap-up

Have a story? Program and partnership inquiries: https://theafterburnpodcast.com/contact/
Lowdown Defense Newsletter: https://www.lowdownnews.us/
🛫 Become a Fighter/Bomber/Cargo/Tanker/RPA Pilot 🎯 : http://bogidope.com/?bd=tappodcast 🛫
Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) Prep with AFOQT Wingman https://afoqtwingman.com/Code: AFTERBURN for 10% off
Become a Patron, Support the Show, & Gain Exclusive Benefits: https://www.patreon.com/c/theafterburnpodcast



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