New Views Of China's Next Generation Fighters
Flight testing of China's two new next-generation fighter designs is continuing apace and offering new insights into both aircraft. The latest imagery of the larger of the two designs, commonly — but unofficially — called the J-36, offers the clearest look to date at the exhausts for its three engines and a new angle into its possible two-seat cockpit. Additional views of the second type, referred to variously as the J-XDS and J-50, show the interesting bay configuration on the side of the fuselage immediately behind the air intake and highlight other distinctive features like its swiveling wingtip control surfaces.
TWZ has previously published a highly detailed analysis of both the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50, which readers can find here.
There are no clear indications that the latest pictures and videos of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 have been fabricated, but this remains a possibility, albeit a very small one. Versions of some pictures of the aircraft that have been deliberately enhanced using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to try to glean more details are known to be circulating online. Many phone cameras now produce images that are similarly 'smoothed' by default, as well.
The newest views of the J-36 in a video and associated still images, seen in the social media posts below, which are said to have been shot in the city of Chengdu. The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which has its main plant there, is responsible for the aircraft.
Finally got my hands on this video! Crystal-clear footage of Chengdu's 6th-generation fighter jet soaring over Chengdu Airport. Absolutely amazing!
#Chengdu6thGenFighter#MilitaryTechpic.twitter.com/Mmuz8kQA9h
— GaoFrank
(@gaofrank75) April 23, 2025
Wow! I hope this latest image of the J-36 is legit but usually @琴石2022 on Weibo is quite credible!
pic.twitter.com/zkPLBZaku4
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
As noted, the new rear aspect view of the J-36 gives the clearest look we've seen at the engine exhausts for its trio of engines, which is already a highly unusual feature of the aircraft. As seen below, we can now see 'petals' extending out over the top of the exhaust trenches that sit inward of the aircraft's tailing edge. This only underscores TWZ's previous analysis about the J-36's exhaust configuration and its major similarities in form and function to that found on Northrop's YF-23. The YF-23 also notably featured an exotic intake design with boundary layer pores to help improve airflow, as you can learn more about here.
As we have previously written about the J-36's exhaust arrangement in general:
'This is a clear low-observable play both for radar and infrared signature management. Recessing the engine exhaust before the aircraft's upper trailing edge is a classic low-observable design element that Northrop largely pioneered with Tacit Blue, B-2 Spirit, and YF-23. The ejected exhaust is spread out and has the potential to be actively cooled by this upper deck area. Above all else, this provides very limited line-of-sight to the engine exhausts themselves, which helps significantly in minimizing infrared signature, as well as radar cross-section, from most aspects.'
The J-36 video also offers a new view into the aircraft's cockpit. Since the aircraft first emerged publicly, there has been speculation that it may have a two-seat cockpit with side-by-side seating. The imagery we have now is still inconclusive on this detail, but the possibility that two distinct heads-up displays may be visible has been raised by Andreas Rupprecht, a longtime Chinese military observer and contributor to this website.
No, it clearly looks like two HUDs pic.twitter.com/SCvVvfc2DS
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
Additional pictures and videos of the J-XDS/J-50 from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation have also been circulating online in the past week or so.
And the same one in cut-out form …(Images via @Captain小潇 on Weibo by OPPOFind 8) pic.twitter.com/15axXJCbc8
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
Original image pic.twitter.com/bPi7XBpa3j
— John Jones (@nibelogn1996) April 17, 2025
Another set of images showing SAC's J-XDS prototype with its landing gear down and from the side … unfortunately still very small & blurry!(Images via @琴石2022 from Weibo) pic.twitter.com/L1FeFV6b6s
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
A test flight of
Shenyang's sixth-generation aircraft took place today. It is clearly visible that the aircraft's swiveling wingtips are rotating. https://t.co/ROHRjHAo1Rpic.twitter.com/PFKFSUffPs
— 笑脸男人 (@lfx160219) April 23, 2025
As mentioned, most interestingly, a bay of some kind with a pronounced bulge at the front is now plainly visible on at least the right side of the fuselage behind the air intake. It is also positioned right in front of the main landing bay on that side of the aircraft.
Whether or not the J-XDS/J-50's bay may be for weapons or intended to serve some other purpose is unknown. Questions have already been raised about whether there is enough internal space in this part of the aircraft to hold a relevant munition. It is worth noting here that China's J-20 stealth fighter has weapons bays in roughly the same location, which also have a novel configuration wherein the missiles inside pop out fully along with their launch rails before firing, as you can read more about here.
We also have much clearer views of the J-XDS/J-50's unique swiveling wingtip control surfaces. TWZ has previously assessed that these wingtips most likely help provide additional stability for the tailless aircraft, and has explored the advantages and disadvantages of such a design decision in detail.
No idea yet, but also interesting what looks like massive actuators … pic.twitter.com/9fGMn1GbY6
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
Though any new details about the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 continue to draw particular attention, they represent just a portion of significant military aviation development efforts known to be ongoing in China, as well as additional work assumed to be going on outside of the public eye.
Also today, a satellite image available through Google Earth began circulating online showing a curious object with a stealth fighter-like appearance, including a modified diamond-like delta platform, canards, and twin vertical tails, on the apron in front of the passenger terminal at Jining Qufu Airport in Shandong Province in eastern China. Additional satellite imagery from Planet Labs that TWZ reviews shows that it has been there since at least September 2024. This is all doubly curious given that Jining Qufu Airport, which had been collocated with the People's Liberation Army Air Force's (PLAAF) Jining Air Base, was officially closed in December 2023.
What the 'airframe' is unclear, but it seems very likely to be a mock-up of some kind. It shows some rough similarities, but also significant differences to the Baidi Type-B, also known as the 'White Emperor,' an entirely fictional 'space fighter' design that the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) displayed at the 2024 Zhuhai airshow.
Comparisons have also already been drawn to vaguely J-20-esque 'shapes' that emerged at the remote Lintao Air Base in north-central China in 2022. However, the structure of the wings and the nose of the object at Jining are distinctly different from those previously seen at Lintao, which may also be mock-ups or decoys.
A video is also now making the rounds on social media that has prompted questions about whether yet another new Chinese advanced military aircraft has emerged. What can be gleaned from the video is limited given how far away the aircraft is in the footage and its overall quality. Its provenance is also not immediately clear. What can be seen does not immediately appear to directly align with any known Chinese designs. Its overall shape also does not fit with a still-unidentified tailless fighter-like airframe that emerged at Shenyang's main plant in January, which TWZ was first to report on.
China is reportedly testing a third platform in northern China, according to the latest visuals that have emerged on social media.The aircraft appears to be different from the two previously known tailless designs currently undergoing testing.It is still too early to… pic.twitter.com/9SsfoHPsAi
— International Defence Analysis (@Defence_IDA) April 23, 2025
Yes and as I noted here I'm confused …
https://t.co/s5MNby9ZBlHowever it is so much blurry. The best guess would be some sort of UAV/UCAV. We simply need to wait for more. pic.twitter.com/SqHTBwxf8J
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) April 23, 2025
At the same time, it would hardly be the first time a new advanced Chinese aircraft design has emerged suddenly. The dramatic appearance of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 flying on December 26th last year, despite no imagery having previously emerged of either aircraft, is a prime example.
Ongoing testing of the J-36 and J-XDS/J-50 is certainly continuing to reveal new details about those designs. We had previously predicted that reasonably high-resolution images of the two aircraft would emerge by early summer in line with the pattern of past Chinese rolling 'leaks.'
If other advanced Chinese military aircraft are now flying or are otherwise progressing into the latter stages of development, additional details may well begin to emerge about them, as well.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
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Mass Drone Attack On Exposed Russian Bombers Puts Spotlight On Hardened Aircraft Shelter Debate
New details continue to emerge about Ukraine's unprecedented covert drone attacks on multiple Russian air bases, but the full scale and scope of the resulting losses remain unclear. It is the latest global event to put a spotlight on an already fierce debate about whether the U.S. military should be investing in more hardened aircraft shelters and other new fortified infrastructure at bases abroad and at home, something TWZ has been following closely. What we just saw in Russia is a nightmare scenario that we have already been sounding the alarm on for years now, which broadly underscores the growing threats posed by drones. Readers can first get up to speed on what is known about the attacks, which were focused on trying to neutralize Russian strategic bombers that are regularly used to conduct cruise missile attacks on Ukraine, in our latest reporting here. Authorities in Ukraine say they attacked five bases with a total of 117 small and relatively short-range first-person-view (FPV) type kamikaze drones, destroying or at least damaging 41 aircraft. Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, has also said that 'at least 13 Russian aircraft were destroyed.' These claims have yet to be independently verified and they should be taken as speculative at this time. The russian terrorist state no longer has the ability to produce Tu-95s or any kind of strategic bomber. This is a tremendous victory for Ukraine. — Michael MacKay (@mhmck) June 1, 2025 The drones were launched from container-like enclosures built to look like small sheds or tiny homes on tractor-trailer trucks. Questions remain about exactly how they were guided to their targets, but at least some of them were human-in-the-loop guided by operators using first-person-view 'goggles' or tablet-like devices. 5/5. After launching, the trailers self-destructed to avoid detection or recovery (see photos). — Roman Sheremeta (@rshereme) June 2, 2025 From the imagery that has already emerged, a key aspect of the Ukrainian drone attacks was that the Russian planes that were targeted were parked out in the open. The fact that aircraft sitting on open flightlines are especially vulnerable, including to uncrewed aerial threats, is not new. 'One day last week, I had two small UASs that were interfering with operations… At one base, the gate guard watched one fly over the top of the gate check, tracked it while it flew over the flight line for a little while, and then flew back out and left,' now-retired Air Force Gen. James 'Mike' Holmes, then head of Air Combat Command (ACC), said in 2017, now nearly a decade ago. 'Imagine a world where somebody flies a couple hundred of those and flies one down the intake of my F-22s with just a small weapon on it.' At that time, TWZ noted that it would be easier for an adversary to just attack parked planes in the open, offering a way to knock out large numbers of aircraft before they can even get airborne. Since then, we have already had multiple opportunities to re-highlight the ever-growing risk of something like this occurring to America's armed forces, including scenarios involving more localized attacks on bases far from active war zones by lower-end weaponized commercial drones. The Russian military has been acutely aware of drone threats to air bases even before the all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A mass drone attack on Russia's Khmeimim Air Base outpost in Syria in 2017 was a watershed moment that TWZ highlighted at the time as a sign of things to come. Regular drone attacks on Khmeimim in the late 2010s also prompted the construction of new hardened aircraft shelters there. Last year, Russia's Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov said that 'a schedule for airfields has already been drawn up and that shelters will definitely be built' in response to Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, according to independent Russian journalist Alexander Kots. The construction of new aircraft shelters, hardened and unhardened, had already been visible in satellite imagery of a growing number of air bases in Russia since late 2023. However, from what has been observed to date, the focus has been on better protecting tactical jets at bases closer to Ukraine. Just recently, Belousov was shown a model of a hangar with a Tu-160 Blackjack bomber inside as part of a presentation on new developments relating to prefabricated and modular structures for various military purposes. Whether or not the hangar model reflects an active project, or is a proposal or notional concept of some kind, is unclear. Tu-160s were among the aircraft types Ukraine explicitly targeted with its covert drone attacks this weekend. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov was shown a model of a hangar for Tu-160 strategic bombers during a visit last — Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 2, 2025 Russia's construction of new aircraft shelters is part of an expanding global trend that has also been observed in China, North Korea, and elsewhere. Hardened Aircraft Shelters of J-10 Fighters — Húrin (@Hurin92) September 8, 2023 Geolocation: 39.4069444, 125.8983333Sunchon AB, DPRK (North Korea)10/27/23 Sentinel-2 L2A pass shows paving and shelters (16 total) completed. Sunchon is home to the KPAAF 57th Air Regiment (MiG-29s).@GeoConfirmedhttps:// — Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) December 1, 2023 Satellite imagery of Nasosnaya Air Base – Republic Of Azerbaijan Construction of hangars for JF-17 fighter jets, which began in early 2024, is now in its final stages. The base will soon be ready to host a full squadron of 16 aircraft. — آریان || Āryān (@BasedQizilbash) May 28, 2025 The U.S. military does have hardened aircraft shelters are various bases, but has made very limited investments in building more since the end of the Cold War. Calls for new shelters, hardened or otherwise, have been pointedly absent from U.S. military planning in recent years, at least publicly. Some American officials have actively pushed back on the idea, often citing the cost of building new hardened infrastructure, which is funding that could be applied elsewhere. The U.S. Air Force, for instance, has been more focused on active defenses, such as surface-to-air missile systems, and expanding the number of operating locations that forces could be dispersed to, if necessary. 'So, we will have the need for bases, the main operating bases from which we operate,' Air Force Gen. Kevin Schneider, head of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), said at the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA) 2025 Warfare Symposium in March. 'The challenge becomes, at some point, we will need to move to austere locations. We will need to disaggregate the force. We will need to operate out of other locations, again, one for survivability, and two, again, to provide response options.' Those are requirements that 'cost money' and force the Air Force to 'make internal trades,' such as 'do we put that dollar towards, you know, fixing the infrastructure at Kadena [Air Base in Japan] or do we put that dollar towards restoring an airfield at Tinian,' Schneider added. There is growing criticism that U.S. forces are being left increasingly vulnerable, including to drone attacks, by a lack of investment in hardened aircraft shelters and other new fortified facilities. A recent deployment of six of the U.S. Air Force's 19 prized B-2 stealth bombers to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, which wrapped up earlier this month, had offered a new datapoint in the shelter debate. Diego Garcia only has four specially designed B-2 shelters open, which are not hardened in any way, and the bombers were seen parked out in the open while on the island. More recently, a detachment of F-15E Strike Eagles arrived on the island to help provide force protection to other assets still there. 'While 'active defenses' such as air and missile defense systems are an important part of base and force protection, their high cost and limited numbers mean the U.S. will not be able to deploy enough of them to fully protect our bases,' a group of 13 Republican members of Congress had written in an open letter to the heads of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy in May 2024. 'In order to complement active defenses and strengthen our bases, we must invest in 'passive defenses,' like hardened aircraft shelters and underground bunkers, dispersal of forces across both within a base and across multiple bases, redundant logistical facilities, and rapid runway repair capabilities.' 'While hardened aircraft shelters do not provide complete protection from missile attacks, they do offer significantly more protection against submunitions than expedient shelters (relocatable steel shelters). They would also force China to use more force to destroy each aircraft, thereby increasing the resources required to attack our forces and, in turn, the survivability of our valuable air assets,' they added. 'Constructing hardened shelters for all our air assets may not be economically feasible or tactically sensible, but the fact that the number of such shelters on U.S. bases in the region has barely changed over a decade is deeply troubling.' In January, the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., released a report that underscores the points made above about the benefits that new hardened aircraft shelters offer in terms of reducing vulnerability and increasing the resources an enemy would have to expend. The authors of the Hudson report assessed that 10 missiles, each with a warhead capable of scattering cluster munitions across areas 450 feet in diameter, could be enough to neutralize all aircraft parked in the open and critical fuel storage facilities at key airbases like Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan, Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, or Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. The general points made here about the particular danger of submunitions from cluster weapons could also apply to drones with similarly sized warheads like the ones Ukraine just used in its attacks on Russia's air bases. Even fully-enclosed, but unhardened shelters could provide a modicum of additional defense against these kinds of threats. Last year, officials at two U.S. air bases – Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina – expressed interest in the possibility of adding nets or other similar physical defensive measures to existing open-ended sunshade-type shelters to help protect against attacks by smaller drones. It's unclear whether there has been any movement since on actual implementation. Nets are among the drone defenses currently used on both sides of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Waves of still-mysterious drone incursions over Langley Air Force Base in December 2023, which TWZ was the first to report on, remain a particular focal point for broader calls from Congress and elsewhere to better protect U.S. military facilities against uncrewed aerial threats. What happened at Langley is just one of a still-growing number of worrisome drone incidents over and around U.S. military facilities, training ranges, and warships off the coast of the United States, as well as critical civilian infrastructure, in the past decade or so, many of which we have reported first. Overseas bases well outside of established conflict zones that host American forces have been the site of concerning drone overflights in recent years, as well. There was also a flurry of reported drone sightings last year over New Jersey and other parts of the United States last year, many of which quickly turned out to be spurious. However, the surge in public attention underscored a real threat, as Ukraine has now demonstrated in dramatic fashion. While Ukraine says its covert drone attacks on Russia took more than a year to plan, prepare for, and stage, they also underscore how the basic barriers to entry for carrying out drone attacks, especially ones involving weaponized commercial designs, have long been low in terms of cost and technical aptitude. The operation notably leveraged ArduPilot, described as an 'open source autopilot system' that is freely available online. Of course open source software has been used in war before, but seeing ArduPilot Mission Planner being used to blow up Russian strategic bombers is still wild. — John Wiseman (@ 2025-06-01T15:55:48.877Z Additional footage shows another FPV drone overflying the airfield; multiple Tupolev Tu-95 bombers are seen aflame. — Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) June 1, 2025 18 years after @Jrdmnz @jason4short and I created ArduPilot, here it is destroying large parts of the Russian air force. Crazy — Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) June 1, 2025 Drone threats are only to expand and accelerate in terms of sophistication, thanks in large part to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as time goes on. Uncrewed aerial systems with rapidly improving autonomous navigation and targeting capabilities that do not require a human in the loop present particularly serious threats. Without the need for an active link to a human operator, those drones are immune to jamming and do not pump out radio emissions that can help provide early warning to defenders. They are also not limited in range to keep a connection with their controllers. Improving capabilities to autonomously find and prosecute targets are already emerging on one-way-attack drones, and this is something that can be expected to proliferate, as well. Autonomous drones that can target objects dynamic targeting without having to rely just on a fixed set of coordinates via satellite navigation like GPS, another signal that can be disrupted, will only make drone threats more complex and vastly harder to counter overall. TWZ has explored all of this in great detail in this past feature. Swarming is another area that will make lower-end drones so much harder to defeat. Working cooperatively as an integrated team at computer speeds allows drones to operate and react with extreme efficiency beyond the pace of the enemy's decision cycle. This, along with sheer mass and the resilience that goes with that, can quickly overwhelm defenses. 'In general, the technology to field systems has far outpaced the technology to defeat those systems,' Rear Adm. Paul Spedero, Vice Director for Operations, J3, Joint Chiefs of Staff, told members of the House Oversight Committee at a hearing on drone threats in April. 'It's a much wider, broader, deeper market for drone application, for commercial and recreational purposes, so hence that technology has evolved very quickly from radio control drones to now fully autonomous drones that may or may not even rely on reception of a GPS signal, which would make it very challenging to intercept.' Ukraine's covert drone attacks on Russia also underscore that these are increasingly threats unbounded by basic geography. An adversary could launch uncrewed aerial attackers from 1,000 miles away or from an area right next to the target, or anywhere in between. There are many drone types that can address those missions needs, and affordably so. Those drones could be launched from the ground, from ships at sea, and/or from aerial platforms, including other lower-end drones. Complex attacks involving different tiers of threats approaching from multiple vectors at once only add to the complications for defending forces. Ukrainian "Dovbush" UAV carrying and releasing two FPV drones during "Dovbush" UAV is reportedly capable of carrying up to six FPV drones at the same — Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) November 19, 2024 Despite all this, America's armed forces have also continued to lag in the fielding of counter-drone defenses for forces down-range, as well as bases and other assets in and around the homeland. Domestically, an often convoluted array of legal, regulatory, and other factors have presented challenges. On the sidelines of a U.S. military counter-drone experiment called Falcon Peak 2025 in October 2024, TWZ and other outlets were notably told that lasers, microwaves, surface-to-air missiles, and guns were all off the table as options for neutralizing drones within the United States, at least at the time. For over a decade I have outlined the exact scenario as we just saw in Russia. It could happen in the U.S. tomorrow. This was a pivotal event. U.S. military and political leadership cannot live in partial denial of this threat anymore. Our most prized aircraft are sitting ducks. — Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 1, 2025 The biggest challenge with this issue is education. Many just don't take the time to learn the ins and outs of the UAS threat, there are many layers and nuances, emerging technologies. There are high up people in the military that don't even really understand these basics. Then… — Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 1, 2025 The U.S. military does continue to push for enhancements to the authorities it has now to protect its bases and other assets domestically against drone threats. As part of a new Pentagon-wide counter-drone strategy rolled out last year, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) has a 'synchronizer role' that includes making sure commanders know what they are allowed to do now if drones appear around their facilities. Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian air bases this past weekend can only add to the already intense debate over investments in hardened aircraft shelters and other fortified infrastructure, as well as fuel calls for new counter-drone defenses, in general. The stark reality of what Ukrainian intelligence services have now demonstrated makes clear that uncrewed aerial threats, including to key assets deep inside a country's national territory, are well past the point of something that can be ignored. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
What We Know About Ukraine's Mass Drone Assault On Russian Bombers
A day after Ukraine's audacious attack using drones launched from trucks to strike nearby Russian bombers, the scope of the damage and how the mission was pulled off is just starting to come into focus. While there are still questions as to just how many bombers were destroyed, the attack was a major blow to Russian strategic aviation, regardless, a subject you can read more about in a separate story we posted earlier today. You can also catch up with our initial report on the attack here. Ukraine claims it struck 41 Russian aircraft in its attack on Sunday, according to Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which carried out the attack known as Spiderweb. All told, 117 first-person view (FPV) drones struck the Belaya, Dyagilevo, Ivanovo and Olenya air bases, the SBU says. On June 1, the Security Service of Ukraine carried out a brilliant operation— on enemy territory, targeting only military objectives, specifically the equipment used to strike Ukraine. Russia suffered significant total, 117 drones were used in the operation – with a… — Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 2, 2025 'The Security Service of Ukraine conducted an unprecedented and unique special operation to simultaneously destroy four military airfields in the rear of the Russian Federation, where enemy aircraft are deployed,' the SBU stated on Telegram on Monday. 'As a result of drone strikes, 41 aircraft were hit, including the A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160.' 'In general, we are talking about the defeat of 34% of strategic cruise missile carriers at the main airfields of the Russian Federation,' Malyuk claimed. 'This was not just a devastating blow to enemy aircraft, but a serious slap in the face of the power and terrorist essence of the Russian Federation.' Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government's center for counteracting disinformation, said that so far, there is evidence that 13 aircraft were destroyed. '…even more were damaged …(over 40 in total),' he claimed on Telegram, though that figure could rise. We must make clear that all of this still needs to be confirmed. Meanwhile, Russian sources discount the damage. Again, The War Zone cannot independently verify either claims. Adding to the challenges of doing so is that many of the air bases attacked are under cloud cover, making verification through traditional satellite imagery impossible. Satellite mapping images taken by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) over the Belaya airbase appear to indicate that four Tu-95s and four Tu-22M3s were destroyed at the base. There are further indications that four Tu-95s and one An-12 were destroyed at Olenya, for a total of 13 airframes. No images have yet emerged of Dyagilevo or Ivanovo, so the total number of aircraft destroyed or damaged could be higher. When it comes to SAR imagery, especially of the commercial variety, it should be treated as an indicator and not conclusive for evaluating damage like this. Pairing what is imaged with other intelligence-related products can help bridge the certainty gap. So, we will have to wait for more information. The revetted parking positions. — Chris Biggers (@CSBiggers) June 2, 2025 Olenya/Olenegorsk/Vysokiy (part two).Burning An-12: 68.146555, 33.450901Destroyed Tu-95MS from part 3 at 68.145419, 33.449928 identified as RF-94257 '22 Red' — Evergreen Intel (@ 2025-06-02T14:24:07.929Z There was also some indication that a Tu-95MS may have also been destroyed at the Ukrainka air base. Yesterday's drone attack on Ukrainka Air Base in the Amur Oblast of Russia's Far East, right on the border with China, which was initially believed to have been a total failure, with the truck and drone container seen burning on the side of the road after some kind of… — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 2, 2025 There are additional suggestions that two more Tu-95s may have been damaged, as well as an Il-76 Candid transport aircraft. Updated BDA of Operation Pavutyna as of 1500 EST June 2nd 2025. Olenya Airfield 4x Destroyed TU-95 1x Likely Destroyed TU-951x Destroyed AN-12(Typo on my part kept accidentally typing AN-22) Belaya Airfield3x Destroyed TU-95 1x Damaged TU-95 4 TU-22M3 in total… — Intelschizo (@Schizointel) June 2, 2025 'At the Olenya airbase in the Murmansk region, where Pantsir was actively working, only one Tu-95MS was lost and another was seriously damaged,' the Russian Military Chronicle Telegram channel claimed. 'The only thing that saved us was that the planes were standing empty for routine maintenance, without missiles. According to other sources, 8 Tu-95MS units were partially or completely lost, including possibly an Il-76 (the pictures are not clear). Also, 4 Tu-22M units and 1 An-12 were disabled.' No imagery has yet emerged of damaged or destroyed Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, the A-50 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, or the transport airframes. Several videos were posted immediately after the attacks showing Russian bombers being struck, burning, as well as the drones being launched. Ukrainian drones struck Russian strategic aviation at the Belaya air base in Irkutsk – 4,800 km from Kyiv. — Michael MacKay (@mhmck) June 1, 2025 Locals filmed dozens of small FPV-like drones which reportedly struck multiple aircraft and other targets at the base. In short, a truck drove up to a gas station in the town next to the base and launched at least 20 drones.#BudanovApproves#OSINT — OSINT Intuit (@UKikaski) June 1, 2025 The Russian aviation-connected Fighterbomber Telegram channel downplayed the scope of the damage but acknowledged the seriousness of the attack. '… 34% of strategic cruise missile carriers were hit. This is pure bullshit,' Fighterbomber wrote on Monday morning. 'The number of planes hit is in the single digits. (Hit does not always mean destroyed) And our carriers are Tu-95, Tu-160 and Tu-22. But yes, even one destroyed [strategic bomber] is a huge loss for a country that does not yet make such aircraft and has nowhere to get them.' In addition to more information about the number of types of aircraft destroyed, more details are emerging about how this attack was carried out. 'First the SBU transported FPV drones to Russia, and later – mobile wooden houses,' the SBU said Monday. 'Already in the territory of the Russian Federation, drones were hidden under the roofs of houses, placed on trucks. At the right moment, the roofs of the houses were remotely opened, and the drones flew to hit the designated targets – Russian bombers.' One video shows one of the drones hovering over a bomber as it slowly approaches its point of detonation. SBU spokesman Artem Dekhtiarenko declined to offer more details, adding that for now, he can only share the information provided in the official statement. 'Some things may be told only upon approval at a determined time,' he told us. 'We disclose the details only when it will not hamper the future operations.' Footage showing a Ukrainian FPV Drone striking one of the fuel tanks on a Tu-95MS Long-Range Strategic Bomber at Olenya Airbase in Murmansk today during Operation Spiderweb. — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 1, 2025 It's been a long time since I worked with ArduPilot Mission Planner, but I think this screenshot suggests this drone navigated to the airfield autonomously and then was hand-flown into the target. "PosHold", "0m>6" and the map in the upper left are the clues. 1/ — John Wiseman (@lemonodor) June 1, 2025 Spiderweb, more than 18 months in the making, was a marvel of operational security, timing and logistics. It took place in secret, in different time zones, and required the manufacture and movement of drones, the trucks they were launched from, and the structures they were launched from. The simplicity in this plan makes it. Use existing unwitting logistical avenues to drive your weapons to a location near unsuspecting enemy positions and unleash your attack.I'd love to know how they got these structures into Russia. — TheIntelFrog (@TheIntelFrog) June 2, 2025 As we mentioned yesterday, containers with the drones were assembled in Russia, according to Russian milblogger Sergey Kolyasnikov. 'We found a warehouse where containers with drones were collected, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk tract 28A,' he wrote on Telegram. 'It was rented for 350,000 rubles (about $4,500). That's why the truck in the Amur region had Chelyabinsk license plates – they were leaving from there.' Russian sources claim geolocation shows Ukrainian FPV drones used in the airbase attacks were assembled inside a rented warehouse at 28A Sverdlovsky Trakt, Chelyabinsk, claimed facility lies just near the Kazakhstan border, possibly a supply route for components. — Clash Report (@clashreport) June 1, 2025 Ukrainian operatives duped those around them, the Kyiv Independent (KI) reported on Monday. Those operatives, 'likely supported by embedded agents or sympathetic locals—built First Person View (FPV) drones using materials sourced from within Russia,' the publication wrote. 'These strike platforms were hidden inside wooden modular cabins constructed to look like prefabricated houses. Beneath the roof panels, drone bays were concealed between structural beams, with remotely operated opening mechanisms to allow launch on command.' Unique footage and details of the preparation of the operation to destroy Russian air bases published by the SBU! Drones were hidden in the roofs of camouflaged cargo to SBU sources, Ukraine's Security Service conducted a special operation called… — Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) June 1, 2025 Once sealed, 'the cabins were loaded onto civilian trucks. The vehicles were then handed over to unwitting Russian drivers, recruited by Artyom, a 37-year-old ethnic Ukrainian who coordinated logistics under the cover of a private construction job,' KI noted. 'The drivers were told they were transporting portable homes to regions like Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan, and Ivanovo. Each was given a delivery plan, a route, and a schedule. During transit, a mysterious intermediary would call and issue final location instructions—always near military infrastructure.' Russia's defense ministry said it had detained an undisclosed number of 'participants in the terrorist attacks,' the Financial Times reported, citing state media. How Ukraine's Special Services conned Russian truck drivers into delivering drones that then destroyed $7 billion of Russia's most irreplaceable — Kyiv Insider (@KyivInsider) June 2, 2025 Zelensky on Sunday offered another supposed detail. 'The most interesting thing – and we can already say this publicly – is that the 'office' of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions,' the Ukrainian president claimed. In the aftermath of the attacks, video emerged of Russian authorities stopping trucks for inspection, creating large traffic jams across the nation as authorities try to determine if there are any more attacks in the offing. Traffic jams are being reported today all across Russia, with trucks seen backed-up for miles in the Irkutsk Oblast, as the Federal Security Service (FSB) and other law enforcement agencies frantically search for any additional drone carriers, fearing another large-scale drone… — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 2, 2025 While the damage from Sunday's attack was still being assessed, both sides launched new cross-border barrages. Video emerged on social media of claimed attacks on the Lipetsk and Voronezh regions, though the results of those incidents are unclear. 'In Lipetsk Oblast, a drone crashed behind a three-story apartment building in Lebedyan, causing a fire and shattering windows from the blast wave,' Euromaidan Press reported. 'Local reports suggested drones attempted to target the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant NLMK industrial plant that produces steel.' 'Voronezh Oblast experienced infrastructure damage when a high-voltage wire broke on the M-4 'Don' highway,' according to Euromaidan Press. 'Governor Alexander Gusev reported broken windows in houses and vehicles but stated there were no civilian casualties among the 15 drones intercepted in the region. Local residents reported attacks on the Borisoglebsk military airfield, which houses an aviation repair plant previously targeted in January 2025, according to Russian independent media Astra.' The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 'air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 162 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles' overnight. That included 27 UAVs over the Lipetsk region, 16 over the Voronezh region, 11 over the Bryansk region and 11 over the Ryazan region. Drones are heavily attacking Lipetsk-2 airbase, NLMK steelworks, and ammunition warehouses. — Ukraine Front Line (@EuromaidanPR) June 2, 2025 Overnight, Russia was again under a massive attack reporting downing 162 Ukrainian drones across 8 regions.A military airfield was targeted in Voronezh Oblast, according to local residents. The airfield also houses an aviation repair plant that was previously hit in January… — Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 2, 2025 Russia launched attacks as well, firing 80 Shahed attack drones and simulator drones of various types along with three Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and an Iskander-K cruise missile, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. 'The main areas of the air strike are Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions,' the Air Force stated on Telegram. In the morning, the enemy struck one of the enterprises of the Chernihiv region. Firefighters localized the fire to an area of 6800 sq. m. There is no threat of further spread. — The Ukrainian Review (@UkrReview) June 2, 2025 Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia held the second round of talks aimed at ending the conflict, now in its fourth year. Negotiations concluded in a little more than an hour, with little additional progress made. The two sides did agree on an exchange of prisoners and remains, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Ukraine and Russia have agreed to an 'all-for-all' exchange of seriously wounded and ill prisoners of war, as well as all service members aged 18–25, Umerov told reporters. Both sides have also agreed to begin exchanging the bodies of 6,000 service members each, he added. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov states following today's peace talks in Istanbul, that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a 'all-for-all' exchange of seriously wounded and ill prisoners of war, as well as all servicemembers aged 18–25. He adds that both sides have also… — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 2, 2025 While Ukraine was seeking a full ceasefire as a starting point in negotiations, Moscow's top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, stated that Russia proposed a partial ceasefire at the talks in Istanbul, The Guardian reported. 'We have proposed a specific ceasefire for two to three days in certain areas of the front line,' Medinsky said, 'so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers.' There was no immediate response to that from Ukrainian negotiators. Another key point that emerged was Ukraine handing Russia a list of 'several hundred' children that Kyiv wants returned from Russia, according to Umerov. These abductions were the subject of an international criminal court arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as other Russian officials. It is unknown at the moment how Russia will respond to having its bombers successfully attacked on such a scale from inside its own borders, however, the devastation of even a portion of its strategic bomber fleet will likely engender a response beyond the scope of what have become almost routine drone and missile attacks. Contact the author: howard@
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Forter Recognized as a Leader in Frost & Sullivan Radar Report for Fraud Detection & Prevention, KYU for the Fourth Year
NEW YORK, June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Forter, the Trust Platform for digital commerce, has been recognized as a leader in the Frost & Sullivan Radar Report for Fraud Detection and Prevention, Know Your User (KYU) for the fourth year, signaling its continued market leadership and product innovation. According to Deepali Sathe, Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, "Forter incorporates evolving fraud trends into its product development strategy, helping companies improve profitability and move beyond a transaction-based approach to a more holistic consumer approach." Since its founding in 2013 – when Forter disrupted the market with its AI-powered fraud management solution – the company has expanded its platform to address the entire digital commerce journey, processing over $2 trillion in transactions and protecting 1.8 billion shoppers. Its fully automated solutions protect every digital interaction, including account protection, fraud management, payment optimization, chargeback recovery and abuse prevention. Together, they form Forter's Trust Platform which delivers identity intelligence to help businesses optimize conversions, grow customer lifetime value, reduce loss and accelerate growth. "Forter's investment in research and development translates into growing its offerings to address challenges across the customer journey. Its identity intelligence empowers risk and digital teams to understand the identity behind every transaction and proactively counter sophisticated fraud attempts," according to Sathe. The company's product innovation, including its recent spring product release, helps businesses grow revenue, deliver a seamless customer experience and scale their operations. Forter also continues to expand its partner ecosystem, receiving exclusive partner status with AWS, Shopify and Salesforce – accelerating growth and extending its global reach to serve the world's leading brands. "Over a decade ago, Forter pushed the industry forward by taking an identity-focused approach and introducing AI to deliver automated risk decisions. Since then, we've built the largest first-party dataset and expanded our use of AI to drive revenue uplift and customer lifetime value for the world's biggest brands," said Cyndy Lobb, chief product officer, Forter. "Four years of leadership recognition from Frost & Sullivan is a testament to the strength of our platform, our unwavering commitment to customers and the growth of our business." To read the full Frost & Sullivan Radar Report for Fraud Detection and Prevention (KYU), visit About ForterForter is the Trust Platform for digital commerce. We make accurate, instant assessments of trustworthiness across every step of the buying journey. Our ability to isolate fraud and protect consumers is why Adobe, ASOS, eBay, Instacart, Priceline, Nordstrom, and many more leaders across industries have trusted us to process more than $2 trillion in transactions. Our deep understanding of identity and use of automation helps businesses prevent fraud, maximize revenue and deliver superior experiences for their consumers. Learn more at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Forter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
