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Anduril drone fires live missile in first Air Force combat-drone test

Illustration accompanying article: Anduril drone fires live missile in first Air Force combat-drone test
  • An Anduril YFQ-44A Fury drone fired an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile at a simulated target over the Mojave Desert on July 15, the first live-weapon launch from a U.S. Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone.
  • The missile struck a digital target in a beyond-line-of-sight engagement, the Air Force said.
  • Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said the test brought the service "one step closer to delivering capabilities to the warfighter."
  • The Air Force last month awarded contracts for the next generation of CCA drones to Anduril and General Atomics, with plans to acquire about 1,000 of the aircraft.
 2026-07-15 · 3 MIN READ

Astronomers spot faintest planet ever directly imaged from Earth

Illustration accompanying article: Astronomers spot faintest planet ever directly imaged from Earth
  • A Scottish and German-led team detected a faint cold gas giant orbiting Beta Pictoris using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, then confirmed its orbit from archival data spanning 11 years.
  • A separate California-led team independently spotted the same planet with NASA's Webb Space Telescope, requiring just two observations to make the discovery.
  • The planet is the dimmest world ever directly imaged from Earth, having been hidden by the glare of its parent star and two brighter companion planets.
  • European Southern Observatory's Markus Bonse, who co-led the first team, said the search "was very much playing hide-and-seek for 11 years."
 2026-07-15 · 3 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: OpenAI releases ChatGPT 5.6 after White House cybersecurity delay