Max AfterburnerKC-135 Stratotanker, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35 Lightning II operations over the Strait of Hormuz, plus Shield AI’s X-BAT autonomous VTOL fighter — the aerial refueling bridge holding up the U.S. naval blockade of Iran, which U.S. Central Command says has now redirected 51 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two more since 14 July. In the last 24 hours the IRGC publicly contradicted Iran’s own foreign ministry, saying the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is unrelated to the Iran-Oman negotiations, and a missile struck an ADNOC tanker in the Strait — an attack the UAE formally condemned as an act of piracy by the Revolutionary Guard.
Breaking down the F-35’s AN/APG-81 radar and distributed aperture system, the F-16’s small-diameter bomb and laser-guided rocket loadout, the KC-135 tanker bridge, Iran’s remaining anti-ship missile and naval mine threat, and what a runway-independent autonomous fighter changes about persistence. Global Round Up: Ukraine’s long-range drone strike on a Wildberries logistics center in Yekaterinburg, 2,000 km past the front line, and Taiwan’s M1A2T Abrams deployment to Taoyuan International Airport during Han Kuang 42.
