• Anduril is competing with General Atomics for the US Air Force's drone wingman program.
• The startup says it's designed its drone, Fury, with commercial parts like a business jet engine.
• The Air Force has cited the project as a way to bring "affordable mass" to its aerial missions.

Anduril Industries has revealed new details on how it plans to keep costs down for the US Air Force as it competes with defense heavyweight General Atomics for the drone wingman program.

The defense startup, cofounded by Palmer Luckey, was featured in a CBS "60 Minutes" segment on Sunday. During the segment, Anduril's CEO, Brian Schimpf, said the firm designed its AI-powered fighter jet, Fury, to be built from commercial parts to make manufacturing easier.

"We tried to eliminate really every bottleneck we could find around what makes an aircraft hard to produce," said Schimpf.

Schimpf said the Fury's designers, for example, chose to go with a commercial business jet engine instead of a military one.

The Warzone reported in 2023 that the Fury was designed with a Williams International FJ44-4M turbofan engine, which is popular in light business jets such as those in the Cessna Citation Series. Anduril didn't say in the Sunday CBS segment if the Fury still uses the same engine.

Schimpf also said that the Fury avoids "very exquisite, big aircraft landing gear" in favor of a simpler model.

"We designed it so that it can be built in any machine shop in America," he said of the landing gear.

"We've designed nearly every part of this that can be made in hundreds of different places within the US from lots of different suppliers," Schimpf added.

The Fury, designated YFQ-44A by the Air Force, is Anduril's bid to win the Pentagon's Collaborative Combat Aircraft contract, which seeks to build large autonomous or semi-autonomous drones that can fly in tandem with piloted advanced fighter jets for Next Generation Air Dominance.

The service wants these new aircraft to be much cheaper than regular fighter jets. Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force Chief of Staff, said in November that the purpose of the drone wingman program was to bring "affordable mass" to aerial missions.

It's a priority that reflects mounting concerns in the US that the American military could run out of weapons and ammo in a matter of weeks or even days if it were to go to war with a rival such as China.

Now, the Air Force says the drone wingman program is a core part of its mandate to recalibrate itself for near-peer conflict.

Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force Secretary until January, said he'd accelerated plans to develop Collaborative Combat Aircraft when analyses showed the drones would "change air warfare in some very fundamental ways."

Anduril was one of two contractors selected to be the drone project's lead in April 2024, meaning it already beat Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman to reach this phase of development.

General Atomics, which manufactures the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predator, has also billed its offering — the XQ-67A — as a "low-cost, modular" uncrewed system.

Both companies' prototypes were shown on May 1 at California's Beale Air Force Base, which Allvin said would be the home site for initial testing and assessments. The Air Force is expected to make early selection decisions in its fiscal year of 2026, which starts in October.

Anduril and General Atomics did not respond to comment requests sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

The craft hot sauce business is exploding in the US as hundreds of small producers compete with centuries-old brands by launching creative flavors and using newly engineered, extra-hot peppers.

• L3Harris showed off its new light attack airplane that it says can land almost anywhere.
• The Sky Warden, or Skyraider II, was on display at SOF Week in Tampa, Florida.
• BI got up close with the Sky Warden and took photos of this new aircraft.

US Air Force Special Operations Command got its first mission-ready Skyraider II attack plane last month, and this week, Business Insider got an up-close look at the new light attack plane at SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida.

Air Tractor and L3Harris' AT-802U Sky Warden, designated the OA-1K Skyraider II by AFSOC in reference to the A-1 Skyraiders of the Korean and Vietnam wars, is an armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, close-air support, and strike aircraft that L3Harris says can land almost anywhere.

The new light attack aircraft is a militarized variant of the Air Tractor AT-802 long used for civilian work like agriculture.

Here's what it looks like:

The Air Force describes the Skyraider II as a flexible aircraft that can be adjusted for different missions and fights, noting that it has a much more manageable maintenance demand and a lower cost per flight hour than other AFSOC aircraft.

Like its legendary predecessor, the new Skyraider was built for armed overwatch and attack in permissive environments, though the battlespace is not what it once was, and there are questions about its role in a high-intensity fight in the Indo-Pacific.

Jon Rambeau, the president of integrated mission systems at L3Harris, said the Sky Warden is a "versatile" platform and "costs a fraction of what you might pay for a fighter jet." Just how much the planes cost is a detail that isn't publicly available.

Rambeau and Clint Logwood, L3Harris' director of flight tests and flight operations, said one of Skyraider II's most important attributes is its ability to operate in different environments. It can also land just about anywhere with a limited logistics footprint.

"This thing could land anywhere," Logwood said, from rugged and remote airfields to highways.

The Air Force has prioritized flexibility, specifically the ability to operate in austere environments and off of unconventional runways like roadways. Fixed airfields and bases are easy targets, especially in the Indo-Pacific where US forces have to contend with China's growing missile force, but an adversary can't target every piece of concrete in the region.

Logwood, who has put many hours of testing the aircraft's capabilities, G-force, speed, temperature, and altitude, said: "We have landed this aircraft on some fields that would jar your teeth, and this aircraft just says, 'That's all you got?'"

The Sky Warden has "plug and play technology," he said. It has a modular design, which means new systems can be quickly integrated into the aircraft. There are ten hardpoints capable of carrying a range of weapons and other technologies.

While there are two seats in the Sky Warden, it's a single-pilot aircraft in which all of its systems are designed to be accessible by one person and easy to learn.

And its cost-per-hour of flight, Rambeau said, is less than $1,000 per hour, one of the cheaper cost estimates of the Air Force's fleet. He added that L3Harris was in conversation with potential international customers across the world as well.

Below the wings of the Sky Warden, Logwood noted, were its dummy AGM 114 Hellfire missiles, as well as ISR sensors and arrays. If another mission pod is needed, it can be bolted and connected to the plane.

The Sky Warden can be dissembled in under six hours and fit inside a C-17 cargo aircraft.

The program was originally contracted for 75 aircraft in a $3 billion deal; in 2023 and 2024, the Government Accountability Office issued reports urging the Pentagon to reconsider the number of aircraft needed, citing concerns the program wouldn't be as valuable as the US shifts from decades of counterterrorism operations featuring air superiority to near-peer adversary fights.

Rambeau cited the aircraft's potential international sales as examples "to dispel the thought that this is only applicable for counterinsurgency," saying that those customers were looking at the aircraft for a variety of purposes.

While Sky Warden is capable of taking off and landing almost anywhere, Rambeau and Logwood said it would need to be modified for carrier-based operations. The aircraft requires a distance of about 1,200 feet. For fighters and bombers, the required runway length tends to be thousands of feet.

The original Skyraider earned its legendary reputation by protecting downed airmen in Vietnam. Unlike jets that couldn't stay in the area, the Skyraiders could loiter for long periods of time and bring massive firepower for continuous suppressing fire until helicopters could come in for rescue operations.

Skyraider pilot Maj. Bernard Fisher famously landed his plane through withering enemy fire at a battle-scarred airstrip littered with debris and destroyed aircraft, rescued a downed airman, and flew back out after taking multiple hits to his aircraft during a 1966 fight at Ashau. Fisher received the Medal of Honor for his actions.

The Air Force is hoping the new Skyraiders will provide the same kind of exceptional support for troops in future fights.

• A Soviet spacecraft that failed to launch to Venus is set to fall back to Earth in the next week.
• The Kosmos 482 capsule was built for Venus's brutal atmosphere, so it will likely survive Earth's.
• The capsule is unlikely to hit people or property, but there's a good chance of a huge fireball.

A Soviet spacecraft that stalled on its way to Venus is about to fall back to Earth, space-debris trackers say, and nobody knows where it might land.

Trackers think the object that's rapidly losing altitude in Earth's orbit is the Venus entry capsule from the Soviet Union's Kosmos 482 mission. That means it's a three-foot-wide, half-ton, titanium-encased sphere that was built to withstand a brutal plunge to the surface of Venus.

Since Venus's atmosphere is nearly 100 times denser than Earth's and its surface is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, this spacecraft is built tough.

It's probably strong enough to survive the fall back to Earth without burning up in our atmosphere, according to Patricia Reiff, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University.

"It has a heat shield and it is also more dense than a lot of the normal space debris," Reiff told Business Insider. "The odds are very, very high that it will fall harmlessly to Earth, but there is that small percentage and so we certainly want to be alert."

When, where, and how big the fireball will be

Kosmos 482 was the last of a series of probes the Soviet Union launched to Venus in the 1960s and 70s. This one never made it out of Earth's orbit due to an engine malfunction.

The Venus entry capsule is the final piece of Kosmos 482 that's still hanging around. A large module from the mission and the upper stage of its rocket both fell into Earth's atmosphere uneventfully in the 1980s.

Based on its current trajectory, experts expect the spacecraft will descend so low that it will succumb to the drag of Earth's atmosphere and plummet down sometime between May 7 and 13.

It's too early to know where the Venus capsule will reenter Earth's atmosphere, much less where it will land.

Most of the planet is water, so it's highly unlikely that the capsule will strike people or property.

"I expect it'll have the usual one-in-several-thousand chance of hitting someone," Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks notable objects in orbit, wrote in a blog post in April. He added that, although the spacecraft is dense, it has no nuclear materials on board.

"No need for major concern, but you wouldn't want it bashing you on the head," he added.

As the capsule descends lower into the atmosphere, Reiff said NASA's orbital-debris trackers will be able to calculate the last few orbits it will make before falling. Then they'll have a range of places it might land.

The spacecraft's plummet will be visible to anyone nearby as a big, beautiful fireball, according to Reiff.

"A typical meteor is like a grain of sand. A normal fireball might be a marble. This is a meter across, so it's big," Reiff said. "It should be spectacular."

• Kids showed up to theaters in droves this past weekend to see "A Minecraft Movie."
• The video game adaptation shattered box-office estimates, continuing a notable trend.
• Here's what Disney and other studios can learn from the Minecraft film's massive success.

How can Hollywood studios like Disney get kids off YouTube or video games like Fortnite and Minecraft and into movie theaters?

The best answer so far this year seems obvious in hindsight: a movie about Minecraft itself.

Movie industry observers were caught off guard by how well "A Minecraft Movie" did this past weekend. The film from Warner Bros. and Legendary Studios opened to $313 million globally, including a $163 million showing in the US that more than doubled estimates.

Box-office analysts — who are adults — may not have fully realized what a sensation Minecraft is among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

"This was a wildly underrated movie, in terms of its potential box-office performance," Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst at Comscore, told Business Insider in an interview.

Everyone in Tinsel Town is surely taking notes about the film's success, including executives at Hollywood titan Disney, which is full of famed franchises but has an uneven track record with video games.

Hollywood's video game wars are ramping up

The spectacular start for "A Minecraft Movie" makes sense considering how video game fans have shown up at theaters, said David A. Gross of movie consultancy FranchiseRe.

"Video-game-based movies are not a secret," Gross said, noting the hit movies based on Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rampage, Uncharted, Angry Birds, and Pokémon.

Still, the Minecraft movie's success is another head-turning moment for studio heads.

"Every studio executive is really looking at this right now and saying, 'How can we amplify — or level up — our participation within the video-game adaptation category?'" Dergarabedian said. He added that "they're mining the vaults — no pun intended — for whatever IP they may own or that they could acquire that's in the video game realm."

If video games surpass superheroes as the next movie mega-trend, it could reshape Hollywood.

Universal Studios could be a big winner since it has a strong relationship with Nintendo and has already scored big hits with the Super Mario blockbuster and "Five Nights at Freddy's." And while Warner Bros. still needs heroes as it reboots its DC Comics franchise with "Superman" this summer, its success with "A Minecraft Movie" will set up a potentially lucrative sequel.

Disney could have a secret weapon

Disney could suffer most in a shift away from superheroes, given its success with Marvel movies and spotty performance with video games.

The Mouse House has been leaning heavily on sequels and remakes lately, with mixed results. This strategy gave Disney the three biggest movies of 2024, but the subpar performance of "Snow White" last month suggests the plan is far from foolproof.

Could it be time to hunt for some new blockbuster IP? If so, Disney may have an ace in the hole: its $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, which is the company behind Fortnite.

A movie about Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games, could be a cash cow for Disney. If executed properly, such a film could perfectly strike the balance between familiarity — the backbone of Disney's beloved franchises — and novelty since the film would be fresh for audiences.

Although Disney doesn't appear to be actively doing much with its investment in Epic so far, it could end up being the IP breakthrough its film business needs.

• "A Minecraft Movie" is getting mixed reviews, with one critic calling it the worst film of the year so far.
• The film is reportedly expected to gross over $130 million in its opening weekend.
• "A Minecraft Movie" hits the sweet spot of appealing to both parents and kids.

"A Minecraft Movie," based on the second best-selling video game of all time after Tetris, is out on Friday and has received wildly mixed reviews: from scathing to positive.

But industry experts told Business Insider audiences will likely flock to cinemas regardless.

"Minecraft" is the latest video game to be adapted for the big screen. While 2005's "Doom" and 1993's "Super Mario Bros." were critical and commercial failures, more recent efforts have proved lucrative.

In 2023, "The Super Mario Bros" movie grossed over a billion dollars, despite negative reviews, and "The Last Of Us," which premiered on HBO that year, won eight Emmys — showing that game adaptations can be successful.

But reviews of "A Minecraft Movie" that dropped on Wednesday ahead of its release didn't mince words. The film, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, follows a group of adults and children who are pulled through a portal to the world of Minecraft and must try to find their way home.

While some critics praised Momoa's performance and said film was fun and had great comedic moments, others called it generic and boring.

Nich Schager, a critic for Daily Beast, described the film as "an absolute disaster even gaming fans will hate."

A review by Jasmine Valentine, a critic for the video game and entertainment news website Dexerto, went viral after she called it "the worst film of the year."

Regardless, Deadline and Variety reported this week, citing unnamed box office tracking services, that the film was predicted to gross between $130 and $150 million globally on its opening weekend. It cost $150 million to make.

This would made it the second-highest-grossing debut of a Western film in 2025, albeit in a particularly poor year for the box office so far.

That could be because "A Minecraft Movie" hits the sweet spot of appealing to parents and kids, Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at the film industry research firm Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider.

It's "a film older generations might know the IP of, but that is suitable and fun for kids. It has 'family audience' appeal because everyone can go," he said.

"The timing, at the start of Easter holidays in many countries, is also excellent," he added, as children will have time to fill during spring break.

Jezz Vernon, a London-based film producer and a senior lecturer in film and industry studies at the University of Exeter, UK, said that parents will be seeking "cost-effective" activities to entertain their kids and themselves.

"The Jason Momoa character in Minecraft is aesthetically 'stuck' in the eighties, which will pass by a 12-year-old as a reference — but is a dose of nostalgic humor for the adult audience," he said.

So it's unlikely that bad, or even good, reviews will make much of a difference at the box office. "Electronic word of mouth" is more important when it comes to a film becoming a hit and profitable enough to trigger sequels, Vernon said.

"While the angle taken for the film is not likely to appeal to all gamers, they will likely make up their minds based on marketing, not reviews, so that's a big potential audience," Mitchell added. What would be a worry is if general audiences don't like it, which could result in a big drop in ticket sales after the first week.

"Marketing can only build the initial opening weekend — but the longer term success of a film is all word of mouth," Vernon said.

Critic's negative reviews can of course coincide with a film flopping, such as Disney's "Snow White" remake, a blockbuster marketing toward children that is struggling to break even after premiering last month.

But "Snow White" was mired in multiple controversies in the past two years, and the IP it's based on is a lot older and "less connected to its current core younger audience" than Minecraft, Mitchell said.

Critics may not unanimously love "A Minecraft Movie," but it could be just the thing to give the film industry a boost in the run-up to the summer blockbuster season.

• McDonald's is launching a Minecraft meal worldwide as part of a promotional campaign for the movie.
• I tried it in the UK, where it features a spicy "Nether Flame Sauce" and an apple-cake McFlurry.
• I thought the McFlurry was too sweet, but I loved the theming and attention to detail.

McDonald's has become the latest company to partner with Minecraft to promote the upcoming Minecraft movie.

The fast-food giant is launching two Minecraft meals, one for adults and one Happy Meal. In a rare move, the adult meal also comes with a collectible item.

The limited-time meals will be available at McDonald's restaurants in the US on April 1. At McDonald's in the UK, where I tried it, the meals come out March 26.

"A Minecraft Movie" releases worldwide on April 4, with Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, the studios behind the film, hoping to cash in on the game's enormous popularity.

It's not Warner Bros. first collaboration with McDonald's. The two have partnered to promote several other movies including "The Lego Movie" and "Space Jam: A New Legacy." The partnerships entice fans into McDonald's as well as providing extra advertisement for the movies.

I was invited to the meal's London launch to get an exclusive first look at the collaboration. Here's what I thought.

Arriving at McDonald's Cambridge Circus location in Central London, I was greeted by some impressive theming.

I have limited Minecraft knowledge, but for those new to the franchise just know that the theme is "blocks." Everything in the game comes in cube form, including the people and animals that inhabit its world.

The event space had been decorated to match this, with the Golden Arches getting a blocky, grassy makeover.

The entire downstairs dining area had been redecorated to match the theme.

Regular dining tables had been covered with artificial turf, cube-shaped bushes, and sacks of colorful gems.

While they looked appetizing, like sugar glass or hard candy, I was told the gems were not edible nor a part of the themed meal. Sad.

Posters explained the meal to guests.

The standard Minecraft meal includes nine McNuggets — 10 in the US version of the meal — fries, a drink, and a collectible. You also have the option to add a new, limited-edition "Nether Flame Sauce."

I was told you can swap the McNuggets for a Big Mac.

In the UK, there is also a "Veggie Dippers" version of the meal, which subs the chicken for breaded, plant-based bites.

I was intrigued by the "Crafted for Adults" messaging and the collectibles on offer.

Unusually for McDonald's, the Minecraft meal comes with a collectible despite being marketed as a meal for adults.

This is something they have only done a handful of times, like a "Friends" collaboration in Spain for the show's 30th anniversary.

On offer with each meal is a collectible figure and accompanying trading card. On the back of a card is a QR code — scanning it allows you to redeem an item in the game.

There are six collectibles in total. First, this "Zombie Hamburglar" figurine.

The collectibles come inside a small cardboard box designed to look like a Minecraft chest. They pay tribute to both Minecraft and to McDonald's characters and foods.

This one blends the famous Hamburglar with a Minecraft zombie, because what could be more terrifying than an undead creature who also has no respect for law and order?

The second collectible is a "Birdie Wings" figure and card.

This collectible blends McDonald's character "Birdie The Early Bird" with "Elytra," which are wings from Minecraft that enable the player to fly. Sadly both references were completely lost on me.

Option three: a "Grimace Egg."

Everybody knows and loves Grimace, the anthropomorphous McDonald's eggplant thing.

Reading between the lines here, McDonald's seems to be implying that Grimace lays eggs, which I assume then hatch into more Grimaces? Grimace? Grimmi?

That said, look at his little face! I love him. 10/10 no notes. This is the best one.

Another option is a block-shaped Big Mac, the "Big Mac Crystal."

Kudos to McDonald's for creating a burger so well-known that it's immediately recognizable even when heavily pixelated. You don't eat this thing, you 8-bit(e) it.

McDonald's fries have been transformed into a helmet, like those worn by characters in the game.

In the Minecraft game you can equip your character with helmets to provide protection against monsters. This one would be especially effective against Creepers or Endermen who happen to be on a keto diet.

I loved how detailed the "Soda Potion" collectible is.

Finally there's the Soda Potion. The level of detail on this was particularly good, with vibrant colors and tiny pixelated shading to give a bubbly effect. It even has a tiny McDonald's straw tip poking out the top.

Then it was time to try the meal itself.

I got the standard McNugget version of the meal, which costs £8.19 ($10.62) in the UK. While McDonald's hasn't been too ambitious or innovative with the food options themselves, I was impressed by the level of artistic detail on display on the packaging.

Small touches like Minecraft-ifying the packaging went a long way.

The packaging for the Minecraft meal has been pixelated to echo the iconic blocky Minecraft style. This includes the Golden Arches logo, as well as the text and imagery on the McNugget box.

I wanted to try one of the new menu items: Nether Flame Sauce.

"The Nether" is a dimension you can access in Minecraft. It is filled with lava and dangerous monsters.

The packaging of the Nether Flame Sauce certainly hinted at fiery flavor, with pixelated flames adorning it. Would it deliver?

The Nether Flame Sauce was surprisingly spicy and flavorful.

While biting into a Nether Flamed McNugget may not have felt like battling the Ender Dragon, it definitely had some heat to it.

I got a strong habanero flavor with a touch of sweetness. While I'm no hero when it comes to spice, this was definitely at the upper end of my heat tolerance. If you enjoy hot sauce, it's definitely worth a go.

Like all the Minecraft meals, mine came with a collectible hidden inside a cardboard chest.

I like the Minecraft chest boxes that come with the meals. They really do resemble the chests you can store your items inside of in the game.

Having seen all the collectible options, I was hoping to open my box and find the Hamburglar Zombie or the Grimace Egg — what awaited me?

I got the Birdie Wings figure and card. Devastating.

I contemplated leaving the box unopened in the hope of selling it for $1 million in 20 years' time like a packet of first-edition Pokémon cards, but my curiosity got the better of me.

Sadly I pulled what is probably my least favorite of the collectibles, Birdie Wings. She smugly T-posed and watched me while I sulkily ate the rest of my nuggets.

I ended the meal with the new Minecraft-themed McFlurry, which will be available in the UK.

I'm a sucker for a McFlurry (on the rare occasion the McDonald's ice-cream machine is functioning) and was intrigued by this new apple-cake flavor. It costs £2.19 ($2.84), but there is also a smaller version for £1.69 ($2.19).

A base of vanilla ice cream gets topped with cubes of apple and shortcake, then a healthy drizzle of a luminous green apple sauce. The cubes of cake make sense given the Minecraft theme, but I'm not sure if apples are a core part of the game.

The apple cake pieces were nice, but the sickly green apple sauce completely ruined the McFlurry for me.

The apple-cake McFlurry was a bust for me. I enjoyed the texture of the crunchy cubes, which I'd broadly describe as vanilla and apple flavored. What ruined the sundae was the syrup it's served with.

It was sickly sweet, strangely gloopy, and had an artificial fruit flavor that completely overpowered everything else. I could only manage a couple of mouthfuls before I had to put it down.

The food didn't blow me away, but I was impressed by how McDonald's captured the spirit of Minecraft.

In pure food terms, McDonald's hasn't gone too wild on any new menu items for this collaboration.

That said, I was really impressed by the attention to detail that has gone into the packaging and the collectibles, which made this promotion feel like a genuinely cool and fun event instead of a bland, corporate PR move.

Will I be rushing to see the movie on opening day, or downloading the game and starting a world right away? Probably not. Do I wish more "adult" fast-food meals tapped into the childlike joy of toys and theming? As it turns out, absolutely.

• The US military published new footage showing its aircraft using rockets to destroy Houthi drones.
• The footage underscores how US fighter jets can use munitions that are cheaper than air-to-air missiles.
• The air-to-air engagement comes amid a new chapter in the Red Sea conflict.

The US military published a video on Wednesday offering a rare look at an air-to-air kill from the Red Sea fight. It shows American fighter aircraft eliminating Houthi drones with cheap, guided rockets costing only a fraction of the price of top air-to-air missiles.

The hit highlights a cost-effective way for American jets to take down Houthi drones, which have been a persistent threat, along with missiles, for well over a year now.

US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said Wednesday that a US fighter aircraft shot down a Houthi one-way attack drone using APKWS laser-guided rockets. The footage shows two drones exploding above the water.

The AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, are unguided Hydra 70 2.75-inch rockets equipped with laser guidance kits to turn them into precision weapons. The rockets are nearly 19 inches long and less than 3 inches in diameter, making them quite slim.

Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force Chief of Staff, said the APKWS costs just $35,000 a piece — a fraction of one of the air-to-air missiles that could have been used instead to take down the drone. For instance, he said, the AIM-9 missile costs around $500,000, while the AIM-120 is more than double that at around $1 million.

The cost of the rockets is more closely aligned with the price tag of a Houthi drone, which is likely in the range of tens of thousands of dollars. Officials have said that using an expensive missile to intercept this kind of threat is on the wrong side of the cost curve.

"More savings. More lethality. More Air Force," Allvin wrote on social media on Wednesday.

CENTCOM did not disclose when or where the engagement occurred, nor did it say what aircraft used the APKWS to shoot down the Houthi drones. These rockets can be fired from a range of aircraft. A US official told The War Zone earlier this year that US Air Force F-16s had used the rockets against Houthi drones.

Years earlier, the Air Force tested the air-to-ground rockets as a cheaper air-to-air kill solution.

The footage comes amid a fresh campaign of US airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. The Trump administration has vowed to intensify its efforts to deter the rebel group from attacking military and civilian vessels transiting key Middle East shipping lanes.

The new campaign began on Saturday, with CENTCOM saying that it had "initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation."

Air Force Lt. Gen Alexus Grynkewich, the director of operations for the Joint Staff, said Monday that the initial wave of strikes hit over 30 Houthi targets at multiple locations in Yemen, including training sites, drone infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, and command centers.

Grynkewich told reporters at a briefing that the operation extended into Sunday and Monday and would continue for several days "until we achieve the president's objectives."

CENTCOM has published footage this week showing flight operations aboard the USS Harry S. Truman — the latest US aircraft carrier to see combat against the Houthis — as well as missile launches from warships in its strike group.

And President Donald Trump has suddenly taken an aggressive approach to the Houthi conflict after a period of relative quiet in the Red Sea. He has vowed to keep striking the rebels and even threatened to go after Iran, their main supporter and provider of military assistance.

"Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It's not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.

• The government is racing to hire enough air-traffic controllers as staffing shortages cause delays.
• ATC jobs involve a lot of stress and possible overnight hours, but they can easily pay over $100,000 a year.
• Hopefull controllers must go through rigorous training and academic testing.

A staggering shortage of air traffic controllers has once again been thrust into the spotlight as one of the country's busiest airports faces another week of cascading delays — and the government is desperate to higher more, if you can handle the stress.

Since late April, equipment issues and a lack of staff at the facility that guides planes into their approach paths for Newark Liberty International Airport, in New Jersey, have caused delays and cancellations day after day.

United Airlines, the airport's largest customer, has even cut 35 flights from its schedule to accommodate the traffic limits.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced plans for raises, bonuses, and faster hiring to "supercharge" the nation's ATC network and restore staffing to normal levels after years of decline (the system is still about 3,000 controllers short, he said).

"It takes a year to three years to train up a new controller to work in airspace, so this is going to be a longer-term problem," Duffy said on CNBC Tuesday morning.

He'll also need Congress's approval for big spending items like upgrading communications infrastructure.

The most recent round of entry-level controller applications closed on March 17, and it's not clear when more will open. There are currently other openings for support staff, senior roles, and other higher-level jobs with salaries as high as $200,000 a year.

What it takes to get hired as an air traffic controller

Being an air traffic controller is an extremely high-stress job. More than 14,000 workers nationwide are responsible for moving tens of thousands of lives on board planes across the country every day.

Business Insider spoke with FAA controller Cedrick Earley to discuss what it is like to work the job.

You may not need a university degree to work in ATC

ATC is a good option for people looking for a high-salary job that doesn't require a college degree.

According to the FAA's hiring website, eligible applicants must:

• Be a US citizen
• Speak clear and fluent English
• Be under the age of 31 before the application closing date (more on that later)
• Have one year of full-time work experience or higher education, or a combination of both
• Meet specific physical and mental fitness standards

Successful applicants who apply through the FAA must undergo months of extensive training and pass mandatory tests, such as an aptitude test, a skills assessment, and physical and psychological exams, before being officially hired.

The applicants will spend up to five months at the academy, where training and testing will occur. However, some applicants come from other careers, like the military.

Earley went through the Air Force to become a controller instead of the FAA.

"[Air Force] is a different track," he said. "The quality of training you receive from the Air Force is equivalent to what you would get if you went through the route with the FAA in Oklahoma."

You have to be younger than 31 when you apply

According to the FAA, all ATC applicants must be 30 or younger on the closing date of the application period to qualify for the position.

This is because the agency has determined through extensive research that the older someone is, the harder it is for them to complete the rigorous training.

However, according to the agency, those who already have air traffic control experience can be hired up to 35 years of age. 

You'll go through a lot of testing and training

Whether you become a controller through the FAA or the military, you will have to undergo monthslong training and pass aptitude, physical, physiological, and skill tests. These exams assess applicants' health and their ability to train for and perform the job.

Initial tests are pass/fail, according to the agency, and failing certain exams will eliminate applicants from the hiring process.

The training is demanding, with about 50% of aspiring Air Force controllers failing out.

You won't necessarily work in an airport tower

Earley said traffic controllers are not just confined to the airport tower but can also work in one of several hundred facilities around and between airports nationwide.

For example, one may work in the Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility, or TRACON, in Memphis and be responsible for controlling aircraft leaving the airport for their next destination and directing flights into the airport for a quick and safe landing. 

Employees can also work in one of the air route traffic control centers, or ARTCCs, throughout the US, which direct aircraft en route to their destinations.

The work can be high-stress, but also boring sometimes

Being an air traffic controller can be stressful due to the heavy workload and high-consequence environment. But depending on how busy the skies are, the job can also be dull and boring.

Former air traffic controller Michele Robson wrote in 2020 that the job can be quiet at night, but controllers must always be alert and ready to work at any hour on shift.

While some controllers find the job extremely stressful, Earley said that isn't the case for him because he enjoys solving a new problem every day.

"Controllers are always learning on the job, like updating and refining the processes or learning new rules and procedures," he explained. "It is a job where you always have to change and adapt." 

Safety is always the top priority

Air traffic controllers are responsible for about 50,000 daily flights in the US, so safety is the most important aspect of the job.

An increasing number of planes colliding or nearly colliding has further enhanced calls for improved FAA training and staffing.

According to Earley, there are several things controllers do to ensure nothing is missed.

"I work in front of a radar scope, and it can get busy at times, so I am not supposed to work in position more than two hours at a time, so we get a break to keep us refreshed," he said. "We also do not work more than 10 hours in one day, and there is a certain amount of hours we have to be off before we can work again."

The FAA implemented new rules in 2024 to minimize controller fatigue by raising the minimum rest time between shifts from at least nine hours to at least 10 hours. Controllers also get 12 hours off before and after midnight shifts.

Earley also explained that there are redundancies in the job to elevate safety and that other controllers and supervisors help check each other's work.

"Everyone is actually able to see what is going on with any particular person's work at the time, so it is one team, one fight," he said. "If we notice something is a little out of sorts, we can bring that to the controller's attention, and they can fix it before it becomes a bigger problem."

The salary is good, but the work schedule can be inconsistent

Earley explained the job's salary, which increases with seniority, plus the benefits provide a good work-life balance.

"It's a job that pays me well and allows me to support my family," he said. "I'm also able to take leisure time for myself, like spending time with my daughter."

However, he also said his schedule is not the regular 9-5.

"I do have some shifts I work from midnight to 8 a.m., as well as some scattered 12-8 shifts, so it rotates," he said. "I always know what my hours are each day, but it is not always at the same time. It is consistently inconsistent."

Average pay is $160,000 for controllers, the FAA says.

You know your schedule for the entire year

According to Earley, air traffic controllers know their work schedule a year in advance.

"When we set our schedules up, we bid what we want for the next year, and then we are awarded our full schedule for the year," he said. "It helps in terms of planning our leave."

He also explained that the schedule is only for one year, and controllers can change it the following year.

You can retire at 56

All air traffic controllers must retire at 56 due to the higher possibility of memory or hearing loss, inattentiveness, or reduced eyesight in older individuals.

However, Earley said the 56 age cut-off only applies to those actively working traffic, so controllers who are not yet ready to retire can take a desk or management job instead.

Many controllers choose to retire early after completing their required 25 years of service, Duffy said, exacerbating the staffing issues.