A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Su-22 on Sunday after the Soviet-era fighter-bomber dropped munitions near U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, U.S. Central Command officials confirmed.
The strike was believed to be the U.S. military's first air-to-air kill involving manned aircraft in nearly two decades. The last known such instance was when a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon shot down a Serbian MiG-29 in 1999 during the Kosovo campaign.
"A Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet," the command said in a release.
The attack comes after pro-Syrian forces attacked SDF fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of SDF fighters, officials said. The town is south of Tabqah and a known area where U.S. works with Russia to deconflict the airspace.
"Coalition aircraft conducted a show of force and stopped the initial pro-regime advance toward the SDF-controlled town," the release said.

Following the advance on the SDF, the coalition alerted Russian counterparts to de-escalate the situation. However the forces -- backed by President Bashar al-Assad -- did not appear to back down, with the Su-22 entering the area, CentCom said.
"The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat," the command said.
While Central Command said its mission is to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, the strike against the pro-Syrian regime forces marks the fourth strike in recent weeks by the coalition.
Drone ShootdownMost recently, a U.S. F-15E on June 8 shot down an unidentified drone deemed hostile toward coalition forces in At Tanf.
The drone, similar in size to a U.S. MQ-1 Predator, was suspected to be "pro-regime" and was struck down after it was observed dropping a munition near coalition personnel training partner forces in the fight against the Islamic State, according to Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon.
The drone strike marked the first time that forces supporting the Syrian government have attacked inside a so-called "deconfliction" zone near At Tanf, close to the Jordanian border, Dillon said.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said the pro-Syrian forces are backed by Iran, and have been knowingly operating "inside an established and agreed-upon deconfliction zone." They are believed to be a threat to coalition forces in the region, he has said.
The deconfliction zone is an area in which U.S. and Russian forces have agreed not to operate. The zone previously applied to airspace but now includes ground territory, a defense official told Military.com last month.
First Kill
The last air-to-air kill for the F/A-18 was during the Gulf War when two F/A-18s shot down two Iraqi MiG-21s during a brief dogfight. The kill over Syria, however, is believed to be the first air-to-air kill for the E model.
The F/A-18s are flying the most combat missions in Operation Inherent Resolve, the Pentagon's name for operations against the Islamic State, according to recent statistics provided to Military.com.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Su-22 -- a variant of the Sukhoi 17 and Su-20 and heavily used throughout the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the 1982 Lebanon War -- have been involved in the Assad's Syrian war since roughly mid-2012.
The Su-22s were believed to be the aircraft behind the nerve agent attack in April against the town of Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Syria's Idlib governorate.
Days later, President Donald Trump ordered two Navy destroyers to launch more than 50 Tomahawk missiles on Al Shayrat base north of Damascus, where the SU-22s launched from.
tags: f18 shoots down syrian plane , f18 kill , nathan finneman , navy jet , air to air kill , breed of speed ,

Meanwhile, back in China, naturally the thing to do when local police try escorting you off the bridge is to deny your true intentions, try to climb over the railing anyways, stop to take a selfie as you wrestle with the cops, then come back later to do the jump. Well played, Maria. Zero f*#k$ given. I think I'm in love.
 

​
tags: base jumper jumps with police , zero fox , nathan finneman, base jumper , breed of speed , 

Buddha Bar is a famous bar and restaurant in London that thrives on extravagant performances; however, we have a sneaking feeling that rolling one of their 570-horsepower Brabus G500 4x4² promotional trucks was not part of an act this past Saturday. According to several social media accounts, the massive Brabus toppled over after blowing a red light and getting t-boned by an Uber Toyota Prius. 
One video catches the Brabus sliding to a stop, but the extend of the damage makes it clear the vehicle did at least one complete roll and possibly a spin as well. Since a G500 4x4² rollover is like a giant dinosaur hitting the ground, the truck destroyed everything in its path, including a bus stop. Although both cars sustained heavy damage, neither party involved had any real injuries.
The Brabus G500 4x42 involved in the accident was used to transport Buddha Bar guests and as a promotional vehicle. Buddha Bar also has a Rolls Royce in its London fleet, which stands to get a little more use now that this beast is out of commission.

tags: breed of speed, nathan finneman , prius crash , brabus rollover , mercedes crash

What’s the point of life on the road in a mobile home if you’re only restricted to where the asphalt leads? At least that’s the question photographer Stefan Forster asked himself before deciding to build out this epic camper truck based off a Toyota Hilux. Dubbed the Expedition V1 and nicknamed, Úlfur (Icelandic for “wolf”) this is one intense 4×4 off-road capable vehicle.
Over the course of a year and with the help of Geocar, Hurter Offroad, and Arctic Trucks Iceland, this Hilux made the transition from ordinary pickup to extraordinary backcountry vehicle. It’s powered by a 3.0L 225hp diesel engine and boasts a custom-made cabin complete with all the amenities Stefan and fellow travelers could want. Additionally, the Expedition also hosts a slew of off-road features outfitted for even the harshest of conditions. We’re talking a TJM snorkel, a WARN cable, HELLA lights, front and rear differential locks, underbelly protection, and an internal radio control unit among many others. Is it for sale? Absolutely not. Will it motivate you to start saving and build your own? Absolutely. 


tags: breed of speed toyota , breed of speed, hilux camper , toyota rv , off road , nathan finneman , colorado , toyota trd

A Tennessee state representative wants to stop protesters taking to the streets, WSMV reported.
State Rep. Rep. Matthew Hill has filed a bill that says if a driver hits a protester who is blocking traffic in a public right-of-way, then that driver would be immune to civic liability if the demonstrator is hit and hurt, as long as it wasn’t intentional.
“If you want to protest, fine, I am for peaceful protesting, not lawless rioters,” Hill said. “We don’t want anyone to be hurt, but people should not knowingly put themselves in harm’s way when you’ve got moms and dads trying to get their kids to school.”
When protesters took to the sidewalks in Nashville after the executive order from President Trump calling for a travel ban, they say they made a decision to be peaceful and stay on the sidewalk as people drove by.
But things took a turn when safety volunteers say they were hit by a car that rolled through a crosswalk.
“These people were legally in a crosswalk at the time that they had the permission to go,” said Julie Franklin, who said she witnessed the incident.
Franklin said the volunteers, who were wearing orange safety vests, were struck while ushering demonstrators across the street in the crosswalk. She said they’d been waiting for the walk signal to maintain safety.
Franklin said volunteers jumped on the hood of the man’s car when they were struck, trying to get him to stop. But the man kept driving.
Spencer DesAutels said he was one of the volunteers who was hit.
“They saw me. They looked right at me,” said DesAutels, who said he was hit by an older man who was driving with his wife past the protesters. “They stopped, and then they decided that they didn’t want to stop anymore and they just drove through me.”
DesAutels said the man drove with the volunteers on the hood of his car until police made him stop.
“My reaction was I don’t want to be caught underneath this car. It was a big car, so I got up on the hood of the car to say I’m not going to get run over any further than he hit,” DesAutels said.
“I am not advocating anyone being hurt or run over. That’s very, very silly that anyone would think that,” Hill said. “Peaceful protesters have nothing to be concerned about. … This is an attempt to have some public safety and inject some common sense.”
Still, DesAutels, Williams and Franklin feel it opens the door for other drivers to possibly hurt protesters.
“I think it’s inhumane to treat human beings like they’re just traffic cones that you just don’t want to abide by, and that’s exactly what that man did,” Franklin said.
Williams and DesAutels believe the move is politically motivated.
“I think this bill shows that they’re scared. That they know that the people have a voice and it’s being heard, and they don’t like it,” Williams said.
Hill and Sen. Bill Ketron, who is the co-sponsor, defended the measure in written statements.
“We believe that citizens have the right to protest,” Ketron said. “There is a procedure for peaceful protests and the purpose of that process is to protect the safety of our citizens. Protesters have no right to be in the middle of the road or our highways for their own safety and the safety of the traveling public.”
The bill was introduced Thursday and passed first consideration in the state Senate.

If you’re a nervous flyer, you’re probably going to want to skip this video, because after watching YouTube’s Linkerius fly so low to the ground that it looks like he’s perpetually going to crash, you’ll be terrified of ever stepping foot on a plane again.
As dangerous as skimming the earth at hundreds of miles per hour seems, it’s an actual technique used by military aircraft to help avoid threats. A nap-of-the-earth, or NOE, course allows a pilot to use natural geographical features like hills and valleys to avoid radar, and make it harder for an enemy to spot the aircraft since it’s not silhouetted against the bright blue 

tags: breed of speed , nathan finneman , low flying aircraft , insane pilot , cool , aviation , airplane

Strapping GoPro cameras to high-altitude weather balloons to shoot photos and videos of the edge of space has been growing in popularity, but on GoPro just captured something incredible that no GoPro had before: an extremely close flyby of a passenger airliner at 38,000 feet.

The project OLHZN High Altitude Balloons launched a GoPro balloon flight from Honeoye, New York, and the camera traveled to an altitude of 102,544 feet and landed near Syracuse, New York.
On the way, however, the camera captured an incredible moment in which a Delta Airlines Airbus A319 flying from Boston to Detroit zipped by at an altitude of 38,000 feet. The airplane passed within 500 feet of the camera, creating an extremely loud sound in the resulting footage (the moment starts at about 40 seconds into the video).
This is an extremely rare chance encounter for a flight that was conducted safely and legally.
“All of our flights follow FAA Federal Aviation Regulation requirements outlined in FAR 101 and have NOTAMs filed with the FAA and coordination is performed with the local ARTCCs and airports to ensure safe operations,” the project writes. “This is the raw audio version with no music added. No sound effects have been added at all. This audio is completely raw.”

tags: breed of speed , gopro weather balloon , nathan finneman , colorado , airbus flyby

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been airlifted to hospital after a horror crash in Switzerland.
The 47-year-old, who sustained brain injuries after a 288mph rocket car accident in 2006, is being treated in hospital after flipping a £2million electric supercar which then burst into flames as he filmed his new Amazon show The Grand Tour.
But he has miraculously escaped the fireball horror with little more than a fractured knee and was 'conscious and talking' after freeing himself from the vehicle.
Pictures from the scene showed the Rimac Concept One car in flames alongside a road in St. Gallen before the blaze was extinguished by firefighters.
Grand Tour producer Amazon later released images showing the burnt-out wreckage of the car laying upside down on a hill. 

The crash is reported to have happened on a road that was closed for the Bergrennen Hemberg race. 
A spokesperson for The Grand Tour said: 'Richard Hammond was involved in a serious crash after completing the Hemburg Hill Climb in Switzerland in a Rimac Concept One, an electric super car built in Croatia, during filming for The Grand Tour Season 2 on Amazon Prime, but very fortunately suffered no serious injury.
'Richard was conscious and talking, and climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames.
'He was flown by Air Ambulance to hospital in St Gallen to be checked over revealing a fracture to his knee.
'Nobody else was in the car or involved in the accident, and we'd like to thank the paramedics on site for their swift response.
'The cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated.'
Grand Tour co-star Jeremy Clarkson tweeted: 'It was the biggest crash I've ever seen and the most frightening but incredibly, and thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK.'
It comes just weeks after Mr Hammond toppled off his motorcycle and banged his head while riding through a 'remote' part of Mozambique. 
In a blog post, he wrote: 'It's true, I did fall off a motorbike whilst filming recently for The Grand Tour in Mozambique.
'I banged my head, yes, along with pretty much everything else apart from my left thumb, which remains un-bruised.
'Can't tell you more yet about the how and why of it; that's all for later in the year on the show. As for injuries; well put it this way, I don't think I can get a book out of it.'


tags: richard hammond crash, breed of speed , nathan finneman , colorado , crash , top gear crash 

A British aerobatic daredevil is thought to have broken a world record for the fastest flight in a wingsuit after soaring through the air at 249mph - around the top speed of a Bugatti Veyron supercar.
Fraser Corsan, from Salisbury, leapt into the record books during an adventure after jumping 35,000ft above Davis in California.
But Mr Corsan, 42, missed out on three other records he had long hoped for – the world's highest wingsuit jump, the longest time flown in a wingsuit and the furthest distance flown, due to poor weather. 

tags: wing suit speed record, wing suit , dive , bugatti , breed of speed , nathan finneman , racing

From the front, it’s clearly a Rolls-Royce, with a massive maw of a grille and quizzical, round headlamps. From the back, it looks like a yacht, or perhaps a frog. Put them together and you have Sweptail—a bespoke car made for a client with endless resources and decidedly quirky taste.
Rolls unveiled the Sweptail this week in Lake Como, Italy. It wouldn’t confirm how much the two-seater coupé cost, but estimates put the price at about $13 million—one of the most expensive new cars ever sold.
​
The client commissioned Rolls to create a car inspired by its 1920s and 1930s models, plus an exotic wood interior, a panoramic glass skylight, a champagne chiller in the center console and a special compartment for his briefcase. His identity has not been disclosed, except that he is male.

Giles Taylor, director of design at Rolls-Royce, likened the design process to haute couture. “This customer came to the House of Rolls-Royce with an idea, shared in the creative process where we advised him on his cloth, and then we tailored that cloth to him,” Taylor said.” You might say we cut the cloth for the suit of clothes that he will be judged by.”
It’s unlikely that someone who can drop $13 million on a car is concerned about how he’s judged. Rolls would only reveal that he was a collector of “distinctive, one-off items” like super-yachts and private planes.