10/15/2025 Industry minister pushing F-35 maker for economic benefits in Canada  The federal industry minister is putting pressure on U.S.-based Lockheed Martin to provide more economic benefits in Canada if the government is to proceed with its planned purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets. Otherwise, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in a French-language interview on Radio-Canada’s Les coulisses du pouvoir, Ottawa could move forward with a smaller fleet of F-35s and the acquisition of a second fleet of Gripen-E fighter jets manufactured by Sweden’s Saab. |
10/15/2025 Russia is reportedly planning the sale of up to six new Su-35S fighter jets to the Ethiopian Air Force  According to the same leaked document that outlined Russia’s plans to supply Iran with 48 Su-35S fighters, Moscow also reportedly planned the sale of up to six new aircraft of the same model to the Ethiopian Air Force — a deal that has not yet been officially confirmed. If finalized, the acquisition would represent a major step forward in the modernization of Ethiopia’s combat fleet and stands out as part of a broader set of sales that have recently come to light. |
10/15/2025 Saab expands work on Sweden’s Future Combat Aviation Concept under new FMV order  Saab has received an order worth approximately SEK 2.6 billion ($238 million) from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for continued conceptual studies on future fighter systems. The new contract, covering the 2025–2027 period, builds upon the original agreement signed in March 2024 and expands the scope of work under Sweden’s Koncept för Framtida Stridsflyg (KFS) – or Future Combat Aviation Concept study. |
10/15/2025 Will Saudi Arabia accept F-16s instead of F-35s?  Among the topics apparently addressed during US President Donald Trump’s state visit to Saudi Arabia in May was a potential sale of F-35 stealth fighters. However, despite boasting of having signed “the largest defense sales agreement in history”, Washington may still prove reluctant to sell Riyadh the fighter, raising questions over whether the Kingdom might accept less advanced warplanes. |
10/15/2025 Wilsbach Pledges Tight Coordination with Navy on AMRAAM and JATM Missile Buys  Air Force Chief of Staff nominee Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said he will give special attention to coordinating with the Navy on how the services jointly buy air-to-air missiles like the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and the new, secret AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile. |
10/14/2025 France Turns Mirage 2000D Fighters Into Shahed Hunters After Lessons From Ukraine  France is preparing to modify its fleet of Mirage 2000D fighter jets to intercept long-range suicide drones such as Iran’s Shahed-136, according to Opex360 on October 12. The move is part of a broader effort to develop a cost-effective aerial platform for countering UAV threats, taking cues from Ukraine’s experience defending against Russian drone attacks. |
10/14/2025 America’s F-22 Edge: The USAF Outpaces NATO in Both Stealth and Scale  The F-22 Raptor began a new era of aircraft in 2005–the fifth generation. As the first of this new generation, the Raptor featured a combination of stealth and speed that had never been seen before. While there have been new additions to the fifth generation, the F-22 is the poster child of this class. This aircraft alone sets the United States light years ahead of its NATO allies. |
10/14/2025 Swedish Armed Forces to receive first JAS 39 Gripen E fighters  The Swedish Armed Forces is set to receive their first Saab JAS 39 Gripen E fighter jets on October 20, 2025, during a formal handover ceremony at Skaraborg Air Wing (F 7) in Såtenäs, marking a major milestone in Sweden’s long-term defense modernization. During the ceremony, a pilot from the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) will land one of the new aircraft and hand the logbook to Air Force Chief Jonas Wikman, symbolically transferring the jet into Swedish Air Force service. |
10/14/2025 Boeing unveils concept for Army unmanned tiltrotor aircraft amid military push for drones  Boeing is designing a tiltrotor drone wingman concept to support the Army’s helicopter fleet, similar to the Air Force’s push for collaborative combat aircraft, as the Army rushes to field unmanned drones. Renderings for the CxR aircraft revealed by Boeing on Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s conference in Washington. The company’s pitch would place unmanned vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft alongside Army helicopters in combat and cargo operations. |
10/14/2025 Sukhoi Fighter Jet-Launched ‘Boosted’ Grom-E1 Glide Bomb Hits Dnipro: Deep Strike Exposes Ukraine’s Eroding Air Defense?  On October 9, 2025, at approximately 18:15 local time (UTC+3), Russian forces struck a target in the Chechel district of Dnipro city, located roughly 120 km inside Ukrainian-controlled territory from the nearest front line in the Zaporizhzhia direction. A video posted on social media showed a blurred object flying through the night sky toward its target, followed by images of a column of dark gray smoke rising above the city. |