Military Aviation News Archive

06/20/2025
The idea for the sale of the F-35 to India was floated by United States (US) President Donald Trump during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in February 2025, with a formal sales offer likely on the way.
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06/20/2025
The U.S. is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Donald Trump warns Tehran to step back from the conflict. Trump’s social media posts saying his patience with Iran was “wearing thin” have raised the possibility of deepening U.S. involvement, perhaps by using the bunker-busting bomb to strike a key Iranian nuclear site built deep underground in the mountains.
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06/19/2025
As part of a major technological evolution of the Eurofighter Typhoon’s capabilities, BAE Systems is currently conducting simulator trials of a new decision-support system based on artificial intelligence (AI). Developed by Swedish company Avioniq, the system, known as Rattlesnaq, is designed to enhance the aircraft’s survivability in beyond-visual-range (BVR) threat environments by enabling pilots to make faster and more accurate decisions in complex combat scenarios.
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06/19/2025
Türkiye’s fifth-generation fighter jet, KAAN, has earned major validation for the country’s technological ambition and strategic credibility through a landmark export deal. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that 48 KAAN jets would be sold to Indonesia, marking not only a historic agreement but also a turning point in Türkiye’s defence trajectory.
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06/19/2025
The United States has given the green light for Malaysia to acquire up to 33 used F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from Kuwait, a move that promises to bolster the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s capabilities amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. The approval, confirmed by General Tan Sri Asghar Khan Goriman Khan, chief of the Malaysian Air Force, during a press conference at Kuantan Air Base, marks a significant step in a deal that has been years in the making.
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06/19/2025
Lockheed Martin’s long-delayed TR-3 upgrade for the F-35 fighter jet is nearly complete. It promises massive improvements in sensors, AI, and combat capability, making Block 4 a leap in battlefield dominance. At this week’s Paris Air Show, the largest and most prestigious aerospace event in the world, Lockheed Martin indicated it will soon unveil F-35 Block 4 capabilities, claiming it will be “the most aggressive upgrade in any fighter in history.”
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06/18/2025
Iranian media outlets reported on Friday that one of Israel’s most advanced fighter aircraft was shot down during the early morning raid that struck multiple targets within the Islamic Republic. The news has gone viral on social media, claiming that an Israeli Air Force F-35I Adir, a variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter equipped with an Israeli-developed electronic warfare system, was downed by Iranian air-defense missiles.
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06/18/2025
Israel Defense Forces has released footage of a recent strike on two F-14 Tomcat aircraft parked at Tehran airport. The attack, carried out on June 16, 2025, became one of the few episodes featuring iranian aviation since the outbreak of the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East on June 13, 2025.
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06/18/2025
Colonel Bastien Cardot, of the French Air & Space Force, wrote in Défense & Sécurité Internationale (DSI) that field experience has “revealed an underexploited potential of the A400M that could make it a valuable complement to fighters for certain missions, in the face of an increasingly dense and complex threat.” Cardot’s article was then picked up by Laurent Lagneau of French defense news website Zone Militaire.
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06/18/2025
The developer of Türkiye’s homegrown fighter jet Kaan has been in long talks with several countries regarding the fifth-generation warplane, its CEO said Tuesday, days after the company announced a major deal to export the aircraft to Indonesia. "We hope to reach the stage where we can announce them in the upcoming period," Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) CEO Mehmet Demiroglu said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show, the world's biggest aviation trade fair.
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06/18/2025
The U.S. Air Force deployed at least 30 aerial refueling aircraft to Europe this week after the exchange of airstrikes between Israel and Iran unleashed a fresh wave of turmoil in the Middle East. The planes, mostly KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotankers, were spotted on the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 and others departing from airfields across the continental United States and heading east over the Atlantic towards Europe.
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06/17/2025
The U.S. military has moved a large number of refueling aircraft to Europe to provide options to President Donald Trump as Middle East tensions erupt into conflict between Iran and Israel, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials also said the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz was heading to the Middle East, in what one of them said was a pre-planned deployment. The Nimitz can hold 5,000 personnel and more than 60 aircraft, including fighter jets.
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06/17/2025
Korea Aerospace Industries feels that its FA-50 light combat aircraft and KF-21 fighter offer European countries a quick way to upgrade their air power capabilities. Both aircraft have active production lines, allowing for relatively rapid deliveries should orders come in, according to Dong Haik Shin, vice president of international development at KAI.
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06/17/2025
According to information published by CNBC TV18, an Indian News TV channel, on June 11, 2025, India is engaged in high-level deliberations over a Russian proposal to jointly manufacture the Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet, a strategic initiative aimed at strengthening the Indian Air Force (IAF) and enhancing the country’s indigenous defense manufacturing capabilities.
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06/17/2025
Britain is deploying extra fighter jets and other assets to the Middle East amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said.
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06/17/2025
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems displayed a full-scale model of its collaborative combat aircraft at the Paris Air Show June 16 for its first international showing. The aircraft, dubbed YFQ-42A by the U.S. Air Force, is part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, the service’s quest to develop a semi-autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicle that can operate alongside manned fighter jets and perform various missions, including air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.
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06/16/2025
A Russian fighter jet conducted low-altitude passes near a United States Navy ship in the Baltic Sea on Sunday, prompting a rapid response from Royal Air Force Typhoons deployed under NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission.
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06/16/2025
Even though the RAAF accepted the last of its planned 72 fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters only in December, planners are already looking to what comes next.
During its decades-long development, the F-35 was touted by pundits as the last of the manned fighter aircraft, with the future of air combat to be uncrewed and autonomous systems.
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06/16/2025
By September, Boeing Australia hopes to have demonstrated how its MQ-28A Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) can fit into a force mix. The uncrewed airplane will employ autonomous behavior to team with crewed assets such as F/A-18s, EA-18Gs, F-35As, and the E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft. As of late last year, the CCA had proven its abilities to establish communications links with other aerial assets as well as fuse and share data from sensors and payloads.
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06/15/2025
Britain is moving additional military forces, including combat aircraft, to the Middle East in response to rising instability in the region, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday. “We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region,” Starmer told reporters during a flight to the G7 summit in Canada, according to Reuters.
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06/15/2025
According to information published by the British Royal Air Force on June 13, 2025, Typhoon FGR4 fighter jets of the British Royal air Force (RAF) based at the 22nd Tactical Air Base in Malbork, Poland, have executed six NATO enhanced Air Policing (eAP) missions within six days, intercepting a total of 15 Russian military aircraft operating close to NATO airspace. The missions, conducted from June 7 to June 12, 2025, mark the most intense operational period since the RAF deployed to Poland.
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06/15/2025
Around the world, a number of private companies own and operate combat aircraft, including F-16s, complete with pilots and technicians. A new initiative by Ukraine to involve private aircraft in its air defense system may be aimed at leveraging this very resource.
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06/15/2025
Iran's air defenses have shot down a third Israeli F-35 fighter, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday, a claim dismissed by the Israeli army. The jet's pilot ejected, and army commandos arrested the pilot, the agency also said in a post on X. Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee denied the reports on X, describing the claims as lies.
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06/14/2025
Tokyo's defense minister said Friday it was "unacceptable" for China to blame Japan for close encounters between their military planes over the Pacific high seas last weekend. Japan says recent Chinese military activities in the Pacific — where Beijing's two operating aircraft carriers were sighted simultaneously for the first time — reveal its intent to improve operational capacity in remote areas. Chinese officials have hit back, calling the carrier outings routine training.
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06/14/2025
With the deployment of 200 combat aircraft and over 330 guided munitions, the Israeli Air Force carried out one of the most forceful air operations in its recent history, as part of Operation “Rising Lion”. The mission aimed to severely degrade Iran’s nuclear program and the military capabilities associated with its development. The attacks targeted around one hundred strategic sites on Iranian territory.
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