Military Aviation News Archive
06/01/2025
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has confirmed that the company has made its largest-ever internal investment in the U.S. Air Force’s F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter programme. Speaking at the Bernstein 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference on 29 May, Ortberg highlighted the strategic significance of the project for Boeing’s defence division and its St. Louis production facility.
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06/01/2025
According to a picture released by the U.S. Central Command on May 30, 2025, via its official X account, a new armament configuration of the USAF F-15E Strike Eagle has been revealed, showing the aircraft armed with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rocket pods. The photo clearly displays three APKWS II pods mounted under each wing, each carrying seven laser-guided Hydra 70mm rockets, installed beneath the standard AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM mounts.
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06/01/2025
US President Donald Trump has offered Boeing’s sixth-generation stealth fighter, the F-47, to Japan, according to reports. If true, this would be the first concrete offer to sell the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) combat jet to any country. Notably, this comes amid reports that the US is unhappy with Japan’s participation in the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), a sixth-generation combat jet being pursued jointly by Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
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06/01/2025
Britain wants to purchase fighter jets capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons, in a major expansion of the deterrent intended to counter the growing threat posed by Russia. Sir Keir Starmer’s government is in highly sensitive talks over the move, which would represent the biggest development in the UK’s deterrent since the Cold War and a recognition that the world has entered a more dangerous nuclear era.
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06/01/2025
India’s military has acknowledged for the first time that an unspecified number of its fighter jets were shot down during strikes on Pakistani-controlled territory amid intense fighting between the neighbors in early May. Indian officials had previously refused to confirm even a single aircraft loss.
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05/31/2025
apan has growing doubts that its next-generation fighter project with Britain and Italy will meet a 2035 rollout target, potentially forcing Tokyo to plug air defense gaps with new U.S. F-35 stealth planes or upgrades to aging jets, two sources said. The joint Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) established in 2022 is falling behind schedule due to a lack of urgency from Britain and Italy, which could push deployment beyond 2040, according to one of the sources.
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05/31/2025
The ferocity of the shots fired in the recent India-Pakistan conflict have quietened but the skirmish is already having an impact on global air forces. Jamming devices are now considered essential, experts have told The National. A major investigation among Western powers is under way to understand how potentially three French-built Rafales were lost to Pakistan's Chinese made J-10Cs, alongside the worrying development of long-range aerial warfare.
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05/31/2025
Dutch F-35s joined Finland’s Baana 25 exercises, simulating highway landings to boost NATO’s Agile Combat Employment strategy, showcasing operational flexibility, readiness, and alliance interoperability amid modern warfare threats. It has been over two years since Finland officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, in that short time, it has worked closely with its allied nations in numerous drills, including its annual “Baana” exercises.
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05/31/2025
According to information published by the Norwegian Ministry of Defense on May 28, 2025, Norwegian Armed Forces achieved a groundbreaking milestone in NATO’s advancement of network-enabled warfare. While the operation was conducted on May 14, 2025, the newly revealed details emphasize a major leap in allied digital integration and precision strike capability.
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05/31/2025
Lockheed Martin is developing an advanced version of its F-35 stealth fighter jet that could potentially be uncrewed, the company's CEO said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Bernstein's 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, CEO Jim Taiclet floated the possibility of an F-35 whose pilot could be "optional" within a "relatively modest time frame."
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05/30/2025
The Ministry of National Defense tracked 16 Chinese military aircraft, eight naval vessels, and one official ship around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Thursday and 6 a.m. on Friday. Seven of the 16 People’s Liberation Army aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line in the country’s northern and eastern air defense identification zone, according to the MND.
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05/30/2025
According to information published by the British daily The Telegraph on May 20, 2025, the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm’s F-35B fighters will remain limited in their air-to-ground strike capabilities for several more years. Despite their advanced design, these aircraft currently rely solely on Paveway series guided bombs, due to the lack of integration of more sophisticated weaponry. The SPEAR 3 missile program, intended to fill this gap, has experienced significant delays.
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05/30/2025
China has emerged as a manufacturing superpower in several industries but has failed to gain traction as an exporter of combat aircraft. Could this be about to change? A fateful night in the skies above mountainous Kashmir hints that the world’s perception of Chinese combat aircraft may have reached a turning point.
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05/30/2025
Despite international sanctions and the fact that its industrial complex is focused on the war effort, Russia has completed the delivery of a new batch of Sukhoi Su-30SM2 fighter-bombers to equip the Belarusian Air Force. The news emerged through the viral circulation of images showing an undisclosed number of aircraft delivered by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant to the Belarusian Ministry of Defense.
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05/29/2025
French President Emmanuel Macron appears to have convinced Indonesia to place follow-on orders for Rafale and Scorpene submarines as it seeks to deepen defense and trade ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Macron arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, from Vietnam on May 27 for the second leg of his three-country Southeast Asia tour, which also includes Singapore, and aims to project France as a balancing power in the Indo-Pacific.
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05/29/2025
The crisis within the IAF cannot by itself explain the excellent performance of Pakistani PL-15 missiles against what were supposedly India’s superior air capabilities. The dismal showing of India’s expensive French-built Dassault Rafales in its recent war against Pakistan has triggered a wave of recriminations between the Indian and French governments. Not only has the unimpressive display of the Dassault Rafales in the opening phases of the recent conflict come as a shock to the world.
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05/29/2025
India’s new stealth fighter plan aims to reassert air dominance in a region where Pakistan’s Chinese-made jets recently drew first blood in an intensifying South Asian arms race. This month, India’s Ministry of Defense green-lighted a blueprint for developing its most sophisticated stealth fighter jet, known as the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), Reuters reported.
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05/28/2025
India, one of the world's largest arms importers, has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority in the face of tensions with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the prototype of a 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the ministry said in a statement, calling it a "significant push towards enhancing India's indigenous defence capabilities".
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05/28/2025
Over more than three years of conflict, various Russian/Soviet-origin fighter jets operated by the Ukrainian Air Force have been observed modified or adapted to deploy Western weaponry. To cite just a few examples, Su-27 fighters have been seen using French-made AASM HAMMER guided bombs and U.S.-made GBU-39 glide bombs. The Su-24 Fencer aircraft have also been employed as launch platforms for SCALP EG/Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
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05/27/2025
The Finnish Foreign Ministry has summoned russian Ambassador Pavel Kuznetsov to demand an explanation in connection with the alleged violation of the country's airspace by russian military aircraft on May 23.
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05/27/2025
During the recent China-Egypt joint air drills, Eagles of Civilization 2025, held between April and May at Wadi Abu Rish Air Base, non-official sources reported that the Commander of the Egyptian Air Force, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Fuad Abdel Gawad, expressed a strong interest in China’s J-35 stealth fighter. While this information has not been officially confirmed by either Egyptian or Chinese authorities.
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05/27/2025
The Dutch Ministry of Defense confirmed on Monday that the final batch of six F-16 fighter jets promised to Kyiv has left the Netherlands on its way to Ukraine. The Netherlands has been a key ally of Ukraine and an early advocate for Ukraine to receive fighter jets from the West. In May 2023, former US President Joe Biden agreed to allow the Netherlands and other European countries to begin training Ukrainian pilots and to transfer F-16s to Ukraine.
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05/27/2025
Recent reports from various international media outlets, including Defense Arabic, suggest that Azerbaijan is poised to significantly bolster its air force by expanding its order of JF-17 Thunder Block III fighter jets, a joint production between Pakistan and China.
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05/27/2025
As reported by TASS on May 22, 2025, the first confirmed foreign customer of the Russian Su-57E fifth-generation multirole fighter jet will begin operating the aircraft in 2025. While the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation did not disclose the identity of the purchasing country during the MILEX 2025 defense exhibition in Minsk, multiple independent sources, including Algerian state television and statements from Russian officials, confirm that Algeria is the first export
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05/26/2025
A major shift is underway for one of the most prominent units of the United States Air National Guard. The 127th Wing, based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, will replace its A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft with 21 new F-15EX Eagle II fighters. President Donald J. Trump announced this development during his visit to Selfridge on April 29, 2025. It marks a new phase for the unit, which has operated the A-10 for the past 15 years.
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