Military Aviation News Archive
03/13/2024
Ukraine is set to receive U.S.-made F-16 fighter aircraft within months, an upgrade that Kyiv and its Western allies hope will help level the playing field with Russia’s formidable air force. But the F-16s will only have a meaningful impact on the war in Ukraine if Kyiv and its partners can build and maintain the extensive support and logistics infrastructure necessary to keep these world-class warplanes in the air.
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03/13/2024
The F-35 fighter jet program achieved full-rate production after the successful completion of a crucial series of tests last year, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) said on Tuesday. Full-rate production, known as Milestone C, in the advanced fighter jet program signifies the completion of operational testing, allowing the Pentagon's acquisition chief to approve "full rate" production.
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03/13/2024
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) plans to capture over 50% of the global single-seat light fighter market by developing a single-seat version of its FA-50 light combat aircraft. The recent sales of FA-50s to Poland and Malaysia have prompted the revival of earlier plans for a single-seat version. These plans were initially abandoned in favor of the KF-21 development.
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03/12/2024
Police are expanding their investigation into the potential leak of Korean fighter jet technology by an Indonesian engineer as the list of suspects grows. During the police’s investigation into the Indonesian engineer first referred to the police in February, authorities found evidence that another suspect was involved in the alleged theft of technology regarding the KF-21 fighter jet, according to an exclusive report by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.
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03/12/2024
While some Gulf states – effectively Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have made significant moves in recent years to indigenise defence production, in the aerospace sector these efforts have largely focused on the development of home-grown unmanned aerial vehicles and air-launched weapons.
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03/12/2024
On October 29, 2023, United States Air Force Major Kristin "Beo" Wolfe completed her final flight as the first female commander of the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team at Orlando Sanford International Airport, Florida, concluding a notable four years demonstrating the capabilities of the F-35A at over 20 airshows annually around the world. In honor of Women's History Month, we recognize her contributions in aviation, and explore her role with the F-35 Demo Team.
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03/12/2024
"Twelve pilots so far — fewer than a full squadron — are expected to be ready to fly F-16s in combat by this summer after 10 months of training in Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. But by the time the pilots return to Ukraine, as few as six F-16s will have been delivered out of about 45 of the fighter jets that European allies have promised."
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03/12/2024
“We're very, very fixated on being competitive with the pacing challenge [of China],” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “I think the budget that we've submitted moves us forward — not quite as fast as we would like to, but it moves us forward in the right direction while maintaining current capabilities that are essential to the nation.”
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03/11/2024
Military planes parachuted aid over Gaza on Sunday, an AFP photographer said, the latest airdrop over the besieged territory's north where famine looms more than five months into the Israel-Hamas war. The photographer, on board a Jordanian military plane, saw hundreds of Palestinians rushing to receive the falling pallets of basic supplies.
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03/11/2024
The Pentagon will look to develop new artificial intelligence-guided planes, offering two contracts that several private companies have been competing to obtain. The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) project is part of a $6 billion program that will add at least 1,000 new drones to the U.S. Air Force. These drones would deploy alongside human-piloted jets and provide cover for them, acting as escorts with full weapons capabilities that could also act as scouts or communications hubs.
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03/10/2024
US-produced F-35A fighter jets have reportedly received authorization to deploy B61-12 free-fall bombs, marking a historic milestone for the first fifth-generation aircraft to be approved for nuclear weapon carriage. The certification announcement clearing the way for nuclear weapon carriage came on March 8 from Russ Goemaere, a spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office, disclosed to Breaking Defense magazine.
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03/10/2024
French aviation company Dassault is ramping up production of its modern Rafale fighter jets due to a significant increase in orders. According to reports from La Tribune, the company aims to reach a production rate of 3 Rafale aircraft per month in 2024. This step is driven by a substantial portfolio of export orders and domestic contracts placed by the French Armed Forces.
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03/10/2024
A 22-foot-long experimental drone warplane, taking off for the first time in California on Monday, might represent the future of the US Air Force. Unless, as has happened before, service leaders lose their nerve – and abandon a good idea because it threatens the status quo.
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03/09/2024
Canada’s decision to sustain its CF-18 fighter fleet reflected its commitment to modernising air defence capabilities amid challenges highlighted by a critical report commissioned by the Department of National Defence and released last year, casting doubt on its ability to fulfil NATO obligations.
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03/09/2024
The South Korean Air Force recently conducted an impressive “elephant walk” involving 33 aircraft, including F-35A stealth fighters, KF-16s, F-15Ks, and F-4Es. This demonstration at the Suwon air base coincided with the annual Freedom Shield exercise, reinforcing deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
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03/09/2024
Russian aircraft were attacked from a distance of more than 150 km on March 7, the Ukrainian Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk reported on Telegram on March 8.
“We are checking the results of the combatwork,” he wrote. According to him, air defense units hunt down Russian fighters almost every day.
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03/09/2024
Less than a year ago, the Air Force was asking to cut 32 early model F-22s from its meager 183-Raptor inventory. On Thursday, the fighter was dubbed its “highest priority”. Referencing the pacing military competition with China at a McAleese Defense Programs conference in Washington DC on Thursday, Air Force acquisition chief, Andrew Hunter, said, “F-22 is a critical capability. So what’s my highest priority in the near term for that great power competition? I’d probably put F-22 at the top.”
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03/09/2024
On March 6, the Romanian Air Force deployed one of their C-27 transport aircraft for combined training missions with F-16 fighter jets from Romania and Türkiye, based at Fetesti Air Base, French Rafale aircraft , currently stationed there joined the missions.
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03/09/2024
The small, oil-rich South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan has big plans to upgrade its modest fleet of fighter jets over the next decade. However, rather than turn to Russia, its traditional arms supplier for decades, Baku will likely acquire modern fighters from Pakistan and Turkey.
The turn away from Russia shows that longtime allies like Azerbaijan are finding effective arms sellers who aren't afflicted by the problems of Russia's newest fighter jets.
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03/08/2024
Lockheed Martin has announced the completion of five F-16 Block 70 jets for Bahrain, with an additional 11 in production. This move highlights Bahrain's pioneering role in integrating the F-16 Block 70 variant, enhancing its air force capabilities. The Block 70 features advanced radar, avionics, extended service life, and safety systems like the Auto GCAS, emphasizing its combat-proven performance
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03/07/2024
The Air Force plans to whittle down the number of companies working to build the first batch of collaborative combat aircraft to two or three over the next few months, the service’s secretary said Tuesday. And the Air Force plans to award contracts for the next round of CCAs — drones loaded with autonomous software that would fly themselves into battle alongside crewed fighters — in fiscal 2025, Frank Kendall said during a roundtable at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposiu
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03/07/2024
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has introduced a period of hiatus, according to an update from 4 March 2024, while the service decides on its next trainer aircraft as the existing 18 CT-155 Hawk units come to the end of their 24-year-long life. While RCAF officials debate the platform that will best simulate Canada’s newly acquired F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, the fast jet leading the nation’s combat air fleet.
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03/07/2024
Russia’s defence ministry said Tuesday that it had scrambled a fighter jet to “prevent a violation of the Russian state border” by three French aircraft over the Black Sea. Such incidents have regularly occurred, even before Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in 2022. “To prevent a violation of the Russian state border, a Su-27 fighter aircraft was raised into the air,” Russia’s defence ministry said.
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03/07/2024
The Ukrainian Air Force announced on March 4 that a Su-34 Fullback fighter bomber had been shot down. With that, more than a dozen Fullback bomber jets are alleged to have been brought down by Ukraine in just over two weeks.
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03/05/2024
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has reiterated his stance that the government will seek understanding for its plan to export next-generation fighter jets to third countries. Kishida was answering questions on Monday from an opposition lawmaker at the Upper House about an aircraft Japan is developing with Britain and Italy.
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