Airforce News

On this page you will find news from the world’s airforces including first flights, latest deployments, procurement programs, weapon upgrades, training and technology, fleet retirements, the changing operational theatres and missions.

Whether it is the RAF, France’s Armée de l’air or the United States Airforce, airforces around the world are buying new platforms, choosing between legacy fleets, which maybe Russian, European or American, and building their own domestic capabilities in sub-systems, missiles or whole aircraft.

Whether the manufacturing contracts are for domestic or foreign firms, worldwide instability is driving airforce fleet renewals, recapitalisation and investment in support infrastructure, military technology, offensive and defensive systems, from missiles, super and hypersonic, to chaff and directed infra-red countermeasures.

Singapore green lights additional F-35B purchase

Having concluded its evaluation of the F-35B Lightning II, the Republic of Singapore Air Force revealed it would exercise its option to acquire another eight examples of the STOVL-configured variant of the fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter family on February 24

New Zealand retires first legacy C-130H(NZ) Hercules

The Royal New Zealand Air Force has withdrawn the first of its five-strong fleet of Lockheed C-130H(NZ) Hercules tactical transports from service after nearly 60 years of operations

News Premium

AFSOC’s secretive CN-235 supports Biden’s visit to Europe

US Air Force Special Operations Command’s sole CASA CN-235M-100 was one of the many aircraft to journey to Eastern Europe to during the past week to support US President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, and his pre-planned meeting with other NATO leaders in Warsaw, Poland

Cost of UK's final Tranche 1 F-35B Lightning IIs to increase

The price of the final Tranche 1 F-35B Lightning II fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighters to be acquired by the UK is set to rise by 6%, the Ministry of Defence has revealed

BREAKING: Exercise Cobra Warrior participating air forces confirmed

The RAF has confirmed the participating air forces for its upcoming Exercise Cobra Warrior.

Feature Premium

Ukraine-Russia War: An expert analysis of the first year

On the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Trendafilovski provides a detailed analysis of the brutal conflict which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022

Notorious ‘Blacksnakes’ to bid farewell to venerable A-10Cs

Having operated the venerable A-10C Thunderbolt II since 2010, the Indiana Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing ‘Blacksnakes’ will bid a fond farewell to the type after it recently announced it had formally been approved to convert to the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon

Feature Premium

How RAF Voyagers made NATO Eastern Flank patrols possible

RAF Typhoons have been a regular player in the combat air patrols over NATO’s Eastern Flank since February 24 last year, but without the RAF Voyager, the job would have been a lot more complicated, as Wg Cdr Mike Udall, Officer Commanding of 101 Sqn based at RAF Brize Norton, explains to Alan Warnes

Romanian MiG-21s scrambled to chase down ‘phantom’ object

A pair of Romanian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 LanceR B/C fighters were recently scrambled to intercept a small, unidentified aerial target that had been detected within national airspace at an altitude of approximately 36,000ft over southeast Romania

Brazil marks 50 years of C-95 Bandeirante ops

The Brazilian Air Force’s airlift community marked a major milestone on February 9, when the air arm’s fleet of Embraer C-95 Bandeirante light transport/liaison aircraft celebrated 50 years of operational service

Your source for all the latest Airforce and military aircraft news

As the latest fifth-generation platform, the Lockheed Martin F-35 is in use globally for international partner airforces, from the United States Airforce (USAF) to the RAF and the Australian airforce, the sixth-generation fighters are already on the drawing board.

Find out which airforces are looking at virtual cockpits, networked platforms and piloted aircraft working with drone wingmen for the stealth fighters of the 2030s and discover which airforces are planning to replace their existing fleets with the fighter planes of the future.

Military Aircraft Retirement and Technology Updates

International forces around the world are deploying military aircraft manufactured in France, Russia and America including aircraft from Saab, France’s Dassault Rafale, Russian Mig-29s and the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, which it will operate for years to come.

What will also be flying well into the next decade is the USAF’s Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter. The next decade will also see the USAF’s newest stealth bomber, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider enter service, while the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber will be in its seventh decade of operational service after refurbishments and restorations. This page is the only place you need to be to find out all the latest news on retirements and new deployments.

Be the first to find out which existing platforms such as France’s Dassault Mirage 2000 light weight jet and the Eurofighter Typhoon are facing the need for wholesale technology updates. The Eurofighter is being upgraded for an electronic warfare role in the 2020s and the USAF is improving some of its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons with F-35 fifth generation technology.

From restorations to retirement and procurement, international projects for new networked technologies including piloted and autonomous platforms and the contracts to manufacture them, all of this fast-moving defence aviation news and analysis can be found here.

Related Airforce Topics

Want to find out more about other types of military aircraft? We have dedicated pages for the latest Military Aircraft Shows, Military Fighter Aircraft and all the latest cutting-edge Military Aircraft Technology.

Subscribe to Key.Aero

Become a part of our aviation community and subscribe to Key.Aero now. You can get all the aviation information you'll ever need, whenever you want, with access to all the latest aviation updates, news, events and more.