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.

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74 Sqn and the Lightning F.3

Tony Clay describes the Lightning F.3 and its time with the RAF’s famous ‘Tigers’, 74 Squadron

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TSR2: The greatest aircraft the RAF never flew?

Arguably the most controversial aircraft in British history, the TSR2 still has the power to divide opinion. Was it rightly cancelled or a missed opportunity? In the January 2017 issue of Aviation News, Dr Kevin Wright weighed up the arguments.

Famous Jaguar returns to 6 Squadron

To mark 6 Squadron’s 110th anniversary today, January 31, 2024, it was announced that a famous aircraft from its past has once again taken up residence with the unit.

On the O.R.P. at Horsham St. Faith, Javelins of Nos. 141 and 23 Squadrons are positioned and plugged-in to the telebrief for the next scramble. Feature Premium

Revealing 1950s Fighter Command exercise report

A fascinating article on a 1957 UK air defence exercise which focused on countering a massed attack on the first day of a conflict from 'The Aeroplane’s' June 7 issue

An RAF Comet of 216 Squadron. Feature Premium

On-board an RAF Comet training flight to Africa in 1957

A revealing account of RAF Comet operations from the May 17, 1957 issue of The Aeroplane

NF Meteors: The RAF’s First Jet Night-Fighters

Armstrong Whitworth turned the Meteor from a simple day-fighter into one of the first radar-equipped all-weather jet interceptors. Doug Gordon remembers the career of the early night-fighter Meteors, the NF.11 and NF.13.

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The troublesome development of the Hawker Tempest

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver details the troublesome development of the Hawker Tempest – the last piston engine fighter to carry Royal Air Force colours

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Hendon's Lancaster - 137 combat sortie veteran

Avro Lancaster ‘S-for-Sugar’ carried out an incredible 137 combat sorties during World War Two and proudly thumbed its nose at Hermann Göring. Andrew Simpson and Nigel Price profile this Bomber Command veteran...

RAF's 4 Squadron - how we learned to look after the Avro Rota autogyro

For an airman on No 4 Squadron, learning to look after the Avro Rota autogyro was not the most tantalising prospect — but it certainly made the summer of 1935 an interesting one

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Supermarine's superior Southampton flying boat

Supermarine Southampton - an era-defining flying boat that changed Supermarine’s fortunes...

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.

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