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.
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
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
Supermarine's superior Southampton flying boat
Supermarine Southampton - an era-defining flying boat that changed Supermarine’s fortunes...
USAF selects Selfridge ANGB as next KC-46A Pegasus base
The US Department of the Air Force announced on January 12 that it has selected Selfridge Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Michigan as its preferred location to host the next KC-46A Pegasus tanker unit, with the base expected to welcome its first aircraft in 2029
Argentina issues airworthiness certificate for re-engined Pucará Fénix
Argentina’s General Directorate of Joint Military Airworthiness of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces (DIGAMC) issued the airworthiness certificate for the newly upgraded IA-58H Pucará Fénix counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft on December 29, after the type received new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-62 turboprop engines
Italian Tornados relieve Eurofighters on deployment in Kuwait
The Italian Air Force has deployed an unspecified number of Panavia Tornado IDS ground attack/strike aircraft to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait as part of its latest Task Group Devil detachment to the Middle East region
Norway deploys F-35As for Air Policing duties in Iceland
The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) has deployed F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighters from Ørland Main Air Station, Norway, to Keflavik Air Base in Iceland to provide a Quick Reaction Alert capability in support of NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing (IAP) mission
RNLAF’s third F-35A unit welcomes first Lightning II
The first F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter for the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s (RNLAF’s) No 312 Squadron arrived at Leeuwarden Air Base on January 11
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.
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