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.

RAF's last BAe 146 CC2 completes final flight

The RAF's sole remaining BAe 146 CC2 (serial ZE700) carried out its final flight on March 17, performing flypasts over multiple airfields before arriving in MOD St Athan, where it will be preserved at the nearby South Wales Aviation Museum

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Why has Russia failed to project airpower over Ukraine?

Russia was expecting to dominate the skies over Ukraine early into the conflict. However, while the air arm boasts significant advantages when compared with its Ukrainian counterpart, it has seemingly failed to project airpower effectively in the opening weeks of its invasion, as former fighter pilot turned aviation researcher, Sqn Ldr (Ret’d) Fahad Masood (MRAeS) at MCBS, Oman, explains

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Inside France's sophisticated air defence network

We report on the Posture Permanente de Sûreté Aérienne, which mobilises 500 aviators daily to face any potential aerial threat

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The RAF's last search and rescue unit marks 50 years of helicopter ops

We explore the past and present of the RAF’s sole remaining search-and-rescue unit, as it celebrates a momentous milestone this year

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Dassault Rafale: Greece’s game changer?

With the Hellenic Air Force taking delivery of its first Dassault Rafales in January, Babak Taghvaee reviews all aspects of Greece’s procurement of the type in the country’s ongoing bid for air supremacy over the Aegean

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RAF Typhoons on Op Ellamy

Following AFM's tenth anniversary review of Operation Ellamy in Jan 22 issue – the UK’s contribution to the UN-approved intervention over Libya in 2011, Jon Lake describes the RAF Typhoon Force’s baptism of fire in the multi-role domain during the conflict

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Inside the US Special Forces mission that eliminated Haji Abdullah

We describe the US Army Special Forces’ mission to track down and eliminate the so-called Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi

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Inside Travis AFB: Gateway to the Pacific

In light of Air Mobility Command’s outstanding work during the evacuation of Kabul, Scott Cuong Tran and Nick Tran visited its busiest hub, Travis AFB in California, to find out how the US provides effective global transport

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Whatever happened to the USAF's YAL-1A Airborne Laser Testbed?

David Willis reviews the troubled path of the USAF's Boeing YAL-1A Airborne Laser Testbed from ‘first light’ to last flight

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The last A-4 Skyhawk operation of the Falklands

Two Argentine Air Force pilots, Mario Roca and Guillermo Dellepiane, tell the story of the final A-4 Skyhawk operation of the 1982 conflict, when they attempted to destroy an important British command post

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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