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.

Northrop Grumman awarded US$3.6bn BACN support contract

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a US$3.6bn contract by the US Air Force to continue to provide operational, sustainment and support services for the air arm’s Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) platforms

Spirit AeroSystems selected to build UK’s first LANCA prototype

Northern Ireland-based Spirit AeroSystems has been awarded a £30m contract by the UK Ministry of Defence to design and manufacture a prototype for the Royal Air Force’s Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) programme

One man’s untold World War II story

Walter Henry Layne volunteered for duty as Aircrew with the RAF the moment Neville Chamberlain announced a state of war on September 3, 1949. His son David tells his incredible story in this first instalment of a three-part story for MyPast…

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Desert Storm 30: The U-2's Olympic Flare missions

The U-2 spy plane, nicknamed the Dragon Lady, flew 544 reconnaissance sorties during Operation Desert Storm, gathering priceless intelligence for allied forces involved in the Gulf War

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From Spads to Spirits: Inside the 13th Bomb Squadron

Affectionately known as ‘The Devil’s Own Grim Reapers’, the 13th Bomb Squadron has engaged in almost every major US conflict since World War One. Key.Aero provides a behind-the-scenes look at what is now the USAF's sole stealth bomber training unit

USAF awards Boeing $2.12bn for Lot 7 production KC-46s

Boeing has been awarded a US$2.12bn contract modification by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to manufacture and deliver an additional 15 KC-46A Pegasus tankers for the USAF under a seventh production lot

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Thracian Viper: Bulgaria prepares for the Bear

For six weeks, Bulgaria’s skies witnessed intense NATO activity last autumn, beginning with ‘Thracian Viper 20’ and culminating with American F-16s flying enhanced Air Policing missions

India approves purchase of 83 Tejas LCA platforms

India’s Cabinet Committee on Security approved the INR₹457bn (US$6.4bn) purchase of 83 Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for the Indian Air Force on January 13

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F-4 Phantom to A-10 'Warthog'

Col Steven K Ladd (ret’d) flew F-4 Phantoms in combat over Vietnam and sat on nuclear alert in Europe. When his then unit transitioned to the A-10 Warthog, he reluctantly switched to the subsonic ‘tank buster’, but became one of its most enthusiastic proponents

UK to boost in-country F-35B support under LANCE contract

Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have signed the GBP£76m Lightning Air system National Capability Enterprise (LANCE) contract, which seeks to boost the in-country support services available to the UK’s F-35B fleet

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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