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.

Lockheed Orion on its way to museum

Following the final flights of the RNZAF’s Lockheed P-3K2 Orion fleet in January, the Air Force Museum of New Zealand has confirmed that an example will join its collection

USAF B-1Bs integrate with ROKAF F-35As as bombers return to Guam

For the first time this year, the USAF has deployed an undisclosed number of B-1B Lancer supersonic-capable strategic bombers to Andersen AFB in Guam as part of the latest Bomber Task Force mission to the highly tense Indo-Pacific region

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RNLAF prepares to upgrade 28 AH-64Ds to the Echo-model Apache

As the Royal Netherlands Air Force prepares to upgrade its 28 AH-64D Apache to the Echo-model, No 302 Squadron at Robert Gray Army Field, Texas, is playing a vital role in the transition process. Frank Visser spoke with the unit commander

RAF Chinooks return to Estonia and NATO nations announce support for Ukraine

After returning to the UK In August last year, RAF Chinooks from No 18(B) Squadron at RAF Odiham have returned to Amari Air Base in Estonia for operation PELEDA. During the first week they were tasked with transporting defence ministers to a meeting in support of Ukraine.

British Typhoons train with Royal Saudi Air Force 

RAF personnel currently deployed in the Middle East performed a land away and integration with the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) in Saudi Arabia

OPINION: What is going on with the RAF's Hawk T2 fleet?

With the RAF now suffering a crisis in its advanced jet training capability following the grounding of its Hawk T2 fleet due to engine woes, Alan Warnes asks why the UK MOD appears to be in disarray and whether or not this will be exacerbated in the upcoming Integrated Defence Review Refresh

Airbus: A400M Atlas C1 a boost for UK Special Forces

Airbus Defence and Space has said the RAF’s fleet of A400M Atlas C1 tactical transports are outperforming the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules C4/C5 airlifters they are replacing, increasing the effectiveness of UK Special Forces operations

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RAF Hawk T2 issues see just two fast-jet pilots graduate in six months

Only two RAF fast-jet student pilots graduated in the first half of the current financial year because the number of flying hours on the Hawk T2 training aircraft at RAF Valley has been significantly curtailed due to a fault with its Rolls-Royce turbofan engine, an influential group of MPs has been told

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Inside the first year of Qatari Hawk operations at RAF Leeming

The Qatar Emiri Air Force is operating Hawks in its new training establishment at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. Derek Bower explains why

USAF’s ‘Night Hawks’ part ways with the Pave Hawk

The 55th Rescue Squadron ‘Night Hawks’ – a component of the 355th Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona – has become the latest USAF unit to bid a fond farewell to its complement of HH-60G Pave Hawk CSAR helicopters

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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