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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Does the United States need an all-stealth air force?

Is stealth really a necessity in military aviation? Charlie Clark examines the options for air arms

UK axes another C-130J, leaving just a handful in RAF service

Another RAF-operated Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Hercules C4 tactical transport has arrived at Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group’s facility at Cambridge Airport in Cambridgeshire for disposal, leaving just a handful of airframes in UK military service

Second intercept of Russian aircraft by NATO joint Air Policing

For the second time this week a pair of Eurofighter Typhoons were scrambled from Amari Air Base in Estonia to intercept Russian aircraft transiting through the Finland Straight of the Estonian coast.

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Metheringham – in the footsteps of heroes

James Peene headed to Lincolnshire to pay a visit to the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre and discovered a former bomber base steeped in history but with a healthy future

VIDEO: Exercise Cobra Warrior 23-1 Waddington Action

Exercise Cobra Warrior 23-1 is now in its third and final week with the Belgian Defence – Air Component’s F-16 Fighting Falcons having departed home on Friday, March 17.

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How the mighty B-52 will remain lethal for another 50 years: the inside story

Jeff Bolton tells the inside story of how the mother of all heavy bombers will remain deadly for another 50 years even as it heads towards 100 years of service, and what it’s like to fly her.

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The secret USAF Boeing 757s that don’t exist

David Isby profiles Boeing 757s flying for the US Air Force which include the high-profile VIP C-32As and the secretive C-32Bs that undertake a range of sensitive missions.

Airfield preservation group launches museum bid

The RAF Bradwell Bay Preservation Group is seeking support in its bid to create a museum close to the site’s war memorial, near Maldon in Essex

Could historic Scampton be used to house migrants?

An eminent group of historians has signed a letter to the government opposing plans to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton

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Su-57 Felon: Why Russia’s first stealth fighter has yet to fully ‘take-off’

The fifth-generation stealth fighter Su-57 is among Russia’s top airpower priorities, but the ambitious project has suffered from protracted development and testing and the production effort is yet to gather speed. Alexander Mladenov reports

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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