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.

Russia still flies high-tempo combat ops over Syria as Ukraine War continues

While Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory in the West, the Russian Aerospace Forces are still supporting combat operations in the Middle East, with a variety of aircraft types noted as operating from Bassel Al-Assad AB in Khmeimim, Syria, in September

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Cobra Warrior: An exclusive insight into the UK's largest exercise of 2022

Combat Aircraft Journal speak with the various air arms that took part in the RAF-led Exercise Cobra Warrior, a large force employment training event, held across the UK in September

Poland receives initial batch of Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs

The first batch of Turkish-made Baykar Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs was delivered to the Polish Air Force on October 28

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RAF Hawker Tempests in the Malayan Emergency

Following the outbreak of the Malayan Emergency in 1948, Tempest IIfighter-bombers became the backbone of the RAF’s response to the terroristsuntil they were finally displaced by jets in 1952.

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What made the Hawker Tempest II the ultimate variant?

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver describes how the Tempest provided the fighter core of the British Occupation forces in Germany and served in India to become the initial equipment for the air forces of India and Pakistan.

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How Hawker Tempests exploded V1s before they could reach London

Within weeks of arrival on operations, the first Tempest squadrons were confronted by their greatest challenge – the V1 flying bomb. Beginning shortly after D-Day and lasting until the launch sites were captured by Allied armies in September, the Tempest pilots flew day and night in a desperate effort to explode the world’s first cruise missiles before they could reach London, which Hitler vowed to destroy with his ‘Vengeance’ weapon.

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Baltic Gripens: Inside recent Czech and Hungarian Air Policing ops

For two months, Saab Gripen-Cs from both the Hungarian and Czech air forces stood armed at Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. The first time ever in nearly 20 years of Baltic Air Policing. And as Combat Aircraft Journal  reports, it should never have happened

Boeing delivers first upgraded AH-64E to the Netherlands

Boeing announced on October 25 that it has delivered the first upgraded AH-64E Version 6 Apache Guardian attack helicopter to the Royal Netherlands Air Force

USAF plots withdrawal of F-15s from Kadena

According to a report released on October 27, the USAF is planning to remove all of its Boeing F-15C/D Eagle fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, in 2023

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USAF F-22 Raptors perform enhanced air policing in Poland

As Pacific Air Forces F-22s deployed at Lask Air Base to own the skies alongside NATO, Combat Aircraft Journal looks at the work of the Alaskan fighters

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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