Military Aviation

NTSB Update Cites New Altitude Information

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Investigative Update for Feb. 4 reports that most recent information shows the Army Black Hawk helicopter altitude displayed in the control tower showed 300 feet at the moment of impact. However, that readout is rounded to the nearest 100 feet, the NTSB said, suggesting the helicopter altitude could have […]

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Radar, FDR Disagree On DC Black Hawk Altitude

The scope being used by the controller working both the American Eagle flight and Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided Thursday in Washington, D.C., showed the helicopter about 125 feet lower than the CRJ700 it met over the Potomac River. At a press briefing on Saturday, NTSB member Todd Inman said the flight data recorder […]

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More Pentagon Money For 6th-Gen Fighter Engine

The War Zone (TWZ) website is reporting that the U.S. Air Force has “dramatically plussed-up” the budgets of contracts with engine manufacturers that are working on next-gen fighter engines. Both General Electric and Pratt & Whitney now have $3.5 billion budgets to work on their Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) programs. The information was released […]

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Fighter Pilot Shortage Threatening Readiness

An aerospace think tank says a shortage of Air Force fighter pilots is being compounded by a shortage of airplanes and threatens its combat readiness. The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies says the impact of the shortages is exacerbated by declining pilot experience, which is threatening pilot survivability as a whole. “The Air Force’s pilot […]

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Military Aircraft To Assist In Deportations

On Wednesday, Defense officials said U.S. military aircraft would assist in deporting thousands of illegal immigrants out of the country. In a statement, Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said the Department of Defense (DoD) will enhance its presence at the southwest border by deploying roughly 1,500 additional ground personnel, along with helicopters and their […]

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Ukraine Drones Strike Russian Aircraft Factory

In an apparent drone attack from Ukraine, this morning, the Smolensk Aviation Plant in Russia was reportedly set ablaze. The factory produces the Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft, as well as parts for other aircraft and missiles. Newsweek reported that the attack was confirmed by Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s […]

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Russians Get Missile Lock On NATO Patrol Plane

France and NATO are protesting after a Russian missile battery locked on to a French Navy maritime patrol over the Baltic Sea last week. The incident is considered a major escalation of the normally carefully orchestrated surveillance operations carried out by both sides in areas like the strategically important Baltic. “On Wednesday night, a French […]

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Ukraine Chops Three Months From F-16 Training

Ukraine’s government has announced it’s cutting training time for new F-16 pilots to fill cockpits faster. The air force has received dozens of Vipers in the last few months and the country is anxious to put them into action, but the pilot pipeline isn’t keeping up. “The basic training program needs to be optimized. This […]

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More Warthogs Relegated To Storage At Davis-Monthan

As the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft (better known as the “Warthog”) is being phased out of U.S. Air Force service, increasing numbers of airframes are finding their way into storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The USAF relegated 39 of the popular A-10s to Davis-Monthan in 2024—more than double the […]

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Super Hornet Pilot Recounts Friendly Fire Incident

The pilot of a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet shot down by an American missile in the Red Sea has written an account of the experience in an X post. Although the post has not been verified by the Navy, according to The Aviationist it appears to match the events known about the incident, which occurred […]

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