Military Aviation

Bell Textron announced Tuesday that its jet-assisted next generation tiltrotor design has been picked to continue development in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program. DARPA will fund the design of an aircraft that can take off and land vertically but also fly at 400 knots or more. […]

Likely for the first time in decades, an active-duty Royal Air Force pilot died in the crash of a Spitfire on Saturday. Squadron Leader Mark Long was taking part in a display by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby in northwest England. The aircraft reportedly suffered an engine failure on takeoff and […]

Airmen and Space Force Guardians may soon be able to grow beards under a proposed pilot program introduced by the House Armed Services Committee this week. According to Military.com, the proposal is one of the most requested policy changes among the ranks. The beard proposal was included in the committee’s draft of the 2025 National […]

With an eye toward service entry later this decade, the U.S. Air Force released new photos of its developmental B-21 stealth bomber yesterday (May 22). Shot this past January and as late as last month, the pictures reveal images of the new aircraft in flight and ground tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California. […]

Defense News has reported Aurora Flight Sciences has completed its conceptual design of an experimental vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft for the Pentagon and is moving on to the next phase. On April 30, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Aurora a $25 million contract modification to continue working on its version […]

Stars and Stripes is reporting a House subcommittee has proposed a bill aimed at speeding up integration of electric aircraft into military operations. Since 2020, the Air Force has had a program called Agility Prime to look at electric aviation’s potential uses, but now legislators want the effort to be ramped up. As part of […]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is among at least four passengers who are thought to have been killed in the crash of Bell 212 helicopter in a mountainous area of the country. The crash occurred in rain and fog near the border with Azerbaijan in the northwest corner of the country. Also on board was Foreign […]

An Air Force flight instructor died May 14 after the ejection seat in his T-6 Texan II activated while the aircraft was on the ground the day before. The incident occurred at the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, but the pilot was attached to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training […]

Ukraine has extended the reach of its Light Sport drone program, this time striking 800 miles inside Russia to damage an oil refinery. The Aeroprakt A-22 completed the mission on May 9, and it would appear the program has expanded to include another homegrown design, the Aerosar Nynja. According to Forbes, Friday’s attack was Ukraine’s […]

Bangladeshi air force Squadron Leader Muhammed Asim Jawad died and his back-seater, his boss Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan, is in critical condition after the aircraft lost altitude during a series of aileron rolls and skipped off the side of the runway. After completing three rolls, the Yak-130 pancaked onto the runway at Chattogram Air […]