Military Aviation

Much of that Chinese spy balloon that the Air Force took out off the coast of South Carolina last February was made in the good old U.S.A. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that its sources told them the gondola slung below the helium-filled envelope was “crammed” with off-the-shelf gear made in the U.S. […]

The U.S. Air Force took its first T-7A Red Hawk training jet for its initial flight on Wednesday, about a week after the model completed taxi testing. The flight lasted one hour and three minutes and officially kicked off the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the T-7A program. Boeing was awarded a $9.2 […]

Bell Textron announced on Wednesday that the combined fleet of AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom twin-engine attack and utility helicopters has logged more than 500,000 flight hours. Primarily operated by the U.S. Marine Corps, the models saw their first use in military operations in 2010. According to Bell, it has built nearly 400 AH-1Z and […]

What is sure to be a star attraction at next month’s AirVenture is now undergoing flight tests at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. VC-121A Bataan, a military version of the Lockheed Constellation, has undergone a full restoration and flew for the first time in June 20. It’s now regularly waking up the […]

The U.S. Air Force plans to conduct flyovers across all 50 states on June 27 as a tribute to 100 years of air-to-air refueling efforts. Aircraft scheduled to take part in the event include KC-135 Stratotanker, KC-10 Extender and KC-46 Pegasus aircraft. More than 150 tankers from 26 installations are expected to participate. “Air refueling […]

Boeing announced on Tuesday that the T-7A Red Hawk military training jet has successfully completed taxi testing. While the model flew for the first time in 2016 as the T-X, further flight testing is expected to take place at Boeing’s facility in St. Louis later this summer then at Edwards Air Force Base this fall. […]

The bodies of two crew members on a Royal Canadian Air Force Chinook helicopter were recovered late Tuesday near Canadian Forces Base Petawawa west of Ottawa. The two were among four on the aircraft when it went down near the Ottawa River early Tuesday morning. The other two were rescued and had only minor injuries. […]

Diamond Aircraft flew its DART-750 military trainer test article for the first time on June 12 and, as expected, all went well. The longish thin-winged hot rod sports a 750-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25C and is billed as an aerobatic trainer by the company. Diamond test pilots Soren Pedersen and Niko Daroussis flew the […]

Embraer held a ceremony on Thursday to celebrate the installation of the first flight simulator for the KC-390 Millennium multi-mission military jet. Located at the Embraer Academy in São José dos Campos, Brazil, the Level D simulator includes a training package to support military operations and more than 350 failure simulations. In addition to the […]

A Hong Kong-based security company and a South African flight school have been added to an export control list because of their alleged involvement in recruiting Western military pilots to train Chinese military pilots. The Test Flying Academy of South Africa, which is being investigated by British authorities for recruiting ex-RAF pilots, and the Frontier […]