Military Aviation

Boeing and Leonardo are beginning low-rate initial production of the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter following the recent award of a $285 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The contract, which is part of a $2.4 billion deal for up to 84 helicopters, training systems and support equipment awarded to the Boeing-Leonardo team in September […]

GE is challenging Pratt & Whitney’s exclusive engine deal for the F-35 with a proposal to scrap the current Pratt engine in favor of a clean-sheet design from GE. The existing engines have been troublesome for operators and Pratt says it can upgrade all the existing engines for $2.5 billion. GE has launched a massive […]

Multiple sources are reporting that two Ukrainian air force pilots are in the U.S. flying F-16 simulators as part of an “assessment” of their skills. The outlets, all quoting unnamed sources, say the two Ukrainians have been at an Air National Guard unit in Tucson, Arizona, for a week and will be there for at […]

The U.S. Army’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopter fleet has officially logged 5 million flight hours since the first AH-64A was delivered in 1984. According to Apache manufacturer Boeing, 1.3 million of those hours were flown during combat. The Army currently operates a fleet of more than 1,200 D- and E-model Apaches. “It is such a […]

More than 200 of the Air Force’s most expensive and important aircraft were briefly grounded in February after it was discovered that the pins that hold the vertical stabilizer to the fuselages of most Air Force variants of the Boeing 707 were substandard. The five-inch pins are potentially a single point of failure since one […]

Boeing has announced that is currently planning to end production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft in late 2025. According to the company, the decision will allow it to redirect its resources to future military aircraft programs and ramp up production for newer programs such as the T-7A Red Hawk trainer and MQ-25 Stingray […]

Airline crews flying near Hawaii have been warned to watch for a “large white balloon” last spotted about 500 miles east of the Islands on Monday. The balloon has apparently been seen by several airline crews. “Report of large white balloon in the vicinity of 2639N15021W,” an ACARS issued Monday says. “Estimated to be between […]

For the third time in three days, U.S. fighters downed an unidentified object on Sunday afternoon, this time over Lake Huron just north of Michigan. It was flying at 20,000 feet and described as octagonal in shape by Pentagon officials, who maintain they don’t know what it or the other two objects shot down over […]

The Air Force says it wants stealthy tankers in the air by 2040 to improve its chances of pressing a battle in the far-flung locations that are often the site of such conflicts. One of its main constraints is that its tankers are sitting ducks for even the most rudimentary anti-aircraft munitions. The Air Force […]

Part of the envelope of a Chinese balloon shot down off Myrtle Beach was reportedly seen in a boat at a boat launch near the city as the Navy and Coast Guard work to recover what’s left of the balloon’s sensors and power system. An Air Force F-22 shot down the balloon off the coast […]