Military Aviation

The matriarch of the Air Force’s strategic nuclear fleet is getting some work done, and the result is smoother skin and curvier limbs. Air and Space Forces Magazine released an image of a 3-D rendering of what the next iteration of the 70-plus-year-old B-52 will likely look like and it’s definitely a softer image. “The […]

Australian authorities have arrested a former Marine Corps pilot and owner of an aviation consultancy in China and are holding him under special bail conditions at the request of the U.S. government. The Australian Broadcasting Company is reporting that Daniel Edmund Duggan was taken into custody by Australian Federal Police last Friday just as reports […]

The governments of France, Australia and Canada have joined the U.K. investigating whether their retired military pilots are helping to train Chinese pilots. All three powers have warned their former employees, all of whom swore an oath to defend their respective country, that helping the People’s Liberation Army gain the upper hand over Western allies […]

It’s not often anyone rolls hundreds of thousands of pounds of tactical bomber at low level in front of 50,000 people, but that was the surprise patrons of the Edwards Air Force Base airshow were in for earlier this month. A B-1B did a slow roll over the centerline during its bombing display at the […]

A Ukrainian surveillance drone has apparently won the first drone-on-drone dogfight by essentially allowing a Russian quadcopter to bounce off it. The video, which was released by a Ukrainian poster on Telegram, has now gone viral and it’s unlikely to catch Hollywood’s attention.  The Ukrainian drone is an off-the-shelf Mavic that appears to have been […]

The British government is considering making it illegal for retired RAF pilots to train the pilots of military adversaries after the RAF discovered as many as 30 ex-pilots had signed lucrative contracts to train Chinese pilots. The Times reported a South African intermediary had offered the retired pilots as much as $270,000 to teach People’s […]

Air Force blue is giving way to green on some projects as the heavy fossil fuel consumer looks at ways to lighten its load on the environment. The Air Force announced this week that it’s looking at blended wing designs for future tanker and cargo aircraft that it says will burn up to 30 percent […]

The U.S. Air Force has declared that the Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopter has reached initial operational capability (IOC). According to the Air Force, the announcement means it now “possesses sufficient HH-60Ws, logistics requirements and trained Airmen to support a 30-day deployment to any independent location with a package of four aircraft.” […]

The U.S. Army has ordered two more CH-47F Block II Chinook multi-mission heavy-lift helicopters from Boeing, the company announced on Monday. The order is in addition to a $136 million contract for four Block II Chinooks awarded to Boeing last year. Alongside the Lot 2 contract, which is valued at $63 million, is a separate […]

A B-2 bomber damaged in a runway excursion about a year ago at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri was ferried to Palmdale, California, where it was built, showing the scars of its gear collapse. Photographer Tom Jordan caught the plane landing showing the obviously temporary repair. The half-billion-dollar aircraft was stitched up with speed […]