Military Aviation

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that hundreds of Afghan air force pilots and family members will be taken out of Uzbekistan and flown to the U.S. base in Qatar following intense negotiations over the last couple of weeks. The pilots took 46 aircraft, including helicopters, full of their relatives to the neighboring country during […]

A joint Sikorsky-Boeing team has officially submitted its proposal for the Defiant X helicopter to the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. Unveiled last January, the Defiant X is based on the team’s SB>1 Defiant technology demonstrator, which flew for the first time in March 2019. The Defiant X will feature a coaxial […]

The Air Force’s latest super stealthy drone is apparently no match for your average photo sensor. There are now two publicly available images of what The Aviationist says is likely  a massive Northrop Grumman RQ-180 or a Lockheed Martin P-175 Polecat surveillance drone that may be in regular service for the Air Force in military […]

One person has been rescued and five remain missing after the crash of a U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk on Tuesday. According to the Navy, the helicopter, which was embarked aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, was “operating on deck before crashing into the sea.” Five people on the ship were also injured in the incident, two […]

Twelve combat-hardened Afghan air force pilots and one of their crew chiefs are holed up in Tajikistan asking Canada to come and get them. The pilots, who flew attack helicopters and aircraft against the Taliban, grabbed a “Hellfire Caravan,” a Cessna 208 that carries Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, as the Taliban closed in on the airport […]

The Department of the Air Force has officially activated its Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), the third field command of the U.S. Space Force. Brig. Gen. Shawn Bratton, who has been leading the STARCOM planning team since February 2021, assumed command of STARCOM in a ceremony held at Colorado’s Peterson Space Force Base on […]

Some airline crews will get some exotic new destinations in their logbooks as they head to the Middle East to help evacuate people from Afghanistan. The federal government has activated Stage I of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) and will take over deployment of 18 airliners and freighters to help get the Americans, Afghans […]

The U.S. Navy and Boeing successfully refueled a Navy E-2D Hawkeye command and control aircraft using an MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system (UAS/drone) on Wednesday. The mission was the second carrier-based aircraft unmanned refueling mission to be completed using the Boeing-owned MQ-25TM T1 test asset following the successful refueling of a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet […]

A team led by Boeing has completed a new demonstration of manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) capabilities. Conducted in a “virtual environment,” the demonstration used Northrop Grumman’s portable E-2D Advanced Hawkeye simulator along with Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and MQ-25 Stingray uncrewed aerial refueling drone simulations. According to Boeing, the mission scenarios demonstrated included the “E-2D successfully […]

Bell Textron introduced several new aircraft design concepts on Monday that will use the company’s high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (HSVTOL) technology. The concepts include features such as low downwash hover capability, cruise speeds over 400 knots and runway independence. The technology is being developed primarily for military applications. “Bell’s HSVTOL technology is a step […]