Military Aviation

In a rare bit of good news for Boeing, the Department of the Air Force has awarded a contract for eight F-15EX multi-role fighters to be delivered starting in the first quarter of 2021. This part of the program is worth $1.2 billion but the U.S. Air Force plans to purchase 76 of the fighters […]

The U.S. Navy has announced the completion of the first sea trials of the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter. According to the Navy, testing took place on the landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. The two-week trials included launch and recovery operations, rotor start and shutdown, blade fold and shipboard […]

As the Air Force awaits the arrival of its new billion-dollar-plus versions of the Boeing 747-8 to replace the current aircraft used as the primary Air Force One, other countries are sorting out their own solutions to the “executive transport” requirement. The citizens of the U.K. and Canada are much less enthusiastic about ensuring their […]

The Air Force’s Office of Inspector General is investigating whether Air National Guard units were improperly used to monitor Black Lives Matter protests in Washington and Minneapolis. The investigation comes after politicians expressed concern to the Pentagon about the flights, which were captured by flight tracking websites, and their potential to violate the civil liberties […]

Canadian military authorities say the pilot of a Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone anti-submarine helicopter was apparently overruled by the aircraft’s fly-by-wire flight director and autopilot just before the aircraft crashed in the ocean off Greece on April 30. Preliminary assessment of the flight data recorder information recovered from the wreck of the helicopter, a military version […]

Boeing has delivered the first two F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet test aircraft to the U.S. Navy. One of the aircraft is a single-seat E model and the other is a two-seat F model. The Block III Super Hornet flew for the first time in May 2020. “The aircraft will be used for carrier suitability […]

A U.S. Air Force pilot was killed in the crash of an F-15C Eagle on Monday. The aircraft went down in the North Sea at approximately 9:40 a.m. local time while conducting a routine training mission. It was assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing’s 493rd Fighter Squadron, which is based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, […]

Bell Textron and Boeing have delivered their 400th V-22 Osprey tiltrotor to the U.S. Department of Defense. The aircraft, a CV-22 variant, went to the U.S. Air Force Special Operations command. According to Boeing, Osprey deliveries are currently being made under a $5 billion multiyear procurement contract that includes aircraft for the U.S. Marines, Air […]

Two Army National Guard helicopter pilots have been grounded after they used a Lakota painted with medical markings to disperse crowds near the White House last Monday. The U.S. Army is investigating their actions and the grounding is normal practice. The aircraft flew as low as 100 feet above protesters in a maneuver designed to […]

The ultimate dogfighting smackdown is scheduled for July 2021 when the Air Force pits one of its top fighter pilots against an autonomous fighter controlled by artificial intelligence. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon’s Artificial Intelligence Center, told a virtual conference hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies the Air Force Research […]