Military Aviation

 The Air Force is considering asking for a major modification to the F-35 that would further disrupt the delivery schedule of the complex program. Defense News is reporting the Air Force wants Lockheed Martin to cost out installing a different ejection seat. The current Martin Baker design can cause potentially fatal neck injuries to […]

Congress and President Obama have overruled an Army decision that briefly banned Women Air Service Pilots (WASP) from being interred at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2015, Army Secretary John McHugh stopped allowing the placing of WASP veterans’ ashes in an aboveground facility at the cemetery, saying their job of ferrying and testing military aircraft in […]

The F-35 fighter made its Sun ‘n Fun debut Thursday. Capt. Daniel Haley describes what it’s like to fly the stealth fighter. view on YouTube

Two people are dead after a Jeep Grand Cherokee collided with an F/A-18E Super Hornet in California. The female passenger in the Jeep died at the scene and the male driver died later in the hospital after the SUV ran into the horizontal stabilizer of the fighter on the ramp at Lemore Naval Air Station […]

Assembly of the unique Airlander lighter-than-air transport vehicle is now complete, Hybrid Air Vehicles announced today. The ship was shown off to visitors, fully inflated and hovering, inside the hangar in Bedfordshire, U.K. The next step will be a ground-testing phase, then it will roll out of the hangar to start an extensive flight-test program. […]

The future role of Textron Airland’s Scorpion trainer/light attack jet is in question now that the Air Force is saying the bid requirements for its new jet trainer are firm. A few years ago, Textron, in partnership with Airland Enterprises, secretly developeda small twin-engine military aircraft that has been touted as an affordable front-line attack […]

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said last week it will develop a new X-Plane to pursue “radical improvements” in aircraft that can take off and land vertically, then shift to horizontal flight mode and reach speeds up to 400 knots. “The design envisions an aircraft that could fly fast and far, hover when […]

Letter of the Week:Supersonic Adjustments Just wanted to correct Paul Bertorelli on Capt. Eric “Winkle” Brown’s obit, where you repeat the widespread myth that the XS-1 had to be modified to incorporate the M.52 tail in order to break the sound barrier. Brown RN was the pilot designate for the M.52 and wrote a book, […]

The Air Force’s new long-range stealth bomber will be designated the B-21 and the first artist renderings of the aircraft show an angular flying wing with recessed engines and a smooth elongated teardrop fuselage. Reuters reportedthe bomber drawings were unveiled by U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James at the annual Air Warfare Symposium. The name […]

In an exclusive, Reuters is reportingthat Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department have inked a $4 billion deal for an eighth series delivery of 43 F-35 single-engine, all-weather, stealth fighters. According to the report, the hard-fought contract will lower the price of the jet by about 3 percent-and it includes aircraft to be built for […]