September, 2025 Military Aviation News
09/13/2025
U.S.–Iran antagonism did not begin with this June’s B-2 strikes. In 2013, after Iranian jets harassed U.S. MQ-1 flights in international airspace, the Pentagon began escorting drones with fighters. During one mission, two Iranian F-4 Phantoms closed on a Predator—until an F-22 Raptor flown by Lt. Col. Kevin “Showtime” Sutterfield slid unseen beneath them, verified their loads, then pulled alongside with a radio warning: “You really ought to go home.”
(Read More...)
09/13/2025
China’s two-seat J-20S debuted prominently, highlighting a shift toward manned-unmanned teaming and airborne command roles. Beijing touts the back-seater as a “mission commander,” potentially controlling loyal-wingman drones.
(Read More...)
09/13/2025
As anyone who has glanced inside the cockpit of an older aircraft can tell you: the cockpit used to be a clutter of gauges and switches, a schematic overload that could leave the layman disoriented. This effect was hardly isolated to the layman; the confusing gauge-filled cockpit was also a source of friction for the pilot, albeit one that could be somewhat mitigated through training and repetition.
(Read More...)
09/13/2025
Decades of force cuts and deferred modernization have left the U.S. Air Force unable to simultaneously deter nuclear attacks, defend the U.S. homeland, and defeat Chinese aggression at acceptable levels of risk. Years of insufficient resources have also eroded the Air Force’s ability to conduct long-range, penetrating attacks against China’s centers of gravity and deny the operational sanctuaries the People’s Liberation Army.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
France will send three Rafale fighter jets to help defend Polish airspace following what Warsaw described as an unprecedented Russian drone attack that violated NATO territory 19 times, President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
A second B-21 bomber has flown from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base in California, ramping up the Air Force’s test effort for its new fleet. The flight occurred Sept. 11, the Air Force confirmed. Aviation enthusiasts snapped photos of the B-21 taking off and flying from outside the fence line at Plant 42, where the aircraft is manufactured. Photographer Jarod Hamilton shared a video on social media showing the Raider soaring across a cloudless sky, accompanied by an F-16.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
The US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program—slated as drone “wingmen” to the Boeing F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program—represents a leap forward in unmanned aerial operations. Whereas today’s drones rely upon remotely piloted systems, complete with human operators and satellite links, the CCA will be truly autonomous—making self-contained combat decisions in real-time, executing missions with minimal human input.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
Taiwan's Apex Aviation on Thursday confirmed reports that a Chinese military aircraft had flown close to one of its medevac planes near Kinmen in June. Confirming the first news report of the incident, which was published by the local RW News on Tuesday, Apex told CNA on Thursday that the issue occurred on the morning of June 26, when one of its medevac aircraft was flying from Taipei Songshan Airport to its base in the offshore Kinmen County, carrying no patients.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
Ukraine’s 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade announced on Thursday that the pilot of a Su-27 (NATO: Flanker) fighter aircraft, Major Oleksandr Borovyk, has been killed in action during combat operations near Zaporizhzhia. According to the 39th’s statement on Facebook, Borovyk was performing a combat mission in a Su-27 aircraft on the Zaporizhzhia front when his fighter jet went down at about 13:30 on Thursday afternoon – for reasons that are still being clarified.
(Read More...)
09/12/2025
The last of the venerable Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter swing-wing strike aircraft in Europe have been officially withdrawn from service. At one time, the Su-22 was a backbone of Warsaw Pact offensive airpower on the continent, with the final examples having been operated by the Polish Air Force, which had flown these impressive jets since the first example was delivered more than 40 years ago.
(Read More...)
09/11/2025
A spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) says it has no force posture changes to announce after an unprecedented flurry of Russian drones violated Polish airspace overnight. Authorities in Poland say they have assessed that the incursions were not accidental. Polish and Dutch fighters shot down several of the intruding uncrewed aircraft. The alliance has described this as a first-of-its-kind event.
(Read More...)
09/11/2025
A squadron of Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets began arriving at an air station southeast of Hiroshima this week to replace the service’s first squadron of F-35B Lightning II fighters deployed to Japan. The first Hornets with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 landed Monday at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni for a six-month stint, according to a news release from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing that day.
(Read More...)
09/11/2025
Singapore has confirmed its selection of the Boeing P-8A Poseidon as its next maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The new aircraft will replace the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) fleet of aging Fokker 50 turboprops for a significant capability boost and will continue the modernization of one of the region’s best-equipped air arms.
(Read More...)
09/11/2025
It has become a common practice among fighter aircraft designers and producers outside the United States to present new designs and claim them to be stealthy. To some degree, according to US experts in this esoteric field of aerospace technology, they can describe what they have developed as “stealthy,” but most do not meet US standards in this regard.
(Read More...)
09/11/2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commended the use of NATO aircraft to intercept Russian drones over Poland after a Wednesday incursion amid an attack on Ukraine. “The precedent of using combat aircraft from several European countries simultaneously to shoot down Russian weapons and protect human lives is highly significant,” Zelensky wrote in a statement on the social platform X.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
Israeli air strikes have hit the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, a Houthi-affiliated media outlet reports.
“Israeli aggression on the capital Sanaa,” Al Masirah television posted on Telegram on Wednesday.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
More than a dozen Russian drones entered Poland overnight, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot them down in what Western officials described on Wednesday as a dangerous escalation of the war in neighboring Ukraine.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
Algeria’s procurement of Russian Su-34 fighter jets appears to be making progress. According to reports, production of the Sukhoi fighter jets intended for Algiers is already underway. Last month, Military Watch Magazine confirmed new footage that depicted a small batch of Su-34 strike fighters being prepared in export configuration. Analysts suspect that this batch of aircraft is intended for Algeria and is expected to replace the nation’s older Su-24M strike fighters.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
Last week was one for the books. US President Donald Trump rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War. And China held a remarkable parade and flyover in Beijing. It was clearly intended to drive home the fact that China’s armed forces had at least attained technical parity with the United States and possibly surpassed it.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
As the arrival of the first six F-16AM/BM fighters for the Argentine Air Force approaches, alongside progress in infrastructure works and the training of pilots and personnel, at the end of last August the United States government awarded a new contract aimed at sustaining the Argentine aircraft as well as those of other operators. This comes in addition to other contracts granted by the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as agreements reached between Argentina and Danish firms.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
On August 5, reports began coming out revealing the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems command (NAVAIR) had issued contracts to companies seeking conceptual designs for a carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) ‘drone fighter’.
(Read More...)
09/10/2025
British, Italian and Japanese firms set to build sensors and communications systems for the GCAP fighter have formed a UK-based consortium ready to sign a design and development contract with the platform’s lead integrators. Known as GCAP Electronics Evolution (G2E), the consortium groups Leonardo and ELT Group from Italy, Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric representing Japan, the firms said at the DSEI show in London.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
Israel launched an airstrike against Hamas leaders in Qatar on Tuesday, expanding its military actions that have ranged across the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war in Gaza, condemned the attack as "cowardly" and called it a flagrant violation of international law.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
Israel has carried out air strikes in the central and western parts of Syria, the country's state news agency said on Monday night. Syria's Foreign Ministry condemned the air strikes as "a blatant infringement" of its sovereignty and regional stability, Reuters reported.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
The recent flyby carried out by Venezuelan F-16s near a United States Navy destroyer in the Caribbean Sea has put the spotlight on the Fighting Falcons of the Bolivarian Military Aviation (AMB). Of U.S. origin and manufactured by what was then General Dynamics, they once were, at the time of their arrival in Venezuela, the most technologically advanced and capable multirole fighters in South America.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
Delivery of the F-35A fighter jets to Switzerland remains scheduled to begin in mid-2027, Switzerland’s defense procurement agency Armasuisse confirmed on September 6, 2025.
The first aircraft will come from Lockheed Martin’s factory in Fort Worth, Texas, before a second production line in Cameri, Italy, starts deliveries in mid-2028. Switzerland’s fleet is due to arrive in the latest “Block 4” configuration, an Armasuisse spokesperson told Swiss agency Keystone-ATS.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
The U.S. Air Force faces a potential “air superiority gap” due to the small size and maintenance issues of its F-22 Raptor fleet. While the F-22 remains a qualitatively superior fighter, only 143 (numbers vary by source) of the 186 aircraft are combat-coded, a number dwarfed by China’s rapidly growing fleet of J-20s.
(Read More...)
09/09/2025
In a scathing assessment of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter effort and associated contractors, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a 54-page report on the program’s recent performance. The federal agency identified troubling trends related to modernization efforts for the F-35 Block 4 upgrade, related delivery underperformance, and failed contract requirements. Below are some of the leading highlights.
(Read More...)
09/08/2025
The United States government has authorized the potential sale of a new batch of advanced AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to equip the fighter fleets of the Belgian, Italian, and Romanian Air Forces. This follows one of the most recent notifications submitted by the State Department to the U.S. Congress, seeking approval for the $103.9 million transaction through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
(Read More...)
09/07/2025
The first flight of the US Air Force’s sixth-generation F-47 fighter will happen sooner than many anticipate, according to Boeing’s Phantom Works division. Colin Miller, vice president and general manager, said people will “be surprised by how fast you see [the F-47] flying.”
(Read More...)
09/07/2025
Amid growing competition in the U.S. defense industry, Anduril Industries announced Friday that it has been chosen by the U.S. Navy to develop designs for the service’s future carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). “The US Navy has selected Anduril to develop designs for carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” the company said. “We are focused on delivering an aircraft built specifically to the Navy’s distinct needs, at rapid speed and formidable scale.”
(Read More...)
09/06/2025
The first of Türkiye's next KAAN indigenous combat aircraft prototypes has entered the system integration phase, with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) planning first flights for spring 2026, company officials announced. TAI officials, speaking to Tony Osborne from Aviation Week on Tuesday, confirmed that two prototypes are in an advanced state of structural assembly, with system integration work underway at the company's final assembly line in Ankara.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
09/06/2025
The F-15 Eagle is a dominant aircraft, unrivaled in air-to-air combat—still in active service, and credited with over 100 aerial kills without a single loss. The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is one of the most respected fighter aircraft ever built. Boasting an undefeated air-to-air record, the F-15 is an air superiority virtuoso benefitting from exceptional maneuverability and handling characteristics combined with raw power.
(Read More...)
09/06/2025
Two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a United States Navy ship in international waters, the US Department of Defense has said, in a move described as “highly provocative” amid escalating tension between Washington and Caracas. The Defense Department warned Venezuela in a statement late on Thursday to cease further provocative moves, describing the Venezuelan aircraft buzzing over the US vessel – reported to be the guided-missile destroyer Jason Dunham.
(Read More...)
09/06/2025
Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have completed a series of demonstrations validating the operational viability of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The Capability Demonstration 2025 missions concluded in early June, four months ahead of schedule, after 150 hours of flight and more than 20,000 hours of virtual testing.
(Read More...)
09/06/2025
The United States is not talking about regime change in Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Friday, as the United States ordered an additional 10 stealth fighter jets to a military buildup in the Caribbean. "We're not talking about that, but we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election, to put it mildly," Trump said, referring to the contested 2024 election the Venezuelan government says President Nicolas Maduro won.
(Read More...)
09/05/2025
Two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday, according to multiple Defense Department officials who described the action as a "show of force." The Dunham, an Aegis guided-missile destroyer, is among a flotilla of U.S. warships dispatched to the region in recent weeks that the Pentagon says have been deployed to target criminal organizations and narco-terrorism.
(Read More...)
09/05/2025
The Hellenic Air Force is considering the acquisition of additional M-346 aircraft, including the armed variant, to support the advanced stage of training new second lieutenants. There are plans for the addition of at least four aircraft to the fleet, bringing the total number to 14, as the current existing fleet is barely sufficient to meet the needs of the Air Force.
(Read More...)
09/05/2025
Evidence has emerged that Ukraine has topped up its hard-worked fleet of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters from a somewhat surprising source: Azerbaijan. While the number of aircraft involved is not considerable, any addition to the MiG-29 fleet will be welcome for the Ukrainian Air Force, which has also received Fulcrums donated by Poland and Slovakia and which has suffered steady attrition since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
(Read More...)
09/05/2025
An aircraft’s thrust-to-weight ratio is a statistic that is often thrown around, but one that is poorly understood, even among aviation buffs. The number is less easily understandable than an aircraft’s wingspan or its top speed. Yet the thrust-to-weight ratio is foundational to a fighter jet’s performance.
(Read More...)
09/05/2025
After years of attempts to entice India to adopt its Sukhoi Su-57 (NATO reporting name “Felon”) fifth-generation multirole stealth fighter, Russia is reportedly carrying out feasibility studies to determine whether the aircraft could be built under license in the subcontinent. Russian state-owned military-industrial conglomerate Rostec’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) had sought to close a deal with New Delhi for years. It had more recently floated a co-production agreement.
(Read More...)
09/04/2025
Russia is eyeing the production of its Su-57 fighter jets in India and has launched a study on the required investments, inside sources shared with the Indian news agency ANI. Given India’s historical reliance on Russian defense materiel before diversifying, officials noted that Su-57 local production could be possible on the Hashik-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facility, which is already licensed to manufacture Su-30MKI aircraft.
(Read More...)
09/04/2025
The F-15EX Eagle II is a two-seat, twin-engine, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is a derivative of the Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle. The F-15EX incorporates modern advancements, including “fly-by-wire” flight controls, dual Digital Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems, a large touchscreen display, and additional enhancements, such as the AN/ALQ-250(V)1 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System for electronic warfare.
(Read More...)
09/04/2025
In a first, the Air National Guard recently tested how its new rescue helicopter would survive against attacks from enemy fighter aircraft to prepare for a potential war in the Pacific. Guard pilots engaged electronic countermeasures on a HH-60G Pave Hawk and on the newer HH-60W Jolly Green II rescue helicopter when an F-15D Eagle fighter launched simulated attacks over water.
(Read More...)
09/04/2025
The People's Liberation Army has displayed all types of its fifth-generation combat planes on active duty for the first time via the grand parade on Wednesday, a move that observers say is intended to show its world-class air prowess.
(Read More...)
09/04/2025
Following interest from Kyiv, Sweden is open to selling advanced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine once the war with Russia ends, Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson told Breaking Defense.
“We have a dialogue also with Ukraine, and since they certainly expressed an interest for the Gripen system … predominantly Gripen Echo, the new version that Sweden, Brazil are operating as well,” then a future sale is a possibility, Jonson said.
(Read More...)
09/03/2025
Celebrating Ukrainian Aviation Day, President Zelensky officially unveiled the first full-length image of a Dassault Mirage 2000-5F fighter jet. The aircraft retains its original French Air and Space Force camouflage, now with Ukrainian markings on its tail.
(Read More...)
09/03/2025
The U.S. Air Force is signaling a renewed commitment to the F-15EX Eagle II, with the fiscal year 2026 budget requesting funds for an additional 21 aircraft. This move revives hopes that the service will acquire its original goal of 144 fighters. The program’s future had been in doubt, with planned procurement numbers slashed due to budget constraints and the need to fund next-generation programs like the F-47.
(Read More...)
09/03/2025
An Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon that crashed off South Korea’s western coast last year went down after an engine stall caused by hardware failure, according to Pacific Air Forces’ investigation. The jet took off from Kunsan Air Base at 8 a.m. Jan. 31, 2024, for a routine training mission that included midair refueling from a KC-46 Pegasus over the Yellow Sea, said the Aug. 22 report.
(Read More...)
09/03/2025
“F-35 is a very crucial platform for the Polish air power projection concept. I don't see any issues with that” contract going forward, said Maj. Gen. Cezary Wisniewski, deputy general commander of the Polish Armed Forces.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
09/02/2025
The Czech Air Force will operate JAS-39 C/D Gripen aircraft until 2035 following the signing of a new lease agreement. The document was signed in Prague by Lubor Koudelka, Director General of the Armaments and Acquisitions Section of the Ministry of Defence, and in Sweden by Mikael Granholm, Director General of the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV).
(Read More...)
09/02/2025
On 28 August, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence announced that three multirole Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM Fighting Falcon aircraft delivered from Norway landed at the 86th Air Base Borcea, located near Fete?ti. The aircraft will be assigned to the 571st Fighter Squadron, which will operate from the 57th Air Base currently undergoing modernisation to support Western combat aircraft.
(Read More...)
09/02/2025
Germany has approved the purchase of 90 Rafael Litening 5 targeting pods for its Eurofighter Typhoon fleet, aiming to boost its armed forces’ precision strike and reconnaissance capabilities. The Litening 5 is a fifth-generation air-to-ground and air-to-air platform incorporating a mid-wave and short-wave infrared sensor suite, high-resolution color imaging, and dual-wavelength laser designation.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
09/02/2025
Uncertainty is hanging over the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a joint project between France, Germany and Spain, that aims to develop a sixth-generation fighter aircraft supported by interconnected drones within a combat cloud. The idea, launched in 2017 and costing at least €100 billion, aims to strengthen European defence.
(Read More...)
09/01/2025
Japan’s Ministry of Defence announced on 28 August that, under arrangements with the United Kingdom, an undisclosed number of Boeing F-15J Eagle fighter aircraft from the Japan Self-Defence Forces will be periodically deployed to Britain. The initiative is intended to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries and will mark the first time Japanese Air Self-Defence Forces have operated in Europe.
(Read More...)
09/01/2025
The strike at Boeing’s military aircraft facilities, now a month old, is at a stalemate with no new talks scheduled. The union, representing thousands of workers, has made a direct appeal for President Trump to intervene as the deadlock threatens work on the new F-47 fighter.
(Read More...)
All Articles