Military Aviation News Archive
06/24/2025
Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have successfully flown two MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft controlled by a single operator onboard an E-7A Wedgetail, simulating a live engagement with an airborne target. The mission, conducted at Woomera, South Australia, marks the first time two MQ-28 aircraft, plus a third digital twin, were operated from an airborne platform, validating a key concept for collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) systems.
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06/24/2025
Eurofighter is shifting to a mid-life upgrade strategy and plans to double Typhoon production to meet global demand amid delays in sixth-gen fighter programs. As Europe’s sixth-generation fighter programs struggle with the risk of delays and industrial friction, the Eurofighter Typhoon, long considered a mature platform, is poised for a dramatic resurgence.
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06/24/2025
A new chapter in global defence collaboration began today with the official launch of Edgewing, a joint venture bringing together international aerospace leaders BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy) and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (Japan). Edgewing will be accountable for the design and development of the next generation combat aircraft and will remain the design authority for the life of the product, which is expected to go out beyond 2070.
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06/21/2025
Israeli military operations inside Iran continue to evolve as fighter jets, unmanned systems carry out strikes, reconnaissance, and limited special operations deep in Iranian territory. Despite earlier claims by Israeli officials of full control over Iran’s airspace, the situation remains more fluid, particularly in the country’s eastern regions.
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06/21/2025
As fighting between Israel and Iran carries on for a second week, the United States continues to build up its already large presence in the Middle East. For the last 20 months, U.S. forces have sent ground, air, and naval assets into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, both as deterrents against Iran and as part of more than a year of fighting against the Houthis in Yemen.
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06/20/2025
On June 5, 2025, Lockheed Martin has taken a strategic step to strengthen its presence in Portugal by signing a memorandum of understanding with AED Cluster Portugal, an association representing over 140 aerospace, space, and defense entities, to explore local industry participation in the F-35 program should Lisbon revisit its current procurement stance.
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06/20/2025
Lockheed Martin is developing an upgrade to the company’s Sniper targeting pod that will allow greater co-ordination between fifth-generation combat aircraft and other battlefield assets. Known as thee Hybrid Base Station (HBS), the upgrade will allow existing Sniper pods installed on fourth-generation aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter to receive targeting data straight from Lockheed’s fifth-generation F-35 family of jets.
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06/20/2025
The idea for the sale of the F-35 to India was floated by United States (US) President Donald Trump during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in February 2025, with a formal sales offer likely on the way.
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06/20/2025
The U.S. is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Donald Trump warns Tehran to step back from the conflict. Trump’s social media posts saying his patience with Iran was “wearing thin” have raised the possibility of deepening U.S. involvement, perhaps by using the bunker-busting bomb to strike a key Iranian nuclear site built deep underground in the mountains.
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06/19/2025
As part of a major technological evolution of the Eurofighter Typhoon’s capabilities, BAE Systems is currently conducting simulator trials of a new decision-support system based on artificial intelligence (AI). Developed by Swedish company Avioniq, the system, known as Rattlesnaq, is designed to enhance the aircraft’s survivability in beyond-visual-range (BVR) threat environments by enabling pilots to make faster and more accurate decisions in complex combat scenarios.
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06/19/2025
Türkiye’s fifth-generation fighter jet, KAAN, has earned major validation for the country’s technological ambition and strategic credibility through a landmark export deal. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that 48 KAAN jets would be sold to Indonesia, marking not only a historic agreement but also a turning point in Türkiye’s defence trajectory.
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06/19/2025
The United States has given the green light for Malaysia to acquire up to 33 used F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from Kuwait, a move that promises to bolster the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s capabilities amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. The approval, confirmed by General Tan Sri Asghar Khan Goriman Khan, chief of the Malaysian Air Force, during a press conference at Kuantan Air Base, marks a significant step in a deal that has been years in the making.
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06/19/2025
Lockheed Martin’s long-delayed TR-3 upgrade for the F-35 fighter jet is nearly complete. It promises massive improvements in sensors, AI, and combat capability, making Block 4 a leap in battlefield dominance. At this week’s Paris Air Show, the largest and most prestigious aerospace event in the world, Lockheed Martin indicated it will soon unveil F-35 Block 4 capabilities, claiming it will be “the most aggressive upgrade in any fighter in history.”
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06/18/2025
Iranian media outlets reported on Friday that one of Israel’s most advanced fighter aircraft was shot down during the early morning raid that struck multiple targets within the Islamic Republic. The news has gone viral on social media, claiming that an Israeli Air Force F-35I Adir, a variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter equipped with an Israeli-developed electronic warfare system, was downed by Iranian air-defense missiles.
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06/18/2025
Israel Defense Forces has released footage of a recent strike on two F-14 Tomcat aircraft parked at Tehran airport. The attack, carried out on June 16, 2025, became one of the few episodes featuring iranian aviation since the outbreak of the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East on June 13, 2025.
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06/18/2025
Colonel Bastien Cardot, of the French Air & Space Force, wrote in Défense & Sécurité Internationale (DSI) that field experience has “revealed an underexploited potential of the A400M that could make it a valuable complement to fighters for certain missions, in the face of an increasingly dense and complex threat.” Cardot’s article was then picked up by Laurent Lagneau of French defense news website Zone Militaire.
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06/18/2025
The developer of Türkiye’s homegrown fighter jet Kaan has been in long talks with several countries regarding the fifth-generation warplane, its CEO said Tuesday, days after the company announced a major deal to export the aircraft to Indonesia. "We hope to reach the stage where we can announce them in the upcoming period," Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) CEO Mehmet Demiroglu said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show, the world's biggest aviation trade fair.
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06/18/2025
The U.S. Air Force deployed at least 30 aerial refueling aircraft to Europe this week after the exchange of airstrikes between Israel and Iran unleashed a fresh wave of turmoil in the Middle East. The planes, mostly KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotankers, were spotted on the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 and others departing from airfields across the continental United States and heading east over the Atlantic towards Europe.
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06/17/2025
The U.S. military has moved a large number of refueling aircraft to Europe to provide options to President Donald Trump as Middle East tensions erupt into conflict between Iran and Israel, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials also said the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz was heading to the Middle East, in what one of them said was a pre-planned deployment. The Nimitz can hold 5,000 personnel and more than 60 aircraft, including fighter jets.
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06/17/2025
Korea Aerospace Industries feels that its FA-50 light combat aircraft and KF-21 fighter offer European countries a quick way to upgrade their air power capabilities. Both aircraft have active production lines, allowing for relatively rapid deliveries should orders come in, according to Dong Haik Shin, vice president of international development at KAI.
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06/17/2025
According to information published by CNBC TV18, an Indian News TV channel, on June 11, 2025, India is engaged in high-level deliberations over a Russian proposal to jointly manufacture the Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet, a strategic initiative aimed at strengthening the Indian Air Force (IAF) and enhancing the country’s indigenous defense manufacturing capabilities.
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06/17/2025
Britain is deploying extra fighter jets and other assets to the Middle East amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said.
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06/17/2025
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems displayed a full-scale model of its collaborative combat aircraft at the Paris Air Show June 16 for its first international showing. The aircraft, dubbed YFQ-42A by the U.S. Air Force, is part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, the service’s quest to develop a semi-autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicle that can operate alongside manned fighter jets and perform various missions, including air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.
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06/16/2025
A Russian fighter jet conducted low-altitude passes near a United States Navy ship in the Baltic Sea on Sunday, prompting a rapid response from Royal Air Force Typhoons deployed under NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission.
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06/16/2025
Even though the RAAF accepted the last of its planned 72 fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters only in December, planners are already looking to what comes next.
During its decades-long development, the F-35 was touted by pundits as the last of the manned fighter aircraft, with the future of air combat to be uncrewed and autonomous systems.
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