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UK Announces Retirement of Watchkeeper UAV, 14 Chinooks, 17 Pumas and 3 Royal Navy Ships
UK defense cuts

Defence Secretary John Healey announced in Parliament that several ‘outdated’ capabilities will be withdrawn from service to address a defence budget ‘black hole’ The entire British Army Watchkeeper UAV fleet will be axed from service, alongside the Royal Air Force’s Puma helicopters and fourteen of the oldest Chinooks in service. The Royal Navy will see […]

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F-15D Eagle Spotted with Unusual Infrared Measurement Pod
F-15D IR pod

The pod appears to be previously unseen but closely resembles the Airborne Turret Infrared Measurement System III (ATIMS III), which is used to perform airborne IR signature measurements. A U.S. Air Force F-15D has been recently spotted flying in a very unusual configuration, usually seen only for very specific tests. In fact, the aircraft was […]

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McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle
F-15E Strike Eagle

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is a supersonic all-weather multirole twin-seat strike fighter derived from a supersonic twin-engined air superiority fighter, the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E Strike Eagle is a multirole strike fighter developed from the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter, a plane that was designed primarily for air combat […]

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Royal Air Force Typhoon Test-fires latest SPEAR 3 Cruise Missile in Sweden
SPEAR 3

A Typhoon operated jointly by BAE Systems and the RAF’s 41 Test and Evaluation squadron has successfully demonstrated the future of the Royal Air Force’s and Royal Navy’s F-35B weapons capabilities. The RAF and Royal Navy’s latest cruise missile has been successfully test fired at the Vidsel range in Sweden, demonstrating the future of the […]

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F-16 Cockpit Collapsible ACE Ladder Wins Air Force Innovation Competition
F-16 ladder

F-16 pilot developed a cockpit stowable collapsible ladder to aid Agile Combat Employment operations. At a time when the U.S. Air Force is heavily pressing forward with ACE (Agile Combat Employment) concepts for distributed operations, the absence of a built-in ladder in the F-16 for the pilot to climb in and out of has been […]

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Northrop Grumman Delivers First SiAW Test Missile to the U.S. Air Force
SiAW test missile delivery

The delivery of the first test missile to the Air Force marks the beginning of flight testing to verify the safe interaction with the aircraft through captive carry and separation testing. Northrop Grumman announced on Nov. 18, 2024, the delivery of the first Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) test missile to the U.S. Air Force. The […]

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All the Highlights of the 2024 China Airshow
Zhuhai Airshow 2024 highlights

The J-35A, Su-57 and many Flanker variants were all on the menu for this year’s China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai. The 2024 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, known more commonly as China Airshow or Zhuhai Airshow, took place last week from Nov. 12 to 17, 2024, in Zhuhai, a city in […]

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Italian Typhoons Deployed for NATO BAP Mission Perform First Air-to-Ground Activity
Eurofighter BAP

The Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons flew a training mission at a Lithuanian range with the Litening V LDP (Laser Designation Pod) and the GBU-48 Enhanced Paveway II bomb. For the first time since they have started deploying to Šiauliai, Lithuania, to support NATO Baltic Air Policing mission, the Eurofighter Typhoon jets of the Aeronautica […]

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As General Atomics, Anduril Wingmen Drones Clear USAF Critical Design Review, Let’s Look at how Modern Wars are Informing the CCA Program

Air Force Materiel Command’s Col. Timothy M. Helfrich broke down what might constitute the Increment 1 and Increment 2 of the CCAs, describing how the service is changing the procurement of the unmanned assets to meet costs and schedule while adapting to emerging technologies and threats. The AFMC (Air Force Material Command) revealed on Nov. […]

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First E-130J TACAMO Airframe in Production
E-130J

The first C-130J-30 Hercules earmarked for conversion into an E-130J TACAMO aircraft for the U.S. Navy is in production. Fresh on the heels of the announcement that the U.S. Navy’s E-6B Mercury replacement in the take charge and move out (TACAMO) role will be designated E-130J, it has been revealed that the first C-130J-30 airframe […]

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