The First F-35 in Wild Weasel War Paint

The First F-35 in Wild Weasel War Paint

Share this story On 16 June a brand-new F-35A lifted off from Fort Worth, flew for about an hour, and came home behind a chase jet. Routine — except for two black letters painted on its tail: WW.Those letters make aircraft 24-5970 the first F-35 ever to wear the Wild...
Marines Land F-35Bs on a Finnish Highway

Marines Land F-35Bs on a Finnish Highway

Share this story It costs north of a hundred million dollars, it is the most sophisticated fighter the United States builds, and on the morning of 9 June it was sitting on a two-lane road in the Finnish woods, taking on fuel with pine trees a wingspan away.Two U.S....
Qatar Airways Is Coming Back to Philadelphia

Qatar Airways Is Coming Back to Philadelphia

Share this story Qatar Airways is heading back to the City of Brotherly Love. The Gulf carrier confirmed in June 2026 that it will relaunch daily nonstop service between its Doha hub and Philadelphia on 1 August 2026 — reclaiming a US East Coast gateway it...
Singapore Joins the Stealth Club

Singapore Joins the Stealth Club

Share this story Singapore is about to do something only a handful of air forces on Earth can claim: fly a fifth-generation stealth fighter. After years of paperwork, options and parliamentary debate, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is on track to take...
267 Eagles: The Air Force’s Big Bet

267 Eagles: The Air Force’s Big Bet

Share this story For a decade the U.S. Air Force kept trying to bury the F-15. The plan was to buy a token batch of new Eagles, then let the production line die quietly while everything went to stealth. The Eagle was the past. The F-35 and the secret sixth-generation...
The Best Fighter That Never Was

The Best Fighter That Never Was

Share this story The desert air was still cool at Edwards Air Force Base on the morning of 27 August 1990 when Northrop chief test pilot Paul Metz taxied out in a machine that looked like nothing else on Earth. Charcoal grey, diamond-winged, its two tails canted...
296 F-35s: The Biggest Stealth Buy Yet

296 F-35s: The Biggest Stealth Buy Yet

Share this story Two signatures. 296 stealth fighters. $24.3 billion. In a single deal, the F-35 program locked in the largest batch of Lightning IIs it has ever agreed to build at once. The contract covers Lots 18 and 19 — production runs split evenly at 148 jets...