He Landed Two Planes at Once
Leading Aircraftman Leonard Fuller was 22 years old, three months into flight training, and had just been landed on by another aeroplane. Not hit. Landed on. The Avro Anson underneath him had driven its gun turret into his port wing root and stuck there, its fin and...
India Just Made Its FCAS Bid Official
When we wrote about India circling France’s orphaned fighter programme two weeks ago, the talks were informal and deniable. They are not deniable any more. India’s Defence Ministry has told parliament it has, in its own words, “initiated efforts in a...
Germany’s Missile Taxi Just Flew
A ground-based IRIS-T battery can reach about eight miles in its short-range form, or roughly 25 miles in the medium-range version. Useful numbers, until the thing you need to shoot down is 200 miles away and heading for a city. So Diehl Defence and a German start-up...
The Ejection Seats Britain Wouldn’t Sell
Argentina bought five fighter jets from France, paid for them, and took delivery in May 2019. Seven years later, not one of them has flown a single operational sortie. On 20 August the Argentine Navy stopped pretending they ever would. The aircraft were fine. The...
He Got It to Base, Then Ejected
The jet was already lost. The 51-year-old major flying it had seconds to decide where it would come down, and below him lay the outskirts of Szolnok, a Hungarian city of roughly 70,000 people. He did not pull the handle. Instead he stayed with the aircraft and steered...
Italy Said No to Drone Killers. Then It Bought 5,031.
In June 2025, an Italian Air Force spokesperson told Janes that Italy was not looking at acquiring any mission-specific systems to counter drones. On 21 August 2026, the US State Department approved the sale to Italy of 5,031 laser guidance kits designed to turn cheap...
A Drone That Carries Its Own Strike Team
In February we covered Turkey pairing its KAAN fighter with two ANKA III stealth drones, in Turkey Pairs the KAAN With Two Robot Wingmen. A crewed fighter commanding uncrewed ones is now a familiar idea. On 14 August, Turkish Aerospace posted flight imagery of...
Ukraine Went Back to Taneco Ten Days Later
On 10 August, Ukrainian drones hit the Taneco refinery at Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan, 1,200 kilometres from Ukraine. We covered it in Ukraine Hits Russia’s Deepest Refinery Yet. Ten days later they went back and hit it again. That is the part worth paying...
The Navy Promised an Answer in August
In April, the Chief of Naval Operations said the Navy would name the winner of the F/A-XX competition in August. The Defense Secretary said August. The Acting Navy Secretary said August. There is now one week of August left, and no announcement. We covered the...
Sixty-Five Years On, Nobody Has Beaten It
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook first flew on 21 September 1961. John F. Kennedy was president. The Berlin Wall was two months old. It is still in production. It is still in front-line service with the US Army, the RAF and a dozen other air forces. Germany chose it in 2022...
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