First German F-35 Lands at Ebbing to Start Luftwaffe Training
Share this story Shortly after lunchtime on Monday, 5 October 2026, an F-35A wearing the Iron Cross of the German Air Force touched down at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and taxied under a ceremonial water arch. The flight from Lockheed...
L-39 Skyfox Drone Hunter Gets Thales Laser-Guided Rockets
Share this story The jet trainer most famous for teaching pilots to fly fast is learning a new trade: hunting drones. Czech manufacturer Aero Vodochody and Thales Belgium announced on 5 October 2026 that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the...
Ukraine’s AI Gun Turrets Shoot Down Jet-Powered Geran-5 Drones
Share this story Russia’s newest attack drones are fast enough to outrun most of the interceptor drones Ukraine sends up against them. On Monday, 5 October 2026, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had found an answer that does not need to fly at all: automated...
HACM Hypersonic Missile Flies for the First Time Over Australia
Share this story After a year of delays, America’s first scramjet-powered strike weapon has finally left an aircraft. The US Air Force confirmed on 5 October 2026 that the Royal Australian Air Force has released a Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, or HACM,...
Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 Crash in Ondo Kills All 32 on Board
Share this story At 9:13 on Monday morning, 5 October 2026, air traffic controllers in southern Nigeria lost contact with a Nigerian Air Force ATR 42 flying from Benin City to Lagos. Repeated calls on the radio went unanswered. Hours later, search teams found the...
Iran War Losses: Congress Counts 81 US Aircraft Lost or Damaged
Share this story Eighty-one. That is how many American aircraft have now been destroyed, lost or damaged in the war with Iran, according to an updated tally from the Congressional Research Service, Congress’s in-house think tank. The report was revised on 5...
Morocco’s First F-16 Block 72 Takes Flight in Greenville
Share this story A two-seat F-16 in desert camouflage climbed away from Lockheed Martin’s plant in Greenville, South Carolina, on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, carrying red Moroccan roundels on its wings. It was the first flight of the first F-16 Block 72 ever built,...
Ground-Controlled Interception: How Radar Steers Fighters to Their Targets
Share this story A fighter pilot’s own eyes, and even his own radar, only see a small piece of the sky. Somewhere on the ground, a controller in a dark room sees much more. Ground-controlled interception, or GCI, is the system that joins the two: radar stations...
IFF Explained: How Military Jets Tell Friend From Foe
Share this story On a radar screen, every aircraft looks much the same: a blip. It might be a friendly fighter coming home, an airliner, or an enemy bomber. Get it wrong one way and an enemy slips through. Get it wrong the other way and you shoot down your own people....
B-58 Escape Capsule to B-2 Ejection Seat: How Bomber Crews Get Out
Share this story On 8 December 1964, at Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Indiana, a Convair B-58 Hustler sat on the ramp going nowhere. Cranes were rigged alongside it. Then one of its three crew stations fired itself off the aeroplane on a rocket, climbed away on a...
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