The TSR-2: The Best British Aircraft That Never Served
On the afternoon of 6 April 1965, test pilot Roland “Bee” Beamont was having lunch at a pub near Boscombe Down when the BBC news bulletin came through the radio. Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan, midway through his Budget Speech in the House of...
The AC-130: A Cargo Plane With More Guns Than a Destroyer
In September 1967, an ungainly four-engine turboprop lumbered off the runway at Nha Trang Air Base in South Vietnam. It looked like any other C-130 Hercules — the workhorse cargo plane that had been hauling troops, ammunition, and jeeps across theatre since the early...
Three Exocets That Terrified the Royal Navy
Argentina went to war in the Falklands in April 1982 with five air-launched Exocet missiles. Five. That was the entire stock — France had delivered the AM39 variant along with a handful of Super Étendard strike fighters just months before the conflict began, and the...
Operation Vengeance: 16 P-38s, 400 Miles, One Admiral
On the morning of April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightning fighters took off from Fighter Two airstrip on Guadalcanal and turned west over the Solomon Sea. Their mission was not to engage enemy formations or escort bombers. It was to kill one man: Admiral Isoroku...
RIMPAC 2026: 30 Nations and 200 Aircraft Converge on Hawaii for the World’s Largest Naval Exercise
The world’s largest international maritime exercise is underway. Rim of the Pacific 2026 — the 30th iteration of a series that began in 1971 — kicked off on June 24 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. It will run through July 31, and the numbers alone...
India Unveils Its First AI-Piloted Fighter Concept
A Bengaluru startup has just thrown India’s hat into the ring of autonomous combat aviation. Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace (FWDA) has unveiled the FWD Supreme — an AI-piloted fighter concept designed to fly, fight, and make tactical decisions without a...
T-7A Red Hawk: The Data Fight Boeing Doesn’t Want Public
The Boeing T-7A Red Hawk was supposed to be the Air Force’s feel-good story — a sleek, digitally-designed trainer built to replace the geriatric T-38 Talon and modernize pilot training for a generation. It still might be. But a three-part investigation by...
Ukrainian Mirages Will Lead Bastille Day Over Paris
When the Patrouille de France’s nine blue-and-white Alphajets sweep over the Champs-Élysées on July 14, they won’t be alone. Flanking them will be two Mirage 2000Bs crewed by Franco-Ukrainian teams — the opening act of the largest Bastille Day aerial...
Indonesia Drops KF-21 Co-Production, Will Buy Direct from South Korea
Indonesia has officially abandoned its plan to co-produce South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae fighter jet, ending a partnership that was supposed to give Jakarta its own production line and a seat at the table of advanced fighter manufacturing. Instead, Indonesia will...
America Pours $4.2 Billion into British Air Bases
The United States Air Force is about to pour $4.2 billion into its three main operating bases in the United Kingdom — the single largest American basing investment in Britain in decades. A presentation by the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, obtained...
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