Share this story The man who buys the US Air Force’s fighters has a simple view of what matters most right now: factories. Speaking at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on 28 September 2026, Brig. Gen. Timothy Helfrich said the F-47 sixth-generation...
Share this story The Pentagon has been shooting missiles faster than it can buy them, and it has decided to fix that with a very large cheque. On 28 September 2026, RTX’s Raytheon announced a multiyear contract worth up to $20.7 billion for the AIM-120 AMRAAM,...
Share this story Before a fighter pilot fires, one question has to be answered with certainty: is that contact a friend or a foe? On the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the box that answers it is about to change. BAE Systems announced on 29 September 2026 that its...
Share this story Update, 30 September 2026, afternoonThe picture has changed sharply since this story was first published. According to Israeli officials, the first officer is now under investigation on suspicion of trying to crash the aircraft. The captain suffered...
Share this story When the first F-16 Fighting Falcons arrived in Ukraine in the summer of 2024, a lot of people expected dogfights. What Ukraine got instead was a night shift. Its F-16s have spent most of the war hunting cruise missiles and attack drones over...
Share this story China has very few military footholds abroad, and on 29 September 2026 it quietly added one more. Beijing’s Ministry of National Defence announced that a China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center and a China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy...
Share this story Belgium promised Ukraine fighter jets more than two years ago. On 29 September 2026, Volodymyr Zelensky finally put a number and a date on the first of them: three Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcons, to be handed over before the end of this year. Zelensky...
Share this story Boeing had a good Tuesday. A very good Tuesday. On 29 September 2026 the Pentagon handed the company the Navy’s sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter, and on the very same day the Department of the Air Force quietly signed for 22 more F-15EX Eagle II...
Share this story The US Navy has picked Boeing to build its next carrier fighter. On Tuesday 29 September 2026, the Pentagon announced that Boeing had won the F/A-XX competition against Northrop Grumman, with a full-scale development contract valued at more than $20...
Share this story “The F-22 could return” is back in the headlines. Reports this week claim the United States is examining new production of the F-22 Raptor, the stealth fighter whose line closed in 2011. It is an irresistible story. It is also, on the...
Share this story A Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber crashed during a training flight in the Amur region of Russia’s Far East on Monday 29 September 2026. Six of the seven crew members were killed and one was injured and taken to hospital, Russia’s Ministry...
Share this story Nobody climbs into a Eurofighter Typhoon on their first day in uniform. Between a cadet’s first solo and their first sortie in a frontline fighter sits a ladder of aircraft, each one faster, heavier and less forgiving than the last. This week...
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