It ignored its own self-destruct, outran the fighters sent after it, and vanished over Brazil. Then it served as an American nuclear weapon for under four months.
Su-27 vs MiG-29: The Only War They Fought Each Other
Ethiopia and Eritrea bought Flankers and Fulcrums from the same country within months of each other, then flew them at each other over Badme. Most of what you have read about it is wrong.
Operation Provide Comfort: When Two F-15s Shot Down Two Black Hawks
Twenty-six dead over northern Iraq in 1994. American flags painted on the fuel tanks, nineteen people watching from an AWACS, and a court-martial that convicted nobody.
Three Killed as a Cirrus SR22T Hits a Slope Above Leukerbad
The aircraft had flown from Lugano via Sion and was heading for Buochs when it struck the northern slope at Fluhalp. SUST and the Federal Prosecutor are both investigating.
Bell Starts Building Nigeria’s AH-1Z Vipers
A Nigerian delegation signed the frame of the first of twelve AH-1Z Vipers at Amarillo. Behind the ceremony sits a decade of argument about whether Washington would sell them at all.
F135 Engine Core Upgrade Clears Its Design Review
The F-35’s problem was never thrust. It was electricity and the heat that comes with it. Pratt & Whitney has now cleared the design review that lets the fix head toward production.
SPICE 1000 on the F-35I Adir: Israel Arms Its Lightning
Rafael and Lockheed Martin are integrating the 1,000lb SPICE stand-off weapon on the F-35. It glides past 120km and guides by looking at the ground rather than trusting GPS.
NATO’s Drone Wingmen: USAFE Prepares for Allied CCAs
Germany is heavily involved, the Dutch and Scandinavians are interested, and everyone is building their own anyway. USAFE’s job now is making sure the robots can talk to each other.
F-47 and F/A-XX: The Industrial Base Problem Nobody Solved
Gen. Dale White says the F-47 will fly on time, but he has concerns about whether American industry can build what the Pentagon is ordering. And they are not confined to the two next-gen fighters.
Air Force Eyes New-Build F-16s: Meet the Proposed F-16G
The USAF has not bought an F-16 for itself in over 20 years. With 826 Vipers averaging 34 years old and the F-35 and F-15EX lines maxed out, Lockheed is pitching a G-model built at Greenville.
USAF Weighs Restarting C-17 Production: “Heck Yeah, But…”
Air Mobility Command boss Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley says a C-17 production restart is on the table inside a formal Analysis of Alternatives. The line closed in 2015. Nobody is sure the tooling still exists.
Houthis Claim a Saudi F-15 Shot Down Over Marib, Yemen
Ansar Allah says a locally built surface-to-air missile brought down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 over Marib. The wreckage is real. The cause is not confirmed, and Riyadh is silent.
The Top American Ace of Vietnam Never Flew the Aircraft
The highest-scoring American ace of the Vietnam War never flew the aeroplane. On 9 September 1972, Captain Charles B. DeBellevue shot down his fifth and sixth MiGs from the back seat of an F-4D Phantom. He was a weapon systems officer. The stick and throttles were...
Russia Beat GPS Jamming With a Two-Dollar Compass
Ukraine has spent this war building some of the densest electronic warfare cover on earth. Along much of the front line, GPS and GLONASS simply do not work. A drone that depends on satellite navigation arrives over the target having forgotten where it is....
How a Heat-Seeking Missile Works, and Why Flares Stopped Saving You
A radar-guided missile announces itself. It has to: something has to illuminate the target, and the moment that happens the target knows it is being shot at.An infrared missile says nothing at all. It emits no signal, because it is not looking for a reflection. It is...
Why Airliners Still Have Ashtrays Decades After the Smoking Ban
Smoking has been banned on commercial flights for decades. The signs are lit from pushback to gate. Tampering with a lavatory smoke detector will get you arrested.And yet every airliner rolling off the line at Toulouse or Renton this year has an ashtray fitted to the...
Why American Aircraft Start With N: Registration Prefixes Explained
Every civil aircraft in the world carries a registration painted on its tail or fuselage, and the first character or two tells you where it is registered. American aircraft start with N. British with G. German with D. Swiss with HB.The obvious assumption is that...