Korea, Berlin, Cuba and Able Archer 83. Four times the Cold War nearly became a third world war, and the individuals who stopped it.
The 1988 Friendship Flight: A 737 Across the Bering Strait Ice Curtain
A Soviet An-24 stranded in an Alaskan village, a 45-minute Boeing 737 flight that reunited families split for 40 years, and the vodka that de-iced an MD-80.
Brocklesby Mid-Air Collision: The Pilot Who Landed Two Planes at Once
In 1940 two RAAF Ansons collided over New South Wales and stuck together. Three men jumped. The fourth flew the stack five miles and landed it in a paddock.
India Moves to Join FCAS: Sixth-Generation Fighter Bid Confirmed
India has told its parliament it is working to join France's FCAS sixth-generation fighter programme, and a committee is pushing the ministry to move faster.
Cobra 600 First Flight: Germany’s IRIS-T Missile Drone Takes Off
Diehl Defence and Polaris flew the Cobra 600 for the first time on 22 August. It carries one IRIS-T missile 250 miles and lets a ground radar take the shot.
Argentina Retires Super Etendards Grounded by UK Ejection Seat Ban
Argentina bought five Super Etendards from France in 2018. They never flew a sortie, because Britain would not release the ejection-seat cartridges.
Hungarian Gripen Crash at Szolnok: Pilot Steered Clear, Then Ejected
A Hungarian Gripen went down near Szolnok on 24 August. The 51-year-old pilot steered it onto military ground before ejecting, and broke his back doing it.
Italy Buys 5,031 APKWS II Rockets as Counter-Drone Weapons
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...
Turkey’s Anka III Drone Will Carry Super Simsek Strike Drones
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 Strikes Taneco Refinery Again, Ten Days After First Hit
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...
F/A-XX Decision Slips: The Navy’s August Deadline Comes and Goes
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...
Breguet Atlantic: Europe’s Purpose-Built Submarine Hunter
Almost every maritime patrol aircraft in history has been something else first. The P-3 Orion was an airliner. The Nimrod was the Comet. The P-8 is a 737. You take a tube with wings and long legs, and you fill it with sonar equipment. The Breguet Atlantic is the...
CH-47 Chinook at 65: Why Nothing Has Replaced 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...
Saab 32 Lansen: Sweden’s Forgotten Cold War Strike Jet
Sweden gave Saab a requirement in the late 1940s that reads like a dare: build an aircraft that can strike anywhere along two thousand kilometres of coastline within one hour of leaving a central base, in any weather, at night, and operate from a stretch of forest...
Tu-22M Backfire: The Soviet Bomber That Won by Being Good Enough
In the autumn of 1982, eight Soviet bombers came down on the USS Enterprise and USS Midway in the North Pacific and locked their radars on both carriers from about 190 kilometres out. The US Navy’s response was deliberately restrained, because watching how they...
Ilyushin Il-76: The Soviet Airlifter That Outlived the USSR
In 1967 the Soviet Union asked for an aeroplane that could carry forty tonnes five thousand kilometres in under six hours, land on an unprepared strip five hundred metres long, and do it in Siberian winter. Fifty-five years later, that aeroplane is still in...
IAI Nesher and Kfir: How an Embargo Made Israel Build Its Own Mirage
In June 1967 France embargoed Israel and kept fifty Mirage 5 fighters that Israel had ordered and paid for. They sat in French hangars wearing Israeli serial numbers. Israel’s response took eight years and produced an aircraft the French would not have...