France will build the Rafale’s successor, the ACF, as a national programme. Its air chief also warned of a fleet of just 184 combat jets.
Borisoglebsk Strike: Neptune Missiles Hit Six Russian Su-34s
Ukraine’s Navy says Neptune missiles destroyed six Su-34M bombers at Borisoglebsk. Satellite images show four burned out and two badly damaged.
How Hollywood Hid Lockheed’s Burbank Factory Under a Fake Suburb
After Pearl Harbor, the Army called in Hollywood to make Lockheed’s Burbank plant vanish from the air. Canvas houses, feather trees and laundry on the line covered a factory building P-38s, and Boeing built an even bigger fake town over its Seattle plant.
SR-71 Inlet Spike Explained: How the Blackbird Tamed Shock Waves at Mach 3
At Mach 3 the SR-71’s engines could not swallow supersonic air. A moving spike and a set of doors held a shock wave inside each inlet, and at cruise the inlet produced more thrust than the engine itself. How it worked, and what happened when it failed.
Concorde Go-Around at Heathrow: Why Even Concorde Had to Climb Away
A clip of a British Airways Concorde abandoning its landing at Heathrow is doing the rounds again. Go-arounds are routine, even for Concorde, but the delta-winged airliner did them in its own way.
Ground Stop vs Ground Delay Program: What Happens When the FAA Hits Pause
A cut cable in Houston held flights nationwide this week. How FAA ground stops and ground delay programmes work, and why waiting on the ground is safer.
Landing Signal Officer: The Pilot Who Grades Every Carrier Landing
Why carrier pilots call the LSO “paddles”, what happens on the LSO platform, and how every carrier landing is graded from OK underline to Cut.
A-29 Super Tucano: The Propeller Fighter Europe Wants as a Drone Hunter
Brazil’s A-29 Super Tucano went from jungle counter-insurgency to Afghanistan, and now to Europe’s debate over cheap drone interceptors.
Fuel Tankering Explained: Why Airlines Carry Fuel They Don’t Need
Why airliners often load fuel for the next flight too, what it costs in extra CO2, and how Europe’s ReFuelEU rules now limit tankering.
NATO Nuclear Sharing Explained: Steadfast Noon and the Dual-Capable Jets
American B61 bombs, European jets and crews: how NATO nuclear sharing works, which aircraft carry the mission, and what Steadfast Noon trains.
Johannes Steinhoff: From a Burning Me 262 to the Head of NATO’s Military Committee
Burned in an Me 262 crash in 1945, Johannes Steinhoff later rebuilt the Luftwaffe, tackled the Starfighter crisis and chaired NATO’s Military Committee.
Dassault Mirage IIIV: The Nine-Engine VTOL Fighter That Hit Mach 2
France’s Mirage IIIV used eight lift jets and a turbofan to take off vertically, and hit Mach 2.04 in 1966. NATO’s requirement died first.
EWR VJ 101: The First VTOL Fighter to Break the Sound Barrier
In 1964 West Germany’s six-engine VJ 101 C became the first vertical take-off aircraft to fly faster than sound. Then the requirement changed.
Hollywood Burbank Airport Opens Its $1.3 Billion Terminal
Burbank’s new 14-gate, all-electric terminal opened on 13 October 2026, replacing buildings dating to 1930. Passengers still board from the ramp.
X-62 VISTA: AI Test Jet Draws 30 Proposals Where 3 Were Expected
The Air Force Test Pilot School wanted three AI test concepts for its X-62 VISTA in FY2027-28. It got more than 30.
IRIS-T SLM: German Air Force Fires It Live for the First Time on Crete
Air Defence Missile Group 61 fired a live IRIS-T SLM missile at NAMFI on Crete, certifying the system two years after the first fire unit arrived.
FAA Grounds the Elixir Trainer After a Fatal Flap Failure in France
An FAA emergency AD grounds all Elixir trainers after a 1 October crash at Rochefort in which the left flap detached and both test pilots died.