Germany’s First Quadriga Eurofighter Flies

Germany’s First Quadriga Eurofighter Flies

At 34 minutes past the hour on 14 July, a single-seat Eurofighter in plain grey primer rolled down the runway at Airbus’s Manching site in Bavaria, lit its two EJ200 engines and climbed away. The aircraft carried the German military registration 34+02. It was the...
A European Bastille Day Over Paris

A European Bastille Day Over Paris

At 10:25 on the morning of 14 July, the Patrouille de France swept over the Arc de Triomphe and unrolled three ribbons of blue, white and red down the length of the Champs-Élysées. Behind them came a river of jets. And for the first time in the long history of...
The Record No Carrier Wanted to Break

The Record No Carrier Wanted to Break

Somewhere in the northern Arabian Sea, a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered supercarrier is doing something no American warship has done in the modern era: it simply will not stop. The USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego before Christmas, touched a pier exactly once, and has...
Ottawa Arms Its F-35s With a Norwegian Missile

Ottawa Arms Its F-35s With a Norwegian Missile

Ottawa has made a choice that says as much about politics as it does about firepower. Canada will arm its future F-35A fleet with the Joint Strike Missile, the Norwegian-built cruise weapon that tucks inside the Lightning II’s belly without spoiling its stealth. Prime...
Ten Battered Raptors Come Home From Iran

Ten Battered Raptors Come Home From Iran

Just after first light on July 10, ten F-22 Raptors dropped out of the English sky and rolled onto the runway at RAF Fairford under the callsign TREND. They looked like they had been to war. That is because they had. These were the 1st Fighter Wing’s jets from Joint...
The Jet That Couldn’t Take Off

The Jet That Couldn’t Take Off

Imagine a fighter aircraft that cannot take off. It has no way to move under its own power on the runway, no way to build up speed, no way to leave the ground at all. To fly it, you must bolt it to the roof of an airliner, haul it up to altitude, and drop it — and...