Boeing eliminated from USAF's 'Doomsday Plane' replacement competition
Boeing has announced that the USAF has eliminated it from the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) competition – an $8bn programme that aims to procure a successor for the air arm’s fleet of E-4B Nightwatch (or so-called ‘Doomsday Plane’) advanced airborne command post aircraft
Checkered Flag brings Tyndall-based F-35As closer to combat readiness
The 325th Fighter Wing at Tyndall AFB, Florida, is well into its transition from an air dominance training and F-22A conversion mission towards being a fully combat-capable fighter wing equipped with more than 70 F-35A Lightning IIs and this was furthered during Exercise Checkered Flag 24-1
Belgian ‘Vipers’ intercept Russian Su-30s over the Baltic
Belgian F-16AM/BM (MLU) Fighting Falcons were launched from Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, to intercept Russian fighter aircraft over the Baltic Sea on December 6 – within one week of the Belgian Air Force taking over the lead of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission
Global V-22 Osprey fleet grounded following fatal crash in Japan
A USAF-operated CV-22B Osprey was lost off Yakushima Island, Japan, on November 29, killing all eight airmen on board and resulting in a global operational stand-down of the tiltrotor
US Coast Guard receives first new MH-60T airframe
Sikorsky has delivered the first of 45 replacement MH-60T airframes to the US Coast Guard as part of a service life extension program for the MH-60T medium-range recovery helicopter fleet
Norway bids farewell to abdicating Sea Kings
The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) retired the last of its Sea King Mk 43B search-and-rescue helicopters on November 27, bringing to an end more than 50 years of operational service
France offering Rafale fighters to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan?
Multiple media reports suggest that France is offering the Dassault Rafale to the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and have been working on a sales campaign for “several months”
Claims indicate that Russia is using MiG-35s against Ukraine
Sergei Korotkov, Designer General at the United Aircraft Corporation – a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned Rostec State Corporation – has claimed that the MiG-35 Fulcrum-F has been deployed to support Russia’s so-called ‘Special Military Operation’ against Ukraine
Is the UK watering down NMH in favour of more H145s?
The UK MOD intends to award a £140m contract to Airbus Helicopters UK for the supply of six H145 Jupiter HC2 helicopters – complete with three years of technical support services – to replace the ageing Puma HC2 tactical transport helicopters currently used by British Forces Brunei and British Forces Cyprus from 2024
KAI plots KF-21’s first live-fire Meteor launch for 2024
Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI’s) KF-21 Boramae fighter is the first non-West European platform to be integrated with MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), and a first live-fire test launch has been planned for early 2024