Military

France’s first PC-21 breaks cover

22nd May 2025

The first PC-21 for the French Air Force is towed across the airfield at Stans on May 18. Stephan Widmer PILATUS AIRCRAFT is nearing completion of the first PC-21 for the French Air Force. The incomplete aircraft, ‘01’ (c/n 293), was noted outside the factory at Stans-Buochs, Switzerland, on May 18 when it was towed […]

Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal

22nd May 2025

The FY 2018 budget proposal includes a slight increase in the planned buy of F-35As for the US Air Force, to 46. Among the latest to take to the air is 15-5126/‘HL’ (AF-117), which made its first flight at Fort Worth on May 4. Carl Richards PRESIDENT Trump unveiled his first budget proposal for the […]

Pegasus refuels from Stratotanker

22nd May 2025

USAF/TSgt Kat Justen OPERATED BY the US Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1, P-8A BuNo 168956 approaches the refuelling boom of a KC-135R operated by the Air Force Reserve Command’s 459th Air Refueling Wing over the Atlantic Ocean on April 13 – the first time the Pegasus had been refuelled by a Stratotanker […]

Global Hawk arrives at Yokota

22nd May 2025

THE USAF has begun flying the RQ-4 Global Hawk from Yokota Air Base, Japan. Operated by the 69th Reconnaissance Group Detachment 1, the first UAV arrived on May 1 after a flight from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, its main operating base in the Pacific. Five RQ-4s and 105 operations and support personnel will remain […]

F-35C hits moving target

22nd May 2025

An F-35C from the 461st Flight Test Squadron ‘Deadly Jesters’ drops a GBU-12 over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. Lockheed Martin AN F-35C of the Integrated Test Force has used its targeting system to guide a weapon onto a moving target, launching an inert GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb to hit a […]

End of the line for ‘Valions’

22nd May 2025

THE ‘VALIONS’ of the US Navy’s Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 15 had their deactivation ceremony on May 31. The unit’s commanding officer, CDR Matt ‘Disney’ Stevenson, completed his last flight with the squadron the previous day. The commander’s specially marked aircraft was photographed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas on May […]

F-22 and F-15C demonstrate Talon HATE

22nd May 2025

422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron F-15C 83-026/‘OT’ is one of the first to receive the Talon HATE pod, carried below the fuselage. USAF TESTS have validated information-sharing between US Air Force F-22A and F-15C aircraft, Boeing announced on May 8. The trials at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, involved two Talon HATE pods on two […]

AIR POWER IN DECLINE

22nd May 2025

Tom Cooper lifts the veil, at least partially, of secrecy and mystery surrounding the Syrian Arab Air Force and its declining capability. FORCE REPORT Syrian Arab Air Force Operated by three squadrons, about a dozen examples of the Su-22M-3/M-4K family remained the backbone of the SyAAF’s fighter-bomber fleet until the April 7 cruise missile strike […]

Andersen B-52H crash report released

22nd May 2025

ATTRITION The burnt-out wreckage of the B-52H following its accident at Andersen AFB on May 19, 2016. USAF AREPORT INTO the loss of US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress 60-0047/MT on May 19, 2016, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was released on April 19. At 0832hrs local time, the mishap aircraft (MA), assigned to the […]

Wolves in sheep’s clothing

22nd May 2025

Iraqi An-32 Clines have seen recent action in an offensive capacity, but the concept of transforming Antonov transports into auxiliary bombers is not new, as Arnaud Delalande reveals. FLASHPOINT One of Iraq’s two Antonov bombers heavily involved in the fighting for Mosul, this An-32B is equipped with external pylons on the fuselage sides. Crews use […]

Improving with age

22nd May 2025

COMMENT A U-2S from Beale Air Force Base, California, departs the runway at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, during Exercise Northern Edge. MSgt John Gordinier/USAF THE US Air Force has decided to keep its venerable U-2 spyplane in service as part of its budget plan for 2018. The move marks a turnaround for the high-flying intelligence, surveillance […]

GREEK RECCE RHINOS RETIRE

22nd May 2025

The Hellenic Air Force’s 348 MTA was disbanded in May after the retirement of the last three airworthy RF-4Es in Europe. Babak Taghvaee traces the role of the unit and its ‘Rhinos’. A formation training flight by 348 MTA’s final RF-4E pilots three days before the disbandment ceremony. The aircraft are over Lake Ladon, some […]

FIRE BOSSES AND SUPER SCOOPERS

22nd May 2025

Dirk Jan de Ridder and Menso van Westrhenen spent a week with the pilot s of the Croatian Air Force’s Firefighting Squadron, who are among the most respected in their field. CROATIAN FIREFIGHTERS CL-415 888 drops a 6,000-litre water ‘bomb’ over the Adriatic Sea during a training flight from its Zadar base. All photos Dirk […]

KEEPING THE FRAGILE PEACE

22nd May 2025

At its peak in 1999 the Kosovo Force comprised 50,000 troops from 39 countries. Today, it is far smaller, yet its role in the Balkan province is just as vital. Martin Scharenborg and Ramon Wenink report from KFOR HQ, Camp Bondsteel. KFOR HELICOPTERS A Swiss AS332L and a Croatian Mi-171Sh on a mission between Ferizaj […]

Slovenian detachment

22nd May 2025

The Slovenian Air Force, working closely together with the Croatians, also maintains a helicopter detachment at Camp Bondsteel on a four-month rotation. Usually, the Helikopterski Bataljon at Ljubljana/Brnik Airport deploys only one helicopter. Depending on requirements, normally a single Bell 412 or AS532AL Cougar is employed, supporting the 309 members of the 32nd Slovenian Armed […]

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