All articles by Ryan Finnerty – Page 7
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NewsRestored Norwegian F-16s join Ukraine support effort
Oslo has sent two of its decommissioned Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters to a training site in Denmark, where Ukrainian crews are preparing to receive the Western combat jet from donor governments in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and now Norway.
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NewsAurora begins fabrication of X-65 ‘active flow control’ jet
The Boeing subsidiary is under contract by the Pentagon’s secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to design and fabricate a novel aircraft that uses so-called “active flow control’ to manoeuvre, rather than traditional mechanical aerodynamic surfaces like flaps and rudders.
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NewsUSAF crew ejects from B-1B in South Dakota crash
All four crew aboard a US Air Force Boeing B-1B supersonic bomber safely ejected from a crash on Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, for which the cause is not yet known.
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NewsHermeus completes ground testing on first Quarterhorse hypersonic testbed
The non-flying Quarterhorse Mk 0 test article is the first of four aircraft in the Quarterhorse programme, through which US start-up Hermeus aims to produce a hypersonic vehicle capable of reaching Mach 4 and surpassing the all-time airspeed record held by Lockheed Martin’s SR-71 Blackbird.
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NewsUS helicopters sink three Red Sea vessels during attempted hijacking
While responding to a distress call from a commercial vessel, US Navy helicopters from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower sank what the Pentagon describes as three small boats originating from the Houthi-controlled region of Yemen.
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NewsTurkey seeking US permission to produce F-16 fighter engines domestically
The GE Aerospace F110 engine powers the Lockheed Martin F-16s used by the Turkish air force, as well as prototypes of Ankara’s domestically-produced Kaan fighter.
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NewsUS Army to purchase thousands of counter-UAV interceptors from Raytheon
The US Army plans to purchase 6,700 Coyote jet-powered drone interceptors from Raytheon, including an explosive warhead variant and a secretive “non-kinetic” model that uses electronic warfare or directed energy.
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NewsUS Navy expands fighter maintenance support to cover air force F-16s
Amid the ongoing retirement of older model Boeing F/A-18 strike fighters, the US Navy is using excess capacity at its fighter maintenance depots to assist the US Air Force in sustaining its Lockheed Martin F-16 jets.
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NewsUSAF tests reverse flow air refuelling using C-5M to top off KC-10
The reverse refuelling concept turns the US Air Force’s massive Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy strategic lifters into “floating gas stations”, freeing up more dedicated tanker aircraft to refuel tactical craft.
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NewsNetherlands prepares to transfer first 18 F-16s to Ukraine
Amsterdam says it will make an initial tranche of 18 fighter aircraft available to Ukraine, out of 42 F-16s the Dutch government previously committed to providing the Ukrainian air force from its own fleet.
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NewsUS Congress restores funding to F-35 adaptive engine programme
Although the Pentagon wants to move on from the Adaptive Engine Transition Programme, lawmakers in the US Capitol approved $280 million in 2024 to fund the research programme that generated two prototype adaptive cycle powerplants for the F-35 stealth fighter.
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NewsBoeing delivers two F-15EXs with two more expected by year-end
The delivery marks the third and fourth examples of the latest F-15 variant turned over to the US Air Force, which hopes to supplement its growing fleet of fifth-generation fighters.
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News‘Franken-bird’ project attempts to splice together damaged F-35s
Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force say the salvage mission represents the first-ever attempt to remove viable airframe sections from damaged aircraft and re-connect them into an airworthy jet.
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NewsUS Congress halts KC-135 replacement until USAF produces stealth tanker acquisition plan
The 2024 defence spending plan approved by lawmakers in Washington bars the US Air Force from issuing a formal strategy to phase out the ageing Boeing KC-135 tanker fleet, until the service produces an acquisition strategy for the Next Generation Air-refuelling System survivable tanker.
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NewsUS defence spending bill could expose new details of sixth-generation fighter development
Language included in the 2024 US defence spending plan will require the Pentagon to provide greater insight into how it plans to develop and field the next generation of combat aircraft, including sixth-generation fighters and autonomous support jets.
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NewsGovernment auditor tells SOCOM to slow Armed Overwatch acquisition
The US Government Accountability Office says the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command is moving ahead too rapidly with the acquisition of Armed Overwatch turboprops from L3Harris-Air Tractor, failing to adequately justify the planned fleet size of 75 aircraft.
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NewsCanada announces deployment of military helicopters to Baltic region
During a visit to fellow NATO member Latvia, Canada’s top defence leaders announced Ottawa will deploy Bell CH-146 Griffon and Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters to the Baltic region starting in 2024 as part of a multi-national battle group – Canada’s first “persistent” deployment of tactical rotary aviation to Europe in roughly 20 years.
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NewsUS Congress approves nearly 12% reduction to A-10 fleet
For the second consecutive year, lawmakers who control US defence spending have approved the retirement of some Fairchild Republic A-10 attack jets, a move long-sought by US Air Force leaders.
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In depthGE Aerospace achieves breakthrough in hypersonic engine development
Using a subscale demonstrator, jet turbine manufacturer GE Aerospace successfully ignited a dual-mode ramjet engine using rotating detonation combustion – a technique the company says holds promise for powering crewed hypersonic vehicles.
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NewsBoeing lands SOCOM order for six MH-47G Chinook helicopters
The deal for six MH-47G special operations helicopters will help sustain Boeing’s Chinook Block II production line, while the manufacturer awaits a hoped-for acquisition decision by the US Army.