All articles by Ryan Finnerty – Page 9
-
NewsUS Air Force test pilots ferried Super Tucanos with ‘zero formal flight training’
Test pilots with the US Air Force had to transfer the Embraer turboprops to the service’s test pilot school in California, despite having never trained on the lightweight single-engined type.
-
NewsL3Harris to upgrade Moroccan C-130s
The American defence systems integrator will provide an avionics update, depot maintenance, engine overhaul and other support efforts for the Royal Moroccan Air Force’s C-130H transports.
-
NewsCanada begins air base upgrades as A330 tanker fleet expands
The C$850 project at CFB Trenton includes resurfacing the existing runway, aprons and taxiways, plus construction of a new hangar, fuel depot, and ramp extension as Ottawa prepares to field a new fleet of Airbus multi-role tanker transports.
-
NewsDARPA ends Liberty Lifter programme as agency scuttles plans to build heavy-lift flying boat
The secretive Pentagon research agency says the Liberty Lifter programme has proven the viability of building an amphibian transport aircraft capable of operating in heavy sea states, but that it will not pursue assembly of a demonstrator.
-
NewsRetired US Air Force generals call on lawmakers to fully fund E-7 acquisition
The group of 16 high-ranking officers, which includes several former air force chiefs of staff, says a robust air battle management and threat-tracking platform is essential to projecting air power and winning conflicts.
-
NewsBell advances to build phase of secretive DARPA high-speed VTOL contest
Bell’s concept for an advanced tiltrotor-jet hybrid aircraft will move into the build stage of the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Speed and Runway Independent Technologies X-plane contest, after defeating rival finalist Aurora Flight Sciences.
-
NewsF-15E and F-16C fighters control four XQ-58s in US Air Force tests
The successful use of legacy fourth-generation fighters to control the uncrewed jets is a significant advancement for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept, which has largely focused on pairing the autonomous platforms with fifth-generation and emerging sixth-generation designs.
-
NewsUS lawmakers mull limit to Coast Guard helicopter retirement plans
The move comes after legislators approved more than $24 billion to fund modernisation of the Coast Guard, including more than $3 billion for the procurement of fixed-wing, rotary, and uncrewed aircraft.
-
NewsMQ-9s deployed in search and rescue effort following deadly Texas floods
State-level authorities in Texas say MQ-9A remotely piloted aircraft, operated by the Air National Guard, have been deployed to heavily flooded areas to support search and rescue operations.
-
Analysis‘Brightest explosion that I’ve ever seen’: inside US effort to develop a bomb for Iran’s nuclear sites
The US military’s top officer says development of the bunker-busting 13,600kg (30,000lb) GBU-57 bomb began 15 years ago and involved significant use of supercomputers.
-
NewsUS Air Force seeks to retire all A-10 Warthogs by 2027
Congress must approve the plan, which would see the US Air Force accelerate retirement of its entire A-10 fleet by two years.
-
NewsTrump Administration ‘all in’ on F-47 but plans minimal funding for F/A-XX naval fighter
A senior Pentagon official tells FlightGlobal the Trump Administration will focus resources on developing a sixth-generation fighter on the US Air Force’s F-47 programme, with the US Navy’s new carrier-based equivalent in a holding pattern.
-
NewsPentagon seeks to cancel E-7A procurement instead opting for more E-2Ds
Congress must provide final approval to the plan, which would see the US Air Force forego the development of a new Boeing E-7A airborne early warning and control fleet, instead investing in new space-based capabilities and the existing Northrop Grumman E-2D platform.
-
NewsAustralia completes first MQ-28 flight from active RAAF base
Complete with a new all-grey combat livery, Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat logged its first flight sortie from an operational Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base, as the airframer’s Australian subsidiary seeks to accelerate development of the uncrewed jet.
-
NewsBell delivers first MV-75 virtual prototype to US Army
The advanced simulator of the army’s forthcoming tiltrotor will be used to inform early design improvements and help the service to start developing tactics and procedures for the new aircraft.
-
NewsUS Air Force releases footage of B-2s preparing for Iran strike mission
Video shot through a low-light night vision lens shows multiple Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bombers taxiing and launching under cover of darkness, and later returning to land during daytime conditions.
-
NewsBoeing defence chief optimistic about prospects for US E-7 acquisition
Despite indications the Pentagon has soured on purchasing new E-7A airborne early warning and control jets from Boeing, the head of the airframer’s defence unit remains sanguine on the aircraft’s prospects.
-
NewsUS strikes Iranian nuclear facilities with largest B-2 mission in history
After more than a week of uncertainty about whether Washington would directly join Israel’s military operation against Iran, US President Donald Trump carried out air strikes against Tehran’s nuclear development sites on the evening of 21 June US time.
-
NewsFormer air mobility chief calls out USAF vulnerability amid Middle East build-up
Retired US General Mike Minihan, who oversaw the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) mobility fleet, says the current flow of combat assets into the Middle East is providing “false comfort that tomorrow’s war will look like today’s rehearsal”.
-
NewsRAF Voyagers damaged on the ground by pro-Palestine activists
In what the UK government is describing as an act of sabotage, two activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged a pair of the Royal Air Force’s Airbus A330 Voyager multi-role tanker transports