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This F/A-18F Super Hornet, belonging to VFA-213 "Blacklions" and operating aboard the USS George H.W. Bush in the eastern Mediterranean, is equipped with one uniquely massive and highly destructive payload. No less than ten 1,000lb GBU-32 JDAMs are slung under its wings. In addition, a pair of 188lb AIM-9X Sidewinders adorn its wingtips. A 400lb ATFLIR targeting pod is attached on its left intake station, and a 480 gallon centerline fuel tank rounds out its external stores list. Add in the four multiple ejector racks and the pylons, not to mention 412 rounds of 20mm ammo, and this "Rhino's" stores...

Since it was introduced in 1976, well over a thousand of BAE Systems' Hawk trainer jets have entered service in 18 countries around the world. Now the latest variant, the Advanced Hawk, has taken to the air for the first time in the skies over Warton, Lancashire, UK in demonstrator form. Boasting a new wing design and a revamped cockpit, the Anglo-Indian two-seater is intended to train pilots to handle fifth-generation combat aircraft. The Advanced Hawk is designed to bridge the gap between basic training and hands-on supersonic fighter training(Credit: BAE Systems) With the introduction of aircraft such as the...

Egyptian Air Force first Ka-52 Aligator attack helicopter with desert camo has been spotted at the Progress factory in Arsenyev, Russia. According to Egypt’s Defence Ministry will get 46 Ka-52 Alligator combat helicopters in 2017-2019. Egypt and Russia signed a training agreement, which will see Egyptian pilots train for the Ka-52 in Russia in September 2016. Ka-52 Aligator Capabilities Ka-52 is equipped with four hardpoints under its wings Can take on laser-guided anti-tank missiles, rockets, air-to-air missiles Has laser-guided bombs capability Powered by two VK-2500 turboshaft engines Ka-52K has a cruising speed of 260 km/h and a maximum speed of...

It was a treble celebration in Riyadh at the King Faisal Air Academy (KFAA) as the college celebrated its 50th anniversary, marked the graduation of its 91st course of students, and welcomed the first of the Boeing F-15SA tactical fighters developed for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). King Salman attended the celebrations with his son, Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Omar Al-Bashir, president of Sudan. The day’s ceremonial included a parade and a flypast, which featured one of the first four F-15SAs delivered, while two more aircraft were displayed on the ground. The king...

For the first time in more than four decades, American forces have come under aerial attack after a drone released an unspecified weapon near U.S. special operators and their Syrian partners at a garrison in the town of At Tanf. The strike has huge implications for the conflict in the country, as well as the future of warfare as a whole. U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), the top American task force leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, announced the incident in talking to the press on June...

The process behind combat testing an RAF plane has been revealed in a new book written by former pilots. Incredible images taken at RAF Waddington, RAF Donna Nook and RAF Coningsby, all in Lincolnshire, show the test flights of various jets and weapons over the past 30 years. They include the first firing of the laser-guided Brimstone anti-armour missile in 1999 and the evaluation crew of the F3 Tornado fighter in the mid 1980s. The book, called Operational Test: Honing the Edge, is written by David Gledhill, a former RAF tactics expert, and ex-RAF navigator and weapons tester David Lewis....

F-15 production is secure through 2019, and planned updates will keep the U.S. Air Force flying the multi-role F-15E Strike Eagle version into the 2040s, Boeing reports. The manufacturer also has a case to make for extending the life of the F-15C/D air superiority version of the 1970s-vintage fighter, which faces a shorter time horizon. “The last time we delivered a Strike Eagle to the U.S. Air Force was in the mid-2000s,” Steve Parker, Boeing vice president for F-15 programs, told reporters visiting the company’s St. Louis-area manufacturing facility May 17. “Right now, over the last couple-year period, is the...

The Sukhoi Su-35S supermaneuverable multirole fighter in service with the Russian Air Force is optimized for air-to-air combat but is quite useless as a ground attack aircraft as proven by its combat experience in Syria. Russian state-controlled media reports the air force as being "more or less satisfied with the Su-35S" and its performance in Syria. The "less" in this case is the result of the failure of the fighter's PESA (Passive Electronically Scanned Array) radar to accurately and consistently locate and guide bombs onto their targets. "Since the aircraft was employed for ground strike missions -- more with smart...

After investing €10.6 billion on the European fighter plane, it turns out that Spain’s future military aircraft will in all likelihood be American-made. The Spanish Air Force and Navy have their sights set on the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, made by Lockheed Martin, to replace the F-18s and vertical take-off Harriers that will be decommissioned halfway through the next decade. The F-35A Lightning II by Lockheed Martin. BEN MARGOT AP An estimated 45 to 50 aircraft will be required for the Spanish Air Force and another 12 to 15 for the Navy. The program could represent spending of...

Boeing is set to deliver a refueling tanker that can gas up a jet in midair in complete darkness -- the first of its kind. The U.S. Air Force is buying 179 of the new KC-46 'Pegasus' tankers, which are set to begin delivery at the end of this year. The Air Force has had stealthy jets for decades, but even they have to turn on their lights when refueling in the sky. The KC-46's ability to gas up an aircraft in complete darkness is a first for any military.

Israel is known to go its own way when it comes to its air combat capabilities. In the past, this has included making dramatic modifications to imported air warfare assets, and also developing its own unique weapons and sub-systems. The country's guided munitions and missile development and manufacturing abilities are especially strong, and US assistance in the form of cross-corporate cooperation and foreign aid have allowed the Israeli defense industry to field extremely high-tech systems that are tailored to the country's specific needs. One of these systems is the Stunner missile. RAFAEL Stunner interceptor and booster The missile is very...

No matter how well prepared a military is, it’s never easy to shift direction rapidly to respond to new threats. One U.S. Air Force briefing suggests Pentagon’s rush to counter ISIS in Iraq and Syria sent the service scrambling to find the right mix of tactics and weapons, with nearly 20 percent of its bombs failing to achieve the desired effect within the first four months of the bombing campaign and potentially contributing to an ongoing shortfall of certain bombs and missiles. On Aug. 7, 2014, the United States kicks off air strikes against the brutal terrorists in Iraq, beginning...

One of the world top independent defence experts has conduced an incredibly exhaustive examination of the real cost of the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) to those countries that are buying it. The expert, Paris-based Giovanni de Briganti, of Defence-Aerospace, estimates that the average unit cost of Lockheed Martin JSF in the ninth low-rate initial production run is $US206.3 million. The Australian parliament has been told by Defence Minister Marise Payne and Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne that the cost of our Joint Strike Fighters will be in the vicinity of $US90 million. Such a huge variation means that either Giovanni...

Russia has launched five successful flights of a hypersonic jet that is capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with a single impact, according to a new report. The Zircon cruise missile travels between 3,800mph and 4,600mph - five to six times the speed of sound - and puts Russia 'half a decade' ahead of the US', the report says. This makes it faster than any anti-missile system, including those that are expected to appear in the next two decades.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland could eventually be in the market for as many as 70 new fighter jets or as few as 20 under scenarios laid out on Tuesday by a defense ministry task force examining how to replace the neutral country's aging air force fleet. The most expensive and powerful option would be to buy 55-70 aircraft and ground-based air defense weapons for an estimated 15 billion to 18 billion Swiss francs ($15.3-$18.4 billion), according to the report. It did not say which aircraft the government should consider. The least expensive option would be procuring 20 jets and accompanying...

Spike LR II system. (photo credit:RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENSE SYSTEMS) Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled its fifth-generation Spike multipurpose missile with a significant increase in range and lethality. According to a statement released Monday by the company, the Spike LR II “is an advanced multipurpose missile, weighing only 12.7 kg., and can be launched from any Spike launcher.” It has a range of 5.5 km. when fired from ground launchers and up to 10 km. when fired from a helicopter. The Spike LR II, which can be fired from vehicles, helicopters, ships and ground launchers, has advanced electro-optic seekers which...

A 28-year-old Hellenic Air Force pilotsustained minor injuries Monday after ejecting from a Mirage 2000 fighter jet south of the Sporades islands group, but the incident brought to the fore the issue of old and malfunctioning aircraft currently in use. According to most initial assessments by experienced military officials, the Mirage crashed because of a malfunctioning engine which the pilot was unable to restart. The 28-year-old pilot was in a military hospital Monday with a dislocated shoulder, which he sustained while ejecting from the aircraft. He had taken off from Tanagra Air Base, north of Athens, in the morning on...

Israel continues to win unique concessions surrounding its participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The country’s increasingly independent development could ultimately produce a version of the aircraft specifically suited to its needs that differs significantly from Lockheed Martin’s existing offerings. In May 2017, it emerged that Lockheed was specially building a one-off sub-variant of the F-35I "Adir" – meaning "mighty one" in Hebrew – for Israel and expected to deliver it by 2020. The plane would act as a testbed for the country’s planned, but unspecified modifications. The Israeli Air Force is planning on purchasing as many as...

In normal circumstances, Australia’s 22 Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters (ARHs) would be expected to remain in service until around 2040 — but the chances of them being retired in less than a decade are increasing. This is not because of major problems with the airframes — they have plenty of life left in them — but rather because the Defence Department in general and the army in particular are tired of a series of issues that have affected reliability and cost of ownership. Indeed the feeling about the helicopters has become so negative that Defence might not even go ahead...

Conventional jet engines generate thrust by mixing fuel with compressed air, then igniting it. As the burning mixture rapidly expands, it gets blasted out of the back of the engine, propelling the craft forward. On the other hand, a plasma jet engine does away with the standard air and fuel mixture. Instead, it makes use of electricity to compress and excite gas into a plasma — an extremely hot, dense ionised state comparable with the insides of a fusion reactor or a star — then generate an electromagnetic field from it. Plasma engines have remained in experimental stages for quite...