The Aviationist Blog

The United States Navy Blue Angels 75th anniversary season kicks off with their “new” F/A-18E/F Super Hornets at SUN n’ FUN 2021. Officially known as the SUN n’ FUN Aerospace Expo, the famous airshow held [...]

The post SUN n’ FUN starts the 2021 American Air Show Season appeared first on The Aviationist.

For the first time, five Russian Navy Il-38 and Il-38N aircraft have taken part together in an Anti-Submarine Warfare exercise laying sea bottom mines. Russian Navy Il-38 and Il-38N “Dolphin” (NATO reporting name “May”) Anti-Submarine [...]

The post Watch A Russian Navy Il-38N “Dolphin” Load A Superlarge Sea Bottom Mine For Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercise appeared first on The Aviationist.

The demonstrations were meant to show the S-97 Raider’s agility and the program’s status to the U.S. Army personnel working on the Future Vertical Lift program. Sikorsky demonstrated the S-97 Raider, the company’s development aircraft [...]

The post Sikorsky S-97 Raider Demonstrated At The U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal appeared first on The Aviationist.

A USAF F-15C Eagle has achieved the longest known air-to-air missile shot ever. While its most advanced variant, the F-15EX (recently officially named the “Eagle II”) was being delivered to the U.S. Air Force getting [...]

The post US Air Force F-15C Eagle Records Longest Known Air-To-Air Missile Shot appeared first on The Aviationist.

Poland to procure five extra C-130H Hercules aircraft which will be restored out of the “Boneyard” in the Arizona Desert. The Armament Inspectorate of the Polish Ministry of Defense published a release stating that an [...]

The post Poland Signs Excess Defense Article Deal Procuring Five Extra C-130Hs (Resurrected From The “Boneyard”) appeared first on The Aviationist.

After completing the Sea Trials with the U.S. Marine Corps F-35B, the aircraft carrier Cavour conducted training with a USMC MV-22B Osprey. As already reported, the Italian Navy has recently declared the successful completion of [...]

The post U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey Conducts Qualifications Flights Aboard Italian Aircraft Carrier Cavour appeared first on The Aviationist.

The purpose-built pod for the P-8A Poseidon was developed from the experience with the ALE-55 Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy already used by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) recently announced that a new [...]

The post The U.S. Navy Is Testing A Towed Decoy Pod For The P-8A Poseidon appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Department of the Air Force Acquisition biennial report includes a new concept art of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). In September last year, Dr. Will Roper, the then Assistant Secretary of the Air [...]

The post New Concept Art Of The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Featured In Air Force Report appeared first on The Aviationist.

SABER technology is part of a critical upgrade of the Compass Call system that will be rehosted on the EC-37B. BAE Systems successfully flight tested its Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resources (SABER) technology for [...]

The post BAE Systems Tests SABER Technology For The New EC-37B Compass Call appeared first on The Aviationist.

The “incriminated” photo of an F-15E pilot with a “Russian Patch” was published by the RAF Lakenheath’s Facebook page in a post about the Exercise Point Blank currently in progress in the UK. The U.S. [...]

The post No, A U.S. F-15E Pilot Did Not Wear A “Russian Patch”: It’s Only A 492nd Squadron’s “Red Air” Patch appeared first on The Aviationist.

The new South Korean next generation fighter, the KF-21 “Boramae”, appears to be an F-22 look-alike. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in unveiled the first prototype of the KF-X, the next-generation fighter developed by KAI (Korea [...]

The post South Korea Has Just Unveiled A prototype Of Its First Domestically Developed KF-21 “Boramae” appeared first on The Aviationist.

50 years after it flew for the first time (and 15 years after it was retired by the U.S. Navy), the F-14 Tomcat remains one of the most loved fighters ever. Here are its 100 [...]

The post These Posters Feature 100 Of The Most Iconic F-14 Tomcat Liveries Of All Time appeared first on The Aviationist.

The name for the newest aircraft of the U.S. Air Force has been announced today during the official rollout ceremony: F-15EX “Eagle II”. Today the U.S. Air Force held an official rollout ceremony at Eglin [...]

The post The New F-15EX Has Been Officially Named “Eagle II” appeared first on The Aviationist.

An NF-5 of the Turkish Air Force aerobatic display team Turkish Stars” has crashed at Konya. An NF-5 aircraft, belonging to the Turkish Air Force demonstration team “Türk Yıldızları” (Turkish Stars) crashed on Wednesday, Apr. [...]

The post Turkish Stars NF-5 Jet Crashes During Training Flight At Konya Air Base Killing Pilot appeared first on The Aviationist.

The first flight test of the AGM-183A ARRW failed on Monday, April 5, 2021, over the Point Mugu Sea Range. The U.S. Air Force’s long-awaited first flight test of its hypersonic AGM-183A ARRW (Air-launched Rapid [...]

The post First Flight Test Of Air Force’s Hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) Fails appeared first on The Aviationist.

This first payload release from an XQ-58 Valkyrie is part of the ongoing testing of the attritable unmanned aircraft and possibly related to Kratos’ involvement in the Skyborg program. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory [...]

The post Ever Seen A Drone Dropping Another Drone? Take A Look At The XQ-58 Valkyrie Releasing An Altius 600 UAS appeared first on The Aviationist.

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon of Patrol Squadron 46 drew a “46” over the eastern Mediterranean Sea, clearly visible on flight tracking websites. On Apr. 3, 2021, a P-8A Poseidon aircraft with the Patrol Squadron [...]

The post VP-46 P-8A Poseidon Draws Large “46” Over Eastern Med Sea On Its Way To The Area Of Operations Off Syria appeared first on The Aviationist.

According to the Israeli Air Force, the new G550 “Oron” combines the capabilities of several different ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) aircraft in a single platform. On Sunday Apr. 4, 2021, the Israeli Air Force formally [...]

The post The Israeli Air Force Officially Introduces The “Oron”: A Highly-Modified G550 With “Unprecedented ISR Capabilities” appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Italian Air Force Typhoons in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) were launched to intercept a U.S.-registered aircraft experiencing loss of radio comms with the Air Traffic Control. Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons of the [...]

The post Italian Eurofighter Typhoons Scramble To Intercept US-Registered Beech King Air During COMLOSS Incident appeared first on The Aviationist.

97th AMW at Altus Air Force Base carried out an impressive Elephant Walk with 29 aircraft, including KC-135s, KC-46s and C-17s. On Apr. 2, 2021, Altus Air Force Base (AAFB), Oklahoma, conducted an exercise to [...]

The post Behold These Incredible New Photos Of The Altus Air Force Base’s Impressive Elephant Walk appeared first on The Aviationist.