The Aviationist Blog

The little known EC-27J JEDI (Jamming and Electronic Defense Instrumentation) aircraft is the only non-American asset flying the Electronic Support and Protection mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). The EC-27J JEDI is a variant [...]

The post The EC-27J JEDI EW Aircraft Achieves 5,000 Flight Hours Fighting Daesh In The Electromagnetic Spectrum appeared first on The Aviationist.

A U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle landed on on the ground in Niger, with a live Hellfire missile on the left wing pylon. Photos have started to emerge on social media on Jan. 24, 2021, [...]

The post Armed U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle Drone Performs Emergency Landing In Northern Niger appeared first on The Aviationist.

Spike of Chinese “incursions” and presence of H-6K bombers (able to carry Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles) inside the south-western corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) amid escalating tensions in the region. Thirteen Chinese combat [...]

The post Eight Chinese H-6K Bombers Flew Inside Taiwan’s ADIZ As U.S. Aircraft Carrier Entered South China Sea appeared first on The Aviationist.

A Look Back at the Air Domain Procurements of the Polish Armaments Inspectorate. The Polish MoD’s armament procurement body, also known as the Armament Inspectorate, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. The body has [...]

The post Polish Armaments Inspectorate Celebrates 10th Anniversary. Here’s A Look At All The Procurements In The Air Domain appeared first on The Aviationist.

Fatal USAF E-11A crash caused by engine failure and subsequent aircrew mistake. On Jan. 27, 2020, a U.S. Air Force’s E-11A, serial 11-9358, crash landed in a field in Ghanzi Province, Afghanistan. The aircraft was [...]

The post Deadly U.S. Air Force E-11A Crash in Afghanistan Last Year Caused by Pilot Error Leading To Dual Engine Shutdown appeared first on The Aviationist.

UAE has inked an agreement with the U.S. to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 MQ-9B drones. Few hours before Biden’s inauguration, “the UAE has signed an agreement with the United States to [...]

The post About One Hour Before Biden Takes Office UAE Signs Deal With U.S. To Buy 50 F-35s and 18 MQ-9s appeared first on The Aviationist.

Some new details about the theft of equipment from Russia’s Il-80 Doomsday Plane have just emerged. On Dec. 7, 2020, we reported the news that thieves had broken into an Il-80 Maxdome and stole radio [...]

The post Suspect Of Theft Of Radio Equipment From Russia’s Il-80 Doomsday Plane Arrested appeared first on The Aviationist.

The F-16V will continue flight testing before being ferried to the U.S. for final upgrades and certification. The first F-16V of the Hellenic Air Force flew for the first time after the end of the [...]

The post First Greek F-16V Performs Maiden Flight After Block 72 Upgrade appeared first on The Aviationist.

The new Multi-Domain exercise follows the lead of the last summer’s drills, while continuing to increase the presence of the United States in the Black Sea region. The U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air [...]

The post U.S. Forces Conduct A New Multi-Domain Exercise With F-16s, KC-135s, P-8A And RQ-4B Over The Black Sea appeared first on The Aviationist.

First hand account of a test pilot’s first flight in a Eurofighter Typhoon prototype, 25 years ago. Editor’s note: Fabio Consoli is a former Italian Air Force test pilot and USAF Test Pilot School distinguished [...]

The post Eurofighter Typhoon: a Test Pilot’s Tale appeared first on The Aviationist.

A Tornado IDS of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) was shot down on Jan. 18, 1991, during Italy’s first mission in Operation Desert Storm. Even though the fact that the Italian Air Force lost [...]

The post “Legion 15”: The Story Of The Italian Air Force Tornado IDS Shot Down During Operation Desert Storm appeared first on The Aviationist.

Tempest’s new Multi-Function Radar Frequency System will collect and process 10,000 times more data than existing systems thanks to advanced miniaturization and digitalization technologies. A few months ago, Leonardo revealed to media outlets that the [...]

The post New Details About The Advanced Radar That Will Equip Tempest 6th Gen. Aircraft Revealed By Leonardo’s Engineers appeared first on The Aviationist.

The lessons learned from the construction of the first B-21 Raider bomber are being used to improve the second one, which will be used for structural testing. A second B-21 Raider bomber is under construction [...]

The post Second B-21 Raider Under Construction As The First One Approaches Roll-Out In Early 2022 appeared first on The Aviationist.

The RAF is exploiting this capability of the C-17, already well known by the US Air Force, to further expand the flexibility of its fleet. The Royal Air Force recently announced that a C-17 Globemaster [...]

The post RAF C-17 Trained For The First Time To Operate From Austere Runways appeared first on The Aviationist.

Recurring “Falcon Virgo” Exercise for Washington D.C. Trains Airspace Control and Restriction. Operation “Falcon Virgo”, a planned air defense exercise over the U.S. national capital region, will take place on Jan. 14-15 and again on [...]

The post NORAD Conducts Planned “Falcon Virgo” Air Defense Exercise Over Washington D.C. Area. appeared first on The Aviationist.

In December it was also announced that the S-70 Okhotnik drone was tested in flight with captive air-to-air missiles in the fighter role The Russian next-generation Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik (Hunter) [...]

The post The Russian S-70 Okhotnik UCAV Struck Ground Targets With Unguided Bombs During Weapons Testing appeared first on The Aviationist.

The three countries agreed to an equal cooperation for research, development and joint concepting of the Tempest FCAS ahead of the Project Arrangement and Full Development phase from 2025. The Italian Minister of Defense Lorenzo [...]

The post Italy, United Kingdom And Sweden Sign Tempest FCAS Cooperation Memorandum Of Understanding appeared first on The Aviationist.

This is the story of the B-2A Spirit AV-3 (Air Vehicle 3) and its emergency landing during a test flight. Today, we have become quite used to the shape of the B-2A Spirit, but more [...]

The post That Time B-2A Spirit AV-3 Made An Emergency Landing On Rogers Dry Lake And Firetrucks Couldn’t Find It appeared first on The Aviationist.

Enjoy an unprecedented walkaround and cockpit tour of the Russian-built Mi-24D “Hind” gunship helicopter used in threat simulation by the U.S. Air Force. The Mi-24D is a variant of the Mi-24 “Hind”, a pretty famous [...]

The post Up Close And Personal With The Mi-24D “Hind” Gunship Helicopter Used As Threat Simulation Aircraft For U.S. Forces appeared first on The Aviationist.

One year ago, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad. A somewhat weird memorial erected in Lebanon shows the moment a missile hit the SUV carrying the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds [...]

The post Memorial for Qassem Soleimani Erected in Lebanon Depicts The Moment His SUV Was Hit By A Drone Missile appeared first on The Aviationist.