The Aviationist Blog

South Korea’s domestically developed KF-21 Boramae has achieved a new milestone. On Feb. 20, 2023, the fourth prototype of the KF-21 Boramae (Korean for “Hawk”), successfully flew from the first time from Sacheon airport, headquarters [...]

The post Successful First Flight For The Two-Seat KF-21 Boramae appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Directorate of Intelligence published the photos online showing the unannounced delivery of the US-made helicopter. After receiving the former British Sea King helicopters, it appears that Ukraine has now fielded another western helicopter: the [...]

The post First UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter For Ukraine’s Intelligence Service Breaks Cover appeared first on The Aviationist.

Another white balloon allegedly flying in an area between Hawaii and California. The “balloon” saga continues: on Feb. 19, 2023, a large white balloon was reported over the Pacific ocean, roughly 600 miles to the [...]

The post ‘Large White Balloon’ Reported East of Hawaii appeared first on The Aviationist.

ALEs will also be a big part of the Gray Eagle 25M upgrade optimized for Multi Domain Operations. General Atomics tested a new survivable Air-Launched Effect (ALE) during a flight demonstration based out of the [...]

The post General Atomics Tests New Eaglet Air Launched Effect appeared first on The Aviationist.

The special color was the highlight of the celebrations at Istrana Air Base. On Feb. 15, 2023, the 51° Stormo (Wing) of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 103° [...]

The post The Italian Air Force Celebrates 80th Anniversary of 103rd Gruppo With Special Colored AMX appeared first on The Aviationist.

The new X-plane will be a large flying boat similar in size and capacity to the C-17. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working on a new X-plane under the Liberty Lifter Seaplane Wing-in-Ground [...]

The post DARPA Developing Wing-In-Ground Effect Cargo Seaplane appeared first on The Aviationist.

Three mysterious balloon-shaped flying objects were spotted inside the Japanese airspace in 2019, 2020 and 2021. “As a result of further analysis of specific balloon-shaped flying objects that have been confirmed in Japan’s airspace in [...]

The post Japan Says It Strongly Presumes China Sent Three Spy Balloons Into Its Airspace appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Romanian Air Force investigated a “suspicious” weather balloon. Two RoAF (Romanian Air Force) MiG-21 LanceR jets were scrambled after the service’s surveillance system detected an aerial object that looked like a weather balloon flying [...]

The post MiG-21 Jets Scrambled After Weather Balloon Is Detected In Romania’s Airspace appeared first on The Aviationist.

The AI agents performed advanced fighter maneuvers against simulated adversaries during 12 flights. The U.S. Air Force just announced that Artificial Intelligence agents successfully piloted the X-62A Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft during a [...]

The post Artificial Intelligence Successfully Piloted The X-62 VISTA appeared first on The Aviationist.

Let’s focus on the U.S. Navy jets that flew over the State Farm Stadium at the opening of Super Bowl LVII. On Feb. 12, 2023, four U.S. Navy jets, flown by all-female crews, carried out [...]

The post These Are The Aircraft That Took Part In Super Bowl LVII Flyover appeared first on The Aviationist.

The fix will solve the issue in the short term, while the faulty component is redesigned for a long-term solution. The U.S. military recently issued a new flight restriction for the V-22 Osprey, grounding an [...]

The post Some V-22 Osprey Tiltrotors Grounded To Implement Solution To Hard Clutch Engagements appeared first on The Aviationist.

It’s the fourth engagement in little more than one week. A U.S. F-16 has shot down another “unidentified object” in the Canadian airspace above Lake Huron on Feb. 12, 2023. The downing was announced by [...]

The post U.S. F-16 Shoots Down An Unidentified ‘Octagon Shaped’ Object Over Lake Huron appeared first on The Aviationist.

Third kill for the U.S. F-22 Raptor. This time over Canada. Another day, another “unidentified object” has been shot down by a U.S. Air Force F-22. It’s the third “kill” scored by a Raptor in [...]

The post U.S. F-22 Has Shot Down An Unidentified Object That Violated Canadian Airspace appeared first on The Aviationist.

F-35C Lightning II, Two F/A-18F Super Hornets and an EA-18G Growler to Open Super Bowl LVII. The U.S. Navy has announced that an all-female flight crew will conduct the four aircraft formation flyover during the [...]

The post U.S. Navy Announces Aircraft and All-Female Crews for Super Bowl Flyover appeared first on The Aviationist.

The first and one-of-a-kind training centre in Europe has been opened at Pratica di Mare Air Base. On Feb. 2, 2023, Guardia di Finanza (GdF – Italian Customs Police) opened its new Air-Naval Operations Simulation [...]

The post Guardia di Finanza’s New Air-Naval Operations Simulation Centre Opens in Italy appeared first on The Aviationist.

Six Days After U.S. F-22 Shoots Down Balloon, A Second Object Has Been Downed. National Security Council official John Kirby confirmed on Friday that the U.S. has downed another “high altitude object” over Alaska that [...]

The post U.S. Air Force F-22 Shoots Down ‘High Altitude Object’ Over Alaska appeared first on The Aviationist.

A dozen F-16s deployed to Grosseto Air Base, where they integrated with the Italian Air Force Eurofighters for the two-week exercise. The 4° Stormo Caccia (Fighter Wing) of the Italian Air Force has hosted the [...]

The post U.S. F-16s And Italian Typhoons Train Together During Emerald Strike 2023 appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Falcon fleet of the Aeronautica Militare has achieved the milestone during an emergency medical flight. In the afternoon of Feb. 9, 2023, a Falcon 900 of the 31° Stormo (Wing) of the Aeronautica Militare [...]

The post The Italian Air Force Dassault Falcon Fleet Reaches 150K Flight Hours appeared first on The Aviationist.

Concerns About Surveillance Are Valid, But What About Weaponized Weather Modification? The memes are funny. The headlines are fascinating. But the real concern about last week’s Chinese balloon incident is more than hot air. Chinese [...]

The post Could the Bizarre Chinese Balloon Missions Be Even More Sinister Than Aerial Spying? appeared first on The Aviationist.

More than 140 aircraft were involved in the exercise, as well as multiple naval and ground assets. The U.S. Central Command and Israel Defense Forces recently completed Juniper Oak 23.2, the largest United States-Israel bilateral [...]

The post Dissecting Juniper Oak 23, The Largest Ever US-Israel Joint Exercise appeared first on The Aviationist.