Aircraft & Propulsion

The U.S. Air Force is seeking industry input on the airframe for the Next Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) after reimagining the original concept.

Grid Aero is developing an autonomous cargo UAV that can fly thousands of miles and carry thousands of pounds of payload for the U.S. military.

The UK issued an urgent request for information to industry for a low-cost means to engage jet-powered one-way-attack drones Russia is using against Ukraine.

Drone manufacturer Red Cat Holdings expects it would significantly benefit from a possible U.S. ban on the use of UAVs made by China’s DJI, the company said.

Western defense primes continue to play an important role in Turkish modernization plans, but Turkey will increasingly rely on domestic purchases, resulting in a 12% increase in the number of in-service Turkish military aircraft from 1,269 today to around 1,467 in 2035.

Autonomous flight system developer Merlin is to go public through a merger with a blank-check company that values the Boston-based startup at $800 million.

Ukrainian front-line troops received the first 1,000 first person view drones less than two weeks after a newly launched online weapons marketplace started processing orders.

Poland accounted for more than half of the $11.9 million in export sales in Taiwan’s drone sector recorded in the first half of the year.

The U.S. Army has announced a standardized interface for UAS and launched effects to carry munitions or other attachments.

The country placed the foreign military sales order for 12 aircraft in 2022.

Switzerland’s government has instructed the country’s defense ministry to look at options after failing to find agreement with the U.S. on price.

Poland will spend $3.8 billion to upgrade its Lockheed Martin F-16 fleet to the Block 72 configuration, government officials have declared.

The U.S. Air Force faces a looming question with its plan to retire the E-3 AWACS and cancel the E-7 Wedgetail.

The U.S. Army is finalizing plans to buy a new medium-altitude uncrewed aerial system as it phases out its older MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

Even though the U.S. Army canceled the FTUAS program of record, the appetite remains to quickly field a similar system at the brigade level.

Castings and forgings have once again been fingered as the key limit on future large commercial and military aircraft build-rates.

The first serial production-representative AW09 single-engine light rotorcraft, codenamed S6, took to the air on Aug. 8 from Leonardo’s Vergiate manufacturing facility near Milan.

Vertical lift specialist Piasecki Aircraft plans to develop a larger-capacity version of the Kargo UAV.

Singapore says it has dropped plans to establish a permanent Boeing F-15SG detachment in Guam following a U.S. disclosure that the basing would not proceed.

Pilot training for the Indonesian Air Force’s Dassault Rafale will enter its final, hands-on phase on Aug. 20.

The British Army has begun to engage with industry on the acquisition of an autonomous collaborative platform to operate alongside its Apache helicopters.

The UK Royal Navy’s exercises are to be supported by a fleet of Leonardo AW139 twin-engine medium helicopters under a new contract.

The Swiss Defense Ministry's latest equipment program review has flagged various concerns over the procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35.

For more information about Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s (AWIN) 2025 Military Fleet & MRO Forecast and other Aviation Week data products, please see: https://pgs.aviationweek.com/forecast

Boeing hopes to return to the original program of record of 144 F-15EXs for the U.S. Air Force.