Aircraft & Propulsion

Lockheed Martin’s U-2 spy plane made its debut at the Northern Edge joint training exercise last month, demonstrating a new capability nicknamed the “Einstein Box.”

The secretary of the U.S. Air Force has stressed that the OA-X light attack initiative “is not a procurement, it’s an experiment.”

The engine maker is framing its F135 upgrade effort as the first step in a long-term plan for fighter propulsion based on adaptive technology.

The country’s push toward manned/unmanned teaming in the air domain is a response to the extreme cost of modern warplanes and advances in autonomous technology.

The U.S. Navy is asking Congress directly to fund a boost in Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35 procurement to address the strike fighter shortfall.

The German air force is seriously interested in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as the central node of its future networked strike complex, which includes unmanned surrogates.

Boeing’s “iterative innovation” strategy pays off as it secures a new future for the Eagle, Super Hornet and Growler programs against the odds.

U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, call sign Crash, describes what it was like to fly the Raptor on its very first combat mission.

By 2023, Turkey’s centenary, President Tayyip Edogan wants the nation’s aerospace industry to fly its indigenous TF-X fighter. But the new fighter is just the one example, as Turkey is developing a trainer/light attack aircraft, UAVs, missiles, helicopters and a gallium-nitride-based AESA radar.

Boeing has cautioned the U.S. Navy against getting locked into another 20-year aircraft development program as it reaches for F/A-XX, the service’s next carrier warplane.

Leanne Caret, president of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, discusses the revival of fighter programs, the state of play on the KC-46A tanker, the importance of T-X and more.

The U.S. Air Force’s F-35A will fly its first aerial demonstration at the Paris Air Show this year, with Lockheed Martin pilots performing aerobatics in the skies above Le Bourget Airport.

Marine Corps is touting the stealthy JSF in training exercises in Japan, South Korea, and Alaska.

Nineteen months after the U.S. Air Force banned lightweight pilots from flying the F-35, the service is lifting the restriction.

Turkey’s fighter will be twin-engine, but the choice of a powerplant has not yet been made.

Leonardo DRS’s Bill Lynn on the company’s prospects for trainer success, the U.S. defense budget and persistent questions about the sale of the company.

Special Operations Command looks to Future Vertical Lift to help win on the battlefield of 2030.

The Swedish Air Force has little interest in any of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation T-X trainer candidates except the Boeing/Saab offer, but is not ready to rule them in or out as potential SK 60 replacements.

Congress boosted funding for new aircraft by 15%, but overall defense received a meager increase.

Kratos Defense & Security has settled on names for its two prized combat UAVs, dubbing them “Mako” and “Valkyrie.”

Boeing’s common-platform concept offers the U.S. Air Force variants of the twinjet family, including the newly developed MAX, to succeed all the aging military quad-jet fleets in line for eventual refinancing strategies.

The second Boeing/Saab T-X aircraft has taken flight in St. Louis, Missouri, less than five months after the first.

A top U.S. Army official warns that a year-long continuing resolution would cripple the fledgling Future Vertical Lift effort.

The U.S. Navy has further restricted flying in the Boeing T-45C Goshawk after one instructor pilot reported headaches after performing dynamic flying in the troubled tandem-seat trainer.

F-35 to fly with British Typhoons, Dutch F16s and USAF F-15s during UK deployment.