The Zambian Air Force (ZAF) is negotiating with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) for the possible acquisition of more advanced fighter and trainer jets, helicopters and heavy-lift transport aircraft, as it forges ahead with a force modernisation exercise. Oscar Nkala reports.
Boeing wins missile defense kill-vehicle contracts, UK’s RAF Fairford to host RC-135 Rivet Joint, North Korea’s latest missile test and the Swedish military buys satellite connectivity service.
The legacy of the space shuttle and X-37B will come together in Phantom Express, the reusable launch vehicle that Boeing is to build and fly under Darpa’s XS-1 experimental spaceplanes program.
The U.S. Air Force is funding construction of new facilities to house its European operating location for RC-135 Rivet Joint intelligence-gathering aircraft at RAF Fairford.
A little-known UN mission in Mali celebrates its fourth anniversary this month. Since the deployment began, the multidimensional integrated stabilisation mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has been working to help stabilise the situation after a Tuareg rebellion in 2012, followed by a jihadist insurgency, led to the French military being called into action. France's Operation Barkhane (originally Serval) continues to battle with jihadi fighters while MINUSMA tries to keep the peace. Alan Warnes reports.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has accelerated development of the warhead-killing Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV) by five years in response to emerging threats.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) $7.9 billion budget plan for fiscal 2018 includes almost $600 million over five years to finally begin addressing the hypersonic missile threat from Russia and China.
The news that the Dragon Lady will continue patrolling the skies indefinitely, revealed May 23 in President Donald Trump's budget request for fiscal 2018, is a reversal of the Air Force's previous plans.
The Trump administration’s request for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 was not accompanied by the regular five-year defense spending plan, leaving even suggested guidance for major defense acquisition programs officially unknown.
President Donald Trump’s first proposed budget for the U.S. Air Force keeps the service’s top modernization priorities on track, but does not include the major boost to procurement programs that many defense hawks had hoped for.
The U.S. Army continues to back the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) and Future Vertical Lift (FVL) in its fiscal 2018 budget request, despite reducing spending on aviation accounts overall.
The Trump administration's 2018 budget submission, released May 23, would increase readiness spending and protect weapons modernization programs, but there is little joy in the budget proposal for helicopter makers.
Poland has declared a need for a fleet of fifth-generation fighter aircraft equipped with long-range precision weapons to act as a deterrent against an increasingly aggressive Russia.
