The Aviationist Blog

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.

Until Dec. 31, 2020, the Swiss Air Force F/A-18s were available for Quick Reaction Alert only on business hours. About 7 years ago, an embarrassing incident highlighted the need for a round-the-clock service. Beginning on [...]

The post Swiss Air Force F/A-18s Finally Started Providing Round-the-Clock Swiss Airspace Protection Last Week appeared first on The Aviationist.

The U.S. Air Force AC-130J Ghostrider gunships are a constant presence in the CENTCOM AOR (Area Of Responsibility). The picture in this post shows an AC-130J Ghostrider being refueled at night by a U.S. Air [...]

The post Check Out This Photo Of A U.S. AC-130J Ghostrider Gunship Refueling At Night In The Persian Gulf Area appeared first on The Aviationist.

The AW169 LUH helicopter, based on the AW169M light intermediate twin-engine helicopter, features a new skid landing gear which replaces the standard retractable gear. The first Leonardo AW169 LUH (Light Utility Helicopter) was recently photographed [...]

The post First AW169 In New Advanced Light Utility Helicopter Configuration Begins Flight Testing appeared first on The Aviationist.

The aircraft, which is the second Su-57 serially built, was delivered a year after the first built crashed during pre-delivery testing. The Russian Aerospace Forces received on Dec. 25, 2020, their first serially built Su-57 [...]

The post First Serial Production Su-57 Felon Delivered To The Russian Aerospace Forces appeared first on The Aviationist.

Leonardo is one of the world’s top ten players in Aerospace, Defense and Security. Let’s have a look at the status of its most important projects in the Aeronautics, Helicopters, Space and Electronics businesses. Named [...]

The post Leonardo: Deep Dive Into The Main Programs Of One Of The Largest Defense Contractors In The World appeared first on The Aviationist.