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Poland has taken the next step in the modernization of its air force, with U.S. approval given for a major upgrade of its fleet of F-16 fighters. The program will bring the jets to the F-16V standard and also suggests new weapons may be introduced, too. The Viper Midlife Upgrade is announced as Poland awaits F-35 stealth fighters and considers buying F-15EX multirole fighters, while making significant investments in its armed forces across the board, to meet the threat from Russia.

Poland’s F-16s Cleared For Major Upgrades

By Thomas Newdick
Oct 24 12:56 PM EDT
Iranian attack on Israeli airbase shows some damage but nothing widespread

Clearer Picture Of Damage To Israeli Airbase From Iranian Ballistic Missiles Emerges

By Thomas Newdick, Tyler Rogoway
Oct 4 7:29 PM EDT
KC-707 IAF remote vision system

Israeli 707 Tanker’s Secretive Remote Vision System Revealed In Long-Range Yemen Raid

By Thomas Newdick
Sep 30 3:33 PM EDT
After almost 45 years of service, including multiple combat deployments, the F-16 was formally retired today by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF). At the same time, the service announced that the F-35A had attained full operational capability, with the stealth fighter now responsible for the full spectrum of missions previously handled by the Viper, including nuclear strike.

The Last Viper Commander: Dutch Squadron Boss On Today’s Retirement Of The F-16

By Thomas Newdick
Sep 27 1:02 PM EDT
An F-35 Lightning II test pilot conducts flight test Sept. 10 to certify the carrier variant of the fighter aircraft for carrying the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). As part of ongoing integration efforts, the Pax River F-35 Integrated Test Force (Pax ITF) team flew two days of test flights to evaluate flutter, loads, and flying qualities with two AGM-158 loaded on external stations. LRASM is a defined near-term solution for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) air-launch capability gap that will provide flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets. The Pax River ITF’s mission is to effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct safe, secure, and efficient flight test for F-35B and C variants, and provide necessary and timely data to support program verification / certification and fleet operational requirements.

F-35 Shown Carrying Stealthy Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles For The First Time

By Thomas Newdick
Sep 24 5:27 PM EDT
Collins Aerospace has put forward a vision for what a high-end air combat engagement between the U.S. and Chinese armed forces, with the American side employing crewed fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone wingmen, could look like in the future.

What American Fighters And Their Drone Wingmen Fighting Chinese Jets Might Look Like

By Joseph Trevithick
Sep 20 4:31 PM EDT
Poland’s first F-35A stealth fighter — locally named Husarz, or hussar — was officially rolled out today in a glitzy ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas plant.

Poland’s First F-35A “Hussar” Stealth Fighter Rolled Out

By Thomas Newdick
Aug 28 12:13 PM EDT
Not for the first time, the commitment of the United Kingdom to the F-35B Lightning stealth fighter is under scrutiny, amid reports that the new government could make cuts to it as it grapples with financial woes. With the British government seemingly committed to the next-generation Tempest fighter, the ability to pay for two separate advanced combat aircraft programs is being questioned, while continued problems integrating new weapons on the F-35B also pose a threat to its long-term security.

United Kingdom’s F-35B Fleet Plans Under Threat As Defense Cuts Loom

By Thomas Newdick
Aug 27 2:25 PM EDT
More NATO members are now 'read into' top-secret Special Access Programs (SAP) related to the Joint Strike Fighter as part of a broader push to improve information sharing and interoperability.

More Top Secret F-35 Stealth Fighter Data Given To NATO Members

By Joseph Trevithick
Aug 2 1:28 PM EDT
Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new version of its Sniper targeting pod with added networking capabilities primarily designed to enable new connectivity between fourth-generation fighters and stealthy F-35s, but which also offers the ability to create localized 'kill webs' with various assets in the air and on the ground.

Networked Sniper Pod Will Let 4th-Generation Fighters Create ‘Kill Webs’ With F-35s

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway
Jul 26 3:05 PM EDT
Greece has made good on its promise to buy F-35 stealth fighters, confirming today that it will buy an initial batch of 20 of the aircraft at a cost of around $3.5 billion. The decision is an important step in the modernization of the Hellenic Air Force, which has recently inducted other new combat aircraft types, while plans to retire older jets have also been unveiled. The move also has a particular resonance in terms of Greece’s tense relations with regional rival Turkey, which was booted out of the F-35 program, after buying Russian-made S-400 air defense systems.

Greece Buying F-35s Widens Qualitative Gap With Turkey

By Thomas Newdick
Jul 25 8:24 PM EDT
General Atomics has told TWZ that it’s looking at adapting its ship-based Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear, EMALS and AAG, respectively, for use from land bases. While the company first developed EMALS and AAG for the U.S. Navy’s Ford class aircraft carriers, the growing interest in expeditionary campaigns ashore is driving new thinking about how to operate aircraft without access to large traditional runways.

Ford Class Carrier’s EMALS Catapults, AAG Arrester Gear Eyed For Land Bases

By Thomas Newdick
Jul 23 4:24 PM EDT
Yemen Port Strike by Israeli Air Force

Details Of Israel’s Long-Range Strike That Decimated Yemeni Port Emerge

By Tyler Rogoway
Jul 21 4:17 PM EDT
An active expendable decoy, or AED capability has been tested and integrated on U.S. F-35 stealth fighters, resulting in a decision to field this operationally. The move apparently involves the British-made Leonardo BriteCloud, a small active-radar decoy that we have discussed at length in the past and which promises to enhance the F-35’s ability to defeat various types of air defense system threats.

F-35s Set To Get Missile-Luring Expendable Active Decoys

By Thomas Newdick
Jul 18 3:40 PM EDT
Italy has announced plans to equip the F-35B stealth fighters operated by its naval air arm with the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile (JSM), among other weapons. Details of the armament for the Italian Navy’s short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35Bs comes as the aircraft take part for the first time in the large-scale Pitch Black drills in Australia, aboard the aircraft carrier Cavour.

Italy’s Carrier-Capable F-35B Stealth Fighters To Get New Advanced Weapons

By Thomas Newdick
Jul 16 3:23 PM EDT
F-35 deliveries will resume with a limited TR-3 software load.

F-35 Deliveries Finally Cleared To Resume, New Jets Will Be Limited To Training

By Thomas Newdick
Jul 12 3:24 PM EDT