Helicopters (Page 2)

Updated on Aug 20, 2025

An apparently previously unknown tiltrotor aircraft has appeared in China and is already undergoing flight testing. While the program remains mysterious, it’s further evidence of growing Chinese interest in this class of aircraft. Although previous such Chinese projects have typically been pitched for civilian missions, tiltrotors have clear military applications as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to expand its reach across the Indo-Pacific region.

V-22

China’s First Crewed Tiltrotor Aircraft Is Flying

Posted on Aug 18, 2025

AH-64

South Korea Canceling AH-64 Apache Order A Sign Of What’s To Come

Posted on Jul 8, 2025

Residents of the Tucson, Arizona area were startled earlier this week by a group of helicopters, including at least one Russian-made Mi-17 Hip, making very low nighttime flights as part of what turned out to be a U.S. military exercise.

Secretive Russian-Made Mi-17 Helicopter Makes Unusual Appearance In Tucson

Posted on Jun 20, 2025

Ukraine is pushing back on a Russian claim that Vladimir Putin's helicopter came under fire on May 20.

Claims Swirl Over Supposed Ukrainian Attack On Putin’s Helicopter

Posted on May 28, 2025

The Aerial Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle (AARV), which was a two-seat scout. It was envisaged as a successor to the U.S. Army’s Hughes OH-6 Cayuse and Bell OH-58 Kiowa. These had been procured under the Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program and saw extensive use in Vietnam.

These Heavily Armored Helicopters Were Pitched To The Army During The Cold War

Posted on May 24, 2025

Myanmar rebels claim they shot down a government Mi-17 helicopter with an FPV drone.

Mi-17 Appears To Have Been Downed By FPV Drone In Myanmar

By Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on May 22, 2025

FLRAA

MV-75 Official Designation Given To Future U.S. Army Tiltrotor Assault Aircraft (Updated)

Posted on May 14, 2025

The U.S. Army has incorporated special operations-specific requirements into the design of its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) tiltrotor, which has led to an unspecified increase in gross weight.

Army’s Future Tiltrotor Gets Heavier So It Can Rapidly Convert Into Special Ops Variant

Posted on May 9, 2025

AH-1

Marine AH-1Z Attack Helicopter’s Mystery Missiles Identified

Posted on May 1, 2025

MV-22

Marine MV-22 Ospreys Won’t Get Tanker Capability To Refuel F-35Bs Anytime Soon

Updated on May 1, 2025

A senior Navy aviation officer says the three-month-long grounding of virtually all Osprey tiltrotors worldwide following the fatal crash of a U.S. Air Force CV-22B off the coast of Japan in 2023 sent serious ripples through his service.

V-22

CMV-22 Grounding Was “Wakeup Call” For Navy, Stakes Higher With C-2 Gone Next Year

Posted on Apr 8, 2025

Ongoing work on the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) tiltrotor is helping the U.S. Navy refine its next-generation Future Vertical Lift-Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) plans.

MV-22

Navy MH-60 Seahawk Replacement Will Leverage Army’s Future Vertical Lift Tiltrotor Plans

Posted on Apr 8, 2025

Puma Helicopter Retires From UK Service After More Than 50 Years

Updated on Apr 1, 2025

Ukraine claims it destroyed two Ka-52 Hockum attack helicopters and two Mi-8 Hip transport helicopters in a missile attack in Belgorod.

Ukraine Launched HIMARS Attack On Russian Helicopters In Belgorod

Posted on Mar 24, 2025

AH-64

U.S. Army AH-64 Apaches Armed With Israeli Spike Missiles Now Flying in Iraq

Posted on Mar 7, 2025

Boeing expects to shutter its production of the Little Bird light helicopter after fulfilling a current contract with the Thai armed forces.

MH-6/AH-6

Boeing’s Little Bird Helicopter Production Set To End

Posted on Feb 26, 2025

The U.S. Navy has released a picture of a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper Attack helicopter with a previously unseen long-range missile armament.

AH-1

AH-1Z Attack Helicopter’s New Long Range Missile Seen For The First Time

Updated on Feb 17, 2025

A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft design that recently emerged at the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, which TWZ was first to report on, has been identified. It is a full-scale technology demonstrator (FSTD) belonging to Hyundai subsidiary Supernal.

Mystery Tiltrotor Aircraft Spotted At Mojave Air And Space Port Identified

Updated on Feb 13, 2025

Mystery Tiltrotor Aircraft Emerges

Updated on Feb 12, 2025

The U.S. Marine Corps transition to the VH-92A Patriot as its only helicopter for use in the "Marine One" role shuttling the president, the vice president, their families, and their closest advisors around at home and abroad, is still underway and now we know it won't be done till 2030, at the earliest.

VH-3

VH-92 Patriot Fully Taking Over Marine One Duties Has Slipped To End Of Decade

Updated on Feb 4, 2025

A newly released U.S. Marine Aviation Plan shows the service is now looking at a successor to its MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors actively enough to give it a name: the Next Generation Assault Support (NGAS) aircraft.

CV-22

Hunt For A MV-22 Osprey Successor For The Marines Has Begun

Posted on Feb 3, 2025

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned virtually all helicopter flights around Reagan National Airport and parts of the surrounding Potomac River. This comes in the tragic collision of a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines CRJ700 airliner above the river on Tuesday night.

UH-60

Nearly All Helicopter Traffic Around Reagan National Airport Has Been Shut Down

Posted on Feb 1, 2025

UH-60

Ex-Military Helicopter Pilots Explain The Challenges Of Flying Over The Capital

By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Howard Altman

Posted on Jan 31, 2025

UH-60

Mid-Air Collision Shines Light On Doomsday Plans For Nation’s Capital

Posted on Jan 30, 2025

Several investigations are underway into a mid-air collision that killed 67 people.

UH-60

“Elevation Issue” With UH-60 That Collided With CRJ700 Over Potomac Being Investigated: SECDEF

By Howard Altman, Geoff Ziezulewicz, Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Jan 30, 2025

A caucasian uniformed pilot in the cockpit of a small, modern private single engine propeller aircraft landing at night with runway lights visible.

H-60

Here’s What Air Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems Can And Can’t Do

Posted on Jan 30, 2025

A commercial airliner collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River.

H-60

Chilling Air Traffic Control Audio From H-60 Collision With CRJ700 Over Potomac River (Updated)

By Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway, Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Jan 30, 2025

U.S. Navy officials have laid out several priorities they say are key to ensuring the service's carrier air wings will be able to succeed in future conflicts, especially a high-end fight in the Pacific.

V-22

Carrier Air Wing’s Key Priorities To Win In Future Pacific Fight Laid Out By Navy

Posted on Jan 30, 2025

UH-60

UH-60 Black Hawk Begins Ground Tests With Far More Powerful T901 Engines

Posted on Jan 29, 2025

An Air Force C-32A VIP transport jet, on a special mission for President Donald Trump, had to delay its landing at Joint Base Andrews because F-16C Vipers were scrambled to intercept a drone.

H-65

C-32 Forced To Delay Landing After F-16s Scrambled To Intercept Drone Near Capital

Posted on Jan 27, 2025

South Korea's domestically developed Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH) completed its first flight test in December 2024, the country's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on January 15, 2025.

This Is South Korea’s New Heavily Armed Marine Attack Helicopter

Posted on Jan 23, 2025

Navy MH-60 Seahawk Helicopter Has Shot Down Its First Drone

By Hope Hodge Seck

Updated on Jan 16, 2025

Ukrainian USV Mi-8 Hip R-73 missile kill Black Sea

Ukraine Claims Its Drone Boat Shot Down A Russian Mi-8 Helicopter With A Surface-To-Air Missile

Posted on Dec 31, 2024

CV-22

V-22s Grounded Again After Special Operations Osprey Mishap

Posted on Dec 9, 2024

Bell has released a rendering showing updated design concepts for vertical takeoff and landing-capable crewed and uncrewed aircraft that feature wingtip rotors that fold away during level flight.

V-22

Revised Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Concepts Emerge From Special Operations X-Plane Program

Posted on Dec 5, 2024

AH-64

AH-64 Apache To Be Tested With Wing-Mounted AESA Radar

Posted on Nov 25, 2024

SB>1 Defiant at the Army Aviation Museum at Fort Novosel.

SB>1 Defiant High-Speed Helicopter Put To Rest In A Museum

Posted on Nov 13, 2024

AH-64

Boeing’s Plan For Modernized AH-64 Apaches Serving Into The 2060s

Posted on Nov 13, 2024

A total of 44 U.S. Army helicopters suffered various degrees of damage during a burst of extreme weather at Fort Carson in Colorado earlier this year.

HH-60

Dozens Of AH-64, UH-60, and CH-47 Helicopters Were Damaged In Storm At Colorado Army Base

Posted on Oct 28, 2024

A CH-47 Chinook from B Co "Big Windy," 1-214th General Support Aviation Battalion lifts a 173rd Airborne Brigade tactical vehicle during Saber Junction 20 at Grafenwöhr Training on Aug. 5.

CH-53K

Army Confirms It’s Exploring Requirements For A New Heavy-Lift Helicopter To Replace Chinook

Posted on Oct 17, 2024

FLRAA

Army’s Future Vertical Lift Tiltrotor Will Differ Significantly From V-280 Valor It’s Based On

Posted on Oct 16, 2024

FLRAA

Army Already Preparing For V-280 Valor To Dramatically Transform Air Assaults

Posted on Oct 15, 2024

China has revealed a new tiltrotor drone concept, the Zhang Ying UR6000, that has clear military potential, despite initially being pitched for civilian missions.

China’s Large Tiltrotor Drone Breaks Cover

Posted on Oct 15, 2024

UH-60

Experimental Fly-By-Wire UH-60M Black Hawk To Become Autonomy Testbed

Posted on Oct 14, 2024

Aurora Flight Sciences has released new renderings of an uncrewed fan-in-wing vertical take-off-and-landing capable demonstrator aircraft it is currently working on, as well as of a revised vision for a scaled-up stealthy cargo aircraft based on the same technology.

V-22

New Vision For Lift Fan Aircraft Family Grows From Special Operations X-Plane Program

Posted on Oct 9, 2024

AH-64

AH-64 Apaches Practice Shooting Down Drones With Hellfire Missiles In Saudi Arabia

Updated on Oct 3, 2024

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to explore concepts for a new drone capable of lugging around up to 70,000 pounds of cargo, roughly twice what the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53K King Stallion helicopter can lift.

CH-53K

Search For Cargo Drone That Can Lift Twice As Much As A CH-53K King Stallion Kicks Off

Posted on Sep 25, 2024

It’s the turn of the Royal Australian Navy to provide us with a spectacular view of airborne infrared countermeasures in action, with a recent video showing a demonstration by one of its MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission maritime helicopters. In the past, TWZ has taken examined some remarkable air-launched countermeasures action, including extreme close-ups, mass drops, airshow routines, and flare ‘dumps’ from heavyweight transports. This may be the first time we’ve seen a helicopter perform this kind of pyrotechnical feat so close to a warship.

Australian MH-60R Helicopter Executes Stunning Flare Dump Off Stern Of Destroyer

Posted on Sep 10, 2024

All eyes were on presidential candidate and sitting Vice President Kamala Harris this week as the Democratic National Convention kicked off. One clip of Harris's movements, in particular, got a lot of attention from those interested in military technology — the Vice President boarding an MV-22 tiltrotor on a short trip to the convention hall.

MV-22

MV-22 Ospreys Have Actually Been Flying The Vice President For Years

By Tyler Rogoway, Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman

Posted on Aug 24, 2024

The U.S. Army is looking at paragliders as a way to give conventional forces, especially airborne units, new options for getting around the battlefield and surveilling enemy forces.

U.S. Army Has A Plan For Paragliding Paratroopers

Posted on Aug 20, 2024

VH-92

VH-92 Helicopter Has Finally Flown Its First ‘Marine One’ Mission (Updated)

Posted on Aug 19, 2024

Testbed for the Navy's helicopter escape system in the 1960s

Navy’s Cold War-Era Helicopter Crew Escape System Literally Sliced Fuselages Apart

By Oliver Parken

Posted on Aug 7, 2024

Russian Mi-28 Havoc Attack Helicopter Engaged In Mid-Air By Ukrainian Drone

Posted on Aug 7, 2024

CV-22

CV-22 Osprey Crash In Japan Was Caused By Gearbox Failure

By Thomas Newdick, Howard Altman

Posted on Aug 1, 2024

Russian Telegram channels say a Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter was down by a drone, the first time that has happened.

Ukraine Situation Report: Russians Say Mi-8 Hip Helicopter Was Shot Down By Drone

By Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Jul 31, 2024

NATO has selected AIrbus, Leonardo and Lockheed Martin Sikorsky to provide concept studies for the Next Generation Rotor Craft.

NATO Selects Three Companies For Next-Generation Rotorcraft Concept Study

Posted on Jul 26, 2024

In a rare and impressive gathering, every airframe in the U.S. Coast Guard fleet converged at one location on 14 June 2024.

Every Coast Guard Aircraft Type Pictured Together In Rare ‘Family Photo’

By Oliver Parken

Posted on Jul 15, 2024

AW139 Nuclear Detection Helicopters Join Department Of Energy Fleet, Replace Bell 412s

Posted on Jul 8, 2024

AH-64

Israeli AH-64 Apache Commanders Describe Brutal Reality Of October 7 Missions

Posted on Jul 2, 2024

The US Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment has been testing Arctic and desert camouflage options on top of a now well-known multi-tone blue scheme.

160th SOAR Night Stalkers Testing Arctic, Desert Vinyl Camo Wraps As Global Missions Evolve

Posted on Jun 28, 2024

Leonardo's AW609 tiltrotor has completed a series of shipboard trials aboard the Italian carrier ITS Cavour, a major milestone in the aircraft's development.

AW609 Tiltrotor Has Flown From Italy’s Aircraft Carrier Cavour

Posted on Jun 26, 2024

The Ka-29 Helix-B helicopter was downed during a massive, multi-domain, Ukrainian drone attack

Russian Navy Ka-29 Assault Helicopter Downed Amid Massive Ukrainian Drone Attack