The world is becoming an increasingly unstable place, and though threats to the developed Western world’s interests are growing in number and intensity, there is little sign of any great demand among European and North American nations for any great degree of rearmament or re-equipment. (more…)
Chinese, Russian and Indian aviation market
The Russian aerospace industry, moribund for many years after the collapse of the USSR, has begun to revive. Buoyed by growing domestic demand, it is starting to export new and more capable derivatives of the Sukhoi Su-27 series and the MiG-29, while the Sukhoi T-50 — Russia’s first true stealth fighter — will soon be making its presence felt in the fighter market. (more…)
US Air Force Finally Securing Its Drones
With the recent first flight of a new version of the MQ-9 Reaper, the US Air Force is a lot closer to acquiring unmanned aircraft with encrypted datalinks — a necessary step for drones to take part in (more…)
Largest combat wing in the world – the US Air Force 18th Wing
Known as the ‘Keystone to the Pacific’, Kadena Air Base, on the tropical Japanese island of Okinawa, is at the forefront of US Air Force air power in the Pacific region. Home to the largest combat wing (more…)
NATO Air Power over Syria
Until the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) deployed over Aleppo on 25 July, the international community had been able to argue that events in Syria did not mirror those in Libya. The people of Benghazi were (more…)
The RAF Libyan campaign
The Libyan campaign saw those lessons put into practice, enabled by a procurement process that had ensured the right tools were now available to complete the task in hand. The application of air power (more…)
Libyan campaign of 2011 – innovations
The Libyan campaign of 2011 was notable for both its innovation — as new weapons and sensor platforms were tested in combat — and the efforts made to minimise civilian casualties. As Syrian warplanes (more…)
RC-12X variant by Northrop Grumman
Born while the Vietnam War was still raging, the Guardrail’s evolution has been convoluted, with no less than 10 iterations of the architecture having been fielded between 1971 and 2000. Today, however, (more…)
Air Operations Squadron at Langley AFB – Virginia
Beginning in the early years of the Cold War, US Air Force tankers have been on hand to sustain an ‘air bridge’ for deploying fighters across the oceans. Today, the Air Operations Squadron at Langley (more…)
