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Royal Air Force

Latest in Royal Air Force

Puma Helicopter Retires From UK Service After More Than 50 Years
Air

Puma Helicopter Retires From UK Service After More Than 50 Years

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Apr 1, 2025

F-35 Hill AFB
Air

F-35s From Hill AFB Arrive In England

By Howard Altman

Updated on Mar 20, 2025

Meteor Missile F-35B testing
Air

F-35B Has Flown With Meteor Long-Range Air-To-Air Missile

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 28, 2025

In this handout image provided by the U.S. Air Force, 492nd FS commander, prepare to taxi their F-15E Strike Eagle prior to their departure from RAF Lakenheath in preparation for Operation Odyssey Dawn missions March 19, 2011 in Lakenheath, United, Kingdom. Approximately 112 cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines targeting about 20 radar and anti-aircraft sites along Libya's Mediterranean coast.
Air

USAF Air Base In England Is Nuclear Capable Again: Watchdog Report

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 27, 2025

A Russian SU-27 Flanker aircraft banks away with a RAF Typhoon in the background. RAF Typhoons were scrambled on Tuesday 17 June 2014 to intercept multiple Russian aircraft as part of NATO’s ongoing mission to police Baltic airspace. The Typhoon aircraft, from 3 (Fighter) Squadron, were launched after four separate groups of aircraft were detected by NATO air defences in international airspace near to the Baltic States. Once airborne, the British jets identified the aircraft as a Russian Tupolev Tu22 ‘Backfire’ bomber, four Sukhoi Su27 ‘Flanker’ fighters, one Beriev A50 ‘Mainstay’ early warning aircraft and an Antonov An26 ‘Curl’ transport aircraft who appeared to be carrying out a variety of routine training. The Russian aircraft were monitored by the RAF Typhoons and escorted on their way. The Typhoon pilots involved in the operation were Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Mark Long of 29 (Reserve) Squadron (the Typhoon operational training unit) and a French Air Force exchange pilot Commandant Marc-antoine Gerrard who is currently attached to 1(Fighter) Squadron.
Air

This Is What A Peacekeeping Air Policing Mission Over Ukraine Could Look Like

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 20, 2025

At least 20 U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft, 10 KC-46s and an equal number of KC-135s, supported the first day of the latest Bamboo Eagle exercise off the California Coast, according to online flight tracking data.
Air

Tankers Flood Airspace Off The California Coast For China-Focused Air Combat Exercise

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 11, 2025

The new Tempest configuration, this time with Japan Air Self-Defense Force markings.
Air

UK Emphasizes Need To Arm Tempest Stealth Fighter With Larger, Longer Range Air-To-Air Missiles

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 14, 2025

The United Kingdom has taken an important step toward its Tempest next-generation fighter, with the start of a trials campaign for the Flight Test Aircraft (FTA), nicknamed Excalibur, which will serve as a flying laboratory for the new combat aircraft. Based on a Boeing 757 airliner, the FTA joins a growing band of dedicated trials aircraft that are being used to prove out technologies for current and future-generation fighter programs, also in the United States and China.
Air

UK’s 757-Based ‘Excalibur’ Avionics Testbed For Tempest Future Fighter Emerges

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Dec 9, 2024

Mystery drones have flown over USAF bases in the UK for an eighth day.
Air

Drone Incursions Over USAF Bases In UK Enter Second Week

By Howard Altman

Updated on Nov 27, 2024

An unspecified number of drones were spotted over RAF Lakenheath in England
Air

Multiple Drone Incursions Just Occurred Over USAF Fighter Base In England

By Howard Altman

Updated on Nov 22, 2024

Pictured is an RAF Chinook (27(R) Squadron) flying in formation with a Puma (230 Squadron) over RAF Cosford. After a 3-year Covid-enforced break, the RAF Cosford Air Show will take place on 12 June 2022. The last RAF-organised air show, it attracts 50,000 people to the airfield and incorporates a flying display, static aircraft displays, STEM displays and vintage villages. The highlights of the flying will be the RAF Red Arrows, BBMF, Typhoon display team, Belgian F16 and French Rafale. The RAF F35B displayed at the air show for the first time.
News & Features

British Defense Cuts Hit All Three Services Hard

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Nov 20, 2024

SPEAR 3 air-to-surface mini cruise missile.
Air

UK’s New SPEAR 3 Mini Cruise Missile Succeeds In First End-To-End Test

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Nov 18, 2024

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.
Air

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

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Aug 27, 2024

Half a century ago today, the first prototype of the Panavia Tornado prototype, aircraft P-01, was recorded at Manching in West Germany, with test pilots Paul Millet from British Aerospace and Nils Meister of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) at the controls.
Air

Panavia Tornado Swing-Wing Combat Jet’s Ten Most Unusual Variants

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Aug 14, 2024

The United Kingdom is advancing the build of a new fighter demonstrator as part of its Tempest next-generation air combat program. The demonstrator, so far only known as the Flying Technology Demonstrator, is planned to fly within the next three years and its progress in an important boost for the Tempest stealth fighter — and wider Future Combat Air System (FCAS) — program, the future of which has recently begun to be questioned in some quarters.
Air

Tempest Stealth Fighter Flying Demonstrator Takes Shape

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jul 24, 2024

General Atomics has revealed a new fifth member of its Gambit modular drone family that is carrier-capable and that could represent a step forward in a broader naval aviation vision for the United Kingdom and other countries.
Air

New Carrier-Based Version Of The Gambit Family Of Combat Drones Is In The Works

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jul 23, 2024