newsletter

Fighter Jets

F-35C fighter landing on an aircraft carrier deck

A Navy F-35C has made the type’s first arrested landing aboard a Ford-class carrier, trapping on the future USS John F. Kennedy in the western Atlantic on Oct. 13

An F-35C Lightning II from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) caught a wire

Read more
Jet engine on a test stand with afterburner lit

How Air Force maintainers can now inspect the hard-to-reach fifth stage of the F-16’s F100 engine without tearing it down, after two crashes caused more than $54 million in damage

Deep inside the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine used in F-16s, the fifth compressor stage

Read more
Three Taiwanese F-16V fighters flying in formation above the clouds

Taiwan has received its first two F-16V Block 70 fighters, tail numbers 6727 and 6728, the first of 66 jets, after they landed at Chihhang Air Base on Oct. 2

Around noon on Oct. 2, 2026, two F-16V Block 70 fighters landed at Chihhang Air

Read more
RAF Eurofighter Typhoon landing at Coningsby

Türkiye’s first two Typhoon pilots have begun up to nine months of conversion training with the RAF’s 29 Squadron, ahead of the first new jet deliveries in 2030

RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire is where Türkiye’s Typhoon force begins. The first two Turkish Air

Read more
RAF Eurofighter Typhoon landing with gear down

The RAF’s Exercise Cobra Warrior 26-2 generated 942 sorties and more than 2,500 flying hours across 14 missions, with about 1,800 personnel from five nations taking part

Exercise Cobra Warrior 26-2 wrapped up with 942 sorties flown in three and a half

Read more
Brazilian Air Force Gripen E fighter jet in flight

The first Gripen E fighter built in Brazil made its maiden flight on Oct. 6 at Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto plant, the first of 15 to be produced there

Saab chief test pilot Jakob Högberg took the first Gripen E built in Brazil into

Read more
A Skywarrior tanker refueling an early Phantom II above the clouds

A Navy F4H-1F Phantom II averaged 902.760 mph over a low-altitude course at White Sands on Aug. 28, 1961, and its maximum altitude on the run was only 125 feet

Bureau Number 145307, a McDonnell F4H-1F Phantom II, holds a place in the Smithsonian’s aircraft

Read more
The unpainted F-15 Streak Eagle parked on a runway

A stripped-down F-15 called Streak Eagle broke eight time-to-climb world records in 1975, reaching 98,425 feet just 3 minutes, 27.8 seconds after brake release

Three minutes and 27.8 seconds. That is how long a McDonnell Douglas F-15A nicknamed Streak

Read more
The first Royal Bahraini Air Force F-16 Block 70, a sister variant of Morocco's Block 72, lands at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on March 28, 2023, for flight testing.

Morocco’s first F-16 Block 72, the newest variant of the Fighting Falcon, has made its first flight in Greenville, South Carolina, Lockheed Martin says

The Royal Moroccan Air Force’s first F-16 Block 72 is in the air. Lockheed Martin

Read more
An F-35A climbing away over Finnish pine forest

Finland’s first F-35As are home at Rovaniemi, and a Finnish pilot has flown an F-35 in Finland for the first time

Rovaniemi Air Base in Finnish Lapland now has two F-35A Lightning II fighters on its

Read more