Happy New Year! A year (and a gazillion maiden flights of new Chinese aircraft types) has passed. 2025 was a bugger for many, but it also had some cool moments in the world of aviation.

V-Force: Britain’s Nuclear Bombers and the Cold War & Shaping the Vulcan Hush-Kit Aviation Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a ...

Unlikely as it is, the main competitor of the F-35 is the Saab Gripen-E. These two fighter types, are as different as they could get, one akin to a bulky people carrier, the other a stripped-down ...

The attack helicopter is costly and complex to operate, yet it is taking a mauling in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s full-scale invasion attempt of Ukraine starting in 2022 has shown both ...

Fast and agile, with a decent range, the Crusader carrier fighter enjoys a positive reputation as ‘The Last Gunfighter’. It has been described as.“..by far one of the greatest fighters of its era”; we ...

17 years after Saab started talking about partitioning mission systems from vehicle management on what was then Gripen NG, the verdict is in: that’s how it’s done on the B-21 and Rafale F4. The F-35 ...

The F-20 was the ultimate US F-5 derivative. However unlike the twin-engined Tiger II and Freedom Fighter, the F-20 was powered by a single engine. It was intended to serve the needs of US client ...

Steve Parker doesn’t flew the HC-130 for the U.S. Coast Guard. Here he gives us the low-down on the demanding life of a flying coastguard. “You have to go out. You don’t have to come back.” That’s not ...

After 57 years of outstanding service in both K- and J-form, Britain’s Royal Air Force has taken the unpopular decision to retire the beloved C-130 tactical transport. Former RAF C-130 pilot, David ...

Russia’s T-10 family, known in the west as the ‘Flanker’ series, is a heavyweight fighter aircraft range that forms the core of the Chinese air and naval air- forces. China’s Flankers (some of which ...

The F-14 Tomcat, born of lessons learned and policy denied 1, became a star of the US Navy’s combat weaponry and the silver screen but more significantly, it was the most important warplane of the ...

Long derided as a scandalous pilot-killer, the true story of the Blackburn Firebrand is very different argues naval aviation historian Matthew Willis. I am tired. Another day on Twitter, another ...