Clara Nguyen, Author at defense-aerospace

F-15EX at Selfridge – Runway Realignment, KC-46 Beddown and What Congress Must Fund

Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base will receive 21 F-15EX Eagle II fighters. Deliveries begin in fiscal 2028. The move keeps a fighter mission at the 127th Wing once the A-10 retires. The timeline runs tight and the base still lacks several pieces of infrastructure for a modern fighter squadron. A local congressman pressed the Air Force this month to lock in a funding plan and schedule.

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RTX Demonstrates AN/SPY-6(V)4 Radar Tracking in First Live Maritime Test at Pacific Missile Range Facility

The U.S. Navy and Raytheon, an RTX business, have completed the first live maritime test of the AN/SPY-6(V)4 radar at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Hawaii. The event produced real world data on air and surface target tracks and confirmed that the (V)4 configuration meets key performance goals outside the lab. The series took place over open water with varied target sets and environmental conditions, including sea clutter and multi-target presentations that stress discrimination logic.

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US Air Force Relocates 31 F-16s to Osan Air Base for Two-Year Super Squadron Test

The Air Force is transferring F-16s and personnel from Kunsan Air Base to Osan Air Base to form a second “super squadron” in South Korea. The service describes the transfer as temporary and tied to a defined year-two trial.

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RAND and Joint Counter‑UAS Office Run Six Exercises on Homeland Drone Defense

A July 25 after-action brief lays out what happened during the sixth RAND-Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office exercise, held the day before at Fort Belvoir. This was not another planning session. Teams ran live drills to stop drones from reaching runways. They launched quadcopters from public parking lots, clocked response times and worked off lessons from June’s Operation Spiderweb, where cheap Ukrainian drones knocked out Russian bombers.

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Kyiv Sets January 2026 Deadline for 50% Local Arms Production

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set a six-month deadline for reaching a home-grown share of one-half in Ukraine’s overall weapons supply. The target, announced on 17 July after parliament approved a reshuffled cabinet, would lift the current forty-percent domestic share to fifty before mid-January 2026. Zelenskyy told lawmakers the country must move the fight onto Russian territory and cannot wait for each foreign shipment.

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First In‑Flight Trial of VK‑800 Engine on Yak‑40 Testbed Advances Baikal Program

Novosibirsk, Russia – A Yakovlev Yak-40 flying laboratory lifted off from SibNIA’s Yeltsovka airfield on July 14, logging the first airborne run of UZGA’s new VK-800 turboprop. The 15-minute sortie reached roughly 700 meters and about 340 kilometers per hour. Test crews reported smooth spool-up, steady power delivery, and no abnormal vibrations as the nose-mounted propeller drove the veteran trijet around the circuit.

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Canberra Secures 400 Advanced AMRAAM Missiles in .39 Billion Air Defense Deal

Canberra Secures 400 Advanced AMRAAM Missiles in $1.39 Billion Air Defense Deal

Australia has confirmed a 2.12 billion-dollar Australian investment – about $1.39 billion U.S. – to secure the newest AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, reinforcing both its air-defense shield and its long-range strike reach. Defense officials say the order covers the AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 variants, sourced through Washington’s Foreign Military Sales channel, with deliveries starting next year.

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European Defence Agency Pushes Drone-UGV Supply Missions Adopted from Ukraine

European armies just wrapped up three weeks of hands-on trials that pushed small drones and ground robots through the same last-mile supply missions now common on Ukrainian front lines. Engineers and soldiers moved ammunition, water, and medical kits without a single crewed truck entering the danger zone, then logged every fault, delay, and workaround for a rapid-fire lessons-learned cycle that ends later this month at Nettuno.

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Royal Australian Navy Welcomes HMAS Arafura as New Arafura-Class OPV

The Royal Australian Navy has added a new hull to its order of battle. On 28 June the service commissioned HMAS Arafura, first of the Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels, during a ceremony at Fleet Base West near Fremantle. Defense officials confirm the ship is now on the active list under pennant 203 and ready to start work while post-commissioning trials continue.

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