Julien Mercier

The Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) has approved a fresh contract for 12 additional FA-50PH light combat aircraft from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The agreement, signed in the first week of June and publicly confirmed on 10 June 2025, is valued at about $700 million, or 975 billion South Korean won. Delivery of all aircraft is due by mid-2030.

The T406 engine reached a solid 500-hour record on one Osprey in mid-August last year. It happened during normal line ops, not a test flight. The count feels modest next to jetliner totals, yet inside tiltrotor work it signals tough stamina. Dust storms, salty deck spray, rough landings—each hop chews parts quicker than manuals predict.

Russia says its new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle slices through air at Mach 27—about 33 000 km/h. Officers call it a “shift point” for global power, though they spoke carefuly. Analysts in Moscow add that the craft twists faster than most shields can track.

Singapore just raised its air-watch bar one more notch. The Republic of Singapore Air Force states its G550 Airborne Early Warning squadron has hit full ops after a tough decade of tweaks, test hops and long simulator nights. The slim jets shove aside the old E-2C Hawkeyes, giving crews fresh eyes across both island airspace and wider straits. Analysts mark the move as a key stone in the city-state’s layered defence, saying it shrinks the gap between first alarm and scramble.