Poland has locked in the electronics lineup for its F-16 Viper upgrade, a $3.8 billion program that will refit all 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ jets and keep the fleet viable through the 2030s.
The Army has moved from proposals to orders. Across late August, senior leaders briefed units on a plan to trim parts of the helicopter force and retool aviation for a tougher fight.
Rocket Lab has opened Launch Complex 3 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and set the stage for Neutron’s debut flight before year-end. The ribbon-cutting took place Aug. 28 with state leaders and company executives on site. The complex sits at Pad 0-D, a new coastal facility built for testing, launch and booster return of the company’s medium-lift reusable rocket.
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.
F-15EX at Selfridge – Runway Realignment, KC-46 Beddown and What Congress Must Fund Read More »
Israel’s Defense Ministry moved this week to strengthen two core elements at once. Aerial refueling for long-range missions, and the armored force used in urban combat. It instructed its U.S. mission to finalize a Foreign Military Sales case for two additional KC-46A Pegasus tankers worth about $500 million, pending approval by the ministerial committee for defense procurement.
AeroVironment completed the first delivery of P550 autonomous Group 2 eVTOL systems to the U.S. Army under the Long-Range Reconnaissance (LRR) program, with gear already handed to units earmarked for Transformation in Contact (TiC) brigades.
Belgium’s lead MQ-9B SkyGuardian arrived at Florennes Air Base on 18 August, flown from the United States inside a Belgian A400M. Defence officials say the airframe passed its acceptance test on 22 July before the ferry flight. The Air Component will unveil the system publicly on 23 September, and 2 Squadron will assume responsibility for the new remotely piloted capability.
The Air Force’s two Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototypes have entered the first-flight window. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ YFQ-42A and Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A completed engine runs and taxi trials over the summer, and are staged at their respective test sites pending weather, range availability and final readiness calls. Defense officials said the service will keep the initial sorties tightly controlled, with limited on-site access and delayed release of imagery.
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Space Force achieved a first for the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability at Site 1 in Western Australia, synchronizing multiple ground antennas to act as one radar and track several satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Program officials described a multi-week integration push that culminated in coherent operation of the array and real satellite tracks from the site near Exmouth.
