Aircraft

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.

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.

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.

The Navy has given its next-generation nuclear command-and-control aircraft a name: Phoenix II. The service announced the designation on Aug. 7, 2025 and tied the choice to the C-130 family’s long service in related roles. The airframe will form the backbone of a new survivable link meant to keep national command authorities in touch with strategic forces if ground networks fail. 

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.

The U.S. Air Force has authorized an extension to KC-46A production for up to 75 additional aircraft. Senior leaders announced this decision in the past two weeks to sustain the tanker recapitalization line once the current contract expires. Under the original 2011 agreement, the program of record has already expanded to 188 aircraft, reaching that contracts contractual ceiling. The new block of 75 planes sits atop the existing deal and carries the service into the next phase of its tanker roadmap.