Aircraft

Palmer Luckey warned reporters in mid-October that the government shutdown would “certainly” set back the first flight of Anduril’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototype. “I can’t fund the government,” he said, pointing to approvals and support functions that pause when agencies close. The

Lockheed Martin fired a Joint Air-to-Ground Missile from a new four-cell launcher built for vertical launch and shipboard counter-UAS missions, completing an initial ground test ahead of a planned intercept against a live drone. Yuma Ground Test and Planned China Lake Intercept

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Hanwha Aerospace signed a co-development and co-production agreement for a Short Takeoff and Landing version of Gray Eagle during AUSA 2025. The plan calls for a production-representative aircraft, first flight in 2027, and initial deliveries in 2028.

Boeing has moved a new unmanned tiltrotor into formal concept work to team up with U.S. Army helicopters on attack, reconnaissance, and contested logistics missions. Company engineers described a gas-turbine aircraft offering two tilting proprotors, modular payload bays, and autonomy for cooperative

AV announced three updates to the Switchblade line and introduced a compact VTOL helicopter UAS for longer missions with heavier payloads. The reveals at AUSA in Washington tie to Army efforts on loitering munitions and Group 2 drones. Switchblade 400 Targets LASSO

Army aviation leaders at AUSA 2025 said they aim to field a collaborative combat aircraft–like capability within a couple of years. The effort runs beside launched effects and other unmanned projects, pairing a loyal wingman with Army rotorcraft in contested theaters. AUSA

The Air Force submitted a 10-year fighter force structure plan to Congress that pins the “low-risk” requirement at 1,558 manned, combat-coded fighters. The document places today’s combat-coded inventory at about 1,271 jets for fiscal 2026. It also lays out the threshold for

Two aircraft from USS Nimitz went down in the South China Sea on October 26 within roughly thirty minutes. A U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 and an F/A-18F Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron 22 were

The U.S. Air Force’s first F-47 is in build at Boeing with first flight planned for 2028, Gen. David Allvin said during the service’s annual gathering at National Harbor. The remarks marked the program’s clearest public schedule since the contract award in

At the London defense show on September 16, officials stated that Block 4 integration began in 2018 and is expected to continue through 2030-2032. Company officials described TR-3 as the baseline for Block 4 software and acknowledged the slip that reset milestones