An air force buys a fighter once and pays for it for forty years. The purchase price is the smallest part of that, which is why fleet decisions turn on sustainment cost, spares depth and depot throughput more than on any performance figure in the brochure.
This section follows military fixed-wing aviation. Fighters, bombers, transports, trainers, purpose-built early warning and reconnaissance types. Procurement competitions and their outcomes. Upgrade programs, structural life extensions, and retirements that get delayed because the replacement is late.
Delivery counts and mission-capable rates are reported when a service or an auditor publishes them, and left out when nobody has.
On 15 August, Gen. Thomas Bussiere, then commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, signed a memo that laid out his preferred B-21 crew mix. He argued that the Raider’s two-seat cockpit should usually carry one pilot and one weapon systems officer,
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
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542 closed its first long F-35B combat tour in October with 1,099 sorties and 4,736 flight hours. NORAD pushed a mixed F-35 and F-16 package to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland from Oct. 7–11 to validate an Arctic
The first operational Gripen E fighters are now in Swedish Air Force service at F 7 Skaraborg Wing in Såtenäs. The formal introduction took place on Oct 20, 2025. The first two airframes carry registrations 609 and 610. Defense officials confirm the
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
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
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.
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
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
