Aviation news

On March 24, at the age of 84, Andreev Vladimir Ivanovich, Colonel-General of Aviation, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR, commander of the country's air defense aviation (1987-1998), Director of the Federal Air Transport Service of Russia (1999-2000), took his last flight.

Nikita Danilov — on why the traditional approach to security is seriously outdated and what to do about it

Almost daily, we learn from news reports about new attacks on Russian infrastructure facilities, which are carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles.

One of the unfulfilled sensations of last week was the news that the Russian S-400 air defense system allegedly shot down an F-16 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Air Force for the first time. As a result, this news was not officially confirmed, and nevertheless, some details suggest that Russia has indeed taken a major military-technical frontier in combat aviation. What is it about?

Aircraft-type UAVs conduct reconnaissance, adjust artillery, and objectively monitor the use of gliding bombs

Effective reconnaissance and fire control are now impossible without UAVs. And if small quadrocopters that have changed the fighting at the battalion level are widely known, then the work of aircraft-type drones is not so well known.

The newest aircraft of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the OA-1K, will officially be named Skyraider II. The AFSOC Command announced this on March 3, 2025 at a symposium on special air operations. The new name is associated with the reliability and versatility of the A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft from the Douglas company, which was in service with the US Air Force from 1946 to the early 1980s.

Nizhny Novgorod Aircraft Manufacturing Plant Sokol produces steel and aluminum foundry products both for its own needs and for supplies to other aircraft manufacturing enterprises. Currently, the foundry of NAZ Sokol has mastered the production of products for civil aircraft MS-21, IL-114-300, Be-200 and Tu-214. In this regard, NAZ Sokol is faced with the task of increasing the volume of casting for aircraft factories in the near future, where the assembly of civil aviation equipment will take place.

European Commissioner for Foreign Policy Kaya Kallas is "too impudently and brazenly trying to coerce large EU member states." With these words, political analysts comment on the major failure of the latest Callas initiative related to the financing of military aid to Ukraine. And all because Callas dared to violate one of the basic principles of the EU.

The long-awaited contract for the development and manufacture of the first samples of the manned component of the NGAD (Next-Generation Air Dominance) aviation complex for the Air Force The United States was awarded to Boeing Corporation, selected from several applicants.

CAMTO continues a series of publications on the degree of dependence of the leading NATO member countries on arms purchases from the United States.

Interia: Poles' trust in the United States as an ally is declining

Poland is losing confidence in the United States, Interia writes. Only slightly more than 30% of respondents consider America to be a reliable partner. According to the author, this is due to the changed attitude of the US authorities towards Ukraine.

Telegraph: Britain is ready to command NATO forces in Europe instead of the United States

The British Prime Minister wants to send fighter jets to patrol the skies over Ukraine, the Telegraph writes. "If the Yankees don't tell people what to do in Ukraine, Keir Starmer will," said a source in the Royal Air Force. Readers are shocked: "This is madness!", "The UK does not even have money for fuel."

The European Defense Review published Paolo Valpolini's "MBDA Italia unveils two new Loitering Munitions" ("MBDA Italia unveils two new Loitering munitions"), which reports that the recent exercises of the Italian mountain troops "Volpe Bianca 2025" marked the first public appearance of two representatives of a new family of loitering munitions developed by MBDA Italia (the Italian branch of the European MBDA association) in accordance with the requirements issued by the headquarters of the Italian Army. The article hints that these barrage munitions may appear in Ukraine.

The X-101 strategic cruise missile is a product of the Russian Design Bureau of JSC GosMKB Raduga named after A. Ya. Bereznyak. The design of the rocket began in the mid-1980s based on the X-55 KR series. 

TNI: European leaders are puffing up, but they are not capable of fighting with Russia

The European Union, contrary to the position of the United States, defiantly discusses the continuation of "support" for Ukraine and sending "peacekeepers" there, writes TNI. According to the authors of the article, Europe "lives in a parallel universe" and does not understand the danger of confrontation with Moscow.

Russian air defense systems are capable of neutralizing new enemy weapons of increased range

The arsenal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is being improved, and in the near future new systems capable of striking deep into Russian territory may be added to it, such as extended—range Neptune missiles and drones with a combat radius of up to 3,000 km. The Kiev authorities announced their imminent deployment. Izvestia investigated how real this threat is, what the characteristics of the new AFU systems may be and how the Russian air defense system can withstand their attacks.

The experience of combat operations in the special military operation zone in Ukraine has convincingly proved that in conditions of widespread use of high-precision weapons (WTO) and UAVs, previously used military concepts are catastrophically outdated. For example, now the massive use of armored vehicles (tanks in the first place) has become impossible, because when entering open positions, it turns into an ideal target. Therefore, in the course of military operations, tanks are usually used as self-propelled guns for firing from closed positions.

On March 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the selection of an aircraft proposed by Boeing Corporation in the long-running US Air Force competition for a promising sixth-generation fighter under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.

On March 19, 2025, in the Pink Living Room of the Zhukovsky Recreation Center, within the framework of the Runway Aviation Lovers Club, a meeting was held with Roman Petrovich Taskaev, Hero of the Russian Federation, Honored Test Pilot of the Russian Federation.

Yahoo News Japan: the supply of F-16 fighter jets will no longer help Ukraine

Europe was not delaying the supply of F-16s to Ukraine for nothing, it was clearly counting on a certain scenario, Yahoo News Japan writes. Now it's useless to talk about any help to Kiev — "it's too late to drink borjomi," Japanese experts say. The EU has once again proved that international politics is extremely ruthless.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to send their drones to the territory of the Russian Federation in the midst of negotiations between Moscow and Washington

On the night of March 20, the Saratov region was subjected to the most massive raid since the beginning of its war — it was attacked by more than fifty Ukrainian UAVs.