Indonesian Ambassador to Russia Jose Tavares has confirmed that the country has maintained its contract to purchase 11 Su-35S ‘4++ generation’ fighters from the country, contradicting several years of speculation from Western sources that the country planned to shift its fleet to fully operating Western combat jets. "Indeed, at some point Russia and Indonesia signed this treaty. Indonesia has never terminated it, but it was put on hold to avoid certain potential inconveniences," he stated, which was interpreted to be a reference to the threat from Washington to impose economic sanctions on Jak ..read more

May 7, 2024 marks a quarter century since a United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber targeted the Chinese embassy in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade amid an ongoing NATO air campaign against the Eastern European socialist state, levelling the office of the military attaché and causing 27 Chinese casualties. The attack sparked one of the most significant diplomatic incidents between Washington and Beijing since the Sino-American Cold War of the 1960s, provoking large scale anti-American protests across multiple Chinese cities. Chinese state media at the time referred to it as "barbaric atta ..read more

Amid rising controversies surrounding the F-35 fifth generation fighter program, a House Armed Services Committee hearing has seen particularly significant criticisms raised against it. At the centre of discussions has been a recent Government Accountability Office audit finding that projected sustainment costs for the program had risen by 44 percent since 2018, with these rising from $1.1 trillion in 2018 to $1.58 trillion in 2023 across the fleet’s lifetime. This was on top of the planned future spending of $2 trillion acquiring 1,800 additional airframes. The report further stressed that th ..read more

Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) standard avionics for the F-35 fifth generation fighter have been confirmed to be further delayed, with the upgrade package already a year overdue after it was initially scheduled to be ready by April 2023. The Pentagon has notably refused to accept delivery of F-35s without the enhancements, which has significantly slowed the fighter class’ service entry. Causes of delays have included wide ranging software problems, difficulties integrating new software with the aircraft’s new hardware, and significant delays to production of key new components needed to ..read more

On April 28 the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah launched major strikes on Israeli military installations, responding to Israeli air raids the previous day targeting the villages of Al Quzah, Markaba, and Sarbin in Southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes had the previous day also struck Kfarkela and Kfarchouba. “In response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the steadfast southern villages and civilian homes,” Hezbollah units targeted the “Meron settlement and the surrounding settlements with dozens of Katyusha rockets,” the group announced in an official statement. It also that day “laun ..read more

In the mid-2010s the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force brought three new classes of fighter into service, with these having today been deployed across more than 40 regiments to revolutionise the country’s aerial warfare capabilities. By far the most prominent has been the Chengdu J-20 as the world’s sole class of fifth generation fighter developed and widely fielded outside the United States, which was conceived as a heavyweight long range air superiority fighter with cutting edge avionics and stealth capabilities. Complementing the high performance stealth fighter were the J-16 ..read more

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on April 23 confirmed that the Royal Air Force would forward deploy Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft to Poland, stressing that London and Warsaw had strengthened security ties considerably amid joint support for the Ukrainian war effort. It remains uncertain how long the aircraft will remain in the country, but their arrival is expected to coincide with NATO’s ongoing Steadfast Defender exercises under which 16,000 British personnel will be present in Poland. Major cuts to planed British acquisitions of F-35B fifth generation fighters, productio ..read more

The U.S. Air Force has transferred multiple fighter units from bases in the United Arab Emirates to its facilities in Qatar, following a growing rift in relations between Washington and Abu Dhabi as the UAE government made clear it would not allow American air strikes on neighbouring countries from its soil unless it was informed beforehand. New restrictions on American operations from the country, and particularly Al Dhafra Airbase, come as a major blow to America’s position in the region due to their longstanding importance to operations in a range of theatres. Having hosted surged deploymen ..read more

Following video confirmation on April 21 that Russian ground units had captured a Leopard 2A6 tank during clashes with Ukrainian forces, new footage and information have provided further details on the operation and the future of the vehicle. The Leopard 2A6 is by far the most capable variant of the Leopard 2 provided to Ukraine, and among European tank classes is surpassed in its capabilities only by a small number of Leopard 2A7s that entered service from 2014. The vehicle is thus considered far more valuable than the much older Leopard 2A4s previously captured. The captured tank is widely c ..read more

The Ukrainian Army has lost a further M1A1 Abrams tank in combat with Russian forces, as confirmed by newly released drone footage, with the vehicle abandoned by its crew shortly after taking a hit. The tank was neutralised with a single shot from a 2K25 Krasnopol precision-guided artillery rounds, which is fired from Russian 152mm guns and uses fin-stabilization, base bleed-assistance, semi-automatic laser-guidance for high precision. Deployed from self propelled guns such as the 2S3 Akatsiya and 2S19 Msta-S, the rounds were developed from the 1980s to facilitate engagements against targets s ..read more