My immediate response is, or thought is, you know, really thinking of the families of this, of the aircrew here. Look, I have always felt like Iran it's a very big country. It's not the same as Iraq or Afghanistan.
Air campaigns today are built around cooperation between many different aircraft, each performing a specific task. Stealth fighters lead the way into contested airspace, electronic warfare aircraft disrupt enemy radar, and bombers or strike fighters deliver precision weapons. Supporting aircraft provide intelligence, command and control, and the fuel needed to keep the entire operation moving.
Swedish defense prime Saab is exploring the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System as a cheaper armament option for its JAS 39 Gripen fighters, firm executives told Business Insider this week. "The APKWS is in interest because other platforms are now integrating 70mm guided rockets. So we are, of course, eyeing that capability now," Jussi Halmetoja, operations advisor for Saab's air domain, said at the Singapore Airshow. Halmetoja said the company was looking at ways to integrate the weapons system, which uses a guided version of the Hydra 70mm rocket, onto its older Gripen C and latest Gripen E models.
ŠIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania - A Spanish fighter wing deployed to the Baltics for air patrol missions alongside anti-drone defenses for the first time, a reaction to growing uncrewed threats to European infrastructure. Spain's 15th Wing arrived at Šiauliai Air Base in December to begin a four-month rotation contributing to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, designed to protect the airspace around Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The Crow counter-drone system came with it.
Defending the countries of Nato's eastern flank in the event of a potential Russian aggression would cost at least twelve hundred billion euros - twenty-four times more than the Polish defence budget. A free Ukraine, as part of the West, is our chance to render Russian imperialism toothless.
You're stuck in that airplane until you land safely, the veteran Australian pilot says. Amid the expanding war in Iran with missiles piercing the skies over the Middle East pilots' regimented routes have been thrown into chaos. They've been forced to turn planes around mid-flight or squeeze into narrowing air corridors, with hundreds of lives in their hands.
Air Forces Central, the air component of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), said on Tuesday that it would hold a multi-day readiness exercise to demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower across the US Central Command area of responsibility. The exercise was designed to enhance asset and personnel dispersal capability, strengthen regional partnerships and prepare for flexible response execution, Air Forces Central added in a statement.
The United States has dispatched fighter jets after multiple Russian military aircraft were observed operating in international airspace near Alaska, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Two Russian Tu-95s, two Su-35s and one A-50 were detected and tracked operating in Alaska's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), NORAD said in a statement on Friday, adding that it responded by sending two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3 and four KC-135s.
The cost for the US and other militaries to keep newer combat aircraft ready to fly is going to soar in the coming years, a new report on sustainment trends argues. A new report from the American consulting firm Oliver Wyman projects global military aircraft spending over the next decade, including an annual sustainment cost growth of 1.1% through 2036. That's a pace roughly 11 times faster than the previous decade.
Exercise Orion involved around 2,000 personnel from both British and French forces, focusing on rapid deployment, interoperability, and strengthening NATO's readiness against potential threats of insurgency and invasion, demonstrating the strategic importance of these drills.
According to the cybersecurity group InformNapalm, hackers from the Fenix analytical cyber centre monitored Russian military personnel around the clock from mid-2025 to February 2026, accessing drone monitoring systems and intercepting operational chats. The intelligence was passed directly to Ukraine's Defence Forces, helping counter waves of drone attacks and contributing to strikes on Russian command posts and launch sites. Read more related news:
