The Aviationist Blog

The Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour has completed the “Sea Trials” with the two specially instrumented U.S. F-35B Lighting II aircraft of VX-23. Italy’s aircraft carrier ITS Cavour, the flagship of the Marina Militare (Italian [...]

The post Sea Trials Successfully Completed: Italian Navy Aircraft Carrier Achieves F-35B Airworthiness Certification appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Lynx helicopter was the backbone of the British Army and the Royal Navy before it was replaced by the AW159 Wildcat. On Mar. 21, 1971, the yellow prototype of the Westland Helicopters Lynx helicopter [...]

The post Leonardo Celebrates 50th Anniversary Since First Flight Of Iconic Lynx Helicopter appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Italian Air Force has flown a Eurofighter Typhoon in “Beast Mode” last week. And here are some interesting new photos. As we have already reported, on Mar. 19, 2021, an Italian Air Force (Aeronautica [...]

The post Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Flew In “Full Load” Configuration For The First Time Last Week appeared first on The Aviationist.

The F-35B was damaged by the explosion of the ammunition round leaving the aircraft’s GAU-22 gun pod during a nighttime mission out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. An F-35B with VMX-1, the U.S. [...]

The post Marine F-35B Damaged When Ammunition Round Exploded As It Left The GAU-22 Gun Pod Under The Fuselage appeared first on The Aviationist.

F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair and many more types, all done in LEGO bricks. Last month, after publishing the article about the “Top Gun: Maverick” trailer recreated in LEGO bricks, I received [...]

The post Take A Look At This Awesome Collection Of LEGO Naval Aircraft appeared first on The Aviationist.

Even if they did not submit a helicopter design, Northrop Grumman might be a big part of the FVL (Future Vertical Lift) with a multitude of technologies being developed specifically for the program. As we [...]

The post CIRCM, Sky Viper And The Other Technologies Northrop Grumman Is Pitching For The Future Vertical Lift Program appeared first on The Aviationist.

The incident occurred as the Russian Air Force Tu-22M3 prepared for a mission at Shaikovka airfield, near Kaluga, Russia. Three crew members perished in an incident that occurred on Mar. 23, 2021, as the aircrew [...]

The post [Updated] Ejection Seats Activation During Preflight Operations On Russian Tu-22M3 Bomber Kills Three Crew Members appeared first on The Aviationist.

The plan to phase out the RAF C-130 Hercules fleet in a couple of years has been made official. The news, first disclosed by a Financial Times article titled “RAF Hercules fleet to be axed [...]

The post RAF C-130 Hercules Fleet To Be Entirely Retired By 2023 appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Israeli M-346 trainee pilots and WSOs had a chance to simulate missions from Israel’s wars to connect with their heritage at the end of their Operational Training Course. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) recently [...]

The post The Israeli M-346s Fought (Virtually) In The Six-Day War appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency has just released the first photos from a successful test conducted in February of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM). The first drop test of a Joint Strike Missile has been [...]

The post F-35A Carried Out First In-Flight Drop Of JSM (Joint Strike Missile) Anti-Ship And Land-Attack Missile appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Italian Air Force has integrated the GBU-48 Enhanced Paveway II bombs with the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet for “Swing Role” missions. The Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) has published an interesting photo of a Eurofighter [...]

The post Italian Air Force Releases Photo Of Eurofighter Typhoon In Swing Role Configuration With Four GBU-48 Bombs appeared first on The Aviationist.

A KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueler lost the refueling hose during Ex. Baltic Trident mission over Finland. And it was not the first time. A bizarre incident occurred to a U.S. Air Force KC-135 involved in [...]

The post Refueling Hose Of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Tanker Detaches And Falls To The Ground In Finland appeared first on The Aviationist.

On this date in 2011, “Odyssey Dawn”, as the allied air campaign in Libya was initially dubbed, began. Here’s our retrospective analysis. On Mar. 19, 2011, a medium scale operation to protect Libyan people from [...]

The post 10 Years Ago Today, The Beginning Of The Air War In Libya appeared first on The Aviationist.

One of the Tu-214ON aircraft used for Open Skies observations carried out a different type of surveillance mission near Crimea at the beginning of this month. The Tu-214ON (Otkrytoye Niebo – Open Skies) is a [...]

The post With Moscow Leaving Open Skies Treaty, Russia’s Tu-214ON Flies New Domestic Observation Mission Around Crimea appeared first on The Aviationist.

The “Ready for Operations” campaign continues with U.S. F-35B Lightning II aircraft from VX-23 loaded external stores, a configuration unofficially referred to as “Beast Mode”. Let’s explain it again: “Beast Mode” is not an official [...]

The post Testing Aboard Cavour Aircraft Carrier Continues With U.S. F-35B In “Beast Mode” appeared first on The Aviationist.

RNAS Yeovilton hosted about 70 aircraft involved in an epic flypast. This amazing video shows some of the participating aircraft landing at the base from the perimeter fence. In 1994, Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton, [...]

The post You Really Have To Watch This Incredible Footage Of The Aircraft Arriving At RNAS Yeovilton For D-Day 50th Anniversary appeared first on The Aviationist.

The end of an era: the last three JASDF (Japanse Air Self-Defense Force) F-4EJ Phantoms, including the oldest Phantom in Japanese service, have been retired at Gifu Air Base. On March 17, 2021, the remaining [...]

The post Japan’s Last Three F-4EJ Phantoms Have Just Flown For The Last Time appeared first on The Aviationist.

Three U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers have arrived at Lajes Field, Azores. From there, the stealth strategic bombers launched a mission to the Arctic, joining the B-1 already in theater. Three U.S. Air Force [...]

The post U.S. Ramps Up Bomber Presence In The Arctic: Two B-2s Integrate With Two B-1s During Mission Off Iceland appeared first on The Aviationist.

The 492nd FS OIR (Operation Inherent Resolve) 2020 video includes an interesting low pass over al-Tanf garrison in Syria. In October 2020, the 492nd Fighter Squadron “Bolars”, belonging to the 48th FW based at RAF [...]

The post 492nd FS Deployment Video Shows F-15E Strike Eagle Flying Low Over strategic U.S. military outpost in Syria appeared first on The Aviationist.

An image of the F-22 shared on social media shows the Raptor sitting on its nose on the tarmac at Eglin AFB. An F-22 Raptor, assigned to the 325th Fighter Wing, experienced a ground mishap [...]

The post F-22 Raptor Experiences An Apparent Nose-Gear Failure After Emergency Landing At Eglin Air Force Base appeared first on The Aviationist.