A few days ago, the US Air Force announced the first order paving the way for a future order for 26 E-7A Wedgetail early warning aircraft to partially replace its 34 E-3 Sentry which entered service between the end of of the 70s and the mid-80s, and which are beginning to noticeably mark the weight of the years. If this order will indeed make it possible to renew a critical capability for American air power, it is also significant that the US Air Force has favored, with this decision, a relatively economical solution based on an aircraft initially designed for export by Boeing. Obviously,…
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Do Awacs Advanced Air Warning aircraft still have a place in modern air warfare?
Since the Second World War, Western armies have drawn much of their firepower from their air forces. However, from the mid-50s, it was not so much the relative quality of their fighters and bombers against Soviet aircraft, as the strength of the support fleet, which carried Western air superiority. Thus, in 1957, the KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft entered service which, based on a Boeing 707 cell, made it possible to refuel in flight first the strategic bombers of the US Air Force, then the hunting fleet as the new hunters were equipped with…
Read the articleBoeing announces closure of F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet assembly line in 2025
In 2013, the US Navy announced, as part of the preparation of the 2014 budget, that it no longer intended to order new F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighters, the evolution of the F/A-18 Hornet developed in the early 90s to replace the F-14 Tomcat, but also the A-6 Intruder bomber and the EA-6 Growler electronic warfare aircraft. However, as is often the case in the United States, local political and economic considerations led Congress to keep the Boeing production line in Saint Louis on a ventilator for more than a decade, ordering between 12 and 20 additional aircraft each year against the opinion of the US Navy itself. Unfortunately, this respite did not allow...
Read the articleFaced with the potential arrival of Su-35s and S-400s in Iran, Israel formalizes an order for 25 F-15EX from Boeing
The tensions between Jerusalem and Tehran are, today, at the heart of the structural instability of the Middle Eastern theater. These are notably the result of the recurring clashes between the Israeli armed forces and the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as those with the Iranian militias in Syria. In recent years, however, these tensions have experienced a very noticeable hardening, around the ballistic missile, cruise missile and long-range drone programs developed by the Iranian defense industry, giving its armies effective strike capabilities against the Israeli territory and in particular its critical infrastructures. Above all, the progress made by the Iranian nuclear program is now…
Read the articleThe Rafale M is preferred by the Indian Navy over the Super Hornet
While Dassault Aviation and Team Rafale experienced two boom years in 2021 and 2022 in terms of exports, with the sale of almost 180 new Rafale aircraft to Greece, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, several others Negotiations are regularly mentioned as progressing close to a conclusion, with for example Serbia and Iraq. But the greatest export potential for French aircraft in the months and years to come lies with India, with the MMRCA 2 competition for 57 or 114 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, as well as the competition between for almost 2 years the naval version of the device,…
Read the articleThe head of the US Air National Guard pleads to acquire more F-15EX
Since the change of administration in Washington, the heavy fighter Boeing F-15EX is not at the party. While it was initially a question of the US Air Force ordering up to 240 copies of this air superiority fighter, certainly an evolution of the F-15 designed in the early 70s, but equipped with all the new technologies to make it a formidable perfectly modern combat aircraft, the number was first reduced to 144 copies. With the appointment of Franck Kendall Jr to the Air Force Secretariat, a fervent defender of the F-35, the NGAD and absolute technological superiority, this number was reduced to only 80 copies,…
Read the articleThe US armies are preparing their evolution towards drone warfare before 2030
The use of military drones is not a recent subject. Already, during the Second World War, attempts were made to transform certain fighter and bomber aircraft, as well as to use remote-controlled systems to conduct short-range reconnaissance. During the Vietnam War, American forces frequently employed drones to carry out certain risky reconnaissance missions, or to bring the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defenses to light. But the first army that made intensive and coordinated use of drones in combat was the Israeli Air Force which, in 1982 during Operation Peace in Galilee, intensively employed drones to…
Read the articleThe Rafale more favorite than ever in India against the Super Hornet
In order to modernize its onboard fighter fleet, and to arm the new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant which will enter service on September 2, the Indian Navy had launched a competition initially involving 57 onboard aircraft. After initial evaluations, two aircraft were selected to continue the competition, the American Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III, and the French Dassault Rafale M. The two fighters took part in particular in a springboard test campaign at the Goa naval air base at the start of the year, both having demonstrated their ability to use this type of device to take to the air without a catapult. Boeing multiplies communications with the…
Read the articleIndonesia cleared to acquire 36 US Boeing F-15EXs
In terms of exporting military equipment, the United States favors the use of Foreign Military Sales, or FMS, a body allowing customers of the US arms industry to benefit from the prices and contractual frameworks of the American armies. , rather than having to negotiate all of these aspects for each contract. As in most countries, arms exports are also conditioned by government authorization from the State Department and Congress, most often also passing through the FMS. It is within this framework that Indonesia has just been authorized to acquire up to 36 Boeing F-15EX heavy fighters as well as an exhaustive set of parts,…
Read the articleThe 5 assets of the Rafale against the Super Hornet for Indian naval aviation
The Rafale M1, the first aircraft in the program for French naval aviation, is today at the heart of attention for Dassault Aviation and the entire Team Rafale. Indeed, it is this aircraft which was sent on January 6 to the Indian naval air base in Goa to demonstrate its ability to be operated from a Ski-Jump type platform, and not of an aircraft carrier equipped with catapults. These tests, the first of which took place this morning and took place nominally, will last until the beginning of February and will make it possible to validate not only the capacity of…
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