Naval Aviation

Latest in Naval Aviation

The U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation combat jet program looks to have hit another setback, with the Pentagon reportedly prioritizing the Air Force’s F-47 stealth fighter, amid concerns about how to run the two efforts simultaneously. Already, the F/A-XX was in limbo, with a U.S. official telling TWZ last month that the future of the program was being reviewed. This came after reports that a contract award for the Navy’s new combat jet could be delayed by as much as three years. Navy officials, meanwhile, continue to stress the importance of the F/A-XX to their future plans.
Air

Pentagon Wants To Shift Funds From Navy F/A-XX To USAF F-47: Report

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jun 5, 2025

Hornet crashed aboard the USS Harry S Truman
Air

Super Hornet Crashes Landing On USS Truman, Its Second F/A-18 Loss In A Week

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on May 7, 2025

A senior Navy aviation officer says the three-month-long grounding of virtually all Osprey tiltrotors worldwide following the fatal crash of a U.S. Air Force CV-22B off the coast of Japan in 2023 sent serious ripples through his service.
Air

CMV-22 Grounding Was “Wakeup Call” For Navy, Stakes Higher With C-2 Gone Next Year

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Apr 8, 2025

CCAs and super hornet
Air

Navy Won’t Scramble To Field Loyal Wingman Drones Like The Air Force

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Apr 8, 2025

The U.S. Navy expects its future F/A-XX sixth-generation stealth fighters to offer just a 25 percent increase in range over the existing tactical combat jets in its carrier air wings.
Air

F/A-XX Will Have Just 25% More Range Than Existing Navy Fighters

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Apr 7, 2025

If Northrop Grumman wins the F/A-XX context what cat name will they give their naval fighter.
Air

What Cat Name Should Northrop Grumman Give Its Fighter If It Wins The Navy’s F/A-XX Competition?

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Mar 27, 2025

The future of the Navy NGAD crewed aircraft program remains in limbo.
Air

Navy F/A-XX Stealth Fighter Selection This Week: Report

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 25, 2025

We may have just gotten our first evidence of the GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bomb, also known as the Small Diameter Bomber II (SDB II), being used in combat. The first operational use of the StormBreaker by the service would be a big deal, with this weapon bringing some significant advances over its predecessor, the GBU-39/B SDB I, especially the ability to hit moving targets.
Air

F/A-18 Super Hornets Now Carrying Stormbreaker Glide Bombs On Combat Missions

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 24, 2025

The U.S. Navy is set to help integrate the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) onto the F-16 Viper fighter, giving those jets a huge enhancement in anti-ship capability.
Air

F-16 Is Getting Massive Anti-Ship Missile Upgrade

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 18, 2025

T-45 Goshawks rest aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort as part of the advanced course of the Student Naval Aviator strike pilot training program Sept. 15. The Goshawk is a fully carrier-capable version of the British Aerospace Hawk Mk-60. It was developed as a jet flight trainer for the Navy and Marine Corps. The T-45s are with Training Air Wing 1 from Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss. and TRAWING-2 from NAS Kingsville, Texas. The TRAWINGs chose MCAS Beaufort as an alternate training site due to its accommodations and facilities for jet aircraft.
Air

T-45 Navy Jet Trainer Fleet Grounded After Engine Incident

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Mar 13, 2025

The U.S. Navy has released a picture of a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper Attack helicopter with a previously unseen long-range missile armament.
Air

AH-1Z Attack Helicopter’s New Long Range Missile Seen For The First Time

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Feb 17, 2025

U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler from Electronic Attack Squadron 135
Air

EA-18G Growler Crashes Into San Diego Bay (Updated)

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Feb 12, 2025

The U.S. Marine Corps transition to the VH-92A Patriot as its only helicopter for use in the "Marine One" role shuttling the president, the vice president, their families, and their closest advisors around at home and abroad, is still underway and now we know it won't be done till 2030, at the earliest.
Air

VH-92 Patriot Fully Taking Over Marine One Duties Has Slipped To End Of Decade

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Feb 4, 2025

A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet from the "Mighty Strikes" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 94, flies over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility while conducing a mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve Oct. 2, 2020. VFA-94 is assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17, deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), the flagship of Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.
Air

F/A-18’s Infrared Search And Track System Has “Significant Reliability Problems”

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 3, 2025

While the 1950s was a time of truly unusual and fast-paced innovation in military aerospace, one of the more bizarre projects was for a nuclear-armed, liquid-fueled development of the Sidewinder air-to-air missile.
Air

The Navy Nearly Built A Nuclear Armed “Super Sidewinder” Air-To-Air Missile

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 1, 2025

U.S. Navy officials have laid out several priorities they say are key to ensuring the service's carrier air wings will be able to succeed in future conflicts, especially a high-end fight in the Pacific.
Sea

Carrier Air Wing’s Key Priorities To Win In Future Pacific Fight Laid Out By Navy

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 30, 2025

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