By Garth Calitz Photos by Garth Calitz and Trevor Cohen The South African Air Force (SAAF) entered a new chapter on 1 April 2026 with the appointment of Lieutenant General Carl Moatshe as its new Chief, marking a significant leadership transition for one of the country’s most strategically important military services. The change of command was formally marked during a handover parade, hosted at SAAF Mobile Deployment Wing (previously AFB Swartkops) on the last day of March.

Brazil’s Gripen fighter programme reached a significant new milestone on 25 March with the official unveiling of the first Gripen E combat aircraft assembled in Brazil, a development that underlines the growing maturity of the country’s defence aerospace sector. Presented during a ceremony at Embraer’s industrial complex in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo State, the aircraft represents an important step in the long-running cooperation between Embraer, Saab and the Brazilian Air For

By Garth Calitz The South African Air Force (SAAF), once regarded as one of the most capable air arms on the African continent, now finds itself at a critical crossroads. Years of declining budgets, maintenance challenges and the steady erosion of technical skills have left the SAAF struggling to maintain even a modest level of operational readiness. Yet, despite the seriousness of its condition, the SAAF is not beyond recovery. With decisive leadership, realistic planning, a

Exercise Cold Response 26, a Norwegian-led multinational training event, has concluded following several weeks of operations across Norway, Sweden and Finland. The exercise brought together more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel from over a dozen NATO and partner nations, with a focus on improving interoperability, readiness and coordination in Arctic conditions. The training event incorporated air, land and maritime components, with air operations playing a central

Sikorsky has completed the integration and flight testing of its MATRIX™ autonomy suite on the U.S. Army’s experimental UH-60MX Black Hawk helicopter, with the aircraft delivered to the service on 23 March 2026 at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The programme forms part of ongoing efforts by the Army to evaluate autonomy-enabled capabilities and advance the development of optionally piloted aircraft. The UH-60MX is owned and operated by the U.S. Army and will serve as a test platform

Bell Textron has completed the first AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters upgraded under the US Marine Corps’ Structural and Power Improvements for NextGen Effects (SPINE) programme, marking an early milestone in the service’s ongoing H-1 fleet modernisation effort. The two aircraft were modified at Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Centre in Texas and have since been transferred to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for flight testing. The test campaign will be used to evaluate the

By Garth Calitz In an era when long-distance flight still carried an air of daring uncertainty, a silver bomber named Lucky Lady II quietly redefined what was possible. In early 1949, a modified Boeing B-50 Superfortress completed the first non-stop flight around the globe, remaining airborne for just over 94 hours. At a time when even transoceanic travel remained a complex undertaking, this mission demonstrated that the physical limits of distance could be overcome through i

Airbus is accelerating its efforts to deliver a new generation of collaborative combat aircraft to the German Air Force, with two uncrewed aircraft now being prepared for flight testing in Germany. The aircraft, based on the Kratos Valkyrie platform, are currently undergoing integration with a European-developed mission system and are expected to make their first flights later in 2026. The work is taking place at Airbus’ facility in Manching, near Munich, where engineers are

By Garth Calitz On 5 March 2026, one of aviation’s most celebrated aircraft reached a remarkable milestone. The legendary Supermarine Spitfire marked 90 years since its first flight, a moment that helped shape both aviation history and the outcome of the Second World War. Few aircraft have captured the imagination of pilots and aviation enthusiasts quite like the Spitfire. With its elegant elliptical wings, distinctive engine note and superb performance, the aircraft quickly

Bell Textron has reached a major milestone in the development of next-generation military aircraft, successfully completing the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s ambitious SPeed and Runway INdependent Technologies (SPRINT) program. The achievement clears the way for the company to begin construction of a new experimental aircraft, now officially designated the X-76, which aims to combine jet-like speed with the flexibility of ver