Operational Reports category for articles
Life in the United States Air Force (USAF) begins with the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) with their mission to "recruit, train and educate Airmen to deliver air power for America". Often nicknamed ‘The First Command’, over 30,000 students – both domestic and international – train with the 19th Air Force and the many [...]
The United States Naval Air Training Command (NATRACOM) and the five Training Air Wings (TAW) of which it is comprised, pride themselves on producing the finest Naval Aviators in the world. Headquartered at Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, the student pilot training program – commanded by Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) - instructs [...]
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Davos in Eastern Switzerland attracts many world leaders and important visitors to it and, as can be imagined, requires a high level of security - especially in these times of heightened alert states not only in Europe but around the world. In order to protect the skies [...]
Deployed in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE since June 2016, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, or “The Mighty Ike”, has been conducting daily strike missions against so-called “Islamic State” in both Syria and Iraq, from both the Arabian Gulf with US Navy 5th Fleet and more recently from the Mediterranean Sea with [...]
Weighing in at a cool 95,000 tonnes, the Nimitz class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69) is the second of ten such vessels that form the cornerstone of United States Naval Aviation. The Nimitz-class carriers are the largest and most powerful warships in the world, and are constantly in demand across a [...]
After the withdrawal of the SEPECAT Jaguar from Royal Air Force frontline service on April 30, 2007, a number of airframes were destined for a new role within the service as part of 238 Squadron, No1 School of Technical Training (No1 SoTT). However, with technology and methods evolving, some of the elements within the training [...]
The Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) is significantly modernising its flying training. In 2015, Alenia Aermacchi’s T-346A advanced jet trainer entered service and 2016 will see the recently announced introduction of Tecnam’s P2006T for basic multi-engined training. Within a few years, the Alenia Aermacchi M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) looks poised to replace the countries ageing [...]
RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire has regularly seen United States Air Force (USAF) long-range bombers deployed to support ongoing multinational exercises in Europe, namely BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) and Saber Strike, over the last couple of years. Duncan Monk reports on the 2016 exercise and its participants. Touching down on RAF Fairford’s 3,046m long runway on June [...]
Twelve F-22 Raptors from the 95th Fighter Squadron ‘Boneheads’ along with pilots from both the 95th and 301st Fighter Squadrons (FS), operating under the banner of the 95th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS), and supplemented by approximately 220 personnel from Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB), Florida recently undertook a month-long deployment to RAF Lakenheath. This historic [...]
Known the world over as home to the United States Air Force’s Northrop B-2 Spirit fleet, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, also has a number of other units and aircraft assigned to its command. For this article we overview the 509th Bomb Wing and feature the lesser known aircraft and squadrons that share the ramps [...]
