Fightersweep

While U.S. Air Force officials have recently said reconstituting the F-22 Raptor production line would be a non-starter, the U.S. House of Representatives has ordered the service to conduct a study on total coasts associated with building at least 194 additional examples of the USAF’s 5th-Generation fighter. While that is potentially good news, it’s far […]

A few days ago, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the “crash” of a Russian Mi-28H Havoc attack helicopter near the city of Homs. Both pilots were killed and their bodies were recovered by Russian special operations forces. The ministry asserted that “the helicopter was not shot down,” but we’re going to raise the Baloney Sauce […]

The Royal Maces of VFA-27 have done it again, FighterSweep Fans! Here is the teaser to their full-length 2015-2016 cruise video. As is the squadron’s standard, the video is loaded with air-to-air, live ordnance drops, low-levels, blue water boat ops and much more! This video from -27 is everything we’ve come to expect and love […]

We’ve all seen the particular moment in Top Gun where Maverick and Goose are inverted, “keeping up foreign relations” with the needle-nosed, black MiG-28s. Well, apparently a Russian Su-27 Flanker pilot took that to heart, and while it wasn’t exactly the move depicted in the movie, the incident did involve the  fighter crossing from one […]

FighterSweep Fans, fifty or sixty feet is close. Thirty feet is REALLY close. Especially when you’re talking about clearance between a ship underway and a passing fighter which happens to be motoring along at fairly high subsonic speed. What does that look like, exactly? Well, ask the crew of the U.S.S. Donald Cook, a Navy […]

See the Magic of Aviation in still images, woven into a beautifully-edited short video! FighterSweep Fans, this is one of the more spectacular edits we’ve seen incorporating still photos into video. Now sure exactly what program was used, but it’s hard to go wrong with Polish photographer Hesja‘s work. You’ll see Sukhois, MiGs, and Vipers, […]

FighterSweep Fans, the Tyndall Raptor Nation is once again on the move! Jet’s from Mr. F. Bones‘ stable at the 95th Fighter Squadron have returned to Europe, taking up residence (temporarily) at RAF Lakenheath. They will be around for the next few weeks, training with other AF units and partner nations. We can’t wait to […]

FighterSweep Fans, we have more fun news coming out of Southwest Asia, where the Iranian government has announced the delivery of the first S-300 long-range SAM sytem from Russia. This is the S-300PMU-2 variant, designated by NATO as the SA-20B “Gargoyle.” It is a very lethal component of an Integrated Air Defense System, with an […]

This comes as no big surprise, FighterSweep Fans, but Eielson Air Force Base outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, has been selected to receive the first OCONUS F-35A Lightning II squadron. The base was chosen after Air Force senior leadership complete a lengthy analysis of the special considerations Eielson brings (Read: harsh climactic conditions), overall installation suitability, […]

FighterSweep Fans, as we mentioned before, the mighty B-52H Stratofortress is on deck to start laying down “positive influence” on Daesh. To that effect, the first BUFFs arrived at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar this past weekend in preparation for their first sorties over Iraq and Syria. With its huge payload, the B-52 is […]

FighterSweep Fans, there’s absolutely no denying our passion for airplanes. We’re constantly looking for new and exciting things to share with you, and while flying and working around airplanes does bring a certain amount of peril, there is still a fine line between “acceptable risk” and “—-ing stupid.” So dig if you will, this picture…which […]

FighterSweep Fans, when your drop rate eclipses your replenishment rate, there’s a problem. That is exactly the issue our men and women downrange are experiencing in the ongoing Operation Inherent Resolve. The good news is actual target engagement rates have been on the rise; coalition aircraft dropping more bombs, but the downfall is a looming […]