Category Archives: USAF

Copenhagen Joes

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Filmed 75 years ago in August 1951, this historical video covers the visit to the country of then five-star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who just four months prior had been named the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

The occasion of the visit was for Ike to stress how important Denmark was to the new NATO alliance, expressed through the handover of surplus Republic F-84 Thunderjets to the rebuilding Danish Air Force, which would soon be bolstered by 240 new F-84Gs over the next four years– a huge upgrade from their previous force of 40~ WWII surplus RAF Spitfires handed over in 1948.

An especially interesting part of the video for me– which incidentally is about 60 percent in English– is the Danish Army honor guard for the occasion.

Outfitted in British-pattern wool uniforms and American M1 helmets, M1 Garand rifles (adopted as the M/50 GarandGevær) and canvas-holstered Swiss-made SIG P210 pistols (adopted as the M/49), they are very exotic in a sense. Danish by way of Portsmouth, Neuhausen, and Springfield.

The Danes would continue to use the Garand as their primary infantry arm until 1975, when it was replaced by the German-made HK G3, adopted as the Gevær M/75.

Garands would continue to soldier on with the Danish as a second-line and Home Guard rifle through the 1990s, when it would finally be replaced by Colt Canada C7 (M16A2) rifles and C8 (M4A1) carbines, which would be adopted as the Gevær M/95 and Karabin M/96, respectively. As such, the Danes would be the last Western European NATO member to field John Garand’s vaunted 30.06.

Today, the Danish military is expanding once again, waking from a 35-year nap after the end of the Cold War. The country is now drafting women, upping the annual intake from 5,000 to 7,500 18-year-olds, and extending mandatory service from four months to 11.

See this interesting 10-minute doc on conscription in the country recently published by NATO:

It’s all positional

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How about this great series of photos of T/5 Walter Barnett of Oklahoma City, captured in July 1943 at Fort Pepperrell, Newfoundland, showing the correct form for riflery in sitting, prone, and standing positions with an M1 Garand. Note the M1941 “Daisy Mae” Army boonie hat, HBT dungarees, and M1938 leggings.

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364548

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364546

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364549

All the above are great for training on a flat range, but often went out the window in more kinetic situations when the targets moved and returned fire.

For those curious, Fort Pepperrell was one of the British bases in the “Destroyers for Bases” deal between FDR and Churchill in 1940.

The first American troops, the “Old Guard” Regulars of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, arrived the following May, and by late 1942 some 5,500 yanks of all stripes were in attendance, ranging from Coastal Artillery and Army AAA units to Navy stevedores, civilian contractors, the USAAF’s 6604th Air Base Wing, and ground defense battalions. It was used primarily as a stepping stone to ship men and material across the Atlantic to Europe.

Following the post-war drawdown, the base transferred to the newly established USAF as Pepperrell AFB in 1947. Its runways and 208 buildings were handed over to the RCAF in 1961, well short of the original “99-year” lease.

A small portion of the old base is retained by the Canadian Forces as Garrison St. John’s under RCN control, with some 450 full-time military and civilian personnel, 1,500 reservists, and 5,000 cadets. Other sections are preserved as parks and have been developed for commercial use.

As to T/5 Burnett, I believe him to be Walter Loe Barnett, who graduated from Central High School, Oklahoma City, and served in the U. S. Army during WWII. He was 27 in the above photos (note the wedding ring). Post-war, he returned to the Sooner State, worked for Southwestern Bell for 42 years, and passed in 1997, aged 81. He left behind his wife, Peggy, and a host of family.

The Day Old Frankie took the Plunge

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Some 105 years ago, 18 July 1921, off the Virginia Capes

Successive leisurely flights of land-based Army and Navy bombers dropped an assortment of bombs over the moored and abandoned 6,600-ton German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, formerly of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet, and (eventually) sank same.

To help with aimpoints, she even conveniently had two round targets painted on her deck, fore and aft.

From the Alfred A. Cunningham Collection (COLL/3034) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

Frankfurt, commissioned in October 1915, survived Jutland specifically, the Great War as a whole, and even scuttling at Scapa Flow.

She was hard to kill.

The German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, late 1918, Scapa Flow. IWM (Q 64195)

Ceded to the U.S. as a war prize on 11 March 1920 in England, commissioned there on 4 June as USS Frankfurt, she was towed to the East Coast and disposed of via SINKEX.

Capable of over 27 knots on a 31,000shp plant, she was built for speed, not to take punishment. Her armor scheme only included a 2.4-inch belt and deck coverage over her vitals (magazines and fire/engine rooms), and 3.9 inches on the conning tower.

Moored about 50 miles, 83 degrees true, off the Virginia Capes, the bombing took place from 0912 that morning until 1651 that afternoon.

A total of 74 bombs, a mix of 250, 500, 520, and 600-pounders, were dropped in sticks by the Navy and singly by the Army, with only two direct hits and 10 very near misses (counted as hits). She settled on the bottom 28 minutes after the final drop. The average passing speed for the lumbering bombers was about 85 knots.

From an Air Service report:

The tests of the Frankfurt began with an attack by Navy planes carrying 250-pound bombs. Twenty-four of them were dropped, scoring five direct hits. This was followed by an attack by Army planes which dropped twenty-nine 500-pound bombs, registering two hits. Navy planes then dropped seven 520-pound bombs, of which three were hits. The final attack, with fourteen 600-pound Army bombs, scoring two hits, resulted in sinking the vessel.

It would be fair to conclude, then, that attacks upon light cruisers should be with bombs of 500 pounds or heavier. Of the Navy bombs scoring hits, none of the 250-pound bombs detonated, and one of the 550-pound bombs failed. All Army bombs detonated.

NH 44010

NH 44015

NH 44012

NH 44017

NH 44026

The final dive. NH 44016

Frankfurt now rests in about 400 feet of water in the Southern Drill Grounds. 70 miles off the Virginia Capes, and has been extensively surveyed by NOAA.

SOCOM’s Black Arrow in the Quiver

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From yesterday’s DOD/DOW contract announcements, emphasis mine:

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $27,202,497 fixed-price incentive (firm-target) contract modification (H9240826CE001P0001), for the procurement of All Up Rounds for the AGM-190A Small Cruise Missile program, in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2025 procurement funds in the amount of $548,665; and fiscal 2026 procurement funds in the amount of $23,653,832, will be obligated at time of award. The total award amount is $24,202,497. The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 26, 2029. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. USSOCOM, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Meet the AGM-190A Small Cruise Missile

In the interest of “quantity has a quality all its own,” the AGM-190 Black Arrow SCM is almost as basic as it gets.

It weighs right at or under 200 pounds.

The above means the warhead is probably around 50 pounds, but you have to add all the kinetic energy behind it as a bonus factor. That’s more than enough to flatten a medium-sized building, sink or at least disable a patrol boat, obliterate a small bunker, destroy a SAM or radar installation in the open, get a ground kill on any size aircraft not in a hardened shelter, end any armored vehicle, et al.

It has a published 400nm range when air-launched at altitude (which means it probably goes further) using Pratt & Whitney’s proven 150-pound-thrust TJ150-7 one-stage turbojet, which is used in several target decoys (the MALD) and UAVs. 

It can be used as either pylon ordnance dropped from things such as an MQ-9 Reaper UAV, used in a roll-on/roll-off palletized Dragon Cart-style system from the back of a C/KC/AC/MC-130, and so on. It can reportedly also be launched from HIMARS, though with a shorter range.

While the actual cost-per-unit is not advertised, it is believed the Black Arrow runs somewhere in the $150-$300K (still pennies on the dollar compared to a $3M TLAM or $1M JASSM), a figure that can be whittled down through large buys.

It is known the Pentagon wants somewhere around 10,000 of these little gems, with 3,000 to start, but if you even try to apply those quantities to the $27 million award, you are looking at more like $2,500-$9,000 a pop, which is too insane to be true especally when you see P&W selling commercial TJ-150 powerpacks for $79,999 apiece, so this week’s buy is probably for a lot fewer missiles. Like for maybe the first block of 100 or 200.

AFSOC debuted the Black Arrow as Havoc Spear quietly last month during SOF Week, describing it as “a low-cost, mission adaptable, modular-design cruise missile that can be rapidly produced.”

Could prove very interesting.

A model AGM-190A small cruise missile stands on display inside Air Force Special Operations Command headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 14, 2026.(U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Brandon DeBlanc)

Hunter’s Fountain

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Some 85 years ago this week, the 10,000-ton Dutch Java-Pacific Lijn/VNS passenger steamer SS Jaegersfontaine pulled out of San Francisco on 10 July and, steaming West across a wide and nervous ocean, arrived a little over 8,000 miles away at Rangoon in British Burma on the 28th, making it in a handy 18-knot average.

Built in 1934 at Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij NV, Amsterdam, Jagersfontein means “Hunter’s fountain.” She was a lucky ship, but it was a quirky kind of luck.

Among the accumulated cargo and passengers aboard Jagersfontein on her July 1941 trip to Rangoon were 300 young American men, most slim with sharp eyes and short hair, all civilian employees of the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, or CAMCO. Among them were 99 pilots and 201 assorted ground crewmen and support personnel. Nine of the latter were Chinese-American mechanics specifically recruited from New York and San Francisco’s Chinatowns and rushed through a quick school at Allison Engine Works in Indianapolis on one particular powerplant: Allison’s liquid-cooled V-1710-33 twelve-cylinder V-type 1,040 hp piston engine.

You know, the one in the P-40B Warhawk/Tomahawk IIA

Soon after making Burma, Claire Chennault’s 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, was becoming the stuff of legend.

Claire Chennault Flying Tiger P-40 Artist Darrell Lum USAF DF-SC-84-04112

However, as it is with every irregular group on the fringes of institutionalized military logic, they soon were disbanded and absorbed by the regulars, and on 4 July 1942 the crumbs that were left became the USAAF’s 14th Air Force’s brand new 23rd Fighter Group, which, all these years later, is still around as part of the now USAF.

Based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, they have flown the A-10 Warthog since 1992, and recently painted one of their birds in the livery of White 48, the Panda Squadron P-40B flown by Army Air Corps Brig. Gen. David Lee “Tex” Hill, an original Flying Tiger (originally a Naval Aviator) who rolled over to the 23rd as a major in 1942 and would finish WWII with 18.25 confirmed victories, 12.25 of those carried over from the AVG.

The A-10C includes the iconic shark teeth nose art and a literal flying tiger over olive drab, a big departure from the rest of the 23rd’s gray-on-gray Compass Ghost schemes.

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

Ever heard a for real strafing run from a P-40?

In related news, the Soaring by the Sea Foundation jumped through a year’s worth of FAA and ATF hoops required to re-install six working M2 .50 cal machine guns into a restored Curtiss P-40N Warhawk in Flying Tigers’ Adam & Eve Squadron livery and, well, did the thing with live ammo, expending approximately 7,000 rounds across ground testing and two days of airborne firing while under the control of Lt. Col. Ray “Hollywood” Fowler, an F-16 pilot with combat tours in the sandbox.

You better believe there is video.

NASA’s (Private) F-5 Tiger Team

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In a follow-up to the 250th Color Birds of NASA post on Monday, we would be remiss not to bring up the fact that the agency has a four-plane aerial demonstration team made up of privately owned (not a misprint) F-5 Tigers.

Do what?

Current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, 45, is a tech billionaire entrepreneur, alum of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, a noted private pilot with 7,000 hours in over a dozen types, a commercial astronaut (via SpaceX’s Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, which he funded), and co-founder of “red air” defense contractor Draken International (which owns 130 jets including A-4Ks, Mirage F1s, and MiG-21s).

He’s also donated over $35 million to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville and the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola to support youth programs.

Talk about a flight nerd!

Isaacman personally owns at least three 1970s vintage F-5s, which he recently had painted in a red-white-and-blue Freedom 250th anniversary NASA livery (with the classic NASA “worm”) and has been using them for incentive flights for agency employees as well as some remarkable flyovers that will live on in aviation art for sure. While the titles haven’t been transferred, they are under “NASA control.”

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is seen flying his personal F-5 aircraft, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you look close, he is wearing a helmet with an Imperial “cog” in TIE fighter style. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

One of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s personal F-5 aircraft is seen during an employee incentive flying event, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rachel Kraft, Artemis communications lead at NASA Headquarters, was flying in the back seat. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flies in his personal F-5 aircraft, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Isaacman was joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the back seat for a flight around Launch Complex 39B, the Vehicle Assembly Building, and surrounding areas at Kennedy. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)

Isaacman’s personal F-5E (FAA N591EM) is a former USAF aircraft (77-1777) registered to his investment company, JDI Holdings LLC of Easton, Pennsylvania, while two of the other NASA Tigers, N592EM (78-0803) and N593EM (79-1918), are two-seater F-5Fs also owned by JDI.

All three had been sent to the Royal Jordanian Air Force soon after construction, then were among 21 RJAF F-5E/F aircraft brought to the U.S. in 2017 by Reno-based Tactical Air Support Inc, which already had five ex-Canadian CF-5Ds at the time and has acquired more of the type since. A private red air contractor founded in 2005, TacAir uses the F-5s (and other types) to support U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force adversary contracts.

A fourth privately owned F-5 has recently joined the NASA squad in the same livery but is not a JDI-registered airframe.

The FAA currently has 37 privately-owned Tigers (two F-5As, four F-5Bs, 23 F-5Es, seven F-5Fs, and one NF-5B) active with TacAir (TASLO)/United States Aviation Museum owning 23 of those. Comanche (Maverick) Air in Houston, the second largest operator, owns four F-5Es.

The type usually runs around $1M a pop on the commercial market, making them one of the most obtainable “fast movers.” Further, the Navy still operates the type as a MiG-28-style aggressor (supported by TacAir) while some 500 T-38Cs still fly with the USAF, as we have covered recently. 

The NASA F-5 team, flying out of Andrews, made the news in their recent overflight of the National Mall on the 4th for the Freedom 250 events, although the FAA had originally frowned on the plan due to safety concerns.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger over the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger during the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

It wasn’t their first air expo, as they flew in Sun n’ Fun in Florida in April.

NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)

NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)

They also plan to attend four more events.

  • July 23–24: EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
  • August 23: Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
  • October 3–4: Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, California.
  • October 31–November 1: Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Houston Air Show

NASA’s 250th Color Birds

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While this weekend’s Sail4th 250 event in NYC was amazing (two-hour video here) and included over 100 companion aircraft flyovers, one of my big disappointments was that there were no full-color birds such as the military had in widespread service during the Bicentennial in 1976, when arguably the military was even more cash-strapped.

You know, like these guys:

Bicentennial VX-4 F-4 Phantom II pictured over NAS North Island.

Well, at least the NASA guys reached for the paint.

Among the 16 aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in the Mojave Desert, next to Edwards AFB, are three surplus old F-15Ds and F-18Bs used as high-altitude testbeds and chase planes for other, more experimental types, such as the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft, providing photo and video support for the latter.

One of each of the twin-tailed Cold Warriors was recently given very patriotic Bicentennial-worthy schemes to perform the flyover of D.C. during the 250th celebration.

For reference, the two aircraft are N867NA (F/A-18B-12-MC Hornet, Lot 6, BuNo 161947, formerly of VX-23) and N885NA (F-15D-38-MC Eagle, SN 84-0045, formerly of the 433rd WPS), both circa 1984 airframes that have been much modified over the years.

AFRC2026-0146-85

NASA photographer Jim Ross flies above the Washington Monument in Washington on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in an F-18 aircraft, as part of a flyover to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. This aircraft is from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and it joined other NASA aircraft for the flyover. NASA Jim Ross AFRC2026-0146-90

It would be great to see these “color birds” continue to carry their schemes for the next few years and then be retired to deserving air museums as-is.

Pour one out for The Jolly J

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Exercise Valiant Shield 2026 (VS26) concluded on 1 July, stretching across the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Japan, and at sea around the Mariana Islands Range Complex.

It was an impressive assemblage of vessels, built around the GW and Kaga carrier groups with support from other Pacific allies.

Think of it as a warm-up for RIMPAC, which is just warming up.

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, and U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs fly over U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group as it sails in formation with Japan Maritime Self- Defense Force as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 21, 2026. U.S. Navy participants include Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Shoup (DDG 86) and USS Benfold (DDG 65), and Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota (SSN 783). Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force participants include JS Kaga (DDH 184), JS Fuyuzuki (DD 118), and JS Jingei (SS 515). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tyler Crowley)

The big culmination of VS26 was a SINKEX of a large combatant some 200nm from Guam, in this case the retired Austin-class ‘phib ex-USS Juneau (LPD-10), which had a storied career over nearly 40 years from Vietnam to Desert Storm and has been on red lead row since 2008.

The old girl took one hell of a beating. One that the Navy, probably in some advertising to China, isn’t afraid to share. 

First up was a Guam-deployed B-2 Spirit bomber hitting her with a 2,700-pound LRASM in an ode to Billy Mitchell. While the effect isn’t seen in real time, its half-ton warhead left the 17,000-ton LPD listing and with a flooded well deck.

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, deploys an AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) to support a live-fire sinking exercise as part of Valiant Shield 2026 over the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. This maritime strike in the Pacific showcased the Joint Force’s capacity for simultaneous global operations while underscoring U.S. commitment to regional security and cooperation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Thomas Barley)

Juneau then caught two Australian-owned AGM-84 Harpoons from an RNZAF P-8A Poseidon of No. 5 Squadron, with the Kiwis assisted by an RAAF Poseidon and two from the U.S. Navy.

This is the first time an RNZAF Poseidon has taken part in Valiant Shield, which started in 2006 and is in its 11th iteration this year, and the first time they have used anti-ship ordnance, which were loaded at Anderson AFB in Guam.

She also suffered from ordnance delivered by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60 maritime helicopter and Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 multirole fighter aircraft.

Then came the coup de grace delivered by an unnamed Japanese submarine (likely JS Jingei, SS 515). A bit of a tragic twist of fate when you consider the loss of a previous USS Juneau (CL-52), which was lost to a Japanese submarine in 1942 and carried almost all of her crew, including the five Sullivan brothers, to the bottom.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

The Jolly J now lies with the fishes. A hard-earned rest.

Can we give it up for the Air Demonstration Teams?

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Sure, the whole thing smacked a bit of “bread and circuses,” but you have to admit the Super Delta last weekend coming over the White House was stirring.

Who doesn’t love seeing the Blues and the Birds in one 12-plane formation?

Plus, it really shows how much larger the F-18E/F is over the F-16C/D.

Via White House.

The Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force’s Thunderbirds fly in a 12-plane Super Delta formation over the Ellipse in Washington, June 14, 2026, ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 fights at the White House. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brittany Primavera

Similarly, the RAF’s No. 1 Group Red Arrows, tooling around in little Hawk T1As, made their appearance the same weekend over St. James during the Trooping of the Colors in London.

Pictured: His Majesty the King’s Birthday flypast over Buckingham Palace. Nine Hawk jets from the Red Arrows. The King’s Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, is a celebration of the monarch’s official birthday in the United Kingdom.  

The Arrows have been active since 1964, making them much newer than the Blues (formed in 1946, flying F6F Hellcats) or the Birds (1953).

Speaking of demonstration teams, the Italian Frecce Tricolori (313° Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico), which are three years older than the Arrows (they flew F-86 Sabres when formed), were recently in action over Rome with their Aermacchi MB-339-A/PAN trainers to celebrate the Festa della Repubblica.

I had just stayed in an Airbnb at the Argentina ruins, watching cats sunbathe, while in Italy visiting Benelli (more to come on that very soon!), and was sad I missed them.

Meanwhile, the Hawk Mk 132-borne Suryakiran Aerobatic Team of the Indian Air Force’s No. 52 Squadron just celebrated its 30th, and they look great.

Sadly, the RCAF’s Snowbirds, officially known as the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, are hanging it up after 55 years as they retire their Cold War-vintage CT-114 Tutors in November.

They are supposed to be back in some form, possibly in 2030, with new Pilatus PC21s, but you know how the Labor government is with Defense spending, so don’t hold your breath.

They have like 20 more shows this season, including some in California, New York, and Ohio. After that, it will be the end of an era either way.

Pour one out for the Snows, fellas, and try to catch an airshow near you this summer. Take a kid or grandkid or three. They’ll love it.

Magazine Depth Concerns are Real

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Pushing 15 weeks into Operation Epic Fury, with over 1,000 TLAMs, 1,100 JSSAMs, and 1,400 Patriots burned up (and more launching every day), coming on the heels of firing untold SM-2/3/6s expended during Operation Prosperty Guardian to counter 470 Houthi/Iranian recorded one-way drone events, 70 ballistic missiles, and 155 multi-use drone sorties in the Red Sea, not to mention $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine, you have to worry just how empty is the Arsenal of Democracy.

The Center for Strategic & International Studies has done the open-source math and has the tally sheets.

It is not good, but there should still be a good bit left, and, on the bright side, if nothing else happens in the next four or five years, and expanded production goals on these extremely complex devices that require advanced chips, exceptionally skilled labor, and clean rooms are met, the numbers should return to pre-OEF levels.

Fingers crossed.

Here’s to 2031 without a war.

The full report here. 

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