Government shutdown grounds U.S. military assets at Pacific Airshow Huntington Beach

The U.S. government shutdown has forced the withdrawal of all American military demonstration teams from Pacific Airshow Huntington Beach, organizers announced this week, leaving the annual event without its marquee U.S. military performers as the show opens today.

Thunderbirds flying over Pacific Airshow Huntington Beach 2023.
PacificAirshow2024, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Thailand becomes first customer for Airbus A330 MRTT+

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has made aviation history by becoming the first customer to order Airbus’s next-generation A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport Plus (MRTT+). The order, announced Sept. 25, marks a important milestone for Airbus as it transitions its tanker program from the legacy A330-200 to the more advanced A330neo variant.


Graphic: Airbus
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LIG NEX1-Korean Air Consortium takes lead in South Korea’s Electronic Warfare aircraft program

The LIG NEX1-Korean Air consortium has emerged as the highest-scoring bidder in South Korea’s 1.78 trillion won ($1.29 billion) electronic warfare aircraft program, outperforming the competing Korea Aerospace Industries-Hanwha Systems team in technical evaluations, according to defense industry sources.


Graphic: Korean Air
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U.S. Navy demonstrates AI autonomy on BQM-177A through Shield AI partnership

The U.S. Navy successfully demonstrated artificial intelligence-based autonomy on the BQM-177A aerial target in August at Point Mugu Sea Range, California, marking the first beyond-visual-range autonomy mission on a fast-moving platform. The test involved two aircraft operated by Shield AI’s Hivemind software under the Naval Air Systems Command’s Experimental Platform for Intelligent Combat project.


Photo: Shield AI
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