The coffin corner is where flying too slow and flying too fast both become deadly. Here is the strange high-altitude physics that squeezes a jet to a razor-thin margin.
Farnborough’s $28 Billion Opening Act
Nearly 400 aircraft commitments in two days: the full run of Farnborough 2026’s orders, from SMBC’s 200-jet split to Philippine Airlines’ Dreamliners and 300 LEAP engines.
Six Flags, One Submarine Hunter
For the first time at RIMPAC, the U.S. Navy is flying mixed multinational crews aboard a single P-8A Poseidon — six nations hunting submarines from one cabin.
Golden Eagles Cross the Arafura Sea
For the first time, Indonesia sent its T-50i Golden Eagles to Australia’s Exercise Pitch Black — a squadron’s debut abroad and a quiet act of trust between neighbours.
Manila’s Mach-1.5 Guard Dog Gets Sharper Teeth
The Philippine Air Force’s 12 new FA-50 Block 70 jets are on track for 2028 — adding AESA radar and beyond-visual-range missiles to the little fighter that guards the West Philippine Sea.
Ten Nights of Fire Over Iran
CENTCOM has struck Iran for a tenth consecutive night, targeting missile, drone and air-defence sites in a campaign built around keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.
Indonesia Buys a Trainer That Shoots Back
Indonesia signed for 12 Leonardo M-346F Block 20 light fighters at Farnborough — a near-€1bn deal that replaces its Hawks and makes Jakarta the 23rd M-346 operator.
Europe Quietly Joins the Ghost Bat
At Farnborough, Boeing confirmed Italy’s Leonardo as an official MQ-28 Ghost Bat partner — a transatlantic turn for the Australian loyal-wingman drone.
Lockheed Just Halved the Price of a Patriot Shot
At Farnborough, Lockheed Martin unveiled the PAC-3 ACE — a Patriot interceptor built to cost less than half an MSE and finally give air defense the magazine depth it needs.
Turn Them Into Bean Tins, Says Emirates
Emirates will not take the first ten Boeing 777-9s built for it. Sir Tim Clark suggested Heinz might want them for baked bean cans — and one has already been scrapped.
Every Robot Wingman Unveiled This Week
Thunder, Blizzard, Ghost Bat, Fury, Kizilelma. They’re all called loyal wingmen and most of them are not the same thing at all. A plain-English guide to what’s actually flying.
The $20,000 Rocket That Kills Drones
An AMRAAM costs a million dollars. A Shahed costs twenty thousand. APKWS is the West’s attempt to invert that arithmetic, and Saudi Arabia has just been cleared to buy 20,000 kits.
The Ghost Bat Finally Came to Farnborough
Australia’s MQ-28 made its first Farnborough appearance on Monday. It didn’t fly, but it has already done things almost nothing else in its category has.
The Biggest Order of the Day Had No Aircraft
BOC Aviation signed for up to 300 CFM LEAP engines at Farnborough. Half of it was a real competitive win, half of it was never a contest at all.
The Drone Was Already Down
A US service member was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of ordnance from a downed Iranian drone. It was the weekend’s third American death, and the three were not the same kind of loss.
Israel Built a Jet That Attacks With Noise
IAI unveiled ELLYON at Farnborough: a business jet with no weapons, built to jam radars and radios from hundreds of kilometres away while listening to everything they give away.
The Dreamliner That Turned Around Over England
Alaska’s 787-9 from Rome to Seattle U-turned over south-east England, squawked 7700 and flew all the way back to Fiumicino. What actually happened, and what didn’t.