fighter

General Atomics’ YFQ-42A ‘fighter drone’ prototype is now flying. The YFQ-42A is one of two designs currently in development under the first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the other being Anduril’s YFQ-44A.

The Air Force and General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems Inc. division (GA-ASI) announced the milestone today, but it is not immediately clear when exactly the maiden flight occurred. The Air Force announced that the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A had both begun ground testing ahead of their first flights back in May.

“This milestone showcases what’s possible when innovative acquisition meets motivated industry,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said in a statement. “In record time, CCA went from concept to flight — proving we can deliver combat capability at speed when we clear barriers and align around the warfighter.”

“The CCA went from concept to flight in just 16 months after the contract was awarded – proving that we can deliver combat capability at speed!” according to a post from Meink’s official account on X.

“What a great moment for the U.S. Air Force and for GA-ASI,” GA-ASI’s President David R. Alexander said in a separate statement. “It’s been our collaboration that enabled us to build and fly the YFQ-42A in just over a year. It’s an incredible achievement and I salute the Air Force for its vision and I salute our development team for delivering yet another historic first for our company.”

The Air Force announced that it had picked General Atomics and Anduril to build actual prototypes of their Increment 1 CCA designs in April 2024. General Atomics subsequently confirmed that its YFQ-42A was derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone originally developed for the Air Force’s once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. The Air Force has also previously described the OBSS effort as a major ‘feeder’ into the CCA program, as you can read more about here.

In its own statement today, Anduril said that flight testing of the YFQ-44A is set to begin soon.

“Flight test is one of those milestones that you just can’t help but get excited about, no matter where you sit. Congratulations to General Atomics and the U.S. Air Force for kicking off flight testing for YFQ-42A – a major milestone on the path to fielding Increment 1 CCAs by the end of the decade,” Dr. Jason Levin, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Air Dominance, and Strike at Anduril, also said.

The Air Force says the plan remains to make a “competitive Increment 1 production decision” sometime in Fiscal Year 2026, which begins on October 1 of this year. It remains to be seen whether the service will decide to acquire production versions of the YFQ-42A, the YFQ-44A, or a mixture of both.

Air Force officials have also previously said that between 100 and 150 drones will be ordered under Increment 1. The service is still looking to acquire 1,000 CCAs, or more, across multiple iterative development cycles that could lead to very different designs. Air Force officials regularly describe the CCA program, overall, as a critical and transformative element of its future force structure plans that will be essential to succeed in future conflicts, especially a high-end fight, such as one in the Pacific against China.

“This is More Air Force in action,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in a statement around today’s announcement about the YFQ-42A’s first flight. “We’re not just moving fast – we’re learning fast. CCA will help us rethink the battlespace, extend reach, flexibility, and lethality in combat operations, and optimize warfighter performance through human-machine teaming.”

Still, there are many hurdles to overcome before seeing the CCA vision become the game-changer the USAF hopes it do be, but with the YFQ-42A now flying, the Air Force is one step closer to making it a reality.

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U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commonly referred to as the service’s “Air Boss,” is still “eagerly awaiting” a new F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter despite the uncertainty now swirling around that program. Cheever already sees a key boost in capability for the Navy’s carrier air wings on the horizon in the form of the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which could leverage its very long range to perform other missions in the future, as TWZ has previously explored in detail.

Cheever, whose formal title is commander of Naval Air Forces, talked to TWZ‘s Jamie Hunter about F/A-XX and MQ-25 on the sidelines of the Tailhook Association’s annual symposium last Friday.

F/A-XX is “ready for down-select, to which of the vendors you would go with, and we’re just excited,” Cheever said. For “Naval Aviation, fourth, fifth, and sixth-generation on an aircraft carrier is a phenomenal capability and absolutely needed for air superiority, which allows [for] sea control.”

The Navy was reportedly close to announcing the winner of the F/A-XX competition in March, hot on the heels of the U.S. Air Force choosing Boeing’s F-47 as the sixth-generation fighter component of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) effort. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are understood to be the remaining contenders for F/A-XX.

However, in June, the Pentagon announced as part of the rollout of its Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal that it was moving to complete initial development work related to F/A-XX, but then freeze the program indefinitely. The stated reason for this decision was to avoid competition for resources that could hurt the USAF’s F-47. There has been pushback on the concerns that America’s aviation industry can support two sixth-generation fighter programs simultaneously, including from Boeing.

“They [the Navy] haven’t made a decision yet. So that’s what the down-select is. We’re waiting for the decision, and I’m not the decision maker. I’m just eagerly awaiting,” Vice Adm. Cheever told TWZ last week.

Cheever’s comments add to the murkiness that currently surrounds F/A-XX. In recent months, other senior Navy officials have voiced support publicly for continuing with the next-generation carrier-based fighter program. Members of Congress have also been making moves to keep F/A-XX moving ahead as planned in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2026 budget.

“Nothing in the Joint Force projects combat power from the sea as a Carrier Strike Group, which at the heart has a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN). To maintain this striking power, the CVN must have an air wing that is comprised of the most advanced strike fighters,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s top officer, wrote in response to a question about F/A-XX ahead of his confirmation hearing in July. “Therefore, the ability to maintain air superiority against peer competitors will be put at risk if the Navy is unable to field a 6th Generation strike fighter on a relevant timeline. Without a replacement for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler, the Navy will be forced to retrofit 4th generation aircraft and increase procurement of 5th generation aircraft to attempt to compete with the new 6th generation aircraft that the threat is already flying.”

“The Navy has a validated requirement for carrier-based 6th generation aircraft, and it is critical that we field that capability as quickly as possible to give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win against a myriad of emerging threats,” he added.

The Navy has now long presented F/A-XX as critical to ensuring its carrier air wings can continue to project power in the face of ever-growing threats, especially in any future high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific. The aforementioned MQ-25 Stingray also remains a top priority in this regard.

“To me, it [MQ-25] is the key that unlocks manned-unmanned teaming on the aircraft carrier. So once we get MQ-25 flying, and it’s supposed to fly in 2025, that is the big thing,” Vice Adm. Cheever told TWZ at Tailhook. “Now, I unlock all of the manned-unmanned teaming that can happen on the aircraft carrier in the future.”

“If you think about it, I have all these strike fighters that are configured as tankers, and I can free them all up to be strike fighters again, instead of tankers,” Cheever added. “And that is just that is an exponential increase in our strike and fighting capability and capacity.”

What the Air Boss is referring to here is the current use of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with buddy refueling stores to provide organic tanker capacity to the Navy’s carrier air wings. The Navy has estimated in the past that 20 to 30 percent of carrier-based Super Hornet sorties are taken up by aerial refueling. In addition to eliminating the need for Super Hornets to perform this function, the MQ-25 also offers additional benefits in terms of its own range and on-station time, which will significantly extend the air wing’s operational reach.

As noted, the goal now is for the MQ-25 to fly for the first time this year, a key milestone for a program that has suffered delays and cost growth. The current hope is to reach initial operational capability (IOC) with the Stingray sometime in Fiscal Year 2027, around three years later than originally expected.

On top of being tankers, the baseline MQ-25s are set to be delivered with a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. The Stingray’s baked-in capabilities, especially its range, open doors to the drones, or future variants or derivatives thereof, taking on a host of other missions, including kinetic strike and airborne early warning, as TWZ has laid out in-depth in this past feature.

“It’s got a lot of potential,” Vice Adm. told TWZ last week. “[It’s got] huge range.”

“Absolutely,” Cheever said when asked specifically about the MQ-25 taking on additional roles in the future, though he did not elaborate.

In terms of MQ-25 as a springboard to adding more uncrewed capabilities in the Navy carrier air wings, “the future of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and that kind of thing, is TBD [to be decided], still to come. That work’s still to be done, and there’s a lot of folks in that space,” Cheever added.

By the Navy’s own admission, it is following the lead of the Air Force, and the U.S. Marine Corps to a lesser extent, when it comes to plans for future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) ‘loyal wingman’ type drones, and is looking to leverage the work those services are doing now. The Navy has previously outlined one vision for future CCAs that are low-cost enough to be “consumable,” and expended as one-way attack munitions or targets for use in training or test evaluation activities at the end of relatively short service lives. The service has also expressed a “strong interest” in the MQ-28 Ghost Bat, originally developed by Boeing’s subsidiary in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). You can read more about the current state of the Navy’s CCA plans in TWZ‘s earlier reporting from this year’s Tailhook symposium.

Overall, Cheever’s comments at Tailhook underscore that the Navy is still pressing to proceed with F/A-XX as a critical part of its larger plans to modernize its carrier air wings.

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Aug. 25 (UPI) — The United States military reported it scrambled a response contingent over the weekend after a Russian spy plane flew close to American airspace.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, reported Sunday it detected an IL-20 COOT reconnaissance aircraft flying through the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ.

NORAD responded by sending two F-16 fighter jets, an E-3 Sentry radar plane and two refueling tankers to intercept and make a visual confirmation.

The Russian aircraft stayed within the ADIZ and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace.

The ADIZ is located within international airspace but lies close enough to American and Canadian sovereign airspace to require “the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” according to NORAD.

NORAD also noted such activity in the ADIZ is a regular occurrence that does not constitute a threat.

A Russian IL-20 COOT was also detected in the ADIZ last week on Wednesday and Thursday and took the same responsive measures.

Naval aviators need to be able to trust any future drone wingmen as much as their human counterparts, a U.S. Navy strike fighter tactics instructor has told TWZ. This echoes past comments from members of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps, and is set to be a critical factor in turning the Navy’s still very nascent and evolving crewed-uncrewed teaming vision into a reality.

Navy Lt. Cdr. Mark “Tugboat” Jbeily talked about ‘loyal wingman’ type drones, now commonly called Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), and crewed-uncrewed teaming, and how they factor into his service’s plans for future carrier air wings, with our Jamie Hunter at the Tailhook Association’s annual symposium today. Jbeily is a career F/A-18 pilot and TOPGUN graduate currently assigned as an instructor to the Strike Fighter Weapons School, Pacific (SFWSPAC) at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California.

“I think, currently, we’re [the Navy] still figuring out exactly what the specific type of [CCA] platform is going to look like, how it’s going to integrate into the air wing, [and] how we’re going to use it for maximal advantage,” Jbeily explained. “But I think some common themes … are going to be consistent regardless of the specific platform, range, vendor, whatever it is.”

“You know, the wings on your chest are a sign of trust, ultimately, right? They represent that you’ve been through an established training pipeline. You’re going to behave in a predictable manner, in a standardized manner. We can trust you with this awesome power of an F-18 or F-35,” he continued. “How do we take that concept of trust and now bring it to collaborative autonomy, or manned-unmanned teaming? How do we train to get them comfortable so, in the same way that if you and I were flying, if you were my wingman, I would know you’re going to behave in a repeatable, consistent [manner]?”

“I can have insight on your behaviors. We can do a thorough debrief about why did you do this or why did you do that?” Jbeily added. “And the key, I think, is going to be, regardless of the specific platform, how do we build that element of trust, and how do we get folks comfortable to be able to use it in a combat scenario if we have to.”

The video below from Collins Aerospace offers a vision of what a future conflict involving U.S. CCAs, including ones launched from carriers, teamed up with crewed fighters might look like.

When it comes to advanced autonomous capabilities, whether they be integrated into drone wingman or another platform, the essential need for trust has now been a common refrain from members of the U.S. military for years. This trust will be just as critical during routine training and other day-to-day activities involving crewed-uncrewed teams as it will be during any future combat scenario, for exactly the kinds of reasons that Lt. Cdr. Jbeily cited today.

At a separate conference earlier this year, a U.S. Marine Corps aviation officer highlighted how just making sure that CCA-type drones do not collide with their crewed companions remains a challenge. TWZ noted at the time that this underscored the many basic problems still to be solved before CCAs can be regularly deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated at all, let alone employed tactically.

In speaking with TWZ today, Lt. Cdr. Jbeily further talked about how CCAs could be incorporated in training in the future using what are called live, virtual, constructive (LVC) concepts. As the name indicates, LVC training blends together real and simulated elements in real-world and virtualized settings using a mixture of systems networked together, as you can read about in more detail here. LVC concepts are already regularly used as part of research, development, test, and evaluation activities related to advanced uncrewed capabilities. In line with his comments on trust, Jbeily put particular emphasis on the need for the live component.

“We already, within the Navy, have an established process of, if you take, for example, live-fires for missiles, air-to-air missiles, folks will go down to our test and evaluation ranges and actually live employ a real missile against some sort of drone or something,” he said. “And that is meant to build that comfort, so, ultimately, when game day comes, you’re not going to rise to another level, you’re going to fall back to your basic level of training.”

“I think that when you think about the Live, Virtual, Constructive piece of this, there’s absolutely going to be a component, because you’re never going to see these collaborative combat aircraft, potentially, right? They may be dozens or hundreds of miles away, even,” he continued. “So, there’s got to be a constructive bit, but I think, ultimately, if we want to get that comfort level of having another piece of metal in the sky that you either join on, or you trust to employ weapons, or you trust to execute your mission command, there has to be some element of live flight. What the specific combination will be and where we can realize optimizations, I think, is still kind of to be determined, but it’s a place that I think we can realize gains on both ends, both the live and the sort of virtual, constructive piece.”

On a broader level, the Navy still has yet to settle on a clear vision for how it will incorporate CCAs into its future carrier air wings and what forms those drones might take, as a result. In the past, the service has put forward a concept for lower-cost carrier-capable drone wingmen in the past that envisions them being “consumable,” and expended as one-way kamikaze drones or aerial targets for training or testing use at the end of relatively short service lives. In recent years, the Navy has also openly talked about a more general goal to eventually see the aircraft in its carrier air wings become at least 60 percent uncrewed.

In addition, the Navy is party to a tri-service CCA agreement with the Air Force and the Marines, but, by its own admission, is trailing behind those services on all fronts. The Air Force currently has two CCAs – General Atomics YFQ-42A and Anduril’s YFQ-44A – under development, and is already looking toward future designs. The Marines are in the process of transforming their work with the XQ-58A Valkyrie into an operational capability.

The Navy’s current stated focus is on getting the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone into service, which it hopes will lay the foundation for adding more uncrewed aircraft to its carrier air wings. The service has also expressed a strong interest in Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a loyal wingman-type drone.

“I think right now, within the experimental community, the VXs [air test and evaluation squadrons], there’s a lot of discussion there,” Lt. Cdr. Jbeily told TWZ today about what might be on the horizon drone-wise for the Navy. “I think that the Air Force has potentially taken the forefront on this with their Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.”

The Air Force’s CCA program does appear to be the leading effort in this vein across the services, as you can read about more in TWZ‘s past reporting.

“I think that those decisions about what we’re going to buy, when we’re going to buy it, are a little bit above my level, but I know that the Navy is still deeply interested in looking in terms of how we can, for the purpose of maintaining warfighter advantage, how we can keep the Navy and the Air Wing relevant with this sort of precision, mass and collaborative autonomy,” Jbeily added. “[The] Air Boss’s big initiative has been MQ-25 in ’25 to get sort of that specific aerial refueling platform, [to] lessen the burden on Super Hornets, which currently perform the aerial fueling role. So I think what that’ll end up being is a good model for how do we integrate autonomous systems into the air wing and ensure that we can get folks comfortable to accomplish these missions.”

The “Air Boss” that Jbeily is referring to here is Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, head of Naval Air Forces. “MQ-25 in ’25” refers to the goal for the Stingray to fly for the first time before the end of this year, a milestone that has already been much delayed, reflecting larger schedule slips and cost growth for the program.

“There’s so much sense of urgency and purpose amongst our junior officers who recognize the peer competition that we’re in and recognize the role that the Navy will play in providing peace through deterrence, and we want to prepare for the future fight,” the strike fighter tactics instructor told TWZ today, speaking more generally. “That urgency that you see amongst the junior officers is focused on being the change and bringing the change, and not simply accepting business as usual.”

“We just want to keep the carrier relevant and effective, and that’s the energy that’s shared amongst junior officers.”

As noted, the Navy does see drones as a key element of its future carrier air wings. Ensuring that there is trust in those uncrewed aircraft to perform, especially among the junior officers who will be flying alongside them, will be of vital importance.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Thousands of US workers hit the picket line at three plants in Illinois and Missouri.

Thousands of workers at Boeing plants across the United States that develop military aircraft and weapons have gone on strike.

The strike began Monday at Boeing facilities in St Louis and St Charles, Missouri, as well as Mascoutah, Illinois, after failed negotiations over wage increases and other provisions of a new contract.

About 3,200 local members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted Sunday to reject a modified four-year labour agreement, the union said.

“IAM District 837 members build the aircraft and defense systems that keep our country safe,” Sam Cicinelli, the general vice president of the union’s Midwest division, said in a statement. “They deserve nothing less than a contract that keeps their families secure and recognizes their unmatched expertise.”

The vote followed a weeklong cooling-off period after the workers rejected an earlier proposed contract, which included a 20 percent wage increase over four years and $5,000 ratification bonuses.

Boeing warned over the weekend that it anticipated the strike after workers rejected its latest offer, which did not further boost the proposed wage hike. However, the proposal removed a scheduling provision that would have affected workers’ ability to earn overtime pay.

“We’re disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40 percent average wage growth and resolved their primary issue on alternative work schedules,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice president and general manager, and senior St Louis site executive.

“We are prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.”

Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security business accounts for more than one-third of the company’s revenue. But Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told analysts last week that the impact from a strike by the machinists who build fighter jets, weapons systems and the US Navy’s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft would be much less than a walkout last year by 33,000 workers who assemble the company’s commercial jetliners.

“The order of magnitude of this is much, much less than what we saw last fall,” Ortberg said. “So we’ll manage through this. I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike.”

The 2024 strike shut down Boeing’s factories in Washington state for more than seven weeks at a bleak time for the company. Boeing came under several federal investigations last year after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The Federal Aviation Administration put limits on Boeing plane production that it said would last until the agency felt confident about manufacturing quality safeguards at the company. The door-plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

Ortberg told analysts that the company has slowly worked its way up to an FAA-set 737 Max production cap of 38 per month and expects to ask regulators later this year for permission to go beyond it.

Last week, Boeing reported that its second-quarter revenue had improved and its losses had narrowed. The company lost $611m in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $1.44bn during the same period last year.

Boeing’s stock tumbled on the news of the strike. Trending downwards earlier in the day, it has since been trending upwards, but is still below the market open by 0.26 percent as of 12:30pm ET (16:30 GMT).

July 28 (UPI) — NATO aircraft were scrambled Sunday night to respond to a Russian attack on Ukraine, the Polish military said Monday.

“Polish and allied quick reaction aircraft were scrambled, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness,” Poland’s Operational Command of the Armed Forces said in a statement.

“These actions are preventive in nature and are aimed at securing airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened region.”

A few hours later, it issued a statement that the aircraft had concluded their deployment, adding that “no violations of Polish airspace were observed.”

Swedish fighter jets stationed in Poland were among the aircraft scrambled, it said.

The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement on Telegram on Monday that Russia launched 324 drones and seven missiles overnight, resulting in 311 of the attacks being either shot down or suppressed by electronic warfare.

“There were confirmed impacts of two missiles of various types and 15 strike UAVs at three locations,” it said.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, said in a statement on X that some of the Russian aerial strikes hit civilian infrastructure, including in the capital Kyiv.

“He wants nothing but war and Ukraine’s defeat,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But defeat is not an option.”

“Russia and its satellites are also testing NATO’s response,” he added. “Drones entering the airspace of the Baltic states are signals that must not be ignored.”

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah flown to Lebanon from France after incarceration ends.

France has released Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter jailed since 1984, and put him on a flight to Beirut after he spent nearly four decades behind bars.

Shortly before 3:40am (01:30 GMT) on Friday, a convoy of six vehicles with flashing lights was seen leaving the Lannemezan prison in southern France, according to journalists with the AFP news agency on the ground. A source confirmed the 74-year-old had been freed and later boarded a flight to Lebanon.

Abdallah, who was convicted in 1987 for his role in the killings of United States military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris, had long been eligible for release. However, repeated applications were rejected, often due to pressure from the US, which was a civil party in Abdallah’s case.

Last month, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in favour of his release, effective on Friday, on the condition that Abdallah leave French territory and never return.

His lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, told AFP that the former fighter appeared “very happy” during their final visit “even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations”.

Abdallah, the founder of the now-defunct Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions, had declared during a recent visit by a lawmaker that he remained a “militant with a struggle”. French police uncovered submachine guns and communication equipment in one of his flats at the time of his arrest.

Abdallah has never expressed regret for his actions and has always insisted he is a “fighter” who has battled for the rights of Palestinians and is not a “criminal”.

The Paris court described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed “no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts”.

The appeals court cited the length of Abdallah’s detention and his advanced age, calling his continued imprisonment “disproportionate”. In France, inmates serving life sentences are typically released after less than 30 years.

Abdallah’s family said they would greet him at Beirut’s airport before travelling to his hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon, where a reception has been planned.

US president, who has claimed credit for the truce in May, says planes were being shot out of the air.

United States President Donald Trump has said up to five fighter jets were shot down during the recent India-Pakistan conflict, which erupted after an April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir brought the nuclear-armed neighbours to the cusp of their fifth all-out war, before a ceasefire in May.

Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner with a number of Republican US lawmakers at the White House on Friday, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to.

“In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said while talking about the India-Pakistan hostilities, without elaborating or providing further detail.

Pakistan has claimed it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat.

India’s highest-ranking general said in late May that India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of hostilities and established an advantage before a ceasefire was announced three days later.

India also claimed it downed “a few planes” of Pakistan. Islamabad denied suffering any losses of planes but acknowledged its airbases suffered hits.

Truce deal

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit, and complained he has not been feted for it, for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides.

India has contradicted Trump’s claims that the ceasefire resulted from his intervention and his threats to sever trade talks.

New Delhi’s stated position has been that it reached an agreement bilaterally with Pakistan, and that they must solve their problems directly and with no outside involvement.

India is an increasingly important US partner in Washington’s effort to counter China’s influence in Asia, while Pakistan is a US ally, finding a new lease of diplomatic favour in the Trump administration.

The White House on Thursday said, however, that no Trump visit was scheduled to Pakistan “at this time” after widespread local reports of a trip.

The April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people and led to heavy fighting between the two sides in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry.

New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility, while calling for a neutral investigation.

Washington condemned the attack but did not directly blame Islamabad.

On May 7, Indian jets bombed sites across the border that New Delhi described as “terrorist infrastructure”, setting off an exchange of attacks between the two countries by fighter jets, missiles, drones, and artillery that killed dozens until the ceasefire was reached.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah’s prison release on July 25 is conditional: He must leave France and never return. 

A French court has ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for his role in the killings of two foreign diplomats in France in the early 1980s.

The Paris Appeals Court ordered on Thursday that Abdallah, 74, be freed from a prison in southern France on July 25 on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.

The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for complicity in the 1982 murders of United States military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.

First detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987, Abdallah is one of the longest serving prisoners in France as most prisoners serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.

The detainee’s brother, Robert Abdallah, told the AFP news agency in Lebanon on Thursday that he was overjoyed by the news.

“We’re delighted. I didn’t expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,” he was quoted as saying. “For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from Israeli and US pressures.”

Abdallah’s lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset also welcomed the decision: “It’s both a judicial victory and a political scandal that he was not released earlier.”

Abdallah is expected to be deported to Lebanon.

Prosecutors may file an appeal with France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, but it is not expected to be processed quickly enough to halt his release next week.

Abdallah has been up for release for 25 years, but the US – a civil party to the case – has consistently opposed his leaving prison. Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail and had written to the appeals court to say they would organise his return home to Beirut.

In November, a French court ordered his release on the condition Abdallah leaves France.

But French prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision, which was consequently suspended.

A verdict was supposed to have been delivered in February, but the Paris Appeals Court postponed it, saying it was unclear whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs – something he has consistently refused to do.

The court re-examined the latest request for his release last month.

During the closed-door hearing, Chalanset told the judges that 16,000 euros ($18,535) had been placed in the prisoner’s bank account and were at the disposal of civil parties in the case, including the US.

Abdallah, who has never expressed regret for his actions, has always insisted he is a “fighter” who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a “criminal”.

The Paris court has described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed “no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts”.

Abdallah still enjoys some support from several public figures in France, including left-wing members of parliament and Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, but has mostly been forgotten by the general public.

July 12 (UPI) — Poland on Saturday scrambled fighter jets in response to Russian military aircraft near its border with Ukraine.

“Attention. Due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, conducting strikes on targets located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation have begun operations in Polish airspace,” the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said on X.

“Duty fighter pairs have been scrambled, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness.”

Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least two people and injured more than 20 others overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on X.

The attacks targeted Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Sumy, Lviv and Bukovyna regions and involved 26 cruise missiles and 597 attack drones, Zelensky said in the post.

Ukrainian officials separately reported at least 13 civilian deaths and 46 injuries over the previous 24 hours due to Russian missile strikes.

Poland later canceled its military alert.

“The operation of Polish and allied aviation in our airspace has been concluded due to the cessation of long-range aviation strikes by the Russian Federation on Ukraine,” the country’s armed forces said in a different statement.

“Activated ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have returned to standard operational activities. We thank you for the allied support NATO.”

Zelensky on Friday met with U.S. lawmakers in Rome at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. The Ukrainian president said during the conference he was prioritizing strengthening the country’s air defenses.

The mind games began before the opening bell, when Catterall sent Conor Benn – who was defeated by Harlem’s cousin, Chris Eubank Jr, in their April grudge match – to inspect Eubank’s hand-wrapping.

“Didn’t want to miss this,” Benn quipped during the awkward encounter, before returning to Catterall’s dressing room to report, “[Eubank’s] head has gone”, as the pair embraced.

Inside the ring, Eubank smiled nervously through a tentative opening as Catterall, as expected, edged the early rounds with his superior skill and ring IQ, though without fully imposing himself.

Eubank, who has gained popularity through his appearances on free-to-air television, began to land single shots, but it was apparent he was second best against the more accomplished fighter.

With career wins over Josh Taylor, Jorge Linares, and Regis Prograis, Catterall’s class was clear.

But the pair tumbled to the canvas in the third, and again in a messy sixth. Then came the accidental clash, followed by Eubank striking the back of Catterall’s head.

The home favourite returned to his corner to have the blood wiped away – an action not allowed mid-round.

Given the severity of Catterall’s cut, the bout was waved off at one second into the seventh, prompting boos from a 5,000 strong crowd.

Afterwards, promoter Eddie Hearn dismissed talk of a rematch and said Catterall would be manoeuvred back into world title contention.

Downing Street says the purchase will be the ‘biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation’.

The United Kingdom plans to buy at least a dozen F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, in what will be the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office says.

Starmer will make an announcement about the purchase, which will allow the UK’s air force to carry nuclear weapons for the first time since the end of the Cold War, at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, where NATO leaders are expected to approve a major boost to their defence spending.

The UK’s nuclear deterrence capability is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles.

“In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security,” Starmer said in a statement.

“These F35 dual-capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our Allies.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in the statement that he strongly welcomed the announcement, describing it as “yet another robust British contribution to NATO”.

‘Dual-capable’ fighter jets

The F-35A, produced by United States company Lockheed Martin, is similar to the F-35B currently used by the UK air force, but can carry nuclear bombs in addition to conventional weapons.

Seven NATO members, including the US, Germany and Italy, already have dual-capable planes on European territory capable of carrying the same US B61 nuclear warheads that the UK will likely carry, the AFP news agency reported.

The aircraft would be deployed as NATO’s nuclear dual-capable aircraft mission, strengthening the alliance’s nuclear deterrence posture, Downing Street said.

The new jets would be based at the Marham airbase, with the acquisition of the planes expected to support 20,000 jobs in the UK, the statement said, as 15 percent of the global supply chain for the jets is based in the country.

Europe re-arms

NATO’s 32 members are expected to approve a major hike in targets for the defence spending, from 2 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), at the summit in The Hague.

The UK has already committed to meeting the spending target, and has announced major investments in building new attack submarines and munitions factories.

The boost in defence budgets follows criticism from the Trump administration, which says the US carries too much of the alliance’s financial burden. US President Donald Trump has questioned whether the alliance should defend countries that fail to meet the spending targets, and has even threatened to leave the bloc.

Other countries have also signalled they are making major investments in their militaries in response to the threat posed by Russia, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying Tuesday that Germany would increase spending to become “Europe’s strongest conventional army”.

The likeable Allen was introduced as ‘the people’s champ’ and received a warm welcome as he entered the ring.

Fisher – thanks in large part to his social media star father ‘Big John’ and their ‘bosh’ catchphrase – is one of domestic boxing’s biggest ticket sellers.

The noise turned up a notch when he made his ring walk to Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver, with just a small number of empty seats at the 8,000-capacity arena, nicknamed ‘Copper Bosh’ by Team Fisher.

Allen failed to land with his telegraphed overhand rights and Fisher snapped out the jab as the contest struggled to catch fire early on.

Fisher, who knocked out Alen Babic in the first round at the same venue last year, landed stinging uppercuts in the third and was given a warning for throwing a punch after the referee called break.

With the ‘Bull Army’ in full voice, the raucous atmosphere was strikingly different to the low-key first fight in Saudi Arabia.

Allen remained patient, waiting for his opening. Just like he did five months ago, he sent Fisher to the floor in the middle of the fight with brute power and determination.

Then came a highlight reel knockout which drew gasps from those in attendance.

The pair have remained friends since first sparring several years ago and Allen kept his celebrations on hold until Fisher was back on his feet.

Four days after India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire after a rapid escalation in a military conflict between them, key differences between their battlefield claims remain unresolved.

Among them is Pakistan’s assertion that it shot down five Indian fighter jets on May 7, the first day of fighting, in response to Indian attacks on its territory.

As a battle of narratives takes over from the actual fighting, Al Jazeera takes stock of what we know about that claim, and why, if true, it matters.

What happened?

Tensions between India and Pakistan erupted into military confrontation on May 7 after India bombed nine sites across six cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

India said it had struck what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in response to the deadly April 22 killings of tourists by suspected rebels in India-administered Kashmir.

Gunmen on April 22 shot dead 25 male tourists and a local pony rider in the picturesque meadows of Pahalgam, triggering outrage and calls for revenge in India. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for supporting the fighters responsible for the attack, a charge Islamabad denied.

Pakistan said Indian forces on May 7 struck two cities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and four sites in the country’s largest province, Punjab. It said civilians were killed in the attacks. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh rejected the Pakistani claims, reiterating that Indian forces “struck only those who harmed our innocents”.

Over the next four days, the two nuclear-armed neighbours were engaged in tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, while unleashing drones into each other’s territories.

Amid fears of a nuclear exchange, top officials from the United States made calls to Indian and Pakistani officials to end the conflict.

On May 10, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington had successfully mediated a ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Despite initial accusations of violations by both sides, the ceasefire has continued to hold so far.

Pakistan reported on Tuesday that Indian strikes killed at least 51 people, including 11 soldiers and several children, while India has said at least five military personnel and 16 civilians died.

What has Pakistan claimed?

Speaking to Al Jazeera shortly after the May 7 attacks, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad, in retaliation, had shot down five Indian jets, a drone, and many quadcopters.

Later in the day, Pakistan’s military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the warplanes had all been downed inside Indian territory, and aircraft from neither side crossed into the other’s territory during the attacks – an assertion India seconded.

“Neither India nor Pakistan had any need to send their own aircraft out of their own national airspace,” British defence analyst Michael Clarke told Al Jazeera.

“Their standoff weapons all had long enough ranges to reach their evident targets whilst flying in their own airspace,” Clarke, who is a visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, added.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed claimed that among the five downed aircraft were three Rafales, a MiG-29, and an Su-30, providing electronic signatures of the aircraft, in addition to the exact locations where the planes were hit.

The battle between Pakistani and Indian jets lasted for just over an hour, Ahmed, who is also the deputy chief of operations, told reporters.

He stated that the confrontation featured at least 60 Indian aircraft, among them 14 French-made Rafales, while Pakistan deployed 42 “hi-tech aircraft,” including American F-16s and Chinese JF-17s and J-10s.

What has been India’s response?

After Chinese state news outlet The Global Times wrote that Pakistan had brought down Indian fighter planes, India’s embassy in China described the report as “disinformation”.

However, beyond that, New Delhi has not formally confirmed or denied the reports.

Asked specifically whether Pakistan had managed to down Indian jets, India’s Director General of Air Operations AK Bharti avoided a direct answer.

“We are in a combat scenario and losses are a part of it,” he said. “As for details, at this time I would not like to comment on that as we are still in combat and give advantage to the adversary. All our pilots are back home.”

What else do we know?

Beyond the official accounts, local and international media outlets have reported different versions of Pakistan’s claims of downing the jets.

According to Indian security sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, three fighter jets crashed inside India-controlled territory.

They did not confirm which country the warplanes belonged to. However, with neither side suggesting that Pakistani planes crossed into Indian airspace, any debris in Indian-controlled territory likely comes from an Indian plane.

Reuters news agency also reported, citing four government sources in Indian-administered Kashmir, that three fighter jets crashed in the region. Reports in CNN said that at least two jets crashed, while a French source told the US outlet that at least one Rafale jet had been shot down.

Photos taken by AP news agency photo journalists showed debris of an aircraft in the Pulwama district in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Will both sides ever agree on what happened?

Defence analyst Clarke said if India has indeed lost a Rafale, that would certainly be “embarrassing”.

“If it came down inside Indian territory, which must be the case if one was destroyed, then India will want to keep it only as a rumour for as long as possible,” he added.

“India has said that “losses” are inevitable, and that is probably as near as they will get to admitting a specific aircraft loss for a while.”