Flying

Ever wondered what it’s like travelling from the UK to Spain without any flying involved? One woman recently embarked on the journey and it surprised quite a few people

Travelling to another country is exciting, but not when you have a nervous fear of flying. Whether it’s the stress of airport security or even missing your flight, it can become a huge anxiety for many travellers.

One woman recently showed how you can travel from London to Spain – without any flight involved. The great thing is, once you’re in France, travelling across mainland Europe can be quite straight-forward. Although it’s a given travelling via plane is a lot more quicker than car or train, but you don’t get the sense of adventure as much as you would by train where you take in the sights.

Spending two days on her trip, Claire decided to embark on the journey from London St Pancras where she rode the Eurostar to Paris. She said on TikTok under the name Claire’s Footsteps: “You can travel overland from London to Malaga in two days and this is how much it costs.

“First take the Eurostar from London to Paris and there are trains available for around £49. You can either stay in Paris for a night or take the 2:42pm train to Barcelona, this costs around £89 and arrives into Barcelona at 9:32pm.”

She said hotels close to Barcelona Sants, which is the city’s largest and most important railway station, cost around £65, although this varies on time of year.

The traveller added: “You could stay for two nights and see more of Barcelona or stop off at any of these nearby cities – Figueres, Girona, Zaragoza and many more options – and see them too.”

As for the next day, Claire boarded a direct train to Malaga at around 11am, arriving just before 6pm – a journey that set her back £58.

In the clip, she revealed the total cost of the trip, including one night’s accommodation, came to £265. People in the comments section appeared amazed by the total cost, although someone said it was time-consuming.

Someone else said: “I would,” while a second added: “Yes absolutely.”

It’s worth bearing in mind the overall cost of the trip can differ depending on when you book as this is just a guideline.

Claire, who provided a thorough breakdown of the journey in her caption, claimed: “The schedule shown allows travel across two calendar days: Day 1 London to Paris (and optionally Paris to Barcelona), overnight in/near Barcelona Day 2 Barcelona to Malaga.

“Staying two nights in Barcelona is an option if you prefer sightseeing or a more relaxed pace. What to consider before booking: Fares fluctuate with availability and sales; check Eurostar and rail operator sites for current prices.

“Connect times: allow buffer for delays between service if changing stations or transferring luggage. Accommodation near Barcelona Sants is convenient for the morning departure to Malaga.”

She also noted the overland journey from London to Malaga across two days is entirely doable and can amount to roughly £265 based on the example prices provided.

So will you be trying this trip? Let us know in the comments below…

The U.S. Air Force has officially decided that the B-21 Raider will be flown by a crew consisting of two pilots, just like the B-2 is today. The service had previously considered operating the bomber with just one pilot alongside a weapon systems officer (WSO), or ‘wizzo.’ The plan is now to transition some number of qualifying WSOs and combat systems officers (CSOs) to become pilots for the future B-21 fleet.

The formal announcement about the standard two-pilot crew complement for the B-21 came yesterday. This follows the Air Force’s announcement in June that an operational test pilot had taken the controls of a pre-production Raider for the first time.

“Following careful analysis of the B-21’s advanced capabilities, Air Force leadership determined that a two-pilot configuration optimally supports the aircraft’s mission profile,” according to an official release. “To maximize the lethality and survivability of the Raider, it is imperative to retain the deep tactical and combat experience currently residing within the WSO and CSO communities.”

“The Air Force is establishing a pilot transition program for select weapons system officers and combat systems officers who will be chosen to attend pilot training with a follow-on assignment to the B-21,” the release added. “Eligible officers will be provided with additional information via command channels when available.”

The Raider is still in development, but the Air Force is now aiming to begin fielding the bombers next year at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The stated plan remains to acquire at least 100 B-21s, but service officials have said they plan to roll out a more precise figure next year, which is widely expected to be larger. This will also have an impact on the total number of pilots required.

“The pilots will be 11B bomber pilots and the Air Force is still working through the number of B-21 pilots we will have,” an Air Force spokesperson told TWZ directly today when asked for more information about the crewing decision.

“11B” here is the basic Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) for bomber pilots. Suffixes are used to reflect specific bomber types that individuals are assigned to fly. This administrative code should not in any way be confused with the U.S. Army’s 11B Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) for infantrymen.

As mentioned, the standard crew complement for a B-2 bomber is also two pilots. There is also a small cot that allows for one pilot to sleep while the other flies during portions of a sortie, which can sometimes stretch across multiple days. Having two pilots also offers an additional margin of safety. That being said, for single-pilot B-21 operations, the Air Force could have provided WSOs with additional training to be able to fly the aircraft in an emergency.

“I think the B-21 is going to be largely like the B-2 in how it supports the crews,” Air Force Gen. Stephen Davis, head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), told TWZ in an interview with our Howard Altman in January. “There’s enough room for crew members to go on rest status. There’s a place to go to the bathroom, obviously, and to prepare food. All those things will exist in the B-21.”

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This was Davis’ first interview since taking charge of AFGSC, which oversees the Air Force’s bomber fleets, as well as other strategic capabilities. His predecessor, now-retired Gen. Thomas Bussiere, had been the one to recommend operating the B-21 with one pilot and one WSO.

“In terms of the crew complement for the B-21, that’s an ongoing discussion within the Department of the Air Force. No final decision has been made. Frankly, we had the same discussion on the B-2 on how it would be manned. And ultimately, they went with two pilots, in part because of the cost of the platform and the number they were producing,” Davis said in his interview with us when asked about this. “Actually, at the time, it was a requirement to have navigator or WSO experience to be a B-2 pilot. We went away from that over time, but that was one of the initial requirements.”

This latter point is particularly notable now that the Air Force has formally announced that it will transition WSOs and CSOs into B-21 pilots.

“With B-21 pilots, it’s a different plane, as it has a number of different capabilities,” Davis had added. “So we think that the right thing to do is look carefully at that crew complement and decide how to best make that the most capable combat platform we can.”

It remains unclear whether or not the Air Force might still consider single-pilot B-21 operations down the line. There was at least a stated desire for an optionally piloted mode, or the means to rapidly integrate one, as part of the requirements for the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program that led to the Raider. TWZ highlighted this all the way back in 2017 after we obtained a heavily redacted copy of a Department of Defense Inspector General report titled “Audit of the Acquisition of the Long Range Strike Bomber,” via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). That report was dated September 8, 2015, the same year Northrop Grumman was chosen as the winner of the LRS-B competition.

When reports first emerged that the Air Force was considering single-pilot B-21 operations in November 2025, TWZ pointed out that there were strong signs that a high level of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) infused autonomy had already been baked into the design.

While those capabilities might someday open doors to pilot-optional or uncrewed modes for the B-21, they could also be very beneficial for human pilots flying the bombers now. For years now, the U.S. military has been heavily investing publicly in ‘virtual co-pilot’ type technologies to increase safety margins and reduce workload for aircrew on fixed-wing planes and helicopters. This is on top of any work being done in the classified realm.

As we wrote previously:

“Since the early 2010s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been notably supporting the development of AI ‘co-pilots’ that could be used on helicopters and fixed aircraft to help increase safety margins and reduce workload for human pilots through a program called the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS). ALIAS’ work has been centered on Lockheed Martin’s MATRIX autonomy flight control software package.”

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“Other companies, such as Shield AI and Merlin, have been developing similar autonomy packages and steadily growing their capabilities. Merlin has been notably working toward integrating its autonomy software onto an Air Force KC-135 tanker. Shield AI’s Hivemind has already been integrated onto a host of crewed and uncrewed platforms. It is also worth noting that the B-21 has been in development for more than a decade, and its capabilities in this regard would have been way ahead of its time.”

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“An AI agent would offer a B-21 crew additional layers of redundancy and added safety margins, as well as just helping to reduce total workload, which could offset risks associated with having just one pilot. If the functions of that virtual co-pilot extend to offering well-formulated tactical advice, such as whether or not to attack, jam, or avoid a threat altogether along the B-21’s carefully calculated ‘blue line’ flight path, it could also offer an important boost in survivability and tactical flexibility.”

Otherwise, the B-21 continues to be a model acquisition program that has been able to stay largely on schedule and budget, despite at least some hurdles, according to both U.S. military officials and members of Congress. In February, the Air Force announced that it was boosting the rate of production of the bombers to help accelerate their fielding.

When the first B-21 touches down at Ellsworth Air Force Base, we can now expect it to be flown by a crew consisting of two pilots.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

RYANAIR has warned that consistent technical failures could result in chaos for families heading on holiday this summer.

This comes after an issue earlier this week that caused hundreds of flights to be delayed by up to three hours.

A disruption to UK air traffic control (ATC) involving the Met Office caused earlier this week caused huge issues for airlines.

A technical fault at the Met Office meant that National Air Traffic Services (NATS) were unable to access weather data – so planes were not safely able to take off.

The issue delayed 155 Ryanair flights and impacted almost 30,000 of its passengers.

On July 7, Ryanair reported delays of up to three hours.

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easyJet also experienced disruption too with 253 of its flights delayed.

Ryanair has now accused NATS of repeatedly failing passengers and has warned of further delays if it continues.

Ryanair Chief Operations Officer, Neal McMahon said: “Nearly three years after NATS’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, UK passengers are once again being delayed because NATS’ systems have failed.”

“The most astonishing part is that NATS continues to charge airlines and passengers more every year while delivering a worse service.”

He added: “UK passengers deserve better. Airlines deserve better. NATS’ staff deserve better.”

As a result, Ryanair has called on NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, to resign.

A NATS spokesperson told Sun Travel: “A Met Office technical issue overnight on 6/7 July meant that we were not receiving vital weather information into our NATS systems for a short period of time.

“Accurate weather information is vital for air traffic controllers and pilots in managing flights safely. As a result, some air traffic restrictions were put in place and removed soon after.

“We continue to work with the Met Office who are working to fully resolve the problem.”

A Met Office spokesperson added: “An issue we had which temporarily delayed delivery of some of our data is now remedied.

“We know customers rely on our data and we’re sorry for the disruption this caused.”

A mother has been left stranded with her two-year-old daughter after a new passport rule that was ‘quietly introduced’ prevented them from flying back to the UK

A new passport rule left a mum and her two-year-old daughter stranded abroad with no way of getting home.

Tegan van der Merwe, 25, and her toddler were refused permission to fly back to the UK, despite living in Britain for more than two decades. Now they’re trapped in Mallorca and fear they could be there for weeks.

She said: “It’s a terrifying situation to be in with a young child – we’re not safe here. We had to find the cheapest place to stay next to a strip of drunk people because we are completely stranded.”

The mum, from Manchester, had travelled to Palma de Mallorca for a five-day holiday with her daughter. But she said they were stopped at immigration because they both travel on Dutch passports, despite her holding settled status and her daughter automatically qualifying for British citizenship after being born in the UK.

She said they were later told the problem stemmed from a rule introduced in February requiring British dual citizens to prove their right to live in the UK before travelling. Under the changes, travellers can no longer rely on a foreign passport alone and must instead carry a valid British passport or a Certificate of Entitlement.

Left with no way home, Tegan and her daughter were advised to visit the British Consulate in Palma. They have since been forced to leave their hotel and move into a cheaper self-catering apartment close to a busy strip near Magaluf left with no way home.

Tegan travelled to the consulate on Monday, catching buses before walking for more than an hour in the heat with her daughter. But she claimed she was met with a hostile response when she arrived.

She told the Daily Mail: “The consulate wouldn’t even open the door. I was told to speak to someone over the phone and put a Spanish address to get documents to apply for a British passport sent to me.

“We were also told we had to get photocopies of everything – which meant walking even further and getting buses to try and find a post office or library which had a printer.”

Tegan said she then paid 60 euros to send off the forms and feared she could now be stranded in Spain for up to six weeks while waiting for the passports to be processed. She now has little money left after spending much of it on the holiday, and is unable to earn an income while stuck overseas.

She said: “She has her ups and downs throughout the day, we’re just trying to make it as normal as we can for her. I’m just worrying about where the money is coming from, stressing about everything, and worrying that ultimately we could end up on the street if we don’t get help.”

The ordeal has also left Tegan facing problems back in the UK. She said she has been forced to hand in notice on the home she rents in Manchester because she cannot work while stranded abroad, and now expects to move in with her mother once they are eventually able to return.

The experience has left Tegan wanting to “renounce” both her and her daughter’s British citizenship after feeling completely “abandoned by the Government”.

She added: “I don’t want to live in the country anymore, the way we have been treated. It’s like we are criminals – why can a two-year-old not re-enter the country and at least be held and questioned there? It’s terrible.”

The U.S. Navy continues to make use of MQ-1 Predators as test and training assets, eight years after the U.S. Air Force retired the iconic drones. TWZ was first to report that the Air Force was looking at transferring some of its remaining Predators to the Navy back in 2019, but it was unclear what came of those discussions in the end. Now we know.

The Air Force officially retired the MQ-1 in 2018. At that time, the service still had dozens of these drones in its inventory. More than 50 Predators were heavily cannibalized for parts they shared with their newer cousin, the MQ-9 Reaper. A number of demilitarized examples were also put on display. Today, 15 MQ-1s remain in storage at the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and are technically the property of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Then there’s the matter of the MQ-1s that went to the Navy.

“In 2019, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) received 20 MQ-1 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force,” a spokesperson for NAWCWD, part of the Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), confirmed to TWZ. “These aircraft were redesignated as NMQ-1Bs to support our mission.”

The new nomenclature here is notable. In the U.S. military’s joint service designation system for aircraft and missiles, the prefix “N” refers to platforms that have been modified in some way, typically for testing purposes, that are not readily reversible. One of the better-known examples of this is the Air Force’s secretive NT-43A radar cross-section measurement platform, a heavily modified Boeing 737-200 with a completely new and enlarged nose, as well as a huge radome extending from the tail. Other “N” aircraft that various branches of the U.S. military have operated over the years have had far less dramatic modifications. How exactly the NMQ-1B configuration differs from a typical MQ-1B is unclear.

“NAWCWD is an RDT&E [research, development, test and evaluation] command and the platforms were acquired to support our targets department,” they added when asked for more information. “The NMQ-1B platform is being used for test and training. We have nothing further to provide at this time.”

TWZ had reached out to the Navy for more details after the Air Force had also confirmed the transfer of the MQ-1s. We had asked the Air Force about the status of any Predators still in its inventory after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the loss of an “MQ-1” to Iranian fire at the end of May. By all indications, what Iran shot down was actually a U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a design that evolved from the Predator, but that is distinctly different.

When the Air Force retired the MQ-1, the service still had dozens of airworthy examples. TWZ pointed out at the time that at least a portion of them could end up as targets for air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons, as well as sensor testing and other weapons testing. The fact that NAWCWD says it is still using the drones today would seem to point more to the latter than the former, though anti-air missile testing does not necessarily have to entail the destruction of the target.

For instance, certain kinds of testing of some missile seekers can be done without it ever leaving a rail on an aircraft or a launcher on the ground. The Navy and Air Force test communities also use specialized podded systems to support the development and evaluation of new and improved seekers for anti-air missiles, something we have explored in detail in the past. Even live fire tests do not always result in the target being destroyed if that is not the intended outcome. Just by removing the warhead, missiles will still pass within lethal distance with their proximity fuzes being triggered to confirm a simulated kill. The missile will fly on, and the target will survive to live another day.

As noted, at least based on the NMQ-1B designation, the Navy’s Predators have been altered in some significant way. One possibility is that they have been modified to be able to mimic an array of different radar, infrared, and/or other signatures. In this way, a Predator could offer a lower-cost and long-endurance flying asset capable of replicating a variety of aerial threats to support testing and training requirements. The U.S. military already uses smaller crewed aircraft as surrogates for cruise missiles and long-range kamikaze drones, as can be seen in the TWZ video below. This is in addition to target drones specifically built for this purpose.

These aircraft masquerade as enemy Shahed-136 drones during U.S. military war games

The NMQ-1Bs could also be modified in a variety of other ways to support more specific NAWCWD requirements, or to make them more adaptable to meet changing demands. The standard MQ-1B variant also features two underwing hardpoints that could be used to carry various stores, such as countermeasures and small munitions. This would further expand the Predator’s flexibility as a test and training asset from one sortie to the next. Being able to more readily modify or swap out the drone’s internal systems, as well as the software running them, would also be a boon for its current role.

Despite being housed within NAWCWD’s targets department, depending on their current configuration, the NMQ-1Bs could also help monitor missile and other test activities, or even act as signal relays. Before armed MQ-1 versions arrived, RQ-1 Predators were already flying surveillance and reconnaissance missions using infrared and electro-optical full-motion video cameras in turrets under their noses. The drones could also be fitted with small radars with synthetic aperture modes capable of capturing still imagery, even through cloud cover, smoke, and dust, and at night.

News that the Navy is still using Predators for testing and training purposes certainly comes at a time when drone threats at home and abroad have become firmly top of mind for the U.S. military. For American authorities, the ability of long-range kamikaze drones, in particular, to hold prized assets at risk was just highlighted by the latest conflict with Iran. Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, as well as other conflicts globally in recent years, have also underscored this reality. For years now, TWZ has been calling attention to the dangers that various tiers of uncrewed aerial systems pose, which are only set to continue to expand in scale and scope.

Confirmation that NAWCWD continues to operate a fleet of NMQ-1Bs also comes amid a surge in U.S. military flight testing activities, and commensurate demand for supporting test assets. This is being driven heavily by a flurry of next-generation aircraft and missile developments, as well as efforts to modernize existing platforms to keep pace.

Around their retirement, there were rumors that the remaining MQ-1 fleet could be used to test cooperative swarming capabilities, including hardware, software, and communications networks. There is no hard proof that this occurred, but it seems quite plausible considering the timing and how well-known and adaptable the Predator was at the time.

Using surrogate drones in the development of autonomy agents, teaming architectures, and swarming capabilities is now a very well-established practice. The big question is that if these Predators are still flying, or at least have been since their retirement, how is it that we have not caught a glimpse of them? One answer would be that this work was done at clandestine test facilities like Area 51 or even less secretive but still somewhat remote locales. If this is the case, these aircraft likely have historic significance, paving the way to the autonomous air combat revolution currently underway.

Overall, how much longer the Navy might continue to make use of the NMQ-1Bs remains to be seen. The service’s test community has already given the iconic Predator nearly a decade of extra life.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

ADELE is gearing up to shock the music world by making a comeback – and is already hard at work.

The elusive superstar singer vowed to take a “big break” two years ago.

Now The Sun can reveal she secretly flew into London earlier this month from her LA bolthole and has been writing and recording at Church Studios in North London over the past week.

In even more exciting news for fans, other famous musicians have been spotted there while she has been inside.

It all leads to hopes the 38-year-old may have collaborations on her next record, having never done so on the core work of her four albums.

American singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, better known as frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver, was photographed outside the studios last Wednesday.

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It is not known whether he is working with Adele, although in 2016 she tweeted: “Bon Iver’s music is one of the true loves of my life. Every. Single. Time.”

Gen Z heartbreak singer Gracie Abrams also appeared to be shooting a music video outside at the same time.

The studios are owned by producer Paul Epworth, who Adele has worked closely with throughout her career, and with whom she won an Oscar for James Bond theme song Skyfall.

Church Studios are also where she made parts of her 2015 album 25.

A source said: “Adele is spending at least a fortnight in London writing and recording music.

“She was in and out of sessions last week and will be back in there this week, but she is keeping a low profile while she is here.

“She feels safe at Church Studios and it’s where Paul is based, so it made sense to travel over for the ­sessions, rather than work somewhere else in LA.”

The studios were previously owned by Eurhythmics great Dave Stewart, and it was where the British band recorded their 1983 album Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).

Industry insiders believe the move is an attempt to develop a more English-sounding album, after her most recent one, 30, was made in the States.

A second music source said: “Adele has been living in LA for a decade now and although she loves it, her roots in London are very important to her.

“People close to her have been encouraging her to reconnect with where she grew up for her new music, because they believe it will help inspire something different.

“Her last album was well received but it was very Hollywood.

“People loved Adele originally because she was down to earth and relatable, so she’s trying to bring that back by drawing on inspirations in her home town.

“Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Oasis, Mick Jagger, Florence + The Machine, Culture Club, The Streets, Tom Jones, and her close friend Jack Penate have all worked at Church Studios before, so she’s in good company.”

Adele was born in Tottenham, North London, and later moved to Brixton and West Norwood in South London.

On her third album 25, released in 2015 just before she relocated to the US, she had lyrics about the capital and a song called River Lea, about the waterway running through Tottenham.

But 2021’s 30 was written about her divorce from charity entrepreneur Simon Konecki, which happened in LA, and made no mention of the UK.

After releasing the record, she ­performed two sell-out shows in Hyde Park, followed by her two-year ­Weekends With Adele residency in Las Vegas and a ten-night residency at a purpose-built stadium in Munich.

Now it is clear the mum-of-one is trying to soak up some British ­culture while she is here.

Adele was photographed in London nine days ago arriving at the 36th birthday party of actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Then on Thursday night she attended Messy singer Lola Young’s concert at O2 Academy Brixton, and the youngster shared a selfie of them together.

Fans have also claimed Adele was in the audience at a production of Romeo & Juliet in London’s West End on Friday night.

In July 2024, Adele revealed she planned to take a break after her run of Sin City shows.

She said: “I don’t have any plans for new music at all.

“I want a big break after all this and I think I want to do other ­creative things just for a little while.”

But in February, she flew to Rome for her acting debut in Tom Ford’s upcoming historical drama Cry To Heaven, based on Anne Rice’s 1982 novel of the same name.

She spent several weeks there and will appear opposite Hollywood heavyweights including Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult and Thandiwe Newton.

Two months later, The Sun revealed she was being courted to record a single for the soundtrack.

But although work has brought her back to the UK, it looks unlikely that a move is on the cards.

The Rolling In The Deep singer paid £47million in 2022 for Sylvester Stallone’s former Californian home with her sports agent partner Rich Paul.

The following year Adele talked about how she would find it tough to move back to the UK.

The singer, who now only occasionally returns to London, explained: “I get really bad seasonal depression, so the weather is good for me here.

“It is strange sometimes, because I’m very British. Because it’s a bit harder for me to go out nowadays, what I love the most about LA is everyone goes to each other’s houses. I like that.

“And I actually have made a lot of really great core friends. I didn’t think I’d ever have a real friend group here. I don’t want a bunch of celebrities being my friends — well, only celebrities.

“And my friends are actually from LA, Before I moved here, I’d never met one person who was from LA.

“They’re not famous and they’re great. And having a kid at school, I’ve got great mum friends. I do like it.”

The same year, she had an ­emotional exchange with British actor and presenter James Corden on his final Carpool Karaoke ­segment on The Late Late Show, before he moved back to the UK.

James said: “It’s been a brilliant adventure but I’m just so certain it’s time for us as a family, with people getting older, people that we miss, to go home.”

A teary Adele responded: “I know. I’m just not ready to come back yet, otherwise I would come back with you.”

She also said she likes being left alone in LA, adding: “For anyone that has never been to LA, you assume it would be the opposite. But there are so many famous ­people here that they don’t waste their time,” she said.

“I really miss London, but I miss the London from before all of this happened in my life.”

Since releasing her debut album 19 in 2008, Adele has become one of the 21st century’s best-selling artists, and won 16 Grammys.

Her second album 21 racked up sales of 57million, while 30 sold 261,000 copies in its first week to become the fastest-selling album in four years.

Now the pressure is on for Adele to continue her streak of success.

Having named her first four albums after the ages she was when she wrote them — 19, 21, 25 and 30 — it remains to be seen whether her next record will be called 38, her age now.

When 25 came out, Adele said: “I think this will be my last age one.

“I’m sure I’m wrong with this but I feel there’s been a massive change in me in the last couple of years.”

She later decided to name her fourth album after the age she was when she got divorced, and reflected on the future of her titles in an interview at the time.

Adele said: “I am just like everyone else in the world. I can change my mind. And I haven’t got to stay true to something that I’ve said — you know, I think the age thing is a bloody good idea. And so I want to keep going with (the titles). Or I might not.”

Our music insider added: “Adele feels the pressure with her music and won’t rush anything out if it’s not up to scratch with her back catalogue.

“She has been writing for a while now but she is taking her time with it.

“She knows there are always grand expectations and she is determined to only return when the music is the best it can be.”

MAFS Australia stars Bec Zacharia and Awhina Rutene have revealed they’re going under the knife to have their ribs “recontoured” in a procedure that’s illegal in Australia.

Bec, who became one of the most controversial stars of the latest series, said she had been flooded with hate by nasty trolls commenting on her appearance.

The reality star, who tied the knot with Danny Hewitt on the show, has previously been open about her drastic weight loss, losing over 4st.

In a new video with influencer Joshua Fox, Bec admitted she still had a lot of loose skin that she was desperate to get rid of as she flew to Bali for the procedure.

Speaking to the influencer, she said: “I’ve got a lot of loose skin, this is the most vulnerable I’m ever going to be because there are parts of me that I can’t stand looking in the mirror.

“Your body, your choice, what you feel confident with and what you feel comfortable, f***ing do it.

“So why are all these Karen’s coming at me. Let me get my ribs done.”

The TV star said: “No one wants to look like me, see this sloth over here.

“Get your teeth done, get your jaw done, get your skin done, get your nose done, trust me if I could I would.”

Joshua shared his fears, saying: “It’s not available in Australia yet because it take a long time for things to be approved there.

“I just worry it sets this new standard.”

Meanwhile, second bride Awhina, who starred on the show in 2025, said she was also planning to undergo the same procedure to achieve a more “hourglass” figure.

She said: “There was no way I was going to be removing ribs from my body where it’s protecting vital organs, I was really worried about all of that.

“But I looked into it, it’s rib contouring, where they are going to angle my rib inwards to give me that natural hourglass silhouette.

“I’m not worried that I’m a blue print for anyone else.”

Joshua captioned the post: “In a matter of hours, Bec, Awhina and the other influencers on this trip will all undergo the ‘rib recontouring’ procedure here in Bali. But why are they doing this? And do they think they’re setting a dangerous example?

“Ep 2 of the investigative pod series out now. Follow here for part 3 and our journey in the hospital.”

In May, Bec returned to social media after her ‘ban’ over a dress scandal as she’s mocked by her show rival.

The TV star endured an explosive time during her Married At First Sight stint with groom Danny amid clashes with bride Gia Fleur.

Just weeks after Bec was dumped at Final Vows her actions caused her Instagram account to be deleted from the platform entirely.

Bec claimed that her main profile was removed after she was reported by other users because she was involved in drama with an Australian designer bridal rental company reports Heart.

Now, Bec is back on Instagram and captioned a series of images: “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will NEVER hurt us.”

The images included a smiling Bec posing alongside MAFS bride Alissa Fay who was also blindsided at the end of the series.

Brides Gia and Bec clashed several times throughout the season after failing to hit it off just minutes into meeting during the hen party.

And after the dress scandal, Gia took to social media and mocked Bec saying: “In the light of what’s going on just now with some people losing their Instagrams and people acting at fashion week above people.

“Let’s be humble.”

Gia then modelled a $12 dollar outfit and explained that nobody knew them before the show as she appeared to then impersonate Bec.

Gia’s followers flocked to comment and one said: “Still attacking Bec.”

Another said: “Let’s be humble. Then goes on to talk about someone else… that’s also not being humble.”

A third added: “The impression at the end was funny.”

Awhina and show husband Adrian had a highly turbulent relationship.

They chose to stay together at final vows, but split just a few days later.

Those of us who have a fear of flying, also known as aviophobia, probably have all the same questions.

Flying fills me with dread, meaning every holiday is a rollercoaster of anticipation and anxiety. Aviophobia, or fear of flying, is remarkably widespread and, for those of us who suffer from it, likely stems from the same fundamental issue — our brains struggling to cope with an environment where we feel utterly powerless. Chances are we’re all asking the same questions:.

• Can turbulence bring down a plane?
• Can someone open the cabin door mid-flight?
• What if the plane gets hit by lightning?
• What happens if an engine fails?
• What happens if we hit a bird?
• Are budget airlines less safe?

Sound familiar? Sadly, while anyone can turn to Reddit or Facebook for tips from fellow nervous passengers, very few of us ever get the chance to quiz the real experts — the pilots themselves. Fortunately, I managed to put my questions to Simon Tranter, a pilot with 18,000 flight hours spanning a 17-year career in the Royal Air Force and 25 years as a commercial pilot at British Airways who is now head of training at EmPower Flight, reports the Express.

I also had the opportunity to speak with Dan Bubb, a former commercial pilot who currently teaches aviation courses at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Are budget airlines actually less safe?

“In the aviation world, the price for your ticket dictates your legroom and whether you get a free sandwich – it has zero bearing on safety,” said Simon. “Every single airline operating in our skies must adhere to the exact same stringent regulatory laws and safety standards. Budget airlines actually tend to fly younger fleets of aircraft, which means they are equipped with the newest safety technology. They save money on business models, not on maintenance or pilot training.”

Dan continued: “Budget airlines are just as safe as safe as more expensive airlines. Even though the pay scale is different, all airline pilots are trained and held to the same rigorous standard whether they fly a 15-passenger Beech 99 or a 400-passenger Boeing 747.”

Can turbulence bring down a plane?

“Aircraft are engineered to withstand forces far greater than anything nature can throw at them,” Simon explained.

“Higher levels of turbulence can be uncomfortable for the pilots, crew and passengers, but generally the most turbulence will affect a flight is intermittent and rather like driving slowly over cobblestones. Most importantly, if you don’t have your seatbelt fastened, a sudden turbulent bump can cause you to spill your drink – that’s one of the main reasons we ask you to buckle up.”

Could a passenger to open the aircraft door?

“It is physically impossible for a passenger to open the plane door because aircraft doors are designed as ‘plug doors’,” Simon stated. “Due to the air pressure inside the cabin being much higher than the thin air outside at 35,000 feet, the cabin pressure effectively seals the door shut with thousands of pounds of force. You could get the strongest person on Earth, give them a crowbar, and they still couldn’t open that door while we are in flight.”

Dan added: “In the past, we have seen passengers try to open the door, but they were unsuccessful.”

Are cabin crew trained to hide concern during an emergency that passengers are not aware of?

Dan explained: “Cabin crew are trained to handle emergencies with calm and discretion to avoid alarming passengers. Even though the situation might be stressful, pilots and flight attendants are trained to remain calm and keep passengers calm.”

Simon added: “Cabin crew are primarily safety professionals and they undergo rigorous, regular emergency training. If you look at a crew member and they look calm, it’s because they are in control of the situation.”

What happens if the landing gear fails to deploy at landing?

“This is something we practice to perfection in flight simulators,” Simon said. “Aircraft have multiple backup systems to get the wheels down. If the main hydraulic system fails, we can use an alternate system, or even let gravity ‘free-fall’ the gear into place where it locks automatically. In the extremely rare event that the gear completely jams, planes are designed to land safely on their bellies. Fire crews might decide to foam the runway, and the aircraft slides to a halt. It makes for a dramatic news headline, but it is entirely survivable.”

What happens if an engine fails?

“Modern airliners are built with massive amounts of redundancy,” said Simon. “If one engine fails, the aircraft is completely capable of climbing, cruising and landing safely on the remaining engine. Even if both engines were to fail (which is virtually unheard of), a plane does not suddenly drop but instead becomes a very large glider. From a normal cruising altitude, an airliner can glide for about 80 to 100 miles, giving us plenty of time to head for a safe runway and to re-start the engines in the glide.”

Dan revealed he has actually witnessed an engine failure mid-flight – it occurred during take-off while transporting passengers to the Grand Canyon: “We shut down the failed engine, declared an emergency and landed on the single, good engine without any problem.”

How likely is a plane crash?

“Statistically, you are far safer in a commercial airliner than you are walking down the pavement or driving to the supermarket,” said Simon. “The International Air Transport Association (IATA) say there is ‘one fatal accident for every 5.6 million flights (2021-2025)’. You’d have to fly every single day for thousands of years to statistically encounter an accident.”

Dan explained: “Given the rigorous training through which pilots have to do, the chance of a commercial passenger plane crashing is slim. As a colleague of mine likes to say, you have much higher chances of getting into a car accident on your way to the airport than in a commercial passenger plane.”

Why do passengers have to switch off mobiles during take-off and landing? Will they disrupt the plane’s system?

“The technical reason is that older phones used to occasionally cause a harmless but annoying ‘click-click-buzz’ sound in the pilots’ headsets, similar to putting a mobile phone right next to an old audio speaker,” Simon revealed.

“The real-world reason is that take-off and landing are the most dynamic parts of the flight. We need you alert and not looking at a screen, in case we need to give you important instructions.”

Dan supported this, stating: “Take-off and landing are the most critical phases of flight, which is why flight attendants are adamant about enforcing this regulation.”

Could a passenger shatter a window and what would happen if they did?

“No,” Simon stated. “The windows you see are made of incredibly tough, multi-layered aerospace acrylic, not household glass. They can easily withstand immense pressure and impact. If an outer pane were to crack, the inner layers are more than strong enough to hold the cabin pressure perfectly.”

Meanwhile, Dan also noted it would be “difficult for a passenger to break a window”, but referenced a harrowing 2018 incident in which a window shattered, apparently as a result of an exploding engine, tragically claiming the life of a woman who was partially sucked out.

Is it safe to fly during a storm? What happens if the plane gets hit by lightning?

“We don’t fly through severe storms,” said Simon. “Our onboard weather radar allows us to see them miles in advance and simply steer around them. If a plane does happen to get struck by lightning, it’s surprisingly uneventful. The skin of the aircraft acts like a protective shield (a Faraday cage). The electricity strikes the plane, flows harmlessly along the outside skin and through specific lightning conductors, and leaves through the tail. Passengers might hear a loud crack or bang, but the aircraft systems are built to handle it effortlessly.”

In 2019, a plane landing in Cardiff Airport from Ibiza was hit by lightning and passengers reported a “huge bang”. The flight landed safely with no reported injuries.

Are bird strikes dangerous?

“Most bird strikes happen at low altitudes, when the aircraft is at slower speeds near airports, and the vast majority of them are entirely harmless events”, said Simon. “Aircraft engines and structures are specifically designed and tested to ingest birds without catastrophic failure. As a precaution, if we suspect a bird strike, we will always make an assessment of any possible damage and let our engineers give the plane a thorough inspection.”

Nevertheless, Dan warned that bird strikes “can be very dangerous”, pointing to the famous incident where Captain Chelsey Sullenberger landed his US Airways Airbus on the Hudson River in New York City after a flock of Canadian geese struck and disabled both of the aircraft’s engines.

What happens if the pilot arrives at work extremely fatigued?

“We have a very strict, no-blame safety culture in aviation called fatigue reporting,” Simon explained. “If a pilot hasn’t slept well or feels unfit to fly for any reason, they simply log into the system and declare themselves unfit due to fatigue. The airline immediately calls in a standby pilot, no questions asked. There is absolutely no pressure to fly if you aren’t at 100%.”

How much does a computer control a plane compared to how much the pilot controls it?

“The computer — or autopilot in an aircraft — is like a highly sophisticated cruise control on a modern car,” Simon noted. “It’s an incredible tool that does the heavy lifting of flying the aircraft while the pilots are managing the busy flight.

“However, the computer only does what we tell it to do. We manually fly the aircraft during take-off and generally during the landing. The humans are always the ones making the strategic decisions. Occasionally, the autopilot will land the aircraft but this is only in situations of extreme fog when the aircraft is programmed by the pilots for an automatic landing and the airport is specifically authorised to apply the very special protections and safeguards needed for an ‘autoland’.”

What stops pilots from becoming distracted or nodding off on lengthy flights?

“We have highly structured protocols whilst airborne to keep us engaged,” Simon explained. “We are constantly monitoring aircraft performance, the autopilot function, fuel logs, cross-checking weather reports and communicating with air traffic control. On ultra-long-haul flights, we carry an ‘augmented crew’ (three or four pilots total). This allows us to take turns sleeping in dedicated pilot bunk beds built into the aircraft, ensuring that the two pilots at the controls are always fresh and focused.”

Is flying at night more dangerous?

“Not at all,” Simon responded. “In fact, at night the high-intensity lights of other aircraft and runways stand out perfectly against the dark background.”

Have you ever seen another aircraft too close to yours?

“Not in civil flying, but yes as an RAF fighter pilot!” said Simon. “Furthermore, all commercial planes are fitted with a system called TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System). It talks to other aircraft automatically and if another plane ever wandered even slightly too close, our cockpits would warn us and tell us exactly what manoeuvre to fly to stay completely safe.”

What does it take to become a commercial airline pilot?

“It’s a rigorous journey,” Simon explained. “It starts with strict medical clearance, followed by months of ground school training where you learn everything from meteorology to aerodynamics. From there, you start in small, single-engine aircraft to master the basics, progress to twin-engine planes, and eventually step into full-flight simulators to learn the specifics of the jet you will be flying for the airline.

“After a pilot passes all their simulator checks, they step into the real cockpit with real passengers. However, they are not amateurs. They are already fully qualified commercial pilots. During this phase, they fly with a highly experienced training captain (someone like me) sitting next to them, guiding them through the real-world nuances of airline operations until they are completely polished.”

FInally, what’s the most frightening thing you’ve ever had to deal with while flying?

“Honestly, after many years flying fighter jets in the Royal Air Force and later as an airline captain, the thing that would raise my heart rate in commercial aviation is a very, very occasional turbulent and gusty crosswind landing towards the maximum crosswind component allowed,” said Simon.

“But in fairness, after 44 years as a professional pilot it’s not overly difficult, it’s simply a matter of following procedure. As our training is so intensive, when something unexpected does happen – like a sudden change in weather or a technical glitch – fear doesn’t enter the equation. Your brain instantly switches into ‘training mode’ and you calmly execute the checklist. It feels like just another busy day at the office.”

Meanwhile, Dan revealed his most terrifying moment in the cockpit came when an engine failed during take-off while carrying passengers to the Grand Canyon. Despite the harrowing ordeal, he recalled: “We shut down the failed engine, declared an emergency and landed on the single, good engine without any problem. Even though we appeared calm and collected, our adrenaline was pumping.”

The airline offered a reminder to passengers who should check the advice before travel

Jet2 has guidance for all passengers travelling with soft-sided luggage. The airline has an important travel reminder on its website, which shares ‘top tips before travel‘ for all customers. The guidance highlights the importance of checking that baggage is strong and suitable for use before travel.

While many passengers use soft-sided suitcase, Jet2 wants customers to be aware they can be vulnerable. Highlighting the message on the advice page, the airline said: “Please ensure your baggage is strong and fit for purpose, to protect the contents and to withstand the normal baggage handling process.

“Soft sided cases and handles, wheels and locks can be particularly vulnerable.” Nonetheless, many customes might still choose to travel with soft-sided suitcases.

Regardless of their choice, passengers are asked to make sure they label all of their luggage carefully. Jet2 says: “Label each piece of baggage with your name, flight number, and phone number.”

When packing, customers are urged to ensure any important documents and items are packed inside their hand luggage. This includes any essential medications and cash. “Never pack cash, valuable items, perishable goods, important documents or essential medications in your checked baggage,” the advice stated.

Passengers are also urged to add a name tag to their bags and ensure all zips are closed before travel. Jet2’s guidance says: “Secure your baggage and ensure all pockets and zips are fully closed. Please note that the security authorities in some countries may open your bags without you present to make any necessary checks.

“At check-in, each item of checked baggage will be given a destination tag showing your flight number. Do not get rid of your checked baggage receipts (if given) until you pick up all checked baggage at your destination airport. Never carry unidentified items on behalf of other people.

“Take care when claiming your baggage at your destination, as many suitcases look the same. It is best to always check the name on the baggage tag.”

For passengers in need of new luggage, it could be worth browsing high street retailers, such as Dunelm, Primark, Home Bargains, B&M, or TK Maxx. Luggage options typically include both hard-sided and soft-sided suitcases and bags.

While some passengers might prefer to use soft-sided bags because they offer more flexibility than other suitcases, hard-sided suitcases could be preferable when you’re transporting fragile items.

June 9 (UPI) — A former pilot and captain for Air Canada faces fraud charges after an investigation showed he flew hundreds of flights over 17 years without a proper license, police said Tuesday.

Geoffrey Wall, 59, of Barrie, Ontario, was arrested June 1 after the investigation, which police called “Project Icarus,” CBC News reported.

Wall, who’d started his career with Air Canada in 1998, did not obtain the required airline transport pilot license in 2009 when he was promoted to captain, Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said at a press conference.

That license requires a series of written exams. Instead, Wall allegedly used fraudulent licenses for Air Canada and Transport Canada (the country’s federal transportation department)and then attempted to conceal that in a false police report, Milinovich said.

“This is very similar to a doctor who that is licensed to practice family medicine but is doing brain surgery in their office,” Milinovich said.

Air Canada said that Wall was immediately removed from duty when the fraud was discovered, The BBC reported. Airline officials said passengers were never at risk and that Wall was completely trained with a valid commercial pilot license, just not the ATPL.

Police said Wall flew several types of airplanes in a total of 900 domestic and international flights. The investigation through Transport Canada started when officials noticed inconsistencies with his license documentation in a routine evaluation. The Peel Regional Police then started a criminal investigation. The charges include fraud, forging documents and possession of counterfeit mark.

Wall is expected to appear in court on June 29.

Former airline captain charged with fraud after allegedly commanding more than 900 flights without required credentials.

A former airline pilot in Canada has been arrested for allegedly flying hundreds of flights without a proper licence for nearly 17 years.

Police in Peel, Ontario, said on Tuesday that they had charged former Air Canada captain Geoffrey Wall with fraud and other charges following a four-month investigation.

The Peel Regional Police said Wall, 59, had used fraudulent pilot licences to command more than 900 domestic and international flights between 2009 and 2025.

Police said they obtained evidence to suggest that Wall had deceived both Air Canada and civil aviation authorities about his credentials before his retirement in 2025.

While Wall did hold a valid commercial pilot licence, he did not have an airline transport pilot licence, the highest level of pilot certification required to captain commercial aircraft, police said.

Wall faces one count of fraud, two counts of uttering forged documents, three counts of possessing a counterfeit trademark, and one count of public mischief.

Al Jazeera was unable to locate Wall’s legal representatives for comment.

“This case is deeply concerning and strikes at the heart of public trust and safety, as the accused is alleged to have put hundreds of thousands of passengers at risk across more than 900 domestic and international flights,” Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said in a statement.

Air Canada said that while it viewed the pilot’s alleged actions with “utmost seriousness”, passenger safety had not been compromised, as all pilots undergo mandatory training every six months to assess their competency, in addition to an annual flight check with a certified pilot.

The airline said that Wall had “successfully met or exceeded” his training requirements and demonstrated “a high level of competency to safely operate large aircraft”.

The Canadian flag carrier also said it had found no other instances of non-compliance with licensing requirements following an audit of its pilots.

“Immediately upon Air Canada’s discovery of this, the individual was removed from active duty, and the company voluntarily reported the matter to Transport Canada,” the airline said in a statement.

Hassan Shahidi, a licensed pilot who heads the US-based Flight Safety Foundation nonprofit, described the charges against Wall as an “exceptionally rare case”.

“If the allegations are proven, the key issue isn’t that an untrained person was flying airliners, but that this pilot bypassed a fundamental regulatory requirement for many years,” Shahidi told Al Jazeera.

“The case could point to weaknesses in licence verification and oversight processes, particularly if fraudulent credentials were able to evade detection for so long.”

Shahidi said that Wall’s alleged actions did not appear to have exposed passengers to the same level of risk that they would have faced if an untrained pilot were at the controls.

“The larger concern is the apparent failure of a regulatory safeguard that is supposed to ensure trust in the system,” he said.

A French-made Mirage 2000-5F, streaking low over Ukraine in a newly emerged video, provides a relatively rare glimpse of the fighter in Ukrainian Air Force service. Compared with the more numerous F-16 fleet, Ukrainian Mirage operations are much less widely seen. Until now, accounts and imagery have shown the delta-wing fighters being used for air-to-air missions, primarily in the fight against Russian long-range attack drones and cruise missiles. The latest footage may suggest that they now have started to embark on air-to-ground sorties, too.

The footage, taken from a ground position possibly close to the front lines, shows a Mirage flying at very low-level along a tree line, before pulling up into a steep climb. Potentially, the jet was engaged in an air defense patrol before pulling up to transit outside of the ground-based air defense threat ‘umbrella,’ but this exact maneuver is one we have frequently seen for air-to-ground weapons releases from other platforms.

While the moment of weapons release is not visible, the flight profile is consistent with toss bombing attacks. In particular, the French-made AASM-250 Hammer rocket-boosted munition, associated with the Mirage, has often been seen delivered by other platforms using this technique, which is exactly how the weapon was designed to be used, among other modes of delivery.

After all, toss bombing is a key way to help mitigate the risks to combat jets over the battlefield, specifically ground-based air defenses. Russia’s surface-to-air missile umbrella is well layered and penetrates far beyond the front lines.

“Obviously, the lower you are, and the further away from the surface-to-air missiles that can detect you because of the curvature of the Earth” affect how far the bomb can travel, U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker, head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), as well as NATO’s Allied Air Command and U.S. Air Forces Africa (AFAFRICA), explained back in 2023. Hecker was speaking about Ukraine’s use of unpowered JDAM-ER glide bombs, but the same applies to Hammer. “There are tactics where you can go in low and do some things… and get back,” Hecker added.

The toss/lofted technique does not reduce the accuracy of the Hammer or the U.S.-supplied JDAM-ER, which both come as standard with GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) guidance packages that allow them to zero in on set coordinates even when employed indirectly.

Additionally, the Hammer can offer multi-mode guidance options with either imaging infrared or semi-active laser homing added in, which enables the engagement of moving targets and helps improve overall accuracy. This also offers alternative guidance options in GPS-degraded environments against some targets. So far, however, only the GPS/INS version has been positively identified in Ukrainian service.

Hammers come in a variety of sizes, but Ukraine is understood to have received 250-kilogram (551-pound) class types, also sometimes referred to as AASM-250s.

Safran Electronics & Defense – Missile AASM

To date, the Hammer has been seen in use on Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrums, which appear to be the service’s primary launch platform for the munitions, at least so far. Ukraine has also integrated the French-made bombs onto its Su-25 Frogfoot attack jets.

Hammer’s solid-fuel rocket booster also gives the bomb unique benefits. The manufacturer, Safran, says the AASM-250 version can still hit targets at least up to nine miles away (15 kilometers) when released from low altitude. This can increase to around 43 miles (70 kilometers) when launched from higher altitude.

In its original form, the Mirage 2000-5F was not cleared to use the Hammer, reflecting the fighter’s primary air defense mission in French service. However, in March of last year, France confirmed that the Mirages being transferred to Ukraine would have Hammer compatibility. In the past, the Mirage has been tested in France with a six-Hammer load-out.

Today, France confirmed that Ukrainian Air Force Mirage 2000-5Fs will be outfitted with AASM extended-range guided bombs, giving Ukraine another capable strike platform.

Previously, a French Mirage 2000-5F was tested with a massive loadout of up to 6 AASM-250s. https://t.co/qSPdQ5GLHR pic.twitter.com/g2mB8WEpVr

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 10, 2025

Earlier this year, the Ukrainian Air Force published a video including brief interviews with a Mirage pilot, as well as two members of the ground crew. The unnamed Mirage 2000 fighter pilot came to the delta-wing jet after serving on the Soviet-era Su-27 Flanker.

Український пілот про ефективність Mirage2000/Ukrainian Pilot on the Effectiveness of the Mirage2000

“Now I pilot the Mirage 2000, and my impressions of this aircraft are extremely positive,” he explained. “I trained in the French Republic together with French fighter pilots for about six months. I learned to fly and employ weapons on the twin-seat Mirage 2000B. Later, we transitioned to the single-seat version, the very aircraft I am flying now.”

Two Ukrainian Air Force fighter jet technicians, David and Dmytro, shared their experiences of day-to-day combat operations with the Mirage.

“Right now, we’re at a forward operating airfield, our third one this week,” David pointed out, indicating the missile-armed Mirage behind him. “The enemy constantly tries to destroy our aircraft and equipment. Our forward team keeps relocating from site to site.”

Ukraine’s F-16s also routinely operate from dispersed locations around the country, supported, among others, by a fleet of vehicles dedicated to helping maintain them, as you can read about here. Moreover, these kinds of operations, and the challenges of generating air combat power under the constant threat of Russian attack, are something that is being keenly felt in the U.S. military. After all, the Pentagon is planning to operate crewed and uncrewed aircraft from distributed forward locations in future high-end fights, such as one against China in the Pacific. These concepts of operations would also be relevant in the event of a major conflict elsewhere in Europe.

Project 61: an ecosystem for F-16s by Come Back Alive Foundation

Dmytro added: “During our last combat mission, we came under fire [from Shahed-series long-range one-way attack drones] and missiles, but fortunately, we managed to evacuate the aircraft and save our lives.”

The pilot and technicians praised the Magic 2 infrared-guided air-to-air missile that appears to be the primary air-to-air armament of the Ukrainian Mirage.

“It has performed exceptionally well,” one technician said, before claiming that it has a kill probability of “practically 100 percent.”

The pilot further added that the kill probability against enemy drones and cruise missiles stands at 98 percent. No mention was made of the Mirage’s twin onboard 30mm cannons, although these are shown in detail in the video.

As regards air-to-air kills, the particular Mirage seen in the video from earlier this year is marked with six silhouettes denoting Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles.

However, as the ground crew points out, another six still needed to be added to the same jet.

The prosaic reason behind this: “We don’t always have stencils with us at forward airfields… Sometimes we simply don’t have the time to apply all the markings.”

The reason the Mirage is less frequently seen in Ukrainian hands is chiefly due to numbers.

It’s unclear exactly how many Mirages have now been pledged to Ukraine by France. At first, France offered six, but last October, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would offer more. At least one has so far been lost in Ukrainian service.

On the subject of improving the combat potential of the Ukrainian Air Force, the pilot made a call for continued development, including “more modern aircraft [and] more modern weapons to counter the horde threatening us.” The appearance of the Hammer would provide evidence that this aspiration is being, to some extent, met.

As regards the particular deficiencies of the Mirage, the pilot said: “In my opinion, and in the opinion of my fellow pilots, this aircraft lacks longer-range air-to-air weapons.” He called for a weapon that represents “something in the middle ground between efficiency and cost so that we can engage the massive number of enemy aerial threats we face.”

It’s unclear if the pilot in question was including the more modern and capable MICA air-to-air missile within this assessment.

The first imagery of Ukrainian Mirages showed the jets exclusively armed with a pair of Magic 2 missiles, broadly analogous to the AIM-9L Sidewinder, rather than the MICA that the aircraft can also carry. At the start of this year, however, the MICA also began to appear on the fighters.

Unusual for a modern Western beyond-visual-range AAM, the MICA can be fitted with either an active radar seeker or an infrared seeker head. When using the latter option, the seeker can act as a ‘poor man’s’ infrared search and track system and provide target detection indication in the pilot’s head-up display (HUD).

MICA missile

The MICA uses a thrust-vectoring motor for improved agility and has a reported maximum range of around 37 miles, far superior to the roughly nine-mile range of the Magic 2.

Despite the arrival of Western-supplied equipment, Ukraine continues to rely heavily on its Soviet-era fighters. The entirety of its combat fleet — Mirages and F-16s included — is in the latter stages of its service life and needs to be replaced before too long. With that in mind, Kyiv is planning to bolster its air force with more modern equipment.

“If I had the opportunity to transition to another aircraft superior to the Mirage, I would probably choose the Rafale,” the pilot continued. “It’s from the same country, and retraining for the Rafale would be much faster than transitioning to aircraft from other nations. The Rafale can also carry the Meteor, a missile with very long reach.”

Thanks to its ramjet motor, the Meteor’s all-important ‘no-escape zone’ is much larger than for comparable weapons. This means the enemy’s chance of evading the missile at the endgame of the engagement, using high-energy maneuvering, is considerably reduced. Another advantage of being able to throttle the motor is that the Meteor’s autopilot can calculate the most efficient route to the target for very long-range shots. Ukraine now looks set to receive the Meteor to arm its first Gripen C/D fighters, now scheduled to arrive next year.

Meteor

Last November, Ukraine signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale F4 multirole fighters from France over the next 10 years. The agreement came less than a month after Sweden and Ukraine unveiled a plan to export as many as 150 Gripen E fighters to Kyiv — last week, it was confirmed that Kyiv plans to buy an initial batch of 20 of the new-generation Gripens.

While the Rafale and Gripen E/F would be the most advanced combat aircraft in Ukraine’s inventory, there remain glaring questions about whether the acquisition of one of these aircraft types, let alone two, is actually feasible, especially in such numbers, as we discussed at the time.

Today marks a significant moment, truly historic for both our nations – France and Ukraine. Together with Emmanuel Macron, we signed a Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Acquisition of Defense Equipment for Ukraine. This document enables Ukraine to procure military… pic.twitter.com/0qzG41IsnP

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 17, 2025

At the same time, the Mirage pilot would be happy to get his hands on any kind of modern Western-made equipment.

“If I were offered something like the F-35, Rafale, or Gripen, I would gladly, without hesitation, transition to that platform.”

The possibility of Ukraine using Mirage 2000-5F fighters in an air-to-ground strike role would mark an important expansion of their combat role. If the aircraft are now contributing to both defensive and offensive operations, they will be further enhancing Ukraine’s steadily growing Western-origin air capabilities.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

She shared how to make the most of your luggage allowance when travelling as a family

TV star Stacey Solomon shared a handful of essentials parents should pack before a flight in a previous partnership with Jet2. She said: “When I’m packing hand luggage, it’s one of those things that I really need to think about because I know, when you’re on a flight with kids, you just want to be prepared for any eventuality.”

Stacey’s hand luggage “staples” when travelling with kids include a variety of things that can keep little ones occupied and make the flight go a lot smoother for the parents and other passengers.

Packing your own snacks is an excellent way to keep kids occupied, save money on airport prices, and avoid limited options once in the air. Make sure that it follows airport security rules (such as no liquids over 100ml).

Bringing any games to play can help keep little ones occupied without the need for devices. Stacey suggested card games, as they avoid the need for fiddly plastic pieces or dice flying about the cabin.

She said: “Another thing I love bringing in [the kids] hand luggage is sticker books. My kids will sit and do sticker books for ages. They love colouring, but if you don’t want to pick up pencils from under everyone’s seat the entire flight, go with stickers – it’s a better option!”

Another thing to remember for a fun memory is a cuddly toy. Stacey said that Jet2 has a “really cute” offer for a free ‘Teddy Passport’ that can be filled out in the airport.

The scheme was launched in October 2023, and it’s still offered in 2026. Simply ask one of the check-in agents at the desk when you arrive to drop off your bags, and they will provide you with a complimentary passport.

A Jet2 spokesperson said: “After receiving a teddy bear passport, holidaymakers can then give their teddy’s passport to Cabin Crew when boarding. As well as being a fun start to the holiday, parents have reported that it has helped their children feel a sense of independence and given them some understanding about the process of travelling overseas from a young age.”

Stacey’s top tips for packing

Make a list: Stacey says to keep a list of everything you want and need to take away with you. Following a list means you will not forget things, overpack or potentially leave something behind at home. She said: “I know exactly what I’ve got if I refer to my list.”

Use packing cubes: Stacey said that she “genuinely swears by these” and they can be bought from places like Amazon, Argos, Dunelm, Primark and more. In her Jet2 video, the mum of five had her items sorted into categories such as cosmetics and sun safety.

Plan crease-free outfits: By not worrying if clothes will end up wrinkled, Stacey said items can be packed much tighter in a suitcase and can therefore mean extra room. She joked: “Stop going on holiday in linen – you’ll be ironing the whole time!”

The U.S. military has confirmed the loss of an “MQ-1” drone to Iranian fire this weekend. This has led many to question whether American forces are flying the venerable Predator again, some eight years after the type’s official retirement. It is also very possible, if not likely, that the uncrewed aircraft in question was an MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a related but different design still in active U.S. Army service. Regardless, rebooting U.S. Predator operations might still be an attractive course of action, especially to help plug gaps left by dozens of MQ-9 Reaper losses to Iran and the Houthis in Yemen, but actually doing it may be harder than it seems.

American forces “conducted self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk, Iran, and Qeshm Island this weekend,” according to a brief press release that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued late yesterday. “The measured and deliberate strikes occurred on Saturday and Sunday in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters. U.S. fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters.”

There has been a string of tit-for-tat attacks now between the United States and Iran despite an ostensible ceasefire between the two countries. The U.S. military also remains committed to a blockade of Iranian ports, while the regime in Tehran continues to take separate action to throttle routine maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Negotiations between the two sides toward a more definitive end to the conflict are ongoing, as well.

“No American service members were harmed,” yesterday’s release added. “CENTCOM will continue to protect U.S. assets and interests in response to unwarranted Iranian aggression during the ongoing ceasefire.”

What did Iran actually shoot down?

In response to a direct query from TWZ, CENTCOM declined to say whether the “MQ-1” mentioned in the release was a Predator or Gray Eagle. We also reached out to the U.S. Air Force to ask if it had lost a Predator over the weekend, and were directed to contact CENTCOM. We contacted the Army to ask if one of its Gray Eagles was shot down, as well, and were redirected to the Pentagon.

Army aviation units with MQ-1Cs are known to be deployed in the Middle East. In April, the Air Force notably released several pictures of Gray Eagles somewhere in the region, which misidentified them as Predators.

The AP initially reported that the drone Iran shot down was a Predator, but this appears to have been based on CENTCOM’s use of the MQ-1 designation in the press release and not confirmed. The outlet’s story originally said “the U.S. Air Force no longer flies the MQ-1 Predator, the U.S. Army still does,” which was inaccurate, and that passage no longer appears in the piece. While the Gray Eagle is derived from the Predator and has the related MQ-1C designation, it is a distinctly different design more tailored to the Army’s needs. This includes the ability to operate with a smaller logistical footprint and lower crew training requirements.

For its part, Iran has also described what it shot down simply as an “MQ-1,” and has released a video below that it says shows the engagement, as seen through an infrared camera. However, the footage is extremely low resolution, and it is impossible to tell what type of drone it might show. Iranian authorities (as well as the Houthis) routinely release similar, but generally higher-quality clips after claimed shootdowns.

Officially, the Air Force stopped operating the MQ-1 Predator in 2018. As of September 2024, there were 15 MQ-1Bs in storage at the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, according to data the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) previously released. TWZ has also reached out to the Air Force for an updated inventory of Predators in storage, and to ask whether or not any retired examples have been returned to service.

In addition, TWZ has asked General Atomics, the company behind the Predator and the Gray Eagle, as well as the MQ-9 Reaper, for comment.

Factoring in MQ-9 Reaper losses

Despite not yet having an official confirmation one way or the other, it still seems more likely that what Iran shot down was a Gray Eagle, not a Predator. Still, there remains the potential for the U.S. to have resumed Predator operations, possibly on a contractor-owned and/or operated basis, or that it may be considering doing so in the near future. There is one factor in particular that could be a key driver here now, and that is MQ-9 losses.

At a recent hearing, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach had called the Reaper “perhaps the most valuable player” in the latest conflict with Iran. In early March, we commented on how it appeared MQ-9 strikes were by far the most numerous attacks featured in CENTCOM’s ‘highlight’ reels during the conflict.

However, in May, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported that “nearly 30 MQ-9 Reapers have been lost in the course of those operations,” citing “people familiar with the matter.” On April 9, CBS News said that tally had already risen to “up to 24” Reapers since the fighting began in February, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

This is all on top of the loss of dozens more MQ-9s to Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in recent years. The Houthis separately claimed to have shot down another U.S. Reaper just this past weekend.

Air Force Lt. Gen. David Tabor, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, told members of Congress at a hearing on May 13 that the service’s MQ-9 fleet had dwindled to 135 aircraft. This is down from the 165 Reapers the service said were in inventory as of the start of Fiscal Year 2026, according to official budget documents. The size of the fleet had already shrunk from 231 at the start of Fiscal Year 2025.

“We are concerned about how they’ve attrited,” Tabor said at that time, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We’re looking at options to buy back as many of the MQ-9As as we possibly can right now, so there’s a bit of a short-term effort to buy back things immediately, in this fiscal year.”

“We are not divesting the MQ-9,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink also said separately on May 20, per the same report from Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We have had some losses in that aircraft, and we’re working to fill those losses, but in parallel, we are looking at what is the follow-on to the MQ-9 aircraft.”

TWZ recently reported in detail on the Air Force’s latest plans, as they are known now, for a successor to the MQ-9. This effort is the latest in a series of abortive Air Force attempts to develop a Reaper replacement that have spanned more than a decade now.

It is also worth noting here that the U.S. Marine Corps has acquired its own much smaller fleet of Reapers in recent years, and plans to operate the type for the foreseeable future. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also operates Reapers, and has flown Predators, at least in the past.

Last month, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported that General Atomics had “less than 10 new or company-owned MQ-9As to offer to the Air Force,” but that “there are a number of decommissioned Reapers that could be brought back online and refurbished by the company,” citing company spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley.

The Reaper, also more formally known as the MQ-9A, is otherwise out of production. General Atomics has moved on to the MQ-9B, an evolved design with significant differences from its predecessor. Any new Air Force purchases of drones in this family would have to be of the new version.

TWZ has also reached out to the Air Force with questions about Reapers in storage and any efforts to return them to service.

Could Reaper losses prompt a Predator comeback?

The scale of MQ-9 losses, as well as the continued heavy use of those drones, brings us back to the possibility of returning Predators to service, even if this has not happened as of yet. Before their official retirement in 2018, questions had been increasingly raised about the risks of flying Predators in anything but permissive airspace.

For years now, Air Force officials have regularly raised similar questions about the Reaper’s vulnerability, as highlighted by an abrupt attempt to stop buying any more of the drones back in 2020. A self-protection pod has been developed to improve the MQ-9’s survivability, but there is no evidence that it has been fielded on a wide scale despite reported moves to do so in recent years.

More recently, the Air Force has shown a willingness to accept significant MQ-9 losses. Furthermore, many of the missions that Reapers are tasked with today could still be performed, at least to a degree, by Predators with an equivalent level of risk.

The piston-engined Predator is a smaller, shorter-ranged, lighter payload, and lower-performance design overall compared to the turboprop Reaper. At the same time, this would also be mitigated by the geography of the current operating environment in the Middle East vis-a-vis Iran, where the distances between available bases and likely operating areas wouldn’t be too far. This would be especially true for sorties in airspace over and around the Strait of Hormuz. As CENTCOM said, the “MQ-1” shootdown this weekend occurred somewhere over “international waters.”

The U.S. military previously used Predators exactly this way to monitor Iranian activities in and around the Persian Gulf from bases in the region. An Iranian Su-25 Frogfoot ground attack jet notably shot at an MQ-1 flying over that body of water back in 2012. That is just one example of Iranian harassment of U.S. drone operations in that timeframe, which got to be so bad that F-22 Raptors had to be called in to ward off Tehran’s tactical jet crews.

Beyond their continued ability to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Predators can carry a pair of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The Hellfire continues to be a very relevant weapon, including for use against small Iranian boats, including ones capable of firing anti-ship cruise missiles or laying mines. Predators could fire them at missile and drone launchers, road-mobile air defense systems, and other Iranian assets on land, too.

Though the MQ-9 can carry a wider selection of precision-guided munitions, Hellfire has remained a key element of that drone’s arsenal, too, including in recent operations against Iran.

The video below includes a clip of an Iranian Ghadir class diesel-electric midget submarine being struck by what has been confirmed to be an AGM-114 Hellfire missile, likely fired by an MQ-9.

Reapers can carry much more ordnance per sortie than the Predator, but the latter could still provide a useful boost in interdiction capacity even with a smaller payload. There is an argument to be made that interdiction would actually be a better role than surveillance and reconnaissance for any remaining Predators. The older drones could be treated as being more expendable than their Reaper cousins, and more readily sent to hunt targets in higher-risk environments as a result.

There is a question of what kinds of upgrades might be necessary in order to return Predators to active duty, such as new datalinks to connect to more modern networks and ground stations. We also do not know what new training might be required to operate them within the context of currently available infrastructure in the Middle East, or anywhere else.

It’s also worth noting that other branches of the U.S. military beyond the Air Force could support a return of Predators to operational service, as well. The Army was actually originally the main operator of the MQ-1, as you can read more about here.

Back in the late 2010s around the Predator’s retirement, the Air Force confirmed to TWZ that there were active discussions about transferring retired MQ-1s to the Navy, either for use by that service or the U.S. Marine Corps. There is no clear indication the Navy or the Marines operated Predators in the end. At around the same time, the Navy was helping lay the groundwork for what ultimately became the Marines’ MQ-9 fleet.

That being said, as TWZ wrote at the time, the Air Force’s engagement with the Navy underscored how the Predator still offered relevant capability in a variety of operational contexts. We also noted that the steady miniaturization of sensors and other systems could open up new possibilities for the older MQ-1s.

If it is true that there were only 15 MQ-1Bs left in storage as of 2024, there is a separate question of what happened to the many dozens of other Predators the Air Force had in inventory when the type was retired. TWZ had previously raised the additional possibility that Predators could be employed as targets for live-fire training, as well as research and development and test and evaluation activities, or even converted into one way attack munitions.

What we do know is that MQ-9 remains in very high demand in the Middle East, now further driven by operations against Iran that continue to grind on. We also know that the Air Force has sustained what it has itself described as a concerning level of Reaper losses in recent years. It is unclear how many MQ-9s are out there for the service to ‘buy back’ or when its latest plans for a successor to the Reaper might bear fruit.

Even if the U.S. military has not currently put any Predator drones back on active duty, returning even a relatively small fleet of them to service might still be worth considering as a way to meet operational needs and ease pressure on the hard-hit MQ-9 fleet.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

MISBEHAVING Brits could be slapped with a permanent flight ban under new Labour rules.

Labour Ministers are currently looking at establishing a blacklist to stop abusive behaviour towards cabin crew and disruption to travel.

This includes considering how information about drunk and abusive passengers could be shared between airlines.

Currently, if you misbehave on a flight you can be banned by the airline you are travelling with – but other airlines would not know this.

If the new rules were to go ahead, it would mean that public officials could keep information about passengers, including a history of any bad behaviour during flights.

In an airport setting, public officials would likely include police, border force officers and immigration officers.

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The official would then warn an airline if the passenger was trying to check in with them.

Then, the airline could decide whether or not they want the passenger travelling with them.

The new system would be compliant with data protection rules, so no new legislation would need to be created for the rules to be introduced.

Having said this, data protection rules don’t allow airlines to share information about travellers, hence the need for a public official.

It comes as the number of drunken and violent incidents on planes has risen in recent years.

Earlier this month, a drunk woman believed to be British lunged at another passenger, causing chaos on an easyJet flight.

A government source said: “Everyone should be able to enjoy a pint at the airport, but anti-social behaviour on flights is totally unacceptable.

“It threatens the safety of passengers and crew, and disrupts hard-earned holidays.

“There are already tough laws in place to deal with offences committed on flights, but we are exploring with industry how we can better address this issue, ensuring we crack down on people who persistently cause chaos.

“Everyone should be able to fly without fuss.”

Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of industry body Airlines UK, said: “UK airlines have a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour.

“Additional measures for the most serious cases of disruption, including the creation of a national ban list, are an important next step in ensuring a tiny minority of passengers cannot disrupt air travel for the majority.

“We welcome the government’s support for further action and will work closely with ministers on delivering the right solutions.”

According to LBC, Phil Ward, Chief Operations Officer of Jet2, also said the airline would support new rules of sharing passenger information between airlines.

He said: “The creation of a national database will mean that, as well as being banned from flying with us, disruptive passengers can also be banned from flying with other UK airlines.”

In a recent YouGov survey of 5,000 adults, 37 per cent said they supported the proposal for new rules, with 38 per cent saying they somewhat supported it.

Only 11 per cent opposed.

Being drunk on a flight is a criminal offence and can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 and two years in prison.

A meeting will be held later this month where industry leaders will discuss the plans.

The Sun’s Head of Travel shares her thoughts

LISA Minot, The Sun’s Head of Travel, shares her thoughts:

Plans to blacklist drunk and abusive passengers on a nationwide database can’t come soon enough.

Onboard incidents have skyrocketed in recent years and a full ban on those found guilty across all airlines would be the kind of punishment that would have real consequences.

At the moment, while one airline can ban a passenger for life, data protection means other airlines are not alerted.

Having seen the chaos a drunken passenger can wreak myself on a flight from Cape Verde back to the UK anything that will show disruptive passengers there are real consequences is a good move.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has repeatedly called for a ban on passengers drinking in departure lounges but why should the vast, innocent majority pay for the sins of a tiny minority?

This proposal is a much more sensible way of ensuring planes are not turned into battlegrounds without punishing the law-abiding passengers.

WE ALL know holidays are expensive, and costs can rack up faster than a flight from Southend to Newquay.

So, as a seasoned travel journalist, it really pains me to see holidaymakers shelling out over the odds, and unnecessarily so, on their once-a-year summer break.

By all means, this holiday is your time to celebrate. Have a 6am pint in the airport ‘Spoons (sorry to Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, but I disagree with banning pre-flight beers) and sure, treat yourself to that pair of sandals you’ve been eyeing up in Duty Free.

But why are you still wasting your hard-earned cash on an aeroplane lunch?

I just can’t fathom it. And it’s not because I’m a food snob. 

The other week on an easyJet flight back from Greece, the young lad next to me was practically jumping out of his seat in anticipation of the trolley to edge our way.

I thought he was gagging for a drink, but it turns out he was after the cheeseburger (who knew easyJet even sold cheeseburgers?).

But sadly, this lad never got his gnashers on that beef patty as they’d sold out already.

“Ugh, I’d been looking forward to that all day,” he muttered to his partner.

I raised an eyebrow. What had the breakfast buffet been like at his hotel if he’d been craving this floppy-looking easyJet cheeseburger “ALL day”? 

He wasn’t the only one in an ordering frenzy during this flight, either.

Looking around me, I’d say at least half – if not more – of the passengers had ordered their lunch on board, along with drinks and snacks.

This wasn’t entirely a shock to me. On another short-haul flight I took earlier this year, the plane food had proved equally popular.

And although there aren’t any hard stats to back this up, colleagues have said they’ve experienced the same; it seems Brits really love their on-board grub.

Selfishly, I was a little relieved that my neighbour didn’t get his burger, as I’m not sure I fancied inhaling the stench of microwaved meat for the final few moments of my journey.

I mean no disrespect to easyJet, either.

Other airlines I’ve travelled on can’t rustle up a better lunch, even the pricier and fancier carriers.

That’s simply because they don’t have the equipment on board, nor the space to carry fresh ingredients.

There isn’t a chef up in the galley scorching tender steak on an open flame, because, well… health and safety.

It’s not necessarily the poor quality that I can’t stomach, though. It’s the extortionate price tag.

It would have cost the fella next to me £7.50 for the burger alone. No chips. No side salad. No drink.

And judging by the menu picture, it looked smaller than a bacon bap from Greggs.

I’m not saying you have to pre-make the entire family a set of sad sandwiches at home, but you can pick up some pretty decent bites at the airport these days.

Plus, these airport meals won’t cost you as much as the food on board the plane.

While matey next to me disappointedly tucked into his ham and cheddar toastie (a more reasonable £5.75) and his partner, the lasagne (£7.95), I was ripping open the paper to my huge spinach and feta-stuffed filo pastry. 

I’d picked up this local bite from a cafe in the airport, just after security, for under £4.50.

Said cafe had sandwiches, too, as well as crisps and snacks – all of which were cheaper and more generously sized than the on-board grub. 

And that was just at a teeny airport in Greece – at larger airports, you’re spoiled for choice.

If you’ve left a sensible amount of time to bag drop and get through security, then you’ll also have time to kill on the other side. Grabbing a meal is the perfect way to do that. 

To those who insist on eating while sitting on the plane, I say: just get a takeaway.

Sack off your aeroplane sarnie and pick up a Boots meal deal, which includes a sandwich or main meal, snack and a drink for less than the price of one sandwich on board.

At Heathrow airport, a Boots meal deal comes in at an inflated (but still more affordable than food on board) price of £5.50 – and the quality of what you’re getting really doesn’t differ that much.

Or if you really fancy a slap-up meal, a lot of airport Wetherspoons offer takeaway versions of their dishes, meaning you can order a sit-down meal just before boarding your flight.

You don’t need to leave things to chance, either.

Generally speaking, you can look up what restaurants and takeaway options there are in the airport before you arrive. 

It’s also well worth taking advantage of the Too Good To Go app that lets you collect a “surprise bag” of goodies from an airport cafe or restaurant. 

You’ll have to log in and buy the bag in advance, but it can save you a fair whack of cash.

For example, if I were flying from Heathrow this evening, I could pick up a mixed bag of pastries for just £2.69, a fraction of what they would normally cost.

Or if I were travelling from Gatwick tomorrow morning, I could pick up a brekkie bag from Pure cafe for a fiver, containing two to three items such as toasties, porridge and egg muffins.

That’s almost enough for the whole family.

Boeing is now conducting test flights of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone out over the Pacific from the U.S. Navy’s base in Point Mugu, California. The company says its main goals are to demonstrate the maturity of the design, originally developed for Australia, and promote export sales. The specific choice of testing location also seems notable given Boeing’s involvement in the Navy’s still-evolving carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) plans.

The MQ-28 has now flown at least three times within the Point Mugu Sea Range off the coast of southern California, according to a Boeing press release. The expansive range is routinely used for a wide array of research and development and test and evaluation activities, as well as training. Naval Air Station Point Mugu, part of Naval Base Ventura County, sits right on the coast, surrounded by farmland, with direct access to the range and minimal risk to bystanders. Its location makes it well suited for uncrewed aircraft operations, and it already has a major role in this regard in relation to the MQ-4C Triton and managing target drones.

MQ-28 first international flights

“This testing shows the MQ-28’s ability to operate seamlessly from allied facilities, which helps Boeing demonstrate the aircraft’s maturity and potential export opportunities to international customers outside Australia,” per the press release from Boeing. “Tests at Point Mugu validate autonomous systems while following required airspace, range safety and regulatory approvals.”

Boeing also described this as “MQ-28’s first international operation in allied airspace,” but it is unclear when the first sortie from Point Mugu occurred.

In December, the Pentagon released a video of Secretary Pete Hegseth visiting Naval Air Station Point Mugu with an MQ-28 clearly visible in the background. However, the drone seen in that footage also had an early-style paint scheme with high-visibility orange trim. Pictures and video that Boeing released along with its announcement of the Point Mugu Sea Range flight testing show a Ghost Bat with a two-tone gray livery. It also has an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor system in the nose, something not seen on the example in the Hegseth video. The MQ-28 is a highly modular design, with the nose section designed to be readily swappable.

There have also at least been indications of Ghost Bat flight testing in the United States in the past. The U.S. Air Force previously said it had made use of at least one MQ-28 to support advanced uncrewed aircraft and autonomy development efforts.

Boeing itself released a picture of an MQ-28, again with the early paint scheme and no IRST, at MidAmerica Airport outside of St. Louis, Missouri, back in 2023. In that instance, the Ghost Bat was displayed alongside the demonstrator the company had been using to support the development of the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone for the Navy.

How many Ghost Bats are currently in the United States is unknown. TWZ has reached out to Boeing for more information.

The MQ-28 has been flying in Australia since 2021, two years after the design was first shown publicly. Boeing’s subsidiary in Australia had already been working on the design before then under the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Airpower Teaming System (ATS) program. To date, RAAF has received eight Ghost Bats in a pre-production Block 1 configuration.

Boeing is now working to build the first of a batch of nine Block 2 drones, which are seen as an intermediate stepping stone to an operational Block 3 version. The Block 3 type is expected to be substantially larger and have greater range. It will also feature an internal weapons bay that could accommodate a single AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), two GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), or equivalently sized stores.

Boeing and the RAAF have already conducted at least one live-fire AIM-120 launch from a Block 1 Ghost Bat, with the missile having been carried aloft on an external pylon under the drone’s fuselage.

Uncrewed MQ-28 Ghost Bat showcases its combat capability

Block 1 MQ-28s have also been used to demonstrate other important capabilities in testing to date. This includes crewed-uncrewed teaming with RAAF E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft and F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters. The ability to operate from allied facilities that Boeing says the Point Mugu sorties demonstrate could be valuable just for Australia for future coalition operations.

MQ-28, Wedgetail, Super Hornet: Drone Intercept Behind-the-Scenes

Boeing has also been open about its interest in pursuing sales of the MQ-28 outside of Australia. The company has publicly named Japan as a potential customer and has said it is exploring potential opportunities with other unnamed countries in the Indo-Pacific region. In March, Boeing Australia announced a partnership with Rheinmetall in Germany to pitch the Ghost Bat to that country’s armed forces. A carrier-capable version of the design with a tail hook has been pitched to the United Kingdom in the past, as well.

This latter point brings us to what is largely absent in Boeing’s announcement about MQ-28 flight testing from Point Mugu: the U.S. Navy.

In September 2025, the Navy confirmed that it had awarded Boeing, as well as Anduril, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman, contracts to develop “conceptual” carrier-based CCA drone designs. At that time, the service also announced that Lockheed Martin was under contract for work on an accompanying common control architecture.

In April 2025, Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, public affairs officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA), had also told TWZ directly that “the U.S. has expressed strong interest in leveraging the MQ-28’s AI-driven autonomy and modular design for future air combat operations.”

As mentioned, Boeing is also developing the MQ-25, a production representative version of which just flew for the first time in April. Beyond the important aerial refueling and other capabilities the Stingray is set to bring to the Navy’s carrier air wings, the service routinely describes it as a “pathfinder” to future uncrewed aviation capabilities.

MQ-25A Stingray First Flight

All this being said, the Navy’s CCA plans are still very much evolving. The service, by its own admission, has been trailing behind the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps in the development of CCA-type drones.

Flight testing now from Point Mugu is certainly an important development for the MQ-28 program as a whole, and one Boeing hopes could open the door to new opportunities for the Ghost Bat. Whether or not that includes deeper U.S. Navy involvement remains to be seen.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The U.S. Air Force says it does not expect the last of its huge C-5M Galaxy cargo planes to be replaced by a Next-Generation Airlift (NGAL) platform until Fiscal Year 2050. This is roughly five years later than the retirement schedule for the C-5M fleet that the service had laid out last year. NGAL is also expected to supplant the C-17A Globemaster III, but the plan is for those aircraft to keep flying through 2075. The C-5s are a vital part of the Air Force’s current strategic airlift force, but they have a long history of being hard to maintain despite major upgrades in the past.

The latest sunset timeline for the Galaxy and details about the near-term plans for NGAL are contained in the Air Force’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request. The service currently has 52 C-5Ms in its inventory, all of which were upgraded from older B and C variants, the last of which were built in 1989. Service through 2050 means the youngest examples will be 61 years old at the time of their retirement. The Air Force also just recently disclosed that the C-5 fleet’s mission capable rate has slumped to 37 percent. The Air Force also has 222 C-17As, the last of which it acquired in 2013. Neither the C-5 nor the C-17 is still in production today.

The C-5M is the largest airlifter in U.S. military service today, and one of the biggest in operational use anywhere globally. In addition to just being able to accommodate much larger payload mass and volume compared to the C-17A, it has the benefit of being able to load cargo and personnel from the nose and tail ends, and do so simultaneously. The Galaxy offers a unique capability within the U.S. military for moving outsized and unusual payloads by air, including satellites and other space-related items. The services of the C-5 remain in high demand, as highlighted by support provided for ongoing operations against Iran, as well as during the build-up to that conflict, along with other contingencies around the Middle East in the past few years.

“In accordance with [the] Air Force’s strategic direction, C-5 Modernization Efforts funding supports Next-Gen Airlift (NGAL) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) and Concept Development efforts,” per the service’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget documents. “NGAL is projected to fully replace the C-5M fleet tentatively in FY 2050 and maintain the Strat Air [sic] program floor of 223 C-17 aircraft and 52 C-5 aircraft per the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).”

The Air Force is asking for $8.9 million to support the NGAL AoA and related concept development work through the C-5 Modernization Efforts line in Fiscal Year 2027. This is on top of $200,000 in funding received for NGAL in this part of the budget in the 2027 Fiscal Year. The AoA process offers a means to assess potential options and further refine requirements for new weapon systems and other capabilities.

“NGAL efforts will include but [are] not limited to operational analysis, concept development, and acquisition strategy framework to prepare for Milestone A approval and entry into the Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase of a major defense acquisition program,” the budget documents further note.

As mentioned, the Air Force released a strategic airlift strategy document last year that envisioned the C-5Ms being replaced by the mid-2040s.

“With an accelerated NGAL Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) in FY27 [Fiscal Year 2027] and an uninterrupted acquisition process with consistent funding, the first NGAL aircraft could be produced as early as FY38,” the Airlift Recapitalization Strategy document, dated November 18, 2025, said. “It is estimated the NGAL program will reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in FY41.”

“One NGAL aircraft will replace one C-5M aircraft until the entire C-5M fleet is retired. Then, the C-17A fleet will be replaced by NGAL at a one-for-one swap,” the document added. “Uninterrupted inter-theater airlift capacity is paramount for global operations during fleet recapitalization. Current recapitalization projections require C-5M viability until 2045 and C-17A viability through 2075.”

“We’re working forward on the NGAL to combine the view of the C-5 and the C-17 fleet, and figure out what the next strategic airlifter needs to be,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Rebecca Sonkiss had also told TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) annual Warfare Symposium in February. “That conversation in my book can’t happen enough, or can’t happen fast enough, candidly.”

Sonkiss is Deputy Commander of Air Mobility Command (AMC). She has been serving as the interim commander of AMC since her predecessor, Gen. John Lamontagne, became Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force in January.

As mentioned, the Air Force’s C-5s are key strategic airlift assets, but are also aging and increasingly difficult to sustain. Keeping the Galaxy fleet flying has already presented significant challenges for years now.

“I’m a year and a half out of the conversation. The last data point I got was from U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) commander Gen. [Randall] Reed‘s congressional testimony, where he said that the mission reliability rate, I believe, had fallen to 46%,” retired Air Force Gen. Michael “Mini” Minihan, who last served as commander of AMC, told TWZ in an interview in February. “So, if that’s true, then it’s still an enormous concern. I don’t know any part of your life where you tolerate a critical capability operating less than half the time when you need it. So C-5s are an enormous concern for me.”

At a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee in April, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told members of Congress that the C-5’s mission capable rate had fallen to 37 percent, further underscoring these difficulties.

“It has to be,” Lt. Gen. Sonkiss had said at the roundtable in February when asked if it was reasonable to expect the C-5 to remain viable even to 2045.

“Define risk. I’m not trying to be pejorative in here, but what risk would you like me to talk about?” she added when asked about the risks this might entail. “There’s a financial risk to having to sustain an older aircraft. And we’ve shown in the Air Force that we’re capable of doing that. The C-5, we’ve invested a lot of money to keep it on board, and it is, and there is no other aircraft that can provide the capacity that the C-5 does.”

“We’ve shown time and time again that when that aircraft [the C-5] is asked to perform, it does. And so we’ll continue to invest,” she continued. “What I would like to see us do, though, is move forward from having to pour that much money into something old to the pathway to a modernized fleet.”

Especially given Sonkiss’ comments here about the C-5’s unique attributes, questions have also already been raised about the viability of a common replacement for that aircraft and the C-17A. The Globemaster III is also an essential and heavily demanded component of the U.S. strategic airlift force today, but is a very different aircraft with its own distinct capabilities. In particular, the C-17 offers significant short and rough field performance that enables it to bring heavy payloads very far forward for an aircraft of its size, even in the absence of improved runways. It was designed from the outset to transport combat-ready ground units, including tanks and other heavy armor, to landing zones at or at least near the front lines, as well as drop paratroopers into those same areas.

Watch This C-17 Making A Gigantic Dust Cloud – Dry Lake Bed Takeoff

There is also the matter of an ever-expanding threat ecosystem, which the Air Force expects to include anti-air missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 miles by 2050. This will pose increasing challenges to advanced aircraft, let alone non-stealthy and slower-flying types. Key supporting assets, like airlifters and aerial refueling tankers, would also be top targets during any conflict, and even more so in a high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific.

One company, Radia, is actively pitching a new airlifter that is bigger than the C-17 and the C-5, and is being designed with a high degree of operational flexibility in mind, to meet the Air Force’s NGAL needs. Development of that aircraft, called Windrunner, originally started with a focus on carrying oversized components for wind turbines, and its projected range is shorter than that of either the Galaxy or Globemaster III. Overall, Windrunner is still in a very aspirational stage, as you can read more about here.

The world’s largest plane is being built to carry wind turbines

Lockheed Martin and Boeing, among others, have also been publicly showing various concepts for advanced transports and tankers in recent years. This includes stealthy types and blended wing body designs. A BWB aircraft could also offer a more limited degree of low-observability (stealthiness) together with significant internal payload capacity.

“I think there are options out there when it comes to large-volume aircraft that exist, that are being worked now, that can help us get capability quickly,” former AMC commander Minihan said in his interview with TWZ earlier this year. “And then I think there are concepts out there, like the commercialization of the C-5 fleet, that need to be taken seriously as well and apply commercial standards, commercial supply chain to increase the readiness of it. And between a combination of those two, I think that you can sustain what America needs to project large volume lift.”

There has also been significant overlap in work on future airlift concepts and potential designs for next-generation aerial refueling tankers, something the Air Force has also been hoping to get into service in the 2040s timeframe. The Air Force’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget shifts work on future aerial refueling capabilities from what had been called the Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) to a new effort dubbed Advanced Tanker Systems.

“We are shifting to what’s called Advanced Tanker Systems,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Frank Verdugo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Budget, had said during a briefing on the rollout of the service’s latest request last month. “It’s looking to offer more options than just NGAS, and to make sure that our future advanced tanker systems are more resilient and can operate in contested environments.”

What this means for when the Air Force might see a next-generation tanker enter service, and how that might factor into NGAL, is unclear. The service’s current aerial refueling plans include more purchases of KC-46s in the coming years, which will increase the total objective fleet size. Older KC-135s are still expected to remain in service for years to come.

The Air Force’s future airlift strategy also clearly has yet to fully solidify, with the C-5s now set to remain in service into Fiscal Year 2050.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Northrop Grumman’s experimental XRQ-73 Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (SHEPARD) hybrid-electric drone has now taken to the skies. Newly released pictures show that the flying wing-type uncrewed aircraft’s design has also evolved since it first broke cover in 2024. A core goal of SHEPARD is to prove out high-efficiency and very quiet propulsion technology that could pave the way for new operational capabilities.

DARPA announced the XRQ-73 test flight, which was conducted in April from Edwards Air Force Base in California, in a press release today. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) was also involved in the milestone event.

Scaled Composites, a ‘bleeding edge’ boutique aircraft design house and wholly-owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, has been heavily involved in the development of the XRQ-73. The drone evolved directly from the XRQ-72A, another Scaled Composites design developed for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), which TWZ was first to report on in detail.

“This milestone is not just about a single flight,” Air Force Lt. Col. Clark McGehee, the SHEPARD program manager at DARPA, said in a statement. “The architecture proven by the XRQ-73 paves the way for new types of mission systems and delivered effects. We look forward to advancing this technology through the flight test program and delivering new capabilities for our warfighters.”

“This flight is a step forward in demonstrating the military utility of hybrid-electric propulsion,” DARPA’s press release adds. “Hybrid electric propulsion architectures will drive the development of revolutionary new aircraft designs by offering a combination of fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and enhanced operational flexibility.”

“Developed to advance propulsion technologies for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (SHEPARD) program, the XRQ-73 advances next-generation propulsion for lightweight autonomous aircraft,” Northrop Grumman said in its own brief press release. “The XRQ-73’s innovative hybrid-electric propulsion system combines fuel efficiency, reduced emissions and enhanced operational flexibility – enabling new mission possibilities and supporting the evolution of new aircraft designs.”

DARPA had originally hoped to see the XRQ-73 make its maiden flight before the end of 2024, and what caused the subsequent delay is unknown. TWZ has reached out to DARPA for more information. What is clear is that the XRQ-73’s design has changed in notable ways since 2024.

Most immediately eye-catching is the addition of two vertical stabilizers, one on top of each wing. They are positioned near, but not at the very tips of the wings. It is possible that these might be removed as flight testing expands. The preceding XRQ-72A design also had vertical wingtip stabilizers.

In addition to the two large air intakes on top of the central section of the fuselage, there is now another, much smaller auxiliary dorsal intake in between. Details about the exact configuration of the drone’s hybrid propulsion system remain limited. There are also at least two new black-colored blade antennas on top of the fuselage.

A fairing with what appears to be a forward-facing camera system is also now present at the front of the center of the fuselage. This is likely intended to at least provide visual inputs for control and additional situational awareness during flight testing. The fairing also sits in between two additional rectangular ‘nostril’ intakes. We have noted in the past that they could help cool the hybrid powerplant and the aircraft’s electronics, or help provide additional clean airflow to the powerplant during takeoff and landing.

The XRQ-73’s design looks to be otherwise unchanged. A large, faceted fairing, very likely intended as a sensor enclosure, is notably still present below the central section of the fuselage. Test instrumentation and other systems could also be installed in that space to support the drone’s ongoing development.

DARPA has shared some other information about the design in the past, as TWZ has previously reported:

“No details about the XRQ-73’s expected performance appear to have been released so far, but DARPA says it is a Group 3 uncrewed aerial system (UAS) weighing approximately 1,250 pounds, which will include “operationally representative … mission systems.” By the U.S. military’s definitions, a Group 3 UAS weighs between 55 and 1,320, can fly at altitudes between 3,500 and 18,000 feet, and has a top speed of between 100 and 250 knots.

At 1,250 pounds, the XRQ-73 is set to be substantially larger than the XRQ-72A, the requirements for which called for a drone weighing between 300 and 400 pounds. The XRQ-72A also had a 30-foot wingspan, a length of 11.2 feet measured from the nose to the ends of the wingtips, and a height of four feet when including the vertical wingtip stabilizers, according to schematics The War Zone previously obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.“

What the future might now hold for the XRQ-73 is unclear. DARPA has previously talked about wanting to demonstrate a capability that could be operationalized relatively quickly with SHEPARD. The “RQ” intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) designation is a clear reflection of that, although the drone could be configured to perform other missions. Hybrid-electric propulsion offers inherent advantages when it comes to reducing infrared and acoustic signatures, and the XRQ-73’s overall design has low-observable characteristics that could help it evade detection by radar.

However, a cursory review of DARPA’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget does not appear to show a request for new funding for this effort. It is possible that it has been reorganized and/or rebranded, or has otherwise evolved in scale and/or scope, which is not uncommon for DARPA projects.

Last May, AFRL also awarded General Atomics a contract for a very similar-sounding “hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system,” or GHOST. That deal was valued at just over $99 million.

“We’ve been promising something impressive related to hybrid-electric propulsion, and now I can’t talk about it anymore,” C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told TWZ at that time when asked for more information. “That’s how it goes with these things. Contrary to what you see on the news, the revolution won’t be televised.”

Other relevant hybrid-electric development efforts could be ongoing in the classified realm.

If nothing else, DARPA’s announcement today does show that work has continued on the XRQ-73 since 2024, and that the evolved design has now reached flight test.

Update: 4:46 PM EST –

DARPA has confirmed to TWZ that XRQ-73 flight testing began in April.

“X-plane programs are designed to push the extreme limits of aerospace engineering, integrating entirely unproven concepts and revolutionary designs,” Air Force Lt. Col. Clark McGehee, the SHEPARD program manager, also told TWZ in response to a question about why the first flight timeline was delayed. “As with the XRQ-73, this effort involved resolving complex, unforeseen technical challenges during ground testing and integration.”

“DARPA will continue maturing the hybrid electric propulsion system through a short flight test campaign currently underway,” Lt. Col. McGehee added.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

South Korea says it is investigating an incident on May 4 when two unidentified objects struck a Korean-operated cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strike caused a fire and damaged the vessel’s stern.

Flights can be incredibly expensive, but this simple hack could get you free extra legroom in a bulkhead or exit row seat — just by asking one polite question at check-in

My first long-haul flight came at just three years old. When my family decided to emigrate from England to New Zealand, it meant I’d spend much of my childhood travelling between the two nations.

This is no minor journey – while people frequently complain about how far away Australia is from the UK, New Zealand is even further away.

At its quickest, the flight from London to New Zealand takes 23 hours, though depending on where your aircraft stops to refuel and the length of your stopovers, it can easily balloon to 36 hours or beyond.

As the years passed, I grew taller – and then exceptionally tall.

Now aged 31, I stand just under 6ft tall, and as a teenager, I wasn’t significantly shorter.

Attempting to squeeze myself into economy class seats became increasingly difficult with every additional inch I gained.

That’s precisely why these days, whenever I take a long-haul flight, I employ a strategy my mum taught me as an awkward, lanky pre-teen that significantly boosts my odds of securing a seat upgrade.

I must emphasise that this method doesn’t succeed every single time. Nevertheless, it does boast a fairly impressive success rate when executed properly – I’d estimate it’s worked in my favour roughly 70% of the occasions I’ve attempted it.

All you require is good manners, a friendly smile, and the confidence to handle potential disappointment. It’s simpler if you’re checking luggage, though it’s achievable without.

Whenever I check my luggage at the desk, I politely ask the staff member whether they have any bulkhead seats available or any rows with empty seats.

Even if I’m travelling without checked luggage, I’ll still join the queue and make an enquiry – frequently using the excuse of needing a physical boarding pass printed.

Being tall, I often point to my height and crack a self-deprecating joke about being squeezed into an economy class. If you’re polite and ask courteously, the results might surprise you.

I’ve been given entire rows to myself, exit row seats and bulkhead seats all at no additional charge simply because I asked politely.

This approach depends on fortune – if the aircraft is at full capacity, then it clearly won’t succeed, but occasionally flights have available seats and staff are willing to reassign you.

The crucial thing is not to become annoyed if the response is negative – always be gracious, thank the person at the desk for their time and proceed to your flight.

Israel’s first Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker — now given the Hebrew name Gideon, after a biblical judge and military leader — has completed its first flight in the United States, with delivery expected soon. As we have discussed in the past, new tankers that can provide additional refueling capacity to support its operations are much in demand with the Israeli Air Force.

New imagery of the first flight of an Israeli KC-46 — with national markings yet to be applied — came just one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at plans to develop “groundbreaking Israeli-made aircraft,” as well as referencing the approval for two additional fighter squadrons. As you can read about here, these will be made up of F-15IA and F-35I Adir jets, providing an eventual total of four squadrons of F-35Is and two of F-15IAs.

Announcing the first flight of an IAF KC-46, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said the tanker would be delivered to Israel in “approximately one month.” It is the first of six examples on order as part of what the ministry describes as a “wide-scale force buildup program.”

Back in 2020, the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of eight KC-46s to Israel, with the entire package having an estimated price tag of $2.4 billion.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Boeing a $930-million contract for the first four KC-46s for Israel. At this time, it was said that deliveries were due before the end of 2026.

On the back of very heavy utilization of its aging Boeing 707 Re’em tanker fleet in operations against Iran, as well as for other long-range combat missions and domestic ones, Israel added two more KC-46s to its order last year.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense says that the KC-46 will be equipped with Israeli systems and adapted to the operational requirements of the IAF. It is unclear what systems will be added, but Israel has a long history of adapting foreign-made aircraft with locally made equipment, and its tankers have been no exception.

One strong possibility is that the KC-46s will be equipped to serve as a command-and-control station and communications node. The current 707 Re’em tanker carries a satellite communications suite to provide critical, secure beyond-line-of-sight communications with appropriately equipped tactical aircraft like the F-15 and F-16, and command centers far away. This is especially important for long-range strike operations.

Were Israel to order more KC-46s, this would not be entirely surprising.

Currently, the IAF is assessed to field no more than seven 707 tankers.

The 12-day war against Iran in 2025 had already led to questions about the IAF’s aerial refueling capacity, and the U.S. government was forced to deny — despite claims to the contrary — that it had provided additional tanker support for the operation.

U.S. Air Force tankers also arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel in significant numbers earlier this year, when the United States and Israel launched combined strikes against targets across Iran.

Bearing in mind the problems of various kinds that have beset the KC-46 program as far as the U.S. Air Force is concerned, the IAF will be happy that the first delivery is still on track for 2026, in line with the original schedule.

At the same time, it’s not entirely clear how the KC-46s will be outfitted.

In the past, it was expected that they would be delivered with the next-generation version of the critical Remote Vision System (RVS) that has proven so challenging to perfect. Ironically, the Israeli 707s that the KC-46 will replace have long used a locally developed RVS that has apparently proven very effective, and which you can read more about here. We have reached out to Boeing for more details on that feature.

With its existing tanker fleet (and with or without U.S. refueling support), the IAF has demonstrated that it can sustain a remarkably high tempo of operations, striking multiple targets across great distances, as well as supporting combat air patrols and multiple other requirements.

Now, with its first KC-46 Gideon set to arrive in the coming weeks, the Israeli Air Force will begin the start of a long-awaited modernization period for its aerial refueling capacity, ultimately allowing the withdrawal of the antiquated 707.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com