The Air Force has confirmed that two F-15C fighters have been missing since about 2 p.m. CST when they were flying a training sortie over the Gulf of Mexico. The two fighters are from the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla. Search efforts are underway. Some local news outlets are reporting that the two F-15s collided. Air Force spokesman MSgt. Andrew Leonhard told CBS4 TV in Pensacola, Fla., that circumstances of the disappearance are unknown, but the service “had no contact from the pilots.” The Air Force has only recently returned many of its F-15 A-D model fighters to flying status after a prolonged grounding following the catastrophic breakup of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C in November.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.