RIAT 2023: US Air Force fighter jets and big tankers will be at next month’s airshow

The US Air Force has announced that a whole series of their fast jets and big skytankers will be attending this year’s Royal International Air Tattoo. Aviation enthusiasts at next month’s three-day event will now see some of USAF’s iconic jets, like the F-16 seen in Top Gun: Maverick, and its successor, the next-generation stealth fighter – the F-35A Lightning II.

With these USAF jets and a pair of KC-135R Stratotankers, almost 200 aircraft have now been announced for the air tattoo at RAF Fairford, which has already seen the tickets for the Saturday of the airshow completely sell out. The American military has also said one of their stratotankers will be conducting a flypast on the Saturday and Sunday of RIAT, and that an F-15E Strike Eagle will be available to view on the ground.

This year’s airshow, which runs Friday July 14 to Sunday July 17, will also now see the performance of the RAF Chinook Display Team on the final two days of the aviation extravaganza, while British Apache, Gazelle, Merlin and Wildcat military helicopters will be sent for static display – which will be the last chance to see the legendary Gazelle before it is retired by the Army Air Corps.

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The British military will also be showing off its latest attack helicopter, the Apache AH-64E ‘Guardian’, in its first appearance at the air show. This week the French Navy also agreed to send two rare naval helicopters, the Caiman and Dauphin, while the Irish Air Corps will send their AW139 & EC135, which have not been at the Air Tattoo for many years.

The Apache AH-64 on the skidpan at RAF Valley(Image: Daily Post)

The US Air Force planes that will be at this year’s RIAT:

Two B-52H Stratofortresses (Static display and flying)
Two KC-135R Stratotankers (Static display and flying)
Two F-16CJ Fighting Falcons (Static display)
One F-35A Lightning II (Static display)
One F-15E Strike Eagle (Static display)
One C-17A Globemaster III (Static display)
One Gulfstream C-37A (Static display)
One Learjet C-21A (Static display)

A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker with the 927th Air Refueling Wing, Florida refuels a B-52 Stratofortress with the Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, on February 26, 2021.(Image: 927th Air Refueling Wing/Public)

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