Aviation Daily Digest — July 22, 2026

# Aviation Daily Digest — July 22, 2026

Your daily 60-second briefing for pilots, drone operators and aviation pros — auto-aggregated from the industry's top sources.

Top stories

• The US Air Force Just Spent $143 Million On Software To Keep Its 1960s-Era C-5 Galaxy Flying — Simple Flying. The massive C-5 Galaxy will remain in service until 2050, as currently projected.
• 2 Defective Boeing 737 MAX 8s To Be Scrapped After Barely 6 Months In Service — Simple Flying. The curious case of two brand new twinjets being parted out.
• The 4-Meter Missile That Solved The F-35's Biggest Stealth Vs. Range Problem — Simple Flying. Why the incoming AIM-260 promises to be a big boost for the F-35A/C, having been designed around one of its biggest engineering constraints.
• Airbus Prepares To Begin Open Fan Engine Testing On The Massive A380 — Simple Flying. Airbus and CFM are set to revolutionize the aerospace industry with their groundbreaking open fan engine design on the world's first Airbus A380.
• The Hidden Engineering Problem Facing Every 6th-Generation Fighter Program — Simple Flying. The dilemma facing defense industrial design house around the world.
• Here's Why Australia Canceled Its Order For F-35 Fighter Jets — Simple Flying. Australia has extended the life of its Super Hornets, allowing it to cancel its final order of F-35s with the option to buy them another day.
• Why Boeing's Folding Wingtip Was Studied In The 1990s But Not Built Until The 777X — Simple Flying. Folding wingtips were neither necessary nor practical on the 777 until today.
• ALPA, NATCA, FAA Call for $20B to Complete ATC Modernization Push — FLYING Magazine. Officials praise progress made over the last year but say more support from Congress is needed.
• AirVenture Question of the Day: Wednesday — AVweb. What's on the agenda tomorrow?
• [Southwest's Massive Expansion: 25 New Nonstop Routes Unveiled [Full List]](https://simpleflying.com/southwests-massive-expansion-25-new-nonstop-routes-unveiled-full-list/) — Simple Flying. 22 are domestic and three are international. See them all here!

Pilot community highlights

_The community is quiet today._

What pilots are talking about (X / Twitter)

_No fresh aviation Twitter activity captured._

Jobs of the day

_No new postings today — see all open roles on our jobs board._

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