Three major anniversaries have dominated the Royal International Air Tattoo 2025: the 50th anniversaries of the Hawk and F-16, and the 75th anniversary of NATO.
Long plugged as a major theme of the show, the F-16’s half centenary was celebrated with two solo displays – an F-16C from the Turkish Air Force and an F-16AM from the Royal Danish Air Force (the latter displaying a special scheme anniversary jet on the Friday, and a standard grey jet – the oldest flying F-16 in the world – on Saturday and Sunday). On the ground, a line of 16 F-16s featured in the static display, arranged in age order from the F-16AM to the F-16C Block 52. This static line consisted of several notable participants, including four from the Royal Netherlands Air Force, just a few weeks before the type leaves Dutch service. Jordanian and Romanian F-16AM/BMs attended RIAT for the very first time, and the newest F-16s at the show came from the Morrocan Air Force. It was the first international deployment of Morrocan F-16Cs since they entered service in 2008.
RIAT 2025 is thought to have been one of the biggest ever multinational F-16 gatherings at a public event.
Another aircraft to celebrate its 50th anniversary was the BAE Systems Hawk, which became a major – if unofficial – theme of the show. RIAT welcomed participation from all three of the world’s national aerobatic teams to fly the first generation Hawk: the Red Arrows (x9 Hawk T.1), the Saudi Hawks (x6 Hawk Mk.65) and the Midnight Hawks (usually flying x4 Hawk Mk.51s but instead operating a quartet of Mk.66s at RIAT). Hawks from the three national teams joined up with a Qatari Hawk Mk.167 and a Royal Air Force Hawk T.2 for a five-ship flypast on the Saturday.
The main feature of Friday was a special flypast marking 75 years of NATO. This was an impressive affair, featuring an RAF RC-135W Rivet Joint and a NATO E-3A Sentry, flanked by 11 fast jets. The fast jet element included some of the rarest static display participants, such as a French Mirage 2000-5, Spanish SF-5M Freedom Fighter, Italian A-200A Tornado, Romanian F-16AM Fighting Falcon. All eleven performed minimum-interval departures as they launched for the flypast.
Away from the main themes, RIAT hosted numerous other notable appearances. A USAF U-2S Dragon Lady performed in a British flying display for the first time in over 30 years, Boeing F-15QA Ababils took to the air in the European flying display debut of the F-15 Advanced Eagle, and UK airshow debuts came from Norway’s Yellow Sparrows and Germany’s EF2000 solo display. RIAT debutants included a KC-390 Millenium flying display and the RAF’s new F-35B Lightning and Chinook HC.5 role demonstrations.
In the static display, RIAT welcomed Serbia as a first-time participant with a C295, and two further C295 debuts from Ireland and Canada. Appearing for the very last time, a USAF KC-10A Extender, now on the cusp of retirement. However, the stars of the static were a quartet of F-4E Phantom IIs from Turkey and Greece, with the latter nation providing some memorable flypasts on the Friday as their jets arrived.