1/19/2020 Israel's F-35i 'Adir' Stealth Fighter Is a Beast (And Now A Second Squadron Is Ready)  Israel unveiled its second F-35i squadron to coincide with the new year at its Nevatim Airbase where its F-35s are based. This is a milestone for Israel which received its first F-35s in 2016 and declared its first squadron operation in December 2017. Israel’s F-35i is a modified version with unique features. Israel is expected to acquire at least 50 of the Lockheed Martin jets amid rising tension with Iran. It fulfills Israel’s desire to have a qualitative military edge over adversaries thro |
1/19/2020 The B-52 Will No Longer Carry Certain Nuclear Weapons. Here's Why  The B-52 Stratofortress will no longer carry the B61-7 and B83-1 nuclear gravity bombs as it prepares to carry the new long-range standoff weapon, known as LRSO. Following reports that the bomb variants had been removed from the Cold War-era aircraft's inventory, officials at Air Force Global Strike Command confirmed the move is in line with the bomber's transition into an era of modern warfare. |
1/19/2020 The Soviet's War In Afghanistan Had Russian Pilots Fighting Pakistani F-16s  Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Washington found that Zia’s policies dovetailed conveniently with getting Pakistani assistance in supporting Mujahideen insurgents fighting Communist forces. Thus, Pakistani and U.S. agents collaborated in organizing and arming militants proliferating in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. |
1/19/2020 Why Russia Doesn't Like (Or Have) Many Aircraft Carriers  Historically a land power, the Soviet Union grappled with the idea of a large naval aviation arm for most of its history, eventually settling on a series of hybrid aircraft carriers. Big plans for additional ships died with the Soviet collapse, but Russia inherited one large aircraft carrier at the end of the Cold War—that remains in service today. |
1/18/2020 USS Ford begins key flight deck training in bid to become combat-ready  For the first time ever, an E-2D Hawkeye came in for a landing, testing the USS Gerald R. Ford's Advanced Arresting Gear, a system that is unique to the Navy's new Ford-class aircraft carrier.
It was part of what's called "A.C.T." - Aircraft Compatibility Testing. The "trap" was successful, and that's a good thing, after several years of seemingly endless technological difficulties for the $12.9 billion Ford. |
1/18/2020 Israel's F-35I Adir Is Taking America's Stealth Fighter To A Whole Other Level  On May 22, Israeli Air Force commander Amikam Norkin announced that its F-35I stealth fighters had flown on two combat missions on “different fronts,” showing as proof a photograph of an F-35 overflying Beirut. While details on those missions have not been released—apparently, they were not deployed in a massive Israeli air attack on Iranian forces in Syria that took place on May 9—this nonetheless apparently confirmed the first combat operations undertaken by any variant. |
1/18/2020 New Russian Lightweight Air-Launched Missile Revealed  The Russian Navy displayed a model of a new small missile during a Jan. 9 meeting in Sevastopol attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Joint Small-sized Modular Aviation Weapon, (Mezhvidovoye Malogabaritnoye Modulnoye Aviatsionnoye Sredstvo Porazheniya, or MMM ASP), according to the descriptive plate on the model, is being made to defeat “fuel depots, manpower, various naval surface targets, strongholds, aircraft and helicopters at the base site.” |
1/18/2020 New vertical lift capabilities take flight during demo  The Army secretary along with senior Army officials joined industry leaders last week to get a closer look at cutting-edge capabilities for future vertical lift ahead of the fiscal year 2030 goal to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk. Developers from Bell Textron, a Texas-based aerospace manufacturer, demoed their part-aircraft, part-helicopter - Bell V-280 Valor - to leaders who will ultimately choose the force's newest chopper. |
1/18/2020 Lockheed Martin Awarded $32.9 Million Pentagon Contract for Taiwan’s F-16 Upgrade Program  U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin has won a $32.9 million contract modification for logistics support to the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) F-16 Peace Phoenix Rising program, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced on January 14. “This modification provides for contractor logistics support, repair and return and diminishing manufacturing source management services for Taiwan F-16s Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar,” the DoD stated. |
1/18/2020 BrahMos with Su-30s to boost firepower to combat Chinese threat in Indian Ocean Region  The Indian Air Force (IAF) is all set to enhance its strike capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region keeping an eye on the increasing Chinese presence to augment the Indian Navy's strength by inducting Sukhoi fighter jets armed with lethal BrahMos missile in the newly set up squadron based in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The new squadron will initially have five to six fighter jets but gradually it will operate with full strength. Each squadron has 18 aircraft. The induction will happen on January 20 |