March, 2012 Military Aviation News
03/31/2012
More than 1,200 distinguished visitors filled the Patrol Squadron 30 hangar at Naval Air Station Jacksonville March 28 to celebrate the first fleet delivery of the P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft.
"In the same year that our maritime patrol and reconnaissance force (MPRF) is celebrating 50 years of service for the P-3 Orion, we're also celebrating the fleet introduction of P-8 Poseidon," said Capt. Mark Stevens, VP-30 commanding officer and master of ceremonies.
In his remarks, Vice Chief
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03/31/2012
The military services expect to unveil performance specifications this summer for a new joint vertical-lift aircraft, Maj. Gen. William T. Crosby told congressmen.
Crosby, director of the Army’s Program Executive Office Aviation, testified Tuesday afternoon to the House Armed Services Committee, subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces at a hearing on rotorcraft modernization programs. His counterparts from the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force also testified.
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03/31/2012
Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos has developed an anti-aircraft carrier variant of the 290-km supersonic cruise missile.
"We have achieved the capability to attack aircraft carriers using the supersonic vertical diving variant of the missile and after demonstrating the capability recently with high precision, we will now offer this to the Indian Navy," BrahMos chief A Sivathanu Pillai said here today.
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03/29/2012
Sudan sent military aircraft over a key South Sudanese city Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that has targeted South Sudanese military positions along the two nations' disputed border. No explosives fell from the aircraft, a pair of Russian-made Antonov cargo planes that Sudan has long used to drop bombs on opposing forces, as they "hovered" above Bentiu, the capital of South Sudan's Unity state.
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03/29/2012
Having missed many deadlines for its maiden flight, the naval prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-NP1) is finally expected to fly this week. The LCA-NP1, the country’s first indigenous effort to build a carrier borne naval fighter aircraft, was scheduled to be flight-tested last year. However, technical problems led to postponements a couple of times. “We are looking at scheduling the flight anytime now. Final trials are currently on,” said DRDO sources.
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03/29/2012
The Gillard Government has confirmed it is considering allowing US military surveillance drones to be based on Australian soil. Defence Minister Stephen Smith says a base on the strategically important Cocos Islands is a long-term prospect. But it's a prospect that's winning support from key Australian military experts.
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03/29/2012
Azerbaijan purchased a variety of weaponry, including aerial drones and an advanced anti-missile capable radar, from Israel under a $1.6 bln contract signed in 2011, the APA news agency said on Tuesday, citing data provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, Baku bought an unknown number of Gabriel anti-ship missiles, five Heron and five Searcher UAV’s, a Barak-8 air defense system with 75 missiles.
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03/29/2012
Boeing today announced that the UK Ministry of Defence has signed an agreement for the acquisition of one C-17 Globemaster III, bringing the Royal Air Force (RAF) fleet of the world’s most advanced airlifters to a total of eight. Boeing is scheduled to deliver the eighth C-17 later this year.
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03/29/2012
Boeing delivered the last of the Chilean Air Force’s three KC-135E Stratotankers on March 9 after all the aircraft completed Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) in San Antonio. The final aircraft arrived at Boeing’s San Antonio facility in June for the maintenance work, which included a variety of depot-level inspections, repairs, maintenance, modification and repainting.
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03/28/2012
Senior leaders from Air Force Reserve Command assembled here March 26-27 during the 2012 Senior Leader Conference to discuss the future of the command.
The theme of this year's conference was "Full Operational Capability: Full Spectrum Combat Capability with Unparalleled Efficiency" and how the Air Force Reserve fits into the big picture of the total force.
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03/28/2012
Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer said on Wednesday it booked $180 million in orders for its Super Tucano light attack fighters for border monitoring and counter-insurgency missions in Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania.
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03/28/2012
Before the launch of a top-secret spy satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, a fleet of small drones will be doing some spying of their own.
In yet another use of robotic aircraft, RQ-11 Raven drones equipped with high-powered video cameras will fly around the craggy launch site northwest of Santa Barbara, scouring the ground below to ensure that the area is clear for blastoff.
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03/28/2012
The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) scoping out the possibility of buying a full-motion simulator for its fleet of Polish-built PZL M-28 Skytruck light transport aircraft.
A Request for Information (RfI) issued by the USAF is designed to help the service in "assessing the viability of procuring an M-28A Weapons System Trainer," the document reads. The USAF asks potential contractor to respond by 30 April.
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03/27/2012
Embraer said it expects a cancelled US Air Force contract for light attack aircraft to be re-tendered “within weeks” in a deal seen as crucial to the defence ambitions of the Brazilian aircraft producer. Embraer’s bid to sell 20 of its Super Tucano to the US for use in Afghanistan comes as the world’s third largest commercial jet maker is looking to grow its defence sales by nearly 10 per cent this year.
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03/27/2012
AUSTRALIA'S Cocos Islands territory could be used as a staging point for spy flights by United States military drones over the South China Sea, according to an US newspaper report.
Citing US and Australian sources, The Washington Post said the Pentagon was eyeing the Indian Ocean territory's coral atolls as an ideal site to launch Global Hawk surveillance drones, as well as manned surveillance flights.
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03/27/2012
The severe budget austerity gripping much of Europe does not augur well for air forces looking to achieve leaps in capability for the next decade. It is somewhat a matter of luck, then, that foreign demand is effectively pushing stingy treasuries to provide funding to field upgrades. The list of European militaries likely to benefit from these export-driven enhancements is long and includes the Swedish, French, British and German air forces.
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03/27/2012
Business leaders, elected officials and others in Michigan are joining forces to persuade Air Force brass to pull back the throttle on their plan to cut hundreds of Air National Guard personnel in Macomb County, Battle Creek and Alpena. The planned cuts have done the seemingly unthinkable.
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03/27/2012
Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer has selected AdaCore's GNAT Pro avionics software as part of its strategy to upgrade Brazilian Air Force AMX combat aircraft. GNAT Pro, a commercial-grade open source software written in Ada computer programming language, has seen its usage expand from aviation to other means of transport and public and private sector systems.
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03/27/2012
Europe's ability to develop next-generation combat aircraft has been dangerously eroded, and will reach "a point of no return" unless collaborative funding decisions are made soon, a new industry study warns. Commissioned by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the Future Air Systems for Europe (FAS4Europe) group study says "the situation for future air systems is severe, with some important industrial capabilities and technologies already at risk".
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03/27/2012
The message is embarrassing but clear: with India failing to get its act together to build a strong defence-industrial base (DIB) unlike China, it will continue to be the world's largest arms importer in the foreseeable future. So, gleeful global armament giants are again lining up to hard-sell their aircraft, helicopters, drones, submarines, howitzers, futuristic infantry combat vehicles, missiles, assault rifles and carbines at India's biennial arms jamboree here.
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03/27/2012
The first night refueling in the history of the Lockheed Martin F-35 program was completed Thursday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Vitt, AF-4, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant, rendezvoused with an Air Force KC-135 tanker and successfully received fuel through the F-35’s boom receptacle.
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03/27/2012
Airbus Military has successfully completed receiver qualification of the two primary aircraft-types that the UAE Air Force will refuel from the three A330 MRTT multi role tanker transports that it currently has on order.
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03/26/2012
It may seem difficult to believe, but the United States can fly an unarmed military reconnaissance aircraft anywhere over Russia and 32 other nations, with only 24 hours notice of the intended flight plan. The Russian Federation has a reciprocal right to conduct aerial photography flights over the United States and other treaty members. Over 840 of these reconnaissance missions have been flown over Europe, Russia and North America since 2002 under the auspices of the Open Skies Treaty.
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03/26/2012
Congress and the Pentagon are in favor of commissioning stealthy new bombers at $55 billion apiece. But it's not clear why we need so many expensive features. When the Obama administration dispatched three B-2 bombers from a Missouri air base on March 19 last year to cross the ocean and reach Libya, it put roughly $9 billion worth of America's most prized military assets into the air.
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03/26/2012
There have been a number of articles lately about the U.S. developing a new unmanned aerial vehicle in secret. Dave Majumdar, at Air Force Times, recently had an article about how the U.S. Air Force’s decision to postpone development of a next generation unmanned combat aircraft suggests that service might be developing something else in the “black world.”
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03/26/2012
A recent study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicates India was the biggest arms importer in the period 2007-11, accounting for 10 percent in the weapons volume. China, which in 2006 and 2007 was the world’s top arms importer, has now dropped to fourth place. Globally the volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons was 24 percent higher during 2007-11, as compared to the 2002-06.
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03/26/2012
Boeing will showcase a comprehensive portfolio of products and services at Defexpo India 2012, including the C-17 Globemaster III, P-8I, AH-64D Apache, CH-47F Chinook, V-22 Osprey, ScanEagle and 737 Airborne Early Warning & Control. Defexpo takes place March 29 to April 1 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
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03/25/2012
A decision on the choice of the Royal Navy's new combat jet has been delayed yet again following disagreements between senior officers and defence ministers. The Government is poised to perform an about-turn on its choice of plane to fly from two new aircraft carriers that will enter service in 2020.
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03/25/2012
The US Air Force has begun to deploy Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors upgraded with enhanced air-to-ground strike capabilities to the operational fleet, starting with the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. "The 525th Fighter Squadron was the first Combat Air Forces squadron to receive an [Increment] 3.1 modified aircraft," says squadron commander Lt Col Paul "Max" Moga.
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03/25/2012
With the guts of a Boeing 767 commercial airplane, the new KC-46A air refueling tanker, under development by the Air Force, will present a significant advancement in refueling technology when it rolls off the assembly line in four or five years.
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03/25/2012
Media coverage of President Barack Obama’s high-profile visit to Australia and plan to boost U.S. presence in Asia may mask America’s shrinking global footprint. The combination of concern over China and the U.S. debt crisis could set Washington on a course to becoming a mere regional power in the Asia Pacific.
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03/24/2012
The U.S. Air Force has released a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the combat rescue helicopter (CRH) program, a successor to the ill-fated CSAR-X competition to replace the service’s Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk search-and-rescue helicopters. The CRH will be a scaled-back version of the $15 billion CSAR-X program. The Pentagon settled on Boeing’s HH-47 Chinook in 2006 for the program but ultimately cancelled the order in 2009 after successive protests, amended proposals and delays.
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03/24/2012
Iran is providing a broad array of assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad to help him suppress anti-government protests, from high-tech surveillance technology to guns and ammunition, U.S. and European security officials say. Tehran's technical assistance to Assad's security forces includes electronic surveillance systems, technology designed to disrupt efforts by protesters to communicate via social media, and Iranian-made drone aircraft for overhead surveillance, the officials said.
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03/24/2012
The US Navy has intervened over the adaptation of a British aircraft carrier for a new generation of fighter jets, to assure ministers that the cost will be less than half the Ministry of Defence’s estimate. Converting HMS Prince of Wales so that it can be used by the Joint Strike Fighter will require significantly less than the £2 billion quoted by officials, the assistant secretary of the US Navy, Sean J Stackley, insisted.
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03/24/2012
The Sukhoi Company will show off its multi-purpose Su-35 fighter of the 4++ generation at the upcoming on March 27 17th International Aerospace Exhibition FIDAE 2012 in Santiago, Chile. A model airplane will be presented on the stand of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which includes the Sukhoi holding company.
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03/24/2012
China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducted a first-of-its-kind live-fire air attack drill on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, state media reported on Thursday. The PLAAF's J-10 fighters conducted ground attack training in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), testing its capabilities at the 3,500-metre-high plateau amid freezing temperatures, the PLA Daily reported.
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03/24/2012
On Friday the 23rd of March, 2012, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence released the new White Paper for the Norwegian Defence Sector. The paper builds on the significant improvements made over the course of the previous years while ensuring that the Norwegian Armed Forces remain capable of meeting both current and future operational requirements.
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03/24/2012
Russia’s Defense Ministry has ordered 30 heavy Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter planes. Given that the same model has been exported to India for more than 10 years, this choice seems both logical and pragmatic. The Defense Ministry and the Irkut Corporation, an affiliate of the United Aircraft Corporation, have signed a supply contract for 30 Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft, a Defense Ministry spokesman told journalists Thursday, March 22.
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03/24/2012
Selex Galileo has added new modes to the long-selling Grifo fire control radar and has also designed a pod-mounted version. Angelo Aprile, the company’s head of capability in Italy, told the Military Flight Training conference in London organized by Defence IQ that more than 450 “advanced but affordable” Grifo systems have been sold worldwide. Applications include the F-5E/F, Mirage III, L-159, F-7 (Chinese-built MiG-21bis) and Sikorsky HH-60 helicopter.
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03/23/2012
Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and President of the IRKUT Corporation Alexey Fedorov, have signed a contract on Su-30SM multirole fighters delivery for the Russian Armed Forces. Under the contract, the IRKUT Corporation will supply to the Defence Ministry 30 aircraft of this type by 2015.
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03/23/2012
The actions of a Missouri senator effectively have killed any chances of a new round of domestic military base closures next year. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday she will kill any plan to set in motion another Base Realignment and Closure round in 2013.
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03/23/2012
France's Dassault Aviation on Thursday posted a 10 percent rise in net profit to USD 536 million and expressed confidence about foreign sales of its Rafale fighter plane. "Concerning military aircraft, there are decisive opportunities ... concerning the Rafale and drones," the company said in presenting its 2011 results.
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03/23/2012
Analysts at Forecast International are predicting a downturn in the military helicopter market that will last for several years. The consulting company, which is based in Newtown, Connecticut, says that 4,384 medium- to heavy-lift military rotorcraft worth $104 billion will be built during the next 10 years.
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03/23/2012
Indian officials are preoccupied by China’s growing military power. They would do better to fix their own incoherent defense establishment. Modern India is economically and strategically buoyant, and has every reason to feel confident as the 21st century progresses. So it’s strange to think that this same confident place is developing an inferiority complex over China’s military power.
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03/23/2012
Some modernization programs may be delayed, but not reduced or cancelled due to a tightening of the budget, senior Army leaders told senators Wednesday. Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno testified Wednesday morning to the Senate Appropriations Committee, subcommittee on Defense regarding the service's fiscal year 2013 budget request.
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03/23/2012
The projects are part of the European Union's efforts to pool and share military resources as the debt crisis and a US strategic pivot towards Asia forces Europe's armed forces to band together. The ministers, who met in Brussels, emphasized in a statement "the urgent political necessity to retain and develop the military capabilities for sustaining and enhancing" their common security policy.
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03/23/2012
The U.S. military is investigating whether an attack helicopter pilot was “showing off” when he made a low pass over a remote Afghan outpost and then slammed violently into the ground, according to a defense official. The dramatic crash was captured on amateur eyewitness video, which recently surfaced online.
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03/23/2012
Proposals for the development of weaponry based on futuristic concepts will be ready by December this year to be included in the next state arms procurement program, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Thursday. “The development of weaponry based on new physics principles; direct-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc..
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03/22/2012
For the third time in the last six months the Israeli Air Force has hosted foreign fighter pilots for tactical training. Israeli fighter pilots are considered the best trained in the world, and Israel maintains a special training program, complete with pilots trained and equipped to operate as likely foes would, to train their own pilots. The latest nation to send fighters and pilots for training is Poland, flying F-16s in for that purpose.
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03/22/2012
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC , a global power systems company, said Thursday it has received recent contracts exceeding $275 million to provide support services for the U.S. Armed Services.
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03/22/2012
India has replaced China as the world’s largest arms buyer, accounting for 10 percent of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said. India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80 percent of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). China’s arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78 percent of which came from Russia.
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03/22/2012
The past few years have made it abundantly clear that the mid-term future of airpower is not what a lot of people planned. Large-scale procurement of the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has slipped into the 2020s. The aircraft types in service today—which made their first flights as much as 40 years ago—will be the world’s frontline fleets through the rest of this decade, and will make up the majority of fighting forces well into the 2020s.
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03/22/2012
The U.S. Pacific Air Forces issued the following news release: Four squadrons of F-18s from the Naval Air Facility at Atsugi Japan, along with approximately 550 military aircrew personnel, are at Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) until April 10 for the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP). The fighter squadrons deploy to the island biannually for air-to-air and air-to-ground training to maintain the proficiency and readiness of the air wing.
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03/22/2012
Here we go again. Another federal budget battle is under way. On Tuesday, the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing based at Mansfield hosted an event for media around the state, along with members of the Ohio Congressional delegation. The purpose was to acquaint the visitors with the U.S. Air Force’s budget-cutting proposal, which includes eliminating the C-27J cargo planes.
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03/22/2012
Since China announced another big rise in its military spending earlier this month, Chinese officials in Beijing and diplomats posted in Asia-Pacific countries have been trying to spread an orchestrated message to the region: Don't be alarmed. China is in a bind. Its declared defense budget, already the second highest in the world after the United States, will increase by 11.2 percent this year to $106.4 billion, after a 12.7 percent hike in 2011.
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03/22/2012
China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force have conducted ground attack training over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the “first operation of its kind”, official media here reported.
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03/22/2012
Russia's Defense Ministry has signed an order with aircraft-maker Irkut for 30 Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft, a military spokesman said on Thursday. "According to the contract, the company will deliver 30 of these aircraft to the Russian Defense Ministry by 2015," he said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
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03/21/2012
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed into a South Korean rice paddy Wednesday, about 150 miles south of Seoul, near Kunsan Air Base.
The fighter jet crashed after the pilot safely ejected, and no injuries were reported, according to a 51st Fighter Wing news release.
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03/21/2012
The Air Force is replacing handles that engage the F-22 Raptor fighter jet's emergency oxygen system after pilots reported feeling lightheaded and the death of a captain whose $143 million aircraft took a nosedive into a mountain range in Alaska. Capt. Jeffrey Haney was killed in November 2010 during a night mission about 100 miles north of Anchorage.
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03/21/2012
The deal for procuring six mid-air refueller aircraft for the Air Force has entered its last phase with the IAF completing the field trials of the planes on offer. Airbus Military, one of the contenders of the deal, on Wednesday said the winter trials of the aircraft were concluded by the end of the last year during which the IAF checked the planes against all its specific requirements.
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03/21/2012
As the British defence sector prepares to submit what could be one of the most significant deals in defence contracting with the UAE Air force, the British government is stepping up efforts to court its Gulf partners.
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03/21/2012
The U.S. Central Command plans to bolster military capabilities against Iran by fielding new laser target-trackers for machine guns, enhanced sensors for underwater vehicles, improved protection against drone attacks and upgrades of U-2 spy planes. The Tampa, Florida-based command, which is responsible for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, also wants to shift $5.5 million in previously approved funds to buy Gatling guns for Navy coastal patrol craft, according to budget documents.
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03/21/2012
Korean Air on Tuesday made its first delivery of a rewired U.S. fighter plane from its Busan Tech Center under a $400 million order it won from the U.S. Air Force last September. Under the deal, Korean Air will work on 60 F-15 fighters stationed in the Pacific region by 2016, replacing their tail wings and re-wiring them in line with the U.S. military’s project to improve its combat strength. Korean Air will also carry out maintenance work.
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03/21/2012
The Philippines is allowing US drones to conduct reconnaissance flights over its territory but strikes from the unmanned planes are banned, President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday. "For reconnaissance," Aquino told AFP in an interview when asked if US drones were operating in the southern Philippines where hundreds of American troops have been helping to contain an Islamic militant threat for a decade.
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03/21/2012
Drone crews protect U.S. ground troops by watching over them 24 hours a day from high above. Sitting before video screens thousands of miles from their remote-controlled aircraft, the crews scan for enemy ambushes and possible roadside bombs, while also monitoring what the military calls "patterns of life." Only rarely do drone crews fire on the enemy. The rest of the time, they sit and watch. For hours on end. Day after day.
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03/21/2012
A new cruise missile has entered service with the Russian Air Force’s strategic long-range arms division, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday. He did not provide any details, only saying it was an air-launched long range missile. AF chief Col Gen Alexander Zelin previously said the new cruise missile was developed by the Taktitcheskoye Raketnoye Vooruzhenie (Tactical Missile) defense corporation and that its specifications were secret.
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03/21/2012
Russia has offered to pay $2 million a year for the use of a training airbase in Ukraine’s Crimea, up from $700,000, the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper reported on Tuesday. Ukraine said last April that India and China were showing interest in the training facility, after which Russia offered to pay more in rent.
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03/21/2012
“The people of Boeing extend our deepest sympathies to the McDonnell family, and join them in mourning Sandy’s passing. Sandy’s commitment to his colleagues and customers, his country, and his community during his 40-year career and throughout his lifetime, was extraordinary,” said Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney.
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03/20/2012
Officials announced a popular name change for the MC130J here March 9 that honors the Air Commando legacy and capitalizes on the versatility of the aircraft. "Air Force Special Operation Command MC-130Js will be equipped to fly various missions and will be called Commando II," said Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, the AFSOC commander, in the memorandum requesting the change. "This name best reflects the multi-mission role of the aircraft and the units that will fly them."
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03/20/2012
A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.
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03/20/2012
Bingen-based Insitu Inc. has signed a contract to supply its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft to the Netherlands to fly surveillance missions for the nation’s Ministry of Defense. The Netherlands’ military has been using a different unmanned system, which will soon be replaced by the ScanEagle, said Jill Vacek, a spokeswoman for Insitu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co. She would not disclose the number of aircraft ordered or the dollar amount of the Netherlands’ contract.
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03/20/2012
David Cameron will perform a humiliating U-turn over the warplanes that will fly from the Royal Navy’s planned new aircraft carriers. Military chiefs have advised him to axe plans to buy the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter after the cost of converting the carriers to fly them trebled to £2billion.
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03/20/2012
Anatolian Falcon 2012, a bilateral training exercise between the Turkish and U.S. air forces, ended here March 16. The exercise was designed to strengthen military interoperability between the two nations and test the air forces' abilities to conduct a variety of air missions to include interdiction, attack, air superiority, defense suppression, airlift, air refueling and reconnaissance.
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03/20/2012
Syria has supplied Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia with advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missile systems and is training operators how to use them, Israel’s Haaretz daily reported citing a high-ranking military source. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is worried that Syrian deliveries of huge quantities of surface-to-air missiles could change the balance of power in the region and jeopardize Israel’s aerial supremacy.
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03/20/2012
India has not paid sufficient attention to its defence and security needs. Faced with deteriorating finances, acute fiscal distress, huge shortfall in tax collection and disinvestment, as well as miscalculation of subsidies, the government had decided on an unusual step: cutting the defence budget for this fiscal. The Centre proposed a cut of ‘a few thousand crores’ in the defence budget of 2011-12.
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03/20/2012
India has topped a rating of the world's largest heavy arms importers, released on Monday by the independent Stockholm-based International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), researching into conflicts, arms control and disarmament. According to the report, India, the largest arms recipient, accounted for 10 percent of global arms imports between 2007 and 2011.
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03/19/2012
AUSTRALIAN Defence Force heavy-lift and amphibious capability has been boosted with the purchase of a sixth C-17 Globemaster cargo plane at a cost of $280 million and an off-shore support ship for $130 million. The additional C-17 purchase will bring to six the number of Globemasters available to the Royal Australian Air Force for military deployment support or disaster relief, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said.
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03/19/2012
China, the world’s top weapons importer for much of the past decade, fell to fourth from second on an annual list from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute as it produces more arms at home. China received 5 percent of the volume of international transfers of “major conventional weapons” from 2007 to 2011, Sipri said in a report released today.
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03/19/2012
Military helicopter experts at the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in Mesa, Ariz., are moving forward with the Apache Block III attack helicopter program with a $187 million contract Friday from the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., for development, integration and testing requirements on the Apache Block III program.
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03/19/2012
Air Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt took over as the new chief of the air staff of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at a ceremony held here at the Air Headquarters on Monday. Born in 1955, Air Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt received his early education at PAF Public School, Sargodha. Subsequently, he joined Pakistan Air Force and graduated from PAF Academy, Risalpur in March, 1977.
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03/19/2012
Syria imported nearly six times more weapons in 2007-2011 than in the previous five-year period, with Russia accounting for 72 percent of the arms supplies to President Bashar Assad's regime, an international research institute said Monday.
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03/19/2012
Recently, the UK Ministry of Defence announced that it was changing its Procurement decision on the Joint Strike Fighter, the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, from the STOVL F-35B to the CV F-35C, with a planned order of 50 aircraft. It was deemed that the extra payload and range capability of the F-35C, coupled with the larger deck size of the new carrier provided a cost-effective procurement compared with the F-35B.
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03/19/2012
One year ago, on March 19, 2011, Western leaders, alarmed by the disaster unfolding in Libya, voted in the U.N. Security Council to intervene militarily with "all necessary means," arguing that they could not stand by and watch civilians get massacred. As a result of the U.N. resolution, NATO launched a bombing campaign, led by Britain, France and the U.S., and flew about 10,000 bombing sorties over Libya, helping to obliterate Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year dictatorship in just seven months.
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03/18/2012
Russia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) finally awarded the Russian Aircraft Corporation a firm order for 24 MiG-29 carrier-capable fighters. MiG will deliver 20 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four MiG-29KUB two-seaters between 2013 and 2015. The Russian Navy stated its intention to introduce the MiG-29K two years ago, but the order was not confirmed until now. Currently, Russia’s sole carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, is equipped with Sukhoi Su-33 fighters modified from the original Su-27 design.
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03/18/2012
It’s true that the fly boys of Thunder over Utah widen our eyes as they streak across our skies, it’s true that we are awestruck and entertained, and it is true that thousands coming into town to enjoy the show ought bring a weekend boost to our local economy. But when you stop and listen to more than the roar of those jets, you find that these fly boys and the fine crewmen that accompany them are here on a mission, a mission that echoes from their proud calling.
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03/18/2012
An expert on Communist China says the United States could be making a grave mistake by cutting back on defense spending while China is doing just the opposite. Beijing recently announced a new defense budget of approximately $106 billion, which equates to an 11.2-percent increase. Cheng says this increase coupled with last years 12.7 percent increase means that China is now spending more on its military than all other Asian nations combined.
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03/18/2012
A top U.S. Air Force official on Friday disputed the conclusions of an Ohio Air Guard captain that have caught the attention of the Pentagon and Congress - its assertion that the service inflated the lifecycle costs of its C-27J Spartan in order to justify killing the aircraft. Congress has repeatedly questioned service leaders about the analysis done to justify the cuts made to the Air Guard in the service’s 2013 budget submission.
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03/18/2012
The Canadian Forces hope to save $90 million a year by pulling out of NATO programs operating unmanned aerial vehicles as well as airborne early warning planes, according to documents obtained by the Citizen. Defence Minister Peter MacKay gave U.S. officials a heads-up last year about the withdrawal, pointing out that it will free up 142 Canadians assigned to NATO for new jobs, the documents show.
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03/18/2012
Drone crews protect U.S. ground troops by watching over them 24 hours a day from high above. Sitting before video screens thousands of miles from their remote-controlled aircraft, the crews scan for enemy ambushes and possible roadside bombs, while also monitoring what the military calls "patterns of life." Only rarely do drone crews fire on the enemy. The rest of the time, they sit and watch. For hours on end. Day after day. It can get monotonous and, yes, boring. It can also be gut-wrenchin.
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03/17/2012
As China starts to put together a modern, integrated air force, which could reach 1,000 fighters by 2020, it is developing the components of a future force of stealthier combat aircraft, new bombers and unmanned, hypersonic and possibly space-based combat platforms. These could emerge as soon as the early 2020s.
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03/17/2012
Australia's first Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, the forerunner of as many as 100 advanced combat aircraft, is set to start down the production line in the next few weeks. Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley, head of defence's new air combat capability program, rejected criticism of the JSF by organisations such as Air Power Australia (APA) on grounds they had not seen all the classified US data on the aircraft's performance.
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03/17/2012
Rescuers have found the wreckage of a Norwegian military plane that crashed with five people on board during an exercise in northern Sweden. Rescue spokesman Mathias Hansson told The Associated Press that parts of the C-130 cargo aircraft were found early Saturday scattered over a glacier on mount Kebnekaise, Sweden's highest mountain.
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03/17/2012
Biplanes once ruled the skies in the pioneering days of aviation and World War I. Now the old aircraft design could make a comeback in the silent supersonic jets of tomorrow. A newer version of the biplane could reach supersonic cruising speeds without causing ear-splitting sonic booms, according to computer simulations by MIT and Stanford University researchers. They built upon the design of German engineer Adolf Busemann, who originally envisioned triangular wings connected at their tips.
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03/17/2012
With a primary source of funding for commercial satellite capacity drying up, the U.S. Department of Defense must find an alternative means to feed the tremendous appetite for bandwidth generated by unmanned aircraft, according to a U.S. Air Force official. For the past decade or so, the Pentagon has relied heavily on Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounts funded by wartime supplemental appropriations bills to pay for commercial satellite services.
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03/17/2012
The U.S. military has awarded contracts for UAVs to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services potentially worth nearly $1.5 billion. The main beneficiary appears to be AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which proposed the Australian-built Aerosonde small unmanned aircraft system.
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03/17/2012
Filled with military deals harvested over the past few years, the Indian defense pie is getting bigger and sweeter, on land and in the air. But the country faces major hurdles in making those plans real. First, the good news: Over the next five years, India plans to renovate or replace its Soviet-era kit with $50 billion in new equipment, making Asia’s third largest economy a lucrative market for foreign companies such as Boeing and Dassault.
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03/17/2012
A Turkish military helicopter has crashed into a house near the Afghan capital, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and two young girls on the ground, Turkish and Afghan officials say. The helicopter, a Sikorsky, was on a mission for US-led NATO forces when it went down near Kabul on Friday, the Turkish military said in a statement. 'Twelve of our military personnel on board were martyred,' it said.
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03/17/2012
Modernization of the over 13-lakh strong armed forces will continue in a steady albeit sluggish manner, with the defence outlay being hiked to Rs 1,93,408 crore (around $39 billion) to cater for some major fighter, aircraft, helicopter and howitzer deals to be inked in the coming fiscal.
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03/17/2012
Iranian experts managed to produce a new type of drone which is capable of carrying out military and border patrol missions. The new remote-controlled aircraft, called Shaparak (Butterfly), has a maximum operational radius of 50 kilometers (31 miles), and a maximum flight ceiling of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), Reza Danandeh Hakamabad, the aeronautics engineer in charge of the project, said on Friday.
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03/16/2012
Advanced anti-aircraft missiles which belonged to former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi have fallen into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a new report. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department.
Speaking to Aviation Week, which first broke this story, about the Russian made hardware, the Israeli official said,“They are in the Gaza Strip. I don’t know in what numbers. They also are in Lebanon.”
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03/16/2012
MIT says it is trying to make design changes to military drones that will enable the aircraft to recognize the hand gestures of flight crew assigned to guide them on to the deck of aircraft carriers. The Navy has long-term plans to add robotic drones to carrier air wings, and Northrop Grumman's San Diego operation has has been doing work on a prototype of the plane known as the X-47B.
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03/16/2012
Search crews were looking for a Norwegian military aircraft that went missing over Swedish mountains Thursday, officials said. The Hercules airplane from the Norwegian Air Force was taking part in a military exercise when it lost radio contact with authorities, said Per Froberg, a spokesman for Sweden's air navigation services. There were five people on board.
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03/16/2012
U.S. Air Force officials confirmed Wednesday they are considering a counterproposal to a plan for cutting 5,100 jobs in the Air National Guard, including 152 at the Fort Wayne base.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said he and the chiefs of the National Guard Bureau and the Air National Guard have been reviewing suggestions on base realignments offered two weeks ago by President Obama’s Council of Governors.
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03/16/2012
China’s Defence Budget 2012 announced in the first week of March 2012 significantly draws global and regional attention in that China has shot through its defence expenditure over the $ 100 billion mark, making China’s military expenditure at the global level, second only to that of the United States, even though there exists a wide differential between the two.
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03/16/2012
With several defence deals including the one to procure 126 combat aircraft for the IAF expected to be clinched this year, the Defence Budget was today substantially hiked by more than 17 per cent to Rs 1,93,407 crore from last year's Rs 1,64,415 crore. Of the total outlay, over Rs 79,500 crore would be spent on procuring modern weapons systems and military hardware.
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03/16/2012
Moscow and Sofia signed a deal to repair and modernize Soviet-era helicopters in Bulgaria, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said on Thursday. The agreement “to organize repairs and modernization of Mi-17 (Mi-8) and Mi-35 (Mi-24) helicopters and its modifications” was signed in Bulgaria’s defense ministry on March 9.
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03/16/2012
The final Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor took to the skies for its first test flight here yesterday with company test pilot, Bret Luedke at the controls. Raptor 4195 has a May delivery date and will join other F-22s in the U.S. Air Force’s 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
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03/16/2012
Boeing subsidiary Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has been awarded a three-year contract to perform aircraft surface finishing services for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft fleet. The contract, worth approximately AUS$20 million, involves preparing, remediating and painting AP-3C Orion, C-130H Hercules, F/A-18 Hornet, and Hawk-127 aircraft across multiple locations in Australia and New Zealand.
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03/16/2012
Boeing has completed delivery of the U.S. Navy's first aircraft acquired through the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Multi-Year Procurement (MYP) III contract, ahead of schedule. Aircraft G-57, an EA-18G Growler, was the first of 148 F/A-18E/Fs and EA-18Gs that the Navy will purchase through the contract. The aircraft was delivered to the Navy on Jan. 26 and arrived at its home base at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island on Jan. 30.
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03/15/2012
The widow of an Air Force pilot who died in an F-22 Raptor crash has sued the makers of the fighter, claiming that malfunctions in the aircraft’s oxygen generation system killed her husband. Anna Haney filed suit Monday against Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell International and Pratt & Whitney in Cook County Court, Ill. Her husband, Capt. Jeff Haney, crashed his F-22 in November 2010 in Alaska, where he was stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
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03/15/2012
Canada is actively rethinking a multibillion-dollar purchase of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet or reducing numbers to keep within its present budget, senior officials said. The F-35 has seen its development costs balloon out of control over the past decade, critics said, and the result is a price which is almost double the original figure.
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03/15/2012
Today President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron reaffirmed their commitment to continue close cooperation on defense as the United States and United Kingdom build their Armed Forces for the future. The U.S. and UK share an unprecedented defense relationship that has helped secure our shared interests and values since the World Wars of the last century.
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03/15/2012
According to the Indian Press Information Bureau, the following information was given March 14, 2012, by the Indian Minister of Defence, Shri AK Antony, and Minister of State for Defence, Shri MM Pallam Raju, in written replies to members of the Parliament of India.
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03/15/2012
After the North Korean leader made his first visit to the tense demilitarised border and Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons programme, United States and South Korean aircraft joined forces in this huge display of F-16 Fighting Falcons. As these pictures from Kunsan Air Base show, hundreds of the jet fighters stretched as far as the eye could see.
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03/15/2012
The Marine Corps said on Wednesday it would cut four infantry battalions and 12 flying squadrons over the next five years as it shrinks by 20,000 personnel to meet budget constraints and peacetime needs after more than a decade of war.
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03/15/2012
Above a small base in southern Afghanistan, a spy blimp captured video of the perpetrator of Sunday’s massacre surrendering to base forces. The question now becomes what other aspects of the killings, which left 16 Afghan civilians dead, are detailed in that video — or in any other footage that may have been shot by the U.S. military’s innumerable surveillance sensors in the region.
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03/15/2012
Technology has become more important than ever in the defense of our country. From drone aircraft to something as small as a smartphone, new technology encompasses nearly every part of military life.
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03/15/2012
An Afghan civilian stole a military pickup truck, rammed through a fence, and crashed into a ditch by a runway around the time that a plane carrying Defense Secretary Leon Panetta landed at an airfield in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, US officials said. Panetta was unharmed and carried on with his visit as planned. Pentagon officials said they could not immediately confirm that the crash was an attempt to attack Panetta or that it was linked to his visit.
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03/14/2012
U.S. Navy aviation experts are asking the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis to repair and upgrade the U.S. Marine Corps fleet of ageing AV-8B Harrier jump jets under terms of a $30.9 million contract awarded late last week. Boeing will repair various parts supporting the AV-8 vertical-and-short-takeoff-and-landing (VSTOL) attack jets as part of the contract, which was awarded by Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSSUP) Weapon Systems Support segment in Philadelphia.
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03/14/2012
The point man on the F-35 stealth fighter purchase says the Conservative government has not ruled out abandoning the troubled project. "We have not, as yet, discounted the possibility, of course, of backing out of any of the program," Julian Fantino, associate defence minister, told the House of Commons defence committee Tuesday.
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03/14/2012
NATO's intervention in Libya one year ago helped to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and created the conditions for Libya's citizens to end Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi's dictatorship. The military operation highlighted important improvements in European leadership since the Bosnian debacle in the 1990s, but the conditions underlying the Libya mission's success cannot be counted upon to exist again in the future.
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03/14/2012
Russian media and military pundits have been heatedly discussing a second project of a cutting-edge fifth generation fighter that may join the Russian air force. A strong argument in favour of this backup project is competition, although such duplication of effort isn’t always a good thing.
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03/14/2012
The Obama administration has assured the American public that any cuts to defense spending would be part of a reasonably balanced package of reductions, would help reduce record budget deficits, and will be "reversible" if future contingencies require it.
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03/14/2012
Turkey and the United States began a joint military exercise, Anatolian Falcon 2012, in the Central Anatolian city of Konya last week as tensions escalate in Iran and Syria. The combat exercise began March 5 and will continue until March 15, according to a statement released by the Press Operations Center of the US Department of Defense. The point of the 11-day air combat exercise is to increase the interoperability of the two states' air forces.
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03/14/2012
March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- For the second time in its 10-year history auctioning surplus and scrap property for the Department of Defense, Government Liquidation will be selling a record-amount of scrap metal made up of decommissioned military aircraft including F-111 Aardvarks, C-5 Galaxies, F-15 Eagles, C-130 Hercules, S-3 Vikings and A-4 Skyhawks.
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03/14/2012
Russia has no plans to resume the sale of S-300 air defense systems to Iran, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday. “All restrictions imposed by the UN Security Council will be observed,” the deputy minister said. “I assure you that [the restrictions] are strictly observed and Russia is not acting in breach of sanctions.”
The $800-million contract to supply Iran with the missile system was signed at the end of 2007.
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03/14/2012
Cancelling a contract with Russia state arms exporter Rosoboronexport on the delivery of military helicopters would put the U.S. program of sustaining security in Afghanistan at risk, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said during a briefing on Tuesday.
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03/13/2012
The operational needs of the Israeli air force are increasing constantly, while in parallel its resources are becoming more and more limited. This problem seems international, as is the solution initiated for the Israeli service by Elbit Systems.
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03/13/2012
The Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal [MRCA], worth at least 18 billion dollars is turning into a controversy. The whispers of unhappiness that were audible for the past month about the government’s decision to award the contract to the French firm Dassault for its bid for Rafale aircraft, are distinctly getting louder. A first-rate controversy threatens to cast a shadow on this ‘mother of all arms deals’ and may refuse to go away till the 2014 general election.
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03/13/2012
The South Korean Coast Guard has taken delivery of its fourth and final Dirgantara Indonesia/Airbus Military CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The first two aircraft were delivered in May 2011 and the third in December 2011, said Dirgantara Indonesia in a statement.
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03/13/2012
With the US military facing lean times, the US Air Force's Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is not immune from procurement pressure, despite its importance in providing the combat pilots of the future. Not surprisingly, more expensive bills, such as replacing the command's fleet of 508 ageing Northrop T-38 Talon jet trainers, are also receiving sharper scrutiny by Rice and his superiors in the air force chief of staff's office.
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03/13/2012
One of the variants of India’s new fighter aircraft is running into some problems. The Guardian newspaper is reporting that the naval version of India’s first indigenous fighter — the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Navy) — has not been able to obtain the certification needed to make its debut flight because of structural issues.
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03/13/2012
The U.S. Department of Defense should drop a $900 million contract with Russian arms sales company Rosoboronexport to supply helicopters to Afghanistan's forces, if Moscow continues to arm the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, 17 senators have said in a statement sent to Pentagon head Leon Panetta, the Foreign Policy Journal reports.
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03/13/2012
Two pilots died after a Kamov Ka-52 (Hokum B) attack helicopter crashed during a training flight near Torzhok in Russia’s Tver Region on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said. “A rescue group found the helicopter some 10 kilometers west of Torzhok air field at 08.45 am Moscow Time” he said. One pilot died immediately in the crash, and the second died in hospital shortly after.
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03/13/2012
The Russian Air Force will receive the first six Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E multirole fighter jets by the end of 2012, spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said on Monday. “Su-35 is in the final stages of flight testing at the Akhtubinsk testing and pilot training center [Volga Region],” Drik said. “The first six series-production Su-35s will be delivered to the Air Force by the end of 2012.”
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03/13/2012
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) Post Production Support (PPS) contract from the U.S. Air Force.
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03/13/2012
Boeing and the U.S. Army have successfully completed a series of tests on the company’s Adaptive Vehicle Management System (AVMS), an advanced rotorcraft flight control system. AVMS, which has been in development for two years, delivers enhanced maneuverability and safety while reducing aircrew workload and overall operating costs.
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03/12/2012
Approximately 550 military aircrew personnel and four squadrons of F-18s (VFA-102, VFA-115, VFA195 and VFA-27) from the Naval Air Facility at Atsugi, Japan, are on Guam this week for the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program. The training excercise begins TODAY, March 12 and runs through April 10.
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03/12/2012
The Chinese government has just announced its plan to boost defense spending by 11.2 percent this year (The Jakarta Post, March 4). China may be reacting to the increasing US military presence in Asia-Pacific region, particularly after President Barack Obama last November revealed a plan to establish a new Marine Corps base in the Northern Territory of Australia, to be manned by 2,500 troops.
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03/12/2012
Yemeni military officials said Sunday that U.S. aircraft carried out four airstrikes in a southern province where al-Qaida-linked militants control several key towns. Two military officials said the airstrikes targeted Khanfar Mountain near the town of Jaar in Abyan province, where al-Qaida is in control. There was no comment from U.S. officials.
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03/12/2012
SMILE, you're on camera. That's what holidaymakers on North Stradbroke Island will be saying if a plan takes off to get tiny unmanned planes to patrol beaches. It is hoped Australian surf lifesavers will add the robotic "eye in the sky" aircraft, called Unmanned Aircraft Systems, to their arsenal of rescue equipment in May.
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03/12/2012
Despite growing calls for the United States to help stop the bloodshed in Syria, senior Pentagon officials are stepping up their warnings that military intervention would be a daunting and protracted operation, requiring at least weeks of exclusively American airstrikes, with the potential for killing vast numbers of civilians and plunging the country closer to civil war.
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03/11/2012
Dassault Aviation SA (AM) is confident that an accord to supply at least 126 Rafale combat planes to India will cross all hurdles as the French company intensifies negotiations to clinch the first-ever export deal for the jet. Dassault and India are now in final talks to conclude details of the contract, after the Rafale was given preference over the competing Eurofighter jet last month, Chief Executive Officer Charles Edelstenne said in an interview in Paris.
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03/11/2012
The British engineering firm is ready to pay £800m ($1.3bn) for the business, according to the Sunday Times. Volvo Aero makes aircraft engines and their components, including the jet engine used in the Saab Gripen combat jet. GKN's aerospace business is the firm's second biggest division. It makes parts for civilian and combat aircraft as well as helicopters.
Last year it had sales of £1.5bn, up 4%.
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03/11/2012
China’s new aircraft carrier has begun its first sea trials. The carrier was originally left for scrap but was later bought by a company with ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Military sources were quoted as saying that the trial “would not take a long time.” The carrier left its shipyard at Dalian Port in Liaoning Province on Wednesday morning.
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03/11/2012
The military is rethinking its planned acquisition of F-16 fighter jets from the United States owing to various reasons, foremost of which are the maintenance and cost. This was disclosed by Maj. Gen. Lauro Catalino de la Cruz, Air Force commander, during the turnover of four W-3A Sokol Combat utility helicopters to the Air Force in Clark Field, Pampanga, over the weekend.
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03/11/2012
The South Korean and U.S. militaries are considering deploying a high-powered surveillance plane to bolster their watch over North Korea during the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul later this month, a senior military source said Sunday. The March 26-27 summit will bring together U.S. President Barack Obama and dozens of world leaders amid increased hostile rhetoric from North Korea. Pyongyang has branded the gathering as an "intolerable grave provocation" against it.
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03/11/2012
Fears that some of the world’s most sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons that disappeared from government warehouses in Libya would end up in the hands of stateless insurgent are being realized. At least some of the roughly 480 high-performance SA-24 “Grinch” shoulder-launched missiles that disappeared during the Libyan uprising have reappeared in the hands of insurgents on the borders of Israel, say senior Israeli officials.
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03/11/2012
Military spending of President Benigno Aquino's government has outstripped that of previous administrations, a palace official revealed. Herminio Coloma, the Presidential Communications Secretary, said procurements for the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) modernisation programme have reached 28 billion pesos (Dh2.41 billion) in 18 months under the Aquino administration when compared to 33 billion pesos under various administrations in the past 15 years.
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03/11/2012
China's increased military spending, by 11% this year and 12.7% last year, is matched by its growing assertiveness in pressing territorial claims. A classic example is the South China Sea where Beijing contends that India's exploratory drilling with Vietnam is a breach of its sovereignty. Should India be worried? The 1962 defeat is still as fresh as yesterday. There is also the long-running border dispute over Arunachal Pradesh.
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03/11/2012
Guard members who operate the A-10 Thunderbolt II at Selfridge Air National Guard Base shouldn't focus on the possibility of the aircraft being eliminated from the base in 2013, according to the new commander of the 107th Fighter Squadron.
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03/11/2012
Glancing at the tail number of a long, gray tanker aircraft, Col. Laen D. August remarked, "I'm a pretty old fellow, but that airplane is at least a year older than I am because I was born in 1963." One week ago today, August was looking at a Cold War-era KC-135 Stratotanker on the ramp at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base for the base's largest launch of tanker aircraft in 20 years.
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03/10/2012
The country’s indigenously developed light combat aircraft (LCA), Tejas LSP-7, made its maiden flight on Friday. The Limited Series Production-7 aircraft took off from the HAL airport at 4.27 pm and flew for 28 minutes. The LSP-7 aircraft, along with LSP-8, will be offered to the Indian Air Force for user evaluation trials (UET).
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03/10/2012
During last week’s meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, a request was made by the Israelis for American “bunker buster” bombs and refueling planes, according to Reuters. Both types of equipment would enhance the abilities of Israel’s military to effectively strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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03/10/2012
Top U.S. officials all the way up to President Barack Obama are predicting the Syrian regime's days are numbered, but recent U.S. intelligence reports suggest that the Syrian leader commands a formidable army that is unlikely to turn on him, an inner circle that has stayed loyal and a Syrian elite that still supports his rule.
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03/10/2012
The Marine Corps has deployed two remotely piloted helicopters to Afghanistan, each of which can airlift 6,000 pounds, and the Army has tested an unmanned ground vehicle that can carry a half-ton load, top service officials told members of the House Armed Services Committee Thursday.
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03/10/2012
The top U.S. Air Force weapons buyer said on Friday he believed the paperwork problem that prompted him to cancel a $355 million contract for 20 planes to be sold to Afghanistan was an "isolated situation." David Van Buren, acting assistant secretary for acquisition, said an investigation was still under way, but he did not believe the case revealed a systemic problem with the Air Force acquisition process.
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03/09/2012
An F-16 fighter jet assigned to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska made an emergency landing while performing a training mission in support of Exercise Cope North 2012 in the U.S. territory of Saipan, Feb. 21. Upon landing, the aircraft slid off the end of the runway, coming to rest approximately 380 feet into the grass.
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03/09/2012
Three months after the Air Force placed blame squarely on an F-22 fighter pilot who died when he crashed in the service's most expensive plane after his oxygen system failed in mid-air, a top Air Force official is apparently backtracking - saying that the pilot was not blamed and that he did the best he could in the situation he was in.
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03/09/2012
Military radar experts at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment in El Segundo, Calif., and partner Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems segment in El Segundo, Calif., will develop and install an advanced air-to-air and air-to-ground radar system for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40 high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under terms of a $24.5 million contract announced Wednesday.
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03/09/2012
The Harper government's plan to buy new fixed-wing search and rescue planes has been delayed yet again, The Canadian Press has learned. The Defence Department is not going to issue a tender call to replace nearly 50-year-old C-115 Buffalos and C-130 Hercules transports until the spring of 2013.
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03/09/2012
A US military attack on Iran would do more damage than a strike carried out by Israeli forces, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday in an interview. The United States and Israel disagree about the imminence of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, and Panetta’s comments underscored the US administration’s stance that Israel should hold off on any unilateral action.
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03/09/2012
Airbus Military has offered Australia a sixth A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft, giving Canberra until mid-2012 to make a decision. The unsolicited offer involves an aircraft, MSN 871, that was previously involved in the US Air Force's KC-X tanker competition, said Airbus in an email to Flightglobal. After years of controversy, the Boeing 767-based KC-46A emerged as the ultimate winner of the KC-X competition in 2011.
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03/09/2012
China's first aircraft carrier is likely to be commissioned on August 1 and deployed in the disputed South China Sea, boosting its blue water aspirations. "The military authority plans to let the aircraft carrier be commissioned this year," Deputy Commander of Chinese navy Xu Hongmeng said.
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03/09/2012
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the first of ten Italian Air Force’s HH-139A medium twin engine helicopters has entered operational service. A ceremony held at Cervia Air Base marked this achievement. These helicopters will supplement ageing HH-212 and HH-3F helicopters in the role of search and rescue operations across the nation.
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03/09/2012
The Turkish and U.S. air forces continue to combine their air assets and share tactics in large-force employments during Exercise Anatolian Falcon 2012 here March 5-16. During LFE exercises, units oftentimes take advantage of the high number of aircraft participating to test mass communication efforts, but the 480th Fighter Squadron pilots from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, are sharing suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses tactics with their Turkish counterparts.
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03/09/2012
As the Marine Corps cuts about 10 percent of its forces in the next few years, it is adding personnel to its four drone squadrons and may create a fifth. A new occupation specialty will lead to the first dedicated Marine officer corps for unmanned systems, to work in conjunction with full-time drone operators from the enlisted ranks.
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03/08/2012
The first batch of the country's indigenously developed light combat aircraft (LCA) "Tejas" was likely to be handed over to the Indian Air Force by next year, a senior Aeronautical Development Agency official said today. "As far as LCA is concerned, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the prime agency. Last year they have started production.
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03/08/2012
The Air Force's latest budget proposal would eliminate the 917th Fighter Group, a unit of 409 part-time reservists and 171 full-time technicians, at Barksdale Air Force Base. The cuts would take effect by the end of next year on the unit's 50th anniversary.
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03/08/2012
Prague, March 7 (CTK) - Iraq military continues to be interested in the purchase of Czech-made L-159 subsonic fighter planes, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said after a cabinet meeting today. Necas said aircraft makers from other countries are of course competing for the contract on the delivery of fighter planes for Iraq, too.
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03/08/2012
Two military aircraft were involved in a "near miss" at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, according to a report. Details of the incident which happened last September, have been published by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB). The Merlin helicopter and Hawk training came within within half a mile (0.8km) of each other horizontally, but were only 100ft (30m) apart vertically.
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03/08/2012
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is reportedly considering an urgent request by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for GBU-28 bunker buster bombs and tanker aircraft that would be used in any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The Israeli air force's lack of the systems is widely seen as a major impediment to Netanyahu ordering airstrikes aimed at slowing the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, which Netanyahu sees as an existential threat to his tiny country.
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03/08/2012
Four brand new choppers for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will be turned over on Friday by a Polish manufacturer to the Philippine government, Malacañang said Thursday. The four new aircraft signals the near completion of the initial phase of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Plan aimed at making the air force more equipped in performing its mandate, it said in a statement.
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03/08/2012
USAF Clarifies Investigation of LAS Contract Award Focused on Internal Issues. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) today called on the United States Air Force (USAF) to move expeditiously to select an aircraft for its Light Air Support (LAS) Program.
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03/08/2012
The nation's top military leader said Wednesday that U.S. was considering "all possible additional steps" including "potential military options" in Syria, but stressed the administration was focused on "diplomatic and political approaches rather than a military intervention."
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03/08/2012
Military spending by Asian countries, led by China, is rising fast and for the first time is likely this year to outstrip Europe, where governments are cutting their defence budgets, according to a leading London-based thinktank.
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03/08/2012
As the Russian air group in South Sudan ends its mission all the equipment will be withdrawn within a week, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vladimir Drik said on Wednesday. All Russian soldiers and helicopters will leave the African country by the end of this week, he added. The move follows a Russian presidential decree after the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) ended on July 11, 2011.
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03/07/2012
An aircraft company with an Arkansas connection could get another shot at a multimillion-dollar Air Force contract. Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley indicated today that the Air Force is preparing to rebid a $355 million contract for a light-attack aircraft for the Afghan military that it canceled just a week ago.
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03/07/2012
U.S. aircraft maker Boeing, and electronics company Elbit Systems of America have signed a memorandum of understanding for technology investment in Brazil. The MOU will cover the development of advanced avionics. Boeing subsidiary AEL Sistemas is involved in the project.
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03/07/2012
A civilian pilot flying for Airborne Tactical Advantage Co., was killed Tuesday morning when his F-21 Kfir jet crashed near the west gate of Naval Air Station Fallon, six miles east of the city limits. Spokesman Matt Bannon of ATAC, which is based in Newport News, Va., said the pilot's name is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin.
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03/07/2012
The Turkish and U.S. air forces continue to successfully integrate their capabilities during Anatolian Falcon 2012 here March 6. The first four missions of the two-week exercise are through, and the two NATO allies are learning to better communicate with each other and combine their strengths.
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03/07/2012
Eglin Air Force Base’s 33rd Fighter Wing is flying its first local F-35 Lightning II sortie this morning. The single-craft exercise was set to begin at 10 a.m. and expected to last about an hour, according to Eglin spokeswoman Lois Walsh. As the world’s first multi-role stealth fighter, the F-35 is known for its superior range, cutting-edge avionics and next-generation sensor fusion, according to a news release from Eglin.
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03/07/2012
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, other Members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear before the committee today. That is especially true for a Congressional Budget Office alum like myself who remembers well working for senators Domenici and Sasser and others some two decades ago, when the Cold War ended and we were collectively trying to reduce defense budgets responsibly.
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03/07/2012
It seemed like a promising step for America’s next stealth fighter: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter passed a key Pentagon test of its combat capability. But it turns out that the family of jets cleared the mid-February exam only because its proctor agreed to inflate its grade. In essence, the military helped the F-35 cheat on its midterms.
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03/07/2012
Global sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest defense contractors increased in 2010 to $411.1 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The increase reflects a decade-long trend of growing military spending. Since 2002, total arms sales among the 100 largest arms manufacturers have increased 60 percent.
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03/07/2012
The Air Force today asked Congress today to eliminate 492 positions with the Des Moines-based 132nd, a 39 percent reduction in staffing, according to members of Iowa’s congressional delegation who received briefings from Pentagon officials.
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03/07/2012
Boeing on March 4 officially delivered the first production P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the U.S. Navy in Seattle. The P-8A is the first of 13 anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft Boeing will deliver as part of a low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract awarded in 2011.
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03/06/2012
India's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition has all the hallmarks of a classic Indian love story, Bollywood-style. In the late 1990s the Indian air force loved its French Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft, and in 2001 said it favoured buying 126 more. But India dithered, Dassault decided to pitch the Rafale instead, and in 2004 New Delhi decided to tender, with five other suitors emerging to woo its air force.
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03/06/2012
Amidst growing concern and criticism about the rising cost and delays, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program received a welcome vote of confidence last week from the United States and eight other nations during an international meeting sponsored by Canada. The attendees made it known that they fully support the continued development of the controversial aircraft.
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03/06/2012
The Boeing Company has selected Elbit Systems to provide advanced avionics systems for its fighter aircraft, including the upgraded versions of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-15SE Silent Eagle. Both are currently competing in several modern fighter tenders in Asia and Latin America. Elbit Systems Large Area Display (formerly known as Cockpit NG) was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show 2010.
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03/06/2012
Hollywood is going back to "Top Gun" school with its upcoming sequel to the 1986 film, but hotshot pilot Maverick won't be flying any killer robot drones. Instead, Tom Cruise is set to return in the starring role as a test pilot for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — a plane that could well be the last manned fighter aircraft made in the West.
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03/06/2012
STATE-OF-THE-ART air assets will soon fly the country’s skies, a boost to the country’s defense against external threats, as a number of projects have been lined up for acquisition.
Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesperson Lt. Col. Miguel Ernesto G. Okol in a press release yesterday said that "more advanced aircraft are expected in Phases 2 and 3 where PAF related components are grouped into what it calls ‘Horizon Programs,’ with Horizon 2 expected to begin in the 2012 to 2016 time frame."
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03/06/2012
Arizona Sen. John McCain called for American-led airstrikes on President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria. McCain says the goal of the U.S.-led air strikes should be to establish and defend safe havens for delivering humanitarian and military aid in Syria. "Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives," McCain said. "The only realistic way to do
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03/06/2012
Japan recently made its first public announcement that it may cancel its big order for Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter planes if the company adds to the pre-decided price or extends the delivery period of these planes. The cancellation can potentially wipe out more than $5 billion that Lockheed is expected to earn from the deal.
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03/06/2012
Russia and China may soon sign a $4-bln contract on the delivery of 48 Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E fighter jets to the Chinese air force, Russia’s Kommersant business daily said on Tuesday. “The sides have practically agreed on the delivery of 48 Su-35 multirole fighters, worth $4 billion, to China,” Kommersant said citing a source in the Russian defense industry.
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03/05/2012
First it was the United States that got annoyed, and now it is Britain's turn to ask some tough questions about its India policy. Ever since the French Rafale fighter was declared the lowest bidder in the multibillion dollar contract to provide a new generation fighter for the Indian Air Force, a debate has been raging in the United Kingdom as to what went wrong with Prime Minister David Cameron's charm offensive in wooing India.
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03/05/2012
An Indian Air Force (IAF), Mirage 2000 combat jet crashed in Rajasthan on Monday but the pilot ejected to safety, an officer said. "The crash occurred around 12.45 pm. The pilot ejected to safety," the officer said. This is the second Mirage 2000 crash in 10 days. A trainer version of the jet had crashed in Madhya Pradesh on Feb 24, but both pilots, one of whom was an air marshal, had managed to eject in time.
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03/05/2012
Military chief Adm. Agus Suhartono has denied that middlemen were involved in an aircraft purchase deal that critics contend was overpriced by $50 million, but the issue continues to generate controversy. “I don’t believe the allegations about the involvement of middlemen are true,” Agus said on Saturday in Bogor. “The veracity of the report has to be rechecked.”
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03/05/2012
China’s always-controversial defense budget announcement will attract particular notice this year. While the U.S. implements potentially dramatic cuts to its defense spending growth, China is robustly increasing its military spending, which is officially set to grow at a clip of 11.2% to 670.2 billion RMB ($106.4 billion) in 2012.
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03/05/2012
Australia's Quickstep Holdings says it has been awarded the tender to build part of the C-130J Hercules military transport aircraft. The Perth-based company said on Monday it would be the sole supplier of the wing flaps on Lockheed Martin's C-130J. Quickstep managing director Philippe Odouard said in a statement the wing flaps would be built at Bankstown Airport in Sydney's west and could create 60 jobs.
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03/05/2012
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation in Moscow has signed a contract with Sukhoi Co. JSC in Moscow to build the latest production lot of 32 Su-34 jet fighter-bombers for the Russian air force, Sukhoi officials announced. The Su-34, which NATO calls the Fullback, is being designed to replace the Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer and the Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire bombers as Russia's front-line jet strike fighter.
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03/05/2012
Preparing to meet military threats from China, the Indian Air Force has been conducting a major war exercise in the northeast, in coordination with the army, to test their combat potential. "The Indian Air Force's (IAF) Shillong-based Eastern Air Command commenced the exercise codenamed 'Pralay' (Apocalypse) on Feb 29,"a air force officer said.
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03/05/2012
A "mysterious" blast ripped through a Yemeni military plane at an air force base near Sanaa international airport on Sunday without causing any casualties, an airport technician told AFP. "An Antonov aircraft blew up in mysterious circumstances while it was on the tarmac at Dulaimi air force base," the technician said, adding that no one was reported hurt in the explosion.
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03/05/2012
Sikorsky's Executive Vice President for India and South Asia, Air Vice Marshal Arvind Jeet Singh Walia (retd), told India Strategic defence magazine (www.indiastrategic.in) that at present the offer was to make a naval variant of the famous Black Hawk, designated MH-70B Sea Hawk, if the Indian Navy opts to buy this aircraft.
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03/05/2012
The Russian Navy's Northern Fleet has accepted into service a modernized Ilyushin Il-38N anti-submarine warfare aircraft, which will also carry out electronic intelligence (ELINT) duties, the Northern Fleet's press spokesman Captain Vadim Serga said on Monday.
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03/04/2012
The head of Air Education and Training Command has approved test pilots at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to begin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight operations next week, sources said Friday.
Eglin’s two qualified test pilots, Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith and Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann, will take to the air on Tuesday, weather permitting. The decision was made by Air Force Gen. Edward Rice, commander of Air Education and Training Command.
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03/04/2012
Marine Electric Systems, a South Hackensack-based maker of parts for aircraft carriers and other military equipment, had a problem. The company had to find a way to defend itself against a shrinking defense budget. It found a solution by building what could be described as a better non-bulb light. It has retooled to sell light panels that use light-emitting diodes — LEDs — to illuminate construction sites, mining operations and other places calling for high-powered lighting.
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03/04/2012
A raft of helicopter makers such as Boeing, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter and AgustaWestland are hovering over the civil market in India. But they are also eyeing a bigger prize: military deals. The Indian armed forces are upgrading their ageing fleet and that means big orders and big money, running into billions of dollars, for these companies.
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03/04/2012
China's official defence spending will rise by 11.2% in 2012, pushing it above $100bn (£65bn) for the first time, the government has announced. Beijing's defence budget has risen each year for two decades to become the world's second-biggest, behind the US. It is developing an aircraft carrier, a stealth fighter jet, and missiles that can shoot down satellites.
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03/04/2012
On March 2, 1951, against all the odds that happened in the world simultaneously, Sri Lanka got its safety wings fixed. It was the establishment of a native air force to protect the sovereignty of the country which was then known as Ceylon.
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03/04/2012
Are too many projects spoiling the broth for defence enterprise Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd? On a day its new Chairman from outside the organisation took charge four months after the previous one retired, the junior Defence Minister clearly said HAL was not meeting critical aircraft delivery schedules of its primary customer - the Air Force - as it had far too many projects on its plate.
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03/03/2012
India will begin phasing out its dreaded MiG-21 fighter jets - nicknamed "the flying coffin" - in 2014, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told a parliamentary committee. Pilots, former pilots and families of pilots who have died in MiG-21 crashes have been pressing the government for years to scrap the aircraft. India purchased 946 of the aircraft, many of them made in India, in the past 45 years.
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03/03/2012
The Air Force is the world's most advanced air and space force and, with the integration of fifth generation aircraft, is gaining new tactical advantages that transcend beyond just stealth into areas such as enhanced maneuverability, multi-role capabilities and fused sensor and avionics systems that can communicate with other weapons systems.
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03/03/2012
Air Mobility Command, which provides transport and refueling services to the US military using cargo planes and other military aircraft, announced on Friday that the US Air Force will be buying as many as 18,000 iPads worth over $9 million to be used as electronic flight bags by its pilots. Apple’s tablets will replace the bulky paper-based flight bags traditionally used by its pilots.
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03/03/2012
When President Obama addresses the annual conference of the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) next week, he will be given an important opportunity to set the record straight on his administration's handling of U.S.-Israel relations. The president's outreach to the Arab and Muslim world, as well as his policy and personal differences with Prime Minister Netanyahu, have led to charges that he is either insufficiently "pro-Israel" or downright "anti-Israel."
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03/03/2012
The MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle isn't cheaper to buy than some manned military aircraft it's frequently compared with; the UAV is from two to six times more costly, Winslow Wheeler writes in Time Magazine's Battleland blog. Media reports cite a per-unit cost from $4 million to $5 million for the Reaper, but they're wrong, writes Wheeler, the director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information in Washington.
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03/03/2012
U.S. Air Force aviation experts needed helmet-mounted targeting systems for the U.S. Navy, as well as for air forces in Pakistan, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, and Finland. They found their solution from the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis.
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03/03/2012
The Indian Air Force has been conducting a major war exercise in the northeast part of the country in coordination with the army to test their combat potential, reported a local daily Friday in Guwahati, state capital of Assam. "The Indian Air Force's (IAF) Shillong-based Eastern Air Command commenced the exercise codenamed 'Pralay' (Apocalypse) on Feb. 29," an air force officer was quoted as saying.
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03/03/2012
Russia’s modernized Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A aircraft, also known as the Il-476, will conduct its maiden flight by the end of June, Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar aircraft maker said on Friday.
The Il-476 is an extensively modified variant of the Il-76 freighter, with new engines, reinforced wing, modernized cockpit, and heavier payload. The aircraft will be primarily built for the Russian Armed Forces and Emergencies Ministry.
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03/02/2012
The Indian government has allocated its navy funds to buy an additional nine mid-range reconnaissance airplanes for nearly $1 billion. The new aircraft will assist in maintaining India's Indian Ocean security and supplement the Indian navy's earlier order of P-8I Poseidon long-range reconnaissance airplanes from U.S. defense manufacturer Boeing.
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03/02/2012
Boeing has won a $300 million performance-based logistics support contract with the South Korean military to maintain the air force's F-15K Slam Eagle fighter jets. The five-year deal will ensure long-term viability of the Boeing F-15K aircraft, of which South Korea is believed to have around 60.
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03/02/2012
Sweden's military says it needs up to 80 new Gripen fighter jets to replace its indigenous aging fleet of fighter aircraft. The Swedish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it needs 60-80 planes because the upgrade program for the fighter jet system isn't to begin until 2020 and will take about 10 years.
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03/02/2012
As a sleek black U-2 roared back from a mission, Pontiac muscle cars zoomed along the runway to help it touch down using a low-tech method dating back more than half a century to when this Cold War-era aircraft was cutting-edge. "It's notorious for being hard to land," the pilot said after climbing out of the cockpit.
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03/02/2012
Airbus Military has signed a firm contract with Kazspetsexport, a State Company belonging to the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan, to supply two C295 military transport aircraft plus the related service support package for spare parts and ground support equipment. The aircraft will be operated by the Air Forces of Kazakhstan in support of their transport missions throughout the nation’s vast territory.
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03/02/2012
The United States is still interested in the Brazilian-made Super Tucano light aircraft, a top State Department official said Thursday, days after the U.S. Air Force said it was rescinding a $354 million contract for such aircraft. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the U.S. "is in the midst of some internal processes" related to the deal for 20 light air-support aircraft by Brazil's Embraer.
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03/02/2012
On the last Sunday of February, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin once again reiterated the need for breakthrough ideas for building new weapons. A shortage of cutting-edge military equipment is believed to be one of the main problems faced by the Russian Armed Forces. However, fascination with new technologies could prove to be as dangerous.
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03/02/2012
The Russian Defense Ministry has signed a deal for 92 Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers from the Sukhoi aircraft maker, the ministry said on Thursday. The deal under which the warplanes are to be delivered by 2020 was signed by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Sukhoi General Director Igor Ozar.
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03/01/2012
USAF reverses its contract for the turbo-engined Embraer Super Tucano, a twin-seated fighter aircraft for ground attack. The decision re-opened the competitive tender for LAS (Light Air Support), or rather an aircraft for close light support, a role assigned for years, since Korea to Vietnam, to the A-1 "Skyraider".
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03/01/2012
The Rafale deal has the potential to either make or break the country's future in aerospace manufacturing. India's defence procurement orders are a game for the patient. For over five years, a bunch of companies with ambition to grab a chunk of offsets that would accrue to our fledgling aerospace industry have awaited the decision on the multi-role fighter aircraft. The suspense ended when French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation's fighter plane Rafale was chosen as the preferred bidder.
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03/01/2012
President Barack Obama unveiled the new national security strategy on Jan. 5 that directs the military to focus on potential adversaries in Asia and the Pacific. The military shift to the Asia-Pacific is carrying out the Defense Department’s Air-Sea Battle concept, which was laid out in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)—a strategy to “defeat aggression in anti-access environments” and to “deter, defend against, and defeat aggression by potentially hostile nation-states.”
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03/01/2012
The MV-22 Osprey is a new aircraft with a long story. NASA, the Army and numerous corporations worked to create an aircraft that could land like a helicopter and fly like a plane since the 1970’s. In September 2007, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 became the first Marine squadron to deploy to combat with this capability.
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03/01/2012
As Afghan National Security Forces begin to take the lead in providing security for their people, coalition forces have moved forward into a mentoring role while conducting joint combat missions. In Regional Command-South, the Kandahar Air Wing, or KAW, took its first steps toward conducting independent operations. On Feb. 21, KAW executed its first air assault operation in Kandahar Province to disrupt and counter Taliban efforts.
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03/01/2012
Boeing has received an $11.4 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Air Force. The first delivery order under this contract is worth $4.6 million and will provide parts to be used to complete installation of 25mm Ammunition Storage and Handling Systems (ASHS) on four AC-130U gunships. The contract also includes spares to support sustainment of the ASHS. The Boeing Fort Walton Beach facility will build the components for delivery to Robins Air Force Base, G
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03/01/2012
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev confused Russian military facilities when he demanded that Russia pay off a $15-million debt for leasing an air base in the former Soviet republic, Kommersant daily reported on Thursday. Atambayev told Kommersant earlier there was "no need" for the base at Kant. He accused Russia of walking out on its obligations and said the base did nothing but flatter the "vanity of Russian generals."
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03/01/2012
Japan may cancel its order to buy 42 U.S.-made F-35 Lightning II stealth combat aircraft if prices grow or delivery is delayed, the Kyodo News Agency said on Wednesday. “If the U.S. side makes an unrealistic proposal, we will cancel the purchase or consider [buying] other types of aircraft,” the agency quoted Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka as saying.
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03/01/2012
Russia’s new radar in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will go into operation in 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday. The Voronezh-DM facility was unveiled in November to counter the perceived threat from a U.S.-NATO missile defense system in Europe. “This is a new radar station, which is now on trial duty and will be put on full alert in two years,” he said.
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03/01/2012
The Russian Defense Ministry has signed a contract with aircraft maker MiG for the delivery of 20 MiG-29K and four MiG-29KUB carrier-based fighter aircraft, MiG said on Wednesday.
"Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and MiG General Director Sergei Korotkov have signed the contract for the delivery of MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB carrier-based fighters," MiG said in a statement. MiG wil deliver the aircraft from 2013-2015.
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