April 28, 2012 Military Aviation News
04/28/2012
The United States risks losing its current competitive edge in the unmanned aircraft market unless Washington acts soon to ease tough restrictions on their export for commercial use, the chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp said on Friday. Wes Bush, chairman and chief executive of the leading U.S. unmanned vehicle maker, lauded the Pentagon's recommendation last week to ease export restrictions on satellite technology.
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04/28/2012
Domestic military base closings are out. The Global Hawk drone is back in. The Pentagon wanted another round of base closings in this deficit-cutting era. The Readiness Subcommittee said no, with Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., calling the notion “flawed.” The Pentagon wanted to retire 18 of the Air Force’s Global Hawk drones from the Block 30 program. The Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee rejected that idea.
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04/28/2012
The U.S. Air Force is reviewing its plans for combat search and rescue (CSAR), to determine whether current fleet-sizing assumptions for the HH-60G and replacement Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) still reflect operational needs. The baseline demand for the service has been for 148 rotorcraft, with a recognition that available funding only allows for 112 to be operated. An update of the core function master plan, due for completion in the fall.
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04/28/2012
Hoping to get a bigger slice in the pie of massive Indian defence modernisation efforts, the US has said the level of its willingness to share defence technologies with India has never been higher than it is now. "The level of our willingness to share technology with India has never been higher," Andrew Shapiro, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, said.
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04/28/2012
From May 3 to 6, 2012, Astana, Kazakhstan, will be hosting the Second International Exhibition of Weapons System and Military Equipment (KADEX-2012). The organizers are the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazspetsexport Republican State Enterprise, Kazakhstan Engineering National Company, Kazahvzryvprom enterprise and JSC Kazakhstan GIS Center.
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04/28/2012
McDonnell Douglas essentially hand-built the first C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane for U.S. Air Force developmental testing and evaluation. The airplane, designated T-1, first flew on Sept. 15, 1991, six years before McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing, and was expected to last about five years. On Wednesday, it finally made its last flight, into retirement at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
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04/28/2012
The Obama administration will give “serious consideration” to selling Taiwan new Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 fighter jets, a White House official said, creating a potential new flashpoint with China ahead of next week’s high- level meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials. A jet sale “warrants serious consideration given the growing military threat to Taiwan.
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04/28/2012
New military options and expanding trade and investment opportunities are likely the main issues to be discussed when the foreign and defense secretaries of the Philippines and the United States hold their first ever meeting here on April 30. The Filipinos are expected to submit a list of military hardware they need for a credible maritime defense while the US, to counter China’s military, will seek bilateral arrangements including rotating more troops in the Philippines.
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04/28/2012
The dog year, the mythical unit of time based on the theory that man’s best friend ages seven times faster than a human, can now be replaced by the Tejas year. The naval version of the Tejas, India’s indigenous fighter aircraft, took flight for the first time today. The 22-minute sortie — just a toddler step in the air — was more than 20 years in the making and its conception-to-sky life can be measured by the career progression of the chief test pilot.
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04/28/2012
Russia will display its much hyped fifth-generation fighter prototype, the T-50, at an air show in August, according to a document posted on the official legal information portal http://pravo.gov.ru on Friday. The jet, as well as other warplanes, including the Tupolev Tu-95MS, a modification of the Tu-95 Bear strategic bomber, will be shown at a festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Russia’s Air Force.
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