May 07, 2012 Military Aviation News
05/07/2012
Australia has issued a request for tender (RFT) related to its fleet of 71 Boeing F/A-18A/B Hornet aircraft. The contract will cover deep maintenance for 55 single-seat A-model combat aircraft and 16 twin-seat trainers, says Australian minister for defence materiel Jason Clare. The package also covers operational flight trainers, computer-based training systems, maintenance training systems, and testing and ground equipment unique to the Hornet.
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05/07/2012
The U.S. Navy has agreed to come on board India’s much delayed Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program and will audit tests and provide feedbacks to the Indian team. The U.S. will join the Russians and the Europeans who were earlier roped in to realize the LCA project which has been delayed by over 15 years.
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05/07/2012
A U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter crashed Thursday during a routine training mission in the Middle East, but investigators have ruled out insurgent activity as a cause, the military said. Both crew members ejected safely. The Air Force said that the crash happened in southwest Asia, a broad term that includes the Persian Gulf region.
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05/07/2012
The U.S. Air Force is restarting its stalled competition for as much as $1 billion to buy 20 light- attack aircraft for the Afghanistan military. A revised request for proposals will be issued and contains only “minor changes,” Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy said today in an e-mailed statement. A new award will be made early next year, with first aircraft deliveries expected 18 months later, she said.
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05/07/2012
BAE Systems is close to sealing a 500 million pounds ($808 million) deal to sell up to 30 Hawk trainer aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the Sunday Times reported. The sale would provide some welcome relief for the defence giant, which is battling against shrinking defence budgets in Europe and America. Saudi Arabia has ordered 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE and needs the Hawks to train its pilots.
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05/07/2012
China has apparently copied the Russian Su-30MK2, and is operating it as the J-16, claiming that the aircraft is of Chinese design. More unauthorized pictures of the J-16 are showing up, via Chinese with cell phone cameras and Internet access. It's pretty clear that the J-16 is a copy of the Su-30MK2. Russia and China jointly developed the two seat version of the Su-30, as the Su-30MKK in the late 1990s, and, a decade ago, an upgraded version the Su-MK2.
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05/07/2012
Moviegoers can easily recognize flights of fancy when they see the "Avengers" assemble aboard the flying "Helicarrier" aircraft carrier in Hollywood's latest superhero blockbuster. But could the U.S. Navy ever build the fantastical military marvel if it wanted a flying air base?
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05/07/2012
Questions emerged at the weekend as to whether Taiwan could afford both a multibillion-dollar upgrade program for its F-16A/B combat aircraft and new F-16C/Ds, amid claims that the price for the upgrade had been inflated since the deal was announced last year. The air force received a Letter of Answer from the US last week on the US$5.3 billion upgrade package for its 145 F-16A/Bs and is now reviewing the prices of the items on the list, Air Force Command Headquarters said yesterday.
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05/07/2012
India recently revealed that it had bought nearly a thousand MiG combat aircraft in the last half century, and lost most of them to accidents (along with nearly 200 pilots and people on the ground). While India was something of an extreme case in this area (other users don't fly their MiGs as much), it's been typical of MiG aircraft.
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