July 31, 2012 Military Aviation News

Autonomous Unmanned Combat Aircraft, X-47B, Makes Successful First Flight

07/31/2012

Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator has successfully completed its first flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent (Pax) River. The unmanned aircraft launched from Pax River and flew for 35 minutes, and reached an altitude of 7,500 feet at a speed of 180 knots before landing back at Pax River.

F-22 Fighter Loses $79 Billion Advantage in Dogfights: Report

07/31/2012

The United States has spent nearly $80 billion to develop the most advanced stealth fighter jet in history, the F-22 Raptor, but the Air Force recently found out firsthand that while the planes own the skies at modern long-range air combat, it is “evenly matched” with cheaper, foreign jets when it comes to old-school dogfighting.

Air Force drones replacing fighter jets

07/31/2012

Strapped into the cockpit of an F-16 jet fighter, Air Force Col. Scott Brenton has dropped bombs over Bosnia, screamed over the desert in Iraq and strafed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. But on a recent morning, Brenton flew his combat mission from a leather easy chair in a low-slung cinder block building on the edge of Syracuse.

New Russian bomber: needless expenditure or future necessity?

07/31/2012

There was at least one thing on which all the participants of the round table, which was held in the Rosbalt information agency, have agreed upon: Russia should continue maintaining the existing fleet of strategic aircraft in a proper condition and continue to upgrade them. The resources for the Tupolev Tu-95MS, Tu-160, and Tu-22?3 allow these aircrafts to remain in service for many years. In these conditions, the improvement of their equipment and weapons is one of the key tasks.

Eurocopter Delivers Two NH90s to French Army and Navy

07/31/2012

Eurocopter has delivered two NH90s to France’s DGA for their deployment by the French Army and Navy. The ceremony celebrating this dual delivery was held at Marignane, the manufacturer’s headquarters, and was attended by the DGA, Dominique Maudet, Eurocopter Group’s Executive Officer for France & Vice President of Global Business and Services, and a number of representatives from France’s armed forces.

China keen to sell indigenous combat helicopter to India

07/31/2012

China would be keen to sell an indigenously developed combat helicopter to India, a senior officer of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) aviation regiment said on Tuesday. Z-9WZ, designed and manufactured in China, was part of a show organised for foreign and local media that included displays and maneuvers by the helicopters on Tuesday.

Whoops. Germans say they were able to handle stealthy F-22s in mock combat just fine

07/31/2012

In mid-June, 150 German airmen and eight twin-engine, non-stealthy Typhoons arrived at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska for an American-led Red Flag exercise involving more than 100 aircraft from Germany, the U.S. Air Force and Army, NATO, Japan, Australia and Poland. Eight times during the two-week war game, individual German Typhoons flew against single F-22s in basic fighter maneuvers meant to simulate a close-range dogfight.

Typhoon's bid to UAE will include new radar technology

07/31/2012

The UAE will get the benefits of a new technology development in the Eurofighter Typhoon if it selects the aircraft for its multi-role combat type, the European partnership said today. On behalf of the four core nations in the Eurofighter programme, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, a Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued by NETMA (NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency) to Eurofighter GmbH for the development of an Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar (E-Scan).

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