October 16, 2012 Military Aviation News
10/16/2012
Throughout this year, as fighting intensified in Syria and antigovernment fighters grew in numbers and in strength, it had seemed inevitable that they would acquire heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles and turn them against the Syrian military aircraft. This blog had documented the part-by-part appearance in rebel hands of one old heat-seeking system, known as the SA-7. Since midsummer there have been occasional sightings of full systems but none, as far as we know.
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10/16/2012
A Yemeni jet fighter crashed immediately after takeoff during a training mission on Monday, killing its pilot, Yemen's Defense Ministry said. The ministry's online newspaper said the Russian-made MiG-21 aircraft crashed inside al-Annad air base in the southern province of Lahj due to technical failure.
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10/16/2012
In the past, there was a tradition in the U.S. military to paint pin-ups on aircraft. Today, that tradition lives on in Japan. But there's an important difference: they're not cheesecake pin-ups. They're anime girls. The annual festival at the Japanese Self Defense Force's Kisarazu base allowed visitors to check out the aircraft and vehicles.
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10/16/2012
Air Force CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor — a hybrid warplane that takes off like a helicopter and cruises like an airplane — crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing four people on board. When Brig. Gen. Don Harvel, the lead accident investigator, concluded that engine failure might have been to blame for the Osprey’s loss, he was overruled by a superior officer who Harvel says was eager to protect the military’s $36 billion investment in the controversial V-22.
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10/16/2012
Iran has flexed its military might by showing off what it claims is a new "indigenous" reconnaissance drone capable of reaching Israel and launching a series of anti-warship missiles in the Persian Gulf. In what appears to be a reaction to the recent naval exercise in the region by the US and its allies, Iran's elite revolutionary guards have unveiled an unmanned aerial vehicle, called Shahed-129.
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10/16/2012
As the West debates military intervention in Syria, a former Syrian general says a single U.S. aircraft carrier and U.S. combat jets based in neighboring Turkey would be enough to control a 75-mile-deep northern no-fly zone for anti-regime rebels. Retired Brig. Gen. Akil Hashem, a supporter of the Free Syrian Army and a staunch advocate of Western intervention, calls the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad "a paper tiger."
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10/16/2012
Turkey has banned all Syrian aircraft from its air space as it takes an increasingly firm stance against President Bashar al-Assad, while Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had made more gains in a key province near the Turkish border.
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10/16/2012
China has begun flight training on its first aircraft carrier, with photographs posted on websites Monday showing navy pilots practicing touch-and-go landing exercises. Military enthusiast websites posted pictures of a J-15 fighter-bomber executing the maneuver, in which the plane makes brief contact with the flight deck before flying on. It wasn’t clear when the pictures were taken, and they did not appear on the Defense Ministry’s website or in official media.
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10/16/2012
The Russian Navy's Northern Fleet is carrying out flight tests and warfare trials of its modified Kamov Ka-27M anti-submarine helicopter from large destroyers, the fleet's spokesman, Captain Vadim Serga, said on Monday. "The modernized Ka-27M (NATO codename Helix) is completing deck landings on a ship as well as trials of its main systems," he said.
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10/16/2012
CAE has won a contract to design and manufacture a KC-130J full-mission simulator for the Kuwait Air Force. The contract was awarded to CAE USA under the United States foreign military sale (FMS) programme. Under terms of the contract, CAE USA will design and manufacture a KC-130J full-mission simulator that will be delivered in 2015 to Al Mubarak Air Base near Kuwait International Airport.
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