October 20, 2012 Military Aviation News
10/20/2012
Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Saturday will press Syrian officials for a truce, just hours after Lebanese politicians blamed Damascus for the killing of a top security official. But even as Brahimi arrived in the war-torn country Friday, government jets hammered the rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan in the northwest, and fighters there accused the regime of using cluster bombs in the attack, echoing claims by one rights group.
(Read More...)
10/20/2012
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighters against Chinese military aircraft approaching Japanese air space 54 times from July to September, more than three times as often as from April to June, the Defense Ministry said. While Chinese military planes have been increasingly active each year, the recent spike in incidents is apparently due to friction over the Senkaku Islands, located in the East China Sea. The islands, which are administered by Japan, are also claimed by China and Taiwan.
(Read More...)
10/20/2012
France's defense minister announced here Friday that his country will purchase 14 MRTT aerial refueling tanker aircraft from Spain. Jean-Yves Le Drian shared the news with reporters after touring the Airbus Military Conversion Center in the Madrid industrial suburb of Getafe and meeting with Spanish counterpart Pedro Morenes.
(Read More...)
10/20/2012
Chinese pilots are learning how to take-off and land on the country's first aircraft carrier, a media report said on Friday. China's first aircraft carrier was delivered and commissioned to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in September. The carrier, formerly known as the Soviet ship Varyag, was renamed Liaoning and underwent years of refitting to install engines and weapons, as well as a year-long sea trials.
(Read More...)
10/20/2012
The Indian government approved a $1.5-billion deal to buy 200 air-launched variants of the Russian-Indian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and 10,000 Russian-made Invar anti-tank missiles. The Deccan Herald Indian daily reported the approval for the deal was made on Thursday.
(Read More...)
10/20/2012
The second United Kingdom Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II takes off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base today for delivery to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Eglin’s eleventh U.S. Marine Corps F-35B ferried to the Emerald Coast with the U.K. jet. The aircraft, known as ZM136 and BF-16, departed at approximately 8:06 a.m. CDT with U.K. Royal Air Force Sqn. Ldr. Jim Schofield and Marine Corps Maj. Adam Levine at the controls, respectively, for the 90-minute ferry flight to Eglin.
(Read More...)
All Articles