December 30, 2012 Military Aviation News
12/30/2012
U.S. Navy officials have issued an urgent order to equip the service's MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter with the Telephonics Corp. RDR-1700 maritime-surveillance radar system. The Northrop Grumman Corp. MQ-8 Fire Scout is a rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployed on Navy frigates, littoral combat ships, and other surface combatants for reconnaissance, situational awareness, and precision targeting.
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12/30/2012
The U.S. Army is nearing a decision on whether to open a competition for a new scout helicopter to supplant the current fleet of Kiowa Warriors made by Bell Helicopter. Military officials have been testing different choppers this year, including models from Boeing and EADS, in a "skyoff" acquisition strategy as it weighs whether to move forward with planned upgrades to the Vietnam-era Kiowa or seek a new model.
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12/30/2012
Lockheed Martin Corp was awarded up to $4.9bn in additional funding for its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme, the Pentagon announced yesterday, providing a significant end-of-year boost in orders for the largest US defense contractor. The US Defence Department said it had reached agreement with Lockheed on a preliminary contract valued at up to $3.68bn for 31 F-35s in a sixth batch of planes to be built for the US military, with details to be finalised the coming year.
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12/30/2012
With its heavy concentration of military facilities and defense companies, San Diego could be one of the hardest hit regions in the country by the fiscal cliff. The process called sequestration calls for automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion over 10 years, split equally between military and domestic programs.
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12/30/2012
The Syrian opposition destroyed 19 Mig fighting jets and 22 helicopters belonging to the regime's air force in 2012, according to survey by the Union of the Syrian Revolution Local Coordination Committees. Eleven planes were destroyed on the ground in opposition raids on various air bases across the country and 30 were shot down in action. A sizeable number, 43, of aircrafts destroyed was registered in the province of Idlib, where the first Mig fighter jet was shot down.
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12/30/2012
Former Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Defense, Major General Amirbek Togussov supports the suggestion of the Majilis (Lower Chamber of Kazakhstan Parliament) to transfer of the whole military aviation fleet under the jurisdiction of one authority.
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12/30/2012
The end of the fighter pilot, and nearly a century of military fighter planes, is an idea that garners a lot of attention lately and this report out of Nebraska is a prime example why.
Andrew Nelson at the World-Herald writes that all 21 F-16s at the Iowa National Guard's 132nd Fighter Wing will be replaced with an unnamed type of pilotless drone.
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