April, 2013 Military Aviation News
04/30/2013
Sweden's Defense Export Agency FMV has delivered three more Saab JAS 39 Gripens to Thailand, bringing Thailand's Gripen fleet to nine. Three additional Gripen fighters are to be delivered to the Thai air force this year, completing the procurement process. Thailand first ordered six of the multirole fighter in 2008. The deal included a Saab 340 AEW and a Saab 340 for transport and training. Comprehensive logistic support, pilot and technician were also part of the package.
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04/30/2013
Germany appears to have lost its enthusiasm for European made military helicopters and is cutting its order for Tiger gunships from 80 to 57 and NH90 transports from 122 to 82. Germany has lad a lot of problems with both of these helicopters during the last decade. Besides, Germany has better uses for the money, like bailing out the many European nations having financial problems.
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04/30/2013
The Department of Defense announced April 28 the deaths of four airmen who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft. The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.
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04/30/2013
A civilian cargo plane crashed shortly after take-off at a huge US-run airbase in Afghanistan on Monday, killing all seven crew members on board, officials said. Rescue teams rushed to the scene after the plane smashed into the ground inside the boundaries of Bagram airfield, a key transport hub for US-led military operations in Afghanistan.
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04/30/2013
The United States and some Western allies deploy weaponry and other military equipment in the energy-rich Gulf to provide security to Gulf Arab states at short notice. Here is a list of equipment currently deployed, according to research institutions, mostly at bases shared with host states.
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04/30/2013
Serbia is considering the purchase of Russian-made MIG-29 combat aircraft and radars, Defense Minister Aleksandar Vucic said. “We are considering such a purchase for financial reasons,” even as Serbia has “excellent relations” with NATO, Vucic told reporters during a visit to neighboring Croatia. The Blic newspaper reported last week that the Balkan country may spend $150 million on six new jets to improve its air defense.
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04/30/2013
UNIDENTIFIED assailants reportedly fired two land-to-air missiles at a Russian passenger plane carrying over 150 people when it flew over Syria Monday, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an informed source in Moscow. However, with technical support from Russia, Syria has bolstered its air defences, posing a threat to United States (U.S.) aircraft if America decides to intervene in the war, an American official was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying Monday.
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04/30/2013
The IAF will require 39 combat aircraft units to meet the challenge of fighting a war simultaneously on the Pakistan and China fronts but it has only 34 squadrons, a Parliamentary panel has been informed. In its report, the Standing Committee on Defence has also come down heavily on the government for allocating only Rs 2,000 crore to the IAF for new modernisation schemes whereas Rs 15,000 crore is required only for the Rafale combat jet deal.
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04/30/2013
France, which launched an armed intervention in Mali earlier this year, has declared its determination to sustain its punch as a leading military power, despite making fresh cuts to its defence forces. Juggling severe budgetary pressures with its longstanding strategic ambitions, President François Hollande’s socialist government on Monday laid out plans to retain the country’s nuclear deterrent as well as preserve its ability to project significant force beyond its borders.
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04/30/2013
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) is set to receive its final three Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules airlifters. Aircraft number 5721 was the first of these aircraft to be ferried from Lockheed Martin’s production facility here on April 23, 2013. All three C-130Js were ferried to U.S. Air Force bases prior to delivery to the IQAF.
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04/29/2013
National Defence scientists predicted in 2011 that the military would have almost certainly lost several of its brand-new F-35 stealth fighters before all 65 were even delivered, Postmedia News has learned. In December 2011, the Defence Department’s research arm, Defence Research and Development Canada, published a report in which it said “that the probability of having 63 or more (F-35s) remaining at this time (when the last one is delivered) is approximately 54 per cent.”
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04/29/2013
Chinese military planes, mostly fighter jets, made more than 40 flights close to Tokyo-controlled islands at the centre of a territorial dispute on a single day this week, a press report said Saturday. The flights took place on Tuesday, when eight Chinese marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off the islands in the East China Sea, which Japan calls the Senkakus and China calls the Diaoyus, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported.
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04/29/2013
Dozens of air shows that draw tens of thousands of people and generate millions of dollars for local economies have been cancelled this year after the military grounded its jet and demonstration teams because of automatic federal budget cuts.
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04/29/2013
At Lockheed Martin’s giant Fort Worth, Texas, plant, they’re building a warplane billed as a game changer for air forces of the U.S. and key allies like Canada. Critics say it’s overhyped, overpriced and underwhelming. The Free Press’s John Lund visited the plant to take a closer look.
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04/29/2013
Lawmakers pressed the Obama administration to intervene in Syria's civil war, citing the regime's alleged chemical-weapons use, as the White House weighed its response against a sobering fact: Damascus has developed a world class air-defense system.
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04/28/2013
Regarding “Fort Gordon events could become casualty of sequestration” (April 20): Canceled fireworks and fairs are visible reminders of the ravages of sequestration. Yet these cuts are having an even more damaging but unseen effect on our economy and our national security – like termites eating through a house’s structure.
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04/28/2013
A NATO plane crash in southern Afghanistan killed four international troops on Saturday, the same day the Taliban announced its spring offensive and said it will target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers and infiltrate enemy forces to conduct deadly insider attacks.
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04/27/2013
Marine Corps Cpl. Travis Williams put his experience in the flight simulator for the F-35 Lightning II plainly: "It was like nothing I've ever experienced before." Williams, part of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort's public affairs office, was on hand for a demonstration Friday by Lockheed Martin for local reporters. The contractor unveiled a cockpit simulator of the military's fifth-generation fighter jets.
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04/27/2013
For some time now, there have been unofficial reports that Russia has cut off arms sales to Azerbaijan, in particular of military aircraft that Baku has been seeking. There has been no comment from Moscow, either formally or via anonymous sources, and it's not clear why Russia would have made this move.
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04/27/2013
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley will step down after a five-year tenure during which he improved the service's handling of nuclear materials, but had to deal with scandals surrounding aircraft contracts, sexual assaults by service members and the mishandling of war dead. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement Friday that Donley is returning to private life. His last day on the job is June 21.
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04/27/2013
Russia has approached India again with an offer for MiG-35 fighters. The move comes as negotiations drag on to finalize a contract for the Dassault Rafale, which was declared the winner of the medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition in January last year. Explaining the move, Sergei Korotkov, general director at Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RAC MiG), told Russian media, “Although we lost the tender, we nonetheless met all the requirements set by the tender committee.”
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04/27/2013
Israel, which has the most advanced defense industry in the Middle East, is in the forefront of the rapidly expanding drone business that's changing the way wars will be fought for decades to come. With state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries, Elbit Systems and Aeronautics Defense Systems developing new and more agile unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as ground and seaborne drones, the Jewish state seems well-placed to corner a big slice of a market valued at around $50 billion a year.
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04/27/2013
In the innermost ring of Dante's "Inferno," Satan is encased in a block of ice. The subjects of Mitchell Zuckoff's excellent, affecting "Frozen in Time" would understand the great poet's startling imagery. For those brave, beleaguered persons, subzero temperatures, merciless snow and ice, and treacherous glaciers were as hellish as fire and brimstone.
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04/27/2013
This just came into Defence Watch from Norway’s Defence Ministry:
The Norwegian government today submitted a formal request to the Norwegian parliament for authorization to procure six F-35 Lightning II aircraft for delivery in 2017. In doing so, the Norwegian government follows up on its renewed plans from 2012 to stretch its procurement of the F-35 over additional years, and to accelerate its initial purchase by one year.
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04/27/2013
n all of the West, only one all-new fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-35, is in full-scale development. If it outlasts its predecessors, as new products usually do, it could find itself to be the last man standing. The F-35 will have Russian and Chinese competition, but only the U.S. fighter is likely to be engineered to standards that facilitate integration of Western weapons and sensors. For many countries, there will be no real alternative.
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04/27/2013
A Russian military delegation has arrived in the United States to take part in a series of planning meetings with US and Canadian counterparts ahead of the joint Vigilant Eagle 2013 anti-terrorism drills to be held this summer, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The meetings will coordinate the scenario and the schedule of the drills, the composition of trilateral air force assets involved, communications and security issues, according to the ministry.
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04/26/2013
The U.S. Army has fielded the 250th UH-72A Lakota helicopter delivered to Army and National Guard units by EADS North America since 2006. Every Lakota – including an additional five produced for the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School – has been delivered on time and on budget, by an American workforce that is more than 50 percent U.S. military veterans.
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04/26/2013
The Army's newest attack helicopter is on track, the colonel in charge said in response to congressional concerns: Delays in manufacturing transmissions for the Boeing-built AH-64E Guardian have neither driven up the price nor slowed its fielding to combat units.
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04/26/2013
RAF's unmanned Reaper aircraft had been operated from Creech airforce base in Nevada, but missions from Lincolnshire began this week. Remotely controlled armed drones used to target insurgents in Afghanistan have been operated from the UK for the first time, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.
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04/26/2013
Israel said Thursday that it shot down an unmanned aircraft that had entered Israeli airspace off the northern coast near Haifa, the second such incident in nearly seven months. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the drone was first detected as it was flying along the coast of Lebanon toward Israel. When it became clear that the aircraft was not going to stop or change course, Israel dispatched helicopters and F-16 warplanes to destroy it about five miles off the coast.
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04/26/2013
Kazakhstan's military authorities have grounded all the nation's MiG jet fighter aircraft following a crash earlier this week that killed the pilot and injured the navigator of a MiG-31 interceptor, Kazakhstan’s air force chief said on Thursday. The Kazakhstan Air Force Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor crashed during a training flight in central Kazakhstan on Wednesday. The crew managed to eject from the plane before the crash, but the pilot died. A probe was opened into the accident.
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04/26/2013
Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet will enter service with the country’s armed forces in 2016, and not 2015 as was previously announced, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“The T-50 fifth generation jet should go into serial production and enter service in 2016,” Putin said at a live Q&A session with the Russian public. The Defense Ministry had earlier said the jet would be ready in 2015.
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04/26/2013
The United States said Thursday it has evidence that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government in the civil war there, blaming the increasingly “desperate” regime of President Bashar al-Assad for crossing a “red line” that US President Barack Obama has said could lead to US intervention in the conflict.
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04/26/2013
Military inspectors from Canada and Hungary will carry out a joint monitoring mission over the Russian territory under the international Open Skies Treaty on April 26-30, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The NATO experts will fly on board a Hungarian Air Force’s Antonov An-26 plane using surveillance equipment certified internationally and approved by the Russian side.
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04/25/2013
The tide of war may be receding, as President Barack Obama is fond of saying, but US military demand for unmanned drones and their remote pilots is growing. Here in the New Mexico desert, the US Air Force has ramped up training of drone operators - even as the nation increasingly debates their use and US forces prepare to leave Afghanistan.
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04/25/2013
Beset with monetary woes and a tenuous relationship with the US, Pakistan’s naval modernization plans appear to be faltering with the hoped for acquisition of further surplus US equipment now unlikely. Former Australian defense attaché to Pakistan, Brian Cloughley, says Pakistan’s crippled economy means “the Navy will not receive as much as it needs for capital equipment,” increasing the importance of obtaining surplus equipment.
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04/25/2013
Lockheed Martin may receive a U.S. order in June for as many as 60 F-35 jets, consolidating the sixth and seventh production contracts for the costliest weapons system, according to the Pentagon's program manager The contract may be valued at about $9 billion, according to a person familiar with negotiations between the Pentagon and Lockheed who declined to be named. The number of F-35s may rise to as many as 71 if orders from other nations are included.
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04/25/2013
It is difficult to discuss the F-35 without actually knowing what the aircraft is and how F-35 fleets will reshape combat. But this is precisely what the budding negative commentary on the F-35 is built on – a lack of knowledge. Even worse, the existing 5th generation aircraft is not well known either, because of its limited numbers and its condemnation by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and President Barack Obama as a “Cold War” weapon.
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04/25/2013
The Nizhny Novgorod-based Sokol aircraft manufacturer said on Wednesday it will develop a light aircraft for training air force pilots. The order for the development of a new training aircraft came from Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev earlier this year. The new aircraft will be a modernized two-seat version of the M-101T Gzhel utility turboprop aircraft, the company said.
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04/25/2013
A former Russian Air Force general was given a four-year suspended sentence and fined 5 million rubles ($160,000) by a court-martial on Wednesday for causing the crash of a Sukhoi Su-27UB fighter jet last year in Russia’s Karelia region. The court-martial Judge Vladislav Pisaryov found Maj. Gen. Kanamat Botashev guilty of breaking flight rules by flying aerobatics in the jet without proper training and authorization.
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04/25/2013
A Kazakhstan Air Force Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor crashed during a training flight in central Kazakhstan last night, killing the pilot and injuring the navigator, Kazakhstan military prosecutors said on Wednesday. The crash occurred near the village of Prostornoye in the Karaganda Region at 10.45 p.m. local time (4.45 p.m. GMT) on Tuesday. “The crew ejected from the plane before the crash," the Military Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
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04/25/2013
Northrop Grumman is the industry sponsor of this competition, which is held in coordination with the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments (ADASI) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The flying competition, which was open to the public as spectators, took place at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, April 23-24.
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04/25/2013
The upgrading of the Royal Saudi Air Force Tornados has been completed. The final aircraft being returned being photographed at Malta on its route back to the Kingdom. The BAE Systems end of year investor presentation confirmed that “Under the Saudi British Defence Co-operation Programme (SBDCP), orders totalling £3.4bn were awarded for support through to 2016, including the provision of manpower, logistics and training to the RSAF.
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04/24/2013
Russia will start state flight tests of its fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet in 2014, United Aircraft Corporation's President Mikhail Pogosyan told reporters on Tuesday. “In 2013 we are expected to wrap up its preliminary tests and start operational testing. In 2014, we are planning to start official state tests,” Pogosyan said on Tuesday, adding "the first stage of the state trials should be complete by 2015."
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04/24/2013
North Korea’s deployment of two additional short-range scud ballistic missile launchers in its eastern coast has strengthened speculations in the South that Pyongyang might launch a missile on April 25, the anniversary of North Korean army. According to South Korean media, the latest deployment was in addition to the seven mobile missile launchers already in place on the coast.
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04/24/2013
It took the Air Force about a quarter-century to bring the F-22 air-superiority fighter from the drawing board to reality. Most of the Pentagon’s major weapon systems have gone through similar protracted development. At this rate, it won’t be long before the U.S. military falls way behind the technology curve, lamented Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities.
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04/24/2013
The armed forces of the United States and the Philippines conducted the 29th annual Balikatan joint military exercises April 5 through April 17. These military exercises are the largest and most significant joint military operations between the U.S. and Filipino militaries.
The exercises are “a signature element” of the “two nations’ robust treaty alliance relationship.” The war games help the U.S. military and Filipino military operate more effectively together.
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04/24/2013
The following information was released by Buckley Air Force Base:
The next annual U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School Selection Board will convene June 23-26 at the Air Force Personnel Center. Applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. June 3.
The USAF Test Pilot School is the world's pre-eminent fixed-wing test pilot school. TPS graduates are future senior leaders who will be in high demand in an era of increasing combat technological advancements.
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04/24/2013
My colleague Timothy Whiteman at Liberty Unyielding highlighted recently the number of Air Force squadrons that will have to cease training later this year because the Air Force doesn’t have funds for the flying hours.This is real, and it is astounding. It will mean that, at a certain point in the near future, as early as this fall, if no additional funds become available, the cost of mounting an operation big enough to eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons-related installations is likely too high.
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04/24/2013
F-22 pilots from the 302nd, 525th and 90th fighter squadrons tested their aim during a banner shoot, April 22 to 25. Banner shoots are a way for pilots to be comfortable in air-to-air combat. Pilots demonstrate the effectiveness of doing exercises like these by practicing their aim in the air. "A banner shoot is a system that we use to increase pilot proficiency," said Air Force Master Sgt. Richie Bill, weapons section chief from the 90th Fighter Squadron.
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04/24/2013
The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty adopted April 3 has sent shockwaves through India’s Defence Ministry as several ongoing projects could be affected. While no MoD official would comment on whether the treaty could impact weapon imports, an MoD source said planners are extremely concerned over the fate of some ongoing contracts and future purchases.
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04/24/2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria in the ongoing civil war there. "We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat," Kerry told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
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04/24/2013
Russia plans to base fighter jets at a military airbase in Belarus, with a first wing due to arrive there later this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday. “In 2013 we will establish a military commandant’s office and provide a wing of combat fighters on alert duty,” he said, adding more jets could be based there later. “We hope that an Air Force regiment will be here by 2015 to protect our borders,” he said.
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04/23/2013
The U.S. plans to provide Israel with advanced weapons, including the first export of the tilt- rotor V-22 Osprey, as part of an “iron-clad pledge” to ensure its edge against enemies such as Syria and Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. “We’re committed to providing Israel with whatever support is necessary for Israel to maintain military superiority over any state or coalition of states and non-state actors,” Hagel said after meeting today with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in Te
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04/23/2013
There’s no doubt that China’s Dong Feng 21D (DF-21D) anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is, in theory, a formidable anti-access weapon. Since its alleged deployment circa 2010, many defense analysts have argued that the so-called “carrier killer” would be a game changer in any armed conflict in Northeast Asia and prevent the participation of U.S. carrier groups in regional contingencies, such as war in the Taiwan Strait.
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04/23/2013
Throughout the protracted Sino-Indian border dispute, Tibet and its status has always been a predominant influence, whether implicitly or explicitly on the negotiating table. This has both historical and contemporary ramifications. India, much to China's chagrin, utilized the Tibet issue as a key point of departure in order to strike a grand bargain with Beijing after China occupied Tibet in 1949.
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04/23/2013
Raytheon is producing more miniature air launched decoy-jammers for the U.S. Air Force under exercise of a contract option. A total of 202 MALD jammers, with containers, will be produced and delivered. The value of the firm fixed-price Air Force contract is $81.7 million. A 10-year warranty is included in the deal.
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04/23/2013
Known simply by the Marines who have attended it over the years as WTI, which stands for Weapons and Tactics Instructor course, it is also the only training of its kind, providing pilots, weapon system operators, ground combat and combat support service personnel a world-class opportunity to hone their battlefield knowledge and expertise.
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04/23/2013
This year’s defense budget is coming into focus, and the picture isn’t pretty. Congress and the president will probably agree to increase defense spending by a small amount, but they will probably also take money away from future defense budgets. This will allow them to say that they have increased defense spending while in reality the wholesale unraveling of American power will continue.
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04/23/2013
Apathy kills. The Obama administration’s pivot to Asia—a politico-military endeavor that combines strategic mass, strategic maneuver, and geography in intensely competitive surroundings—may well bolster Taiwan’s security vis-à-vis the mainland.Yet the pivot’s capacity to dissuade or defeat China hinges on whether U.S. Navy relief forces can reach the island’s vicinity, do battle, and prevail at a cost acceptable to the American state and society.
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04/23/2013
Officials said there were seven Turks and two Russians on board. The insurgent militia, which frequently makes exaggerated statements, claimed 11 US military personnel were on the aircraft which came down on Sunday in bad weather in Logar province, just south of Kabul. The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said no foreign military were involved and the helicopter was a civilian one. It said it had no information on the fate of the aircraft or its occupants.
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04/23/2013
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief NAK Browne on Monday indicated that the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, pertaining to acquisition of 126 aircraft at a cost of around Rs 45,000 crore, was crucial in the wake of the fact that the Mig-21 aircraft were being phased out. The phasing out of all the four variants of these aircraft will be over by 2019-20.
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04/23/2013
Even though the Air Force has grounded a third of its fighter squadrons due to sequestration, Pacific-based pilots and planes could be ready for combat at a moment’s notice, officials said Monday. Earlier this month, the Air Force announced that it would reduce flying hours of all aircraft by 18 percent and stand down a third of its fighter squadrons in an effort to save money in the wake of the ongoing Defense Department budget cuts.
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04/22/2013
A unit of Italy-based Finmeccanica has announced the signing of a EUR170m ($221m) contract for the supply of components, systems and services for Oman's Eurofighter aircraft.
Alenia Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica subsidiary, said it has signed the contract with Eurofighter relating to the 12 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft ordered by Oman in December.
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04/22/2013
The package, which includes F-35 stealth fighter bombers, V-22 Ospreys and KC-135 air refueling tankers, will enable Israel to strike longer range targets. A new defense deal between the US and Israel, after a year of secret negotiations, will give the Israel Air Force (IAF) a technological overhaul. The IAF will receive F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter bombers, the latest C-130J Hercules transports and cargo planes, both made by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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04/22/2013
The Asia-Pacific will comprise 26 percent — nearly $200 billion — of global naval and maritime security builds in the next 20 years as complex relationships and rivalries drive procurements designed for particular regional challenges.
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04/22/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Israel on Sunday to put the finishing touches on a complicated $10 billion arms deal with three Middle Eastern countries, saying the pact sends “a very clear signal” to Iran. Under preliminary terms of the agreement, the United States would sell tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey aircraft — which can take off like a helicopter but cruise at airplane speed — to Israel. It would be the first time the Pentagon has approved a foreign sale of the Osprey.
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04/22/2013
Troubles in India’s ambitious Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project has inflicted gaping wounds where it would hurt the Indian Air Force (IAF) the most—the future plans for an Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has “put on hold” the AMCA project that is being spearheaded by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).
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04/22/2013
The Armed Forces denied on Sunday morning that a military aircraft was brought down by smugglers in southwest Egypt. Armed Forces spokesperson Ahmed Mohamed Ali said that a military helicopter was flying on a regular patrol of southern border areas Saturday evening when a sudden malfunction led to an “emergency landing.”
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04/22/2013
Israel's air force is on track to developing drones that within four to five decades would carry out nearly every battlefield operation executed today by piloted aircraft, a high-ranking Israeli officer says. The officer, who works in the field of unmanned aerial vehicle intelligence, said Israel is speeding up research and development of such unmanned technologies for air, ground and naval forces.
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04/21/2013
An Iranian US-made fighter jet F-5 has crashed in western Iran, killing two pilots, Mehr news agency reported on Sunday. The fighter jet crashed into Mount Filman near the town of Abdanan, some 450 km (280 miles) southwest of the capital Tehran. The bodies of both pilots were found at the crash site, Mehr said, citing regional governor Morad Nasseri.
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04/21/2013
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, ratified agreements with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on Friday extending the presence of Russian military bases in those countries.
Both bases are seen by Moscow as a bulwark against the threat of Islamist militancy and drug-trafficking in Central Asia.
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04/21/2013
Since the Australian Government’s last White Paper on defense in 2009, there have been rapid changes within the Asia-Pacific region. As a consequence, the forthcoming Australian defense white paper will be perhaps the most important that has ever been prepared. With a rising assertive China, the US adopting an "Asia Pivot" doctrine, and a host of rising Asian powers, the Australian Government cannot defer the strategic complexities of the region to the ’never never’ of 2030 like the 2009 paper.
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04/21/2013
Russia today reminded India that it provides latest cutting-edge technology exclusively to New Delhi unlike its "newly-acquired partners" in defence sector. "Unlike its newly-acquired partners, we provide the latest cutting-edge technology to India and don't share it with others," Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said at an IAF function here on frontline fighter aircraft MiG-21.
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04/21/2013
FLIR Systems Inc. in Portland, Ore., won a $22 million order for from the U.S. Air Force for its BRITE Star DP advanced imaging systems, to be employed on Embraer A-29 Super Tucano military aircraft acquired as part of the Light Air Support (LAS) program. U.S. Air Force officials selected Sierra Nevada Corp. to supply Embraer A-29 Super Tucano aircraft for use by the Afghanistan National Army Air Corps and other future customers in a contract issued in Feb. 2013.
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04/21/2013
The U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command issued the following press release:
The final F-4 regenerated from storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group performed its last flight over Tucson, Ariz., April 17, before heading to Mojave, Calif. Aircraft 68-0599, an RF-4C Phantom, arrived at AMARG for storage on January 18, 1989 and had not flown since.
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04/21/2013
A pilot who died when his light aircraft crashed just a few metres away from a house was reportedly a US Air Force general. The single-engine Cessna 210 came down in a field near a retirement community in Williamsburg, Virginia. There was no fire when it crashed.
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04/21/2013
The budget increase in Uganda’s military expenditure even amidst global and regional defence cuts might be the latest indication of President Museveni’s strategy to fasten his grip on power and his influence on the region. As recent events have showed, a large military war-chest increases Museveni’s regional and international leverage, and helps cow opposition to him at home. Unfortunately, it also means more taxes must be paid to finance it.
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04/20/2013
Morocco and the United States have been plunged into a crisis that led to the cancellation of a major military exercise. Diplomats said Rabat and Washington underwent a sharp decline in
diplomatic and military relations when the United States supported a Security Council effort to expand the authority of a UN force in the disputed Western Sahara.
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04/20/2013
The Defense Department is working out final details of a $10 billion sale of warplanes, transport aircraft and advanced missiles to Israel and Arab nations amid concerns about the growing threat from Iran and its disputed nuclear weapons program, Pentagon and congressional officials said Friday.
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04/20/2013
Five CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopters will be delivered to the New York Army National Guard Aviation Support Facility at Rochester International Airport, April 22. The aircraft will arrive on board a C-17 on Monday morning, offloading on CH-47 and the other Chinooks will be delivered on board two Air Force C-5 Galaxies-the largest aircraft in the U.S. military.
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04/20/2013
Mr. Chairman, Representative Sanchez, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, we thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the Department of the Navy's (DoN) Aviation programs. Our testimony will provide background and rationale for the Department's Fiscal Year 2014 Budget request for aviation programs aligning to our strategic priorities and budgetary goals.
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04/20/2013
The Marine helicopter squadron responsible for flying President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, cabinet members and other VIPs has a new aircraft: An MV-22 Osprey.
HMX-1's tilt-rotor aircraft is painted green and will be used in a support role, transporting the president's staff and the media, Marine spokesman Capt. Richard Ulsh confirmed.
Helicopters that transport the president are typically painted white on top and referred to as "white tops."
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04/20/2013
Taipei, April 19 (CNA) China's first aircraft carrier has been given a permanent base in the eastern port of Qingdao, and some of the special features of the harbor built to contain it were introduced Friday by a Hong Kong media outlet. TVB News said the harbor took five years to construct and had to overcome more than 40 major technical problems, including the installment of two specially designed giant buoyancy tanks to ensure that the carrier, the Liaoning, remains moored safely.
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04/20/2013
As the US enhances its security partnership with India as part of Asia rebalance, American companies could see "billions of dollars" in additional weapons sales to New Delhi, according to a senior US defence official. Noting that US military sales to India have grown from virtually zero in 2008 to more than $8 billion, Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told reporters Thursday "we think there's going to be billions dollars more in the next couple of year
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04/20/2013
The idea is simple. In the air, if you can't see your enemy, he kills you. This is the poster's droll rendering of stealth technology, the sheath of radar semi-invisibility that cloaks the F-22 Raptor fighter and its first cousin, the F-35 Lightning 11, the Joint Strike Fighter, the plane slated to become the backbone of Australia's air defence.
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04/20/2013
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, ratified agreements with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on Friday extending the presence of Russian military bases in those countries.
Both bases are seen by Moscow as a bulwark against the threat of Islamist militancy and drug-trafficking in Central Asia. Moscow and Dushanbe clinched an agreement in October last year to extend the lease of the Russian Army's 201st Division's base in Tajikistan until at least 2042.
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04/19/2013
In a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry, Beijing is calling on Japan to stop sending its fighter planes against Chinese aircraft amidst heightened tensions in the territorial dispute between the two countries. Japan, in numbers released by its own defense ministry, has revealed that it had scrambled its fighters twice more in the past year than the years before that.
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04/19/2013
“Initially, a lot of heads were in the sand, thinking it wouldn’t affect us,” said Dan McLaren, who operates Mach 1 Productions, which provides airshow sound and communications services at events throughout Canada and the U.S. “But it hit home once we knew we were going to lose all of our American fly-bys, our demos, our static line participation. The Canadian military is not that big, so we rely on our American friends to fill our ramps.”
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04/19/2013
FLIR Systems Inc.'s BRITE Star DP advanced imaging system is being integrated onto aircraft for Afghanistan under the U.S. Air Force LAS program. The Brazilian aircraft, the A-29 Super Tucano, will be assembled in the United States under the Air Force's Light Air Support contract awarded in February to the Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer of Brazil.
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04/19/2013
The U.S. Air Force Edwards Air Force Base issued the following news release: It was a proud moment for the Edwards community when Air Combat Command announced the F-22 Raptor had resumed normal flight operations April 4, particularly for the F-22 Combined Test Force and 412th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, which played vital roles in the jet's full-force return.
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04/19/2013
The Canadian Forces mission to Mali quietly ended two weeks ago with no official announcement or explanation. Military sources say the Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 transport plane, as well as RCAF personnel in Mali assigned to the mission, returned to Canada on April 3. Military personnel were told to remain quiet about the end of the mission but were not given any explanation why it abruptly ended.
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04/19/2013
The Air Force's last four MC-130E Combat Talon I's spread their wings for a final mission from their home at Duke Field April 15. The Talons will be officially retired in a ceremony at Duke Field April 25 and the aircraft will then be flown to the "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. April 25 commemorates the 33rd anniversary of the Desert One mission to free the Iranian hostages - several of the MC-130Es at Duke Field took part in that mission.
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04/19/2013
Canucks are just too darned nice and polite in the brutal business of the world grain trade.
Foreign buyers of our stuff – people who like our stuff – keep telling me that. And Canadian ag trade promoters tell me they hear the same things overseas. Foreign buyers say the Yanks, the Aussies, the Europeans and others are banging down their doors, trying to sell their wheat, vegoil crops, pork, beef, whatever. They say their stuff is the best and that our best customers should buy it instead.
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04/19/2013
The Air Force told Congress yesterday the budget sequester will lead to a marked decrease in force readiness by October, including reduced flying hours and unit stand-downs which will in turn lead to long-term degradation of combat readiness.
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04/19/2013
A showcase air combat exercise of the Indian Air Force with some of the best fighters in the world, scheduled to be held in July, has been called off after a series of budget cuts by Washington have affected the US military training programe. While the IAF has been prepared for several months for the exercise that traditionally features the very latest of air combat technology and strategy, besides combat aircraft from several nations, it was informed about the cancellation a few days ago.
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04/19/2013
Russia’s positions on the world arms market are very strong - especially, in the combat aviation sector. The jet fighters Su-30 and MiG-29 are well known in many countries, including the South East Asian countries in the first place. The demand for Russian combat aircraft remains very high due to the appearance of such clients as Algeria, Venezuela, Malaysia, Vietnam, Uganda, and Indonesia. Bangladesh is expected to appear on that list soon.
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04/19/2013
The 50th International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, which will be held on June 17-23, will feature 27 national pavilions and at least 110 aircraft. Russia’s Su-35 fighter jet will be making its world premiere at the show. "The UAC will present two combat aircraft in Paris: the Yak-130, produced by the Irkut corporation, and Sukhoi's Su-35.
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04/18/2013
The increasing costs of the new U.S. F-35 fighter are scaring off foreign buyers. The latest country to express doubts about the cost and effectiveness of the F-35 versus their current jet fighters (often F-16s) is the Netherlands. Although the Dutch are buying two F-35s for evaluation, it’s already been noted that the F-35 costs 60 percent more (than the F-16, per flight hour) to operate.
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04/18/2013
Not only Syrian air defenses worried Israel when its warplanes bombed a suspected Hezbollah-bound arms convoy near Damascus on Jan. 30. Also probing the skies were the radars of an unfriendly NATO member close by: Turkey. That helped persuade Israel to end its almost three-year rift with Ankara in a U.S.-brokered reconciliation on March 22.
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04/18/2013
A senior executive at U.S. defense company Raytheon has ruled out the possibility of a U.S. governmental or congressional blockade against the delivery of a critical air defense and anti-missile system, dubbed as T-LORAMIDS, if Turkey chose the Patriot solution in multi-billion dollar international bidding.
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04/18/2013
The CH-47 Chinook’s reputation as the Army’s workhorse is built on solid ground as the government-contractor team behind the heavylift cargo helicopter continues to improve its capabilities. During a media roundtable Thursday that was conducted with members of the media primarily on teleconference to the Army Aviation Association of America annual professional forum and exposition at the Fort Worth, Texas, Convention Center.
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04/18/2013
An influential Senate Democrat on Wednesday said Congress should pass a plan that would void pending cuts to the Pentagon’s 2014 budget if Washington fails this year to craft a “grand bargain” fiscal deal. The 2011 Budget Control Act mandated that Congress and President Barack Obama would need to agree on a $1.2 trillion package of deficit-cutting measures or twin $500 billion defense and domestic cuts would be triggered.
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04/18/2013
F-15 test pilots at Robins are learning to use futuristic helmet technology. The pilots are being trained in the use of electronic helmets that essentially put the heads-up display inside the helmet, which they say offers many advantages in combat. Information such as speed, heading, altitude and the location of friendly and enemy aircraft is projected onto the helmet visor.
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04/18/2013
South Korea on Wednesday selected Boeing's AH-64E Apache Guardian to replace its aging Army helicopters, the Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration (DAPA) said. Under the 1.8 trillion won (US$1.6 billion) contract, U.S. firm Boeing will supply 36 Apache Guardians for Army battalions by 2018, along with training and logistical support, DAPA said.
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04/18/2013
Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and Representative Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today sent a letter to the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tom Tidwell, encouraging the agency to consider the use of the Air Force's soon-to-be retired C-27J aircraft to fight wildland fires in the Rocky Mountain Region, including the Black Hills National Forest. The Air Force plans to divest the C-27J aircraft as part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act Implementation Plan.
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04/18/2013
The budget at Keesler Air Force Base has been cut 20 percent by sequestration, grounding planes and reducing training, Brig. Gen. Brad Spacy said Tuesday. The commander of the 81st Training Wing spoke about the effects of sequestration at the Biloxi Chamber's Morning Call at Edgewater Mall. He said one of the biggest challenges is the across-the-board cuts came so late in the budget year.
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04/17/2013
The advent of unmanned aerial vehicles taking flight within U.S. national airspace could mean an enormous economic windfall for aviation entrepreneurs and the nation’s economy.
But a booming domestic UAV industry is desperately trying to break free of strict rules that will keep their designs grounded until 2015 at the earliest. UAV advocates are finding their message difficult to deliver, with widespread assumptions that lethal war machines will buzz their neighborhoods.
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04/17/2013
In its latest account of national defense efforts, China said Tuesday that the United States is destabilizing the Asia-Pacific region by strengthening its military alliances and sending more ships, planes, and troops to the area. The U.S. policy known as the "pivot" to Asia runs counter to regional trends and "frequently makes the situation tenser," the Defense Ministry said in its report on the state of China's defense posture and armed forces.
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04/17/2013
A senior executive at U.S. defense company Raytheon has ruled out the possibility of a U.S. governmental or congressional blockade against the delivery of a critical air defense and anti-missile system, dubbed as T-LORAMIDS, if Turkey chose the Patriot solution in multi-billion dollar international bidding.
(Read More...)
04/17/2013
The Russian aircraft manufacturer MIG said it plans to continue its decades-long cooperation with India in developing and building MiG aircraft. “The MIG corporation wants to broaden cooperation with India's public, military and research organisations,” MIG General Director Sergei Korotkov said in remarks read out from a statement at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
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04/17/2013
Upcoming shore-based and carrier tests will help the Navy determine its acquisition strategy for the Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS), a large, carrier-based, next-generation drone with a 62-foot wingspan and high-tech sensors engineered to gather and send back images and data, service officials said. “The UCAS will be the first deployed carrier based unmanned air vehicle with persistent ISR and a strike capability,” said Navy spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove.
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04/17/2013
The Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology (NIAT), a premier training establishment under the Southern Naval Command, is forging alliance with what it terms as ‘six indigenous elements’ as part of its ‘train the trainers’ programme to keep its instructors abreast of emerging aviation technologies and practices.
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04/17/2013
The Gripen NG has much less capability than the F-35, because it is not stealth and never will be. Its range is much smaller, especially in AG configuration. The only advantage of the Gripen NG may be a lower procurement cost, but this is also very uncertain, because so far nobody has ordered the Gripen NG. The future of Gripen NG is not established. Just for comparison, the manufacturing of the 100th F-35 has been started.
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04/17/2013
Delays in the development and fielding of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have underscored the need for the U.S. military and its allies to keep current jets technologically relevant. It has not been decided whether the U.S. Air Force will outfit about 300 F-16s with Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) or Raytheon’s Advanced Combat Radar (RACR). Both are capability upgrades from existing systems that give pilots much greater image resolution and target recognition.
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04/17/2013
The Air Force plans to upgrade all 1,018 of its F-16s and 175 F-15C/D Eagles to keep them flying until the F-35A joint strike fighter is fully operational and new weapons systems on the F-22 Raptor are installed, according to the 2014 budget request released April 10. In the fiscal 2014 budget request, the Air Force states the service life extension for all F-16s will add eight to 10 years to each airframe.
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04/17/2013
Just days before President Obama released his fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request, the Air Force reported that it will have to ground one-third of its aircraft due to budget constraints.
Operations and maintenance accounts will be hit particularly hard, causing the Air Force to severely restrict which of its assets will continue to operate. With U.S. military readiness already suffering from years of budget cuts, and many more years of insufficient modernization and recapitalization to come.
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04/16/2013
The US Air Force (USAF) stood down two of 48th Fighter Wing’s F-15 Eagle Squadrons, based at RAF Lakenheath, from operations yesterday. A third squadron will be kept “combat mission ready” until September. The moves comes amid steep defence cuts by the US Government, but last night councillors in Suffolk said they were confident there remained a long-term USAF commitment to the county.
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04/16/2013
The Senegalese Air Force signed a contract to acquire three A-29 Super Tucano light attack, advanced training turboprops from Embraer Defense & Security. The order includes logistical support for the operation and the installation of a training system for pilots and mechanics (TOSS) in Senegal, bringing autonomy to that country's Air Force in preparing qualified personnel. The aircraft will be deployed on border surveillance and internal security missions.
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04/16/2013
A new variant of Eurocopter's Tiger medium-weight support and protection gunship has been approved for use by the French army. The approval, in the form of military qualification by DGA, France's Directorate General of Armaments, opens the door for its production for France and awarding of a joint bilateral qualification for use by Spain from the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation, a European intergovernmental body that facilitates collaborative armament programs.
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04/16/2013
A few months after the D-Day invasion in June 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower surveyed the Normandy beaches with his son. "You'd never get away with this if you didn't have air supremacy," then 2nd Lt. John Eisenhower told his father. "Without air supremacy," the elder Eisenhower replied, "I wouldn't be here."
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04/16/2013
Plans to demonstrate autonomous aerial refueling of the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat aircraft are a casualty of cuts in the U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2014 budget. Previous plans called for the X-47B naval unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D) to conduct autonomous Navy-style probe-and-drogue and Air Force-style boom-and-receptacle refueling tests in 2014.
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04/16/2013
The Middle East region accelerated spending by 8.3 percent over the course of 2012 despite an overall slowdown in global military expenditure last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Oman increased its expenditure by 51 percent in 2012, the largest hike posted by any country. Kuwait’s defence budget increased by 10 percent.
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04/16/2013
China can "throw'' at least 21 fighter squadrons against India, from its eight airbases in Tibet and other airfields to their north. Even more Chinese fighters can join forces if they are able to overfly Myanmar. Similarly, Pakistan can deploy 21 to 25 fighter squadrons against India.
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04/16/2013
Czech Defence Minister Vlastimil Picek will submit to the government a concept of the transport and helicopter air force counting with the purchase of two bigger planes in the latter half of 2013, he said on Prima television Sunday. He said the criticised CASA C-295 transport aircraft only meet a part of the demands soldiers place on the transport air force.
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04/16/2013
Lockheed Martin successfully demonstrated the launch, guided flight, target acquisition and precision strike capability of its Nemesis missile in three flight tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Nemesis is a man-portable, surface-launched missile that enables warfighters to engage targets with precision lethality from as close as 100 meters to well beyond line of sight.
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04/16/2013
Boeing recently completed the first flight of the newest CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter for the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force. The March 15 flight, at the Boeing helicopter facility near Philadelphia, happened ahead of schedule and confirmed initial airworthiness for the Mk6 Chinook. "This is a truly impressive achievement for both Boeing and the project team," said Capt. David Childs, Chinook Team Leader, UK Defence Equipment & Support.
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04/15/2013
U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey pilots conducted the first external lift of a Humvee from the USNS Sacagawea April 11 during exercise Freedom Banner 2013 at Subic Bay, Philippines.
U.S. Marines, sailors and civilians aboard the Sacagawea watched as the Osprey lifted the Humvee for the first time off the ship in order to demonstrate its capabilities and plan future lift operations from ship to shore.
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04/15/2013
This year's Lauderdale Air Show is facing headwinds — and possibly diminished crowds — by lack of the popular military acts that in the past set spectators roaring nearly as loud as the jets screaming above them. In its heyday, the air show featured an arsenal of high-powered military aircraft slicing the sky over Fort Lauderdale Beach. There was the Marine Harrier, the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, the Air Force B-2 stealth bomber, and Army and Navy pararchute teams.
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04/15/2013
The Indian Air Force will continue operating the MiG-29 fighters it acquired at the end of the 1980s and in the early 1990s until at least the end of the next decade. India has embarked on modernising its Soviet fighters under the MiG-29UPG programme. The main objective of the modernisation is to bring the fighters up to the capability level of the MiG-29K and the MiG-29KUB, which are currently being supplied to the Indian Navy.
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04/15/2013
After streamlining operations at its Alenia Aeronautica unit, Italy’s Finmeccanica is continuing its restructuring mission by preparing to cut more than 2,500 jobs at its Selex ES electronics unit, which employs 17,000.
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04/15/2013
The devastating impact on both America’s military preparedness and its national economy from the proposed furloughs of civilian Defense Department employees could not occur at a more dangerous moment. The move not only places a disproportionate burden on Defense personnel, it also jeopardizes the safety and the economy of the entire nation.
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04/15/2013
Germany is in talks with Israel to buy weaponized drones for its military that are seen as more technologically advanced than U.S. ones, the weekly Der Spiegel reported. The news magazine’s Monday edition said the German defense ministry had already held two meetings with Israeli military officials, in November 2012 and February 2013, on the proposed purchase.
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04/15/2013
The U.S. Navy has awarded a sole source contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) to support troubleshooting, problem resolution, and anomaly investigation associated with the Precision Global Positioning System as part of the existing Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The Navy made the contract announcement on Friday through the Federal Business Opportunities website.
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04/15/2013
A looming test case will soon make clear how serious the defence ministry (MoD) is about its recently expressed intentions to end corruption in arms procurement by indigenising defence production. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the Bangalore-based public sector aircraft builder, has challenged the Indian Air Force (IAF)'s plan to purchase more Pilatus trainer aircraft by building a basic trainer aircraft, using its own funding.
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04/15/2013
Russian military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territory of Poland under the international Open Skies Treaty within a period starting Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported. Russian experts will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between April 15 and 19, the ministry said in a statement.
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04/14/2013
The Pentagon’s $527 billion fiscal 2014 budget request further deepens the Obama administration’s focus on the Asia-Pacific, better aligning funds with the military services expecting to play major roles in that region. It continues investments in advanced stealth aircraft, such as -35 joint strike fighters and new bombers. These planes play a key role in the Defense Department’s ability to operate in denied airspace.
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04/14/2013
The US would be allowed to station forces at military bases in the Philippines if it went to war with North Korea, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Saturday citing a treaty between the allies. “Our mutual defense treaty calls for joint action if either the Philippines or the United States is attacked,” del Rosario said in comments sent to AFP at a time of heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.
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04/14/2013
Japan has ordered aircraft to report to the US military first if they enter airspace near the main US military base in Okinawa, a report said early Saturday after fresh North Korean threats. The transport ministry notice issued late Friday was believed to be part of precautions against possible North Korean missile launches, Kyodo News agency reported.
The order refers to airspace within 30 kilometres of the Kadena base where Patriot missiles have been deployed.
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04/14/2013
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, unveiled the Bell V-280 Valor at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) Annual Professional Forum and Exposition. Bell Helicopter’s third-generation tiltrotor marks the company’s offering for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role/Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Technology Demonstrator (JMR/TD).
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04/14/2013
The most secretive piece of airspace in Australia - the RAAF-run Woomera flight test range in South Australia - will make history later this year when the world's first unmanned supersonic stealth combat aircraft makes its maiden test flight above the desert. Extreme secrecy surrounds the joint British-French project and the drone called Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder and built by a British/French consortium led by aerospace giant BAE Systems.
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04/13/2013
Earlier this month, in a rather unusual move, the Indian Air Force (IAF) strongly refuted a report that it was working on a Plan B should its negotiations fail to buy 126 combat jets from Dassault Aviation. "The CNC (Contract negotiations committee) process for acquisition of 126 MMRCA (Medium, multi-role combat aircraft) is underway and there is no thought process for any procurement as a 'back up' as reported," the Air Force said.
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04/13/2013
Sukhoi announced this week that the “design and development” (D&D) phase of the Russo-Indian prospective multifunctional fighter (PMF), also known as the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), has been completed. The aircraft is a joint development with India of the T-50 that Sukhoi has already designed and flown for the Russian Air Force. “The airplane has been shaped completely,” the manufacturer stated.
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04/13/2013
The CF-18 fighter fleet has been projected to reach its estimated life expectancy in the 2017-2020 timeframe or potentially a few years later. There is every indication Canada will continue to require a robust manned fighter capability thereafter, for operations both domestic and abroad.
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04/13/2013
See the history of military aviation come alive as the Selfridge Air Museum is now open to the public for 2013. The museum, inside the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, was established in 1979 to recover the history of Selfridge, one of the oldest continuously running military airfields in the United States. It houses historic aircraft from all military branches, both active and reserve units.
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04/13/2013
The federal government will spend $225 million to maintain the avionics systems in the Canadian Forces' aging fleet of C-130H Hercules transport aircraft. Chris Alexander, parliamentary secretary to the defence minister, made the announcement here Thursday. The H models are used in search-and-rescue operations. Four of the serviceable aircraft are located at CFB Trenton with 424 Search and Rescue Squadron.
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04/13/2013
Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 Missile successfully detected, tracked and intercepted a tactical ballistic missile (TBM) in a Lower Tier Project Office flight test today at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Two PAC-3 Missiles were ripple-fired in the test per current doctrine. The first interceptor destroyed the target and the second PAC-3 Missile self-destructed as planned.
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04/13/2013
The Boeing X-48C research aircraft flew for the 30th and final time April 9, marking the successful completion of an eight-month flight-test program to explore and further validate the aerodynamic characteristics of the Blended Wing Body design concept.
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04/13/2013
Ukraine will continue its project to build Antonov An-70 tactical transport aircraft even if Russia withdraws from it, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Friday. Dmytro Kyva, president of the Ukrainian state company Antonov, said during the LAAD international aerospace and defense exhibition in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday that his company had had to suspend An-70 trials as the project’s chief partner, the Russian Defense Ministry, had again cast doubt on its participation in the proje
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04/13/2013
The Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) has announced the preliminary agenda for the 6th edition of the Dubai Air Chiefs Conference (DIAC). The conference, at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai on Saturday November 16, is an official event of the Dubai Air Show, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
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04/12/2013
U.S. Air Force officials are grounding about one-third of active-duty combat aircraft as a result of the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration implemented in March. The spending cuts will reduce the Air Combat Command's (ACC) operations and maintenance accounts by about 45,000 flying hours, according to the Air Force News Service. The aircraft impacted by the cuts include those assigned to fighter, bomber, aggressor and airborne warning and control squadrons.
(Read More...)
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04/12/2013
Two F-35A Lightning IIs assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron here conducted the aircraft's first operational flights from Nellis AFB. These historic flights came less than a month after the March 19 arrival ceremony for the aircraft, but members of the 57th Maintenance Group's Lightning Aircraft Maintenance Unit and the 422nd TES have prepared for years to make the transition of the F-35A to Nellis AFB a smooth one.
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04/12/2013
John Garrison, Bell Helicopter’s president and CEO, uncovered the Bell V-280 Valor 3rd generation tiltrotor at the start of the annual U.S. Army Aviation symposium, Quad-A.
The V-280 is Bell’s offering for the Department of Defense’s Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift helicopter project, which could result in the production of more than 4,000 aircraft for the design eventually chosen. It will replace the U.S. Army’s medium helicopter fleet.
(Read More...)
04/12/2013
The Brazilian Air Force's fleet of A-29 Super Tucano aircraft will receive logistics support and services from the combat aircraft's manufacturer, Embraer. The logistics contract, signed Wednesday, is for five years and is worth about $197 million and includes unexpected services. The Brazilian Air Force operates 92 of the close support turboprop fighters, which can also be used as trainers.
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04/12/2013
The Air Force wants to shed 2,640 airmen next year, according to the service’s 2014 budget request laid out Wednesday at the Pentagon. The plan would cut 1,860 billets from the active-duty force, 480 from the Air Force Reserve and 300 from the National Guard. As with all budget requests, the plan must be approved by Congress, and that process frequently involves extensive changes.
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04/12/2013
After more than a year of haggling over the details, Russia has agreed to sell China 24 Su-35 fighters. The big obstacle to this sale was the Chinese inability to assure Russia that the new Russian technology in these aircraft would not be stolen by Chinese aviation firms. Apparently a mutually agreeable compromise was worked out.
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04/12/2013
Delegations from 65 countries some of them including Defense ministers were in Rio, Brazil, for the opening of the International Defense and Security Fair, (LAAD), the largest show of military equipment in Latin America. The almost 30.000 visitors expected at the Riocentro convention center for the ninth edition of LAAD, among which 300 official delegates will be able to appreciate the latest products and systems at the stands representing 700 companies from 48 countries.
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04/12/2013
Elbit Systems of America, LLC is presenting an array of cutting edge solutions designed to enhance the capabilities of the Aviation Soldier during the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) 2013 Annual Professional Forum and Exposition. The exhibition is taking place at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, April 10-12, 2013. Elbit Systems of America welcomes visitors to booth #1121 during exhibit hours.
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04/12/2013
The Russian Air Force has approved the conceptual design and specification of its future PAK-DA strategic bomber, paving the way for development of components for the aircraft, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday. “The development of the aircraft is going as planned. The outline of its design and characteristics has been approved and all relevant documents have been signed allowing the industry to start the development of systems for this plane.
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04/12/2013
The Russian Air Force is hoping to receive a new long-range fighter-interceptor by 2020 and retire its existing fleet of MiG-31 interceptors by 2028, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Thursday. “We have started development of a new aircraft of this type and I think we can develop this plane before the state armament program ends in 2020,” Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers. “The new plane should replace the existing fleet by 2028,” he said.
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04/11/2013
Upgrades to the Army's CH-47 Chinook will give crews the capability to reconfigure the helicopter in flight to haul cargo or passengers, saving critical turnover time for one of the service's longtime workhorses. Each aircraft in the Army fleet of more than 400 twin-rotor Chinooks can haul 13 tons of cargo or up to 32 passengers. "There is no other helicopter in the Army inventory that can carry anywhere near that weight," said Lt. Col. Joe Hoecherl, product manager for CH-47 Modernization.
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04/11/2013
In the U.S. Navy there have long been disputes between the aviation community (the folks who operate the aircraft carriers), the submarine community, and the surface warfare (all the armed surface ships) community. One of the quieter ones has been about the best way to destroy enemy ships.
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04/11/2013
The fiscal 2014 U.S. budget plan sent to Congress by the White House on Wednesday proposes to cancel or cut several Pentagon weapons programs. The proposals must be approved by Congress, which has often reversed the administration's plans in past years, including on some of the cancellations proposed again in 2014.
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04/11/2013
Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of the Syrian opposition Wednesday during a conference of the Group of Eight (G-8) foreign ministers in London, Bloomberg reported. Kerry indicated that the U.S. will give more aid to the rebels attempting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
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04/11/2013
South Korea is using combat radar technology produced in Mississippi to upgrade its fighter aircraft, according to a release from U.S. Senator Thad Cochran’s office. On Wednesday, the Republic of Korea Air Force selected the Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radars produced at a Raytheon facility in Forest to upgrade the radar capabilities of 134 of its KF-16 fighters.
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04/11/2013
Helicopters and combat aircraft are what the United Nations needs most from the UAE in its peacekeeping missions. According to Richard Gowan, associate director for Crisis Diplomacy and Peace Operations at the New York University Centre on International Cooperation, USA, the UAE should help the UN’s international peacekeeping missions with what it lacks and not with what it already has.
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04/11/2013
Russian manufacturers will get a chance to display its latest advancements in aviation at the 50th Paris Air Show, which will be held on June 17-23. The show at Le Bourget will feature 27 national pavilions and at least 110 aircraft, among them the Su-35 and the Yak-130. The official spokesman for the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Boris Krylov, said: “The UAC will present two combat aircraft in Paris: the Yak-130, produced by the Irkut corporation, and Sukhoi's Su-35.
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04/11/2013
Western fighter jet manufacturers attended the 12th Langkawi Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition in Malaysia, anticipating the launch of that country’s delayed Multi-Role Combat Aircraft program, but recent conflict has refocused attention on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, particularly maritime surveillance.
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04/11/2013
The US military has been hard hit by sweeping budget cuts, but has not lost its capacity to stand up to an attack by North Korea, defense officials said Wednesday. “We have every capability to deal with any action North Korea would take, to protect this country, and the interests of this country, and our allies,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at a briefing on the Pentagon’s 2014 proposed budget.
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04/11/2013
Russia will complete the delivery to Brazil of 12 Mi-35 (AH-2 Sabre) attack helicopters worth $150 million by this fall, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said on Wednesday. “As of today, nine helicopters have been delivered and the remaining three will be shipped in the fall,” FSMTC director Alexander Fomin said at the LAAD 2013 defense exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.
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04/10/2013
The U.S. Marine Corps is preparing to deploy an agile, rapid crisis response force to the Mediterranean with deployable combat power, air assets, sea-basing and maritime pre-positioning capabilities, Corps leaders said March 8 at the Sea-Air-Space Expo, National Harbor, Md. "This will give senior leaders some decision space. It can integrate with an MEU and augment or compliment fleet anti-terrorism support teams.
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04/10/2013
The U.S. Air Force plans to ground about a third of its active-duty force of combat planes — including a squadron based at Hill Air Force Base — and the U.S. Navy cancelled the rest of the popular Blue Angels’ aerobatic team’s season because of automatic federal budget cuts.
The Air Force said the stand down will cover fighters, bombers and airborne warning and control aircraft in U.S., Europe and the Pacific.
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04/10/2013
A fighter pilot killed in a jet that crashed Wednesday in Afghanistan has been identified by the Defense Department as Capt. James Michael Steel of Tampa, Fla. Steel, a 29-year-old F-16 pilot, was assigned to the 77th Fighter Squadron out of Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., a statement said.
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04/10/2013
The Boeing Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) wideband communications program has entered a new phase by delivering the first two engineering development models to the U.S. Air Force. Able to perform nearly all FAB-T production terminal mission functions, the models will be tested through June under realistic operational conditions aboard aircraft and at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.
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04/10/2013
The US Air Force has begun curtailing operations of about one-third of the active-duty combat aircraft following recent budget cuts, the Air Combat Command (ACC) said in a statement on Tuesday. “The stand down is the result of cuts to Air Combat Command's operations and maintenance account, which must be implemented in part by flying approximately 45,000 fewer training hours between now and October 1,” the statement said.
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04/10/2013
The United States is capable of shooting down a missile launched by North Korea but may opt not to depending on the threat presented by such an action, the top US military commander in the Pacific said Tuesday. “If the missile was in defense of the homeland, I would certainly recommend that action. And if it was defense of our allies, I would recommend that action,” Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of US Pacific Command, told the US Senate’s armed services committee.
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04/10/2013
The US Navy has unveiled a new ship-mounted laser cannon it plans to deploy next year in the Middle East near Iran that runs off of electricity and is capable of incinerating a drone and disabling small boats at an estimated cost of less than $1 per blast. “The future is here,” Peter Morrision, a laser technology program officer at the US Office of Naval Research, said in a statement this week, adding that the laser is capable of “revolutionizing modern warfare” in the same way that “gunpowder d
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04/09/2013
After a decade collecting dust, New Zealand’s mothballed combat wing has taken to the skies again – in the United States. The air force’s fleet of Skyhawks spent more than 10 years grounded after being decommissioned. Last year eight were donated to museums across the country, and one was sent to a museum in Australia. The remaining eight were snapped up US company Draken International for $7.9 million, including spare parts and engines.
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04/09/2013
A top Brazilian air force officer has publicly vented frustration over the four-year delay by the nation's government to sign a contract for 36 new fighter aircraft, and implicated the country's industrial base for prolonging the wait. The farewell address on 4 April by Maj Gen Carlos de Almeida Baptista - the former commander of the office that sets the requirements for combat aircraft - offers a rare window inside the feelings of the air force leadership over the ongoing F-X2 programme.
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04/09/2013
The F-35 Lighting was the first choice of the Australian air force. But several thunderbolts have struck the stealth aircraft, including the arrival of new generation Sukhois that are skewing the odds against the Australians.
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04/09/2013
Lockheed Martin, the giant U.S. defence contractor, is launching a cross-Canada publicity blitz to convince Canadians to buy its F-35 stealth fighter jet — but it's simultaneously raising the price by a hefty $20 million US a plane. Steve O'Bryan, Lockheed's vice-president for the F-35 program, said just 18 months ago that Canada would pay $65 million per plane. Now, O'Bryan tells CBC News the price is $85 million.
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04/09/2013
India and French firm Dassault Aviation on Monday decided to keep aside their sharp differences over contractual obligations and move ahead on the other aspects of the deal to procure 126 multirole combat aircraft for the IAF.
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04/09/2013
Two Hawaii-based F-22 Raptor fighter squadrons are ready for combat. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is home to 20 F-22 Raptors. The Hawaii Air National Guard began the transition from F-15 Eagle aircraft to the F-22s in July 2010. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser says the two fighter squadrons have been cleared to be able to deploy all of their aircraft. The move is a step up from last November when the two fighter squadrons attained initial operational capability status.
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04/09/2013
The F-22 Raptor is what's called a fifth-generation fighter, making it the most advanced combat aircraft as of, well, right now. But around here, we don't care about right now, we're all about what's next. And this concept from Boeing of the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter jet could be exactly that. We've seen some hints on Boeing's vision for the future of strike aircraft.
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04/09/2013
April 21 2013 marks a momentous day for MiG fighter aircraft in India as it completes 50 years of its relationship with the Indian Air Force (IAF). Built in 1956, the world’s most common fighter aircraft emerged from the shadows in 1962 when India announced that it would be buying the newly developed Russian jets.
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04/09/2013
A new precision-guided weapon that Boeing will provide to the U.S. Navy will fundamentally change anti-submarine warfare by incorporating technologies never before used on an anti-submarine weapon. Through a recently awarded $19.2 million contract, Boeing will design and build the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC).
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04/09/2013
Russia and Brazil will discuss the possibility of the joint development of an advanced surface-to-air missile system, Parana, at the LAAD 2013 defense exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport said on Monday. Brazil is showing keen interest in Russian-made missile defense systems, a Rosoboronexport spokesman said, adding that negotiations were also underway concerning licensed manufacturing.
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04/08/2013
Senior sources said Foreign Office ministers have seen the plans, as tensions in the Korean peninsula reach their highest pitch in five decades. Last night a former US government official put the seriousness of the North Korean threat for the Pentagon as eight out of 10, “where one is strategic patience and 10 is political freak out”.
Britain has already sent a team of plain-clothes operators to South Korea from Joint Forces Headquarters in Northwood to make ground preparations for a mass ev
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04/08/2013
SUSPECTED Chinese fighter jets, reportedly Russian-made multirole SukhoiS, again intruded into Philippine airspace particularly over the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in Palawan in the middle of last week, the Navy said. The KIG has been constituted into a municipality under the province of Palawan. The intrusion happened a day before the opening of the 2013 Philippines-US Exercise Balikatan, where some 8,000 Filipino and American soldiers are participating. The exercise is going in Luzon.
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04/08/2013
A Su-27 fighter of the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) crashed during the flight training on March 31, 2013, and two pilots were killed. In this regard, a military expert, who was interviewed, explained three main reasons for airplane crash and expressed that this crash of the Su-27 fighter was not due to the aging of the fighter.
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04/08/2013
A 24-hour continuous flight training conducted by various types of early warning aircraft (EWA) of an aviation division under the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army concluded successfully on the morning of April 3, 2013. Lv Jianqiang, commander of the aviation division, told PLA Daily that the training results show that PLA's airborne early warning combat force has formed all-time all-territory early warning combat capabilities.
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04/08/2013
Europe is becoming a hive of activity when it comes to helicopters, as armed forces take deliveries, switch types between services, make upgrades and place a few new orders as lessons are learned from Afghanistan. At the same time, in Germany, and possibly France, officials are also taking the knife to orders as budget cuts kick in.
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04/08/2013
The Navy plans to carry out the first catapult takeoff of its new X-47B unmanned plane from an aircraft carrier next month and other shipboard tests despite mandatory budget cuts this year, according to the admiral who runs the programs. Rear Admiral Mathias Winter, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, said Northrop Grumman Corp's X-47B program and other unmanned aircraft programs should survive the fiscal 2013 budget cuts largely intact.
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04/08/2013
Paris is reportedly mulling the purchase of the US-made surveillance Reaper drones in a bid to grow its military capabilities, according to a French defence ministry source. In the midst of France’s Operation Serval in Mali, Paris is considering buying US-made unarmed surveillance drones to boost its military capabilities, a source from the defence ministry told AFP on Friday.
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04/08/2013
Serious differences have cropped up in the contract negotiations between the Defence Ministry and French firm Dassault Aviation selected for the 126 fighter aircraft deal threatening to delay the country's largest one-time military acquisition. Dassault has made it clear that it was "technically and practically not feasible to stick to the present obligations", as it is wary of encountering the fate of British telecom company Vodafone, which is facing problems over taxation issues.
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04/08/2013
The United States has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test planned for next week, media reported. The test of the Minuteman 3, scheduled to be carried out in California, was postponed, possibly until some time in May, out of concerns that North Korea might misinterpret it, the BBC reported Sunday citing a senior US defense official.
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04/07/2013
We’re a couple of thousand feet above fields and trees when Simon Sparkes decides to make this flight in a Gazelle helicopter a little more interesting. Left to its own devices, even though it is flying straight and level, the craft will pull to the left because of the torque caused by its tail rotor. If not corrected, the helicopter could end up out of control. To compensate, the aircraft’s computer, called the Stability Augmentation System, automatically makes the corrections required.
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04/07/2013
The Republic of Korea has spent years deciding what its next-generation fighter jet replacement will look like. Now, as tension mounts on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. government has revealed what the sale of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle might look like. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which handles foreign military sales for the U.S. Defense Department, notified Congress of the potential sales March 29.
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04/07/2013
Sea Lion, the annual maritime exercise carried out by the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO), continues with the participation of its several fleet vessels, the Royal Army of Oman’s Sultan of Oman artillery and a number of aircraft of the Royal Air Force of Oman. The exercise began on March 30 and will continue till April 10. On Monday, the exercise involved shooting of air targets with live ammunition.
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04/07/2013
As defense budgets are slashed in dire financial times, governments increasingly rely on alliances and cooperation with their partners. Instead of going solo, militaries pool resources to increase efficiency. The financial crisis has put pressure on governments all over the world to drastically cut down expenses. What started five years ago now has started to affect defense budgets.
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04/07/2013
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first UN treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar international arms trade, a goal sought for more than a decade to try to keep illicit weapons out of the hands of terrorists, insurgent fighters and organized crime. The resolution adopting the landmark treaty was approved by a vote of 154 to 3 with 23 abstentions. As the numbers appeared on the electronic board, loud cheers filled the assembly chamber.
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04/07/2013
Maine’s entire congressional delegation have sent letters to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta expressing their strong opposition to the FAA’s possible elimination of the overnight shift at the Bangor International Airport (BGR) Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT).
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04/07/2013
The Indian government’s biggest defence acquisition of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) from French defence major Dassault Aviation could be delayed as the both parties are yet to decide the role of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Sources said that the French company ‘wants separate contracts’ for aircraft (Rafale) made by the company and another for units built by the Bangalore-based public sector aviation company.
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04/07/2013
Russian military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territories of Romania and Hungary under the international Open Skies Treaty within a period starting Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported. Russian experts will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between April 7 and 13, the ministry said in a statement.
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04/07/2013
An iconic Russian Cold War bomber, which had been reported to suffer a minor malfunction, actually burned beyond recovery for unclear reasons, Kommersant daily said Saturday. A Tu-95MC “Bear-H” turboprop missile carrier aborted takeoff after the crew discovered smoke in the service compartment in mid-February. The Defense Ministry only reported at the time that the fire was soon extinguished and that no one was hurt in the incident.
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04/06/2013
Ten months after Chief Naval Officer Adm. Jonathan Greenert put a scare into the Joint Strike Fighter program with an editorial he wrote in a naval magazine, questions remain over the Navy's variant of the fifth generation fighter. Greenert questioned the need for a naval stealth aircraft when considering the advances made in radar technology. He outlined those concerns in a piece he wrote for Proceedings magazine.
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04/06/2013
A weak foundation in building sophisticated machinery and a lack of innovation are major obstacles for the People's Liberation Army in upgrading its latest domestically produced jet fighters, military experts say. Major General Zhu Heping - vice-president of the Air Force Command Academy and the grandson of the father of the Red Army, Zhu De - talked about the constraints facing the PLA in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
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04/06/2013
Russia will unveil its most advanced aircraft, the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker fighter jet and the Ka-52 Alligator helicopter gunship, at the Paris Air Show in June, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) said on Friday. It will also display the Yak-130 Mitten combat jet trainer, UAC spokesman Boris Krylov said.
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04/06/2013
Leading defense and national security expert Dr. James Carafano tells Newsmax that the Obama administration has spent four years ignoring North Korea and we now run the risk of an “accidental escalation” of tensions in the region. He also warns that North Korea does in fact have the technical capability of attacking the west coast of the United States.
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04/06/2013
Until last week, the Navy was hard-pressed for money even to pay for the tow of the aircraft carrier Lincoln on the short haul from Norfolk to Newport News, much less begin the $2.6 billion overhaul the ship needs to rejoin the fleet. “The funding is now in line,” for the Lincoln, but the complex overhaul involving switching out her nuclear fuel will make the ship unavailable for duty until 2015, said Lt. Dan Day, a spokesman for the Fleet Forces Command at the Norfolk, Va., Naval Station.
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04/06/2013
Thousands of US and Filipino troops began annual military exercises yesterday that the Philippines said were vital to building its defence capabilities to face the rising threat of China. Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario used the launch of the 12-day Balikatan manoeuvres to accuse China of destabilising Asia with aggressive and illegal actions in the South China Sea.
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04/06/2013
China’s under-development J-20 combat aircraft recently demonstrated its missile-launch mechanism, which the Chinese media tout as a simple but “more efficient” design than that of the American F-22.
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04/06/2013
President Obama could order F-22s to South Korea because prior presidents made the investment s needed years ago to ensure he'd have them today. Last month, the Obama Administration began noticeably increasing military shows of force on or near the Korean peninsula, as the North’s young leader increasingly took steps of his own to increase tensions.
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04/06/2013
While Pakistan manages to get fresh supply of arms from US, India's biggest defence deal for procuring 126 Rafale combat aircraft is expected to be delayed. Rafale had edged out five other aircraft including American F-16 and F-18, Russian MiG 35 and European Eurofighter to bag the contract.
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04/06/2013
CAE’s US arm has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the a foreign military sales scheme to construct the training facility for the Kuwaiti air force at Al Mubarak Air Base. The two-bay training facility will house a KC-130J full-mission simulator that CAE is currently under contract to design and manufacture for the Kuwaiti Air Force.
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04/05/2013
The most expensive aircraft ever constructed for the U.S. Air Force seems to be having its coming out party this week. The F-22 Raptor has spent this week on the Korean peninsula, participating in training exercises amid North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s bellicose statements threatening war against the U.S. and allies. On Thursday, North Korea announced its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. using “smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear weapons.
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04/05/2013
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), which is competing with U.S. companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin for South Korea's fighter jet program, has offered to manufacture 48 out of 60 planes in local factories if it wins the multi-billion dollar deal, sources and company officials said Friday.
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04/05/2013
Against the backdrop of long delays in its projects, the Government on Thursday asked the premier research agency DRDO to accelerate the work on its major military development programmes and complete them in time. The Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was briefed by the DRDO on its major projects including the futuristic Agni-6 and the recently launched Agni-5 long-range missile programmes.
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04/05/2013
The F-22 Raptor has resumed normal flight operations after modifications to aircrew life-support equipment were completed across the fleet, including the upper pressure garment and related hoses, valves and connectors. Completion of this task eliminates the need to restrict flight operations to remain within a 30-minute flying distance from an airfield suitable for landing.
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04/05/2013
North Korea's army says it has approved plans for nuclear attacks on US targets, the latest in a series of apocalyptic threats that have sent tensions soaring on the divided Korean peninsula. Many analysts say the North's rhetoric is for internal consumption, intended to bolster the authority of young leader Kim Jong-Un over the powerful military.
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04/05/2013
Lockheed Martin delivered the first C-130J Super Hercules to the Republic of Tunisia today, marking the first delivery to an African country. Lockheed Martin signed a contract in 2010 with Tunisia to deliver two C-130Js between 2013 and 2014, in addition to providing training and an initial three years of logistics support.
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04/05/2013
An F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block II simulator, cybersecurity demonstration, and unmanned airborne system models will anchor Boeing’s display at the Latin America Aerospace and Defense (LAAD) trade show in Rio de Janeiro April 9-12. “We look forward to expanding discussions on our portfolio of products and services with our customers in Brazil and Latin America,” said Roberto Valla, Boeing Defense, Space & Security regional director, International Business Development for the Americas.
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04/05/2013
The United States said Thursday that statements by the North Korean government has forced Washington to respond by boosting its military defenses. “When you have a country that is making the kind of bellicose statements and taking the kind of steps that they have, you have to take it seriously and you have to take steps to defend the US and its allies,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news conference Thursday.
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04/05/2013
Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – The US Department of Defense said Thursday it plans to sidestep a Congressional ban to purchase 30 helicopters from Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport, despite objections from US lawmakers who allege that the firm has equipped the Syrian government to commit brutal crimes against civilians.
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04/04/2013
Norway said Wednesday it had observed an increasing number of Russian military jets near its airspace last year, amid President Vladimir Putin’s massive rearmament plan. The Scandinavian country scrambled fighter jets on 41 occasions to inspect Russian military aircraft flying past its airspace, although the planes always stayed in international territory, the Norwegian air force said in its annual report. A total of 71 Russian military planes were identified during the sorties.
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04/04/2013
Some 30 military aircraft and three vessels from the Philippines and the United States will be deployed in the coming joint military exercises in the northern part of the country, a military spokesman said here Wednesday. Colonel Arnulfo Burgos, spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said that of the 30 aircraft, 20 will come from the U . military, and they will support more than 8,000 Filipino and American soldiers in the two-week "Balikatan 2013.
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04/04/2013
The 40th Flight Test Squadron completed another first in February when an A-10 Thunderbolt II fired a guided rocket that impacted only inches away from its intended target.
The 2.75 diameter, 35-pound, laser-guided rocket is known as the fixed-wing Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II. Before the Thunderbolt test, the rocket had proved effective in Afghanistan combat operations when fired from Marine helicopters.
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04/04/2013
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has announced that Tbilisi expresses deep concern about the unplanned and sudden exercises of the Russian military which go beyond the territory defined by the Vienna Agreement. Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said that Georgia will continue to inform the international community on Russian military exercises being held near the maritime borders of the country.
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04/04/2013
The U.S. Defense Department said on Wednesday it has approved the sale of either the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighter or Boeing Co's F-15 Silent Eagle fighter to South Korea, which is expected to announce the winner of a 60-jet competition later this year. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, which oversees foreign military sales, notified U.S. lawmakers Friday about the possible sales to South Korea as tensions continued to mount with North Korea.
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04/04/2013
The country's defence forces do not have enough arms to take on the enemy as a large number of weapons, fighter jets, ships and submarines in service near retirement and replacements look years away from arriving, delayed by a multi-layered arms acquisition process.
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04/04/2013
AUSTRALIA'S first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft are progressing down the US production line and approaching the stage where they will be recognisably aircraft rather than a collection of components. David Scott, Lockheed Martin's director of F-35 international customer engagement, said the two, designated AU-1 and AU-2, were on schedule for delivery in the US in 2014.
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04/04/2013
U.S. Air Force crews ferried a Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] HC-130J Combat King II to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., today. Aircraft number 5719 is the ninth of 15 HC-130Js to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force by Lockheed Martin since initial contract award in 2008 and the seventh HC-130J to be stationed at Davis-Monthan.
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04/04/2013
The North Korean army said Wednesday that it had received approval to launch a “merciless” attack on the United States, including possible nuclear strikes. The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement Wednesday that it was formally informing the United States that American threats would be “smashed … by cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strikes,” AFP cited Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency as saying.
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04/04/2013
Russia should offer loans more often to help finance its global arms exports, but should lend money on the basis of market conditions and not ideology, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. “This must surely not be the type of loans that the Soviet Union used to provide, based on ideology and not on market values, in which it never saw the loans again," Putin said at a session of the State Commission For Military and Technical Cooperation with Foreign States.
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04/03/2013
Defence group Saab on Tuesday pledged to find Swiss suppliers for major components of its Gripen jet as it sought to sweeten a potential deal to sell the fighter to Switzerland. Sweden's Saab said it would find Swiss companies to develop, produce and assemble components including the rear fuselage, tail cone and weapons pylons of the aircraft, business that in total was worth about 200 million Swiss francs ($211 million).
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04/03/2013
Saudi Arabia is buying an armed drone from South Africa after the Obama administration declined to sell the oil-rich kingdom U.S. Predator or Reaper missile-firing unmanned aircraft. The state-owned South African company Denel Dynamics is working covertly with the Saudis to develop the Seeker 400 drone into an armed combat system for the Saudi military, the Paris-based newsletter Intelligence Online reported March 27.
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04/03/2013
srael Military Industries (IMI) have developed a new spectral flare increasing the survivability of combat helicopters in danger zones.
The new flare is smaller and lighter than the currently used ones and enables the helicopter to carry a larger number which allows a longer safe flight in the danger zone. IMI was ready to say that the new spectral flare weighs almost half of the currently used one and is smaller, but was reluctant to give more details.
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04/03/2013
More than 900 Canadian sailors, airmen and airwomen of the Canadian Forces left Tuesday to participate in Exercise Joint Warrior, a joint multinational NATO exercise taking place in the United Kingdom from April 15 to 25, according to a news release from the Canadian military. Exercise Joint Warrior is the largest military tactical exercise in Europe and is designed to prepare NATO military forces to work together in a variety of missions.
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04/03/2013
Two years can seem like a long time in the revitalised Brazilian defence market. While the lengthy delay to the air force's FX-2 fighter contract award receives most of the attention, the Brazilian military and the national defence industry have moved forward aggressively in key areas, revealing a new appreciation for taking national and regional security obligations more seriously.
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04/03/2013
A new Pentagon study contrasting the mental-health concerns of pilots who actually climb into the cockpit – as opposed to military drone drivers who sit at desks – shows that land-based pilots suffer 60% more mental-health maladies than their flying counterparts.
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04/03/2013
A TREATY to regulate the global arms trade has been agreed by the United Nations’ General Assembly for the first time. The historic agreement was passed by 154 votes to three with 23 absentions, a result which was met by cheers when flashed up on the electronic board in the assembly chamber in New York.
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04/03/2013
Monday, the third United Kingdom Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] F-35 Lightning II sped down the runway at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base embarking on its first flight. The aircraft, known as ZM137, departed at 10:16 a.m. with Lockheed Martin F-35 Chief Test Pilot Alan Norman at the controls. ZM137 will complete a series of company and government checkout flights prior to its acceptance by the U.K. Ministry of Defence.
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04/03/2013
At this year's Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition, Boeing will showcase an array of proven maritime capabilities and innovative technologies, including advances in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, that help U.S. maritime services accomplish their missions. The exposition is April 8-10 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
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04/03/2013
Boeing handed over the seventh production P-8A Poseidon to the U.S. Navy on schedule March 29, marking the first delivery from the second low-rate initial production contract awarded in November 2011. The maritime patrol aircraft departed Boeing Field in Seattle for Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., where it joined six P-8As currently being used to train Navy crews.
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04/02/2013
ttention, aviation buffs and history fans: a new Web site offers detailed information on the nearly 100 years of military aviation history at what is now known as Selfridge Air National Guard Base. The page, produced by the 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, tracks the history of both the base and the wing, which operates as a component of the Michigan Air National Guard, serving both state and nation.
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04/02/2013
Military researchers have released a formal solicitation for an effort to develop a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for long-term maritime surveillance that can launch and recover from relatively small ships to provide airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike mobile targets anywhere, around the clock.
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04/02/2013
The last aircraft in the Limited Series Production programme of Light Combat Aircraft LCA-Tejas (LSP-08) took off on its maiden flight from HAL airport on Sunday. Piloted by Air Cmdr K.A. Muthana, Programme director (Flight Test), the aircraft flew at supersonic speed and at an angle of attack of 20 degrees which is the current maximum limit cleared by design. With this, the Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) for the aircraft can be expected soon, said sources.
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04/02/2013
"Osprey" has been considered a dirty word in some circles. News headlines demonstrate the aircraft's proven ability to move troops in and out of current combat zones, yet a string of crashes and fatal mishaps over the last two decades still dogs the multi-billion dollar program.
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04/02/2013
South Korea's new president vowed on Monday to strike back quickly if North Korea stages any attack, but the United States said it has seen no worrisome mobilization of armed forces by the North Koreans despite their bellicose rhetoric. "If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," South Korean President Park Geun-hye told the defense minister and senior officials at a meeting on Monday.
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04/02/2013
North Korea on Monday shifted, at least temporarily, away from weeks of warlike rhetoric, appointing a new premier seen as an economic reformer after a high-level declaration that nuclear bomb building and a stronger economy are the nation’s top priorities. The US, meanwhile, announced its latest conspicuous display of firepower, sending F-22 stealth fighter jets to participate in annual US-South Korean war games that Pyongyang calls preparation for invasion.
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04/02/2013
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday instructed the military to strongly respond to possible provocation by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without any political considerations. "If any provocation is made against our people and the country, (the military) should strongly respond (to the provocation) in an early stage without any other political considerations," Yonhap News Agency quoted Park as saying at the annual policy briefing by the Defense Ministry.
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04/02/2013
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) reported a marginal rise of 2.25 per cent in turnover for 2012-13 compared with the previous year. The turnover rose to Rs 14,316 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013 (provisional). Meanwhile, the profit before tax for FY 2012-13 stands at Rs 3,471 crore, a growth of 8.4 per cent compared with to Rs 3,200 crore in the previous year.
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04/02/2013
China’s military on Monday confirmed two pilots had died in a military plane crash over the weekend – but only after pictures and a video appeared on the internet. The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) said a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter plane crashed on mudflats in Rongcheng city, Shandong province, during a drill, on Sunday afternoon, according to Xinhua.
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04/02/2013
Russia was not obligated to notify Western countries beforehand of its recent snap military exercises, a top Russian Defense Ministry official said Monday. “The mechanism of checks today is such that we only need to notify Western countries when we hold planned events,” Sergei Ryzhkov, the chief of the ministry’s treaty implementation department, told journalists.
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04/01/2013
The RMAF will upgrade the weaponry system of its aircraft, including improving its laser-guided weapons and global positioning systems in light of the terrorist attacks in Lahad Datu, says RMAF chief Jen Tan Sri Rodzali Daud. He said the improvements had always been on the RMAF agenda.
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04/01/2013
The U.S. flew F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea Sunday for joint exercises, a further demonstration of advanced military capabilities meant to deter provocations from Pyongyang. The deployment comes amid an intensifying back-and-forth between Pyongyang and Washington, with North Korea issuing ever-more-pointed threats and the U.S. responding with its own tough language and displays of sophisticated hardware.
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04/01/2013
How realistic are these concerns? And what can be done to avert a crisis? There's no doubt that tensions are on the rise between China and Japan. Armed conflict is an ever-present possibility when nationalist passions are aroused and opposing military forces are operating in close proximity.
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04/01/2013
North Korea’s enigmatic leader, Kim Jong-un, seems intent on taking tensions on the Korean Peninsula to unprecedented new heights with each passing day. After weeks of bombastic warmongering and public proclamations threatening to destroy the South and annihilate the United States, Pyongyang has now proclaimed that a “state of war” exists between the North and the South.
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04/01/2013
A recent U.S. Army war game against a North Korea-like failed nuclear state with powerful ground forces has exposed some materiel capability gaps that deeply worry Army planners, service leaders said. After more than a decade of being able to use Kuwait as a staging area for Iraq and Afghanistan, officers worried that the ability to move into more remote areas without a nearby staging area has atrophied.
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04/01/2013
A People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Su-27 fighter crashed in Rongcheng, Shandong Province on Sunday, killing two pilots. Initial photos showing the crashed aircraft began appearing on microblogs on Sunday afternoon. China Central Television later reported the pilots' deaths in a Weibo account.
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04/01/2013
First came word that the Arab League was recognizing the National Coalition as the legitimate government of Syria and no longer recognizing the envoys representing embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The news was quickly tempered with the announcement that the recently appointed leader of the Syrian opposition was resigning from the post. Moaz al-Khatib was chosen last November to lead the coalition at a United States-brokered summit meeting of the various Syrian rebel factions.
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04/01/2013
Aircraft and avionics experts from the U.S. Air Force and the Boeing Co. have performed the first test flight of a completely updated version of the F-15 Eagle jet fighter with 21st century avionics and flight-control systems. The F-15SA, which Boeing is building for the Royal Saudi Air Force, has avionics enhancements that include a fly-by-wire flight control system, digital electronic warfare (EW) suite, an infrared search and track (IRST) system, and active electronically scanned array.
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04/01/2013
Peru’s government will buy 24 Russian Mil Mi-171 (Hip) helicopters worth overall $406.8 million to use them in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism, local media reported.
La Republica reported that the country’s Defense Ministry has submitted to the Economics Ministry a draft resolution based on a comparative study of Russian helicopters and Eurocopter AS332 Super Pumas and Eurocopter AS532 Cougars.
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