July, 2013 Military Aviation News
07/31/2013
Israel intends to order 25 Lockheed Martin F-35 fifth-generation fighters, with an option for 50 more. If it wants them quickly, as expected, the news could help some other international partners in the Joint Strike Fighter program. The Israelis have asked for an early multi-year buy (MYB) to reduce the unit cost of their first F-35s. At more than $120 million each, early production F-35As are almost three times as expensive as those to be procured during full-rate production.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
A Senate subcommittee on Tuesday approved a spending measure that would give the Pentagon $594 billion in fiscal 2014, slap new spending restrictions on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, and provide more money for two shipbuilding initiatives.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
An enhanced version of the MQ-1C version of General Atomics’ Predator Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) took to the air July 26, 2013 at the company’s El Mirage Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. It was the first flight of the U.S. Army’s Improved Gray Eagle (IGE), a next-generation derivative of the combat-proven Block 1 Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) that has accumulated over 70,000 flight hours since 2008.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
Turkish ambitions to build a “made-in-Turkey” fighter aircraft and buy scores of the new generation, multinational combat jet F-35 may go beyond Turkey’s financing capacity. Defence industry officials estimate that building eight prototypes for what will become the Turkish national fighter would cost Ankara over $10 billion. “Any figure in the range of $11 billion to $13 billion would be realistic,” a senior official familiar with the programme said.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
India's quest to indigenize its military aviation sector has taken a sharp nosedive, with a bitter battle raging between the country's only aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and its primary customer IAF on projects ranging from trainer aircraft to the futuristic fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA).
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
The combat aircraft to replace the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s current fleet of MiG-29 jet fighters has not been decided on, said the Prime Minister. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak added that the recent incursion in Sabah by Sulu terrorists had forced the Government to take a look at the country’s defence strategies.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin reached an agreement in principle for the next two F-35 Lightning II aircraft production contracts (Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lots 6 and 7), which is expected to include 71 stealth fighter aircraft and continue a reduction in F-35 aircraft pricing. The contracting effort spanned six months from proposal to settlement.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
Boeing Defence Australia (BDA), a local subsidiary of The Boeing Company, has taken over prime responsibility for supporting the Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) fleet from Boeing in the U.S. The move ensures a continued high level of readiness for the nation’s command and control aircraft fleet.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
A Russian-built aircraft carrier due to be delivered to the Indian Navy following a much-delayed refit has successfully passed engine tests during the first stage of final sea trials in the White Sea, shipbuilder Sevmash said Tuesday. The current trials focused on the ship's propulsion system and its ability to perform as required.
(Read More...)
07/31/2013
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved a plan to implement a state program on aviation industry development in 2013-2015, the government said in a statement Tuesday. The plan is part of a broader state program to develop the industry until 2025 that was endorsed by the government in December 2012. The program aims to make the sector highly competitive and help it regain its positions on the international market.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
For most of last year, Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed that the sequester was a defense calamity that would undermine military readiness and break faith with our troops and veterans. It’s hard to watch their prediction come true while the real waste at the Pentagon goes unchecked.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/30/2013
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government will look into the budgetary consideration for the contract for the MiG-29N replacement programme. He said: “We are looking at our defence requirement in the future but it is not so much in terms of our future needs, but it is a question whether we can afford and it is also the question of budgetary consideration.”
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
There may be good diplomatic and political reasons for this. Yet however much these concerns weighed on Canberra, one thing needs to be clear: there is no strategic basis for the newly optimistic assessment of China's rise. To the contrary, military developments in China since the late 2000s reveal a more ominous picture than many previously anticipated, or indeed than many within our defence and security establishment are today prepared to openly acknowledge.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
With an aim to boost recruitment, the Indian Air Force (IAF), for the first time, plans to develop a gaming app that gives the youth a taste of air combat using advanced weapons and aircraft. The IAF has issued a request through the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to interested gaming companies. 'Air headquarters, Vayu Bhawan, New Delhi, invites expressions of interest for a mobile gaming application for the IAF.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
After three years of rigorous U.S. Air Force pilot training, 25-year-old 1st Lt. Andrew Van Timmeren, 7th Fighter Squadron pilot, finally got to climb into the world’s most advanced fighter jet and take it for a spin. Holloman Air Force Base has 24 F-22 Raptors. The single-seat, twin-engine fighter aircraft is an air dominance fighter, which utilizes stealth technology, and was delivered to the Air Force inventory to be flown operationally in 2005.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
Turkey must spend nearly $50 billion if it goes ahead with its plans to build and buy 200 locally built fighter jets and acquire 100 more F-35s from an US arms maker. And that amount doesn’t even include the cost of engines for the Turkish fighter.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
No one disputes the fact that Canada needs to procure new fighter jets, but that’s where universal agreement ends. Several aircraft types are competing to be Canada’s next fighter jet. In this ongoing series, defence analyst Richard Shimooka examines the pros and cons of each contender. He wraps up the final installment with a look at the Dassault Rafale and the Lockheed Martin F-35.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
The grounding of Air Force combat squadrons will not only have an effect on the long-term readiness of the fleet but also on the careers of pilots and maintainers whose planes were idle. The Air Force on July 15 lifted the four-month grounding of 19 combat squadrons, with pilots returning to the air at a rate that will restore their currency in about three to four months.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
Was it a charm offensive, or a show of force by the largest army in the world? In a rare move to allow access to foreign journalists to tour a military base, the People's Liberation Army showed off its anti-aircraft brigade in Lintong, about an hour's drive east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, ahead of the important August 1 anniversary recognised as the army's founding in 1929.
(Read More...)
07/30/2013
Malaysia is looking to enhance its defence expenditure, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak said. Najib said this will be done through deficit reduction and strengthening of the Malaysian economic and fiscal position. He said the question on the country’s defence requirements in the future is of budgetary consideration.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian came to Delhi, charmed his counterpart A K Antony, but could not conquer. After three days in India, when he held formal talks with the Indian defence ministry top brass and also lectured the Indian military think-tank IDSA, Le Drian returned home Saturday empty-handed, without even the Rs 1 lakh crore combat jets deal for which French Rafale was chosen as the lowest bidder in January 2012.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
With the arrival of the first wave of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets at Luke Air Force Base just months away, construction is under way on facilities where pilots will be trained and the planes will be maintained. In all, Air Force executives have projected a $265 million, seven-year construction program specifically to accommodate the F-35 pilot-training program at the base in west Glendale.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
The U.S. Army recently began full rate production of its new MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAV. After eight years of development and field testing, the army is ordering as many production models as it believes it can afford. The current order is for 49, the last of them to be delivered by late 2015.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
Almost half of the total budget, 337.5 million euro, is destined for the Eurofighter program, whose prime contractor, EADS, will gain. Over 93 million will go towards the public shipbuilding company Navatia, who will be constructing the Juan Carlos I. Another 88.26 million will be spent on the Tiger helicopter.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
Japanese are becoming more alarmed at increasing Chinese military activity in waters and air space around Japan. It’s not just disputed areas, especially the Senkaku Islands, but around distant Okinawa and increasingly east of Japan, in the Pacific. Operating out there is what the Chinese would have to do for a blockade of Japan.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
The Serbian Armed Forces (VS) are sufficiently trained and equipped to protect Serbia’s territory from any potential aggressor, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday, summing up the work of the Defence Ministry in the first year of the current government’s term, Tanjug reported.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
The Sikorsky H-60 Seahawk helicopter and Northrop Grumman C-2 Greyhound carrier-on-board delivery (COD) plane are longtime stalwarts of Navy operations. The 35 Greyhounds constantly shuttle passengers and cargo to and from the fleet’s aircraft carriers, while some 460 H-60s of various models carry out a wide range of missions.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
U.S. Navy officials are asking combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co. in St. Louis to prepare the company's EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare jet to carry the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), for which Raytheon Co. was selected to build earlier this month.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne has assailed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which builds most of the fighter aircraft the IAF flies. Writing directly to Defence Minister A K Antony in the first week of July, Browne has savaged HAL's proposal to design and build a basic trainer aircraft (BTA) for rookie IAF pilots.
(Read More...)
07/29/2013
Seth Cropsey, a former assistant secretary of the Navy in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, now a fellow at the Hudson Institute believes so. His recent book, titled Mayday: The Decline of American Naval Superiority, sounds an alarm that as the number of U.S. ships and aircraft continue to decrease, as our defense budgets are dictated by politically correct policies.
(Read More...)
07/28/2013
In 1986, Egypt’s Minister of Defense Field Marshall Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala, complained that the 1.3 billion dollars of US military aid were no longer enough, and pledged to ask US officials for a raise of a several more hundred million dollars. Egypt had started to receive this annual amount of security aid seven years earlier, after signing the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and Abu Ghazala explained that global prices of arms increased ever since.
(Read More...)
07/28/2013
Chris Hetrick, an Air Force major who graduated from Flathead High School, says unmanned aircraft are the future of aviation but integrating them with piloted aircraft will be a challenge. Representing the First Reconnaissance Squadron out of Beale Air Force Base in northern California, Hetrick gave a presentation on the Air Force’s growing use of unmanned aircraft to the Flathead Pachyderm Club on Friday in Kalispell.
(Read More...)
07/28/2013
SunZia, the company proposing a $1.2 billion power transmission system that could create 18,000 construction jobs in New Mexico, says it will scotch the project if its preferred route is rejected by the federal government.
(Read More...)
07/28/2013
The existing bomber force cannot cope with new challenges indefinitely. As countries like China pursue anti-access strategies and more agile air defenses become available to potential adversaries, the U.S. must recapitalize its aging bomber fleet. Failure to do so could eventually result in major military setbacks, since future enemies will doubtless attack the joint force where it is weakest. Defense analyst Lauren B. Thompson comments in a recent report published by the Lexington Group.
(Read More...)
07/28/2013
Russian military inspectors will begin on Sunday a series of monitoring flights over the United States under the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian nuclear security official said. According to Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, Russian experts will carry out two consecutive monitoring missions in a Tupolev Tu-154M/LK-1 aircraft from July 28 through August 12.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
Pockets of Al-Qaeda militants will endure in Afghanistan beyond next year’s departure of most Western combat forces, but they have lost the ability to mount serious attacks of the kind that triggered the Afghan war, a senior US commander said.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, visiting India at present, spoke to foreign editor Pramit Pal Chaudhuri about the $15 billion (Rs 87990 crore) Rafale fighter deal that is stilling awaiting formal completion and the Indo-French defence relationship.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
On June 29th Germany retired the last of its 263 F-4 Phantom fighter-bombers after 41 years of use. A third of these were used mainly for reconnaissance, but most were expected to do ground support and air defense. This retirement is part of a growing trend. In 2010, also after 41 years of service, South Korea retired the last of its 222 F-4s. South Korean F-4s (and F-5 fighters) were replaced, over the previous 15 years, by 40 F-15K fighter-bombers and 180 F-16s.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
Drone-strike disclosures have prompted headlines like this one from the Atlantic Wire: "How the NSA Is Using Cell Phone Data to Drone Civilians (In Pakistan)." "Drone" has increasingly come into play as a verb, meaning "to target or kill in a drone strike," especially among critics of the Obama administration. But how did "drone" become the label for unmanned aircraft in the first place?
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
Senior Pentagon leaders and weapons developers are looking to more fully integrate operational energy considerations into the acquisition process by working with the services to build energy-efficient aircraft, ships, vehicles, solar panels and new high-efficiency engines, among other things.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
When an American aircraft goes down, be it over a remote training ground or behind enemy lines, the US Air Force’s crack teams of pararescue forces jump into action. The new HC-130J Combat King II is the plane that delivers them when Apaches can’t, even into active combat zones.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
India and France today discussed their ongoing military cooperation including the progress over Rs 50,000-crore 126 multirole combat aircraft deal during the Defence Minister-level talks here. In a joint statement issued after the deliberations between Defence Minister A K Antony and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, the two sides said they have agreed to further strengthen their defence ties as they were mutually beneficial.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
Lockheed Martin achieved an unprecedented milestone by delivering a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) P-3 Orion aircraft in 10 months – and 78 days early -- on July 18. This is the eighth of 14 aircraft in the program to receive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) modifications and phased depot maintenance. It will soon join the CBP P-3 MLU fleet conducting homeland security and drug interdiction missions.
(Read More...)
07/27/2013
Russia's Defense Ministry has signed a 3.4 billion ruble ($103 million) contract with the Tupolev design bureau and Kazan Aircraft Plant to upgrade three Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, Tupolev said Friday. The delivery date for the supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber is December 31, 2015, the company said.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
Over the last several months, there has been much media coverage and analysis of the impact of sequestration on America’s military services. But there has been little attention paid to the potential damage to readiness as a result of the distorted way the spending cuts must be made. Carried over two to three years, this pattern will drive the U.S. military back to the years of “hollow forces” we experienced in the post-Vietnam military.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
A pair of big, blimp-like craft, moored to the ground and flying as high as 10,000 feet, are to be added to a high-tech shield designed to protect the Washington, DC area from air attack, at least for a while.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
Azerbaijan’s rapid arms build-up is cause for concern in the region, with some defence analysts warning that it heightens the risk of renewed conflict. President Ilham Aliyev frequently boasts of the amount of money his oil-rich state can afford to spend on weaponry. Appearing at a military parade in Baku on June 26.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
U.S. Navy officials are asking combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co. in St. Louis to prepare the company's EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare jet to carry the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), for which Raytheon Co. was selected to build earlier this month.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
Even as India and France struggle to finalize the long-awaited $20 billion MMRCA project to supply 126 Rafale fighters to the IAF, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is now on a three-day visit here to bolster the "bilateral strategic and defence cooperation partnership".
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
The 100th Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the first aircraft destined for Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz., has entered the last stage of final assembly. This conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft, known as AF-41, is scheduled to arrive at the base next year. During final assembly, the aircraft structure is completed, and electrical and hydraulic systems are added.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
The final Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft number 5726) designated for the 317th Airlift Group was ferried to Dyess Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, today. Gen.Paul Selva, commander, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill., flew the aircraft to Dyess AFB from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics facility here.
(Read More...)
07/26/2013
Lockheed Martin’s Sniper® Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) has achieved operational flight status on the B-52 bomber. With the addition of the B-52, Sniper ATP is the only targeting pod operational across six U.S. Air Force fighter and bomber aircraft platforms. Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force completed Sniper ATP B-52 site activation at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
Boeing could snare yet another big order from India as the Indian Army has asked the Defence Ministry to acquire an unspecified number of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, according to an MoD source. Last year, the Indian Air Force purchased 22 Apaches for US $1.3 billion. Beyond the Indian Army request, a third order of helicopters could be in the offing for India’s planned Mountain Corps.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
The House on Wednesday evening overwhelmingly approved a spending bill that would give the Pentagon about $600 billion next year, while narrowly killing a measure that targeted controversial NSA surveillance programs. The chamber’s 2014 defense appropriations bill, approved on a 315-109 vote, includes about $512.5 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and around $82 billion for overseas operations. The base budget figure is about $3 billion less than the White House requested.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
After two North Korean attacks in 2010, South Korea began to redress its naval shortcomings, but deficiencies remain that could put allied interests at risk during the next military conflict. South Korea needs to strengthen its anti-submarine warfare, amphibious, and C4ISR capabilities. The United States needs to reverse course on its defense budget reductions, which are raising doubts among U.S. allies (and enemies) about the ability of the U.S. to keep its security commitments.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
A rare British airplane will head into the blue skies Aug. 10-11 over Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti. It’s one of the featured airplanes at Thunder Over Michigan Air Show, produced by the Yankee Air Museum..
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
Deals expected to be worth over Rs 80,000 crore including supply of 126 Rafale combat aircraft are likely to be high on agenda of French Defence Minister Jaen Yves Le Drian during his three-day visit to India from Friday. India and France have been busy in negotiating the 126 combat aircraft deal for which the French combat aircraft was selected last year defeating its five other European and American rivals and over Rs 30,000 crore Maitri surface-to-air missile projects.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
A light aircraft, which briefly violated the airspace of Russia and then Lithuania earlier in the week, was forced down to land by NATO fighter jets in Latvia, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said. Two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets were scrambled after a Cessna aircraft flying over Polish territory toward Gdansk Bay about 50 kilometers away from the Russian border was detected on Monday night.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
Two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets were scrambled earlier this week in response to an alert that Russian airspace over the Baltic Sea had been violated by a small passenger plane, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The Russian Aerospace Defense Forces detected an aircraft flying over Polish territory toward Gdansk Bay about 50 kilometers away from the Russian border on Monday night.
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
Russia's Izhmash arms factory, manufacturer of the legendary Kalashnikov assault rifle, will produce high-precision antitank missiles in close collaboration with other companies under the umbrella of the future Kalashnikov Corporation, the company said Wednesday. Izhmash has recently won a 13 billion ruble ($400 million) Defense Ministry tender for the production of Vikhr-1 long-range, supersonic antitank missiles in one of its “largest state orders in recent years.”
(Read More...)
07/25/2013
Alenia Aermacchi has delivered the first ATR72-600 TMUA (Turkish Maritime Utility Aircraft) to the Turkish Navy. The first of a total order of eight ATR72s, which consist of two TMUAs and six ATR72-600 TMPA (Turkish Maritime Patrol Aircraft) maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
It used to be every teen's dream job — speed, adventure, glamor all rolled into one — but the Air Force is struggling to keep fighter pilots in jets at bases across the world. The Pentagon fears there will be a shortfall of up to 700 Top Guns by 2021 if the decline in interest doesn't turn around, and is offering a $225,000 signing bonus future Mavericks eager to suit up.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
Turkish military pilots have tested the A400M military transportation planes which will be added to Turkish Military Force's inventory list in September. The Airbus Military will deliver the first party of ordered ten new generation A400M cargo planes to Turkish Airforce until the end of the September 2013. The A400 cargo has passed many tests successfully and its quality has been approved by pilots who tested them in two different airbases of Turkey.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
I've always loved 747s and just about everything about them. But the one I'm on right now, known as the Doomsday plane, has a very different -- and very somber -- purpose than most of Boeing's iconic jumbo jets. Formally known as the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC), this is an E-4B, the plane that America's military leaders would use as an airborne command and control center in the case of a nuclear war or other very serious conflict.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
The National Air Force of Angola’s training capability has received a major boost with the acceptance of the first three of six Super Tucanos on order, and the delivery of six Cessna 172R trainers. The first three Super Tucanos were accepted during a formal ceremony held in the capital Luanda on July 12. Chief of General Staff General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda officiated at the event, which was also attended by generals, officers and soldiers.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
Israel sold some $7.5 billion in defense products in 2012 – a record high – the Defense Ministry revealed on Tuesday, but officials voiced concerns that the coming year could see a slump in sales. Speaking to reporters at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shmaya Avieli, director of Defense Export and Defense Cooperation (known by its Hebrew acronym, “Sibat”), pointed to an ongoing economic downturn as one factor for decreased projected sales.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
The U.S. Air Force is struggling to keep its top gun combat pilots as increasing numbers move to the safety of flying attack drones from military bases. Indeed, despite their adrenaline fueled reputations, fighter pilots believe the stresses of actual combat compared to the financial incentives of flying passenger airlines or drones are too much too ignore.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
The US Navy has deployed the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group to the Gulf region.
“The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is ready to deploy,” Xinhua quoted Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, commander of the carrier strike group, as saying in a statement. “We’ve worked very hard over the last several months to maintain our combat readiness following the delay of our deployment in February due to sequestration.”
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
Rebel forces seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad hope to receive arms from the United States as early as next month after two key US congressional committees approved the weapons shipments, according to media reports. “We think August is the date,” The New York Times cited a Syrian opposition leader as saying in an email Monday night.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
Over 2,500 servicemen and 350 weapons systems are involved in snap combat readiness drills for Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), a Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday. The drills, involving the headquarters and two missile divisions of the Orenburg Missile Army in Russia’s Urals region, began Monday and are set to run through Saturday, Col. Igor Yegorov said.
(Read More...)
07/24/2013
Members of the Kuwait Air Force have just completed a six month training course at the Electronic Warfare Operational Support (EWOS) facility of Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company. The course transferred the essential knowledge and skills that will allow the Kuwait Air Force to get the most out of the Selex ES HIDAS Electronic Warfare (EW) equipment currently installed on the country’s Apache helicopters.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
Retired Marine pilots who served in the electronic warfare community are challenging the service’s plan to deactivate the EA-6B Prowler in 2019. Premature retirement of the Prowlers will create a capability gap in the Marine Corps, they say, due to delays in production of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and the failure to establish a program of record for the development of a large electronic warfare-capable unmanned aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
During the largest military exercise the U.S. undertakes with any single nation, new tech debuted to give soldiers unprecedented access to drone video feeds. The biennial Exercise Talisman Saber 2013 combines more than 28,000 military personnel from the U.S. and Australia; it began July 15 and is due to finish Aug. 5. The exercise aims to improve combat readiness and cooperation between the two militaries.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
On Thursday Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told a Senate committee that the Obama administration is considering the use of military force in Syria. On the following day, the four-star general provided United States Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) with an unclassified letter that details recommendations for U.S. policy options regarding the "potential use of U.S. military force in the Syrian conflict."
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
At the beginning of July, the German Heron 1 UAS logged its 15,000th operational flight hour. The three systems, which are operated by Cassidian subsidiary Airborne Solutions on behalf of the German Air Force – the Luftwaffe, are stationed in Mazar-e-Sharif in north Afghanistan where they are serviced by an experienced team of engineers, pilots and UAS specialists.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and the U.S. Navy have completed the first arrested landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) carrier demonstration aircraft on the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77).
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
Even by North Korean standards, the story was odd. To a world used to North Korean exports of weapons, the seizure of a North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba was unique. Pyongyang’s attempted transshipment of antiquated weapons revealed much about the North Korean regime.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
Boeing delivered the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) second C-17 Globemaster III today, a month after India’s first C-17 arrived in the country and immediately began supporting IAF operations. This second IAF C-17 also will immediately enter service. India will receive 10 aircraft by 2014.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/23/2013
Russia's Izhmash arms factory, manufacturer of the legendary Kalashnikov assault rifle, has won a 13 billion ruble (about $400 million) Defense Ministry tender for antitank missiles, the company said Monday, in one of its “largest state orders in recent years.” Izhmash is to deliver Vikhr-1 long-range, supersonic antiarmor missiles by the end of 2015, company CEO Konstantin Busygin said.
(Read More...)
07/23/2013
Military inspectors from Turkey and the United States will fly over Russia’s territory starting from Monday as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. “In the period between July 22 and July 26, experts from Turkey and the United States will make a surveillance flight above the territory of Russia on board Turkey’s CN-235 plane,” the ministry said in a statement.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
With billions of dollars in spending reductions looming, Air Force officials looked around last year for a program they could cut that was underperforming, had busted its budget and wasn't vital to immediate combat needs.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
The last of three aircrafts Vietnam ordered from Airbus Military in Spain arrived in Hanoi Tuesday, Vietnam’s Marine Police Department said. The CASA C212 of the -400 series joined the other two aircrafts of the same type in the fleet, which is managed and operated by the 918th brigade of Vietnam’s air force. They will be used for sea surveillance, detecting warships and submarines and defending Vietnamese territory.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
Boeing is awaiting the U.S. Air Force’s confirmation for the company to start building tankers that will work to refuel in-flight combat aircraft, Reuters reported Thursday. Matt Haldane writes the Air Force evaluated the KC-46 tanker’s design in July as part of the final test before proceeding with production for the $52 billion program.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
Raytheon recently received an $80.5 million production contract award from the U.S. Navy to procure Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1's for the Super Hornet. This is the second order for the weapon system.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
Harmonizing defense procurement across Europe has been a decades-long goal, one rekindled as military spending plunges. For the first time in a decade, top European leaders will meet in December to consider joint projects and how to better integrate Europe’s disparate and sprawling industrial base. European Union Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier wants to develop a new medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft as an alternative to America’s Reaper.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
RK Tyagi, alumni of IIT Roorkee, took over as Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in March 2012. He spoke to HT on a range of issues concerning the company's growth, challenges and future targets.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
The Marine Corps released figures last week showing that the Miramar Air Show makes an annual profit of about $1.5 million, giving fuel to critics who question whether the Pentagon should have grounded military flights for this year’s show.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
The Iceland Fighter Meet 2014 (IFM14) will bring together fighter aircraft from NATO member Norway (F-16 Fighting Falcon), and from partner countries Finland (F-18 Hornet) and Sweden (JAS Gripen), to conduct a wide range of air defence-related flying activities. These will include air combat training between dissimilar aircraft types, defensive and offensive counter-air operations and high-value airborne asset attack and protection.
(Read More...)
07/22/2013
The steel-gray U.S. Air Force Predator drone plunged from the sky, shattering on mountainous terrain near the Iraq-Turkey border. For Kurdish guerrillas hiding nearby, it was an unexpected gift from the propaganda gods.
(Read More...)
07/21/2013
The concept demonstrator, known as Taranis, is sitting at the remote Woomera test center in South Australia in preparation for a first flight scheduled for September, said the sources, who asked not to be named. The first flight follows a three-year delay and more than 55 million pounds (US $83.1 million) in additional costs caused by technical issues, an increase in the list of requirements and extended risk mitigation work on Taranis.
(Read More...)
07/21/2013
In the shadow of the Nellis Air Force Base flag, recessed behind an impeccable green lawn, sits the US Air Force Warfare Center, where the decisions made every day reach far beyond the Nellis gate; overseas and directly into conflicts around the world.
(Read More...)
07/21/2013
India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) has confirmed that it has abandoned plans to jointly develop and produce the Kaveri military aircraft engine solely with France’s Snecma. The change in plan has come after India ordered 99 of General Electric’s F-414 engines—in preference to the Eurojet 2000 engine—for its indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Mark II program, for which the Kaveri is supposed to be an alternative powerplant.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
Mauritanian Air Force has received its first Brazilian-made Super Tucano jet fighter under a military deal passed last march with the aircraft manufacturer Embraer, without saying how many planes will be delivered to the African nation.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/20/2013
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) won a $113.7 million U.S. Navy advance acquisition contract for long lead materials and related support for five full-rate production Lot 2 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
The drills that were launched on the night of July 13 in Russia, following the order from the Supreme Commander to check the combat readiness of the Eastern Military District, have become the largest military exercise of the Russian Armed Forces. In fact, the drills have not finished yet, but it is possible to come to certain conclusions already.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty signed an agreement to grant four C-130 type Hercules aircraft to Indonesia, on Friday. “One of the aircraft, with tail number A97-006, is ready to be delivered,” said Purnomo after the signing of ceremony at the Defense Ministry on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Jakarta, as quoted by tempo.co.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
The country's military intends to purchase aerial drones from Abu Dhabi company Adcom Systems, according to a Russian defence industry official who was quoted yesterday by the Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti. "We are talking about at least two United 40 Block 5 models developed by the company Adcom Systems," the source told the agency. The United Yabhon 40 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
Russia's decision to furnish Syria with its advanced S-300 missile defense system has sparked a wave of commentary on how the transfer will affect the Syrian government's military posture and staying power. Israel seems to be doing everything it can to convince Moscow not to go through with the promised delivery.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
After being stood down for more than three months, the 336th Fighter Squadron here was given the green light July 17 to resume flying hours and get back to combat mission-ready status. The decision comes from congressional action on the $1.8 billion overseas contingency operations reprogramming action that made peacetime dollars available. In mid-July, the Air Force Council approved the use of $208 million of those dollars to restore flying hours for affected units.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
The US Navy’s newest fighter is a high-tech batwing the size of an F/A 18 Super Hornet. The stealthy X-47B can carry 4,500 pounds of weapons at half mach speed, up to 40,000 feet, and over 2,400 miles. The aircraft lacks but one thing. A cockpit. The X-47B is a next-generation military drone.
(Read More...)
07/20/2013
The first Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] HC-130J Combat King II to be assigned to Air Combat Command’s (ACC) 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., was ferried today from the company’s Aeronautics facility located here. Maj. Gen. H. D. Polumbo, Jr., commander, Ninth Air Force, Air Combat Command, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., flew the Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft serial number 5725) to Moody AFB.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
The top U.S. military officer told a Senate panel Thursday the Obama administration is deliberating whether to use military power in Syria, where a civil war entering its third year has killed almost 93,000 people. Amid an increasing clamor among President Bashir Assad's opposition for active U.S. involvement, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said during congressional testimony that he has provided President Barack Obama with options for the use of force.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
Libya is a success from which David Cameron might not recover. This, at any rate, seems to be the fear of Sir David Richards who has marked his exit as head of the military with a Daily Telegraph interview. He appears to reinforcing a point David Cameron once made: ‘I am not,’ he once said, ‘a naive neo-con who thinks you can drop democracy out of an aeroplane at 40,000 feet.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
The Russian Sukhoi T-50 fifth generation fighter jet is equipped with cutting-edge computerized life support systems, including an oxygen station securing unlimited breathing gas supply and advanced pilot’s compensation system that anticipates gravity overload.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
If finally compelled to do so, Israel is able to destroy the Iranian nuclear-weapons program, even if at breathtaking risk. Whether or not Israel succeeds on that front, it faces yet another existential military problem, less immediate and on a different register, in regard to which it has made the wrong choice.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
If you are going to the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford this weekend make sure not to is the top 10 aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
Combat readiness is defined as “[t]he ability of US military forces to fight and meet the demands of the national military strategy.” This is the most important factor to our war fighters, but as basic as it is to them, it remains a complicated subject for others to understand. Due to its multidimensional and somewhat diffuse nature, it also has few natural supporters.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
According to news reports this week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) might have to wait longer before it can induct its first fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) after Russia, with which it is co-producing the platform, imposed delays and unexpectedly hiked development costs.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
A Russian military exercise involving nuclear bombers caused neighbours Japan and South Korea to scramble as they were found near Hokkaido and the Korean Peninsula on Monday. Japan and Russia reported that both aircrafts were intercepted by three Japanese fighters. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that both bombers were on practice strikes and had been airborne for 7 hours since taking off from Ukrainka Air Base in Amur Oblast.
(Read More...)
07/19/2013
The Pentagon has no plans to halt a $550 million deal with Russia to acquire helicopters for the Afghan Special Mission Wing, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday.
In late June the Special US Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction urged the Pentagon to put the deal on hold until the unit was fully recruited and properly trained.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
Australia plans to buy more Boeing Co. (BA) P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol jets than initially projected to replace planes dating from the 1970s, reducing its requirement for drones built by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) Funding for the purchase will be sought next year, with talks under way about the exact mix of P-8s and MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, the head of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, said in an interview in London.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, head of the RAF, will today announce the famous 617 Squadron will become the first to fly the F-35 stealth fighter known as the Lightning II. The decision secures the future of the world-famous squadron when it stops flying its ageing Tornado GR4 jets next year.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/18/2013
The Thunderbirds F-16 fighter jet demonstration team will take to the air to train in preparation for the 2014 show season. Nationwide, attendance has "plummeted" 40 to 80 percent at air shows this season without military aircraft on display.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
The largest fleet of F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighters ramped up to 28 aircraft June 25, bringing in new capability for the F-35 Integrated Training Center as the team trains to provide combat operations capability in the years ahead. The U.S. Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron-101 received a second F-35C from Lockheed Martin, Fort. Worth, Texas. The Navy's variant is designed to land on the decks of aircraft carriers.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
Panama says it wants the United Nations to investigate why a rusting North Korean cargo ship was carrying rockets, missile parts and even a couple of Cold War-era fighter jets from Cuba under sacks of brown sugar. The United States has said any shipment of arms or related material aboard the freighter would violate at least three U.N. resolutions.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
Two of 48th Fighter Wing’s F-15 Eagle Squadrons are now back in the skies over Suffolk following the announcement in April that the planes would be out of action until September.
But base commanders have warned that the resumption of “critical training” could only be for the next two and a half months.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
The bear never sleeps? Why, it seems like old times. Russia President Vladimir Putin has journeyed to witness his nation’s biggest military maneuvers since Soviet times, and some observers say, in modern history. On the march across Siberia: 160,000 troops accompanied by 5,000 tanks and 320 tons of equipment. And in the Pacific, there are 70 ships at sea, and 130 combat aircraft overhead, including nuclear bombers.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
A Navy program that twice landed a combat drone successfully on an aircraft carrier last week aborted its last attempt on Monday, the program’s second scrubbed effort in four tries during a period of testing at sea.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
The Russian military is planning to purchase aerial drones in the United Arab Emirates, a defense industry source said Wednesday. “We are talking about at least two United 40 Block 5 models developed by the company ADCOM Systems,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told RIA Novosti.
(Read More...)
07/18/2013
Russia’s Air Force has begun a large-scale exercise in the west of the country involving the "biggest-ever deployment of the service's new Sukhoi Su-34 strike aircraft," a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. The exercise, centered on the Voronezh airbase, will involve over 40 aircraft and helicopters from the Western Military District, 10 military airfields and two military testing ranges, military district press service chief Oleg Kochetkov said.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
Art Nalls may have first gained mass attention after holding the Guinness World Record from 1973 to 1975 for building and riding the world’s smallest bicycle, but today Nalls is best known in the aviation community for entertaining crowds with the world’s only privately owned Harrier jet fighter.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
Missile radar systems discovered aboard a North Korean-flagged ship that had last been in Cuba could be upgraded to make air-defense systems more effective at shooting down modern military aircraft, military analysts said Tuesday.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/17/2013
The first B-52H Stratofortress departed Barksdale July 16 and headed to the depot at Tinker AFB, Okla., for the Combat Network Communications Technology upgrade. The CONECT upgrade will allow B-52 crews to receive and send real-time digital information such as updated intelligence, mapping or targeting information while the aircraft is in flight.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
Following complaints from an official of France’s Dassault, which is the preferred vendor in the $11 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, an Indian Air Force official was dismissed from service today.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
With billions of dollars in spending reductions looming, Air Force officials looked around last year for a program they could cut that was underperforming, had busted its budget and wasn’t vital to immediate combat needs. Eventually, they settled on the production line for a $223 million aircraft known as the Global Hawk, with the wingspan of a tanker but no pilot in the cockpit, built to fly over vast terrain for a little more than a day while sending back data to military commanders on the gro
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
A rather small country by its size and population—65 million, less than 1 percent of total global population—France is nevertheless one of five to 10 countries that can claim to be major powers in today’s world.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
Poland continues to build its relationship with the United States as both nations' air forces integrate their capabilities in a joint theater security cooperation event July 15-26, 2013.
This marks the third time U.S. aircraft have flown into Poland as part of a partnership-building initiative that began in October 2012. "We are demonstrating the commitment that we've made to Poland," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Matthew Spears, commander of Detachment 1, 52nd Operations Group.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw military maneuvers in the country’s Far East on Tuesday as part of the largest snap check of combat readiness of the Russian military in the post-Soviet period. Putin, who as president is supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s armed forces, arrived at the Uspenovsky military testing site by helicopter on Tuesday.
(Read More...)
07/17/2013
A Russian Pacific Fleet supply vessel rescued a North Korean schooner in the Sea of Japan and brought it in to the port of Nakhodka on Tuesday, navy and Defense Ministry officials said. Russian Pacific Fleet sailors were on a mission to resupply ships south of Nakhodka Bay as part of ongoing large-scale naval exercises in the Far East, when they received a distress signal from a North Korean schooner that had drifted off course.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
One angry newspaper headline read: “Yes to Israel; No to Turkey!” The story claimed that the United States would deliver the armed Reaper MQ-9 drones to Israel while effectively putting a “hold” on Turkey’s request to buy the same aircraft. Another headline claimed that the U.S. would sell the Reaper to Germany but not to Turkey. And another headline read: “Yes to Italy; No to Turkey!” Again, the Reapers.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Sometimes, big things come in small packages. That was the case Monday at Cherry Point when the first F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter was officially inducted for modifications at Fleet Readiness Center East. At slightly longer than 51 feet and with a wingspan of 35 feet, the sleek, gray jet sat securely behind a rope line in the corner of Hangar I surrounded by an arc of dignitaries and employees.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Reductions in the U.S. military capability in Europe are often carried out without considering either their possible effect or how they will be viewed by both friends and foes. Reductions in U.S. troop numbers in Europe send the wrong signal about America’s commitment to transatlantic security and will embolden U.S. adversaries.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Air guard until 2017 will be provided with MIG Lancer aircraft, these are operational, National Defence Minister Mircea Dusa said on Friday, at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Communications and Information Museum within Centre 48 of Strategic Communications and Information.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
A MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed on Monday while landing at Uttarlai airbase in Rajasthan's Barmer district, killing the pilot. "One MiG 21 Bison crashed at the Uttarlai airbase at about 0930 hours. The pilot sustained fatal injuries," the IAF said in a statement.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Grounded since April because of budget cuts, many of the Air Force's combat aircraft started flying again Monday as the military reshuffled its spending priorities to get its pilots additional training. The grounding affected about one-third of active-duty combat craft, including squadrons of fighters, bombers, and airborne warning and control craft. Officials at Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia said the order affects planes in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Grounded since April because of budget cuts, many of the Air Force's combat aircraft started flying again Monday as the military reshuffled its spending priorities to get its pilots additional training. The grounding affected about one-third of active-duty combat craft, including squadrons of fighters, bombers, and airborne warning and control craft. Officials at Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia said the order affects planes in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force had to scramble fighter jets in response to flights by Russian military aircraft near Japanese airspace and over the disputed Kuril Islands on Monday, local media reported. Two Tu-95 Bear bombers flew over the Sea of Japan moving from the Korean Peninsula, and proceeded along the Japanese archipelago to the north of Hokkaido. Another plane, the IL-20, flew over the Kuril Islands, NHK television said late Monday citing the Defense Ministry.
(Read More...)
07/16/2013
Combat aircraft took a 40-percent share in overall Russian arms exports in 2012, keeping a trend that has become prominent in the past few years, a senior defense official said. “The structure of [Russian arms] exports remains the same,” Alexander Fomin, head of the Russian the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio on Monday.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
I was confused and frustrated by the juxtaposition of two articles in the July 1 Herald-Tribune. The first -- "Sequestration pain fails to live up to billing" - asserted that implementation of sequestration (automatic, across-the-board spending cuts in federal spending) has not produced the dire consequences predicted by the Obama administration.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
As the nation marks the 100th birthday of former President Gerald R. Ford this weekend, another legacy that will carry on his name for the next 50 years or more is being created. In a dry dock at Newport News, Va., more than 3,500 workers are building the USS Gerald R. Ford, a new class of aircraft carrier destined to become the standard bearer for the U.S. Navy well into the 21st Century.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
One of the major, and little mentioned, revolutions in air combat is the availability of more powerful and reliable helmet mounted displays and sights. This enables a pilot to “look and shoot” as well as keep their heads up more of the time and more quickly make decisions in air-to-air combat. This dramatic change has not gotten much publicity because there has been such little air-to-air combat in the last few decades. But in realistic training exercises the difference has been noted.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
The MoU was signed in Johor Baru and entailed the joint exploration of opportunities in Malaysia's natural fibre and bio-composite industry. "The MoU paves the way for future agreement upon identification and completion of feasibility studies of the determined fields.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Already facing a huge delay, the ambitious indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)–Tejas project came up for review at a high-level meeting which was chaired by Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently in the Capital. Mr. Antony stressed upon the necessity to adhere to schedule and asked all stake holders for avoiding further slippage on the programme. He also directed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to make the LCA as its number one thrust area.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Completion of the development of an engine for the Sukhoi PAK FA - aka the T-50 fighter - was announced at the Paris Air Show. According to the Russian military, which has finished stage one of its flight tests, their results suggest the Russian fighter turned out to be on a par with - and even better in certain areas - than its main American rival, the F-22 Raptor.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Romanian and US military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territories of Russia and Belarus under the international Open Skies Treaty starting on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Experts from Romania and the United States will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between July 15 and 19, the statement said.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Russia’s air base of Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers in the Amur Region is switching to full combat readiness as part of massive snap drills in the Eastern Military District, the Defense Ministry’s press office reported on Sunday. The exercise, which involves over 160,000 servicemen, some 1,000 armored vehicles, 130 aircraft and 70 warships from the Pacific Fleet, was ordered by President Vladimir Putin on Friday evening.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Russian military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territories of Estonia and Finland under the international Open Skies Treaty starting from Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “As part of implementing the international Open Skies Treaty, a group of Russian inspectors on board an An-30B aircraft are planned to conduct surveillance flights over Estonia and Finland from July 14 to 20,” the statement reads.
(Read More...)
07/15/2013
Speaking on American television on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu evaded a direct response when asked whether his country was involved in a recent airstrike in Syria that reportedly targeted Russian missiles sold to the Syrian government, an ally of longtime Israeli enemy Hezbollah. However, Netanyahu said, Israel's policy "is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hezbollah and other terror groups," according to a transcript of the CBS-TV show.
(Read More...)
07/14/2013
A Russian Federation aircraft will conduct aerial observation flights over Canada under the Treaty on Open Skies during the period July 17 to 19, 2013. The unarmed Tupolev TU-154M aircraft, which arrived at 8 Wing Trenton today, will be accorded Russia’s legal right of unimpeded observation overflight of Canadian territory, in fulfilment of Canada’s obligations as a State Party to the Treaty on Open Skies.
(Read More...)
07/14/2013
Not since December 1971 has Russia jumped into the combat zone to defend an ally as it is doing in Syria now. That wintry fortnight more than 40 years ago, while the Indian military was fighting a two-front war against Pakistan, the Russians dispatched a formidable armada of nuclear attack submarines and warships to prevent a joint American-British attack on India.
(Read More...)
07/14/2013
The Maylaysian students are sponsored by the company on the Chevening Scholarship and were treated to a tour of the Warton plant. The scholars, all post-graduates, were in Lancashire to get a first hand glimpse of the company’s products, and capabilities, especially the Typhoon, which is currently been promoted to Malaysia as the best option for a new multi-role combat aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/14/2013
Earlier this month, a report by Reuters on the state of Israeli air defenses flew under the radar. The story noted that an F-16 on a training mission crashed into the Mediterranean due to apparent engine failure. The jet is made by Lockheed Martin and the engines by Pratt and Whitney, a division of United Technologies. Both Reuters and Agence France-Presse said the head of Israel's air force then grounded all F-15s and F-16s pending further review.
(Read More...)
07/14/2013
Russia’s defense minister on Saturday said that up to 160,000 servicemen are involved in the large-scale exercises in the Eastern Military District, double the number initially reported.
“The total number of servicemen involved in the snap drills was up to 81,000 last night, the figure this morning was up to 160,000 servicemen,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
Failure by Congress to end budget sequestration could force the services in fiscal 2014 to freeze military promotions, suspend recruiting and halt all change-of-station moves, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned in letter Wednesday to leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
The multi-year program, Teuza (Boldness), created by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, will turn bases into sales-lots for tanks, armored personnel carriers, warships, combat flight equipment, vehicle logistic accessories, cannons and air force ballistic systems. These items and others are expected to be on the sales block in the coming two years, as part of the cutback program taking place in the military.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for years has been a focal point of the aerospace and defense community, as well as a bright spot in an otherwise bleak economic picture. The impressive growth and advancement of unmanned technologies show few signs of slowing, as militaries worldwide continue to adopt and adapt unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for a variety of missions.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
By the end of 2016, Afghanistan’s air force is due to have 86 Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters. Most of them will have been purchased by the United States from Rosoboronexport, the same state weapons exporter that continues to arm the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
The U.S. Air Force is in the early phases of a massive, fleet-wide technological upgrade of its B-52 bombers, giving the war-tested platform new electronics and an increased ability to carry weapons, service officials said.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
The Air Force of the future is likely to be slightly smaller and more reliant on remotely piloted aircraft, face growing challenges from the rise of Asia and rapidly increasing space traffic, and struggle to maintain its technological superiority as the United States produces fewer scientists, engineers and other highly skilled graduates.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
For kids-at-heart it was the story of the week: the US Navy has successfully landed its pointy, bat-winged “X-47B” jet-engined drone on an aircraft carrier at sea for the first time.
As Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy, rushed to point out, this was an historic moment – a glimpse into a future where we “radically change the way presence and combat power are delivered from our aircraft carriers.”
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently delivered the 100th Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) for the F-35 Lightning II. EOTS provides affordable, high performance multifunction targeting to the F-35’s full spectrum of military operations.
(Read More...)
07/13/2013
The Russian military began early on Saturday large-scale exercises in the Eastern Military District aimed at improving combat readiness of the Russian armed forces, the Defense Ministry said. The exercise, which involves over 80,000 servicemen, some 1,000 armored vehicles, 130 aircraft and 70 warships from the Pacific Fleet, will continue until July 20. It is the largest surprise check of combat readiness of the Russian military in the post-Soviet period.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
US officials have agreed to donate four fighter jets to Egypt's army, in the latest indication of international support for the country's interim government despite growing internal unease at the new regime's management of the power transition. America's donation of the F-16s suggests the Obama administration is coming to terms with the downfall of the former president Mohamed Morsi, after initially displaying an ambiguous attitude to the military's role in the Islamist's ouster.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
Pratt & Whitney's F100-PW-220U engine and exhaust system recently powered the first ever carrier-based catapult launch, touch and go, and arrested landing of Northrop Grumman's X-47B flight test aircraft for the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The historic events took place aboard the USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CV 77) off the coast of Virginia. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
It's bad enough that the United States is losing its monopoly on drones, stealth technology, and advanced electronic warfare gear. But what makes matters worse is that America is also beginning to losing its edge on a particularly deadly and effective weapon, according to a new U.S. Air Force report: long-range "land attack" cruise missiles.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
Russia's Mikoyan Design bureau has been going through hard times during the recent years. Not that long ago, the word "MIG" was a symbol of power of the Soviet military aviation. Nowadays, despite its glorious history, the corporation reports losses annually and becomes a regular recipient of government subsidies.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/12/2013
Lockheed Martin recently completed a series of Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) captive carry flight tests at the Sea Range in Point Mugu, Calif., advancing the research program toward its first missile release and free flight test later this year.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
Maj. Robert Miller became the 100th pilot to fly the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II when he took to the skies above Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., for a training flight on July 9. Miller’s 90-minute familiarization flight included normal operations for aircraft handling and landings in an F-35A fighter. The flight followed academic and simulator instruction at Eglin Air Force Base’s Integrated Training Center, which provides pilot and maintainer training for the three F-35 variants.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
The former commander of Russia’s acclaimed Swifts aerobatics team was fined $25,000 (775,000 rubles) on Thursday for attempting to accept a $1,000 bribe to let a subordinate skip duty. The accused, Lt. Col. Valery Morozov, had been detained as he accepted the 31,000 ruble bribe in a sting operation in August, the RAPSI legal news agency reported from the Moscow Region military courtroom.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
Moscow has officially informed Kiev that it will not use a carrier-deck pilot training site in Crimea this year, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Thursday. Under a 1997 bilateral agreement, Russia has occasionally used Ukraine's Nitka Naval Pilot Training Center as the only training facility for its carrier-based fixed-wing pilots.
(Read More...)
07/12/2013
Russia is interested in adding post-sales maintenance and training to future arms contracts with Malaysia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, in an apparent attempt to give Russia a competitive edge in an upcoming combat jet tender.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
South Korea will stop the current bidding for fighter jets and revise the project as high price tags have made the chance of selecting a satisfactory contractor slim, a senior official said Thursday. The move comes after the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) carried out 55 separate biddings with three defense groups to buy 60 advanced jets with an 8.3 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) budget, but the procedure was put on hold last week due to their expensive price tags.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) scrambled its fighter planes a record 115 times in the second quarter of this year in response to foreign aircraft approaching Japanese airspace, the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff said Wednesday. This marked the highest level for the April-June period since comparable data became available in fiscal 2005.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
Retired four-star Adm. Patrick M. Walsh of Dallas will discuss his experience as a combat pilot and member of the Navy’s precision Blue Angels flight squadron in a sold-out public lecture Saturday, July 13.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
Rear Admiral Thomas Ernst, German Navy, has relieved French Navy Rear Admiral Jacques de Solms as NATO's Commander, Maritime Air (COMMARAIR) and Deputy Chief of Staff Maritime Air for NATO Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM).
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
American fighter pilots (air force, navy and marine) are largely in agreement that, while the F-22 is a superior air-to-air fighter, the new F-35 is a better, if still flawed, all-round combat aircraft. A lot of this has to do with technology.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
The government is moving closer to acquiring 12 fighter trainer jets for the Air Force after the defense department’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Wednesday approved the terms of reference for the project. Defense Assistant Secretary Patrick Velez said the terms of reference, which contain key details of the acquisition, would soon be forwarded to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin for final approval.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
Call me an aviation Luddite, but I do have a few questions about the latest Triumph of the Drone. Yes, landing on an airfield that’s moving at 35 miles per hour in the middle of the ocean is no mundane chore, no matter how easy U.S. Navy pilots make it look. And the fact that an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS), the Navy’s prototype fighting drone, landed on the carrier USS George H.W. Bush off the Virginia coast today is a big deal.
(Read More...)
07/11/2013
New MiG-35 and Su-35 fighter jets will be delivered to the Russian Air Force in large numbers within the next three years, after resolution of some problems found during their final tests, Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said on Wednesday. "There are problems with completion of the state order for these models," he said. "They will start to enter service en masse in the next three years, I think," he added, but did not elaborate.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
Military installations and defense contractors are taking the brunt of the automatic budgets cuts mandated by sequestration. Why should we care? Washington has major bases and military suppliers such as Boeing. They contribute more than $13 billion to our economy, or about 4 percent of total gross domestic product. A July 2012 study by George Mason University projected that sequestration could cost our state 41,000 military-related jobs.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
The first F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter ever to land at Cherry Point taxied up to Fleet Readiness Center East Tuesday morning. The stealth jet, Navy Bureau Number 168059, is only the second production model of the F-35B to be completed by manufacturer Lockheed Martin. It arrived at the FRC East maintenance and repair facility as the first F-35B to enter a modification program that officials have said would be vital to the maintenance of the entire fleet of fifth-generation aircraft.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
At the Paris Air Show the Gripen folks, SaaB Group. very deliberately floated an interesting idea. Since the Gripen uses fly-by-wire technology and advanced avionics which virtually eliminate the need for a pilot during normal flight, why not take the software to the next step and turn the fighters into optionally manned aircraft that can be controlled by a pilot in another Gripen.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
Israel Military Industries, one of the Jewish state's leading defense companies, has completed development of its long-range MARS precision air-launched rocket, which appears to have capabilities similar to the missiles the air force reportedly used to hit targets in Syria in May.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
According to Channel 10, all of the squadrons employed aging planes and were scheduled to be cut in several years’ time anyway, due to high operation costs. “This is just the beginning,” a senior Defense Ministry official warned Tuesday. “We must stop burying our heads in the sand. The public does not understand that we are facing an earthquake,” he said, adding that the 2013 and 2014 defense budgets face a combined cut of nearly 8 billion shekels ($2.2 billion).
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
Prominent US senators on Tuesday called for the Obama administration to suspend all aid to Egypt — including military assistance — unless the interim government meets certain standards. The Egyptian military is heavily dependent on nearly $1.5 billion in annual aid it receives from the United States. But the military has come under increasing pressure after forcing from power former President Mohamed Morsi, then days later reportedly opening fire on some of his supporters.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
The steady progress of smart rockets continues as area-fire 70-mm unguided rockets are upgraded into precision, laser-guided weapons that are a fraction of the cost and weight of existing missiles such as the Hellfire.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
The future of electronic combat came into focus on Monday, and it looks like Raytheon will be leading the way. The Massachusetts-based technology company won a very tough competition to develop the defense department’s next airborne jamming system, defeating two other world-class teams. If Raytheon performs as expected, it will dominate the arcane world of electronic warfare for decades to come, generating many billions of dollars in revenues.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
Without a lot of opposition from the U.S. Air Force, the ground support mission is being replaced by GPS guided rockets and artillery shells, as well as a growing assortment of guided missiles controlled by ground forces. The air force was never comfortable with the ground support (of ground combat troops) mission.
(Read More...)
07/10/2013
Russia’s new aerospace defense system will ensure guaranteed detection of enemy ballistic and long-range cruise missiles at blastoff, a top military official said Tuesday. General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said the system would feature advanced information-gathering, data-processing and attack capabilities with an early-warning radar system to be deployed along the entire Russian border.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
More than 650,000 people who hold civilian jobs with the Defense Department begin mandatory furloughs today. About 85 percent of the department’s nearly 900,000 civilians around the world will be furloughed one day each week over the next three months, according to the latest statistics provided by the Pentagon.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
They may be civilians, but Air Reserve Technicians wear the Air Force uniform while at work.
The 10,400 Air Reserve Technicians are federal employees who must be in the Select Reserve to hold their jobs. Since 2007, they have been required to wear Air Force uniforms at work in both civilian and military status.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
The Abbottabad Commission was charged with ascertaining the facts of what happened on the night of May 1, 2011, when the United States unilaterally launched a raid to capture or kill al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in northern Pakistan.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
For decades the U.S. government has ladled billions upon billions in military assistance to countries that either don’t need it or use it to suppress popular uprisings. But all that money has bought very little in terms of genuine influence with the recipients, ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman writes.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
South Korea's plan to buy 60 fighter jets has been temporarily put on ice as three competitors have failed to offer prices within Seoul's 8.3 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) budget, further delaying the replacement of its aging fleet.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
The Iceland Fighter Meet 2014 (IFM14) will bring together fighter aircraft from NATO member Norway (F-16 Fighting Falcon), and from partner countries Finland (F-18 Hornet) and Sweden (JAS Gripen), to conduct a wide range of air defence-related flying activities. These will include air combat training between dissimilar aircraft types, defensive and offensive counter-air operations and high-value airborne asset attack and protection.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
Russia may have vowed not to sell its arms to Pakistan, but India’s archrival is getting some key Russian/Soviet military equipment, surreptitiously through China, thereby jeopardising New Delhi’s defence confidentiality. One example of such Chinese arms sales, though they do not sell full equipment of Russian origin, is the aeroengines for Pakistan’s JF-17 combat aircraft for which Russia too has given its consent, much to India’s chagrin.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
An Israeli F16 warplane crashed at sea on Sunday, July 7, due to an engine malfunction and Israel subsequently grounded all its F15 and F16 combat aircraft pending a review of the incident, a military spokesman said, according to Reuters. The pilot and navigator on board managed to safely bail out of the U.S.-made plane and a military rescue unit came to evacuate them by helicopter, the spokesman and Israeli media reports said.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
Polish military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territories of Russia and Belarus under the international Open Skies Treaty starting on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Polish experts will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between July 8 and 12, the statement said.
(Read More...)
07/09/2013
Sukhoi Su-30SM multirole fighter jets will be delivered to the Russian Air Force as fully equipped squadrons, rather than “piecemeal,” deputy commander Colonel Sergei Kobylash said Thursday. The Su-30SM is the latest development of the twin-seat Su-30 jet fighter family, a derivative of the long-serving single-seat Sukhoi Su-27, one of the air force's most important warplanes.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
China's first group of five pilots and landing signal officers received their certifications in the latest sea trials of the Liaoning, the country's first aircraft carrier. The Liaoning finished its 25-day test and training mission on Wednesday and returned to a navy port in the east China city of Qingdao. During the training, pilots executed several continuous take-off and landing exercises, making China one of the few countries in the world that can train its own carrier-borne jet pilots.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario walked into a regional security forum this week to hear his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi reel off a list of complaints against Manila for stirring tensions over the South China Sea.
(Read More...)
.jpg)
07/04/2013
NATO will conduct an air-defence flying training event for pilots and ground support personnel, including fighter controllers, in Iceland from 3-21 February 2014. The Iceland Fighter Meet 2014 (IFM14) will bring together fighter aircraft from NATO member Norway (F-16 Fighting Falcon), and from partner countries Finland (F-18 Hornet) and Sweden (JAS Gripen), to conduct a wide range of air defence-related flying activities.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
They stand as symbols of freedom. Some are perched on concrete pedestals at parks and military bases. Others guard the entrances to American Legion and VFW posts. The thunder from their jet engines and deafening blasts from their barrels have long been silent. Yet their sun-baked shrouds remain as reminders of their historic roles in the nation’s defense.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
Northrop Grumman Corp. has fended off a rival bid from Lockheed Martin Corp. to win a training-simulation contract potentially worth $490 million to support the U.S. Air Force's next-generation air-combat virtual-training network, industry experts said Wednesday.
Virginia-based Northrop Grumman — one of Florida's largest defense contractors — will perform the work at its Orlando military-training operation, according to an announcement by the Department of Defense.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
Thugs are using powerful lasers to target airliners, police helicopters and even military transporters bringing wounded troops into Birmingham. There have been more than 220 separate laser attacks reported in the West Midlands in the last two years, according to alarming new figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
18 Su-30K fighter jets that India returned to Russia, probably will not be sold to Vietnam, but instead may be heading to Ethiopia. Deputy Group Director arms exporter Rosoboronexport[?????????????????] Alexander Mikheyev said that Russia is negotiating to supply 18 Su-30K fighters to Ethiopia.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
Russia's new Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet made its international debut at the recent Paris Air Show in France. Ogonyok has interviewed Sukhoi test pilot Sergey Bogdan, a Hero of Russia, who was demonstrating the aircraft's capabilities during the show.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
The F-16 fighter jet, the most widely flown western combat aircraft in its 35 years in service, is getting a new lease on life as defense contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. to BAE Systems Plc vie to upgrade existing fleets. Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are among the countries looking to modernize their aging single-engine combat planes, with several thousand aircraft getting new radar, communications gear and displays in coming years.
(Read More...)
07/04/2013
Russia’s state arms exporter said Wednesday that its order portfolio stood at $34 billion as of June 1. Rosoboronexport delivered $6.5 billion worth of weaponry to foreign customers in the first half of this year, deputy head Igor Sevastyanov announced, adding that the current order portfolio included contracts with 67 countries.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
The amount of funds accumulated in the Azerbaijan Armed Forces Assistance Fund significantly increased and as of July 1, 2013 amounted to 42,674,317 manats (over $54 million), $208,791 and 593 euros, the Defense Ministry said. As of April 1, the figures were 39,017,597 manats, $205,791 and 593 euros.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
In a twist of fate, Russia may end up pitching its newest helicopter to the very people it was designed to fight. At the Paris Air Show in June, Russia held a coming-out news conference for the Kamov company’s Ka-52 Alligator, which they say is now ready for export. The parastatal Russian export company Rosoboronexport is courting India as a buyer.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation from the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Patrol indicate that the agency is close to finalizing payload standards for its drone aircraft. Among the things the CBP might want to use in its unmanned aircraft: "non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize" targets.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
The Philippines will modernize its air force by 2016 President President Benigno S. Aquino III said on Monday, local media reported. “Be assured that before I step down from office [in 2016], our skies will teem with new and modern equipment such as lead-in fighters, long-range patrol aircraft, close air support aircraft, light lift fixed-wing aircraft, medium lift aircraft, attack helicopters, combat utility helicopters, air defense radar and flight simulators.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
The Air Force has forced combat squadrons to stay on the ground and canceled large-scale exercises for its fleet, but one aircraft has been busy in the middle of it all: the B-1B Lancer.
After canceling a Red Flag this spring and standing down 17 combat-coded squadrons due to mandatory budget cuts, B-1 crews have participated in a Green Flag exercise in May, the 9th Bomb Squadron flew a total of 58 sorties during a surge operation in June, and the service has kept the B-1 on its front pages.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
An expert on drone casualties has told reporters that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by American forces has caused 10 times the number of deaths brought on by more conventional aircraft. Speaking to The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman, Larry Lewis of the Center for Naval Analyses claimed United States-led drone strikes in Afghanistan are not only more likely to cause civilian casualties than traditionally piloted planes.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
When the leaders of the global aerospace industry met late last month at the 50th anniversary staging of the Paris Air Show, one word predominated: exports. With military budgets leveling off or declining in the United States and Europe, arms companies are looking to deals in the Middle East and Asia to bolster their bottom lines.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A. of Italy by General Electric Company of the United States. The decision is conditional upon a series of commitments aimed at safeguarding the competitive position of the Eurojet consortium. Eurojet manufactures the engine for the Eurofighter, a combat aircraft used by Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Austria.
(Read More...)
07/03/2013
During a recent demonstration at NAVAIR, Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] monitored and controlled multiple types of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from one integrated command and control (C2) system. Controlling both the unmanned air vehicles and their on-board mission system sensors, Lockheed Martin’s system fully integrated with other Navy C2 and intelligence.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
Israel is reported to be seeking U.S. loan guarantees of $5 billion to finance the purchase of the advanced weapons systems the U.S. administration has offered the Jewish state under a $10 billion package for its Middle East allies. These include AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles made by the Raytheon Corp., that can knock out air-defense radar systems and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers that will greatly extend the reach of Israel's strike jets.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
Saab of Sweden reports the first test firing of a mass-production configured Meteor radar-controlled air-to-air missiles. Two Meteor missiles, for use on Saab's Gripen, the Eurofighter and Rafale combat aircraft, were fired at a remote-controlled target from a Gripen in cooperation with the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration to demonstrate missile separation from the aircraft, the link function between the aircraft and missile, and the missile's ability to lock in on the target.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
The first of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas' being developed for the Indian Air Force is expected to roll out by the end of this year or beginning of 2014 as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has put the project on the fast track, Avinash Chander, scientific advisor to the defence minister and secretary of the department of defence research & development, said here on Monday.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
The big bird has taken to the skies. In its first operational deployment since it landed in India on June 18, the IAF's gigantic C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift aircraft transported an Army infantry battalion to the country's last military outpost in the Andman and Nicobar Islands on Sunday.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
President Benigno Aquino III vowed today to provide the country's Air Force new sets of aircraft before his term ends in 2016. In his speech at the 66th Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in northern province of Pampanga, Aquino said that based on the passage of the New Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Act last year, the government is allotting P75 billion ($1.73 billion) for the next five years to improve the capability of the military.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
A second prototype of China's J-20, China's fifth-generation stealth fighter, has completed a second test flight, according to the People's Daily, China's most-circulated newspaper. In addition to what was described as a low altitude flight test, the J-20 aircraft No. 2002 also conducted an in-flight fuel-dump test, the report said, without specifying when the tests took place.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
The Syrian Air Force has suffered major losses in the last year, as the aircraft and helicopters were unleashed on rebels (and civilian supporters) and took a beating. Of the 370 usable fixed wing war planes the Syrian Air Force had two years ago, about half are now out of action because of combat losses or wear and tear. Nearly two-thirds of the 360 helicopters are gone, for the same reasons.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
Back in the summer of 1977, “in a galaxy far, far away,” a strapping young pilot named Luke Skywalker hopped into the seat of an X-wing fighter and, with fellow pilots from the Rebel Alliance, did aerial combat with more advanced TIE fighters from the Galactic Empire. Dogfights occurred at supersonic speeds, with tremendous casualties all around, and Skywalker managed to penetrate the innermost defenses and destroy the Death Star, saving the Alliance from certain annihilation.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
Lockheed Martin Corporation [NYSE: LMT] launched Lockheed Martin International (LMI) today, a new organization responsible for strengthening international customer relationships and industrial partnerships, and growing the company’s global business. Patrick M. Dewar, 52, has been named Executive Vice President of LMI and will continue as a corporate officer.
(Read More...)
07/02/2013
Russian military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territory of Norway under the international Open Skies Treaty over a period starting Monday, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said. Russian experts will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between July 1 and 6, the spokesman told journalists.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
U.S. Central Command has extended its investigation into the deadly 2012 insurgent attack on Camp Bastion, threatening the potential third star of a Camp Pendleton general who oversaw the base complex in southwestern Afghanistan. The probe is focusing on whether commanders were negligent because 15 heavily armed Taliban fighters were able to penetrate the base, NATO’s regional headquarters.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
Israeli sources confirmed that Israeli weapon system may be offered to the package of the MC-27J aircraft equipped with a 30 mm gun. The planned gunship variant of the C-27J will undertake the first test firings of its 30mm cannon while slaved to an electro-optical/infrared sensor at the end of this year or early 2014. i-hls reports.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
Veteran fighter pilot Air Marshal Arup Raha will take over as Vice Chief of Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal D C Kumaria, who retired Sunday. Raha, who is a front runner for the post of Air Chief after retirement of Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne in December- end, is currently commanding IAF's sword-arm Western Air Command here. He will take over as Vice Chief of Air Staff Monday, Western Air Command PRO Gp Capt Sandeep Mehta said.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
Installation of a communications system upgrade earmarked for the venerable U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber fleet, the bulk of which is at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier Parish, is scheduled to start here in July. The Combat Network Communications Technology system will enable aircrews to send and receive information via satellite links, allowing them to change mission plans and retarget weapons while in flight.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
India's first air-to-air Astra missile is finally back on track now after an excruciatingly long delay due to technical glitches. The beyond visual range (BVR) missile, with an eventual strike range of over 100km, will be fired for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter this year.
(Read More...)
07/01/2013
In April of this year, a BAE Systems Jetstream research aircraft flew from Preston in Lancashire, England, to Inverness, Scotland and back. This 500-mile (805 km) journey wouldn't be worth noting if it weren't for the small detail that its pilot was not on board, but sitting on the ground in Warton, Lancashire and that the plane did most of the flying itself.
(Read More...)
All Articles