August 01, 2013 Military Aviation News
08/01/2013
Panamanian investigators unloading the cargo of a seized North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba under sacks of brown sugar found yet more military hardware on Tuesday. The authorities discovered 12 engines for MiG-21 fighter jets and five military vehicles that officials said resembled missile control centers. Investigators earlier in July had found two MiG-21 fighters and two missile radar systems on board the Chong Chon Gang.
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08/01/2013
Four months after admitting that 12 of its 26 Gripen jet fighters had been placed in storage because they were too expensive to operate and there were not enough qualified pilots to fly them, South African officials admitted that the maintenance contracts for all the Gripens had expired in April. That made long term use of the Gripens dangerous. This contract was with a reliable, and expensive, South African firm (Denel).
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08/01/2013
Two Air Force pilots escaped injury this week when their T-38 Talon jet belly landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. Details about the incident were unclear, but the 12th Flying Training Wing said in a brief statement that the twin-engine, supersonic aircraft touched down without its landing gear on the base's east runway.
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08/01/2013
The Indian Air Force's indigenous dream appears to have gone sour as all major projects for home production of key aircraft are showing symptoms of distress. IAF chief NAK Browne in a letter to Defence Minister A.K. Antony had highlighted the delays and high costs in the development of basic trainer aircraft required urgently for rookie pilots, but these are not the only areas of concern.
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08/01/2013
The modernised MiG-31BM fighter interceptor has been shown in action in Siberia after deployment at the Kansk Air Base in Krasnoyarsk region. The Kansk air group is the first and only sub-unit in Russia's Central Military District to be fully equipped with upgraded planes, according to a report on Zvezda TV, closely linked to the country's Defence Ministry. Reports say it is the fastest military plane in the world.
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08/01/2013
While a final price hasn't been disclosed, an estimated four per cent price reduction means Australia is likely to pay around $US101 million ($A112 million) per fighter. The estimate comes after producers Lockheed Martin and the US Defense Department agreed on the 71 JSFs in the next two production blocks - known as Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lots six and seven.
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08/01/2013
In 1996, the U.S. Air Force figured it needed to buy 11 C-130J cargo planes for about $840 million. Today, the service's plans call for a total of 168 of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made aircraft for $15.5 billion -- more than 18 times the original cost estimate. The Air Force's C-130J Super Hercules tops the list of major weapons systems that have had the largest increases in projected costs, according to a Military.com analysis of the Defense Department's latest acquisition data.
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08/01/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress doesn't act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. Speaking to Pentagon reporters, and indirectly to Congress, Hagel said that the full result of the sweeping budget cuts over the next 10 years could leave the nation with an ill-prepared, under-equipped military.
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08/01/2013
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet landed in San Diego for the first time Tuesday, stopping in a city saturated with military and defense industry representatives invested in keeping the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program aloft.
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08/01/2013
Iran and Russia have not discussed Moscow’s tentative offer to supply Tehran with Antei-2500 surface-to-air missile systems instead of the S-300, whose sale was previously blocked by the Kremlin, Iran’s envoy to Russia said Wednesday. “As for the Antei-2500 [missile] systems, it’s just words,” Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi told RIA Novosti. “There were no agreements, and there are no talks [on the matter].”
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