December 30, 2013 Military Aviation News
12/30/2013
A year after escaping a round of job cuts, Michigan’s largest military base faces a possible loss of personnel under a U.S. Air Force plan to eliminate an air-to-ground attack fighter. After next year, the Air Force plans to remove the A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the “Warthog,” from its inventory due to budget cuts.
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12/30/2013
Russia grounded all its 122 MiG-31 fighters after one of them crashed (because both of its engines failed) in the Far East (outside Vladivostok) on December 14th. The two man crew managed to glide to an unpopulated area where they ejected and came safely to the ground. The aircraft was a total loss. This incident was doubly disturbing because this was its first flight after a major overhaul.
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12/30/2013
The United States’ planned military pivot to the Pacific was largely clouded by fiscal uncertainty as Congress and the Department of Defense wrestled with budget cuts throughout 2013. Even as aircraft and a new warship moved to the region this year, the department’s top leaders warned a full shift will never be possible if lawmakers allow the defense budget to be slashed by a half-trillion dollars over the coming decade.
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12/30/2013
The Chinese campaign of conquering real, or imagined, nearby “lost territories” by winning many little victories in battles none of the victims is willing to go to war over continues. This campaign is quite active in the South China Sea, North Korea and along the Indian border. China has, in the last few years, taken control of sizable chunks of India and large swaths of the South China Sea one tiny piece at a time.
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12/30/2013
On December 20, the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) was cleared to enter operational service with the Indian Air Force (IAF). Now Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) faces the daunting transition from handcrafting Tejas prototypes into factory-assembling the 200-fighter Tejas fleet that Defence Minister A K Antony has envisioned.
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12/30/2013
France has begun operating one of its new RQ-9 Reaper UAVs in Mali. Earlier in 2013 France decided to buy two RQ-9s and by the middle of the year had upped the order to a dozen. This was apparently with the understanding that one or two would be available for French use in Mali before the end of the year.
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