May, 2014 Military Aviation News
05/31/2014
Paratroopers with 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, participated in a regional training event at the Military Base in Adazi, Latvia, May 27-28, involving forces from across the Baltic nations. The purpose of the event was a NATO fixed-wing, live-fire exercise focusing on close-combat attack and close-air support. The Latvian National Defense Force hosts the military event every year in late spring.
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05/31/2014
Boeing Co., the second-biggest defense contractor in the U.S., and Saab AB expect demand for maritime and aerial surveillance systems to grow in Asia as territorial disputes intensify.
Demand for maritime patrol craft and affiliated equipment in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow steadily for the foreseeable future, Chris Chadwick, head of Boeing’s defense business, said yesterday in Singapore.
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05/31/2014
Rule changes for commercial airlines that supplement military aircraft in the rapid transport of troops and supplies are on the way. The U.S. Air Force said the upcoming changes to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program are the result of a review and industry-military consultations, meant "to ensure the nation's capability to rapidly airlift service members and military supplies around the world at a reasonable cost to taxpayers."
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05/31/2014
President Barack Obama’s emphasis this week on restricting the use of the military abroad risks an unintended consequence: deepening concern about fading U.S. engagement among Asian nations locked in disputes with China. Obama’s defense chief, Chuck Hagel, leads the U.S. delegation to an annual security conference in Singapore that started today, two days after Obama said the armed forces can’t be the “primary component of our leadership.”
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05/31/2014
The South African Air Force held its first Air Capability Demonstration (ACD) of the year at the Roodewal weapons range outside Polokwane in Limpopo this week, and put on an impressive show that included Rooivalk attack helicopters and seven Gripen fighters.
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05/31/2014
The government recently announced it was stumping up more than $12 billion to buy 58 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (in addition to the 14 already approved). Many voices were raised in protest. Some asked how the government could find that much money at a time when it was proclaiming the need for parsimony elsewhere. Others questioned whether the F-35 was the right aircraft to buy.
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05/31/2014
A pair of French nuclear strike jets were involved in a near miss with a third military aircraft over Scotland. The Mirage 2000 jets flew within 200ft of a BN2T Defender flying 30 nautical miles north east of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. The incident was investigated by the UK Airprox Board, which reports on near misses in UK airspace.
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05/31/2014
Two additional C-130J Super Hercules aircraft operated by the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) ferried from the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] facility here today. These C-130Js will join the ROKAF’s other two Super Hercules aircraft, which were delivered in March. ROKAF aircrews also currently operate a fleet of C-130H legacy aircraft.
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05/31/2014
The Russian Airborne Forces have started receiving the newest Verba man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) equipped with an automated fire control system that has no foreign rival, military spokesman Yevgeny Meshkov said Friday. "The surface to air-missile regiment of the Ivankvsky Airborne Forces division is the first to have started receiving and studying the modern system of air defense battle," Meshkov said.
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05/30/2014
Days after the U.S. and China traded new accusations of cyberspying, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday he will press the same issues in a face-to-face meeting with a top military officer from Beijing this weekend. Hagel said he also plans to raise many of the territorial disputes that have raised tempers in the Asia Pacific region and talk about "where we think China is overplaying its hand and presenting new challenges and new tensions to this area."
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05/30/2014
A lack of decision-making on large Indian defense procurement deals in the past two years is expected to end with the swearing-in of the new government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Changes in procurement and offset policies are also expected. Major projects that are in the final stage of processing and require a signature for conclusion include the 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) won by Dassault Aviation’s Rafale.
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05/30/2014
In anti-budget rallies, protesters have loudly demanded the government spend more money on health, welfare and education and not $12 billion on new jet fighters. So how does RAAF chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown respond to that one? 'Security is one of the fundamental responsibilities of government. The unfortunate thing with defence is that the debt that you actually owe the future needs to be paid today,' he said.
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05/30/2014
China and Pakistan concluded the three-week-long Shaheen-III air exercise on Wednesday. The exercise was the third installment of the Shaheen (Falcon) series of bilateral exercises between the two countries’ air forces, according to Defense News. The exercise is intended to boost cooperation between China and Pakistan and is a source of valuable experience for pilots on both sides. The exercise is “multi-dimensional” and involves operations in “near real [scenarios].”
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05/30/2014
Companies vying to build Canada’s new fighter jets are cranking up their sales pitches, but they’ll be waiting a while longer to learn whether the Harper government intends to hold a full competition – or stick with the troubled F-35 program. A decision is still pending, and no timeline is imminent on when that decision might be forthcoming, Public Works Minister Diane Finley told a gathering of defence contractors Thursday.
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05/30/2014
Push has now come to shove. Emboldened by the lack of military resistance in occupying Philippine islands and with her fishing and navy boats sailing at will in our waters, China’s military leaders have now initiated a bold land reclamation military base project in Mabini Reef (Fiery Cross Reef). Location: about 150 miles from Palawan and within the Philippines 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
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05/30/2014
A large-scale military operation involving artillery weapons and combat aircraft has been launched in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, Donetsk's OstroV news website reported on Thursday, citing its sources and eyewitnesses. "A large-scale "anti-terrorist" operation has begun in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
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05/30/2014
A new communications capability enables fifth-generation combat aircraft to share information with fourth-generation aircraft, prime contractor Northrop Grumman announced on 27 May. The Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) programme, known as the Jetpack JCTD, allows the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter to communicate directly and securely with fourth-generation combat aircraft such as the F-15, F-16, and F-18.
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05/30/2014
In three separate flight tests on May 27, Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II aircraft demonstrated air-to-air combat capability, completed the first flight test with the next level software load and accomplished a landing at the maximum test speed and drop rate.
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05/30/2014
Russia may begin to develop advanced unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UAV) with longer flight endurance in 2014, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov told reporters Thursday. "We are ready to consider starting a development work this year with plans to complete it and move on to the official tests or experimental military use of future devices in 2017," Borisov said.
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05/29/2014
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down a military helicopter near the flashpoint city of Sloviansk, reports say. The aircraft was reportedly hit after offloading soldiers at a military base. Sloviansk has seen fierce fighting between separatists and government forces in recent weeks.
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05/29/2014
The House overwhelmingly backed a $601 billion defense bill recently that ignores cuts proposed by the Pentagon and spares the A-10 aircraft fleet, including those stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, from elimination during the 2015 fiscal year. The campaign to save the A-10s benefited from a spending authorization bill that spares a wide array of planes, ships and military bases in an election-year nod to hometown interests.
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05/29/2014
Defense watchers have been surprised by recent suggestions emerging from the Abbott Government that Australia could consider acquiring the Lockheed-Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighter to complement the 72 F-35A JSFs already ordered.
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05/29/2014
Norway is set to shoulder the full costs of development and integration activities for the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) programme after failing to secure a partner to share weapon integration on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
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05/29/2014
Qatar could firm up its interest in buying French Rafale fighter planes when its new Emir, Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani visits Paris on June 23, the La Tribune financial website reported Wednesday. The contract is of vital importance to the Dassault Aviation group which builds the plane and to the French government.
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05/29/2014
As Russian support for pro-Kremlin forces inside Ukraine persists and China continues to show aggression toward its neighbors in the Pacific, it’s becoming clear that the sun will never entirely set on traditional threats. Even in a post-9/11 world countries will continue to square off against one another militarily.
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05/29/2014
Textron Airland is to offer its Scorpion combat aircraft to Switzerland in the wake of the country's rejection of the Saab Gripen E earlier this month, national media reported on 27 May. The intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)/light strike twin-engined jet is being offered as a low-cost alternative to the Gripen E for the Swiss Air Force's Tiger II fighter replacement requirement, Textron Airland President Bill Anderson reportedly said to the daily newspaper Tages Anzeiger .
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05/29/2014
Not many people know this, but blackjack is not just a casino game; it is also the code name used by NATO for the Tupolev Tu-160, the world’s largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep aircraft ever built. This strategic bomber was created by the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau. It entered service in 1987 and it was the last strategic bomber designed for the Soviet Union.
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05/29/2014
How big is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter? By one set of measures, it is three times bigger than the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, ten times bigger than either the Apollo Project or the International Space Station or Hurricane Katrina, or one hundred times bigger than the Panama Canal.
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05/29/2014
Naval wings of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet have resumed training flights over neutral waters of the sea to monitor the activity of NATO warships, a source in the Russian navy's headquarters said Wednesday. “During the flights, combat training is carried out to provide surface image coverage in the neutral waters of the Black Sea,” the source said. These flights, performed mainly by Su-24 attack aircraft, allow monitoring of NATO warship maneuvers, which have increased in activity in recent months.
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05/28/2014
On May 26, Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a military operation to regain control over the international airport in the eastern city of Donetsk. The operation saw the involvement of Mi-24 gunship helicopters and Mig-29 Fulcrum and Su-25 Frogfoot jets. It all started early on Monday morning, when forces belonging to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (pro-Russia separatists) occupied the airport.
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05/28/2014
The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded BAE Systems a $28 million (£16.7 million) contract for the third-generation (Gen3) configuration of its Common Missile Warning System (CMWS). This contract, which represents the first direct commercial sale of BAE Systems’ Gen3 CMWS technology, will enable the U.K. military to provide its aircrews with the latest CMWS survivability equipment.
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05/28/2014
China and Pakistan commenced their third installment in the Shaheen (Falcon) series of bilateral exercises here over the weekend, according to a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) spokesman.
Shaheen III is described as a multi-dimensional joint exercise aimed at boosting cooperation and imparting knowledge gained through flying/combat experience conducted in a near real scenario, allowing participants to familiarize themselves with the latest concepts and practices.
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05/28/2014
Here's a question that's been nagging me for a while: Why don’t the Arab states that provide so many weapons, and so much funding, to the Syrian opposition, and that also demand greater U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war, just intervene themselves? The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in particular, both vociferously support opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and are very well armed.
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05/28/2014
The US is sending 1,000 Marines in an amphibious assault ship to Libya's coast as a “precautionary” move should the US embassy require evacuation, a US official said. Security concerns also led the US to suggest Americans in Libya "depart immediately." Adding to tensions, gunmen attacked the Tripoli home of Libya’s new prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeq, on Tuesday. Businessman Maiteeq, 42, and his family escaped harm, according to AFP.
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05/28/2014
During Chinese-Russian maritime exercises, Japanese aircraft entered the disputed air zone. The Chinese and Japanese aircrafts had a close encounter for as much as dozens of meters. Japan and China blamed each other for the dangerous acts. Foreign media commented that this is a dangerous escalation over the disputed Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan.
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05/28/2014
The role of modern aerial warfare has drastically changed since it was first used on a large scale in World War I. The advent of precision-guided munitions has aided in providing strike capabilities to combatant commanders while helping to reduce or even eliminate unnecessary suffering.
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05/28/2014
A Soviet-era fighter jet of the Indian Air Force crashed Tuesday morning, killing its pilot and raising fresh questions about the MiG-21 aircraft that has been involved with many fatal accidents in India. On Tuesday morning one of India’s MiG-21 Bisons took off for a training sortie from an air force base in Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir then crashed about 10 kilometers short of another air force base in the northern state, an air force official said.
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05/28/2014
A delegation of Russian airborne forces has arrived in Beijing to exchange skills and knowledge with their Chinese colleagues, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday. "During the visit, the Russian military delegation will familiarize itself with the training and resources facilities of the school of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)," said Yevgeny Meshkov, a representative of the ministry's press service.
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05/28/2014
A contract for the supply of Russian MiG fighters to Syria serves to strike a balance of arms and maintain peace in the region, a top leader of Syria’s Popular Front for Change and Liberation told RIA Novosti. "The Soviet Union has always supplied weapons to Syria. Thus, some balance in the region was maintained to help us keep the peace, so I think that the contract is part of this historical strategy," one of the Popular Front’s leaders Qadri Jamil explained.
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05/27/2014
A Vietnamese fishing boat has sunk after it collided with a Chinese vessel near a controversial oil rig in the South China Sea, amid tensions between the two nations. Both countries are blaming the other for the incident. Vietnam's coast guard said the boat was encircled by 40 Chinese vessels before it was rammed, reports said. But Chinese state media outlet Xinhua said Vietnam's boat collided with its vessel after "engaging in harassment".
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05/27/2014
At least 30 pro-Russia separatists have been killed so far in fighting at the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, insurgents say. Armed separatists tried to take over the airport on Monday. A BBC team near the airport on Tuesday said sporadic gunfire continued, though one Ukrainian military spokesman said it now controlled the facility.
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05/27/2014
Currently, the beginning of a project of modernisation for 10 fighters MiG-29 has been confirmed. It will affect the systems of control, their aiming and tracking systems and their armaments. The airplanes will improve their ability to hit ground targets. The modernisation of the heavy Su-27 is planned to happen the end of the first stage of the modernisation project. However, no specifics are available yet.
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05/27/2014
Russia’s new fifth-generation Sukhoi PAK FA -50 fighter jet performed its first demonstration flight at MAKS-2011 international air and space show in the town of Zhukovsky, near Moscow. According to all reports the Sukhou PAK preformed admirably. Spectators marveled as two T-50 jets appeared in the sky above Zhukovsky at 16:00 o’clock yesterday.
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05/27/2014
When I asked Yossi Druker, EVP and Head of the Air Superiority Systems Division at Rafael, if the age of air-to-air missiles has ended, he provided me with a direct answer of the type that leaves no room for doubts: “No one has launched an ICBM in decades. Does that mean that they are no longer necessary?” Well, it appears that despite the fact that air-to-air combat encounters are a rare occurrence in the world’s skies, military organizations still acquire advanced air-to-air missiles.
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05/27/2014
The federal government must spend less money. The federal budget needs to be trimmed. That’s what Republicans, and even some Democrats, have demanded year after year, insisting it is time to spend fewer tax dollars. So what happens when the Department of Defense—which has been raking in half of trillion dollars a year—offers up multiple ways to cut its budget? Congress votes to put the money back.
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05/27/2014
There are big air shows in the UK this summer. The British public may be a little disappointed, however. The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter—the stealth jet that’s supposed to be able to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter—will be on display for the first time outside the U.S. But it won’t emulate the vertical landings that the Harrier family has made routine since the Beatles were playing dodgy nightclubs in Hamburg.
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05/27/2014
Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are pilotless and non-crewed aircraft that are capable of flight either by remote control or through the use of on-board computers. Other names for these types of aircraft are remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), and remotely operated aircraft (ROA).
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05/27/2014
Intense fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine on Monday when government air and ground forces attacked pro-Russian separatist gunmen who had seized an airport terminal. The clashes between Ukraine's Army and separatists in Donetsk have caused some casualties, according to a statement posted on the official website of the city's mayor, which also advised residents to stay in their homes.
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05/26/2014
Military aircraft successfully took-off and landed on a highway strip in central China on the morning of May 25, 2014, according to a post from the official Weibo account of Jiefangjun Bao (People's Liberation Army Daily). Fighter planes, helicopters and transport aircraft participated in the military drill.
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05/26/2014
Japan and China have traded accusations after China scrambled fighter jets when Japanese military aircraft entered an air defence zone declared by Beijing over the East China Sea. China's defence ministry said on Sunday that two Japanese planes entered the defence zone the previous day during a joint military drill with the Chinese and Russian navies.
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05/26/2014
The Ground Self-Defense Force is hurrying to reorganize its deployment of personnel, to enhance its defense of remote islands against China’s increasing military strength. Though the GSDF is conducting its first large-scale landing drill in the Amami islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, there are many problems facing the reorganization plan that has just begun.
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05/26/2014
The heir apparent to the throne, Prince William is set to become an air ambulance pilot rather than take on full-time royal commitments. After stepping down as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot over a year ago, the prince is said to have a "day job" with the East Anglian air ambulance service near his country home at Anmer Hall in Sandringham.
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05/25/2014
Chinese fighter jets flew within a few dozen meters of Japanese military planes over the East China Sea, Japanese officials said on Sunday, prompting the defense minister to accuse Beijing of going "over the top" in its approach to disputed territory. Chinese SU-27 fighters came as close as 50 meters (170 feet) to a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane near disputed islets on Saturday and within 30 meters of YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft, the ministry said.
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05/25/2014
Futuristic Advanced Drones Continue to Change the Face of War Drones have been around since the early 1980’s . They proved a useful tool in the Israeli-Lebanon war of 1982. Since that time the development of new drones coupled with the advancement of technology has led militaries such as the United States and Israel to construct both surveillance and surgical strike strategies using only drone aircraft.
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05/25/2014
Sen. Joe Manchin is celebrating the signing of a bill to honor the nation's elite fighter pilots. Manchin was in attendance this week as President Barack Obama signed the American Fighter Aces Congressional Gold Medal Act. Manchin and Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe were the lead sponsors of the bill.
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05/25/2014
The defence ministry has sought an almost 25% hike in its budget, pointing to "operational gaps" in manpower, machines and infrastructure, in the action plan prepared for the Narendra Modi government. The defence establishment has also urged the new political dispensation to take a call on a wide range of issues, ranging from recommendations of the Naresh Chandra task force on higher defence reforms to the creation of three new tri-Service commands for space, cyber and special forces.
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05/25/2014
“A contingent of People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), comprises combat pilots, air defence controllers and technical ground crew besides a Pakistan Air force (PAF) contingent are participating in the exercises,” said Air commodore Tariq Mehmood. He said the PLAAF contingent is comprised of J-10 and J-7 combat aircraft where as JF-17 Thunder, Mirage and F7 PG combat aircraft of PAF are participating in the exercise.
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05/25/2014
After years in which aerial gunships were synonymous with the US-built AC-130, not one but two new offerings were on display last week in Jordan, reflecting a growing demand from other nations for aerial strikes by slow moving aircraft. Visitors to the Special Operations Forces Exhibition & Conference (SOFEX) in Jordan got a first look at a pair of CASA C-235 aircraft purchased secondhand from Spain and converted to gunship configuration for the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
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05/24/2014
Boeing has delivered the fourth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India on schedule, fulfilling the first half of a contract for eight aircraft. The aircraft departed from Boeing Field in Seattle and arrived May 21 at Naval Air Station Rajali, where it joined three P-8Is currently undergoing operational evaluation.
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05/24/2014
Swiss citizens have rejected their government’s plan to buy 22 Saab Gripen E combat aircraft in a referendum. The verdict was not unexpected, since recent opinion polls had shown a majority against the plan, despite its previous approval by the Swiss parliament. However, the “no” vote majority was only 53.4 percent. Under Switzerland’s unique version of democracy, many significant or controversial matters of public policy are decided in this way.
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05/24/2014
The U.S. House and Senate are both headed toward protecting the A-10 aircraft of the Cold War era, radar-jamming jets made by Boeing Co. and the Navy’s carrier fleet, spurning the Pentagon’s cost-cutting strategies. The Republican-led House passed yesterday a $601 billion defense authorization measure for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, and the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version hours later.
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05/24/2014
Within days of taking over, India’s new defence minister will get a first hand opportunity to see live action from French fighter jets Rafale, selected by the UPA-II government as the preferred platform for Indian Air Force’s 126 fighter jet deal. More than two years ago, the government selected Rafale and started the price negotiation process. Initially valued at $10.4 billion (Rs 42,000 crore), the fighter deal may rise to as high as $20 billion at the time of the commercial contract.
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05/24/2014
More than 175 reservists from four Air Force Reserve C-130 and ALCE units will soon join coalition forces for Maple Flag Exercise at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada. Due to real world commitments, the normal NATO fighter aircraft will not participate this year reducing the total number of aircraft. However, the exercise continues for transport aircraft training in real world scenarios.
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05/24/2014
Russia is strengthening its military bases abroad as well as helping to boost the armed forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday.
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05/23/2014
wo B-1B Lancer aircrews flew a 30-hour, non-stop, long-range precision strike training mission from Ellsworth to strike targets on a range near Guam before landing back on base as part of a Global Power training mission, May 13 and 14. Working in concert with U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Pacific Command and Air Combat Command, the sortie tested the capabilities of Ellsworth's Airmen to successfully load munitions, launch aircraft, effectively employ training munitions and return home.
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05/23/2014
Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH has announced a capability enhancement package for its Typhoon combat plane, flown or ordered by seven countries. The package was announced Wednesday at the 2014 ILA Berlin Air Show by Paul Smith, a Eurofighter capability manager and former British Royal Air Force pilot.
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05/23/2014
Five new Reaper drones announced by David Cameron in December 2010 to support British troops in Afghanistan are still not yet in operation, the Bureau can reveal. The new drones were bought as an urgent purchase and were part of a £135m package intended to effectively double the size of the UK’s fleet of armed drones in Afghanistan, and its surveillance capacity.
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05/23/2014
The Taliban should take advantage of what may be a shrinking window of opportunity to seek a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan, the top U.S. military official said on Thursday.
"I don't give military advice to the Taliban, but if I were giving them advice, I'd say, 'Your negotiating position is not going to improve; it's going to erode'," said Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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05/23/2014
The fleet of A-10 fighters and hundreds of related jobs at Selfridge Air National Guard Base could be spared once more, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of a 2015 defense bill preserving them from elimination.
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05/23/2014
The U.S. House passed a $601 billion defense authorization bill that rejects Pentagon plans to retire Cold War-era planes and rebuffs efforts to find savings in military benefits and base closings. By a vote of 325-98, lawmakers took the first step toward setting defense policy and spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct.1.
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05/23/2014
The French Rafale fighter aircraft, shortlisted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for its $12 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, will engage with IAF aircraft in June 3 joint exercises over the Rajasthan desert. The Indo-French air exercise, Garuda-5, will include four Rafale multirole fighter aircraft and one air refueler that will participate with IAF’s multirole Su-30MKI, MiG-27 and MiG-21 aircraft.
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05/23/2014
The Philippines has invited bids in a Ps6 billion ($23 million) programme to acquire two long range patrol aircraft for the country’s air force. The bids are to include the cost of the aircraft, sensors, systems integration, as well as support capabilities, according to a document posted on the Department of National Defense’s website.
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05/23/2014
Talks with foreign partners to purchase Russia’s Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters will begin in earnest in 2016 or 2017, a representative of Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport said Thursday. The Ka-52 was unveiled internationally at the 50th Le Bourget airshow last June.
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05/23/2014
The Russian Air Force will start receiving its first PAK DA next generation long-range bomber in 2023, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday. Earlier reports said PAK DA bombers could be supplied to the Russian Air Force approximately by 2020.
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05/22/2014
One of the most controversial proposals by the Air Force this year is its plan to divest the A-10 jet aircraft. The “warthog,” as it is known, is a slow moving, low-flying, ear-piercingly loud jet airplane built around a giant “Avenger” Gatling gun, which has provided intimidating fire power for troops in contact on the ground for nearly 40 years.
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05/22/2014
The Indian Air Force's Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme earned its sobriquet of being the 'mother of all procurements' due its cost, pegged at around US $10 billion in 2007. But seven years down the line, and after the selection of the French Rafale post rigorous evaluation trials, the acquisition still remains some distance away.
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05/22/2014
NewsChannel 3 got a first-hand look at a F-22 Raptor as it did every maneuver in the book, preparing for this year’s Virginia Beach Patriotic Oceanfront Air Show next weekend. “It’s always a ton of fun for me. I get out there. I’ve got a good airplane. The weather was great today. A little bit of wind but nothing we couldn’t handle,” said Capt. John Cummings, pilot of the F-22.
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05/22/2014
Seoul formally protested joint naval drills by China and Russia in the East China Sea that intruded into Korea’s air defense identification zone (Kadiz). According to the Korean Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday, the training area for the military exercises conducted by Beijing and Moscow partly overlapped with the Korean and Japanese ADIZs. Seoul was barely given any prior notice.
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05/22/2014
ntegration of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, Storm Shadow / Taurus cruise missile, and Brimstone air-to-surface missile onto the Eurofighter Typhoon will represent "a paradigm shift" in the combat aircraft's capabilities, company officials announced on 21 May. Speaking at the ILA Airshow in Berlin, officials from both Eurofighter and MBDA noted how the integration of these new weapon systems onto the Typhoon will keep the fighter at the forefront.
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05/22/2014
If you think that the military routinely hides problems from the public, then you must never have read the reports that congressional committees produce as part of their annual review of Pentagon budget requests. Those reports describe hundreds of problems that need to be addressed each year, and often result in legislative language directing remedies.
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05/22/2014
The United States has sent 80 troops to Chad in Central Africa to support a growing international effort in neighboring Nigeria to help find and rescue the schoolgirls who were abducted by an Islamist extremist group last month, the White House said on Wednesday. The American military personnel are not ground troops. They are mostly Air Force flight crew members, maintenance specialists and security officers for unarmed Predator surveillance drones.
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05/22/2014
The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) subsystem has received full certification for operation by the United States Department of Defense International AIMS (Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System, Identification Friend or Foe, Mark XII/Mark XIIA, Systems) Program Office. The system is designed to ensure the safety of allied aircrews engaged in combat operations.
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05/22/2014
Ukraine is meddling in Russia’s affairs by asking Moscow to stop the Aviadarts 2014 international competition, calling it a military exercise, the commander of the Russian air force said Wednesday. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urged Russia to cancel the event, scheduled for May 21-27 in the Voronezh region bordering Ukraine, saying it would escalate tensions.
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05/21/2014
The Brazilian air force plans to acquire 28 military cargo jets from aircraft manufacturer Embraer SA worth 7.2 billion Brazilian reais ($3.27 billion), the company said Tuesday. The KC-390 planes will be delivered over a period of 10 years, with the first delivery scheduled for the end of 2016.
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05/21/2014
China has used military aircraft to support over 130 ships it deployed to guard oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 that has been planted illegally in Vietnamese waters in the East Vietnam Sea since May 1, the Vietnam Coast Guard reported Monday.
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05/21/2014
A spokesman says the body of a U.S. Marine who fell from an aircraft during a training flight has been found. Spokesman Mike Barton said the body was found Tuesday. Barton said the Marine was a member of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and a crewmember of an Osprey that was conducting a training flight Monday evening.
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05/21/2014
Are American political leaders and national security experts underestimating the military capabilities of China? That question is posed by Asian-Pacific security analyst Timothy Walton in the current issue of the National Interest. Despite the dramas playing out on the Russian and Middle Eastern fronts, Walton's question may well be the most important strategic concern facing America in the 21st century. To grasp just how important, consider the consequences if the answer is yes.
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05/21/2014
Slovakia is looking to lease Saab Gripen fighter aircraft to replace its MiG-29 fighter fleet, according to Slovak National Armament Office Director Róbert Tibenský. Tibenský was speaking at the annual GLOBSEC security forum held in Bratislava from 14-16 May, and confirmed that by 2020 Slovakia will have replaced most of its Soviet-era legacy equipment with modern platforms.
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05/21/2014
Three lists of aircraft have recently been added to the 127th Wing's website. The lists feature the 94 different military aircraft that have been assigned to Selfridge Air National Guard Base since it opened in 1917 as Selfridge Field; the 54 different aircraft that have been assigned to the Michigan Air National Guard since its forerunner organizations were created in 1926; and the 33 aircraft and one 3/4 scale replica aircraft on permanent display at the Selfridge Military Air Museum's.
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05/21/2014
With the security situation in Libya deteriorating daily, the Pentagon has placed 250 Marines and aircraft in Sicily as a precautionary move should the State Department request the evacuation of American staff from the embassy in Tripoli, Libya, military officials said today.
But if the Marines are called in, what would an evacuation look like?
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05/21/2014
Russian defense experts will train the country’s soldiers to operate the latest unmanned aerial vehicles, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. "The main objective of military exercises is to clarify the basic requirements and methods of providing training for UAV units and to reinforce skills ... in flight operations," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
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05/21/2014
A new Russian high-speed helicopter currently under development may be adapted for military use, a manager at an avionics systems manufacturer involved in the project told RIA Novosti Tuesday. "We’ve had talks about the military version," said Givi Janjgava, Deputy Director General of Radio-Electronic Technologies KRET.
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05/20/2014
Sichuan Chengfei Integration Technology Corp (002190.SZ), a Chinese state-owned maker of auto parts and batteries, said it plans a $3.4 billion private share placement to raise funds to buy three companies that make military aircraft. Sichuan Chengfei's offer follows a push by the Beijing government to use capital markets to fund military expansion and float state-owned assets.
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05/20/2014
Iberia has received a new contract from Airbus Defence & Space for the conversion of three A330s to the multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) configuration. Announced on the eve of the ILA Berlin show, the award extends a previous deal between the two organisations for a further three years, as each aircraft will require one year to convert to the air-to-air refuelling role.
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05/20/2014
The U.S. Justice Department has brought first-of-its kind charges against Chinese military personnel in connection to cyber espionage cases at six U.S. companies, including U.S. Steel.
A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania indicted five Chinese military hackers on charges related to computer intrusions, economic espionage and other offenses against U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar power industries.
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05/20/2014
It is precision flying at low speed and a high angle of attack. It is the definitive skill that sets Navy carrier pilots (and Air Force exchange pilots who have flown with a Navy carrier squadron) apart from all others. It's interesting to note that military uniforms have all sorts of badges and doodads to show that the wearer has qualified in this or that, but there is no doodad for carrier landings. They are included in the gold wings a naval aviator wears.
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05/20/2014
In what could be a move to ease tensions with the West and avoid another round of sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered troops deployed near Ukraine to return to their home bases. Putin also praised the launch of a dialogue between the Ukrainian government and its opponents even as fighting continued in the eastern parts of the country.
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05/20/2014
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is to provide a star turn at this year's ILA Berlin Airshow with a pair of the service's Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft on the static display line-up. No further details have been released by the show organisers, and the Israel Defence Force (IDF) did not respond to a request for clarification on the variant of F-16 these might be.
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05/20/2014
Who needs Switzerland when you have Brazil and Russia? That view of the forces helping spur demand for new combat aircraft should ease the disappointment at Saab AB after Swiss voters rejected a $3.5-billion plan to buy the Swedish company’s newest jet fighter.
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05/20/2014
The U.S. Air Force has introduced into its B-52 fleet the first aircraft upgraded with an advanced communications system, developed by Boeing, that keeps the bomber ahead of emergent threats while improving aircrew safety and situational awareness.
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05/20/2014
Boeing's Reconfigurable Airborne Multi-Intelligence System (RAMIS) aircraft has flown for more than 1,000 hours, demonstrating the reliability of the platform and systems that can be adapted for many missions. Boeing has also demonstrated the system's intelligence-collection during several U.S. government exercises.
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05/20/2014
Russia and China will conduct large-scale joint naval drills to demonstrate the strengthening of military cooperation between the two powers as Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to arrive in China on Tuesday amid worsening relations between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
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05/19/2014
Virtually every commercial airliner and military aircraft worldwide has a warning system in place. But despite near misses occurring at the rate of one every two weeks, the devices have not been fitted to either the £60million Typhoon, or to Tornado GR4s – the RAF’s two combat jets. RAF sources claimed the equipment had been left out for financial reasons – leaving pilots to rely on eyesight and ground radar to avoid crashes.
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05/19/2014
The introduction of the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 "Lavi" advanced jet trainer aircraft into the Israeli air force's inventory will enable the service to reduce the time of its pilot training course by six months. Speaking to the Israeli air force magazine, the commander of the fighting training department at the service's flight academy – identified only as Lt Col Gal – said the M-346 will enable the unit to certify a fighter pilot in 18 months.
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05/19/2014
From a worsening civil-military divide to a moribund defence production sector, from the lack of strategic decision-making or higher defence reforms to huge operational gaps in military capabilities, India's new defence minister will have to fix them all. After eight years of a "holding operation" by the risk-averse A K Antony, the country's longest-serving defence minister ever, the Indian defence establishment needs to be seriously jolted out of its status-quoist stupor.
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05/19/2014
Britain's long-delayed £70 million stealth fighter may need to be cancelled because of its poor performance, according to an analysis by a senior American air force officer. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being built for British and US forces is based on outdated ideas of air warfare, it is claimed. The aircraft could be unable to evade enemy radar and be too expensive for long campaigns.
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05/19/2014
A Sentinel reconnaissance aircraft left RAF Waddington on Sunday morning bound for the Ghanian capital of Accra, west of Nigeria and close to where Islamist terror group Boko Haram are believed to be holding the girls. The high-tech surveillance jet will assist US aircraft in attempting to find the schoolgirls, who were abducted in northeastern Nigeria on April 15.
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05/18/2014
A Laos plane crashed Saturday in the northern part of the country, killing the defense minister and the mayor of the capital city of Vientiane, according to Thailand’s foreign ministry officials Officials have not been able to confirm the cause of the accident but did clarifiy that three people survived the crash of AN74-300, which carried at least 14 people including Douangchai Phichit, the defense minister of Laos and his wife.
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05/18/2014
The fourth consideration (one argued by the pro F-35 lobby) is the value placed on continued R&D and active production of the fighter aircraft. Aircraft need to be upgraded and replacements will need to be acquired with such a small quantity by of 65. Only Saab and Lockheed have production lines scheduled beyond 2019. The Super Hornet production line is scheduled to be shut down in 24 months with no R&D funding offered in the most recent US Federal Budget.
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05/18/2014
Fighter jets serving in the NATO air-policing mission had to take off from its home base in Šiauliai, northern Lithuania, twice this week in response to unidentified airplanes approaching the air-space of the Baltic states. On Wednesday, UK fighter jets Eurofighter Typhoon took off from Šiauliai to identify an object flying close to the Latvian international waters without a flight plan. After identifying it as a Russian military helicopter, the NATO jets returned to their base in Šiauliai.
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05/18/2014
A Marine Osprey unit here has taken on an exclusive new mission that could have far-reaching implications for the future of the military’s prized tiltrotor aircraft. With combat operations in Afghanistan set to end this year, the Marines had planned to conclude V-22 deployments last fall.
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05/18/2014
Nigeria and its neighbours have vowed to join forces against Boko Haram under an accord described as a declaration of war on the Islamic militants holding more than 200 schoolgirls.
Meeting in Paris, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his counterparts from Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger approved an action plan to counter an organisation that has been blamed for 2000 deaths this year as well as last month's abduction of the schoolgirls from northeastern Nigeria.
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05/17/2014
South Korea is spending several hundred million dollars to upgrade most (96 percent of) their 140 KF-16 fighters. These were assembled in South Korea from 1994 to 2004 under license and are going through a mid-life upgrade in the United States. This will involves installing a more powerful AESA radar, new electronics (displays, sensors and computers) as well as new cabling and other related components f0r 134 KF-16s.
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05/17/2014
Six months from now, the German air force should receive its first new tactical airlifter in more than 40 years, with the expected delivery of its lead A400M. Scheduled for acceptance during November, aircraft MSN18 is the twelfth production example of the A400M from a combined order for 170 from European partners Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK, plus four for first export buyer Malaysia.
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05/17/2014
A ceremony May 15 marked the end of the eighth annual Exercise Eager Tiger, a multinational event during which fighter pilots and crews from around the world gather to practice techniques and enhance interoperability. Throughout the week, the U.S. and Jordan put their best pilots and maintainers forward to compete in a loading competition, an aircraft scramble and a first-run attack scenario, all aimed at building tactical proficiency while also allowing joint training.
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05/17/2014
The Czech Republic is to continue leasing Saab Gripen fighter aircraft for a dozen years under a government-to-government agreement signed Friday, Saab said. The air force of the Czech Republic flies 14 Gripen C/D jets under a 2006 lease from Sweden, which expires next year.
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05/17/2014
The V-22 Osprey's deadliest accident stemmed partly from "undeniably intense" pressure to show progress for the new tilt-rotor aircraft, according to the U.S. Marine Corps commandant. "As I reflect on the mishap I cannot ignore the charged atmosphere into which the pilots flew that night, carrying on their shoulders a critically important program," Gen. James Amos wrote two lawmakers in a look back at the crash in 2000 that killed 19 Marines.
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05/17/2014
A breaking news item reported by Al-Jazeera Channel earlier today, 16 May, confirmed that aircrafts were bombing locations belonging to Ansar Al-Shar'ah (Supporters of Shari'ah) and the 17 February Battalions in Benghazi. Previously, the Algerian Al-Khabar newspaper reported on 12 May that an Israeli website close to the security circles in Tel Aviv said that an American report had warned that Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi might use the pretext of terrorism along the Egyptian - Libyan borders.
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05/17/2014
More than 300 marines of the Russian Baltic Fleet conducted a training assault Friday on the coastline of a hypothetical aggressor in the Kaliningrad region, the fleet's press service said.
"We are practicing suppression missions on fortified coastal settlements of a hypothetical aggressor using naval firepower, landing operations on an unimproved shore, as well as warfare tactics with amphibious assault forces," the statement said.
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05/16/2014
The chief of China’s military warned Thursday that the United States should stay “objective” concerning China’s territorial disputes with its neighbors or risk damaging ties between the two countries. Speaking at the Pentagon alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, Gen. Fang Fenghui said China isn’t to blame for rising tensions in the region.
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05/16/2014
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is presenting its advanced unmanned systems this week at the 2014 Unmanned Systems exhibition taking place in Orlando, Florida. IAI will feature unique unmanned systems which allow area dominance over thousands of square miles, as well as innovative electro-optical capabilities for every mission – from air to sea.
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05/16/2014
Even against the backdrop of a clear blue sky, there is no doubting the sheer size of the Russian-built Mi-26 helicopter. But it’s only when the aircraft lands that observers are truly able to appreciate the magnitude of the helicopter, the world’s largest. Designed and built by Moscow-based Mil Helicopters, the Mi-26 stands roughly the same height as a three-story building and its rotors have the same span as the wings of an Airbus A320.
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05/16/2014
As part of an upgrade from the CH47-D, and the completion of unit training and activation of all 12 aircrafts, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, unveiled its newest Chinook, the CH-47F at an activation ceremony at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, May 13.
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05/16/2014
Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background in recent years. Today, we are left with just the reassuring “face” of the terrorist enemy, killed clinically by remote control while we go about our lives.
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05/16/2014
Russell Carpenter owes his life to the ugliest warplane in the Pentagon fleet. When about 3,000 U.S. troops traveling on a dirt road in Iraq came under fire soon after the 2003 invasion, Carpenter, then an Air Force chief master sergeant, called for air support from the only fighter jet that could fly low and slow enough to tell friend from foe: the A-10.
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05/16/2014
The United States is to sell $800 million worth of combat aircraft, armoured vehicles and surveillance equipment to Iraq to enhance security in the country amid an al-Qaida insurgency and rising sectarian tensions.
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05/16/2014
In his letter "Can we afford not to buy Joint Strike Fighters", Andrew Nikolic continues to support acquisition of an additional 58 F-35s as a matter of priority. But is it absolutely necessary to commit to this expenditure straight away? Indeed the US and NATO allies are delaying or even reducing F-35 buys and are 72 aircrafts absolutely necessary?
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05/16/2014
Kazakhstan’s upper house of parliament ratified Thursday an agreement with Russia on establishing a joint regional air defense shield, a Novosti-Kazakhstan correspondent has reported. The shield will become part of the unified air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose alliance of former Soviet states, comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
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05/15/2014
A LifeNews TV video of a white-painted Mil Mi-24 strike helicopter with UN logo has emerged. When inquired about the United Nations’ stance on the use of peacekeeper-marked military hardware in non-peacekeeper operations, the office for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson said such use would violate UN rules.
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05/15/2014
Iran has been providing Syria’s regime with drones—some of them inspired by American technology—and they’re already playing a significant role in keeping Bashar Assad in power. On Sunday, Tehran announced it had replicated a top-of-the-line U.S. drone it claimed it captured in 2011, raising the possibility it will send still more sophisticated aerial robots into the skies over Damascus.
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05/15/2014
WASHINGTON — The United States has approved nearly $1 billion in military equipment to Iraq. The administration of President Barack Obama has notified Congress of a military aid package meant to enhance Iraqi security amid the Sunni revolt.
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05/15/2014
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reassured Persian Gulf allies Wednesday of U.S. commitments to defend them amid tensions in the U.S.-Saudi relationship, including differences over how to help moderate rebel forces remove President Bashar Assad from power in Syria.
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05/15/2014
Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Brandenburg says he probably never would have returned from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan if not for the A-10 Warthog. The Silver Star recipient and former joint terminal attack controller stood beside powerful Senate lawmakers Wednesday and urged the Air Force to back off a proposed retirement of the aircraft, saying it is uniquely capable of providing close air support, saving the lives of American troops on the battlefield.
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05/15/2014
Last week, I discussed on these pages the five Chinese weapons Washington fears most. Some of the weapons, such as the Type 071 amphibious ship and Chinese cyber weapons were unfamiliar to many readers. This week we’re turning the list around and discussing the five American weapons that China likely fears most.
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05/15/2014
Ahmed al-Jarba, the president of the Syrian National Coalition, and Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, the top man of the opposition Supreme Military Council, are currently engaged in the most important foreign delegation of their lives.
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05/15/2014
Belgium's request pertaining to the mid-life upgrade (MLU) of its Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM Fighting Falcon combat aircraft has been approved by the US government, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) disclosed on 12 May. The MLU, which is valued at USD113 million, will see the Belgian Air Force's 44 single-seat F-16AM and 10 twin-seat F-16BM aircraft equipped with upgraded navigation and communication systems.
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05/14/2014
The United Nations peace envoy for Syria threw in the towel on Tuesday after failing to start a meaningful dialogue, as France accused Damascus of continuing to use chemical weapons. In a double blow to the already frozen peace process, Lakhdar Brahimi announced his resignation at UN headquarters as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius spoke in Washington.
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05/14/2014
Sikorsky Aircraft announced today from the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference that it will develop its first product to feature Matrix™ Technology, by converting a retired UH-60A BLACK HAWK helicopter into an optionally piloted variant capable of a wide spectrum of missions. Sikorsky Aircraft is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
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05/14/2014
On May 7th the Indian Navy declared its new aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, operational and deployed with the fleet. This was four months after Vikramaditya arrived from Russia, where it was built and refurbished to Indian specifications. That 39 day journey was the first long range (15,000 kilometers) cruise for the Vikramaditya and was not without incident.
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05/14/2014
The U.S. Air Force wants to retire all of its A-10 ground support aircraft (to deal with a shrinking budget). The politicians don’t agree and it appears the air force will be forced to keep at least some of the A-10s. Some in Congress also want the air force to put those A-10s that are retired in storage, in the event of an emergency. That’s called Type 1000 storage and would cost over $50,000 a year per A-10 for the first five years and about $12,000 a year after that.
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05/14/2014
On a mile-long assembly line in Ft. Worth, Texas, Lockheed Martin is putting together a jet fighter that no one can match. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be stealthier, smarter, more capable, and more flexible than any aircraft ever built. It better be. It's costing American taxpayers close to $1 billion. A month.
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05/14/2014
Romania was officially welcomed into the Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] F-16 family at a reception preceding the Black Sea Defense Aerospace tradeshow here today. The Romanian Air Force is the 28th customer of the most widely used 4th generation multi-role fighter in the world.
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05/14/2014
Designed for versatility and affordability, the new Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] Vector Hawk addresses a broad set of unique missions and operating needs within a single system. With a gross takeoff weight of only four pounds and a vertical profile of only four inches, Vector Hawk boasts best-in-class payload capacity, speed and endurance.
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05/14/2014
To increase expeditionary capabilities in its long endurance Group 3 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), Lockheed Martin recently fielded its newest Expeditionary Ground Control Station, or “xGCS” ®, for use with the Fury UAS. Following its development and manufacturing in Huntsville, Ala., xGCS shipped and was integrated with Fury in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The first xGCS unit was delivered in early 2014 and has completed initial flight testing in preparation for upcoming Fury UAS deployments.
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05/14/2014
The Russian Helicopters company is ready to supply additional helicopters to India, Russia’s largest partner on military and technical cooperation, CEO Alexander Mikheyev told reporters Wednesday. “The Russian Helicopters joint stock company will be ready to continue the program on the supply of Russian helicopters to India under contracts with the state-controlled arms trader Rosoboronexport,” Mikheyev said.
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05/13/2014
Iran said on Sunday it had succeeded in copying a US drone it captured in December 2011. State television broadcast images apparently showing the replicated aircraft. Iran captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel while it was in its airspace, apparently on a mission to spy on the country's nuclear sites, US media reported.
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05/13/2014
China's military chief will tour American warships on Tuesday in a four-day US visit that comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and its Southeast Asian neighbors over territorial disputes. An escalating maritime feud between China and Vietnam is expected to come up when General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army general staff, holds talks this week with his counterpart, General Martin Dempsey, US officials said.
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05/13/2014
British liaison staff are embedded with US forces in the Horn of Africa, the Ministry of Defence has revealed, as concern grows about redeployment of the UK squadron of 10 armed Reaper drones. Although three British officers are based at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti – the US base from which unmanned strikes are launched against al-Qaida groups in Yemen – the MoD denies they are involved in co-ordinating such attacks.
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05/13/2014
The Mirage is no longer a mirage. Last fortnight, in the famous wine country of Bordeaux in the south of France, the first fully assembled Mirage-2000 built for the Indian Air Force (IAF) glided off the assembly line at Dassault-Bregeut's sprawling plant at Marignac.
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05/13/2014
After more than a decade of war, unmanned aerial systems, or drones, have become the symbols of America’s technological wizardry and the subject of heated debates surrounding privacy and the use of remotely piloted aircraft to kill terrorists. Americans have become accustomed to nightly news reports of unmanned aircraft attacking al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan while being controlled by U.S. pilots from thousands of miles away.
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05/13/2014
For a man who is said to despise the US President, North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un appears to be showing a touch of hypocrisy as he steps onto a red carpet from his own version of 'Air Force One'. A photo, published in the official North Korean daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun, shows for the first time the luxury Russian IL-62 jetliner that carries Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju on official engagements around the secretive country.
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05/13/2014
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said "Turkey is against war, but we have to show that we are ready for it" during the handover of a military transportation aircraft to the Turkish air force. Gul'scomments came on Monday as the Airbus A400M transportation plane "Atlas" was formally handed over in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
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05/13/2014
An Israeli man was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport Monday and is expected to be extradited to the US where he has been charged with selling arms — including spare parts for fighter jets — to Iran. Eli Cohen, 64, was arrested by Israeli forces at the request of the US while attempting to flee the country.
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05/13/2014
Boeing and Embraer S.A. today announced that they will open a joint research center to advance a sustainable aviation biofuel industry in Brazil. Under a memorandum of understanding, the two companies will perform joint biofuel research, as well as fund and coordinate research with Brazilian universities and other institutions.
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05/12/2014
Vietnam yesterday accused China of despatching fighter jets to protect an oil rig in contested South China Sea waters. Over the weekend, two groups of Chinese military aircraft flew over Vietnamese ships tasked with preventing the rig from drilling, Vice-Commander and Chief of Staff of Vietnam’s Coast Guard Ngo Ngoc Thu told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, AFP reported.
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05/12/2014
The Indian Air Force's (IAF) plan to add much-needed new teeth with advanced missiles, engines and avionics to its ageing fleet of Jaguar fighters has failed to take off as the programme has got stuck with certain design and development issues. The IAF initiated the process of upgrading the Jaguars in 2009 to bring a fleet of 61 aircraft to DARIN (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation III) standards.
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05/12/2014
Fairfax defence correspondent David Wroe had what his editors labelled an exclusive in the weekend Sydney Morning Herald: Royal Australian Air Force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown told Wroe the RAAF is interested in buying armed drones. No disrespect to Wroe, whose background piece on drones in the same day's paper was excellent, but the real exclusive would have been if Brown had said the RAAF was not interested in armed drones.
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05/12/2014
As the territorial row between China and Vietnam continues in the Paracels, two Chinese missile-firing frigates shadowed the USS Blue Ridge, the command and control ship of the United States 7th Fleet, near Panatag Shoal in Zambales on Friday. The two Chinese warships – a guided-missile frigate and a guided-missile destroyer with bow numbers 572 and 170 – kept their distance from the Blue Ridge but their presence heightened the maritime tension in the region.
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05/12/2014
Southeast Asian nations called for self-restraint on territorial disputes in the South China Sea as tensions escalate over China’s pursuit of its claims to large swaths of the resource-rich region. Leaders called on all parties to “refrain from taking actions that would further escalate tension,” in a statement issued at the end of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting yesterday in Naypyidaw in Myanmar.
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05/11/2014
According to a Sveriges Television report on Thursday, the incident occurred on March 3rd just 50 kilometres south of the Swedish city of Malmö - home to over 300,000 people. The plane was reportedly a Russian Ilyushin 20m military aircraft used for signals surveillance. The two aircraft are reported to have passed by each other a mere 90 metres apart.
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05/11/2014
Despite problems with recently refurbished MiG-31 fighters Russia is moving forward with yet another round of fixes and improvements. In particular the D30F6 engines will be tweaked and upgraded to make them more powerful, efficient and reliable. This comes in the aftermath of two crashes (in early and late 2013) that involved these engines. In December 2013 Russia grounded all 122 of its MiG-31 fighters after one of them crashed because both of its engines failed.
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05/11/2014
SOUTHEAST Asian foreign ministers on the eve of a regional summit viewed with “serious concern” the rising tensions in the South China Sea as the United States Seventh Fleet reported sighting two Chinese frigates at the Panatag Shoal where Beijing fired water cannons at Filipino fishermen last January.
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05/11/2014
The Air Force’s plan to retire the A-10 and U-2 fleets has hit major congressional opposition that could ripple across the service and put other aircraft fleets at risk of being eliminated or downsized. The House Armed Services Committe on May 7 passed amendments to the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which, if approved by the full Congress, would leave the service scrambling for other ways to save money, both in fiscal 2015 and in 2016 when sequestration returns.
(Read More...)
05/11/2014
The Kingdom of Jordan will become the first international customer of BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets. Jordan signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the system here at the Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX). In its third year of full-rate production, the APKWS rocket is the only guided 2.75-inch rocket fully qualified by the US Department of Defense that uses semi-active laser guidance technology.
(Read More...)
05/11/2014
The discovery of major deepwater oil finds off of Brazil’s coast changed its military priorities. The military’s mission has always been influenced by the land’s vastness, but until recently, that meant keeping a careful watch over the Amazon basin. The Marinha do Brazil had its own role policing the wide swathes of ocean around its long coast, but the air force’s construction was oriented toward supporting the army.
(Read More...)
05/11/2014
Russell Carpenter owes his life to the ugliest warplane in the Pentagon fleet. When about 3,000 U.S. soldiers traveling on a dirt road in Iraq came under fire from behind a ridge in the opening weeks of the 2003 American invasion, the retired Air Force chief master sergeant says he called for air support from the only plane that could fly low and slow enough to tell friend from foe: the A-10.
(Read More...)
05/10/2014
Authorities say a military jet has crashed on tribal land south of Phoenix, but the pilot was able to eject safely. Television footage shows the charred wreckage of the plane in several pieces in a remote desert area on the Gila River Indian Community.
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05/10/2014
Azerbaijani Air Forces have conducted exercises aimed at evaluating the military personnel's ability to perform combat assignments correctly. Air defense drills were held at an 'S- 300 Favorite' anti-aircraft missile systems military unit of Azerbaijani air forces, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said on May 8.
(Read More...)
05/10/2014
There's nothing quite like flying aboard the U.S. Navy's C-130 Hercules. I know because I was lucky enough to have this incredible opportunity when the Blue Angels and the C-130, affectionately dubbed "Fat Albert," took to the skies for the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show on May 3 & 4. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I will never forget. Before I even boarded "Fat Albert," I was amazed by the sheer size of the aircraft.
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05/10/2014
Apache helicopters, teamed with Gray Eagle and Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles, are a winning combo, according to Col. Thomas von Eschenbach. Apache AH-64E models, teamed with unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs, are now increasingly performing the armed aerial scout missions, once performed by Kiowa helicopters, and, Eschenbach said, they're doing a fantastic job.
(Read More...)
05/10/2014
About nine o’clock on the morning of November 19, a Hellfire missile shot from a US Predator drone destroyed a Toyota Hilux on a back road of eastern Yemen. The ute was carrying local al-Qaeda leader Abu Habib al-Yemeni. Two Australian men whom security sources say were al-Qaeda foot soldiers happened to be with him.
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05/10/2014
Nigeria's president said Friday that his government was "pleading with everybody on earth"—from regional and global governments to unspecified "civil society" groups—to help find more than 200 abducted girls and hunt down their kidnappers from the Boko Haram extremist group.
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05/10/2014
Presiding over a triumphant spectacle of warships and fighter jets, President Vladimir Putin hailed the return of Crimea to Russia as the restoration of "historic justice" before a jubilant, welcoming crowd Friday on the holiday that Russians hold dearest to their hearts. Yet Putin's first trip to the Black Sea peninsula since its annexation in March was strongly criticized by both NATO and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, which said it trampled on Ukraine's sovereignty and international law.
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05/09/2014
India's largest warship - aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, is "operationally deployed" along with its fleet of MiG 29K combat aircraft, Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan said here today.
"The navy has inducted aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya which is now operationally deployed with MiG 29K aircraft embarked and being flown by Indian naval pilots," he told reporters here.
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05/09/2014
Boeing is working to convert F-16 fighter aircraft into fully-fledged unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for potential use by US armed forces, IHS Jane's was told on 7 May. The company has already converted the first six of 126 Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons into optionally piloted QF-16 target drones for the US Air Force (USAF), but is looking to add improved datalinks to enable the QF-16 to fly as high and as far as conventional UAVs.
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05/09/2014
After a months-long debate over whether to keep or scrap a fleet of aging Air Force jets, the House Armed Forces Committee voted Thursday to continue funding the planes through 2015, thanks in part to a powerful lobbying group that said scrapping the planes would put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk.
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05/09/2014
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft fleet, which surpassed 16,000 cumulative program flight hours to date in April, flew a monthly record high for System Development and Demonstration (SDD) with 282 flight hours and 153 flights in April.
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05/09/2014
A Russian strategic TU-95 “Bear” bomber launched six cruise missiles against ground targets during military drills Thursday overseen by President Vladimir Putin. The bomber successfully fired six cruise missiles at ground targets simulating key military assets of a hypothetical adversary.
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05/09/2014
A group of warships from Russia’s Northern Fleet led by the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov entered the English Channel Thursday, the head of the Western Military District’s press service for the Northern Fleet told RIA Novosti.
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05/08/2014
The Turkish Army has received the first T-129 attack helicopter co-produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Italian-British AgustaWestland after several months of technical snags, Defense News reported.
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05/08/2014
After being in Odesa when more than 40 people were burned, suffocated, beaten or shot to death in fighting between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian mobs last week, a Canadian-led team of multinational military observers returned Tuesday to southern Ukraine to resume their appraisal of the shaky security situation there.
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05/08/2014
The President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Ahmad Jarba on Wednesday stressed the need for more sophisticated weaponry to combat the Syrian air force which "burns and bombards civilians on a daily basis." Speaking through a translator at the US Institute for Peace, Jarba said the only way to move forward with a political process and engage the regime of Bashar Al-Assad is by gaining leverage on the battlefield.
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05/08/2014
A small business in Vienna could share a $169 million contract with The Boeing Co. to provide missiles to Brazil. If approved by Congress, Boeing and Delex Systems Inc., the latter of which counts less than 200 employees, would be the primary contractors for a foreign military sale of 20 Harpoon missiles, associated parts and training equipment and engineering and logistics support services.
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05/08/2014
Turkey's ultimate decision-maker on procurement, the Defense Industry Executive Committee, announced late Tuesday that Turkey has committed to buying two F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets as part of an order expected to be consummated in 2016. The committee chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with the Chief of General Staff and the Minister of National Defense also announced that the country still planned to buy 100 of the advanced jets.
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05/08/2014
The Air Force has confirmed that a U-2 spy plane did not cause the computers at the Los Angeles International Airport control center to crash last week, causing flights to be delayed, cancelled and diverted. The Blaze first reported on Monday that an Air Force spokeswoman had said the plane did not cause the control center's computers to fail.
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05/08/2014
It hasn’t even flown yet and the U.S. Army program it was intended for was put on hold, possibly indefinitely. But that hasn’t stopped foreign militaries from inquiring about when they might be able to buy the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, the company’s next-generation light-attack helicopter. The coaxial design features counter-rotating rotor blades and a push propeller, among other innovations, that will allow it to fly much faster and farther than today’s choppers.
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05/08/2014
Lockheed Martin successfully completed the first flight of the inaugural F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Iraq Air Force. The jet is the first of 36 F-16 Block 52 aircraft on order through the U.S. Department of Defense for Iraq.
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05/08/2014
Selex ES has been highlighting its extensive work with Jordan while also promoting key technologies for surveillance and situational awareness during the SOFEX 2014 show being held in Amman. With ongoing collaboration in a number of areas and a memorandum of understanding signed in 2013the Finmeccanica subsidiary said it anticipates moving toward a more strategic relationship with King Abdullah.
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05/08/2014
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the US Navy have formally signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the first international sale of BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rocket.
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05/07/2014
U.S.-backed leaders in the Syrian opposition have come to Washington to lobby for better arms, challenging the Obama administration’s position that providing advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles is too risky. Ahmad al-Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, is leading a delegation to meet administration officials and lawmakers and persuade them to provide lethal arms to the Free Syrian Army.
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05/07/2014
With foreign combat troops preparing to leave Afghanistan, India has agreed to supply the country with military equipment. Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid says the move risks raising tensions. India's decision last week to pay for arms and equipment from Russia to boost the strength of the Afghan National Army (ANA) could be a dramatic game-changer in the region - as well as a step fraught with escalation in regional rivalries.
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05/07/2014
Faced with smaller budgets over the next decade, the U.S. Army has halted evaluation of new UAVs and is standardizing on four existing models (Gray Eagle, Shadow 2000, Raven, and Puma). All four of these were developed and purchased in large quantities over the last dozen years and will remain the primary army UAVs for the next 5-10 years.
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05/07/2014
After 23 years of high-tempo operations, the Air Force is in a precarious position, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. The general was joined in his testimony by his fellow members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, and the vice chairman, Navy Adm. James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld Jr.
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05/07/2014
With the crisis in Ukraine forcing Eastern European governments to refocus on defense, several are expanding their helicopter fleets to replace largely Russian-built aircraft, with an emphasis on transport. Poland is developing the largest helicopter procurement program in the region, with plans to buy 70 new aircraft this year as part of a military modernization program that extends to 2022.
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05/07/2014
Russian military planes and ships have been stepping up patrols in the Pacific in response to tensions in Ukraine, according to the commander of Pacific Air Forces. “[There’s been] a significant... increase in the amount of activity from Russia in the Asia-Pacific,” PACAF commander Gen. Herbert Carlisle said Monday. “And we relate a lot of that to what’s going on in the Ukraine.”
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05/07/2014
The U.S. Air Force projects that its annual spending on long-range bombers will almost double after 2019 as it seeks a new stealth aircraft that may pit Northrop Grumman Corp. against a joint bid from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. The service’s total budget for bomber production and upgrades will jump to about $9.5 billion in fiscal 2020 from less than $5 billion for the previous year beginning Oct. 1, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Bloomberg News.
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05/07/2014
The Defense Department is working with the State Department and NATO allies to provide reassurance, deterrence and support to Ukraine, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. The U.S. government’s response to Russia’s actions in the region is being done carefully and without taking actions that would escalate the crisis, Evelyn N. Farkas said.
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05/07/2014
Lt. Gen. Michael Bednarek, chief of the US Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, said that the Iraqi government and armed forces are working on countering terrorism in cooperation with the United States. Speaking to Azzaman on May 3, Bednarek said, “The cooperation consists of supplying Iraq with weapons, information, training, development and aerial maps to detect the movement of terrorist forces and armed groups opposing the Iraqi government.”
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05/07/2014
When about 3,000 U.S. soldiers traveling on a dirt road in Iraq came under fire from behind a ridge in the opening weeks of the 2003 American invasion, the retired Air Force chief master sergeant says he called for air support from the only plane that could fly low and slow enough to tell friend from foe: the A-10.
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05/06/2014
A Ukrainian helicopter has been shot down over the pro-Russian stronghold of Slavyansk as the security situation in the country continues to worsen. Ukraine's defence ministry said the pilots survived. Elsewhere in the east of the country four paramilitary policemen were shot dead in fighting. A number of other rebels and civilians are also thought to have been killed or injured, according to Sky's Stuart Ramsay, who is in eastern Ukraine.
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05/06/2014
Paratroopers from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) planned and executed an aerial resupply mission at Adazi Drop Zone here Friday. Approximately 150 paratroopers from the brigade are currently participating in exercises in Latvia, which are part of a series of expanded American land force training activities with European partners that are scheduled to take place in the next few months and beyond.
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05/06/2014
Eight leading senators appealed to the Senate Appropriations Committee to save the Air Force’s controversial A-10 aircraft fleet from the Pentagon budget’s chopping block as lawmakers inch closer to a final draft of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015. The proposal to retire the fleet of 353 A-10s, Air Force officials have said repeatedly in both interviews and recent testimony on Capitol Hill.
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05/06/2014
Pakistan has made it possible for China to win the third slot among the world's exporters of multi-role jet fighters after the United States and Russia, the Chinese government controlled website, Huanqiu.com said. Islamabad has contacted for approximately 100 FC-1 Xiaolong fighters worth $2.52 billion from China. The Pakistani buying and air displays of the single engine multi-role combat Xiaolong fighters, also known as the JF-17 Thunder.
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05/06/2014
Britain's Royal Navy has quietly recommissioned a fighter squadron to train the next generation of ‘Top Gun’ aviators who will eventually fly from the decks of its giant new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. 736 Naval Air Squadron has been back in business for almost a year. It was formed from a civilian-run operation used to help train navy ships how to defend themselves from air attacks and flies ageing but nimble Hawk T1 aircraft.
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05/06/2014
Several media reports this weekend blamed a ’70s-era Air Force spy plane for causing more than 200 flights at Los Angeles International Airport to be canceled or diverted.
So it is true?
Not according to the Air Force.
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05/06/2014
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $80.6 million production contract for the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) on the AH-64 Apache helicopter. This Lot 9 contract includes production of eight targeting and pilotage systems and spares for the U.S. Army and nine systems for the Indonesian Army. Indonesia is the 13th international customer to purchase the M-TADS/PNVS system.
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05/06/2014
Boeing delivered the 100th EA-18G Growler to the U.S. Navy, marking a major milestone in the program that has transformed airborne electronic warfare capability for the U.S. and its allies. A derivative of the F/A-18F Super Hornet, the Growler is the only aircraft in production that provides tactical jamming and electronic protection for U.S. and allied forces. Growlers provide a unique capability to nearly all U.S. combat missions and are expected to be in service until at least 2040.
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05/06/2014
Russia plans to send the initial batch of the Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainers to Syria until the end of 2014, with further plans to fully complete the contract for 36 aircraft in 2016, the Kommersant newspaper wrote Monday, citing a source close to Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
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05/06/2014
Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport will display its latest weapons systems and military hardware at the SOFEX-2014 exhibition this week in Jordan, the company has said. The company said it expects potential buyers are likely to pay particular attention to Russian noiseless and flameless weapons, sniper rifles, submachine guns and special melee weapons.
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05/05/2014
A new United States agreement with the Philippines is not likely to result in many immediate operational changes for troops in the Pacific region, but it clears the way for the Pentagon to invest in new construction and infrastructure there, and sets the stage for new U.S.-built facilities along the shores of the contested South China Sea.
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05/05/2014
France scrambled a fighter aircraft Sunday after a jetliner slightly veered from its course and lost radio contact with the ground over western France, military officials said. The Washington-bound United Airlines Boeing had taken off in Rome, the air force information service SIRPA said.
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05/05/2014
Battle-tested and proven defence technologies will soon be manufactured in Jordan for armed forces across the Middle East, including the UAE. Africa’s largest defence and aerospace business, Paramount Group, announced a strategic joint venture with Jordan’s state-owned defence manufacturer, the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) on Sunday.
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05/05/2014
It's been a little over two months since things started getting crazy in Ukraine, and Russia decided to invade Crimea. Though progress has been steady and at times seemingly slow, the situation has continued to escalate and just this week, the "worst case scenario" started to become a reality when we witnessed what appear to be the beginnings of an all-out war.
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05/05/2014
Given the chaotic defense budgetary environment, one could be forgiven for overlooking the fact that some truly strategic issues are at play in the defense authorization bill markup taking place in Congress this week. One key issue involves how Congress deals with the Navy’s poor choices in the development of a future carrier-based drone, or in Pentagon-speak, the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike, or UCLASS, program.
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05/05/2014
A fighter aircraft's lethality in air-to-air combat is governed by the air-to-air missile that it carries. Since the Independence, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has mounted French, Russian and British missiles on its fighters. On Sunday, an IAF Sukhoi-30MKI fighter conducted the first test launch of the indigenous Astra air-to-air missile, which the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) is developing at its missile cluster in Hyderabad.
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05/05/2014
An April-released study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments paints grim pictures for America's combat-aviation forces. Air Force aircraft are the "smallest and oldest the service has ever fielded." Enemy technology risks also apply to Navy and Marine Corps aircraft.
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05/04/2014
Designed based on the Liaoning carrier purchased from Ukraine, China's first domestically built aircraft carrier is likely to enter service with the People's Liberation Army Navy in 2024, according to Kanwa Defense Weekly operated by Andrei Chang, also known as Pinkov, a military analyst from Canada.
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05/04/2014
South Korea recently ordered over 76 AIM-9X Block 2 Sidewinder air-to-air heat seeking missiles and 24 CATM-9X-2 Captive Air Training Missiles and various other accessories all for about $98 million. The CATM look like the actual missile but cannot launch and are carried on aircraft for training purposes and can do everything but launch.
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05/04/2014
The deleted data on the flight simulator of missing MH370 pilot Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah has yet to be fully recovered, said the Inspector-General of Police. Retrieving the data, said Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, was a difficult process even with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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05/04/2014
An operation to free the town has begun this morning. At 4:00 local time, the troops began to take control over checkpoints around Slovyansk. The terrorists, who seized the town, report that Ukrainian troops have resumed the anti-terrorist operation. Two servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed and several others were injured when two Mil Mi-24 helicopters came under fire outside of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has said in a press release.
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05/04/2014
Tuesday night, Biloxi City Councilman Kenny Glavan will present a resolution urging lawmakers to keep ten C-130J airplanes at Keesler Air force Base. Saturday, we learned from Rep. Steven Palazzo that the measure to move the planes to Arkansas has been temporarily delayed.
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05/04/2014
A Canadian “six-pack” has landed in the Ukraine crisis. This is the slang used at Ottawa’s defence headquarters for the half-dozen CF-18 combat aircraft sent in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. With the jets’ arrival in nearby Romania, it’s important to understand the direction in which Russian aggression is heading, and a technique Moscow uses in its expansionist strategy: the playing of the Russian ethnic “card.”
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05/04/2014
The so-called stealth jet costing the MoD billions of pounds can, in fact, be seen by the radar of potential enemies, it has been revealed. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been designed at huge expense to fly unnoticed through enemy airspace and attack targets without being detected. Taxpayers have already spent £1.3?billion developing the jet, while the MoD plans to buy 48 of them at a cost of up to £100?million each.
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05/04/2014
China has yet to complete tests on its J-31 stealth fighter but already ranks third in the world for export contracts for multi-role fighters for 2010 to 2017, behind the United States and Russia. This shows the country has become a major exporter of military aircraft without relying on fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft.
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05/03/2014
Seven international military observers taken captive in eastern Ukraine a week ago have been released. Five Ukrainian officers captured with the observers, who are linked to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, were also freed.
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05/03/2014
Held at the Gwalior Indian Air Force range from Feb. 15 to 27, 2004, Cope India 04 exercise gained the headlines not only because it marked the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral relations between India and US, but also because Indian pilots were able to win more than 90 percent of the mock air engagements conducted against U.S. Air Force F-15C jets from 3rd Wing based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
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05/03/2014
Just a year after standing up its new Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey, NATO learned last fall that the Turkish government was planning to purchase a new missile defense system — from China. That was problematic, because the Chinese manufacturer was under U.S. sanctions for supplying missiles to Iran and Syria. Even worse from NATO’s perspective were the cyber-security concerns raised by the new system.
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05/03/2014
The buildup of F-35 operations at Luke Air Force Base has begun, and the Royal Australian air force will soon be Luke's first international partner to train here on the F-35A Lightning II. The 61st Fighter Squadron and 61st Aircraft Maintenance Unit will house the RAAF personnel. The goal is to build a cohesive, working understanding of the F-35A program with Luke's international partners for increased success in joint operations.
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05/03/2014
Two pilots were killed, one briefly abducted, and several wounded -- including an emergency responder - during an attack early Friday in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Four men suspected of using MANPADS in the attack have been detained.
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05/03/2014
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has ranged as far abroad as Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years. Now the crisis in Ukraine is pulling it back to the mission that led to its creation 65 years ago: defending Europe’s eastern rim against Kremlin expansionism. The U.S., Britain, and some other NATO members began deploying troops and fighter jets to Poland and the Baltics last month.
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05/03/2014
The Royal Air Force’s fighter fleet of Tornado GR4 aircraft will receive support services from BAE Systems until retirement in 2019. Under the Availability Transformation: Tornado Aircraft Contract, or ATTAC, from Britain’s Ministry of Defense BAE Systems will provide on and off maintenance of the fighters and also provide capability enhancements.
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05/03/2014
Northrop Grumman’s X-47B unmanned combat air system is to undergo ramped-up testing in preparation for new sea trials, the U.S. Navy reports. The X-47B is an unmanned aerial vehicle, which will enter service with the Navy in 2020, is the size of a normal combat jet and is designed for launch and recovery from an aircraft carrier.
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05/03/2014
Two days after Ukraine’s interim government declared itself all but helpless to control events in the eastern part of the country, Ukrainian military and police forces on Friday resumed their effort to retake this rebel-controlled city, forcing armed separatists from the city’s outskirts with armored vehicles, helicopters and ground troops — and seemingly pushing ever closer to a confrontation with Moscow.
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05/03/2014
Boeing this week delivered, on schedule, the second Peace Eagle Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Turkish Armed Forces, further improving the country's self-defense capabilities. The AEW&C aircraft arrived at Konya Air Base, the fleet's main operating base.
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05/02/2014
Pro-Russian rebels have shot down two of Ukraine's army helicopters during an "anti-terror" operation in the eastern city of Sloviansk, Kiev has said. It said a pilot and serviceman had been killed, four suspected separatists held and nine rebel checkpoints seized.
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05/02/2014
Three NATO nations assumed control on Thursday of a strengthened Baltic air policing mission from the U.S. Air Force amid the worsening crisis in neighboring Ukraine. Separately, Canada is sending six interceptors to Romania as a sign of allied solidarity with its east European members bordering Ukraine and Russia.
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05/02/2014
Air operations will increase in Arizona from May 4-17 due to the 7th annual ANGEL THUNDER Personnel Recovery exercise. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base says there will be 23 additional aircraft flying into D-M and aircrews will follow standard D-M flight procedures throughout the exercise.
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05/02/2014
The US Army’s decision to purchase 100 additional Airbus UH-72 Lakota helicopters for pilot training increases the potential for international sales of the aircraft, according to company officials.
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05/02/2014
F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots from Hill Air Force Base’s 419th and 388th Fighter Wings took to the skies the morning of April 24 for their first training missions alongside the F-35A Lightning II, the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft. Hill’s F-16s flew air-to-air combat training missions with F-35As assigned to Eglin’s 33rd Fighter Wing.
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05/02/2014
Harris Corp. received a two-year, $19 million contract from Boeing to provide key avionics components for the U.S. Navy’s Super Hornet fighter aircraft. The combat-proven Super Hornet provides precision strike capability. The EA-18G Growler, derived from the Super Hornet, is the U.S's newest and most advanced airborne electronic attack platform.
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05/02/2014
In the Philippines this week, President Obama took a cheap shot at critics of his foreign policy. “Why is it,” the president pondered at a news conference, “that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget?”
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05/02/2014
Sweden is to open up its airspace to Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft operated by NATO as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine continues, national media disclosed on 30 April.
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05/02/2014
Building on its 30-year legacy as a naval combat systems integrator, Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Canada today announced the signing of a contract with the Government of New Zealand for the upgrade of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s two ANZAC Class frigates at a signing ceremony in Wellington on April 29, 2014.
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05/02/2014
Boeing's AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopter has flown for the first time in its production configuration, moving the program another step closer to full-scale production while continuing to prove the helicopter's close air support and attack capabilities.
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05/01/2014
A month after the fiscal year (FY) 2015 defense budget was submitted to Congress, the Department of Defense (DOD) released the report Estimated Impacts of Sequestration-Level Funding. The report highlights areas where additional cuts will be made in order to comply with sequestration-level funding. While it dutifully tabulates the affects on procurement programs, services, and budget accounts, explanations of the implications of these decisions are lacking.
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05/01/2014
European Union countries export a range of technology to China's military, according to public documents, research institutes and military analysts. Below is a selection of the weapons and dual-use goods that have flowed from EU countries to China in the past five years.
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05/01/2014
Although President Barack Obama went to great pains to state that a new defense agreement with the Philippines wasn’t about countering China, it’s unclear if he was able to pull off the balancing act. Obama encouraged China’s “peaceful rise” and emphasized partnership with Beijing while speaking Monday in Manila during the introduction of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
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05/01/2014
The Israel Air Force shed some light on its fighter jet reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, revealing on Tuesday that one of its F-15 squadrons frequently uses advanced, long-range cameras to photograph enemy targets without leaving Israeli air space. The Double Tail Knights Squadron, which flies out of Tel Nof Air Base, south of Rehovot, dedicates a significant amount of its operations to aerial intelligence gathering, senior members of the squadron said.
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05/01/2014
It wasn't looking good for the Growlers. The Boeing-made fighter jets, used to jam enemy radar, were left out of the Pentagon's budget for next year. And with spending strictly limited by a budget cap, the plane seemed headed for extinction. But in reality, the Growlers aren't dead yet. Like dozens of other programs, the EA-18G Airborne Electric Attack Aircraft, as they're officially known, have ended up on something called the "unfunded priorities list."
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05/01/2014
Even as the IAF awaits the induction of new fighters to retain its eroding combat edge, Air Marshal SBP Sinha took over as the new deputy chief of the force on Wednesday. An ace fighter pilot commissioned in June 1980, Air Marshal Sinha will have to steer all IAF modernization projects in his new assignment.
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05/01/2014
Any conversation about Australia's commitment to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter refers to it as a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. But what exactly is a fifth-generation aircraft, and why is it important? Both the Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Defence Minister David Johnston spoke of the JSF's "fifth-generation" capability as Australia now plans to buy a further 58 aircraft.
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05/01/2014
A newly formed Russian army helicopter brigade has begun training flights in the northwest of the country near the borders with the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia, a spokesman for the Western Military District said Wednesday. “Helicopters of the army aviation brigade of the Western Military District, based in the Pskov region, have begun regular training flights in the skies over northwestern Russia,” Col. Oleg Kochetkov said.
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05/01/2014
The delivery of two French warships to Russia will not be affected by the current EU sanctions imposed in light of the situation in Ukraine, French Permanent Representative to the UN Gerard Araud told RIA Novosti Wednesday. "At the moment they are not affected by the sanctions," he said, adding that the sanctions are only target individuals.
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