July 06, 2014 Military Aviation News
07/06/2014
Despite complaints by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the United States has been slow in its delivery of F-16 fighter jets, no Iraqi pilot team has qualified to fly the aircraft in combat and none will be ready before mid-August, according to an official at the U.S.-based program where the pilots are being trained.
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07/06/2014
Australia's newest and most expensive defence technology acquisition, the high-tech F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has been grounded in the US where it is being built, after one of the stealth bombers experienced an unexplained engine fire. Australia is expected to take possession of its first two JSFs within weeks - more than two years after they were originally planned to be delivered.
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07/06/2014
So, what is happening? Why have leaders from three P5 nations chosen to visit New Delhi in such a short space of time? Is there a common thread in their India visits? Well, here is one word answer: business. No, it is not business in the sense of trade and investment. It is much more lucrative than that. It pertains to defense deals which are generally big-ticket and tend to go into billions of dollars.
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07/06/2014
As friction increases between China and Vietnam over the South China Sea, an important question is how Vietnam’s military, famed decades ago for its resilience and guerrilla warfare, measures up. For the last two months, Chinese and Vietnamese Coast Guard vessels have been jostling each other around a billion-dollar Chinese oil rig that Vietnam says was unilaterally placed in its waters by Beijing.
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07/06/2014
The Lockheed F-117A Night Hawk was an aircraft developed over decades and benefiting from a combination of advanced American engineering and also unique theories about stealth from a Russian scientist that Ben Rich, Lockheed’s top man over the design of secret new military aircraft, believed would give a new American fighter an edge over any other jet or ground defenses.
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07/06/2014
The lack of noise within the aircraft was noticeable compared to the C-17, C-130 or other aircraft. The seats are more comfortable as well. I did not hear the engines start up, and so was surprised when the aircraft took off. And then the incredibly rapid takeoff demonstrated its capability to lift from very, very short fields. The plane had a very stable performance in flight. And all of this is happening inside a very large cargo aircraft.
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07/06/2014
Foreign forces, small in numbers but militarily potent, are already in Iraq, positioned to shape the outcome of the bloody sectarian war threatening to tear the country apart. But it’s clear that while the U.S., Russia and Iran are willing to commit military personnel, munitions or both to the fight, the three have different and sometimes opposing objectives.
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