November 27, 2014 Military Aviation News
11/27/2014
In a concerted effort to avoid combat, U.S. advisers in Iraq are pioneering new techniques for calling in airstrikes against Islamic State militants. The procedures allow U.S. pilots to bomb targets without the need for U.S. advisers on the ground to work alongside Iraqi forces. U.S. military officials say the techniques include low-tech workarounds, such as Iraqi commanders using cellphones to request airstrikes.
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11/27/2014
As India draws closer and buys more military hardware from Israel, questions are raised about what that will mean to traditional key defense suppliers, the US and Russia, as well as New Delhi’s relations with Palestine. Global powers including France, the UK, Japan, the US and Israel have been keenly courting India – the world’s largest arms importer – in their quest to bag some lucrative deals as New Delhi begins an ambitious defense upgrade plan with an estimated budget of $100 billion.
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11/27/2014
With the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project for 126 Rafale fighters stuck in the final stages, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will be holding talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar next week in a bid to resolve the imbroglio. As was first reported by TOI, 90% of the draft contract for the complex MMRCA project has been finalized, under which the first 18 jets are to be delivered to IAF within 36-48 months of the deal being inked.
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11/27/2014
NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft flew their last mission over Afghanistan in September 2014. Since 2001 American AWACS have been available in Afghanistan and still are. NATO AWACS arrived in northern Afghanistan in 2011 to mainly handle the growing number of NATO transports and warplanes operating up there. In three years these AWACs flew 1,273 operational (as opposed to training or administrative) sorties, average about ten hour each.
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11/27/2014
An attack aircraft that the Pentagon is trying to get rid of has been deployed to the Middle East to take on the Islamic State. A squadron-sized element of A-10 Thunderbolts arrived in the region during the week of Nov. 17-21, according to the Air Force. The aircraft were previously being used in Afghanistan.
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11/27/2014
New rules for the 9,800 U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan next year will let commanders order airstrikes or night raids on Taliban forces who pose a significant threat to the Afghan government, defense officials said. The rules came in an order recently signed by President Obama that clarified the authorities U.S. military commanders will have after the official end of the combat mission in December.
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11/27/2014
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency reported that the US State Department had approved the sale to Iraq of a transport aircraft package of total $800 million, which will allow the Iraqi air force to continue conducting humanitarian relief operations beyond 2015.
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11/27/2014
GoPro, an American corporation that develops, manufactures and markets high-definition personal cameras, popular with surfers and other sportsmen, is set to expand its business, Wall Street Journal reports on Wednesday. It will now develop its own line of consumer drones. The multi-rotor helicopters will carry high-definition cameras likely resembling those currently sold by GoPro, such as the GoPro Hero series.
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11/27/2014
14 fighter jets are scheduled to land in Crimea’s Belbek military air base, Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev, a spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, told RIA Novosti. The fighter jets are comprised of ten upgraded Su-27SM's and four Su-30's. All of them are fourth-generation fighter jets. Four of the aircraft deployed in Crimea are newly manufactured, according to Trukhachev.
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