December 24, 2014 Military Aviation News
12/24/2014
The jihadist group claimed it had shot down the jet with a heat-seeking missile near the city of Raqqa. It published photographs showing the pilot, who has been named as Flight Lieutenant Moaz Youssef al-Kasasbeh. This is the first US-led coalition aircraft to be lost on IS territory since air strikes began in September. Jordan is one of four Arab states which have bombed targets in Syria.
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12/24/2014
Air Force officials removed 82 two-seat F-16D Fighting Falcons from flight earlier this summer after discovering cracks along the canopy sill longeron between the front and rear pilot seats. The longeron is a major structural component that carries significant loads during dynamic flight operations of the F-16. Of these 82 aircraft, 32 belong to the 56th Fighter Wing.
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12/24/2014
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has won a contract worth nearly half a billion dollars to supply advanced air-combat missiles, in a deal that involves sales to South Korea, Oman, Singapore and Thailand. The $491.5 million Air Force contract includes production of an undisclosed number of Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles and other AMRAAM system items, including a captive air-training missile, computer reprogramming equipment and an airborne instrumentation unit.
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12/24/2014
During the first half of 2014, a militant group calling itself the Islamic State overran large swathes of Iraq. Much of the Iraqi army, which the U.S. spent many years and billions of dollars training and equipping, collapsed. Alarmed at the deteriorating situation, the Obama administration in June began deploying hundreds of security personnel to Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and facilities. The Pentagon also stepped up its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights over the country
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