February 05, 2015 Military Aviation News
02/05/2015
The fight against the Islamic State group is down one key ally for now: the United Arab Emirates. Officials said Tuesday that the UAE suspended its airstrike efforts in December after Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured by IS militants, according to the New York Times.
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02/05/2015
Putting a brave face despite the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet contract flowing into rough weather, France on Wednesday claimed that everything is going "normal". Interestingly, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will not be raising the issue of the much delayed Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) during his three day-visit beginning tomorrow.
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02/05/2015
The Air Force is asking for a small increase in its flight hours as it still tries to dig itself out of a readiness hole dating back to a stand down of combat squadrons in 2013. Seventeen combat squadrons were forced to stand down for three months, while additional squadrons faced reduced flying hours as a result of sequestration in 2013. More than 44,000 flying hours were cut.
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02/05/2015
Hundreds of new Russian aircraft, tanks and missiles are rolling off assembly lines. Russian jets roar through European skies under NATO's wary eye. Tens of thousands of troops take part in war games showing off the military's readiness for all-out war.The muscle flexing suggests that Russia's economic woes so far are having no impact on the Kremlin's ambitious military modernization program.
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02/05/2015
“The Indian Air Force’s capabilities are continuing to deteriorate, despite the arrival of a government that seems ready to make big acquisition decisions,” summarizes a recently published Jane’s Defence Weekly briefing on the current state of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Among aviation experts, the IAF has been notorious for its high accident rate in its MIG-21 fleet.
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02/05/2015
The Defence Select Committee found the UK had carried out 6% of coalition air strikes against the jihadist group and said it was "surprised and deeply concerned" it was not doing more. But it stressed it was not in favour of deploying combat forces to battle IS. The government said military action was just part of "comprehensive" action by the international coalition.
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02/05/2015
Revolted by ISIS’s brutal execution of a Jordanian pilot by burning him in a cage, a powerful group of Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday called on the Obama administration to boost military aid to the Arab kingdom. All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote the State and Defense departments asking for increased assistance. The US already is giving Amman $1 billion in military and economic assistance this year.
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02/05/2015
A pair of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers followed by swarms of U.S. Air Force Raptors, Falcons, Eagles and Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets roared through the skies over Nellis Air Force Base on Tuesday. They headed out for a historic Red Flag air combat exercise to mark 40 years since the base began hosting them at the end of the Vietnam War.
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02/05/2015
The B-52 Stratofortress bomber was built during the Cold War, but its digital capabilities have entered the 21st century thanks to Boeing’s ongoing Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) upgrade. On Jan. 28, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a full rate production contract to deliver 10 CONECT kits that modernize communication systems for the B-52 bombers today and into the future.
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