March 05, 2015 Military Aviation News
03/05/2015
The Pentagon has announced that depleted uranium (DU) munitions have not, and will not, be used by US aircraft in the conflict against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The policy U-turn contrasts with statements made over previous months, where Pentagon officials claimed that DU would be used if needed; the decision reflects a growing stigmatisation of the controversial weapons.
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03/05/2015
The US Air Force (USAF) has placed 18 primary combat-coded A-10 Thunderbolt II close-combat support aircraft into the backup-aircraft inventory (BAI) status. Congress has authorised an increase a total of 36 A-10 aircraft into BAI status. The service, however mothballed a fewer number of aircraft to assess whether the action adequately balances ongoing requirements and the need for upgrade.
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03/05/2015
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Red Flag - the United States Air Force's premiere air-to-air combat training exercise. For the last four decades it's evolved and today it continues to hone the skills of its participants to meet current and future real world adversarial challenges.
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03/05/2015
Though questions remain about how realistic the plans are, Moscow reportedly said Monday that it hopes to build its second aircraft carrier -- which would measure about 10 percent larger than the ones currently in the United States' Nimitz-class fleet. The National Interest, citing Itar-Tass News Agency, reported that the proposed carrier would be able to hold about 100 aircraft and would use a catapult take-off system.
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03/05/2015
RUSSIA says it has been conducting mock “attack runs” on NATO warships in the Black Sea as reports emerge of commercial airliners having to “dodge” prowling Russian bombers. As tensions continue to escalate over Russia’s barely concealed involvement in the Ukrainian civil war, it has adopted an increasingly aggressive posture towards its old Cold War enemies.
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03/05/2015
Over recent years, Iran has made great play of its burgeoning domestic aerospace capabilities by revealing a number of 'new' combat aircraft types to the world. For about the last five years, state media has heralded a steady stream of new fighters and other types which, it claims, demonstrate the Islamic republic's ability to design, develop, and manufacture the latest generation of combat aviation.
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03/05/2015
The increase comes despite a slowing Chinese economy. State-run Xinhua news agency notes that it is a smaller increase than previous years. In 2014 the budget had increased by over 12% over 2013, and this year's would be the smallest increase in five years. The total military budget will rise to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.45 billion) which will still be a distant second to the US' more than $600 billion in military spending in 2013.
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03/05/2015
Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said that it is yet unclear whether the deal on the deliveries of French Rafale fighter jets will be finalized before the April's visit of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France.
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03/05/2015
Russia's new Richag-AV radar and sonar jamming system can be mounted on helicopters, ships and other military equipment to jam potential adversaries' weapons systems from distances of several hundred kilometers away; it has been hailed by developers as having no analogue anywhere in the world.
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