March 10, 2015 Military Aviation News
03/10/2015
As it faces yet more political backlash over the mothballing of the A-10 warplane, the Air Force is launching a new effort to prove that it truly cares about the mission of supporting ground troops with massive firepower. In an unprecedented move, top Air Force leaders last week convened a “Close Air Support Summit” at the Pentagon with senior officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, National Guard Bureau and Special Operations Command.
(Read More...)
03/10/2015
On Feb. 24, two Turkish RF-4E Phantom planes on reconnaissance crashed into a mountain near Malatya, in southeast Turkey, killing four pilots. Eight days later, two more pilots died when an F-4E-2020 Phantom, upgraded by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), crashed during a Turkish-Azerbaijani joint air exercise.
(Read More...)
03/10/2015
Last week Air Force officials appeared on Capitol Hill to discuss the weapons programs they want to fund in 2016. As usual, details about one of the biggest programs, the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B), were few and far between. The Air Force wants to keep potential adversaries guessing about the bomber’s capabilities, so all it has said is that it plans to buy 80-100 strike aircraft at a cost of $550 million each with initial fielding in 2025.
(Read More...)
03/10/2015
Much against the wishes of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Defence Ministry has decided that only state-owned monopoly Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will meet the service's future basic trainer requirements through its HTT-40 trainer, which is still under development. However, to meet the Air Force's immediate needs, until the homemade HTT-40 is inducted, MoD has ordered another 38 Swiss-made Pilatus PC-7 Mark-IIs to top the 75 ordered by the outgoing government in 2012.
(Read More...)
03/10/2015
Faced with delays over its biggest airforce deal, a worried Indian government has asked Russia to expedite production of the planned fifth-generation fighter aircraft and given up its earlier condition that it should be a 50-50 joint venture, a report says. The deal for buying 126 Rafale fighter aircraft from France's Dassault has been delayed over negotiations over the $11 billion price tag and guarantees over quality.
(Read More...)
03/10/2015
Russia continues to flex its military muscles throughout Europe. Russian President Putin has sent tens of thousands of Russians troops and heavy equipment into Georgia and now eastern Ukraine, and has only received a light slap on the wrist for his illegal military aggression. Is it any wonder Russian military aircraft are now constantly buzzing European aircraft and encroaching on European airspace? Putin is doing what any bully will do when unchallenged…that is, continue to act belligerently.
(Read More...)
All Articles