June 06, 2015 Military Aviation News

Navy kicks off Baltic Sea exercise Friday

06/06/2015

One of the Navy’s largest exercises in Europe began Friday, bringing more than 5,500 troops and dozens of ships and aircraft from 17 nations together in the Baltic Sea. The annual BALTOPS exercise will focus on interoperability among maritime forces on tasks such as air defense, maritime interdiction and anti-submarine warfare, according to the Navy. Participants are expected to bring 49 ships, 61 aircraft and one submarine.

The China challenge in the West Philippine Sea

06/06/2015

Throughout various periods in its ancient history, China stood as the de facto hegemon in East Asia, exercising imperial influence through a wide and sophisticated network of tributary relations with smaller kingdoms on its peripheries.

ISIS selfie leads to U.S. air strike on headquarters

06/06/2015

Airmen at Hurlburt Field, near Pensacola, used social media posts by the insurgent group to track the location of an Islamic State group headquarters building. Twenty-two hours later, three joint direct attack munitions destroyed the target, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, at a June 1 speech in Arlington, Virginia.

Putin’s Thinly Veiled Threat of Nuclear War Is Working

06/06/2015

Moscow recently announced that it will procure 50 new nuclear-capable bombers, the Tupolev TU-160 or Blackjacks, which are the world's largest combat aircraft. This seemingly anodyne announcement points to a critically important element of Russian strategy that we overlook at our and our allies' peril.

Finnish F/A-18s capture beautiful low-level video of mountains and fjords

06/06/2015

Two F/A-18s with the Finnish Air Force shot this gorgeous video as they flew over the Norwegian coastline recently. The pair were among jets from nine nations that took part in Arctic Challenge Exercise 2015, an exercise that included approximately 115 combat aircraft deployed at several airbases in Sweden and Norway, according to The Aviationist. The jets were returning to Bodo, Norway after the exercise when they shot this video.

How to defeat the Islamic State

06/06/2015

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter’s recent remarks on the efficacy of Iraq’s army reflect the fact that, despite years of training by thousands of U.S. and coalition forces, the army has not been able to halt Islamic State aggression. What makes anyone think that a few more months of similar training will yield success?

Pentagon chief says new action needed on Russia over Ukraine

06/06/2015

The United States needs to take new steps to respond to the Ukraine conflict because economic sanctions and other Western actions have failed to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to reverse course, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday. Carter, speaking after conferring with U.S. officials in Europe, said the Pentagon was watching the Ukraine situation very closely and was concerned about "further things happening" after the worst upsurge in fighting in months.

5 differences between Navy and Air Force fighter pilots

06/06/2015

Both the Navy and Air Force fly jets, right? So what’s the difference between fighter pilots from the two branches of service?

Go Ahead, China—Copy Our Crappiest Warplane

06/06/2015

China’s been introducing new high-tech weapons at a breakneck pace as it races to catch up to the U.S. military. And the tanks, ships, planes, and other hardware that Beijing can’t invent on its own, it tends to copy from American, Russian, European, or Israeli designs.

US Deploys B-52 Strategic Bombers for Military Exercises in Baltic Region

06/06/2015

Three B-52 strategic bombers deployed to Europe on Friday to participate in military exercises with NATO partners in the Baltic region and Poland, the US Strategic Command said in a statement. The deployment also provides opportunities to “synchronize strategic activities and capabilities with allies and partners” in the US European Command.

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