November, 2015 Military Aviation News
11/30/2015
U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
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11/30/2015
Chinese leaders plan to build a military base in Djibouti to "extend their reach," the head of the United States Africa Command said last week. The reported comments by Gen David Rodriguez serve to confirm speculation that China intends to buttress its growing economic involvement in Africa with a military presence, which US officials have however been downplayed.
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11/30/2015
Marking the end of an era, the final Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military airlifter will fly one last time over the Long Beach facility where the aircrafts were made. According to a Boeing spokeswoman, the final C-17 prepared to depart from the Long Beach airport Sunday around noon.
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11/30/2015
Israeli defense minister Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon confirmed Sunday that Russian military aircraft, on at least one occasion, have breached Israeli airspace–without confrontation.
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11/30/2015
In early November, Lockheed Martin and the United States Armed Forces declared that they had signed a defence contract worth $9.1 million. As part of the deal, Lockheed Martin- the U.S. government’s go-to defence equipment provider- will outfit the B-52 ‘Stratofortress’ bombers with new long-range missiles.
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11/30/2015
Russia has a long history of violating airspace and territorial waters as a means of applying pressure to achieve political aims. On Tuesday, the Turkish Armed Forces shot down an unidentified bomber, which Russian authorities claimed was a Russian Su-24 fighter jet. The jet had violated Turkey's airspace, according to a radar tracking diagram provided by the Turkish Chief of General Staff.
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11/30/2015
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals say they will carry through on their campaign pledge to “end Canada’s combat mission” in Iraq and Syria. They are defining the word “combat” very carefully. As my colleague Bruce Campion-Smith reported Thursday, the defence department now says that even after Canada pulls back its six fighter jets from the battlefield, it could leave five other military aircraft there.
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11/30/2015
India's largest-ever military deal is likely to bring in big business for the private sector with the French side looking to set up a production centre for the Rafale fighter aircraft as well as a low-cost executive jet in India, besides sharing vital aircraft technology for the indigenous Tejas project.
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11/30/2015
Indonesia, long a regional power, has been seeking a replacement for its antique US F-5 Tiger II fighters. General Agus Supriatnahas told Indonesian media he has signed a deal to buy 12 of the new Russian air superiority fighters instead of US F-16 Fighting Falcons because “the aircraft have more modern technology”.
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11/30/2015
The first Russian fifth generation fighter is not the much advertised T-50, which according to plan should begin to arrive into the Russian Military and Space Forces in early 2016, but the almost forgotten project MiG 1.44, which was abandoned in the early 2000s.
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11/29/2015
Why President Xi Jinping should want a divided military command when he presently has all the benefits of a unified one seems a puzzle at first. The experience of the United States military would certainly not suggest such an initiative. Take the US Navy, which has long absorbed the largest share of US military spending.
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11/29/2015
U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
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11/29/2015
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is hunting for fighter aircraft apart from the Rafale medium multi-role combat ones and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to meet the existing shortage, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said after the handing over of Presidential Standards to two Mig-27ML squadrons by President Pranab Mukherjee at Air Force Station Hasimara on Saturday. The IAF would be forming several more squadrons in the next few years, the air chief said.
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11/29/2015
“Six of the Chinese aircrafts flew over open seas between the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako, about 1,700 kilometers south-west of Tokyo, on Friday morning, Jiji Press cited Defense Ministry officials as saying,” DPA agency reported. A Chinese air force spokesman told media that several types of planes, including H-6K bombers, a TU-154 information-gathering plane and a Y-8 observation plane were involved in Friday's drill.
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11/29/2015
The German armed forces may send up to 1,200 servicemen to enable the country’s Air Force take part in combat missions in Syria, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Volker Wieker said.
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11/28/2015
A defensive laser and imaging system from Elbit Systems Ltd. was successfully implemented on an Airbus C295 military transport plane, jamming IR, ground-to-air, heat-seeking man-portable missiles (MANPADS) during a test flight. Elbit's MUSIC series of directed IR countermeasure (DIRCM) systems was integrated with an IR missile warning system able to detect, acquire, track and jam trial test equipment on the ground during extreme conditions.
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11/28/2015
Germany will join the military campaign against ISIS militants in Syria by deploying Tornado reconnaissance jets, refueling aircraft and a frigate to the region, after a direct appeal from close partner France for Berlin to do more. The decision to commit military personnel and hardware is a shift for Germany, which has resisted such direct involvement in the conflict. It still has no plans to join France, the United States and Russia in conducting air strikes in Syria.
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11/28/2015
The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) has strongly rejected reports claiming that they are planning to replace the Russian-made engine of JF-17 fighter jet with a new Chinese-made engine. Those reports were mainly from the Chinese media, however, PAC officials have shown their satisfaction with the Russian-made RD-93 engines that are currently in the jets.
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11/28/2015
The Philippines has lacked fighter jets for 10 years, but that situation—which has long embarrassed the military here—is set to end Saturday when two Korean-built FA-50 fighters touch down at Clark Air Base north of Manila.
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11/28/2015
America is home to three military air forces including the United States Air Force (USAF), United States Naval Air Forces (USN, USMC), and United States Army Aviation (USA). With roots stretching back to the early 20th century, these air arms are well understood by most Americans.
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11/28/2015
The Canadian government is leaning towards keeping a military refuelling aircraft and Aurora surveillance planes overseas and allowing them to continue taking part in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The move would placate coalition allies, particularly the United States, who view the refuelling plane and the surveillance aircraft as valuable contributions to the ongoing air campaign.
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11/28/2015
India's largest-ever military deal is likely to bring in big business for the private sector with the French side looking to set up a production centre for the Rafale fighter aircraft as well as a low-cost executive jet in India, besides sharing vital aircraft technology for the indigenous Tejas project.
(Read More...)
11/28/2015
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) slowly but surely are becoming a force to be reckoned with not only in the Middle East, but well beyond the region, Nafeesa Syeed wrote for Bloomberg.While Saudi Arabia and Iran are scrambling for leadership in the Middle East, the UAE has continued to increase its military power.
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11/28/2015
The recent attack on a Russian Su-24 bomber will hardly provoke a military conflict between NATO and Russia. But the both parties need to come to the negotiating table soon, otherwise similar incidents will follow and may eventually lead to a war, Latvian political observer Karlis Dauksts said in an interview with Latvian Radio-4.
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11/26/2015
The decision was announced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a televised government meeting. Gazprom said it had halted gas deliveries to Ukraine because it had used up all the gas it had paid for. But Ukraine said it had stopped buying from Gazprom because it could get cheaper gas from Europe.
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11/26/2015
India and Japan are set to firm up an agreement to jointly produce amphibious military aircraft during the upcoming visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, in what could be the first defence deal between the two countries. The US 2 amphibious aircraft, that has applications for search and rescue, surveillance as well as intelligence gathering, will be produced in India not only for domestic orders but will also be pitched jointly for exports in the region and beyond.
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11/26/2015
A French military aircraft which crash-landed at Masvingo Airport on Saturday night after developing a technical fault, was coming from South Africa and wanted to refuel in Harare, where the officials also intended to drop some items at their embassy, sources told NewsDay.
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11/26/2015
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered state-of-the art air defense missile systems to be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria following the downing of one of its warplanes by Turkey, a move that raised the threat of a military confrontation between the NATO member and Moscow.
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11/26/2015
India and France are set to sign the deal for 36 Rafale fighter aircraft on the eve of French President François Hollande’s visit to India for the Republic Day celebrations. The draft contract, which envisages supply of the first fighter within 36 months of signing the deal, has been finalised.
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11/26/2015
In the wake of the Paris terror attacks, Britain has offered France the use of its airbase in Cyprus, strategically located on the island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Syria, to support air strikes on ISIS. Primarily, the base is going to act as a reserve diversion airfield for the jets operating from the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle that has been operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, from where it launched the first raids against ISIS earlier this week
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11/26/2015
Turkey and Russia should resolve the Su-24 downing crisis and join their efforts in countering Islamic State militants, Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo said Wednesday. On Tuesday, a Russian Su-24 combat aircraft crashed in Syria while carrying out precision strikes against terrorists. Moscow said it was downed by an air-to-air missile, fired from a Turkish F-16 fighter in response to alleged violation of Turkish airspace.
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11/26/2015
The pilot is "alive and well" at a Russian air base in Syria, it says. His co-pilot and a marine involved in a rescue were killed. Turkey said the jet had strayed into its airspace but Russian President Vladimir Putin says the plane was flying over Syrian territory. It is not clear what has happened to the body of the other pilot, who was killed by gunfire as he parachuted from his burning plane.
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11/25/2015
Four crew members on an Army helicopter died when it crashed at Fort Hood, the Texas base's press office said. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down sometime after 5:49 p.m. Monday in the northeastern part of the Fort Hood Range. Emergency crews conducted "an extensive search" that ended with the discovery of the four deceased crew members.
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11/25/2015
Islamic State terrorists are seeking experts to repair captured military aircraft for future use in suicide attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Iraq. The terrorist group that occupies large areas of Iraq and Syria has two Russian-made Sukhoi aircraft and three Russian helicopters that it plans to use in the attacks, according to a recent report in a London-based Arabic language news outlet.
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11/25/2015
Marius Fotiu, head of the organization, pointed out that Cyprus is the closest EU member-state to Syria so the probability of terrorist attacks in the country is extremely high. Activists asked Anastasiades to “invite units of Russian Aerospace Forces and Navy to Cyprus territory,” according to Izvestia newspaper.
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11/25/2015
The UK will acquire nine Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) after a Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) that restored a capability that was eliminated in a similar review five years ago. That previous decision was controversial, and so is this one, because the P-8 has been chosen without a competition. The new SDSR was otherwise unremarkable, with a slight increase in defense spending confirmed, after an 8 percent cut in real terms from 2010-15.
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11/25/2015
Marium Mukhtiar was on a routine training mission when her plane met an "in-flight emergency" over Mianwali district, the air force said. She and her co-pilot ejected. She later died from her injuries in hospital. Flying Officer Mukhtiar was one of a small number of women to work as fighter pilots in Pakistan, and the first to die on operational service.
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11/25/2015
Pakistan will not replace the JF-17’s Russian-made Klimov/Sarkisov RD-93 power plant with a new Chinese engine in the foreseeable future despite Chinese reports to the contrary, IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly reveals. “We are completely satisfied with this Russian-made engine,” a representative of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex recently told IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly. The JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft was jointly developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation.
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11/25/2015
Two FA-50 lead-in fighter trainer jets will be arriving in the country on Friday as part of the Philippine Air Force’s efforts to modernize its aircraft. The aircraft will land for the first time on Philippine soil at Clark Air Base, officially becoming property of the PAF. The two jets are the first of the PAF’s 12 newly ordered fighter jets from the Korea Aerospace Industries worth P18.9 billion.
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11/25/2015
Moscow will deploy a warship off the Syrian coast near Latakia to strengthen the defense of its air base there, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces announced on Tuesday after Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian strike aircraft.
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11/25/2015
Russia will have to resort to electronic warfare in Syria to protect its pilots and prevent incidents similar to the downing of Russia’s Su-24 jet on Tuesday, according to Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinsky; they will include both ground-based systems and equipment installed on special aircraft.
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11/24/2015
Turkish fighter jets shot down a military plane close to the border with Syria on Tuesday after it violated Turkey’s airspace, the military said. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that one of its jets, a Sukhoi SU-24, had crashed in Syria but said it had been downed “presumably as a result of shelling from the ground,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
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11/24/2015
Argentine Defense Minister Agustin Rossi recently cancelled, at the last minute, an agreement his government signed to buy 14 Kfir C10 combat planes for $360 million. The Kfir was manufactured by Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) from the mid-1970s to the middle of the 1980s, and was sold to a number of foreign air forces and was even in use by the US Navy for a short period.
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11/24/2015
The British have released their Strategic Defense Review, declaring they will plug the gaping hole in their anti-submarine warfare capablities by buying nine P-8s from Boeing and showing considerable confidence in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 as they pledge to buy more earlier.
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11/24/2015
The Government’s announcement that it is to spend £178 billion on re-equipping the Armed Forces with new kit is an important first step towards rebuilding Britain’s military credibility. After the disastrous cuts that followed the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), which resulted in vital capabilities such our aircraft carrier strike capability being scrapped, David Cameron’s announcement in the Telegraph that he is committing billions of pounds in extra funding to defense.
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11/24/2015
Aircraft of the Russian aviation group in Syria over the past two days have destroyed a major oil depot and an oil refinery of terrorists in the vicinity of Raqqa, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Monday. "Russian bombers, taking off from the Hmeimim airbase were flying on combat missions to destroy tank truck convoys and oil refineries in the areas of oilfields in the north and east of Syria," the spokesman said.
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11/24/2015
Canada’s options for a ground-training mission in Iraq range from putting regular forces into the country helping instruct troops to overseeing the creation of a Kurdish special forces unit to battle the Islamic State.
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11/24/2015
China has finally been confirmed as the first export customer for the Sukhoi Su-35 combat aircraft, with an order for 24 worth an estimated $2 billion. The deal was sealed at a meeting on November 17 between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. The Chinese guest came to Moscow for 20th session of the Russian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.
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11/24/2015
Indonesia is to participate in South Korea's KF-X program to develop a new jet fighter by the year 2025, South Korean newspapers report. Korea Aerospace Industries, chosen by the government as prime contractor for the fighter program, signed a preliminary contract Sunday with the Indonesian government through which Jakarta would provide 20 percent – about $1.5 billion -- of the project's cost, The Korea Herald reported.
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11/24/2015
According to Russia’s United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation press service, UIMC will begin supplying China with state-of-the-art communication systems for its newly purchased jet fighters next year.
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11/24/2015
On November 9, Russia signed a new contract with Iran on the delivery of "about 300" S-300 air defense systems, according to Russia’s state technologies corporation Roster. The delivery of Russian-made missiles is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan said on November 10.
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11/24/2015
The airstrikes were confirmed by an Israeli military statement released on Monday, according to the Jerusalem Post. "The IDF views Hamas as being the party responsible for what takes place in the Gaza Strip," the statement said. The Israeli military also added that it "will continue to act with severity to keep the calm in southern communities."
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11/23/2015
For the first time in British history, the country's Prime Minister will have his owe military aircraft and not have to rely on charter flights from privately owned air carriers. British Prime Minister David Cameron will be the first Prime Minister to be provided with an aircraft, "Cam Force One" that will be taxpayer funded and appoint to the Prime Minister. The UK is one of handful major countries that does not have a presidential fleet.
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11/23/2015
China and the US clashed over the South China Sea at an annual meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders at the weekend, blaming each other for “militarising” the region as tensions over longstanding maritime disputes continue to simmer. China’s intense programme of reclamation on reefs in the contested waters, and the construction of airfields and other military facilities has sparked concern in Southeast Asian capitals as well as Washington and Tokyo.
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11/23/2015
France's defense minister says French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle sent to help operations against Islamic State militants in Syria will be "operational" from Monday and "ready to act."
France has intensified its aerial bombing in Syria since IS militants attacked a concert hall, cafes and restaurants and a stadium in Paris, killing 130 people and wounding hundreds.
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11/23/2015
A French military aircraft believed to be laden with amour, en-route to Zambia, crash-landed at the Masvingo Airport on Saturday night after developing a technical fault, NewsDay established.
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11/23/2015
In September Kuwait agreed to purchase 28 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft. This includes (22 single seat and six twin-seat versions. This deal was made with the Italians, who are part of a multinational consortium that produced the Typhoon.
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11/23/2015
Satoshi Yamamoto took his 13-year-old daughter to the edge of the U.S. Air Force’s busiest runway in the Pacific on their summer vacation, hoping to give her a thrill while looking at the front lines of a military standoff in the western Pacific. It worked. After seeing four fighter jets roar into the skies of the East China Sea, she declared herself ready to enlist in the American military.
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11/23/2015
After an impasse over technicalities, India and France are working to finalise the agreement for the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets before the visit of French President Francois Hollande to India as the chief guest of the next Republic Day parade here. “Negotiations are in an advanced stage and both sides are working to reach an agreement before the visit,” a Defence Ministry official told The Hindu.
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11/23/2015
ISIL militants have been surrendering to advancing Peshmerga troops on the regular basis since supply routes connecting Iraq and Syria have been cut off heavy pounding by the US-led coalition airstrikes, a frontline commander of Kurdish forces in Gwer, Qadr Qadr, told Kurdish media outlet Bas News on Sunday.
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11/23/2015
London will allocate about 200 billion pounds ($300 billion) over the next ten years to strengthen its defense capabilities, including for the fight against terrorism, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said. “We cannot leave the burden and risks of protecting our country to others,” Cameron said in an article for The Telegraph.
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11/22/2015
Russia’s Aviakor aviation factory has delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces the first modernized Tu-95MSM strategic bomber/missile carrier, the company’s press office reported.
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11/22/2015
China displayed its latest and biggest military unmanned aircraft at an industry expo that closed in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Friday, in an attempt to attract more buyers for its combat drones. The CH-5 combat drone, developed by China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, made its first flight in August, becoming the heaviest and strongest military drone in China.
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11/22/2015
World leaders have united against ISIS in a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on countries to take 'all necessary measures' to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The Security Council unanimously agreed to the resolution, which states that the barbaric group 'constitutes a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security'.
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11/22/2015
India has added eight Boeing P-81 Poseidon planes to its naval fleet this month. The planes will be housed at the Rajali Naval Air Station and are classified as the Indian Naval Air Squadron 312-A unit. The unit will be managed by Commander Venkateshwaran Ranganathan.
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11/22/2015
The United States recently stepped in and blocked an effort by Uzbekistan to buy twelve South Korean T-50 jet trainers. These aircraft go for $34 million each (including training, spare parts, and some tech support). The United States was able to block the T-50 sale because the aircraft uses American jet engines and a lot of American electronics. All this stuff requires American permission before it can be exported as part of an aircraft.
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11/22/2015
Russia continues waging effective war on terrorism in Syria round-the-clock - compared to America’s phony war, creating and supporting its scourge, used to advance its imperial interests. After transforming a neglected Latakia, Syria airfield into the Khmeimim strategic hub, Russian aerial operations against ISIS and likeminded groups continue effectively without letup.
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11/22/2015
The purchase of new fighter jets is to be speeded up, Chancellor George Osborne said, as he promised funding to ensure the Royal Navy can deploy one if its new aircraft carriers at all times by 2023. Details of the upgrade will be at the centre of the Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), due to be set out to the Commons by Prime Minister David Cameron tomorrow.
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11/22/2015
"The upgrade has significantly boosted the combat capabilities of the aircraft and the operating conditions for the crew," Alexei Gusev, CEO of Aviakor, said. The aircraft was named Dubna (after a town outside Moscow). The adjustment of the Tu-95 for the new armament and new military requirements took three months. The second aircraft is currently being upgraded by Aviakor and will be delivered to the Defense Ministry later in 2015.
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11/22/2015
Experts across the world seem to be impressed by the latest addition to Russia's war arsenal – the Kh-101 cruise missile, which has been spotted in footage released by the Russian Ministry of Defense earlier this week.
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11/21/2015
The government of Lebanon is warning that a Russian military maneuver being conducted this weekend "will have a direct effect on Lebanon's airspace and will bring air traffic to and from Beirut's airport to a complete halt." According to a post on the Lebanese government's website, "specialized authorities at Rafik Hariri International Airport received information from the Russian navy notifying them that they will be carrying out training and maneuvers for three days, starting midnight tonight.
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11/21/2015
Data Link Solutions (DLS), a joint venture between BAE Systems and Rockwell Collins, won a contract from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to help bridge the communications gap between fifth-generation stealth aircraft and fourth-generation fighter jets.
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11/21/2015
In the wake of the Paris terror attacks, President Barack Obama took some very intense questions about whether the United States is hitting ISIS hard enough. Was it time to change strategy? He said no, that the answer was to ramp it up. A variety of military powers are engaged against ISIS -- the United States, France, Russia, the United Kingdom -- along with several Arab nations and the Kurds, who are fighting them in northern Iraq and Syria.
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11/21/2015
Air power advocates in Washington have called for the Pentagon to consider building to a force of 150 to 160 mission-ready heavy bombers before the Boeing B-1 and B-52 retire in 2045. According to estimates presented in a new report by the Mitchell Institute, America would need to muster 258 heavy bombers to succeed in a large-scale conflict with Russia if 50% of the targets in 180 days of campaigning were assigned to long-range bombers.
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11/21/2015
Twenty nine long-range bomber aircraft have delivered strikes at positions of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syrian territory from direction of the Caspian Sea, Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergey Shoigu said in a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces, on Friday.
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11/21/2015
RAF Typhoons from Lossiemouth in Scotland scrambled to escort the two Blackjack Tu-160 bombers as the skirted UK airspace along the Atlantic. The supersonic Russian jet bombers then flew south to Gibraltar before entering the Mediterranean and firing cruise missiles at targets in Syria and heading home north eastwards.
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11/21/2015
The US State Department has approved a possible sale of a high-altitude, long-endurance drones and related equipment to Japan amounting to more than a billion dollars, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release on Friday.
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11/21/2015
Russia has used its successful aerial campaign in Syria to showcase the best weapons the country has in its arsenal. Some of them, including the Tupolev Tu-160 (Blackjack) strategic bombers and the Raduga Kh-101 cruise missiles, were combat tested for the first time.
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11/21/2015
India will supply Afghanistan with four Russia-made attack helicopters within the next two months to help in its fight against the Taliban militant group, an Indian broadcaster cited its sources as saying.
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11/20/2015
The long-awaited, highly anticipated deployment of the E-3 Sentry (AWACS) Block 40/45 is finally over, with the deployment of the first upgraded weapon system to a combat theater of operations. The first E-3G arrived in Southwest Asia Nov. 18, marking the deployment of the most comprehensive modification to the weapon system in its 38-year history. The changes improved communications, computer processing power, threat tracking and other capabilities.
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11/20/2015
November 19. /TASS/. Russia’s combat aircraft based at Hmeimim have been attacking terrorist positions in Syria round the clock. The intensity of their strikes grew noticeably over the past few days, Russia’s Aerospace Force spokesman Igor Klimov has said. "We have been actively using all combat aircraft at the Hmeimim base," he said. "The planes fly sorties round the clock, day and night."
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11/20/2015
Syria, November 19. /TASS/. Russia’s combat aircraft based at Hmeimim have been attacking terrorist positions in Syria round the clock. The intensity of their strikes grew noticeably over the past few days, Russia’s Aerospace Force spokesman Igor Klimov has said. "We have been actively using all combat aircraft at the Hmeimim base," he said. "The planes fly sorties round the clock, day and night."
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11/20/2015
The Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack supersonic strategic bomber made its combat debut on Tuesday as the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked Islamic State (ISIL) positions in Syria. The Tu-160 was the last strategic bomber developed in the USSR. It became a formidable answer to the stealthy Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit – the last US-made Cold War-era strategic bomber, military analyst Dave Majumdar wrote in his article for The National Interest.
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11/20/2015
Russia and China have signed a contract on the delivery of 24 multirole Su-35 Flanker jet fighters, Rostec’s director of international cooperation and regional policy Viktor Kladov said Thursday.
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11/19/2015
Russia has intensified all types of intelligence in the Middle East region, including space reconnaissance, the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, Col. Gen. Andrey Kartapolov, said Wednesday.
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11/19/2015
While Canada’s newly elected leader is seriously considering pulling that nation out of the global partnership building the F-35 joint strike fighter, the action is not expected to slow down the production ramp-up underway at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth.
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11/19/2015
The US Marine Corps' (USMC) MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft are set to extend support to a series of US / UK exercises from the flightdeck of HMS Ocean. During the amphibious assault training in the Mediterranean, an Osprey detachment will be based on the Royal Navy flagship for several weeks to transport US and Royal Marines from ship to shore.
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11/19/2015
An Air Force Special Operations AC-130J Ghostrider plane valued at $115 million will be scrapped due to a “mishap” that occurred during a test flight earlier this year, the military announced this month.
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11/19/2015
Whatever Islamic State made of Vladimir Putin’s order to the Russian navy to treat French forces “as allies” in the waters off Syria, it will have sent a shiver through at least a couple of Paris’s allies. Russia’s president gave the command on Tuesday, as he and his French counterpart pledged separately to crush a terror group that claims to have launched Friday’s attacks in Paris and downed a Russian airliner over Egypt two weeks earlier.
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11/19/2015
The Russian Armed Forces will organize joint military operations with the French Navy to combat terrorists in Syria, chief of the main operations directorate of Russian army’s General Staff Andrey Kartapolov said on Wednesday.
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11/19/2015
It is, to say the least, an awkward situation: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government is committed to pulling Canadian jet fighters out of combat against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, just as the attacks on Paris have prompted French President François Hollande to urge much greater international co-operation to fight the terrorists.
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11/19/2015
The United States has authorized an $80 million sale of Bell helicopters and related equipment and parts to Argentina, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a release on Wednesday.
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11/19/2015
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will be ready to begin its operation against ISIL radicals before the end of the week.
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11/18/2015
An agreement on the sale of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets was announced by China during the 14th Dubai International Air Show, media reports said. The JF-17 Thunder is a lightweight single-seat multirole supersonic combat aircraft which is jointly developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chinese Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation.
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11/18/2015
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has talked briefly with Vladimir Putin as the US and Russia consider stepping up military action against Islamic State. Mr Turnbull and the Russian president met briefly during a session of the G20 summit in the Turkish resort city of Antalya before the prime minister jetted off to Manila for the start of the APEC summit.
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11/18/2015
The Islamic State group's ferocious attack on Paris will be met with "intensification" of the U.S.-led fight against the terror group, President Obama said Monday, but it will not fundamentally alter his strategy nor his reluctance to put more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. "We have the right strategy and we're seeing it through," Obama said during the close of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.
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11/18/2015
Make in India – for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this has become a maxim of state policy. Ever since he graduated to the prime minister’s office in 2014, Modi’s message to the world has been unchanged: Come, Make in India. From day one the government’s articulated policy has been clear: The way forward involves increasing manufacturing growth and raising it to global competitiveness standards.
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11/18/2015
Even as president Vladimir Putin vowed revenge against the Islamic State (Isis) for its role in bringing down the Russian passenger plane in Egypt's Sinai region, Moscow has announced the deployment of Tu-160, a Soviet-era bomber known as the "Blackjack."
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11/18/2015
Russia said for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb aboard a Russian charter jet full of vacationers had destroyed the aircraft that crashed more than two weeks ago on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and the Kremlin responded immediately by escalating airstrikes across Syria.
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11/18/2015
The multi-billion dollar deal for purchase of 36 Rafale combat aircraft is in "final stages" of price negotiations, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said. A new roadmap for the upgradation of the inventory in the Indian Air Force is being prepared with focus on 'Make in India' initiative, and any future acquisition will be based on it, he told news agency PTI.
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11/18/2015
US military expert Dmitri Gorenburg suggests that Russia's military operation in Syria has demonstrated major improvements to the country's warfighting capabilities, the result of years of military reform.
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11/18/2015
"At this moment, our air force…10 fighter jets are against hitting Raqqa, and as you know tomorrow the aircraft carrier Charles De Gualle will leave for the eastern Mediterranean to continue strikes on specific targets in particular around Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour," said French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to Reuters.
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11/18/2015
As Washington and its allies criticize Beijing for what they perceive to be aggressive actions in the South China Sea, the Chinese government has pointed out that it has demonstrated "great restraint," even as the Pentagon patrols its territorial waters.
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11/17/2015
French bombing sorties against Islamic State targets in Syria following the terrorist attacks in Paris have provided a further platform for the Dassault Aviation SA Rafale warplane to burnish its combat credentials. Raids on IS targets in the city of Raqqa identified as a training camp and arms depot saw the use of six Rafales and four Mirage 2000 jets in an action coordinated with U.S. forces, according to the French defense ministry.
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11/17/2015
Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) is one of the most important parts in the training of modern fighter pilots. At the same time, an air combat maneuvering (ACM) session, where friendly and (simulated) enemy fighters fly against each other, can be one of the most dangerous training environment. Although quite rarely, mid-air collisions do occur, sometimes with fatal results.
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11/17/2015
The Wedgetail is part of the Royal Australian’s 21st century air power transformation effort and strategy. It is the core air battle management platform in the RAAF and is often referred to as an AWACs, although it is not.
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11/17/2015
In the first wave of U.S. airstrikes since the Paris attacks, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AC-130 gunships raked a convoy of more than 100 ISIS oil tanker trucks in Syria in a stepped-up effort to cut off a main source of terror funding, the Pentagon said Monday.
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11/17/2015
The U.S. Air Force is developing a new bomber that promises to secure the U.S. advantage in modern warfare. The next-generation long-range strike bomber, recently awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. for development, will not be designed to rely on as yet undeveloped technologies, as is so often the case with new aircraft and weaponry. Instead, the aircraft will combine and fully exploit existing advanced stealth technology, integrated software, ordnance and countermeasures.
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11/17/2015
Although relatively small in scale, Russia's military operation in Syria has highlighted some major improvements in Russian military capabilities. Compared to the 2008 Georgia War, which was the last time the Russian Air Force operated in a combat environment, the Russian military appears to have made great strides in increasing operational tempo and improving inter-service integration.
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11/17/2015
France’s Safran SA has shelved plans to make engine parts for Rafale combat aircraft in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scaled back purchases of the warplane. The company won’t make the components with state-run Indian defense contractor Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. since the nation has ordered only 36 jets rather the more lucrative 126 originally mooted, according to Safran’s India Chief Executive Officer Stephane Lauret.
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11/17/2015
The Islamic State group's ferocious attack on Paris will be met with "intensification" of the U.S.-led fight against the terror group, President Obama said Monday, but it will not fundamentally alter his strategy nor his reluctance to put more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. "We have the right strategy and we're seeing it through," Obama said during the close of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.
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11/17/2015
The federal government is still considering attaching a warship to a French carrier task group set to conduct air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. But it's ruled out relaxing current rules of engagement to allow RAAF combat aircraft to step up attacks on IS targets in Syria.
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11/17/2015
Russia is expected to deliver the S-300 missile defense systems to Iran no later than March 2016, and while no additional details have been made public, the US media decided to speculate what other Russian weapon systems Iran might be interested in.
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11/16/2015
World leaders promised a forceful response to Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, including intensified airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, intelligence cooperation and measures to tighten border security. In the earliest sign of that commitment, the French launched a series of strikes late Sunday against Islamic State targets in Syria, in part based on the new intelligence provided by the U.S.
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11/16/2015
The Japanese and Philippine leaders will agree this week on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to supply Manila with used military equipment, possibly including aircraft that could be deployed to patrol the disputed South China Sea, sources said. The deal will mark the first time Japan has agreed to directly donate military equipment to another country, and is the latest example of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's more muscular security agenda.
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11/16/2015
The federal government has started taking action on a Liberal promise to dump the F-35 stealth fighter and purchase a cheaper aircraft to replace the military’s CF-18 jets. Public Services and Procurement Canada has created a new office to oversee the purchase. Paula Folkes-Dallaire, a senior public servant from the Fisheries department, is slated to start Monday as senior director of the Future Fighter Capability project, sources told the Citizen.
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11/16/2015
After Friday’s attacks in Paris, two sides that don’t usually agree on anything found common ground on one issue: Both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ISIS said the attacks were retaliation for France’s own foreign policy.
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11/16/2015
Australia has on order 72 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) planes. The problem? For years many have been saying that they’re simply… not very good. Yet public debate over this large purchase has been largely absent, though Canada’s rethink could drive up costs further for other nations.
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11/16/2015
Mohammed Emwazi, from London, who killed Western hostages including British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, was himself killed on Thursday evening in a drone attack involving two American and one British aircraft.
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11/16/2015
French warplanes launched a ferocious retaliatory assault late Sunday on targets in Raqqa, Syria - the Islamic State's de facto capital - after coordination with U.S. defense officials who helped with the targeting.
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11/16/2015
The Danish aircraft should broaden its participation in the anti-Islamic State coalition, and participate in its aerial operations in Syria, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said.
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11/16/2015
The US and Czech experts will conduct an observational flight over Russia under the Treaty on Open Skies on November 16-21, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov said Monday.
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11/16/2015
The Russian experts will conduct an observation flight over Austria under the Treaty on Open Skies on November 16-19, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov said Monday.
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11/15/2015
As this stunned city tried to come to terms with the horror that struck it the night of Friday the 13th, the word “war” echoed in cafes, on the streets, and in the statements of government officials. Teams of suicide bombers from the so-called Islamic State, striking at soft targets in the heart of the city and a stadium on the outskirts, had taken their own lives along with those of at least 129 innocents, blasting away with Kalashnikovs at a rock concert and restaurants, and at a soccer game.
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11/15/2015
On the morning after France’s long night of terror, the language of war has been impossible to avoid. President François Hollande declared the attacks on Paris “an act of war that was waged by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, by Daesh [the Islamic State], against France.” The Islamic State has hailed the “blessed” operation of its “soldiers” and has vowed continued attacks. Pope Francis has described the current state of events as “a piece” of a piecemeal Third World War.
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11/15/2015
The Paris terror attacks are likely to galvanize a stronger global military response to Islamic State, after a U.S.-led air war that has lasted more than a year has failed to contain a group now proving itself to be a growing worldwide threat. The United States, long accused of taking an incremental approach to the struggle, is under growing political pressure at home and abroad to do more and it is expected to examine ways to intensify the campaign, including through expanded air power.
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11/15/2015
The nation’s first female fighter pilots will be combat-ready and take to the skies by around 2018, the Defense Ministry said. The move is touted as part of the government's push to add more women in the workplace, as women, only about 30 in total, pilot transport aircraft, patrol planes and patrol helicopters.
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11/15/2015
France, which has been hit by deadly terror attacks twice this year, is paying the price for its front-line role in combating Islamic militants. French special forces have been tracking Islamist militants in the Sahara since 2013. France was the first European country to join the U.S. air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq last year and is the only European country to join the U.S. in air strikes in Syria.
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11/15/2015
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is likely to manufacture the combat version of military aircraft Hawk in the coming months. HAL and BAE Systems discussed this in London during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK.
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11/15/2015
The F-35 joint strike fighter program is transitioning to a day when its pilots will come fresh out of flight school and the new jet fighter will be their first assignment. The services’ cadre of pilots so far have been veterans of other programs such as the F-15, F-16, Harrier or A-10s, said Mike Luntz, director of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 training systems. “Many of the pilots that we have trained to date have been the more experienced pilots,” he said in an interview.
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11/15/2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived at a G20 leaders’ summit that has been overshadowed by the brazen terror attacks in Paris, a killing spree blamed on Islamic State extremists that will test the commitment of the new Liberal government to end its combat mission against the militants.
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11/14/2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given new defence minister his marching orders - and Harjitt Sajjan's top priority is to end Canada's combat mission in Iraq and Syria. The Nov. 6 letter, released Friday in a package of so-called "mandate letters" from the prime minister to his cabinet members, was also notable for what it didn't say in terms of the other thorny defence issues facing the new Liberal government.
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11/14/2015
The French Navy has completed the test of Rafale's new RBE2 active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during combat missions over Iraq. The French Navy operated an AESA radar-equipped Rafale M F3 omnirole combat aircraft in the test during actual close air support (CAS) and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) combat missions over Iraq, Naval-Technology reported Thursday.
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11/14/2015
The Pentagon is unflinchingly tight-lipped about any new, high tech planes it has in the works. But every so often, a bit of information manages to squeak out into the public domain. In 2013, the U.S. Air Force sent a secret spy plane out over the Pacific region. The unknown aircraft — possibly a drone — flew "national collection missions" — a euphemism for strategic intelligence against states like North Korea or China.
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11/14/2015
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and its and its partner, the Pakistan Aeronautical complex (PAC) Kamra, is once-again reiterating that it has signed a deal to sell the JF-17 Thunder to an unnamed customer at the Dubai airshow.
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11/14/2015
A team of researchers from China is said to have created a material that could hide the world's best war machines from the all-seeing eyes of the most powerful anti-stealth microwave radars… and they have made the technology publicly available.
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11/14/2015
The Russian T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation jet fighters is a "100 percent digital aircraft" because of the "smart covering" of its body, Igor Nasenkov, Deputy CEO of KRET Holding, told RIA Novosti. KRET, part of Russia’s Rostec hi-tech corporation, developed electronic systems for the aircraft.
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11/14/2015
The US government has approved the sale of advanced electronic surveillance aircraft to Japan and Australia, the Department of Defense said in two contract notifications.
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11/13/2015
A UNITED States B-52 strategic bomber flew over artificial Chinese islands in the South China Sea recently and was contacted by Chinese ground controllers but continued its mission undeterred, a Pentagon spokesman said overnight.
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11/13/2015
Air Force Col. Martha McSally was leading a squadron of A-10 attack jets over Afghanistan when they encountered U.S. forces engaged in a desperate fight against Islamist insurgents. One of the embattled troops signaled his unit’s location with a small mirror that reflected sunlight upward. McSally, the first American woman to fly in combat, and the other pilots flew to the light and opened fire with the seven-barrel Gatling cannons nestled in the A-10s’ noses.
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11/13/2015
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is the best air superiority fighter ever built, but could America have done better? When the YF-22 prototype won the contract for the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) in April 1991, it was a lesser plane compared to the Northrop YF-23 in many ways. Though the YF-22 was a more maneuverable aircraft, the YF-23 had far greater supersonic cruise capability—especially when outfitted with the General Electric YF120 variable cycle engines.
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11/13/2015
Turkey, perhaps for the first time, allowed its soil to be used for combat operations by both NATO allies and non-NATO countries when it struck a deal with the US in late July to open Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey to the US-led coalition forces of about 60 nations in their fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
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11/13/2015
BAE Systems PLC on Thursday cut its earnings outlook for the year and said it would reduce production and jobs for the Typhoon combat jet after failing to secure export business it had expected to win. BAE Systems said full-year earnings per share should be 38 pence, the same as last year, after previously saying they would be “marginally higher,” the London-based arms maker said on Thursday. Earnings would have been lower if not for a 2 pence-a-share tax benefit.
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11/13/2015
The Pentagon is unflinchingly tight-lipped about any new, high tech planes it has in the works. But every so often, a bit of information manages to squeak out into the public domain. In 2013, the U.S. Air Force sent a secret spy plane out over the Pacific region. The unknown aircraft – possibly a drone – flew “national collection missions” – a euphemism for strategic intelligence against states like North Korea or China.
(Read More...)
11/13/2015
The Indian government will increase orders for its homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), called Tejas, from 20 to 120, but Air Force officials question the plane's capabilities, and the scheduled arrival of a more advanced model remains murky.
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11/13/2015
Argentine defence minister Agustin Rossi has announced that negotiations for new fighter jets are under way, but will be left to the next government to purchase. Rossi’s decision comes only a day after the Argentine government announced the purchase of Israeli manufactured Kfir fighters.
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11/13/2015
A Russian engine is being installed in Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder fighter jet which inspires hope for cooperation between the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Russian engine maker, a PAC representative said on Monday.
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11/12/2015
Indonesia could take China to an international tribunal if Beijing’s South China Sea territorial claims, which include Indonesia’s resource-rich Natuna islands, aren’t resolved through dialogue, Jakarta’s chief security minister said Wednesday.
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11/12/2015
The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of for Lockheed Martin C-130J transports and associated equipment to France. The proposed deal under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program - administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency - would be worth an estimated $650 million.
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11/12/2015
The United States military is far by the most technologically advanced and capable force the Earth has ever seen. From satellites, to stealth fighters and bombers, to advanced surface ships and submarines, America’s arsenal is unmatched by any other power. But American military supremacy rests on maintaining that technological edge. Even now, Russia and China are advancing their capabilities in the hopes of one day matching or even exceeding U.S. capabilities.
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11/12/2015
Northrop Grumman didn't get long to celebrate winning one of the most important defense contracts of the 21st century. The week after it secured a $55 billion-and-growing deal to build the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LSRB), the successor to the B-2, losing bidders Boeing and Lockheed filed a protest against the stealth bomber contract award.
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11/12/2015
The FC-1 Fierce Dragon, or JF-17 Thunder, a fourth-generation fighter jet co-developed by China and Pakistan, has found a buyer following several years of speculation and promotion. The aircraft's developers, Aviation Industry Corp of China and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, signed a contract with an unidentified buyer, AVIC said in a statement sent to China Daily on Tuesday.
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11/12/2015
The Lockheed Martin F-16 Auto Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) team was presented a 2015 Aviation Week Program Excellence Award for its role in managing part of the F-16 Auto GCAS program.
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11/12/2015
The results of Russian anti-terrorism efforts in Syria are reassuring against a backdrop of ineffective military action of the US-led international anti-ISIL coalition, Thierry Mariani, the head of a French National Assembly delegation to Syria, told journalists.
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11/12/2015
The Russian Helicopters Company has signed contracts with the Iranian Helicopter Support and Renewal Company (PANHA) on upgrading its maintenance and overhaul facility for Mi-17 helicopters, the Russian company’s deputy head said Wednesday.
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11/12/2015
China and Thailand will conduct joint air force exercises for the first time in November, China’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday. "The Air Forces of China and Thailand will hold first joint exercises Falcon Strike-2015 on November 12-30," the ministry stated on its website.
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11/11/2015
The French military has stepped up its bombing campaign against the Islamic State group's oil infrastructure with two new strikes in eastern Syria, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday. "We struck again twice last night in the Deir Ezzor region, firstly on an oil distribution station and secondly on a gas separation plant," Le Drian told journalists on the sidelines of a forum on African peace and security in Dakar, Senegal.
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11/11/2015
The Finnish defence ministry said Tuesday it has scrapped plans to renew its aging fleet of trainer aircraft after none of the planes on offer seemed to fit. A German model, made by Grob Aircraft, was deemed too expensive, daily Helsingin Sanomat reported.
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11/11/2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his visit to the United Kingdom this week, will cite the growing cooperation between UK-headquartered BAE Systems, and Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Together, BAE Systems and HAL have created a major assembly line for the Hawk advanced jet trainer (AJT) in Bengaluru, which has built for the Indian Air Force (IAF) the world's largest Hawk fleet outside the UK.
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11/11/2015
Argentina is expected to sign a contract on 10 November covering the purchase of 14 Kfir Block 60 fighters. The nation's air force opted to acquire upgraded examples of the Israel Aerospace Industries-produced combat aircraft, which have been non-operational for two decades.
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11/11/2015
"The UAE is about to sign a contract for buying three AgustaWestland 609s for the Joint Aviation Command," announced Maj. Gen. Abdullah Al Hashimi, the executive director of Strategic Analysis at the UAE Ministry of Defense. "We have signed a memorandum of understanding with AgustaWestland and wanted to announce our interest in the aircrafts, [and] contracts will be signed soon."
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11/11/2015
Pakistan could become the fourth country to operate the Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft as Islamabad has expressed an interest in the aircraft, an online news outlet reported on Tuesday.
The new outlet claimed that the parties had already held preliminary talks. Quoting industry sources, the news outlet claimed that Pakistan Air Force officials had been talking to executives from Rosoboronexport and Irkut.
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11/11/2015
The criticisms are not new, the development is slow and they say time is constant here like a black hole circling over India. Many shortfalls and many waivers but still to see the bird on IAF’s hand, yes am talking about HAL Tejas (LCA), will take you back to 1960’s with up and downs in Indian aerospace industry and finally a glimpse of hope with a big order and future development plan.
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11/11/2015
The Pentagon has deployed fighter jets to Turkey to protect slow-flying U.S. attack planes hitting Islamic State targets in Syria and to deter Russian aggression in the region, a Defense official said Tuesday. The F-15Cs will provide cover for bombers, attack and cargo planes from Syrian and Russian fighters, said a Defense official who spoke about that role on condition of anonymity, because officials were not authorized to discuss the role of the aircraft.
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11/11/2015
Afghanistan, Africa, Iraq and Syria—all three conflicts might lead the U.S. Air Force to delay retirement of the A-10 'Warthog,' a top general said. The United States Air Force is rethinking its plans to retire the venerable A-10 attack plane in response to an uptick in the demand for combat aircraft across the Middle East and Africa, the Pentagon’s air combat chief said Tuesday.
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11/10/2015
This is a big move, not just for the Army, but for the Pentagon, who haven't always been that successful with recent dives into the deep end of the innovation pool. In the past few decades, "the Pentagon generally has not bought what we call 'clean sheet designs,' or helicopters that are designed from scratch, but instead they keep buying the next improved version of the helicopter already in their fleet," explains Ray Jaworowski, a senior aerospace analyst at Forecast International.
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11/10/2015
The director general of the state corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov, confirmed today that countries of the Persian Gulf are negotiating with Russia the purchase of S-300 missile air defense systems and Su-35 fighters. According to the executive, not only did Moscow sign a contract with Iran for the supply of anti-aircraft systems, but it is already in force.
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11/10/2015
“We intervened in Syria… yesterday evening with a strike on an oil supply center near Deir Ezzor on the border between Iraq and Syria,” Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced today. Given the location of the strikes, it’s likely the fighters were launched from their forward location in the Kingdom of Jordan. Satellite imagery has confirmed that the French Air Force deployed its six Mirage 2000 fighters to Prince Hassan AB, Mafraq Governorate.
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11/10/2015
The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has awarded a SEK154m ($17.8m) contract to Saab to provide support and maintenance for Gripen aircraft. Saab signed a contract in 2012 with FMV for performance-based support and maintenance of the Gripen fighter and the new contract is an exercise of an option held under that contract.
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11/10/2015
Two FA-50 lead-in fighter trainer jets will be arriving by the end of the year as part of the Philippine Air Force’s efforts to modernize its aircraft, according to the PAF. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Delgado, the PAF commanding general, personally tested one of the units in a test flight last Friday in South Korea, the PAF spokesman said on Monday. “He co-piloted one of the flights… He was very excited since it flew at the speed of sound, it was a supersonic flight,” said Col. Enrico Canaya.
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11/10/2015
It’s no revelation that the Egyptian resort destination of Sharm El-Sheikh is also a well-known Israeli Mossad ‘intelligence playground’. If indeed Israeli covert operatives were somehow involved in this incident, it wouldn’t be the first time that Israel carried out a false flag attack in order to manipulate another nation into a wider war. The case of Israel’s attack on the USS Libertyis a prime example of this.
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11/10/2015
For decades the West has mocked Russia’s military as an aged, low-tech throwback to a defunct Cold War. But a new air campaign in Syria and a swath of fresh technology is turning that notion on its head.
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11/10/2015
Saudi Arabia will upgrade its US-built F-15 Eagle fighter jets, defense contractor Lockheed Martin with the sensor suite that includes Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP), LANTIRN Extended Range (ER) navigation pods and Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems.
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11/10/2015
Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec head Sergey Chemezov said that the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Brazil are interested in the purchase of Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighters.
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11/10/2015
According to the head of Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec, Saudi Arabia is interested in acquiring Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems.
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11/09/2015
Chinese airframer AVIC has delivered a shock at Dubai by revealing a surprising level of detail about its proposed FC-31 Gyrfalcon fifth-generation multi-role fighter, even though the type has yet to secure a launch customer. The aircraft being promoted appears to be a follow-on development of the company’s J-31, a mysterious black fighter aircraft that appeared in at the flying display at Airshow China in Zhuhai last November.
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11/09/2015
Fighter aircraft from the US, UK and France dominated the aerial displays, while on the ground many more multi-million-dollar jets and helicopters were on view. Among the 160 aircraft on display at the Dubai Airshow, it is the sleek, shiny passenger aircraft of Boeing and Airbus which Gulf carriers normally order in their hundreds.
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11/09/2015
China’s deployment of the more advanced J-11BH/BHS fighter aircraft to Woody Island, revealed in photographs released via online Chinese-language media websites in late October, underscores how seriously the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is taking its claims to the South China Sea.
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11/09/2015
The main bell in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg tolled 224 times on Sunday, once for each victim of the destruction of a Russian charter flight in Egypt a week ago. Although President Vladimir V. Putin and his aides at first indignantly dismissed suspicions of a terrorist act, the Kremlin has since then clearly come to grips with the idea that a bomb was probably involved in the crash: Late Friday it suspended all travel by Russians to Egypt.
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11/09/2015
There is probably no air force in modern history that deserves more credit for innovation and adaptive skills than the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). For more than 35 years the Iranian force has struggled to maintain a fleet of aging American-made equipment, acquired under the reign of the former Shah of Iran.
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11/09/2015
Italy’s air force appears set to join an elite group of services capable of fighting their way into hostile territory by using combat aircraft carrying active jamming technology. Elettronica chief executive Enzo Benigni welcomed Italian defence minister Roberta Pinotti to the company’s stand on the opening day of the show, before announcing that a teaming agreement has been signed to work on an escort jammer pod.
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11/09/2015
After almost two years of negotiations and endless speculations surrounding the question of what fighter jet Argentina would go for, Argentine media report that a decision has been made to purchase the IAI Kfir jets to replace the South American Air Force’s 14 Mirages 3. According to the report, in Interdefensa Militar Argentina, the decision is currently awaiting final approval from the Cabinet.
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11/09/2015
The Syrian armed forces have repelled an attack of Islamic State (ISIL) militants on an airbase near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, destroying 58 jihadists, local media said early Monday.
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11/09/2015
Russia is holding talks with Egypt on the delivery of Antey-2500 anti-ballistic missile system and Buk surface-to-air missile system, Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec head Sergey Chemezov said Sunday.
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11/08/2015
Boeing and Lockheed Martin formally challenged the selection of Northrop Grumman to build a heavy bomber valued at up to $80 billion, calling the process “fundamentally flawed.” Boeing believes its “game-changing” innovations were ignored in the Pentagon’s calculations.
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11/08/2015
As the United States prepares to intensify airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria, the Arab allies who with great fanfare sent warplanes on the initial missions there a year ago have largely vanished from the campaign.
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11/08/2015
Five years after Britain’s dire finances triggered a Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) that axed capabilities, force numbers, readiness and ambition, the government gets to have another go at setting out its military priorities in the next few weeks when it wheels out the new version of the review.
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11/08/2015
France's planned acquisition of four C-130 Hercules for €330 million (US $361 million) has fueled a debate between the armed forces and procurement officials over buying the US airlifter, while Airbus scrambles to develop a competing offer, defense executive and analyst sources said. Later this month, France expects to receive a US letter of acceptance setting out the price of four Lockheed Martin C-130Js, a defense specialist said.
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11/08/2015
One of three Airbus Defence & Space-modified widebodies operated by the service, the aircraft is equipped with under-wing hose-and-drogue refuelling pods, which support operations with the Dassault Mirage 2000. It also has an advanced refuelling boom system, cleared to support other MRTTs – and crucially the UAE’s Lockheed Martin F-16E/Fs. These have been used in an offensive role as part of the international campaign to tackle Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
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11/08/2015
The US Air Force has deployed air superiority planes near Syria. Six F-15C Eagle jets, belonging to the 493rd Fighter Squadron of the 48th Fighter Wing, from RAF Lakenheath, UK, have just deployed to Incirlik airbase, in Turkey. According to the US Air Force, the air planes were moved close to Syria “in a demonstration of the United States unwavering support for Turkish sovereignty and the collective security of the region.”
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11/08/2015
Lockheed Martin has closed its acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft, a world leader in military and commercial rotary-wing aircraft. Aligned under the Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training (MST) business segment, Sikorsky Aircraft is now known as Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company.
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11/08/2015
The Middle East continues to be a key market for growth in both the commercial and defense aerospace sectors, according to the latest Boeing market forecasts released ahead of the Dubai Airshow which opens tomorrow. Boeing will showcase a range of products and services at the show, including flydubai’s Next-Generation 737-800, Qatar Airways’ 25th 787 Dreamliner, the Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, the U.S. Navy’s P-8 Poseidon and the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22, among others.
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11/08/2015
The seventh Indra exercises will take place in India's northern Mahajan firing range until November 20 with the focus on the so-called Counter-Terrorism Operations in Desert Terrain under a United Nations Mandate, according to a press release of the Indian Defense Ministry.
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11/06/2015
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attends a press conference after the NATO military demonstration in Zaragoza, Spain, Wednesday Nov. 4, 2015. NATO is putting on its most fearsome display of military might in over a decade with soldiers, ships and planes meant to hone and test its abilities as well as send an unequivocal sign to Russia and other real or potential foes.
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11/06/2015
Canada’s new minister of National Defence is still a serving member of the Canadian Forces, putting him in the unusual position of theoretically having to take orders from generals who are supposed to answer to him. Harjit Sajjan, a lieutenant colonel in the army reserves, is trying to obtain his release from the Canadian Forces but at this point is still a member of the military.
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11/06/2015
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has announced plans to acquire new weapons and military gear to boost the country’s deterrence capability. The acquisitions will include new Polonez long-range multiple launch rocket systems fitted with a 200-kilometer strike range, to be delivered in the years 2016-2017.
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11/06/2015
France will deploy its only aircraft carrier to support military operations to combat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday. In a statement by the French presidency following a meeting of its defense cabinet, the government said the Charles de Gaulle warship would be sent to the eastern Mediterranean for operations against Isis in both Syria and Iraq.
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11/06/2015
The U.S. Air Force is developing a new bomber that promises to secure the U.S. advantage in modern warfare. The next-generation long-range strike bomber, recently awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. for development, will not be designed to rely on as yet undeveloped technologies, as is so often the case with new aircraft and weaponry.
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11/06/2015
Ultra advanced stealth, fighter jet speed … and now the military’s F-35 has a new weapon.
The F-35 Lightning II is a truly fifth-generation fighter jet. This advanced powerful single-seat and single-engine fighter is designed to be capable of a range of missions with just one aircraft.
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11/06/2015
Russia has sent missile systems to Syria to avert the hijacking of their combat aircraft, said a top commander. The "Islamic State" has reiterated claims it downed a Russian civilian plane as retribution for airstrikes.
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11/06/2015
Twenty-three Russian arms and aircraft makers will display hundreds of military weapons and hardware at the upcoming Dubai Airshow, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Thursday.
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11/06/2015
The first photographic evidence of an Iranian Air Force plane that brought Iraqi Shiite volunteer fighters to Syria to fight against ISIL terrorists has appeared on the Internet. A picture posted on the Instagram account of the Iranian group Holy Defense shows an Iraqi soldier standing in front of an Iranian C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft supposedly in Syria.
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11/05/2015
Much has been said about the legal and geopolitical aspects of Chinese land reclamation in the South China Sea, but U.S. PACOM Commander Admiral Harry Harris’s Congressional testimony last month gave a closer look at specific U.S. military concerns posed by China’s artificial islands. Harris detailed the military utility of deep water port facilities and 3,000 meter runways on three newly built Chinese islands.
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11/05/2015
Evidence now suggests that a bomb planted by the Islamic State militant group is the likely cause of last weekend's crash of a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, U.S. and European security sources said on Wednesday. Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria and is battling the Egyptian army in the Sinai Peninsula, said again on Wednesday it brought down the airplane, adding it would eventually tell the world how it carried out the attack.
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11/05/2015
The battle over who will build the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation stealth bomber came to a close last week, but a new conflict is already developing at the Pentagon. A defense budget passed Friday has Congress and military planners seeking $5 billion in defense cuts, as the Air Force prepares to squeeze another costly development program into a Pentagon budget already packed with big-ticket weapons buys.
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11/05/2015
The last flying Vulcan bomber might have performed an illegal roll in the weeks leading up to its final flight, it was claimed today. Footage is being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority to establish whether the much-loved Cold War aircraft - XH558 - performed the manoeuvre during a recent flight.
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11/05/2015
It has so far cost over $3.5bn, and is eight years late. Hailed as the most expensive weapon in history, the controversial F-35 stealth fighter jet is undergoing rigorous testing at California's Edwards Air Force Base. Now, researchers have revealed the hugely delayed and over budget project has finally fired its first shots in the air.
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11/05/2015
DEADLY games of chicken are once again playing out in the skies above Europe and the South China Sea. Combat planes from Russia, China and the United States are all out to prove a point. But a declassified video reveals how horribly wrong things can go. In recent months, footage of fully armed Russian and Chinese aircraft passing dangerously close to US and European counterparts have breathed a fresh chill into a Cold War long thought over.
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11/05/2015
The US Department of State has approved the sale of up to 200 Hellfire air-to-ground (AGM) missiles to France, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a news release on Wednesday. "The government of France has requested a possible sale of two-hundred (200) AGM-114K1A Hellfire Missiles; Hellfire Missile conversion kits; blast fragmentation sleeves and installation kits; containers; and transportation," the release stated. "[T]he total estimated cost is $30 million."
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11/05/2015
Several Southeast Asian nations, including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, have shown interest in buying Russian-Indian supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles, a spokesman for the manufacturer said Wednesday.
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11/04/2015
The Russian and U.S. air forces held a joint training exercise in Syria on Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported, citing a general with Russia's armed forces, while the U.S. downplayed the report, saying event was merely a test of safety protocols. Russian and U.S. air forces held a joint training exercise in Syria on Tuesday meant to prevent dangerous encounters between their aircraft, Russia's defense ministry said.
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11/04/2015
Republicans and Democrats announced agreement Tuesday on a revised version of the massive defense policy bill to align it with the new budget agreement the president has signed into law. Among other things, the deal retains provisions in the vetoed 2016 defense authorization bill that block for a year the Air Force’s plan to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-support jet — a mainstay of operations at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
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11/04/2015
In 2009, Boeing had an idea. Instead of developing an entirely new fighter for a market already dominated by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, it would update an already existing fighter with the latest in technology. Even better, it would be low observable—a step below stealthy planes such the F-35 and F-22 Raptor.
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11/04/2015
Russia’s air campaign in Syria has demonstrated that the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily has made great strides toward recovery since its near collapse in the mid-1990s. However, while the Russian air force is receiving much needed new hardware, the service’s modernization plans could create some challenges in the years to come.
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11/04/2015
Israeli and Jordanian pilots are reported to have trained together at a US-hosted air force exercise this past summer, an American official told Reuters on Tuesday. Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon also vaguely confirmed the rare acknowledgment of military cooperation between Israel and it's Arab neighbor in a speech on Tuesday saying that Israeli pilots trained with unspecified Arab pilots in July's "Red Flag" exercise.
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11/04/2015
A collaboration contract for joint work and delivery of 154 Perspective Multirole Fighter (PMF), the derivative Indian version of the PAK FA T-50 fifth generation fighter jet, is expected to finally be signed during the Indo-Russian summit this December, The Financial Express reports.
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11/04/2015
Russia's military intervention in Syria in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad has made US operations in the country more complicated. Although both countries are purportedly fighting ISIS, their larger strategies are at cross-purposes in Syria, where the US advocates a political transition in which Assad eventually steps down.
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11/04/2015
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) completed more than 27,000 hours of simulated flight time on an F-16C Block 50 aircraft and is now analyzing the data to determine the durability of the aircraft beyond its original design service life of 8,000 hours.
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11/04/2015
Lockheed Martin has received the final regulatory approval needed to close its acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft, a world leader in military and commercial rotary-wing aircraft, from United Technologies Corp. The completion of the regulatory review by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China marks the end of a successful and comprehensive regulatory review process in eight jurisdictions.
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11/04/2015
Recent tests have proven that the 'President-S' electronic warfare defense system has been successful in protecting Russian helicopters from enemy attacks.
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11/03/2015
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula was long known for its stunning desert treks and pristine diving. But in recent years, the territory has gained a reputation for its violence and militancy. Some of the same arid landscapes that drew tourists for desert safaris are now lawless badlands stalked by dangerous militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
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11/03/2015
Airbus is seeking ways to allow the A400M to refuel helicopters and airdrop paratroopers on both sides of the fuselage, two capabilities seen as key for the military transport, said Fernando Alonso, head of military aircraft. The plane is a “fantastic platform,” but Airbus Defense & Space knows air forces of the client nations are “very frustrated” and eager to have the capabilities fitted, Alonso told journalists Oct. 26.
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11/03/2015
A modernised RAAF equipped with new combat aircraft will easily overmatch credible regional adversaries and could even take on a great power threatening Australia, a new study says. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says the RAAF is updating almost its entire aircraft fleet, from basic trainers through to frontline combat aircraft.
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11/03/2015
In an attempt to outdo its archrival Pakistan, which has offered its JF-17 fighter jet, India is trying to sell the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft to Sri Lanka, the Sunday Observer reports. The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is looking to procure 18 to 24 new fighter aircraft to replace its obsolete fleet of Chinese license-built MIG-21 by 2017, although there have been debates within the country about whether the SLAF is in genuine need of a next-generation fighter aircraft.
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11/03/2015
One of Britain’s most promising space plane technology companies has just secured investment for what may mark a turning point for the future of air transportation: a non-expendable unmanned hypersonic aircraft capable of operating in space at 25 times the speed of sound.
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11/03/2015
Director general of Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said that Russia has been supplying Iran with air defense systems and several types of radio electronics, while continuing negotiations on military-technical cooperation.
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11/03/2015
Last year, aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky announced its intention to develop a brand new version of the UH-60A, also known as the Black Hawk helicopter. The goal: To make the aircraft fully functional without the need of a pilot. Last week, the company took a major step toward that goal. Conducting tests at Sikorsky’s Aircraft Development Flight Center, an autonomous Black Hawk successfully delivered an amphibious all-terrain vehicle.
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11/03/2015
Although the conflicting sides aren't ready for an all-out war against each other, any incident might potentially lead to a military escalation. Last week, the USS Lassen, a US Navy missile destroyer, sailed through the disputed waters in the South China Sea in an attempt to challenge Chinese territorial claims. China strongly criticized the action and immediately issued a statement saying that it would take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security.
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11/03/2015
A US surveillance satellite detected a heat flash over the Sinai Peninsula at the same time the Russian Kogalymavia airliner crashed on Saturday killing all 224 people on board, according to media reports. The satellite’s evidence does not support the theory that the airliner was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, NBC News reported on Monday evening.
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11/02/2015
Four US-made F-16 fighter jets joined the Egyptian Air Force as part of Egyptian-American military cooperation. Commander of the Air Force Younes Al Masry said the Egyptian Air Force fighters are in war with terrorism to protect the Egyptian borders as part of the Egyptian national security.
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11/02/2015
Disputes over territory in the South China Sea are causing countries in the region to increase their demand for an American security presence, the United States defence chief said yesterday. “The attention to disputed claims in the South China Sea, the prominence of those disputes, is having the effect of causing many countries in the region to want to intensify their security cooperation with the United States,” US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters during his trip to South Korea.
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11/02/2015
air strikes by Turkish and US aircraft in Syria on Saturday killed more than 50 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and wounded around 30, Turkish media said on Sunday. A senior government official told Reuters on Saturday that Turkish jets had bombed ISIL targets in Syria, as before Turks prepared to vote in Sunday's parliamentary election.
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11/02/2015
Fearful of a possible military intervention by Moscow, Eastern European NATO member states are resisting acquiring new equipment from Russia and scrapping their cooperation with Russian defense manufacturers to service their existing gear. In Slovakia, the Defence Ministry is planning to replace a large portion of its Warsaw Pact-era military equipment with new gear, preferably purchased from other NATO member states, local analysts said.
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11/02/2015
In the wake of a Russian passenger plane crash that killed all 224 people on board, several major airlines announced they will avoid the area where the tragedy occurred, as details of the crash grew murkier. Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates all said they will no longer fly over the area in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where a Metrojet plane reportedly snapped in half while traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg Saturday.
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11/02/2015
The White House announced last week that it will dispatch no more than 50 U.S. military advisers to Syria to help rebels battle the Islamic State militants. Here are answers to some key questions surrounding the developments.
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11/02/2015
With prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau sticking by his campaign promise to end Canada’s bombing mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the usual warmongers and fear mongers have stepped up their game. Desperate to keep Canada’s military in a fighting war — any war — the retired Colonel Blimps brigade has been furiously penning editorials arguing why Trudeau must stay the course and keep on bombing.
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11/02/2015
China’s military conducted aerial and maritime drills this past week, its official news portal said, just days after a U.S. warship sailed through disputed waters in the South China Sea in a direct challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims.
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11/02/2015
Canadian, US military experts will fly over the territory of Russia under the Treaty on Open Skies on November 2-6, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov has announced.
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11/01/2015
After two F-14As from VF-41 Black Aces shot down two Su-22 Fitters on Aug. 19, 1981, the Tomcat faced again LARAF (Libyan Arab Republic Air Force) fighters on Jan. 4, 1989, when two jets from VF-32 Swordsmen shot down a pair of MiG-23 Floggers. In the following video you can see, for the very first time, the whole dogfight, including previously unreleased (at least not available on the Web) footage.
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11/01/2015
Gen. Carlton "Dewey" Everhart, Air Mobility Command commander, delivered the final keynote address of the 2015 AMC and Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium on Oct. 31, addressing more than 1,500 Mobility Airmen and civilian partners in attendance. This was Everhart's first opportunity to engage such a large crowd of mobility experts in one location on the past, present and future state of global mobility operations.
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11/01/2015
Two Russian anti-submarine planes flew close to a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific, prompting four F-18 combat jet to be scrambled to escort them away, according to a US Navy official. The jets were launched from the USS Ronald Reagan on Tuesday after two Russian anti-submarine TU-142 “Bear” aircraft flew past the warship at a distance of one nautical mile, the official told Reuters on Thursday.
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11/01/2015
The biggest factors that stem from the sudden Russian deployment of air and ground forces to Syria are several fold. Firstly, it does highlight a major failure of intelligence – and even if it wasn’t the intelligence, then it was failure in interpretation of the data, a serious degree of wishful thinking. Second, it highlights the fact that many/most western armed forces have taken a “capability holiday” from high intensity threats over the past decade and more.
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11/01/2015
The crash of a Russian jetliner in the Sinai Peninsula once again raises concerns about planes flying near combat zones, which have been a growing worry for aviation regulators. U.S. aviation officials earlier this year warned airlines and pilots not to traverse the area of the Sinai Peninsula below 26,000 feet out of concerns that ground fire could put planes at risk.
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11/01/2015
For much of the last decade, workers at Boeing's aircraft manufacturing plant in St. Louis, Missouri, continued in the aviation company's long tradition of churning out quality major defense items for a steady stream of customers at home and abroad. According to the labor union chief for many Boeing employees there, the last thing on the workers' minds was the possibility of being laid off.
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11/01/2015
The air war over Syria has seen the combat debut of some of the most advanced warplanes from around the world. No less than three new fighter types from the United States and Russia have dropped weapons in anger for the first time. But those new jets are accompanied by their older stablemates, which are often the mainstays of the war on both sides.
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11/01/2015
Ever since ISIL got the world's attention in 2014 by swallowing large chunks of Iraq and Syria, US politicians have been asking themselves the rhetorical question of whether the terror group would have been able to rise if US forces never left Iraq. The National Interest contributor Daniel L. Davis explains why it would have made little difference.
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11/01/2015
Representatives from Syrian opposition groups, as well as officials from the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad will take part in future talks on settling a conflict in the country, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing on Friday.
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