October, 2018 Military Aviation News
10/31/2018
Defense Secretary James Mattis made a forceful call for all parties involved in the brutal war in Yemen to come to the negotiation table within the next month, to bring to an end to a conflict pushed by a Saudi Arabian-led coalition that has devolved into a military stalemate that has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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10/31/2018
Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s third quarter revenue grew 13.5% to $5.7 billion year-over-year, despite its KC-46A Pegasus tanker programme struggling with another delay and highest costs.
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10/31/2018
Belgium has selected the Lockheed Martin F-35A to fill a 34-aircraft requirement to replace its fleet of F-16s. Belgian defence minister Steven Vandeput announced the decision on 25 October at a media briefing, making Belgium the 13th partner in the programme. Vandeput says the acquisition is around €500 million ($560 million) less than the €4 billion budgeted for. Deliveries are due to begin in 2023.
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10/26/2018
With a need to keep ahead of increased threats in the Middle East, the Israel Air Force is soon to place orders on several new aircraft to upgrade its aging squadrons. Most of Israel’s aircraft are decades old, and with its first F-35I Adir stealth squadron operational, the IAF and Defense Ministry are now considering one of the largest defense deals in Israel’s history with US aerospace giant Boeing
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10/26/2018
Pakistan’s government has provided a $183.4 million sovereign guarantee for the sale of three JF-17 fighters to Nigeria. Pakistan appears to have a second international customer for its domestically assembled Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 “Thunder” multirole fighter jet after Myanmar.
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10/26/2018
The United States faces a dangerous imbalance with security threats on the rise and military preparedness ravaged by years’ worth of the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA)-driven defense budget cuts. That is why Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ recent directive for the Navy and Air Force to increase the readiness of their fighter aircraft is so important. In it he states: “…we must focus on meeting our most critical priorities first.
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10/26/2018
Alongside its plans to acquire Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, Belgium is also in negotiations to purchase a pair of medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicles. The country's defence ministry says the government has approved the start of negotiations with the USA over the requirement. Although it does not specify which UAV it hopes to acquire, images released by Brussels show a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9B Sky Guardian – a NATO-standard variant of the B-model Predator.
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10/26/2018
Belgium has selected the Lockheed Martin F-35A to fill a 34-aircraft requirement to replace its fleet of F-16s. Belgian defence minister Steven Vandeput announced the decision on 25 October at a media briefing, making Belgium the 13th partner in the programme. Vandeput says the acquisition is around €500 million ($560 million) less than the €4 billion budgeted for. Deliveries are due to begin in 2023.
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10/25/2018
The Chinese People's Liberation Army is pushing ahead with its ambitious plan to build a modern, capable "blue-water navy" that will dominate China's neighbors, showcase Beijing's rising power and one day even threaten the US Navy. China has one aircraft carrier in operation, another undergoing sea trials, and a third one in development, putting the Chinese navy on track to begin fielding carrier task forces as it gains experience with carrier operations.
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10/25/2018
The Pentagon's F-35 is conducting attacks, surveillance operations and combat missions with an updated on-board “threat library” of Mission Data Files engineered to identify enemy threats in key regions around the globe. “The AORs (Areas of Responsibility) for current operations where our forces are -- currently have adequate Mission Data Files,” Vice Adm. Mat Winter, Program Executive Officer for the F-35 program, told a group of reporters
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10/25/2018
BAE Systems Australia has successfully inducted the final Hawk Mk 127 lead-in trainer aircraft into its Williamtown maintenance facility ahead of its upgrade, which will make the Royal Australian Air Force’s Hawks among the most advanced of its type in the world.
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10/25/2018
Rival producers of airborne early warning and control/battle management aircraft are stepping up their efforts to halt a non-competitive acquisition of the Boeing/Northrop Grumman E-7 Wedgetail system by the UK.
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10/24/2018
The well-known French company Dassault used this year’s Euronaval 2018 exhibition to display a model of the New Generation Fighter (NGF) that will eventually replace the current generation of Dassault’s Rafales and Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoons aircraft by around 2035-2040.
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10/24/2018
The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) took delivery of its first Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon Viper (V) Block 70 multirole combat aircraft, according to an anonymous ROCAF source quoted by China News Agency. The first of four ROCAF F-16A/B fighter jets currently being upgraded by Taiwan’s state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to the F-16V variant was handed over to the service at an airbase in Chiayi county in southwestern Taiwan on October 20.
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10/24/2018
Embraer's KC-390 transport has received a type certification from the Brazilian aviation authority, Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil. A ceremony was held at Brasília Air Force Base to deliver the civil certificate of airworthiness to Embraer on 23 October. It was attended by Brazilian President Michel Temer, as well as the country’s Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna, and Lt Brig Gen Nivaldo Rossato, its air force commander.
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10/24/2018
Saab has been awarded a $117 million contract covering its portion of the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the US Air Force's T-X trainer project. Announcing its receipt on 18 October, the Swedish company said the sum will cover activities running through 2022, with these to run in parallel with work performed by T-X prime contractor Boeing. "EMD includes testing, US military flight certification and delivery of five jets," says Saab.
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10/22/2018
At 5:00 PM on October 16, a twin-engine Su-27UB1M jet fighter of the Ukrainian Air Force’s 831 st Tactical Aviation Brigade smashed into the ground near the village of Ulaniv in western Ukraine. According to a purported eyewitness account , the fighter entered an uncontrolled spin above the village, but the pilots adjusted its trajectory to crash in an empty field.
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10/22/2018
In the first of a three-part series on the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, Channel NewsAsia’s Aqil Haziq Mahmud visited Lockheed Martin’s production facility for an in-depth look at the fighter jet and how it could be a battlefield game changer.
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10/19/2018
For the first time, Egypt has unveiled about its new unmanned aerial aircraft system, of which it had recently furnished its Airforce. In a move which was described as a “major shift, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense yesterday released a documentary on its official social media pages, introducing the “Wing Loong” armed drones. The video was published on the occasion of the 45th Air Force Day.
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10/19/2018
Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi Al Falacy, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, the United Arab Emirates, visited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru on Wednesday. He was briefed on all the ongoing projects in HAL and taken around the Helicopter Complex, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Division and Hawk Final Assembly hangar.
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10/19/2018
The Association of the United States Army held its annual conference and exposition in the nation’s capital last week. The event was huge and heavily attended, with hundreds of suppliers participating. But it wasn’t hard to figure out who had the biggest exhibit. It was Textron, owner of Bell Helicopter, which brought a full-scale model of a tiltrotor combat aircraft to the event.
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10/19/2018
Two pilots, one American and one Ukrainian, were killed in a crash during joint war games in the Ukraine. A Ukrainian Su-27UB fighter aircraft crashed in an area about 185 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev during the ongoing Clear Sky 2018 exercises, US Air Forces in Europe said in a statement Tuesday. "We have seen reports claiming a U.S. casualty and can confirm a U.S. service member was involved in this incident."
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10/19/2018
The Philippines has identified the Saab Gripen as the best candidate for the nation’s fighter requirement. The government-owned Philippine News Agency recently quoted defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana as saying that the Swedish fighter is the best option in terms of price and capability. He is reported as saying that the inclination to acquire Gripen follows thorough research into the matter.
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10/17/2018
The UK has for the first time tested an experimental shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) technique at sea using a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning. BAE Systems test pilot Peter Wilson performed the manoeuvre while recovering to the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in mid-October, the UK Ministry of Defence confirms.
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10/17/2018
The US Air Force concluded in an accident investigation report that a fatal Lockheed Martin F-16CM Thunderbird crash on 4 April was the result of the pilot suffering loss of consciousness, caused by an 8.56g manoeuvre.
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10/16/2018
The MQ-25A Stingray is evolving out of a now-cancelled carrier-launched ISR and attack drone program called Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system, or UCLASS. The Navy will launch formal flight testing in 2021 for a new, first-of-its kind carrier-launched drone engineered to double the attack range of F-18 fighters, F-35Cs and other carrier aircraft.
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10/16/2018
The U.S. Air Force is assessing what damage more than a dozen F-22 Raptor fighters suffered when Tyndall Air Force Base sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. Up to $2 billion in fighter jets were trapped on the ground because of maintenance issues and forced to ride out the Category 4 hurricane. Photographs show the hangars where F-22s were parked suffered severe damage.
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10/16/2018
After completing inspections, more than 80% of operational Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft flown by US services and international partners have been cleared for flight operations.
The worldwide fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft was grounded for inspections on 11 October after a problem with the aircraft’s engine fuel tube was discovered, which is believed to be related to the first crash of the stealth fighter a few weeks ago.
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10/16/2018
Aero Vodochody rolled out its first L-39NG jet trainer on 12 October, four years after the Prague-based company announced that it was to launch a new-generation version of its single-engined design at the Farnborough air show in July 2014. Manufacturing of parts and sub-assemblies started in 2017, with pre-serial production having commenced in January and the NG's first flight expected before year-end.
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10/16/2018
The export version of AVIC’s Z-19 reconnaissance/attack helicopter is ready to start batch production following various tests. The company says that the Z-19E export variant has undergone various performance and other tests, reports the official China Daily newspaper. It is produced by AVIC unit Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing. While the Z-19 is operated by the Chinese army, it is not clear if AVIC has secured a customer for the Z-19E.
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10/15/2018
Almost all of the U.S. military’s newly developed weapons systems suffer from “mission-critical cyber vulnerabilities,” a review of government security audits conducted from 2012 to 2017 found, suggesting military agencies have rushed to computerize new weapons systems without prioritizing cybersecurity.
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10/15/2018
The Defense Department is scrambling for ways to ensure the U.S. military’s fleet of warplanes is able to fly and fight when called upon, despite a string of accidents over the past several months. Defense Secretary James Mattis recently took the unprecedented step of demanding an 80 percent readiness rate for all military aircraft, just days before the Pentagon ordered a fleetwide grounding of the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
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10/15/2018
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force (PLANAF) has acquired Xian-H-6J anti-ship cruise missile-carrying bombers, according to satellite imagery taken on September 7. An analysis of the satellite images shows that the first four H-6J bombers — assumed to be the naval variant of the upgraded H-6K — were on the ground at the PLANAF air base at Guiping-Mengshu in Guangxi in early September.
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10/14/2018
We have been leading the coverage on the state of aircraft left behind after Hurricane Michael made a direct strike on the highly important Tyndall Air Force Base. We have posted pictures showing QF-16s, Mu-2s, and yes, F-22s, sitting among the rubble inside badly damaged hangars at the base. The USAF has stated that aircraft were left behind, with unofficial figures being reported that range from three to 18 of the precious super fighters riding out the storm on site.
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10/14/2018
While the Pentagon didn’t specify when the three-day surge occurred, the DoD stated that the squadron faced “both enemy fighters and surface-to-air missile systems” as part of the U.S. response to the Syrian regime’s illegal use of chemical weapons back earlier this year.
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10/14/2018
Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody on Friday officially presented its new aircraft, L-39NG, a next generation model of the legendary L-39 Albatros, produced by the company since the 1960.
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10/14/2018
Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, home to a Lockheed Martin F-22 training wing and a number of Boeing QF-16 target drones, suffered major damage when Hurricane Michael slammed into the military installation as a Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 130kt (241km/h).
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10/12/2018
US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets just completed their first "combat surge" in operations over Syria, and in doing so it backed down almost 600 enemy aircraft in the crowded skies there that see Syria, Iranian, and Russian combat aircraft on a regular basis, the Pentagon said.
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10/12/2018
A Lockheed Martin F-22 coming in for a landing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska crash landed and skidded across the runway, the second incident with the aircraft type this year. The US Air Force pilot was able to climb out of the cockpit unharmed, according to Elmendorf AFB. The cause of the incident is under investigation and the extent of damage to the aircraft is unknown.
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10/12/2018
The worldwide fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft was grounded for inspections after a problem with the aircraft’s engine fuel tube was discovered, which is believed to be related to the first crash of the stealth fighter a few weeks ago.
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10/11/2018
The US Air Force faces challenges both increasing operational squadrons by 24% to 386 by 2025-2030, as it competes for funds with the US Army and Navy, which are also attempting to grow and modernize their equipment.
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10/11/2018
The first series production Embraer KC-390 tactical transport has conducted its maiden flight, and will join the first two examples in the programme’s flight test campaign. “As agreed with the Brazilian Air Force, the aircraft will now join the flight test campaign, in which more than 1,900 flight hours have already been logged,” says Embraer.
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10/10/2018
U.S. Air Force bases located in Florida's panhandle are readying for Hurricane Michael, with some installations ordering mandatory personnel evacuations ahead of the Category 2 storm.
Tyndall Air Force Base on Monday ordered the evacuation of all on-and-off-base personnel ahead of the hurricane, which is set to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center.
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10/10/2018
China will sell 48 high-end armed drones to its "all-weather ally" Pakistan in what a military observer said will be the largest deal of its kind, official media here reported Tuesday. The cost of the major defence deal was not revealed. Wing Loong II is a high-end reconnaissance, strike and multi-role endurance unmanned aerial system, capable of being fitted with air-to-surface weapons.
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10/09/2018
It may seem premature, given that the champagne corks have only just finished popping in St Louis, Missouri – home to Boeing’s fighter business – on the back of its win in the US Air Force’s T-X trainer contest, but thoughts must surely be turning to what comes next.
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10/07/2018
The last aircraft of the Royal Saudi Air Forces (RSAF) has arrived in Tunisia with their air, technical and support crews to participate in military exercises with the country’s air force. RSAF aircraft were received by Brig. Gen. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Sahyan, the military attache of the Saudi Embassy in Tunisia, Col. Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Shahrani, the commander of the exercise, and a number of Saudi and Tunisian officers.
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10/07/2018
Russia says its enhanced air defense system in Syria can spot aircraft on airfields in Europe and Israel. After a Russian surveillance aircraft was accidentally shot down by a Syrian missile during an Israeli air raid on September 18, Russia vowed to boost its electronic warfare defenses in Syria.
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10/06/2018
The U.S. Pacific Fleet is drafting plans for a global show of force to warn China and demonstrate resolve to deter Beijing’s military actions, CNN reported, citing several unidentified U.S. defence officials. The draft proposal from the navy recommends that the Pacific Fleet conduct a series of operations during a single week in November that would involve American warships, combat aircraft and troops.
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10/06/2018
The U.S. State Department has cleared a pair of proposed military sales — armed helicopters for Iraq and surveillance planes for Canada — with a joint price tag of more than $380 million.
The two notifications were posted on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Thursday evening. Notifications are not guaranteed sales; members of the Senate could still choose to block the potential sale, and once it passes Congress, sale negotiations can change quantities and dollar figures.
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10/06/2018
It may be late in the day to think of an indigenously designed and manufactured fighter jet for the Indian Air Force, as much time has been lost over the decades, but things are still not — yet — beyond redemption. It’s still possible to make up for the time lost. Through diligent research, and by taking stock of the successes and failures on the way. If the right lessons are learnt and a course correction is done.
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10/06/2018
The chief of the Indian air force has defended the Narendra Modi government’s decision to obtain 36 Dassault Rafale fighters off the shelf, after terminating the long-running Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal.
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10/06/2018
The US Army is formally soliciting Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft proposals from the aviation industry. The service's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Competitive Prototyping programme (FARA CP) will fund an effort to design, build, and test two aircraft, the service said in an online notice posted 3 October. The results of this prototyping and test effort will support a decision to enter into a formal programme of record in 2024.
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10/03/2018
Sweden has offered to supply 8 new Gripen C/D fighter jets equipped with the newest MS20 configuration to Bulgaria in response to the request for proposals received from the defence ministry in Sofia, the manufacturer the jets - Saab, said on Tuesday. The first jet can be delivered within 24 months of signing the contract, Saab said in a statement.
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10/03/2018
Canberra has issued a request for information related to “light helicopters” to support special operations. Issued on 25 September, the Department of Defence request solicits information about in-service helicopters “optimised for dense urban environments,” and that can be deployed by Boeing C-17 strategic transports.
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10/03/2018
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $632 million contract to manufacture several types of the Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles for the Netherlands and Japan Self-Defense Forces. The fixed-price-incentive foreign military sale contract is estimated to be complete by 30 September 2021, according to a Department of Defense notice posted online 1 October. An undisclosed number of missiles will be produced at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Orlando, Florida.
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10/01/2018
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commenced the in-house reactivation of 2 more platforms to enhance its operational efficiency in the discharge of its constitutional roles. The reactivation, which would enable the Service save huge foreign exchange that would have been expended if carried out abroad, would also improve NAF’s operational capability.
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10/01/2018
A few days after multiple US bomber flights over the disputed waters of the South China Sea, fighters and bombers from the Chinese military carried out live-fire exercises over the same area — the latest round of drills in a period of increasing tension between the two countries.
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