March, 2020 Military Aviation News
03/31/2020
Israel’s F-35 Adir fighters conducted a training exercise called 'Enduring Lightning' over southern Israel amid the global pandemic. They were joined by the U.S. Air Force American F-35s, pairing the two countries' fifth-generation fighter capabilities at a time of tension in the region
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03/31/2020
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 362, known as the “Ugly Angels,” were declared fully operational capable on Feb. 28, 2020, signifying that the Marine Corps’ newest MV-22B Osprey squadron is prepared to support the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Following the certification, they continued to work together to accomplish additional training and readiness objectives while conducting precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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03/31/2020
The US Navy (USN) has awarded Boeing a $1.5 billion contract for 18 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The deal is for six aircraft for the South Korean navy, four aircraft for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and eight aircraft for the USN, Boeing says on 30 March. New Zealand and South Korea are scheduled to received their first aircraft in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
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03/31/2020
The US Air Force (USAF) says fuel is leaking from its Boeing KC-46A Pegasus in-flight refuelling tanker. The problem, which was first discovered in July 2019, was recently upgraded to a category 1 deficiency, says the service on 30 March.
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03/31/2020
Airbus is suspending most of its production in Spain for more than a week, as it continues its efforts to address the coronavirus situation. Spain has been particularly hard-hit among European countries. Airbus says it is to suspend the “majority of production” until 9 April, in the aftermath of new measures imposed by the Spanish government from 30 March.
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03/30/2020
The day is coming when Offutt Air Force Base’s giant “Doomsday” planes will fly off into the sunset. The Air Force has started a program to replace the four E-4B Nightwatch jets — also known as the National Airborne Operations Center — within 10 years. The Doomsday moniker is because their primary mission is to take off and maintain control of nuclear weapons in the event of nuclear war. They also frequently are used as a transport plane for the secretary of defense.
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03/30/2020
The active duty 388th Fighter Wing and Reserve 419th Fighter Wing are continuing to train and fly the F-35A Lightning II at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, despite the current global Coronavirus outbreak. There has been one confirmed case on Hill AFB. As cases continue to spread in America and more and more local and national guidelines and restrictions are put in place to prevent the spread of the disease, the wings implemented their own measures two weeks ago. The largest was, “segmented” OPS.
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03/29/2020
The F-35 wins at long-range due to its stealth capabilities. But it is no dogfighter and if another plane got close enough, maybe the F-35 would lose.
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03/29/2020
Japan wants to develop a stealth fighter domestically, rejecting designs from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. in the United States and Britain’s BAE Systems PLC, three sources with knowledge of the program said.
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03/29/2020
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Russia has halted military exercises in the vicinity of its western borders, and its military aircraft are flying in the Baltic airspace with their onboard transponders switched on. But the Estonian defense forces do not agree with this assessment.
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03/28/2020
The first F-35C squadron of the United States Marine Corps, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, received on March 20, 2020 its Safe-For-Flight Operations Certification (SFFOC) at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar. VMFA-314 reached this milestone after working with the U.S. Navy’s F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125, which helped the Marines with the transition from the F/A-18A++ Hornet to the new F-35C Lightning II.
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03/28/2020
After an intense period of restocking, Air Force precision weapon inventories are almost back to acceptable levels, Air Force leaders say. Now they are throttling back planned purchases for fiscal 2021.
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03/28/2020
Germany’s Defense Ministry is likely to replace its Tornado jets by 2025 with three different types of jets—two of them built in the United States, German business paper Handelsblatt reported Thursday. For years, Germany’s Air Force, the Luftwaffe, has been bedeviled by atrociously low readiness levels in its fleet of combat aircraft. Currently, the service operates 141 modern Eurofighter Typhoon jets optimized for air-to-air combat, and 93 Panavia Tornados.
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03/28/2020
The US Air Force (USAF) aims to start using private in-flight refuelling tankers in two years. The service wants to contract 5,000 flight hours to support around 1,100 sorties annually, it says in an industry day brief that was released 3 March. The brief was a summary of an industry day held in December 2019.
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03/28/2020
Saab has cut metal on the first two-seat Gripen F for the Brazilian air force. The first part cut for the aircraft will form part of the jet’s air duct section, just behind the fighter’s cockpit, says Saab. “This milestone is important for the Gripen project because it demonstrates that the development phase is proceeding properly,” says Colonel Renato Leite, head of the Monitoring and Control Group (GAC-Saab) at the Brazilian Air Force.
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03/26/2020
Air Combat Command plans to award multiple contracts for adversary air support at six bases as early as April. But the scope of the project, once anticipated to be worth up to $6 billion, will be much smaller than hoped.
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03/26/2020
The US Army has selected Bell and Sikorsky to design and test Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Competitive Prototypes. The two companies advanced to phase two where each is to complete a detailed design, build and test helicopters. The winner of the FARA contest will be selected in a fly-off competition no later than the fall of 2023.
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03/25/2020
Taiwan's Armed Forces held large-scale military exercises throughout the country on Tuesday, with eight F-16 fighter jets from Hualien Air Base conducting simulated long-range intercept missions above Taiwan. The drill was primarily held to test the military's combat readiness against an all-out Chinese aerial invasion, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.
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03/25/2020
In early 2020 the Philippines Air Force again assigned Italian made S211 jet trainers to maritime patrol duty. Only three of these elderly aircraft are still flyable and they will remain assigned to maritime patrol until they are no longer able to fly at all. This is not the first time these S211s were assigned to maritime patrol.
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03/25/2020
The US Marine Corps (USMC) believes it needs to be leaner and meaner to defeat China in a hypothetical war in the Pacific Ocean. Over the next 10 years, the service plans to drastically downsize its force, cutting 12,000 personnel and reducing its number of aircraft, including a significant number of its bespoke Lockheed Martin F-35B stealth fighters, Bell Boeing MV-22 tiltrotors and Sikorsky CH-53 heavy lift helicopters.
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03/24/2020
The first Marine Corps F-35C carrier-variant Joint Strike Fighter squadron reached an important milestone, receiving a “safe for flight” operations certification that will allow them to train and operate independently of the Navy’s fleet replacement squadron. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 was certified on March 20, after working with Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 over the last five months to train the squadron’s pilots and maintainers to work with the new aircraft.
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03/24/2020
In February, the USN announced that it would cut production of the legacy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, to instead accelerate the development of the next-generation carrier-based fighter program. According to the service's newly revealed Fiscal Year 2021 budget request, next year's order of two dozen of the tactical aircraft would be the last in the program. This comes after Super Hornet maker Boeing won a $4-billion multi-year contract to build 78 of the strike attack aircraft through FY 2021.
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03/24/2020
The Boeing F-15EX will be the latest and most capable variant of an airplane that has been in uninterrupted production since its first flight in 1972. It began life as an air-superiority fighter known as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and later morphed into a two-seat, multi-role ground pounder dubbed the F-15E Strike Eagle. Long after the Air Force took delivery of its final F-15E in 2004, the St. Louis plant continued to build F-15s for sales to allies ranging from Israel to South Korea.
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03/23/2020
Dr Malcolm Davis of ASPI has called for greater Australian and allied consideration for the development of a highly capable air defence interceptor to counter the increasingly capable air combat, stand-off and long-range strike capability of the Chinese air force.
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03/23/2020
Russian Aerospace Forces Il-76 transports loaded with medical supplies and medical specialists are flying to Pratica di Mare Airbase, near Rome, Italy, in the ongoing COVID-19 relief effort. Photos of the aircraft were published today on Russian media outlets, but have not yet been widely reported in western media.
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03/23/2020
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force of China and its sister branch, the PLA Naval Air Force, operate a huge fleet of around 1,700 combat aircraft—defined here as fighters, bombers and attack planes. This force is exceeded only by the 3,400 active combat aircraft of the U.S. military. Moreover, China operates a lot of different aircraft types that are not well known in the West.
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03/22/2020
Enginers of the U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command hoisted up the real EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft undergo testing of Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) pod in the Air Combat Environmental Test and Evaluation Facility anechoic chamber at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
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03/21/2020
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has tested its Grey Wolf low-cost turbojet engine. The TDI-J85 engine, and related low-cost cruise missile, were designed and built in partnership with Northrop Grumman and Technical Directions, says AFRL. The initial TDI-J85 test campaign involved multiple inflight engine starts and operation at high altitude.
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03/21/2020
Russia will shortly launch test flights with a second modernised Tupolev Tu-22M3M long-range strategic bomber, following the aircraft’s maiden sortie on 20 March. Performed from the Kazan Aviation Plant around 430 miles (700km) to the east of Moscow, the flight included evaluations of the jet’s take-off and landing characteristics, as well other system checks, says Rostec, which owns Tupolev and its United Aircraft parent.
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03/20/2020
China has called for using electromagnetic attacks on U.S. warships transiting the South China Sea, according to a state-run Chinese outlet. The Communist Party-affiliated organ Global Times, quoting a military expert, said the use of nonlethal electromagnetic and laser weapons should be used by the People’s Liberation Army to expel American warships from the disputed sea.
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03/20/2020
Every year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies publishes a thorough assessment of the capabilities and defence economics of militaries around the globe. The 2020 edition of The military balance covers 171 countries and provides a disconcerting deep dive into Chinese military technology.
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03/20/2020
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has given approval to procure equipment for the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Hawk Mk32 jet trainer aircraft. The locally made defence equipment will cost Rs13bn ($174.5m) and includes aerial fuses and twin-dome simulators for the aircraft.
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03/20/2020
The US Air Force is looking to rent four to eight jet trainers to perfect its training regime and further refine capabilities needed on the winner of the T-X trainer contest, the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk. The service’s Air Combat Command (ACC) plans to contract Hillwood Aviation to provide the Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50A trainer, according to a sole-source notice posted online in January.
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03/19/2020
The F-35 Lightning II is now the world’s most dominant multi-role fighter. Its detection range, geolocation, threat identification, and system response capabilities allow the jet to precisely fix and destroy the most advanced threats in the world including every layer of Russia’s latest SA-20 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.
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03/19/2020
Airbus is offering Germany a version of the Typhoon multi-role fighter aircraft that can perform the suppression of enemy air-defenses, or SEAD, mission. The SEAD Typhoon would be a new variant of the twin-engine plane and would require extensive modification of the basic Typhoon design.
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03/19/2020
Since its revitalization as a host for U.S. forces in 2019, Prince Sultan Air Base has evolved to provide needed operational depth in the Middle East. Led by the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, PSAB has transformed into a major hub of support for U.S. Central Command’s projection of decisive airpower and deterrence throughout the region. In doing so, PSAB has supported a variety of combat aircraft including the F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, and the F-35A Lightning II.
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03/19/2020
Consequent to the separation of duties between Department of Defence (DoD) and Department of Military Affairs (DMA), the first meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) under the chairmanship of defence minister Rajnath Singh was held with the acquisition wing being the Secretariat of the DAC.
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03/19/2020
One of Germany’s biggest aerospace employee unions has warned the country’s government that it risks jeopardising the entire European defence industry if it selects a US-built fighter to replace the Luftwaffe’s Panavia Tornado fleet. Berlin is currently weighing options for a successor aircraft, with a decision expected in early 2020; Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Eurofighter are both in contention.
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03/18/2020
Detailed by Spanish language publication defensa.com, the South American country’s shopping list includes additional Leonardo C-27J battlefield transports, heavy transport aircraft – including for in-flight refuelling – more Viking Aircraft DHC-6 Series 400 Twin Otters, plus a substantial number of Mil Mi-17 helicopters.
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03/18/2020
The UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) second of an eventual nine Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA1 maritime patrol aircraft arrived at Kinloss in Scotland on 13 March. Newly arrived ZP802 followed the service’s lead example of the 737NG-derived type, which has been in the UK since 4 February to support training activities. The pair will remain at Kinloss until the Poseidon force is relocated to its permanent home at nearby RAF Lossiemouth later this year, following the completion of infrastructure work at th
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03/18/2020
Aero Vodochody’s L-39NG has passed fuselage strength tests, as the company works towards certification of the advanced jet trainer. Using the fuselage of aircraft 7002, which is earmarked for static trials, the test saw the structure initially taken to the limit load, which corresponds to the maximum possible load during flight. Subsequently, this was increased to the ultimate load, or 150% of limit load. It was only at 110% of this higher level that a structural failure occurred.
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03/17/2020
TacAir, the Reno-based adversary support contractor that won a big Navy contract to augment training operations at nearby Naval Air Station Fallon, the home of Topgun, is now fulfilling that contract with its heavily enhanced F-5ATs. The aircraft are being overhauled from the ground-up for the adversary mission and morphing into the most advanced F-5s ever devised. The War Zone has learned that these enhancements now include the addition of a full-color helmet-mounted display.
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03/17/2020
The US Army has awarded Bell and a Sikorsky-Boeing team Competitive Demonstration and Risk Reduction contracts for the next stage of its Future Long Range Air Assault (FLRAA) programme. The service made the announcement on Twitter on 16 March and not disclose the value of the contracts.
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03/17/2020
The US military has demonstrated the use of a Lockheed Martin AC-130W Stinger II gunship in a new naval support role. The work took place from 8-9 March in the Arabian Gulf and involved AC-130Ws, a Boeing P-8A Poseidon, and a US Navy Cyclone class patrol vessel, says the US Navy. The P-8A and patrol vessel identified targets that simulated surface threats, which the AC-130Ws then engaged with live rounds.
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03/17/2020
The US Air Force (USAF) has purchased for $70.2 million two Textron Aviation Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine aircraft for its continued light attack experiment. The turboprops were purchased using an “Other Transaction Authority” – a faster and less bureaucratic process than the conventional Pentagon acquisition procedure – and will come with pilot training, engineering services and up to four years of contractor support for maintenance and spares, says Textron on 16 March.
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03/16/2020
The JAS-39 Gripen is the Swedish defense industry’s largest export, financially. The Gripen has seen considerable success replacing aging fighters in former Warsaw Pact countries, and has also seen sales in Africa, the Americas and Asia. But why is the Gripen successful on the export market? How does it stack up against other NATO products and Soviet jets?
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03/16/2020
Japan’s 2019 Mid-Term Defense review quietly revealed that after years of hesitation, Tokyo has decided to press ahead with development of its own domestically designed sixth-generation Mitsubishi F-3 air-superiority stealth fighter, rather than purchasing an additional foreign stealth design to supplement its growing fleet of F-35s.
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03/16/2020
The Russian S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system has generated much media interest since its deployment within Russian borders and abroad. It boasts of an impressive capability against a range of aerial targets including aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles and has generated controversial international sales. Reputation notwithstanding, the S-400 has not yet been tested in combat.
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03/15/2020
The Air Force is revving up electronic warfare upgrades for its F-15 fighter as a way to better protect against enemy fire and electronic attacks, service officials said. Boeing has secured a $478 million deal to continue work on a new technology called with a system called the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS.
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03/14/2020
It comes in response to a court case brought by Amazon Web Services (AWS), claiming the decision was politically motivated. President Trump had previously expressed concern about Amazon's bid. In a court filing, the Pentagon said the U-turn was "in response to.... technical challenges presented by AWS".
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03/14/2020
The US Army believes a combination of domestic and foreign sales will give the Boeing CH-47 production line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the minimum demand needed to remain open until at least 2025. After speaking with Boeing, the service suspects the production line can be sustained at a rate of 18 helicopters annually, says Bruce Jette, assistant secretary of the US Army for acquisition.
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03/13/2020
The F-22 can see things that other planes cannot. This gives its pilots a distinct advantage.Thirteen years after entering service with the U.S. Air Force, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter finally could gain the capability wordlessly to communicate with ships, ground forces and other planes.
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03/13/2020
The United States launched retaliatory strikes against five weapons storage facilities across Iraq belonging to the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah, following the March 11 attack on Camp Taji that killed two Americans and one soldier from the United Kingdom. The Defense Department will not name the two Americans, or what service they were associated with, until their next of kin are notified. Initial reports said at least a dozen others were wounded, but that number has since risen to 14
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03/13/2020
For the third time in a week, RAF Typhoons were scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft encroaching on UK airspace. Two jets were launched from RAF Lossiemouth just after 9am. The activity was first noted by Twitter account @MIL_Radar. A Voyager tanker plane was also launched from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, in case the Typhoons needed to refuel.
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03/13/2020
Tokyo has yet to decide on its future international partner for the country’s ambitious FX Future Fighter programme to replace the Mitsubishi F-2. “The [Japanese Ministry of Defense] is in discussion with the U.S. and the UK from the viewpoint of ensuring interoperability, cost effectiveness and technical reliability,” says Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA).
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03/12/2020
According to Narendra Modi, the country is setting high defence production goals. In a few decades, it plans to join the ranks of leading exporters of equipment. The latter will primarily be sold to African nations. The pace of economic development on the continent has attracted many companies to the region, including Alpari Forex Broker in South Africa.
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03/12/2020
A top U.S. Navy modernization official on Tuesday had to justify to lawmakers the service's decision to kill plans to build 36 new F/A-18 Super Hornets in the midst of a strike fighter shortage. Modernization officials from the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army testified at a hearing Tuesday before the House Armed Services Committee's Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee on aircraft and helicopter programs in the proposed fiscal 2021 defense budget.
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03/12/2020
RAF jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers in airspace above the Shetland Islands this morning. The RAF confirmed British QRA Typhoons with Voyager support from Lossiemouth were deployed to shadow the aircraft.
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03/12/2020
Boeing has begun modifications to the first of two commercial 747-8 airliners which are to be turned into US Air Force (USAF) VC-25B aircraft. Known by its “Air Force One” call sign when the US president flies aboard, two VC-25B are to operate as the USA’s top executive transports for the next 30 years. Modifications are being done at Boeing’s San Antonio, Texas facility, says the USAF.
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03/11/2020
In a statement, the PAF said the aircraft was carrying out rehearsals for the country's national day parade to be held on 23 March. Police and security forces have now cordoned off the site in the Shakarparian area, near several museums, golf clubs and Jinnah Stadium. The PAF said the pilot Wing Commander Noman Akram died in the crash.
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03/11/2020
The Air Force is moving forward with assessments to determine where it can safely base its new B-21 Raider bomber. The service will soon start environmental impact studies to assess the effects of putting "Main Operating Base 1" for the new bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, according to a notice published in the US federal register on Friday.
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03/11/2020
Israeli defense firm Elbit said Monday that its US subsidiary, Elbit America, had won a US Air Force contract worth up to $471 million. The company will supply a missile warning system to F-16 fighter jets belonging to the US Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command.
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03/11/2020
Looks like Russian Naval Aviation is pretty active in these days with their Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance and ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) aircraft. As you will probably remember, on Mar. 7, 2020, two Tu-142s (a Tu-142MK ASW aircraft and a Tu-142MR VLF band comms relay aircraft) flew close to the NATO airspace in northern Europe and were intercepted by the RNoAF F-16s and F-35s (at their first intercept of Russian aircraft) and by the RAF Eurofighter Typhoons.
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03/11/2020
The Air Force’s plan to cut MQ-9 Reaper production and some air patrols in its fiscal 2021 budget request would negatively impact the ability to conduct operations and provide enough overwatch in hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, the top officials responsible for those regions said March 10.
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03/11/2020
Elbit Systems of America has won a $472 million fixed-price contract to provide pylon-based infrared missile warning systems for US Air National Guard and US Air Force Reserve Command F-16 fighters. The infrared missile warning systems are to be installed on an undisclosed number of Lockheed Martin F-16s over the course of 10 years, with work to be finished by February 2030, Elbit says on 9 March. Installations will occur in Fort Worth, Texas.
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03/10/2020
On Mar. 9, 2020, the Japan Air Self Defense Force retired its RF-4E/J reconnaissance aircraft at Hyakuri Air Base, in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Assigned to the 501 Hikotai or Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, the “Photo Phantoms” made their last training sortie and all the unit’s Phantoms, with their peculiar sharkmouth, the unit’s woodpecker mark on the tail and the three camo schemes (European, Vietnam and Blue offshore camouflage) were eventually retired.
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03/10/2020
India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is planning to establish facilities in several Asian markets to boost its international profile. In comments reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI) on 8 March, R Madhavan, HAL's chairman and managing director, said the company is looking at setting up "logistical bases" in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
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03/10/2020
The entry into Irish-controlled airspace by Russian air force Tupolev TU-95 “Bear” strategic bomber aircraft last week was unsurprising. We have been here many times before. In 2017 the Royal Air Force scrambled Typhoon combat aircraft from its Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) stations to respond to another sortie by Russian strategic bomber aircraft that skirted close to Irish sovereign airspace, which extends to 12 nautical miles off the Irish coast.
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03/10/2020
Deployed maintainers from all over the world flood the flight line turning wrenches to ensure their assigned aircraft are ready to take over the skies, this controlled chaos signifies Red Flag is back in session March 6-20, here. As one of the U.S. Air Force’s largest combat training exercises, this iteration includes participants from various services, including U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines as well as our allied forces from the Italian, German and Spanish air forces.
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03/10/2020
Sierra Nevada Corporation has won a $23.2 million contract to supply two Sierra Nevada/Embraer A-29 light attack aircraft to the US Air Force (USAF). The award includes ground support equipment, pilot training, logistic support, aircraft sparing and sustainment, says Sierra Nevada on 3 March.
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03/09/2020
Few aircraft have as die hard a following as the A-10 Thunderbolt II — from those serving overseas in combat zones, to military bases, and on numerousFacebook groups and “Save the A-10” pages. Its fans span the ranks from enlisted to officers, and across all fields. And of course, there are the pilots themselves, like Air Force Maj. Vince Sherer, who spent three combat tours flying Warthogs out of Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
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03/09/2020
France and Italy have expressed intent to export new generation combat aircraft to Bangladesh, according to diplomatic sources in Paris and Rome. French defence minister Florence Parly was scheduled to reach Dhaka early Monday on a short visit to seemingly move the proposal for selling Rafale, a twin-jet fighter aircraft, and unmanned combat air vehicle among other military hardware.
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03/09/2020
The Russian MoD has just released an interesting video that provides additional details about the long-range mission flown in international airspace by a Tu-142MK ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) and maritime patrol aircraft and a Tu-142MR Bear-J VLF band radio communications relay platform escorted by at least one MiG-31 Foxhound (armed with R-33 missiles) that caused the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the RAF to scramble their interceptors on Mar. 7, 2020.
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03/08/2020
Australian Government Department of Defense has reported that U.S. private contractor Air USA is buying up to 46 F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. “Workers at RAAF Base Williamtown will service and prepare up to 46 retired F/A-18 Classic Hornet aircraft that will be sold to air combat training company Air USA,” said in the release.
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03/08/2020
The reason why India's defense establishment is tilting towards the Derby missile is because it can be integrated into different types of fighter aircraft and can also be used as a surface-to-air missile for the Spyder air defense system.
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03/08/2020
As the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) already had several dozen tactical bombers and fighters based in western Syria, it was widely assumed that deploying big bombers on long-distance raids was purely for symbolic and combat testing purposes. But in fact, VKS tactical aviation elements in Syria could not quite surge the desired level of firepower for the retaliation strike, particularly against targets in eastern Syria.
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03/07/2020
The F-16 Fighting Falcon bears an unusual distinctions: it is one of the only top jet fighters in the world to also be cost efficient. Fast and extremely agile, the light fighter does have some shortcomings in range and payload compared to larger twin-engine fighters like the F-15 Eagle, but that was easy to forgive due to costing less than half as much—around $18 million in 1999 ($27 million in 2017 dollars).
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03/07/2020
With less than four days to go before peace talks are to begin in Afghanistan between that nation's authorities and the Taliban insurgency, things are not looking promising. Taliban fighters are stepping up attacks on Afghan security forces. American warplanes are counterattacking. And a prisoner exchange that was to take place before those intra-Afghan talks start is being rejected by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
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03/07/2020
MBDA has successfully hit a target vessel with its Sea Venom anti-ship missile fired from a helicopter in a test. The first qualification firing trial of the medium-range weapon was done at DGA Essais de test site at Ile Du Levant in the Bay of Biscay, France on 20 February 2020, MBDA says on 6 March. The dummy target was a shipping container stacked on a large vessel at sea.
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03/07/2020
Northrop Grumman says Australia should consider advancing its acquisition of the US Navy’s MQ-4C Triton UAV following the Trump administration’s proposal to pause production for the programme in FY2021 and FY2022. While pausing production, the administration wants instead to focus on the MQ-4C’s improved multi-intelligence configuration, designated IFC-4. The budget is subject to congressional approval.
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03/06/2020
France finally delivered its three Harfang (Eagle) UAVs to Morocco in a $48 million sale that included ground support and maintenance equipment as well as extended tech support. Completing this sale took six years because Moroccan Islamic conservatives condemned the proposed deal because the Harfangs were actually an Israeli design renamed and modified somewhat for French service.
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03/06/2020
Like its American counterpart the F-16 jet, the J-10—dubbed the Vigorous Dragon, or the Firebird by NATO—is a quite agile fourth-generation jet with an aerodynamically unstable airframe that has to be regulated by its flight control computer. But such maneuvers would have been impossible for a regular plane relying entirely upon conventional flight controls.
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03/06/2020
China reportedly is developing a new stealth fighter. The new warplane, under development by the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, could be a clean-sheet design. Or it might be a development of the company’s older FC-31, an export-optimized stealth fighter that has yet to secure a single order.
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03/06/2020
The UK Royal Navy’s (RN’s) Wildcat HMA2 rotorcraft will be ready to defend the service’s largest-ever warships from next year, with the integration of key new armaments proceeding on schedule, Leonardo Helicopters says.
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03/06/2020
Norway is making progress with the introduction of the NH Industries NH90 NFH maritime helicopter for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions, having taken delivery of the first aircraft in August last year. Although the Royal Norwegian Air Force previously operated the Westland Lynx from its navy’s frigate fleet, these were not deployed in an ASW capacity.
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03/05/2020
A reporter from one of Germany’s highest-circulating dailies Bild, Julian Röpcke, has written an article on Turkey's drone capabilities. The piece, titled “Erdogan’s army destroys Putin’s high-tech weapons,” points to the success of the Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicles in the battleground.
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03/05/2020
Air USA, a private contractor that offers "red air" adversary support, is buying up to 46 soon-to-be-retired F/A-18A/B Hornets from the Royal Australian Air Force. Last year, the U.S. Air Force hired the company, along with six others, under a massive multi-billion dollar training support contract.
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03/05/2020
Air Force leaders are urging members of Congress to participate in classified briefings in order to fully understand the thinking behind the service’s fiscal 2021 budget request, which once again attempts to retire a host of legacy platforms to free up funding for new technology.
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03/05/2020
Lockheed Martin and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plan to shut down production at the F-35’s Final Assembly and Check-Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya, Japan the week of 9-13 March due to fears of coronavirus contagion. The number of coronavirus cases in Japan climbed past 1,000 on 4 March, according to the World Health Organization and local media reports. The country has the fifth highest number of confirmed cases worldwide, behind China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
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03/05/2020
Lockheed Martin has delivered the 500th F-35 fighter, with the fleet also surpassing the 250,000 flight hour mark. The 500th example delivered is an F-35A that will serve with the Vermont Air National Guard, says Lockheed. An image of the jet shows it bears the registration number AF5343.
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03/04/2020
Both the Turkish Ministry of Defense and the Syrian News Agency SANA have confirmed that a Syrian L-39 Albatros was shot down in the Idlib region, around 12.03LT on Mar. 3, 2020. The downing of the advanced jet trainer (that the Syrian Arab Air Force has often been using in combat with an under fuselage gun pod and external stores since 2012, when the first images of SyAAF L-39s attacking rebel positions started appearing online).
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03/04/2020
Finnish procurement officials say they expect all five contenders in the country’s HX Fighter competition to remain in the race until the end. The comments by the Finnish defense ministry’s head of strategic projects, Lauri Puranen, emerged following the conclusion of the HX Challenge. The challenge saw each of the aircraft types deployed to Finland in January and February for flight trials to confirm that the proposed aircraft have met the specifications promised by the manufacturers.
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03/04/2020
Saab has partnered with several Canadian aerospace companies for the Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) deal. Known as the ‘Gripen for Canada Team’, the companies include IMP Aerospace & Defence, CAE, Peraton Canada and GE Aviation. The Saab-led team has been formed to provide a genuine ‘Made in Canada’ solution for the fighter capability project and help comply with the terms set out in the Canadian request for proposal.
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03/04/2020
The US State Department has approved the sale of eight Boeing KC-46A Pegasus in-flight refuelling tankers to Israel for an estimated $2.4 billion. The US Congress has been notified of the possible sale, says the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on 3 March.
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03/04/2020
The US Navy has completed update work on 10 Lockheed Martin F-16A fighters that are used in the aggressor role. The work was undertaken by the Specialized and Proven Aircraft Program office, says the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
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03/03/2020
Saab is bidding for the Canadian Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) which will see the replacement of the RCAF’s existing CF-18 Hornet fighter fleet. If successful, the bid will see 88 of Saab’s Gripen E aircraft being delivered which offers full NATO interoperability.
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03/03/2020
The United States has approved a possible military sale to Tunisia of four AT-6C Wolverine light attack aircraft worth an estimated $325 million including associated equipment. The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the possible sale on 25 February after Tunisia requested four AT-6C aircraft.
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03/03/2020
Ten Spanish Air Force EF2000 “Tifóns”, pooled from ALA11 and 14, split in two cells and supported by 2x RAF A330 Voyager tankers are currently on their way to Nellis AFB where they will take part in RF 20-2.
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03/03/2020
The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) is in the “final stages” of acquiring four F-35B Lighting II multi-role combat aircraft, with an option to buy eight more, after receiving approval from the US government and Congress. This was revealed by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in Parliament on Monday (2 March), during his ministry’s Committee of Supply (COS) debate.
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03/03/2020
In a room packed full of U.S. Air Force personnel this past week, SpaceX founder Elon Musk issued a bold pronouncement: “The fighter jet era has passed. ... Locally autonomous drone warfare is where it’s at, where the future will be.” The reaction in the room was immediate — a collective pause.
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03/03/2020
Boeing has resurrected and is showing off its Powered JDAM concept believing that the US Air Force (USAF) is keen to buy low-cost cruise missiles. The company has increased development work on the concept within the last 18 months, it says at the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida on 28 February. The project was originally begun about eight years ago, but had been put on the back burner due to lukewarm interest from the service.
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03/02/2020
Turkey's military shot down two Syrian government fighter jets over northwest Idlib, hours after forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad brought down a Turkish drone over the region.
In a Twitter post on Sunday, Turkey's defence ministry said its forces struck two SU-24 aircraft in response to the downing of the drone.
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03/02/2020
General Atomics has revealed what appears to be a previously unknown unmanned aircraft concept, called Defender, that is capable of air-to-air combat and mid-air refueling. The company says that its primary mission would be to protect "high-value airborne assets," such as airborne early warning and control aircraft, standoff reconnaissance planes, and aerial refueling tankers.
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03/02/2020
In 2008, military observers within and outside of Russia noted the poor performance of the Russian Air Force (VVS) in the five-day Russo Georgian War. In the aftermath of the conflict, Moscow instituted a vigorous new round of military modernization and reforms. These reforms were put to the test when in September 2015 Putin committed the newly reorganized Aerospace Force (VKS) to its first expeditionary war, a bid to prop up the faltering regime of Bashar-al Assad in Syria.
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03/02/2020
Lockheed Martin is developing a new variant of its iconic F-16 single-engine fighter in order to compete in India’s 2019 tender for 110 new warplanes. But don’t count on the American firm’s “F-21” to win the contract. According to journalist Angad Singh, the likely winner is French company Dassault’s Rafale twin-engine fighter.
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03/02/2020
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II’s profitability could suffer due to the programme losing access to less expensive parts suppliers in Turkey. Ankara was booted from the Joint Strike Fighter programme in July 2019 after the country decided to buy the Russian-made Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile battery. That weapon system is advertised as being anti-stealth, a capability the US Department of Defense takes seriously and wants the F-35 to avoid.
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03/01/2020
More than 300 Airmen with the 555th Fighter Squadron, also known as the “world famous, highly-respected” Triple Nickel, completed the first leg of their deployment after departing Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar in late Feb. 2020. The Triple Nickel is an F-16 Fighting Falcon squadron that provides combat air power and performs air and space control and force application roles including air interdiction and close-air support in support of joint, NATO, and combined operations.
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03/01/2020
As Pakistan’s relationship has soured with the United States in the past two decades, Pakistan’s armed forces have largely looked towards Chinese suppliers for equipment. While China has long supplied Pakistan’s armed forces, the relationship has deepened in recent years, with Pakistan making major purchases of top-of-the-line Chinese export equipment.
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03/01/2020
The two Tu-142 planes came south outside Norwegian air space on February 26th and 27th. Major Brynjar Stordal, press spokesperson with the Norwegian Armed Forces, said to the Barents Observer that “these Russian aircraft operates relatively routinely over the seas north of Norway,” but, he added “it is not common that they fly as far south as they did this week.”
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03/01/2020
Five years of relentless bombardment tilted the course of the war in Assad’s favor—and continues to do so today as heavy bombing paves the way for Assad’s forces to crush the last major rebel stronghold in Idlib province—if it doesn’t trigger Turkish intervention first. However, the air campaign has cost the Russian military at least nineteen manned aircraft (eleven helicopters and eight airplanes) between 2015–2018, leading to the deaths of twenty-three crew and thirty-seven passengers.
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03/01/2020
The US Air Force’s (USAF) decision to cancel the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW) and proceed with Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) came down to size and shape of the missile, in addition to budgetary pressures and a desire to move toward production faster. The HCSW programme was cancelled several weeks ago. The ARRW programme passed its critical design review on 27 February.
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