November, 2022 Military Aviation News
11/30/2022
In a 1941 speech on a Royal Navy ship, Winston Churchill directed his final comments to the US: “Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.” After a significant victory in Kherson, and standing at the gates of Crimea facing a Russian army desperately trying to shore up its ramshackle defences, Ukraine has the troops and morale to defend what it has.
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11/30/2022
The latest delivery was completed under a contract made by the Ministry of Defense. Rostec, on November 28, also said in a statement that it is stepping up the production of these aircraft for the Russian defense department. The Director General of the United Aircraft Corporation, Yuri Slyusar, said, “The delivery of new transport planes is our contribution to meeting the requirements for military transport aircraft and strengthening the country’s defense capability.
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11/30/2022
A mysterious aircraft that flew from an unknown destination dropped bombs this week near a base housing Russia-linked Wagner Group mercenaries in the Central African Republic, who responded with bursts of weapons fire that scared local residents.
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11/30/2022
China is building more modern surface combatants and expanding its aircraft carrier and logistics force to grow its naval influence further from shore, according to the Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military power. By 2025, the People’s Liberation Army Navy is expected to grow to 400 hulls, up from its fleet of 340, according to the Pentagon’s annual China military report estimates released on Tuesday.
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11/30/2022
A member of the Swedish parliament has said the country should agree to sell Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine. MP Magnus Jacobsson expressed his position in an interview with Ukrainian news website Guildhall, arguing that the sale should take place despite Sweden’s law banning the sale of armaments to a state involved in a war.
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11/29/2022
As Vladimir Putin’s military’s fortunes wax and wane, China has emerged as Russia’s key supporter. The existence of a Sino-Russian axis was evident as early as the Putin-Xi summit in the lead-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, after which the leaders issued a joint declaration underscoring their countries’ opposition to further NATO enlargement.
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11/29/2022
The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with GLSDBs an exclusive Reuters report unveiled on Nov. 28, 2022. The GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023 and would allow Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines, using Ukrainian MLRS and HIMARS launchers.
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11/29/2022
Pictures of the burned-out Russian combat aircraft began circulating on social media earlier today. According to OSINT experts, it was the wreckage of a Russian Su-34 fighter bomber, with the serial number RF-95005 and bort number Red 22, that was shot down earlier in the conflict near the city of Kupiansk.
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11/29/2022
The RAAF’s research and development unit (ARDU) celebrated an important milestone in allied cooperation while taking part in the Aerospace Valley Air Show at Edwards Air Base, California.
The ARDU testing team were recently at the US base to complete the B-2A, B-52H and A-10C aircraft testing programs. They were joined by a KC-30A multi-role tanker transport aircraft and crew from RAAF Base Amberley – now capable of refuelling most United States Air Force (USAF) combat aircraft.
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11/29/2022
The 943rd Rescue Group designed a concept to mount four additional M240 machine guns onto the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter to provide more firepower to the 920th Rescue Wing’s personnel recovery task force in contested environments. The wing searched for an innovative way to bring more firepower to the fight and with the HH-60G scheduled to be retired, it had to be cost effective and easily transferred to the new HH-60W Jolly Green II because of the similar design structures.
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11/29/2022
China appears to be fitting indigenous engines on its Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark, a carrier-borne fighter jet. Footage shown Nov. 17 on state-owned broadcaster CCTV showed a People’s Liberation Army Navy J-15 with the afterburner nozzles of the WS-10 Taihang turbofans undergoing calibration in preparation for a test flight at the facilities of manufacturer Shenyang Aircraft Corp.
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11/29/2022
News from Ukraine provides signs for hope with Ukrainian forces reoccupying Kherson, and Russians surrendering to drones. However, this conflict is still far from over and much remains on the line, both for the people of Ukraine and for security implications around the globe. The longer the conflict extends, the greater the costs on the Ukrainian people and the coalition supporting them.
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11/28/2022
Riho Terras is an Estonian politician and former high-ranking military officer who has served as a member of the European Parliament since February 1, 2020. He was the commander of the Estonian Defense Forces from 2011 to 2018. In a wide-ranging interview with RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Terras, 55, discussed an incident earlier this month when a missile hit Poland, calls for more military support for Ukraine, and the likelihood of Russian President Vladimir Putin attacking NATO and widening the
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11/28/2022
Spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces Gharib Abdel Hafez announced that a fighter jet crashed during training on Sunday because of a technical error, and that the pilot and co-pilot survived. Similar incidents occurred in June, December 2019, and November 2018 where the pilots managed to eject. The cause of the crashes was also technical problems that were not detailed, and they all happened during training.
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11/28/2022
A top delegation of the Argentine Air Force is reportedly in Denmark to evaluate second-hand F-16 fighter jets. The South American nation appears to have postponed the technical evaluation of India’s Tejas Light combat aircraft. Along with the Danish alternative, Argentina is also considering the Chinese-built JF-17 Thunder and India’s Hindustan Aeronautic Limited Tejas aircraft. The service has been attempting to examine the different aspects of fighter jets before making the final decision.
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11/27/2022
As voters in Taiwan prepared to go to the polls Saturday (Nov. 26) to select new city and county leaders, the Ministry of National Defense said it had spotted 11 aircraft and four ships from China’s military in areas surrounding the country by 6 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 26). Of the 11 aircraft tracked during the 24-hour period leading up to 6 a.m. on Saturday, one unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) and four bombers entered the southwest sector of the country’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ
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11/27/2022
The Air Force said that the United States-manufactured plane assigned to the Pingtung airbase was returning from a training flight when the incident occurred around 11:08 a.m. The incident didn’t result in any casualties. The pilot was apparently forced to perform a belly landing at the military airfield because the landing gear did not deploy. The military said a special task force had been established to investigate the malfunction’s root cause.
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11/27/2022
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Commander-in-Chief ACM Alongkorn Vannarot said that the service has decided to acquire two F-35A fighter jets from the United States despite resistance from the opposition parties, Thai PBS World reported.
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11/26/2022
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked six Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. Thursday (Nov. 24) and 6 a.m. Friday (Nov. 25). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, naval ships, and used land-based missile systems to monitor the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and vessels, according to the MND. No PLA aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line during this time.
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11/26/2022
The Taliban interim administration repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters that were damaged by US soldiers before they left Afghanistan after 20 years in August last year. The Afghan Air Force has repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters given to the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani by the US and its allied forces, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khawarizmi told Anadolu Agency in Kabul.
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11/26/2022
The US Air National Guard (ANG) has issued a ‘fielding recommendation’ for Leonardo’s BriteCloud 218 expendable active decoy, after testing on F-16 aircraft. According to the company, this means the service, which has conducted testing and live trials with BriteCloud since 2019, is confident that the decoy meets operational requirements, delivering an increased protection capability to fourth-generation fighter aircraft.
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11/25/2022
China has recruited more than 30 former British military pilots including those who have flown sophisticated fighter jets. UK's Defence Ministry said that they are being recruited to train pilots of the Chinese Army. Chinese plans to counter the West and in the worst-case scenario, of a conflict, say over Taiwan, will then have prior knowledge of Western tactics as far as the air war is concerned, reported The HK Post.
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11/25/2022
Most of the newly acquired Chinese and Pakistan-made JF-17 fighter jets that the Myanmar regime has taken delivery of have been grounded due to technical malfunctions, according to analysts and former Myanmar Air Force pilots who monitor the junta’s air capabilities. The JF-17 fighters—lightweight multi-role combat aircraft jointly manufactured by China and Pakistan—that the Myanmar Air Force has added to its fleet have structural cracks and other technical issues, they told The Irrawaddy.
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11/24/2022
Deployed in Romania since May 2022, the MAMBA has been augmenting NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) system. Allied fighters including F-16s from Türkiye, Spanish Eurofighters - currently deployed in Bulgaria on a NATO mission -, US E/A 18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft and French Navy Rafale fighters flying from the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle participated in the routine test of the system.
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11/24/2022
The P-8A maritime patrol aircraft of the US Navy can now carry the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability or HAAWC. The manufacturer of the aircraft Boeing announced in a press release on November 21 that the US Navy has officially announced Initial operational capability, or IOC, with HAAWC.
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11/24/2022
The first F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft has rolled off the new production line in Greenville, South Carolina, Lockheed Martin announced on 21 November. In a message posted from its official Twitter account titled, ‘Guess who's back‘, Lockheed Martin heralded, “a new era of Falcon is about to take flight”, with a video showing the first Block 70 aircraft for Bahrain being rolled out of the facility.
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11/23/2022
The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has deployed its personnel and aircraft to participate in a multinational air warfare exercise in the UAE. Also referred to as the Advanced Tactical Leadership Course (ATLC), the training drills are being held at the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi.
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11/23/2022
US Pease Air National Guard’s (ANG) 157th Air Refueling Wing has successfully completed a 36-hour long non-stop endurance mission on KC-46A Pegasus aircraft. This marks the US Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) longest endurance mission so far, which showcased the total force integration concept. It saw the participation of both active duty and ANG airmen from Pease.
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11/23/2022
Legacy aircraft converted into drones (J-6, J-7, J-8) have been concluded to be pressed in as a part of the initial wave of attacks to soften Taiwanese air defenses. These highly developed and defended airfields with hardened airfields can then be taken over by People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Su-30MKK, J-16, or J-10 fighters for sustained operations against Taiwan.
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11/23/2022
The Bulgarian government looks to be edging closer to reaching an agreement for an interim fighter aircraft after holding talks with Sweden and France, while the southeastern European nation awaits American F-16s. The potential acquisition of the jets was prompted by Lockheed Martin when it delayed delivery of F-16 Block 70 aircraft to Sofia from 2023 to 2025, following COVID-19 supplier issues, meaning they wouldn’t go operational until 2028 or so.
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11/22/2022
A recent think tank report suggests that the US Air Force needs to substantially upgrade its force structure in Guam and Okinawa, while another warns about the danger posed by hardened Chinese air bases near Taiwan. A new report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments calls for increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in both Guam and Okinawa, as well as sufficient combat assets to conduct retaliatory strikes .
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11/22/2022
The Zhuhai Air Show in Guangdong China is the largest aviation and military trade expo in all of China. The event ran from November 7-13 and provided an unusually large glimpse into the developmental gains in military technology in a wide array of categories. Everything from small arms to commercial shipping technology had a presence at the show, but the real gains were shown in missile, radar, unmanned systems, and fighter technology.
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11/22/2022
Turkey’s Baykar company has begun ground tests of its Bayraktar Kizilelma drone, described as the country’s first unmanned fighter aircraft. Accompanying imagery of the tests, at the Akinci Flight Training and Test Center in the northwestern province of Tekirdag, which included taxi runs ahead of its first flight, provide us with our best look so far at this unique uncrewed air vehicle.
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11/21/2022
Taiwan tracked 15 Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels around Taiwan between Thursday and Friday, its Defence Ministry has said. “10 PLA aircraft and 3 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) said in a Twitter post.
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11/21/2022
As we already reported, F-35s from Italy, United States and the Netherlands are training together at Amendola Air Base, in southern Italy, during the exercise “Falcon Strike 2022”, which runs from November 15 to 28, 2022. The exercise is focused on the integration between fifth and fourth-generation aircraft and between different F-35 operators.
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11/21/2022
About 28 Turkish defense manufacturers participated in Pakistan’s biennial event IDEAS 2022. Turkey, alongside China, is believed to have the most prominent presence at the expo. Turkish media has also reported that their pavilion attracted hundreds of visitors, including Pakistani officials.
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11/20/2022
Turkish military planes have hit targets in northern Syria and Iraq, bombing bases Turkey’s defence ministry claimed were used by those behind an explosion in central Istanbul last weekend that killed six people and wounded more than 80. The Turkish defence ministry announced the launch of the raids in a statement on Twitter on Sunday.
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11/20/2022
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently announced that the NASAMS sent to Ukraine were fully operational, and their performance was very impressive. Shortly after, the internet was abuzz with reports about the NASAMS shooting down Russia’s ‘most powerful’ Su-35 fighters.
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11/20/2022
From November 15 to 28, 2022, F-35s from Italy, United States and the Netherlands are training together at Amendola Air Base, in southeastern Italy. The exercise, currently in full swing, is focused on the integration between fifth and fourth-generation aircraft and integration between different allied F-35 operators which, as you may already know, are two increasingly recurring topics since the entry into service of the Lightning II.
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11/20/2022
NATO navies are holding manoeuvres in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea throughout November, bringing together five aircraft carriers, numerous warships and thousands of sailors. Carrier activities will include anti-submarine and air warfare drills, deck-to-deck aircraft transfers and at-sea resupplying.
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11/19/2022
Japan has entered the final stages of talks with the U.K. and Italy to jointly develop and build a next-generation fighter jet, marking a turning point as Japan looks beyond the U.S. for defense cooperation. Tokyo will also consider revising its export rules to allow for defense equipment sales abroad, hoping to reduce development costs for the new plane and boost the domestic defense industry.
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11/19/2022
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 15 Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. Thursday (Nov. 17) and 6 a.m. Friday (Nov. 18). Of the 15 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, seven were monitored in the southwest corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), including four Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, and one Guizhou BZK-007 reconnaissance drone.
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11/19/2022
The proposal was made by Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, during a meeting with South Korean Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang in Seoul. Both sides are also exploring ways to strengthen collaboration in aviation, space, and other mobility industries. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy of South Korea stated on November 16 that Airbus proposed a “win-win strategy” that would involve exporting South Korean aircraft to Western European nations.
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11/19/2022
An Air Force test and evaluation squadron hopes a football-sized device mounted in an F-35 fighter's weapons bay might revolutionize how it collects in-flight data on operational fighter jets. Air Combat Command’s 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada earlier this year started adding these devices, dubbed the Quick Reaction Instrumentation Package, or QRIP, to operational F-35s.
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11/18/2022
Leonardo is bolstering the credentials of its M-346 thanks to an international school established with the Italian air force – and the airframer is hoping that further sales of the type will follow soon.
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11/18/2022
U.S. Navy air combat experts are asking electro-optics engineers at the Boeing Co. to procure 19 airborne infrared search and track (IRST) systems to help Navy combat jets detect enemy aircraft without using radar.
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11/18/2022
A photo of a pilot wearing an advanced Helmet Mounted Display (HMD), claimed to be from inside a JF-17C (or Block III), went around on social media. Also, another report about the jet being further upgraded also interested observers. Reported to share some of the technology from China’s J-20 ‘Mighty Dragon’ stealth fighter, the JF-17 is expected to replace the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) aging fleet of Chengdu F-7 and Dassault Mirage-III/V.
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11/17/2022
The 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade’s staff sergeant shared pictures of Ukrainian soldiers on his Facebook page as Russian forces were routed in the Kherson region. The photo that caught the most attention was of the Su-24M Flanker.
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11/17/2022
A new federal watchdog report has flagged a troubling trend among U.S. military aircraft: More than two dozen fleets haven’t met their annual combat-readiness goals in at least a decade. The Government Accountability Office studied 49 types of airframes across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps for its Nov. 10 report. Those platforms make up the bulk of American military airpower.
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11/16/2022
Airmen are gearing up for what could be the most consequential move in military pilot training since the Air Force was created in 1947: teaching students to fly without stepping foot in a real airplane. The new program, known as “Air Mobility Fundamentals-Simulator,” is the Air Force’s next step in a yearslong attempt to modernize pilot training without sacrificing quality. It’s also an opportunity for the service to embrace more cost-effective technology and retire its 30-year-old fleet of T-1A
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11/16/2022
After almost nine months of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has burned through, and seen destroyed, enormous stocks of arms and munitions. It cannot fully replace them. Faced with an acute loss of advanced components and industrial equipment as a result of Western sanctions, the Russian defense industry will simply be unable to compensate for its losses in the foreseeable future.
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11/16/2022
For the first time, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has provided valuable air-to-air refuelling support in South Korea during Exercise Vigilant Storm 23. A RAAF KC-30A multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) and aviators from 33 Squadron deployed to the exercise from October 28 to November 5. Exercise Vigilant Storm is one of several exercises routinely held by the United States and South Korea, and is intended to enhance combined defence posture and strengthen combined air operations.
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11/16/2022
In a period of global competition and conflict, the liberal democracies need to accelerate their capabilities to defend themselves and to find ways to enhance their deterrent capabilities not just for the long haul but in the short to mid-term.
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11/15/2022
14th November, 2022) Poland will carry out maintenance and repair works on US-made F-16 fighter jets, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday.
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11/15/2022
Citing the “Belarusian Hajun Project” Telegram channel, the report stated that a MiG-31 with the number RF-92339 was flying over Belarus and carrying a hypersonic missile. A photograph was subsequently released as evidence of the aircraft over Minsk. While the MiG-31s armed with Kinzhal missiles remain reportedly deployed in Belarus, Russia’s Defense Ministry has meanwhile ordered an additional batch of Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic missiles, as reported by the state news agency TASS.
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11/15/2022
The F-35 fighter is the most advanced tactical aircraft currently in production anywhere. Its low-observable (“stealth”) features give the plane a radar signature similar to that of a steel golf ball, and its onboard sensor fusion gives the pilot unprecedented situational awareness.
Designed to perform a diverse array of missions, from air-to-air combat to precision bombing to radar jamming to intelligence gathering, the F-35 is so capable that 16 countries have signed up to buy it—and more wil
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11/14/2022
State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has left no stone unturned to close the Royal Malaysian Air Force deal for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark 1A. Amidst the changing political landscape in that country, it is said that South Korea is on the brink of closing the deal.
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11/14/2022
According to a Chinese media report, the J-10 project was greatly aided by a five-person team of Chinese test pilots trained to fly US warplanes aircraft in the UK. This also paved the way for creating the technologically sophisticated J-20 fifth-generation aircraft. The SCMP report claimed that Lei Qiang, the son of a Korean war pilot and a member of the five-person team, was chosen to fly the first flight of the J-10 on March 23, 1998.
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11/14/2022
In a major development, China has again sent its military fighter jets and bombers near Taiwan, resulting in the Island responding with aircraft in CAP, naval vessels, and land-based missile systems. According to the Taiwan defence ministry, at least 36 fighter jets and three People's Liberation Army (PLA) vessels were detected near the median line in the Taiwan Strait on November 13.
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11/13/2022
Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets performed breathtaking aerial feats at the Bahrain International Airshow, demonstrating the combat capabilities of Pakistan’s premier multi-role aircraft to thousands of spectators.
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11/13/2022
South Korea's KF-21 Boramae fighter jet's second prototype conducted its first flight. The fighter jet took its first flight out of Korean Aerospace Industries near Sacheon airport, South Korea. It is to be noted that the first prototype of the aircraft took flight four months ago. Reportedly, the aircraft stayed airborne for around 35 minutes, based on the information provided by Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the South Korean procurement agency.
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11/13/2022
Images of a destroyed Russian UAV resembling Turkish-made Bayraktar drones have surfaced online. The Russian drone is a rare UAV called the ‘Corsair’ or ‘Korsar,’ not to be confused with the Ukrainian Korsar Infantry Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs).
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11/12/2022
Before Russia decided to begin its “special operation” against Ukraine, the Su-30 was one of the most widely used and widely sold military aircraft in the world; it was a true ‘contract’ machine. However, as of the end of February 2022, there has been complete silence at Sukhoi, and especially at its parent corporation UAC, regarding anything and everything that is connected to the Su-30 Flanker-C. Instead, Russia focuses on the Flanker-E variant of the Su-35.
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11/12/2022
The recovery of a Soviet-era anti-aircraft missile after a recent North Korean launch shows the age of the nuclear-armed country's air defences - systems and aircraft Pyongyang has been working to modernize alongside the rest of its arsenal. Although North Korea’s ballistic missiles get most of the attention, the country has been quietly pouring resources into trying to find ways to counter stealth fighters, analysts say.
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11/12/2022
Nearly all advanced fighter jets in Russia’s arsenal are pressed into service in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict. While Moscow has not been able to achieve complete air superiority owing to Ukraine’s air defense, it has given the Ukrainian Air Force a hard time.
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11/12/2022
Turkey has unveiled its indigenously developed AESA radar that will be integrated into the F-16 fighter jets, among other manned and unmanned aircraft in the Turkish Air Force.
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11/11/2022
The Pentagon has quietly cut procurement of its new AC-130J Ghostrider special operations gunships, downsizing the fleet from 37 to 30. U.S. Special Operations Command originally planned to buy nearly 40 Ghostriders to replace three older gunships: the AC-130H Spectre, AC-130W Stinger II and AC-130U Spooky. Each of those 37 aircraft are now retired.
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11/11/2022
Pakistan brought three of its JF-17 fighter jets to showcase at the Bahrain International Airshow on Thursday. The JF-17s took part in a flying display at the 9-11 November event at which companies from several countries including Israel are participating.
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11/11/2022
The Tunisian Air Force (TAF) took delivery of the first of eight Beechcraft T-6C trainer planes from Textron Aviation, the firm announced here at the Manama Air Power Symposium 2022.“The aircraft was delivered at Wichita to the TAF and will arrive [in] Tunisia by the end of first quarter of 2023,” Fouad Kasri, director of sales & strategy for Africa and the Middle East at Textron Aviation Defense, told Breaking Defense.
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11/11/2022
U.S. Navy combat aircraft experts needed logistics and mission-planning computer hardware for the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter. They found their solution from Lockheed Martin Corp. Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., have announced a $152.3 million contract to provide F-35 logistics information systems to include Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS).
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11/11/2022
America's top general estimated on Wednesday that Russia's military had seen more than 100,000 of its soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine, and added Kyiv's armed forces "probably" suffered a similar level of casualties in the war. The estimates could not be independently confirmed by Reuters.
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11/10/2022
Israeli F-35 fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes on an Iranian convoy that night. The convoy traveled from Iraq to Syria. The Syrian government claims the convoy was only transporting fuel. However, Iraqi sources claim that in addition to fuel, there were containers of weapons.
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11/10/2022
An Air Force jet is a complicated machine that takes an entire symphony of specialists working in concert to keep it ready for a mission. With regards to combat aircraft, one group of airmen puts their blood, sweat, and tears into making sure that when an aircrew member presses the pickle button, the right weapon comes off the rails in the nick of time.
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11/10/2022
China’s aerospace industry is known to be pursuing a sixth-generation fighter jet program. In September, the chief of the US Air Combat Command (ACC), General Mark Kelly, said that China is “on track” to produce a sixth-generation fighter while asserting the need for the US to field its next-generation fighter before China does.
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11/10/2022
A ‘whole of nation’ vision and approach will be required. Spelling out clear end-states, timelines and regular path-line reviews would be important. The time to act is now, lest it is too late.
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11/09/2022
The Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) has dispatched six pilots to France to attend training sessions to man the 4.5-generation Dassault Rafale fighter jets purchased by Indonesia. "We have dispatched six pilots and eight engineers to France to attend the training sessions," TNI AU Chief of Staff Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo stated on the sidelines of an Air Force seminar here, Tuesday.
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11/09/2022
Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm over the Pentagon’s plan to pull dozens of U.S. F-15 Eagle jet fighters out of Japan while Tokyo looks to beef up its defense forces and expand coordination with the U.S. in the face of rising North Korean provocations and China’s growing assertiveness in the region. Pentagon officials say the U.S. will maintain a “steady presence” of fighter jets at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa through rotational deployments of other aircraft, including F-22s currently
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11/09/2022
U.S. Navy carrier aviation experts are ordering unmanned aerial tankers from the Boeing Co. in preparation for future larger orders and eventual carrier deployment of these unmanned tanker aircraft. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced an $47.5 million order to the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis in late September for MQ-25 Stingray low-rate initial production lot 1 for the U.S. Navy.
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11/08/2022
North Korea said on Monday that its recent missile launches were simulated strikes on South Korea and the United States as the two countries held a "dangerous war drill", while the South said it had recovered parts of a North Korean missile near its coast. Last week, North Korea test-fired multiple missiles, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and hundreds of artillery shells into the sea, as South Korea and the United States carried out six-day air drills that
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11/08/2022
While Russia's air force far outweighs Ukraine's, both in size and sophistication, Russia has resorted to firing long-range ballistic and cruise missiles, recently augmented by cheap, mass-produced Iranian Shahed-136 explosive-laden drones. Ukraine has had some success in shooting many of these down, but those that do get through have severely damaged Ukraine's power and water infrastructure, just as winter is setting in.
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11/08/2022
The C-17 Globemaster is one of the workhorses of the U.S. Air Force’s mobility fleet, transporting everything from heavy weaponry, like tanks, to hundreds of passengers. But the Air Force has another mission in mind for the massive aircraft: carrying pallets of standoff cruise missiles.
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11/08/2022
Organized by the NATO Deployable Air Command and Control Centre (DACC), based at Poggio Renatico in northern Italy, between Nov. 2 – 10, 2022, Poggio Dart 2022 (PODA-22) is an exercise that sees the involvement of four NATO nations (Greece, Italy, Turkey and U.S.), and about 30 aircraft, including F-35s, F-16s, F-4s, Eurofighter Typhoons and Tornado ECRs, with the foreign assets deployed to Aviano AB, Italy.
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11/07/2022
South Korea’s military said it scrambled fighter jets after detecting about 180 North Korean military flights north of the two countries’ border over four hours on Friday. The North Korean aircraft flew north of the so-called tactical action line, north of the Military Demarcation Line between the two Koreas, South Korea’s military said in a statement. The virtual line is used as a basis for South Korean air defence operations, a South Korean official said.
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11/07/2022
Five members of the Venezuelan military died Sunday when their plane crashed during a training mission, authorities in the South American country said. The C-208B aircraft “fell to the ground” 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the Jose Antonio Paez air base, in Venezuela’s southern Amazonas state, Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in a statement. “So far, four lifeless bodies have been rescued and the search continues for the fifth,” he added.
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11/07/2022
The Russian Defense Ministry says two fighter jets shot down a Ukrainian warplane. The online information portal Izvestia quoted the ministry as saying that the two Russian fighters that took part in the battle were Su-35 and Su-30. Neither the Defense Ministry nor the reports said when the air battle took place and over which area in Ukraine.
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11/06/2022
The U.S. military's X-37B robotic space plane just passed 900 days in orbit on its latest hush-hush mission, adding to the program's flight-duration record. The current mission is the sixth for the X-37B program and is therefore known as OTV-6 ("Orbital Test Vehicle 6"). It launched on May 17, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and it's unclear when it will end.
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11/06/2022
North Korea added to its recent barrage of weapons demonstrations by launching four ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, as the United States sent two supersonic bombers streaking over South Korea in a dueling display of military might that underscored rising tensions in the region. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the four short-range missiles fired from a North Korean western coastal area around noon flew about 130 kilometers (80 miles) toward the country’s western sea.
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11/06/2022
The Ministry of National Defense said it had spotted nine aircraft and two ships from China’s military in areas surrounding Taiwan by 5 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 5). Only one plane, a Xi’an H-6 bomber, entered the southwest sector of the country’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the military tweeted. The aircraft was spotted close to the Taiwan-held island of Dongsha, one of many disputed islands in the South China Sea.
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11/06/2022
The little-known ENAER (Empresa Nacional de Aeronáutica), from Chile, officially launched at the end of October in partnership with the Chilean Air Force (FACh) the program for the development and production of the new Pillán II trainer aircraft, under a contract of $ 142 millions. FACh plans to acquire 33 Pillán II aircraft for primary training missions. The aircraft is an evolution of the T-35 Pillán, which was ENAER’s first product and also the first aircraft designed and mass-produced in Chi
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11/06/2022
The UK Ministry of Defence reported that Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilisation drive and its annual autumn conscription intake. The Russian Armed Forces were already stretched providing training for the approximate 300,000 troops required for its 'partial mobilisation', announced on 21 September 2022. These issues will be compounded by the additional regular autumn annual conscription cycle, announced on 30 September 2022.
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11/05/2022
The H-6K carried one such missile on each wing, reported Global Times, citing the video report by China Central Television (CCTV). While Chinese officials did not specify the weapon’s exact type, one of the missiles was seen with “2PZD-21” scrawled on its body. Chinese media reports stated that it appeared to be some air-to-ground missile with a shape very similar to a ballistic missile.
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11/05/2022
The Ministry of National Defense said it tracked 27 aircraft and four ships from China’s military around the country before 5 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 4). Of the 27 People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft, 12 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and three intruded into the southwest sector of the country’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the military tweeted.
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11/05/2022
Bulgarian lawmakers have voted to approve the purchase of eight F-16C/D Block 70 fighter jets for the country’s Air Force. The forthcoming acquisition is to be worth close to $1.3 billion. The National Assembly, the country’s unicameral parliament, approved the planned purchase by a majority of 162 votes, with 49 members voting against, and 11 abstentions.
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11/05/2022
South Korea mobilized dozens of combat aircraft Friday after identifying a large deployment of North Korean aircraft, which in the last two days has launched some 30 missiles to respond to large air maneuvers of Seoul and Washington. “Our military took action after identifying some 180 North Korean military aircraft between 11 am and 3 pm (2 am-6 am GMT) Friday, November 4,” the South Korean defense ministry said in a statement.
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11/05/2022
A squadron of Rafale fighters will be sent to perform air policing missions in the Romanian airspace, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said during a meeting with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.
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11/04/2022
The U.S. and South Korea announced Thursday they will extend joint military drills in the wake of North Korea’s saber-rattling this week, which included an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. North Korea fired at least six missiles into the sea on Thursday and more than 20 missiles a day earlier, prompting condemnation from Seoul and Washington ? including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after a prescheduled Pentagon meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup.
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11/04/2022
Iran stands accused by Western powers of supplying drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine, with analysts saying such military cooperation is of immense interest for Tehran at a delicate moment for its theocratic leadership. The United States has denounced as "appalling" Russia's use of Iranian drones after residents of Kyiv and other cites were shaken by a spate of recent attacks.
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11/04/2022
Rare footage has emerged of Russian Su-25 ‘Frogfoot’ launching rockets directly into Ukrainian positions to the west of Donetsk. The video was filmed somewhere over Maryinka, a small city located in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region, according to OSINT analysts.
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11/04/2022
Air Force Special Operations Command received its 31st and final AC-130J Ghostrider, completing the command’s transition from the legacy AC-130W, AC-130U and AC-130H fleets.
Following a commemoration ceremony at the Lockheed Martin Gunship Modification Facility in Crestview Nov. 2, the final AC-130J was delivered to the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.
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11/04/2022
Investigators believe that during the rendezvous, the two aircraft were traveling at such different speeds that the refueling boom forcibly broke away from the fighter jet and slammed back into the KC-46, the official said. The Pegasus safely continued on to New Jersey after the mishap.
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11/03/2022
Norway’s reassurance policy towards Russia has for the most followed a practice that allied intelligence missions to airspace outside the Kola Peninsula should not take off, land, or fly over Norwegian airspace. On Wednesday, a U.S. Air Force plane was indeed inside Norwegian airspace, both before and after the flight aimed to monitor Russia's military forces from above the eastern Barents Sea.
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11/03/2022
It is hardly news that for the last decade the Pentagon has fallen short of its strategic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Still, it is quite conspicuous when evidence of that “say-do gap” emerges within 24 hours of the publication of the Pentagon’s most important strategic document.
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11/03/2022
Lockheed Martin released new renderings showing a manned sixth-generation fighter aircraft as a notional stand-in design for the U.S. Air Force Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD. The images were included in a media briefing about the company’s proposal for the KC-Y competition, the Airbus A330 MRTT-derived LMXT tanker. Interestingly, the images were released only to the media attending the briefing, but not on the company’s website or social medias.
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11/02/2022
Ukrainian commandoes blew up three helicopter gunships at a Russian military airfield close to the Latvian border, in one of the most spectacular behind-the-lines raids launched by either side since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, multiple sources confirmed on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
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11/02/2022
PLAAF researchers want to replicate the functioning of a Formula 1 racing team’s pit crew for military purposes to further refine the logistical and maintenance processes of aircraft – a critical factor in any fight against a near-peer adversary.
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11/02/2022
For supporters of Ukraine’s war-weary air force, it was a beautiful sight: four of the air force’s swing-wing Su-24 bombers flying in formation over Ukraine on or around Oct. 30. It was the biggest formation of the two-seat, supersonic bombers that anyone had seen in Ukraine in many years—and certainly the biggest to appear over Ukraine since Russia widened its war on the country starting in late February.
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11/02/2022
According to a recent report by SCMP, the twin-seater model might be used as a tactical electronic jammer and an advanced early warning aircraft in the future battlefield. The J-20 has been developed with improved stealth and mobility in mind, and it has the potential to provide access to a range of previously unavailable air warfare options.
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11/02/2022
The Speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yurii Ihnat, recently announced that the Ukrainian Air Force had chosen a cadre of pilots who would eventually be trained to fly Western combat jets. He was speaking at the UA Together marathon.
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