Military Aviation News Archive
10/11/2022
The Italian Eurofighters deployed to Poland have carried out 16 alert scrambles to intercept 19 Russian combat aircraft in the last few weeks. An “impressive number” according to the commander of the Italian Task Force.
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10/11/2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that people were killed and injured in multiple missile strikes across Ukraine, including the first bombardment of the capital, Kyiv, in months. CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata said the strikes, which could signal a major escalation in the eight-month-old war, appeared to be entirely punitive — retaliation meant to terrorize Ukrainian civilians in densely-populated urban neighborhoods, close to government buildings.
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10/10/2022
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday officially introduced a domestically developed light-combat helicopter into the Indian Air Force, hailing the aircraft’s addition as a big step for India’s self-reliance in the defense sector. “For a long time, India has had to be dependent on foreign attack helicopters,” said Mr. Singh, speaking at an Air Force base in the western desert state of Rajasthan. “This is an important milestone in India’s defense production.”
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10/10/2022
The UK Ministry of Defence reported early on 08 October 2022, an explosion damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge, the road and rail crossing which links Russian-occupied Crimea and the Krasnodar region of Russia. Two of the four carriageways of the roadway have collapsed in several places over a length of approximately 250m. It is almost certain that some vehicle transits via the other two carriageways have resumed, but capacity will be seriously degraded.
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10/10/2022
The Su-75 "Checkmate" is Russia's attempt at an export fifth-generation fighter. Billed as a cheaper F-35 with better specs than the JAS-39 Gripen, Russia designed the Su-75 specifically to sell to countries with no homegrown aeronautical industry. Originally revealed at the MAKS Airshow last year, the Su-75 was hailed as a solid move by Russia's United Aerospace Corporation, building off the Su-57 platform — Russia's first fifth-generation fighter.
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10/09/2022
Turkey has intensified the search for another option after the cancellation of the deal for F-16 fighter jets with America. Turkish media have reported that if the F-16 plan fails, the Eurofighter Typhoon may be considered for purchase from Europe. The Eurofighter Typhoon has been jointly developed by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo together manufacture this fighter aircraft.
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10/09/2022
In light of North Korea's ongoing missile launches, the United States and Japan are conducting a combined military exercise with the American aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan in the vicinity of Japan, the Japanese defence ministry announced on Saturday.
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10/09/2022
The Russian armed forces are not on the verge of collapse. And No! The Su-35 doesn’t lack the capability associated with it. And certainly not! Russian fighter pilots are not a bunch of kick-the-tire and light-the-jocks! The apparent regression in employed tactics likely has an excellent reason. Russian forces appear to be adapting to the realities of a protracted conflict against an adversary drawing on an unending supply of troops, equipment, and ammunition from the West.
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10/09/2022
An explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia on Saturday, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. Russian authorities said a truck bomb caused the blast and that three people were killed.
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10/08/2022
With a flying radius of 1500 km without mid-air refuelling and a 450-km Extended Range variant of the BrahMos missile system, the IAF believes that the combination would be a deadly weapon package with strategic reach to hit targets at sea and land.
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10/08/2022
The Indian Air Force has initiated a project to carry out life extension studies on its Su-30 MKI frontline fighter aircraft to determine the feasibility of enhancing its calendar life by at least 10 years from 25 years to 35 years.
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10/08/2022
When the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, it included a section requiring the Navy to maintain “a minimum quantity of high-demand, low-density EA-18G aircraft capabilities.”
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10/07/2022
The U.S. Air Force deployed four B-52H Stratofortress aircraft to the U.S. European Command theater August 18-September 21, 2022 to conduct Bomber Task Force missions with key allies and partners. The strategic bombers are assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base), North Dakota. The aircraft operated out of Royal Air Force Fairford, England, which marks the second time this year B-52s from Minot have flown to RAF Fairford for a bomber task force mission.
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10/07/2022
According to Pozdnyakov, the tests would comprise climatic and resource tests and examine ‘mechanical impacts.’ This implies checking whether the structural integrity is maintained and if the system can withstand the extreme pressures on the seat while being ejected by rocket boosters mid-flight. In July 2021, Pozdnyakov said that the deliveries of the seats to the Tupolev Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) should begin by 2023.
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10/07/2022
The Bangladesh Army Aviation Group has received its second C295W tactical military transport aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space. The new medium utility military aircraft officially joined the Bangladeshi Fleet on September 25 after a six-day journey from the company’s factory in Spain. The army stated that the aircraft will enhance the South Asian nation’s combat capabilities.
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10/07/2022
For the uninitiated, Tom Cruise-starrer Top Gun: Maverick provided a sneak peek into the world of fighter aircraft and aerial combat. In the 2022 sequel to the popular 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise pointedly tells his US Navy (USN) teammates about the advantage that the enemy state had over them with its advanced fifth-generation fighter jets during a special mission that they were set to embark upon with their slightly inferior jets.
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10/07/2022
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by work, chores, family, or just bad news on social media, you actually have more in common with young fighter pilots than you might think. “The single hardest thing about flying the F-16 is handling the bewildering onslaught of information,” wrote historian Peter Aleshire in his 2004 book Eye of the Viper: The Making of an F-16 Pilot. “The [Heads-Up Display] displays 20 different key bits of information about the airplane, from headings to weapons locks.
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10/06/2022
With no end in sight for the grounding of virtually the entire fleet of older C-130H Hercules, the Air Force is turning to other aircraft and trying to find other workarounds to keep its mobility missions moving. But the Air Force can’t say how long it will be before most or all of the grounded C-130Hs will be back in the air. Replacement parts to end the groundings are in short supply.
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10/06/2022
Former Afghan Air Force (AAF) Maj. Samimullah Samim, one of the thousands of Afghans who ran the gantlet of Taliban checkpoints and the deadly chaos at the Kabul airport gates to escape to the U.S. in late August 2021, is still in the fight. But rather than bombing and strafing Taliban positions as he did in the AAF, he's targeting fires in the Pacific Northwest, using his piloting skills to combat a pressing threat in his adopted country.
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10/06/2022
The US Air Force is set to begin flight experiments with Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a combat drone developed for the Australian air force that may help its American counterpart learn how to operate unmanned aircraft alongside fighter jets. Lt. Gen. Clint Hinote, who leads Air Force Futures, told Breaking Defense in a September 20 interview that the service is “getting ready to take delivery” of a drone prototype through the Pentagon’s research and engineering office, also known as OSD (R&E).
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10/05/2022
apanese and US military planes carried out a joint drill Tuesday in response to a North Korean ballistic missile launch, Japanese officials said. Japan’s Joint Staff said eight Japanese and four US fighter jets took part in the drill in airspace west of the country’s Kyushu region.
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10/05/2022
China is seeking to "normalise" its military activities close to Taiwan, including crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which poses a challenge like none seen before, the Taiwanese defence ministry said on Tuesday. China, which views the democratically-governed island as its own territory, carried out war games including firing missiles over Taipei in early August in response to a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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10/05/2022
With Russian airpower still very much embroiled in the war in Ukraine, the country’s little-known aggressor squadron recently took delivery of its first Su-35S Flanker-Ms — the most advanced fighter jets in frontline service with the Russian Aerospace Forces, or VKS. Experiences from the current conflict in Ukraine suggest that overhauling the air combat training capabilities of the VKS is badly needed, and the Su-35S might now be expected to help achieve that goal.
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10/05/2022
The U.S. will soon deliver to Ukraine four more of the advanced rocket systems credited with helping the country’s military gain momentum in its war with Russia. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, will be part of a new $625 million package of aid expected to be announced on Tuesday, according to U.S. officials.
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10/04/2022
Ukraine’s military is on the offensive against Russian forces and asking for more powerful weapons to press its advantage, but so far there is no sign that allies will step up their commitments. Instead, President Vladimir Putin dramatically raised the stakes in a Sept. 21 speech, threatening nuclear war and launching sham votes aimed at expanding Russia’s borders into occupied Ukraine.
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