March, 2010 Military Aviation News
03/31/2010
Obama administration defense officials were said to have approved the sale U.S. military aircraft to Israel at the same time political tensions between President Barack Obama and Israel's conservative leader neared the boiling point at a White House meeting.
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03/31/2010
"We continue to strengthen and sharpen our focus on deterrence while at the same time preserving our freedom of action in space and cyberspace," Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, head of Strategic Command (Stratcom), said in last week's appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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03/31/2010
The Air Force is moving forward with a new rescue helicopter program that was canceled last year and working on details of a new long-range strike program, but both programs will clearly be more modest than initially expected, the service's top Force general said.
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03/31/2010
Germany may make a “slight” cut in its order of 60 A400M military transporters and take delivery of the planes without their ability to perform automated low- flight maneuvers, a defense ministry official said.
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03/31/2010
The Pentagon is considering dispatching surveillance drones and other limited military support for a Somali government offensive against al-Qaida-linked insurgents, U.S. officials said, part of a cautious move to increase U.S. assistance to the anarchic African nation.
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03/31/2010
The Middle East, a byword for political instability and conflict, is witnessing a renewed arms race, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The region, already armed to the teeth, is in a process of upgrading its military systems with the latest hardware in fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missiles.
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03/30/2010
Industry players have until early May to respond to a U.S. Navy request for information (RFI) for a carrier-based, stealthy, unmanned, strike and surveillance system capable of integrating with manned aircraft as part of a carrier air wing by 2018.
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03/30/2010
The U.K. will take as many as three fewer Airbus A400M military transport planes than it originally ordered after the program’s costs increased, the country’s defense secretary said.
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03/30/2010
The U.S. military is starting to put as much emphasis on unmanned drones as it does on traditional piloted aircraft, and as a result is changing the way it trains flight crews.
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03/30/2010
The Pentagon aims to deliver a fleet of surveillance drones to Pakistan within a year, but weaponized versions of the unmanned aircraft are still off-limits, a U.S. military official said on Monday.
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03/30/2010
“After a long wait, the joint force is growing accustomed to using the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor in operational missions. However, it will probably take a good deal longer before Osprey missions become routine, because no military force has ever before possessed a combat aircraft that combines the speed and range of a fixed-wing plane with the vertical agility of a helicopter.
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03/30/2010
Lockheed Martin hit the target in two tests featuring DAGR guided rockets launched from an airborne OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter. This is the fourth aircraft DAGR has fired from in the past year—prior platforms include the AH-64D Apache and the AH-6 Little Bird.
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03/29/2010
European plane-maker Airbus will decide in two to three weeks whether to compete for a US military contract to build an aerial refuelling tanker, its chief said in an interview published Monday.
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03/29/2010
American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin on Monday assured India that the F-16s being offered to it would be “much more advanced” than the fighters provided to Pakistan.
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03/29/2010
Eurofighter Typhoons scrambled twice in response to warnings of suspected attempts to hijack American airliners.
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03/29/2010
At the International Air and Space Fair - FIDAE 2010 to be held on 23-28 March in Santiago, Chile, the delegation of the federal state unitary enterprise (FSUE) "Rosoboronexport" will present to its participants and visitors samples of advanced military hardware made in Russia, and promote to its partners a number of new projects aimed at bolstering national defence and security of Latin American countries, as well as address some issues on implementation of continuing contracts for the delivery
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03/29/2010
Brazil plans to announce in early April the winner of a multi-billion-dollar competition for modern fighter jets meant to cement its new role as Latin America's preeminent military power.
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03/29/2010
As the Prince of Wales returns from visiting British soldiers in Afghanistan, where he spent the night at Camp Bastion in Helmand, his son is looking forward to the prospect of a much longer spell on the front line.
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03/29/2010
A man who walked on wings. Two daredevil pilots.
A five-gallon can of fuel.
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03/29/2010
New training aims to get personnel to feel they are constantly in combat, even if they are operating the Predators and Reapers flying over Afghanistan from the Nevada desert.
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03/29/2010
After years of turbulence, Embraer has become a leading maker of commercial passenger aircraft. It now faces some crucial decisions.
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03/29/2010
Israeli air force have practiced simulated strikes at Iran's nuclear facilities using airspace of at least two unidentified Arab countries, a newspaper published in east Jerusalem reported.
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03/28/2010
HERE’S a sticky situation if ever there was one: Imagine a water slide decal no thicker than a strand of hair ending up in a tangle.
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03/28/2010
Did Kenya buy defective helicopters from China? That is the question being asked by military engineers after it became apparent that eight Chinese choppers delivered to Nairobi in January have not been flown.
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03/28/2010
Two Brazilian helicopters arrived in Colombia Saturday in the first stage of a mission to pick up two hostage soldiers who FARC guerrillas plan to hand over next week.
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03/28/2010
The U2 spy aircraft, famed for high-altitude Cold War espionage missions over the Soviet Union, is enjoying a new lease of life in Afghanistan as the best spotter of Taliban roadside bombs in the allies’ arsenal.
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03/28/2010
The first five of 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Royal Australian Air Force have arrived in Australia at its largest air force base, Amberley in Queensland. The F/A-18Fs are Canberra's first new combat aircraft in 25 years.
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03/28/2010
As the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue and its accompanying hype wound down in Washington, US briefed India about the content and scope of the discussions between the two sides.
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03/27/2010
Thales has been awarded a contract by Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RSK-MiG) to deliver Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Combined Interrogator Transponder (CIT) and Cryptographic National Secure Mode (NSM), for the retrofit of the MiG-29 multi-role fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
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03/27/2010
The cost of purchase is estimated to be between $900 million to $1.2 Billion dollars according to sources who took part in the discussions held between the Romanian National Defence Ministry and the US.
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03/27/2010
Australia has signed a $467 million contract with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command to buy seven CH-47F Chinook helicopters, two simulators and associated spares.
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03/27/2010
Admiral Robert Willard also said Taiwan would need to improve its fighter jet capabilities to counter military imbalances with China.
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03/26/2010
The prospect of a nuclear deal for Pakistan gives India less sleepless nights than the fact that the US, in an attempt to "incentivise" Pakistan, is piling on sophisticated military equipment that have little to do with counter-terrorism but more to do with targeting India.
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03/26/2010
A civilian helicopter carrying two German troops and a group of engineers has made a 'hard landing' in northern Afghanistan after coming under attack by Taliban militants.
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03/26/2010
A senior RAF officer has told BBC Scotland he fears lives will be put "at risk" by the MOD's decision to withdraw Nimrods from operations.
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03/26/2010
Civil, commercial and military aircraft industry representatives are now in Chile attending the Fidae 2010 air-show, which was inaugurated Tuesday by President Sebastian Pinera.
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03/26/2010
The U.S. Air Force said a biomass-derived jet fuel blend was used to fuel the flight of an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft in Florida Thursday.
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03/26/2010
The Boeing Company today delivered the 79th - and final - upgraded CF-18 Hornet aircraft to the Canadian Department of National Defence during a ceremony in Mirabel, Quebec, hosted by industry partner L-3 Communications MAS, who performed final upgrade installations. The delivery brings the nine-year, two-phased CF-18 Modernization Project to a close.
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03/25/2010
Military helicopters have sophisticated electronic countermeasures to detect and defend against surface-to-air missiles, by jamming or fooling the seekers that guide the missiles to target. Now the Pentagon’s far-out research arm wants to take things a step further, by protecting against unguided — but equally dangerous — small arms fire.
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03/25/2010
The head of the air transport division of Hungary's National Transport Authority has been suspended over an Israeli military exercise in Hungarian airspace, Transport Minister Peter Honig said on Wednesday.
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03/25/2010
The FA/18F Super Hornets, Australia’s first new air combat aircraft in 25 years will fly into their home base, RAAF Amberley this Friday.
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03/25/2010
This striking picture shows the RAF intercepting two long-range Russian "Blackjack" bombers after they breached UK airspace off the Scottish coast.
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03/25/2010
The Pentagon is weighing "interesting proposals" for a possible multiyear purchase of Boeing Co's F-18 fighter aircraft, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress on Wednesday, amid lawmakers' concerns about a U.S. combat aircraft shortfall.
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03/25/2010
Lockheed Martin’s Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb successfully completed a series of six flight tests March 3 at Eglin Air Force Base, FL. The Paveway II Plus LGB uses an enhanced laser guidance package, significantly improving precision when compared to existing Paveway II LGBs.
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03/24/2010
India to Get Second AWACS on Thursday
New Delhi | Mar 23, 2010 PRINT SHARE COMMENTS
India will receive another Israeli-made Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) on Thursday, giving it the second 'eye in the sky' for enhanced surveillance that would virtually cover the entire nation.
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03/24/2010
A prototype for the T-129, an attack helicopter being developed by the Italian-British AgustaWestland for the Turkish Army, has crashed during a test flight in Italy but the pilots survived, the program's main Turkish partner announced March 23.
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03/24/2010
The U2 spy aircraft, famed for high-altitude Cold War espionage missions over the Soviet Union, is enjoying a new lease of life in Afghanistan as the best spotter of Taleban roadside bombs in the allies’ arsenal.
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03/24/2010
Two Red Arrows aircraft yesterday collided in mid-air over Crete, leaving one pilot in hospital and an aircraft destroyed.
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03/24/2010
Budgetary complaints, political bickering and financial scandals kept Japan's competition for a new combat aircraft delayed for nearly three years.
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03/24/2010
The Boeing Company, the world’s leading aerospace company, will highlight its commercial and defense capabilities during this year’s FIDAE International Air and Space Fair, which begins March 23 in Santiago.
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03/23/2010
The flying debut of Russia’s answer to the F-22 Raptor isn’t wowing Air Force leaders.
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03/23/2010
Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) is to operate three RC-135V/W Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft supplied under a Foreign Military Sales deal with the U.S. government, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced today.
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03/23/2010
Sweden's Gripen NG, the last of the six fighter aircraft that are being evaluated by the Indian Air Force for the $12 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, left Bangalore on Monday morning for the Air Force Station (AFS) Jaisalmer.
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03/23/2010
A bilateral military pact signed by France and Kuwait late last year was supposed to bolster defense cooperation and sweeten the Gulf state's appetite for Dassault's much-vaunted Rafale war plane.
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03/23/2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation has returned to service with the U.S. Air Force a freshly painted, completely overhauled B-2 stealth bomber known as the "Spirit of Pennsylvania."
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03/22/2010
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. isn’t planning to bid for the Pentagon’s $35 billion Air Force aerial-refueling tanker program, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Fyodorov said, contradicting U.S. media reports.
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03/22/2010
The United Arab Emirates wants to buy the latest U.S. military aircraft known as the Joint-Strike Fighter as it loads up on weapons to counter any threat from Iran, The Financial Times reports Monday.
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03/22/2010
The 22-hour visit to India by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier this month appears to have successfully rekindled some of the passion of the Moscow-New Delhi Cold War relationship and reminded the United States and China they aren't the only dancing partners at the prom.
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03/22/2010
Traditionally a reliable Russian customer, India is also looking further west for its new fighter and attack aircraft; proposals from the U.S., France and Sweden are on the table. The first step of the process is a “fly off” to make sure the proposed aircraft meet the basic requirements. With domestic sales stalling, the contract with India will be one of the most important of the next ten years.
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03/22/2010
Many US legislators say selling Taiwan the 66 F-16s it wants is the best way to prevent the disaster armed conflict would represent.
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03/22/2010
The Pakistan Army has received a fleet of advance AH-1 Cobra combat helicopters from the United States.
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03/22/2010
Selfridge Military Air Museum officials recently announced their 2010 general public hours of operation for the Museum and Air Park as noon to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, Memorial Day and Independence Day, from April 3 through Oct. 31.
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03/22/2010
Relics of Cold War now are 70,000 feet above Afghanistan and Iraq, locating roadside bombs and providing critical intelligence.
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03/21/2010
The United States has diverted a shipment of bunker-busters designated for Israel.
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03/21/2010
The U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet will perform on two days at Battle Creek's Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival at W. K. Kellogg Airport.
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03/21/2010
Australia's minister for defense, Sen. John Faulkner, is unruffled by the latest cost and schedule difficulties afflicting the Joint Strike Fighter program. And senior defense officials in Canberra say they believe that Australia's plans to acquire up to 100 F-35A Lightning II aircraft aren't much affected by the JSF project's cost overruns.
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03/21/2010
Think of a paper clip, suggests retired Lieutenant-Colonel Billy Allen. Just as you can only bend one so many times before it breaks, you can only push an aircraft beyond the speed of sound so many times before some crucial part gives out on you.
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03/21/2010
The UAE is near the top of a list of the world’s biggest weapons importers and is set to continue increasing its hi-tech defensive capabilities, according to a new report on international arms transfers.
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03/20/2010
The government has decided to proceed with a $13.1-million Italian contract that would supply the Armed Forces of the Philippines with 18 new training planes by yearend.
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03/20/2010
European aerospace group EADS said Friday that it may rejoin the competition for the U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling tanker contract after the Pentagon gave indications that it would extend the time needed to submit a bid.
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03/20/2010
Two Israeli military aircraft have been sighted flying at a low altitude over the Hungarian capital unbeknown to the country's defense ministry and the civilian and military secret services.
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03/20/2010
The Brazilian air force has given its technical nod of approval to all three fighter jets competing in the country's ambitious, multibillion-dollar contest for a fresh batch of fighter jets.
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03/20/2010
Russian Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers have completed a series of efficiency drills, an Air Force spokesman said on Friday.
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03/19/2010
Get ready for some shows in the skies this weekend. The 2010 Airfest is being held at MacDill Airforce Base.
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03/19/2010
Britain's Prince Harry could soon be back on the front lineagainst the Taliban, this time as the pilot of an attack helicopter in Afghanistan.
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03/19/2010
State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China staged a successful maiden test flight Thursday of its self-developed heavy-lift helicopter, the latest advance for the country's ambitious aerospace industry.
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03/19/2010
The world's arms trade has grown by more than 20% over the past 5 years. Russia ranks second after the US in terms of arms exports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
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03/19/2010
Amid growing concerns of renewed conflict in the Middle East, the Tehran regime has shaken up the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, putting a veteran general who operated in Lebanon with Hezbollah in command of its ground forces.
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03/19/2010
A new Russian-Indian military transport plane could make its maiden flight by 2018, the head of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said.
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03/19/2010
A supersonic Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter rode more than 41,000 pounds of thrust to a vertical landing today for the first time, confirming its required ability to land in confined areas both ashore and afloat.
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03/19/2010
Boeing today announced it received a $39.6 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense in December to provide 85 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS).
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03/18/2010
The US will provide 13 AH-1F Cobra helicopters to Pakistan for use as spare parts in its helicopter fleet, the US embassy said on Wednesday.
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03/18/2010
India expects to induct the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), already delayed by more than 15 years, into the Air Force by March 2011, informed Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony.
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03/18/2010
The U.S. government has given Lockheed Martin Corp. an initial $213 million to build 20 F-16 jet fighters for Egypt.
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03/18/2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation technicians here have begun installing the first set of hardware for a B-2 stealth bomber upgrade that will eventually allow the jet to send and receive battlefield information up to 100 times faster than its current satellite communications system. The work is being done as part of Increment 1 of the U.S. Air Force's B-2 extremely high frequency (EHF) satellite communications program.
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03/18/2010
Boeing Defence Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, has received accreditation from the Commonwealth of Australia as an Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO) for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18F Super Hornet Weapon System.
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03/17/2010
The aircraft program is headed up by Lockheed Martin (LMT) who saw itself stripped of $614 million in performance fees from the development contract. There is no danger Lockheed will lose the contract, though, as the Defense Department and Air Force continued to say that the new aircraft is “critical to modern warfare and are desperately needed to replace tactical fighter fleets in each of the services”. In short, if not the F-35, then what?
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03/17/2010
The military helicopter business is booming in the United States, but the industry mostly is making money fixing up and maintaining the Army’s aging fleet. Hardly any Pentagon contracts these days pursue new aircraft designs, industry officials say.
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03/17/2010
Two single seat, F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft, were involved in a mid-air collision at approximately 10 p.m. last night while on a routine training mission flying in the Fallon Range Training Complex. Neither pilot was injured. Both aircraft are assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron One Three Seven (VFA 137) based at NAS Lemoore.
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03/17/2010
The U.S. air force in South Korea has added three advanced ground-attack aircraft to its fleet of combat planes, boosting its capabilities to strike hidden North Korean artillery units with guided smart bombs, a U.S. military paper reported Tuesday, according to Yonhap News.
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03/17/2010
Russian arms sales to North Africa have increased significantly, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said, with energy-rich Algeria leading the pack.
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03/17/2010
Eyebrows were raised when India signed a deal last Friday to buy 29 MiG-29k fighter aircraft worth $1.5 billion (Dh5.5 billion) from Russia during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to the country. This was part of a broader deal to purchase $7 billion worth of military hardware from New Delhi's traditional supplier of arms, including an aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.
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03/17/2010
Last year, the U.S. Air Force began issuing special "wings" for operators of UAVs. While the air force now trains non-pilots to operate UAVs, this is not the first time that the air force issued "wings" badges to non-pilots.from.
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03/16/2010
U.S. Air Force Airmen will teach the first Iraqi Air Force College pilot-training course, beginning in March, with Iraq's new T-6A trainer.
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03/16/2010
The Middle East newsline has confirmed that Saudi Arabia has advanced in negotiations to purchase a fighter jet from the United States.
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03/16/2010
Less than a year ago, the United States rushed four Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters to Pakistan after an urgent request from the country's senior leadership. Now those helicopters, which were offered at no cost to the government of Pakistan, are being returned to the United States after a serious crash that resulted in at least one fatality.
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03/16/2010
In a new study, “The Market for Medium/Heavy Military Rotorcraft,” Forecast International projects that 4,319 such rotorcraft will be produced during the 10-year time period between 2010 and 2019. The value of this production is estimated at $92.3 billion in constant 2010 U.S. dollars. In general, Forecast International defines a medium/heavy rotorcraft as one with a gross weight that equals or exceeds 6,804 kilograms (15,000 lb).
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03/16/2010
European resentment over the loss of a military aircraft contract with the Pentagon is likely to play a role in a meeting this month between President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
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03/16/2010
After years of delays in finalizing a global tender for 197 new helicopters, the Indian Army has recently decided to buy 20 Cheetal helicopters from Bangalore-based military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), three people familiar with the matter said.
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03/16/2010
The Boeing A160T Hummingbird has successfully completed a cargo delivery demonstration under a U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory contract, proving the unmanned rotorcraft's ability to resupply frontline troops in rough terrain.
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03/15/2010
In February, Air Force and partner warplanes dropped fewer bombs on Afghanistan targets than they have in 15 months, according to Air Forces Central Command.
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03/15/2010
Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus says it plans to sell around 210 of its A400M military planes to the US.
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03/15/2010
The first U.S. Black Hawk S-70i military helicopter to be made outside of the United States was unveiled in Poland on Monday at a plant that once serviced Nazi aircraft and built planes for the Communist bloc.
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03/15/2010
New SIPRI data on global arms transfers published today reveal that Russia remains the second largest arms exporter in the world. According to SIPRI data, the volume of Russian arms exports for 2005-2009 is of a similar level to that for 2000-2004.
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03/15/2010
Boeing and the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) celebrated Qatar's deployment of C-17 Globemaster III airlifters during an Air Force Day ceremony held March 10 at Doha International Airport.
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03/14/2010
We can expect a real breakthrough when the Russian-Indian collaboration on the creation of a fifth-generation prototype aircraft based on the experimental T-50 starts to become a reality.
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03/14/2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez formally took delivery of the first four K-8W airplanes out of 18 purchased in China for military training purposes, which, however, came armed with machine guns, air-to-ground missiles, bombs and rockets, and said that this armament increases military capability for “defending the sovereignty of this sacred land and of this revolution”
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03/13/2010
Drone pilots sit in air-conditioned rooms far away from the anti-terror wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They guide their weapons systems with joysticks and monitors. The remote warriors work with a high degree of precision -- and at a fraction of the cost of a fighter jet.
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03/13/2010
Ask a Russian what the country makes well, and the answer, more often than not, will be the Kalashnikov rifle.
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03/13/2010
Russia and India have signed a $1.5-billion contract on the supplies of 29 more MiG-29K carrier-based fighter jets to New Delhi, the head of the Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG said on Friday.
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03/12/2010
WHILE most kids harboured straightforward ambitions of being a teacher, accountant or lawyer, Patricia Yapp had her head in the clouds.
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03/12/2010
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, has been awarded a contract with a value of EUR 560 million by the Indian Air Force for the supply of 12 AW101 helicopters for government transport.
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03/12/2010
Northrop Grumman Corp's decision not to bid in a multibillion-dollar U.S. aerial tanker competition was a setback for the ambitions of its partner EADS, but the European company still hopes to boost U.S. revenue to $10 billion by 2020.
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03/12/2010
The cost of a single Joint Strike Fighter has soared to $95 million in the past eight years, a 50 percent increase, Pentagon officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
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03/12/2010
Northrop Grumman’s withdrawal this week from a $40 billion contest to build aerial refueling tankers provides Boeing with some welcome certainty about its future as a major builder of military aircraft.
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03/12/2010
On one side of the static display at Singapore’s February air show was a row of almost a dozen front-line combat aircraft. In terms of their basic design, the newest was the F-15, ordered into development just over 40 years ago. With “the local customer”—as the Singapore armed forces are known in the nation—thus far committed to the F-35, the rest of the fighter world stayed away, and news was to be found in the exhibit halls.
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03/12/2010
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government plans to procure fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, helicopters and other armament to strengthen the armed forces.
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03/12/2010
The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter passes overhead at 40 knots (46 mph) prior to a slow landing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Wednesday, March 10.
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03/11/2010
The United States and Europe face growing tensions over restrictions on export deals involving BAE Systems (BAES.L) while European politicians protest the collapse of efforts to sell aerial tankers to the United States.
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03/11/2010
The first batch of five military transport aircraft of Indian Air Force has arrived in Ukraine for overhaul and modernisation.
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03/11/2010
The Israel Defense Forces medical corps is looking at procuring an innovative unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will evacuate critical casualties directly from the battlefield to the hospital. This would get more wounded to the hospital within the “golden hour,” the critical time in which a medical evacuation has the best chance of saving a wounded soldier’s life.
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03/11/2010
As the threat of roadside bombs and ambushes has escalated in Afghanistan, U.S. and coalition forces have been forced to move everything from food supplies to mail delivery away from the ground and into the air. That, in turn, has prompted another problem: a critical lack of cargo helicopters.
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03/11/2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation today announced it successfully demonstrated its LITENING advanced targeting capabilities on the U.S. Navy's premier fighter/attack aircraft, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, marking the eighth U.S. combat aircraft to fly the advanced targeting system.
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03/11/2010
The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) Center has rated the Lockheed Martin C-5M as "effective, suitable and mission capable" based on results from OT&E testing completed in January 2010.
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03/10/2010
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) this week announced the delivery of the 500th Beechcraft T-6 military trainer to the United States Government. The milestone aircraft, a T-6B, went to the U.S. Navy and will be based at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. Deliveries began in 2000 after the aircraft was initially selected to fill the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System role for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the U.S. Navy (USN) in 1996.
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03/10/2010
The parent of European aerospace giant Airbus lost €763m (£692m) last year after paying €1.8bn in penalties and extra costs over its controversial new military transporter plane.
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03/10/2010
China on Tuesday warned the United States against any future arms sales to Taiwan, including F-16 fighter jets the island has been pushing for in hopes of upgrading its air defense capabilities.
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03/10/2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation is adding momentum to Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc.'s (TAI) readiness to build complete center fuselages for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft by teaching its engineers how to build the complex composite structures used in the jet.
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03/10/2010
Boeing has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract worth approximately $69.7 million for the initial engineering, manufacturing and development of QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Targets to replace the QF-4 fleet. Under the terms of the remainder of the contract, expected to be awarded in coming years, up to 126 QF-16 drones will deliver beginning in 2014.
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03/09/2010
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the US Air Force (USAF) will conduct joint exercises in the US towards the end of this year and the F-16 aircraft of the PAF will participate in the manoeuvres, defence and diplomatic sources told The News here.
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03/09/2010
"After a comprehensive analysis of the final RFP, Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the KC-X program. We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity.
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03/09/2010
European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV (EAD.FR) and the seven governments involved in the long-delayed Airbus A400M military airlifter program reckon there is potential export demand for 300 of the planes, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said Monday.
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03/09/2010
Government on Monday said Rs 24,122 crores has been spent till February 2010 to procure various defence equipment for the armed forces during the current financial year.
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03/09/2010
The Boeing Company has begun to build Phantom Eye -- its first unmanned, liquid-hydrogen powered, high altitude long endurance (HALE) demonstrator aircraft.
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03/08/2010
An Italian aerospace company’s campaign to sell 48 trainer jets and light attack aircraft to the UAE is under pressure after a high-level delegation visited South Korean defence companies last month, including the offices of its arch-rival.
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03/08/2010
Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Pentagon assured their international partners Thursday that problems in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program have been resolved and development of the next-generation warplane is back on track.
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03/08/2010
Five months after the US Congress approved the cancellation of the Lockheed Martin F-22, the air force is still deciding whether to preserve or scrap the production tooling.
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03/08/2010
China now has better fighter jets than Taiwan, according to a military report by the island's defence ministry as the air force Monday renewed its bid to obtain new F-16s from the United States.
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03/08/2010
Along with plans to base anti-ballistic missile facilities in Poland near Russia's border (a 35 mile distance) and in Bulgaria and Romania across the Black Sea from Russia, Washington and the self-styled global military bloc it leads, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have arranged a series of military exercises on and near Russia's borders this year.
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03/08/2010
India will sign a USD 2bln worth deal with France to upgrade its Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft by year end, a media report said.
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03/08/2010
U.S. special-forces troops will need a stealthy new airlifter to sneak past ever-improving radar and missile systems into "denied areas," says the Pentagon's top civilian special operations official.
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03/08/2010
The nation’s leading provider of helicopters — civilian and military — delivered its 100th Lakota light-utility helicopter to the U.S. Army.
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03/08/2010
Iran's defence minister has announced a new production line of short-range cruise missiles which he says are highly accurate and capable of evading radar.
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03/08/2010
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia will build a new strategic bomber, a move that comes as the nation tries to upgrade its aging military arsenal.
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03/07/2010
The U.S. Navy has sped up its efforts to ready its X-47B UCAS (Unmanned Combat Aerial System), for carrier operations. This includes an additional $2 billion for development, in an attempt to have the X-47B demonstrating the ability to regularly operate from a carrier, and perform combat (including reconnaissance and surveillance) operations, within five years.
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03/07/2010
It can stay up for six hours, act as a high-altitude antenna or provide real-time pictures of a battlefield to soldiers on the ground.
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03/06/2010
In 2001, when Lt. Col. Dan Tester turned his F-16 south into a September sky over Syracuse, no one could have guessed that the end of the combat plane’s mission was beginning.
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03/06/2010
The two-year delay in the production of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the cost increase this will entail could jeopardize a crucial deal with Israel for 75 of the stealthy fifth-generation fighter.
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03/06/2010
Cantwell’s comments came as Boeing announced its selection of the mid-sized 767 as the air frame it will offer the U.S. military in the competition to build mid-air refueling aircraft.
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03/06/2010
EU nations assured financing to bolster military transport strength on Friday by reaching a deal to cover cost overruns for the 3-year delay in the A400M heavy lift plane program.
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03/06/2010
The debate over the F-22 Raptor has been carried out at the customary level of simplemindedness we've become used to when Congress handles military questions. Since the early '60s, the favored method of killing a military program has been to come up with an argument easily expressed in a sound bite and stick with it. This time, the sound bite was, "Why do we need two fighter planes, anyway?"
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03/06/2010
India has issued a request for proposals for primary trainer aircraft, an urgent requirement now that the country's fleet of Hindustan Aeronautics HPT-32 Deepaks has been grounded.
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03/06/2010
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged his country's military industry to start working on a new strategic bomber after finishing the new fifth-generation fighter jet.
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03/06/2010
Lockheed Martin received a low-rate initial production contract valued at $171.8 million from Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Bethpage, NY, for four AN/APY-9 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) radar systems and spare parts. The radar systems will be integrated into the U.S. Navy’s new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.
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03/06/2010
The Boeing Company today announced that it has awarded a contract valued at nearly $1.5 million to civil defense and aerospace company Danish Aerotech A/S to provide the Aluminum Launch Support Structure (ALSS) for ship-based deployment of the Harpoon weapon system.
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03/04/2010
Aeronautics Ltd., based in Yavne, announced on 1 March 2010 that it will supply Aerostar UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) systems to Polish military forces operating in Afghanistan. The supply contract, which exceeds $30 million, was signed this weekend in Poland.
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03/04/2010
Resupplying combat troops in Afghanistan is a dangerous, slow and increasingly expensive undertaking. Moving a truck filled with supplies 50 miles could require as many as 100 Marines, most of them to provide security, and take about 24 hours, according to DefenseNews.
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03/04/2010
Following the crash of two South Korean Air Force F-5 fighter jets that took the lives of three pilots Tuesday, the Air Force ordered all air bases across the country to halt operations of F-5 aircraft until the final results of investigations into the incident are released.
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03/04/2010
The U.S. government has awarded an initial $213 million to Lockheed Martin for long-lead tasks for the production of 20 new Advanced Block 52 F-16 aircraft for Egypt.
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03/03/2010
Members of the Joint Helicopter Force describe their crucial role in Afghanistan, airlifting casualties and transporting troops and supplies.
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03/03/2010
Russia's offer to give Lebanon at least 10 Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships free of charge, instead of the supersonic MiG-29 interceptors that Moscow had in mind, is more in keeping with the Lebanese military's operational priorities and capabilities.
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03/03/2010
A military helicopter at the centre of a $770 million New Zealand Air Force upgrade has copped harsh criticism in a German Army report into its performance.
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03/03/2010
The Pentagon will transfer sophisticated laser-guided-bomb kits to Pakistan, escalating the Obama administration's recent push to better arm Islamabad for its military campaign against the country's Islamic militants.
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03/03/2010
Boeing officials plan to begin taxi tests on the company’s Phantom Ray demonstrator in July, a slight delay from earlier plans, but first flight is still targeted for December 2010, according Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom Works president.
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03/03/2010
When he is flying a robot aircraft. Or at least that’s what the U.S. Air Force seems to think. Predators, Global Hawks and other unmanned aircraft are doing the lion’s share of the donkey work in Iraq and Afghanistan. The dull but vital task of protecting soldiers on the ground with eyes in the sky has been delegated to quiet little airplanes with unwinking cameras. But the men and women who fly those airplanes from air-conditioned consoles in Nevada? They are the Rodney Dangerfields of the comb
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03/03/2010
India and Russia are negotiating a new contract on the delivery of 42 Su-30MKI to the Indian Air Force, an Indian newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing military sources.
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03/03/2010
The government of Tunisia has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the purchase of two C-130J Super Hercules airlifters with an initial three years of logistics support.Tunisia's new C‑130Js, scheduled to be delivered in 2013 and 2014, will be the longer fuselage or "stretched" variant of the C-130J.
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03/03/2010
The Boeing Company today announced that it has been awarded an $11.4 million contract to supply Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions (Laser JDAM) to meet the U.S. Navy’s Direct Attack Moving Target Capability (DAMTC) requirement.
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03/02/2010
Boeing today announced that the company's partnership with rival Lockheed Martin to develop a next-generation bomber has been suspended, with limited likelihood for revival.
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03/02/2010
The Government has given first pass approval for a major project to provide the Australian Defence Force with a new naval combat helicopter, Minister for Defence Senator John Faulkner has announced.
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03/02/2010
There is one country responding to China's military build-up and aggressiveness with some muscle of its own. No, it is not the United States, the superpower ostensibly responsible for maintaining peace and security in Asia. Rather, it is India, whose military is currently refining a "two-front war" doctrine to fend off Pakistan and China simultaneously.
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03/02/2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation's RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) made aviation history Feb. 2 when it successfully completed its first roundtrip flight from the company's Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility. AF-20, a Block 30 Global Hawk built for the U.S. Air Force, performed the historic mission, soaring at altitudes of 58,300 feet for approximately four hours and 18 minutes.
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03/02/2010
Russia's fifth-generation jet fighter, the T-50, is to undergo more than 2,000 flight tests before full-scale production starts, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday.
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03/01/2010
More than a year before U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates began pushing the Air Force to buy more UAVs for surveillance missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon scientists were working on a different solution: build sensors so sophisticated that one aircraft can do the work of many.
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03/01/2010
During the Cold War, the Pentagon built the greatest naval and air forces the world had ever seen, endowing the United States with the superpower ability to land huge military forces anywhere in the world, at any time, whether invited in or not.
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03/01/2010
Pressing wartime needs in Iraq and Afghanistan will keep Bell Helicopter's Amarillo workers busy for the foreseeable future as attack and utility helicopter production ramps up to meet a growing demand for military aircraft.
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03/01/2010
The cargo plane's assembly plant is scheduled to close in two years. Boeing slows production to extend the life of the plant and work on sales.
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03/01/2010
In the face of a sharp fall in domestic orders and a difficult foreign market, Sweden's Saab has turned operations around from a loss to a profit, according to its most recent financial figures.
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03/01/2010
Operation Vayu Shakti 2010 showcased the tremendous firepower demonstration of the Indian Air Force on Sunday in three parts-during the day, at dusk and at night, which is essential for the IAF's success in any battle.
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