January 11, 2012 Military Aviation News
01/11/2012
January 10, 2011, was supposed to be a big day for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas programme as it was on this day that the aircraft—under development for more than two decades—was to get the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC), signalling that it has crossed the first hurdle to join Indian Air Force (IAF). However, on that day, the aircraft was given only partial clearance (IOC-1) for failing to meet the IAF’s requirement. A year after, it is stuck with the IOC-1 tag.
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01/11/2012
Hawker Beechcraft announced Monday the first sale of its new Beechcraft T-6C+ military trainer to the Mexican Air Force (FAM). The T-6C+, an enhanced version of the T-6 military trainer aircraft, is capable of carrying external stores and delivering practice weapons for training purposes. The first two of six contracted FAM T-6C+ aircraft will be delivered to an advanced training base in Mexico's northern region in early 2012. The new T-6C+ trainers will replace the FAM’s aging PC-7 fleet.
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01/11/2012
New Canadian military search-and-rescue aircraft should be based in Gander for safety's sake, say officials in the central Newfoundland town. Reports indicate the federal cabinet approved a $3.7-billion plan to purchase new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft for the military just before Christmas, after almost a decade of bureaucratic wrangling.
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01/11/2012
A $1.5 billion contract to buy 10 so-called "battlefield airlifters" will be signed in the first half of this year, and, according to insiders, it will be a sole-source deal under US foreign military sales laws to obtain the Alenia C-27J Spartan. The US has quoted about $950 million under a foreign military sales deal for 10 planes that are due in RAAF service by 2014.
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01/11/2012
Japan has announced that it will purchase 42 F-35 stealth fighter jets. The planes, which have experienced production delays and cost overruns, have also been selected by the Conservative government to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fighters, starting (the government hopes) by 2017, when the CF-18s will reach the end of their expected usefulness.
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01/11/2012
In 2011, mobility Airmen delivering airdrops reached a new annual record with 75,956,235 pounds of cargo delivered. That's nearly 16 million more pounds delivered than the previous record set in 2010 of 60,400,000. At more than 75.9 million pounds - that's the equivalent of standing on a mountain top and watching 553 Army M1 Abrams tanks - or even 11,868 Chevrolet Silverado trucks - floating down from the sky with parachutes to a landing zone.
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01/11/2012
A Russian naval task force, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, has left the Syrian port of Tartus after a three-day visit, Russia’s Northern Fleet said in a statement on Tuesday. The task force called on the Syrian port on Sunday amid ongoing bloody protests in Syria against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
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01/11/2012
The Russian Air Force has completed flight tests of the modernized Sukhoi Su-25UBM ground attack-trainer aircraft, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said on Tuesday. “Air Force commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin signed off on the completion of flight tests for the Su-25UBM at the end of December 2011,” Drik said.
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01/11/2012
Indonesia has signed a $470 million contract with Russia to buy six Sukhoi Su-30MK2 jet fighters for the Indonesian Air Force, The Jakarta Post daily has reported. The deal was confirmed by Russian defense-industry and diplomatic sources, but the Sukhoi aircraft maker and arms exporter Rosoboronexport declined to comment. Deliveries will start after 2013.
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