February 14, 2012 Military Aviation News
02/14/2012
The number of Russia's Sukhoi T-50 5th generation fighters involved in test flights will be increased to 14 from three by 2015, Russian Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin told RIA Novosti on Monday. “There are three fighters already in tests, another three are expected to be tested in the nearest future. The entire number of aircraft planned for test flights is 14,” Zelin said.
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02/14/2012
After more than two decades, Raytheon Company RTN -0.64% has formally restarted production of the laser-guided Maverick missile, with the first weapon expected to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force in late 2012. Production began following a rigorous U.S. Air Force and Navy Developmental Testing/Operational Testing program that culminated in a production contract in late 2011.
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02/14/2012
India’s big-ticket military acquisitions are expected to aggressively push schedules for the transfer of production to the country’s ambitious aerospace and defense industry. But the technology that India expects to be transferred through co-development work generated by offset agreements is raising concerns among vendors about possible violations of intellectual property rights.
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02/14/2012
Defense department officials and the chiefs of the military services have been reassuring anyone who will listen that the Pentagon has its act together when it comes to implementing the new defense strategy and creating a “leaner and more flexible” force structure. There will be cuts that are painful, they all say, but they are being implemented in a manner designed to ensure no loss of capability even as the overall size of the military shrinks.
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02/14/2012
David Cameron and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy are to meet in Paris on Friday to discuss a possible increase in help to Syrian rebels, including giving them military advice.
The meeting, held in the context of the annual Anglo-French summit, will occur the day after Sarkozy is expected formally to declare his intention to run for a second term as French president.
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02/14/2012
After over a decade of waiting, India has decided in the "mother" of defense deals, with France's Dassault Rafale fighter jets winning the multi-billion contract for 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft). The value of the contract could be anywhere between US$12 billion and $16 billion, though some estimates have pegged it at much larger $20 billion. It is clear that this is one of the world's largest military aviation deals.
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02/14/2012
Boeing Co., maker of the F-18 and F-15 fighter jets, said it’s “very confident” of winning a $7 billion South Korean order for combat planes as it boosts focus on Asia amid shrinking military spending at home. “If you look at the budget situation in Europe and the U.S., we have to make some grounds somewhere,” Joe Song, director, Asia Pacific International Business Development of Boeing defense, said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. “The focus is Asia and the Middle East right now.”
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02/14/2012
The Pentagon’s proposed $525 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 would seek the most savings on weapons by reducing purchases of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the military’s costliest program. The Defense Department would cut $1.6 billion from the F-35 program by eliminating 13 planned aircraft, part of $18 billion in weapons cuts proposed in the budget that President Barack Obama sent to Congress today for the year beginning Oct. 1.
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02/14/2012
It took a medevac unit 59 minutes to get U.S. Army Spec. Chazray Clark to a hospital in southern Afghanistan after receiving a call that a roadside bombing severed three of his limbs. Clark did not survive. "I need something, please. It hurts," Clark, a 24-year-old combat engineer from Detroit, can be heard saying on a videotape as he waited in the dark for the helicopter.
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02/14/2012
The first Lockheed Martin built Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite is now delivering critical infrared data to users. The spacecraft is currently undergoing its rigorous operational certification process.
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