January 10, 2013 Military Aviation News

Japan tracer bullets will bring war closer

01/10/2013

According to Japanese media, the Japanese government is considering permitting Japanese self-defense forces' fighter jets to fire tracer bullets as warning shots against Chinese surveillance planes which have "infringed" upon Japan's "territorial airspace" over the Diaoyu Islands.

US Army fields first AH-64E unit, but more improvements to come

01/10/2013

Even as the US Army moves forward with fielding its first unit of Boeing AH-64E Block III attack helicopters, the service is planning to add further improvements to the Apache gunship. "Right now, we are currently fielding the first unit equipped, our FUE [first unit equipped] unit, with Echo-models, and we're on track to meet that fielding schedule," says Col Jeff Hager, the army's Apache programme manager.

Canada urged to buy more C-17 Globemasters

01/10/2013

Canada's department of national defense is being urged to invest in acquiring the Boeing Co.'s C-17 Globemaster III aircraft to cope with the Canadian armed forces' demand for peacetime and combat tactical transport. The Globemaster III is known in the Canadian air force as CC-177. Four of the aircraft are in military service after purchases made in 2007 and 2008.

UPDATE: F-22 move to Tyndall AFB delayed to 2014

01/10/2013

The F-22 Raptors and Air Force personnel slated to begin arriving at Tyndall this year have had their marching orders delayed until 2014. The new fighter squadron of F-22 Raptors originally was scheduled to begin arriving sometime this month. By March, about 12 new F-22s were slated to arrive from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.

U.K. Military Faces Critical Shortfalls Due to Delays, NAO Says

01/10/2013

The U.K.’s military is facing “critical shortfalls” in air transport and refueling capabilities because of delays in delivering new aircraft, the National Audit Office said. The Ministry of Defense has spent an additional 787 million pounds ($1.3 billion) to mitigate delays to the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft, made by a consortium that includes European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., and Airbus SAS’s A400M transport-aircraft programs.

Voyager fuel costs, A400M levy top UK MoD overspend

01/10/2013

Increased costs linked to the Royal Air Force's Airbus A330-based Voyager and Airbus Military A400M acquisitions contributed to a combined £468 million ($750 million) jump in the forecast price tag for the UK's top 16 defence programmes during 2012, the government's National Audit Office (NAO) spending watchdog says.

MCAS Yuma to have full squadron of F-35B fighters by end of year

01/10/2013

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 has already received three of its F-35B Lightning IIs and will continue to get more planes, as well as newly-trained pilots and aircraft maintainers in the coming months. In fact, it's expected to have a full squadron of aircraft by the end of 2013. The first F-35B Lightning II landed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma back on Nov. 16.

Hunting for Myanmar's hidden Spitfires

01/10/2013

An excavation team searching for a stash of legendary World War II-era British fighter aircraft in northern Myanmar says it has found a wooden crate believed to contain one of the planes, but it was full of muddy water. It was not immediately clear how much damage the water may have caused, and searchers could not definitively say what was inside the crate.

Commando II Goes West

01/10/2013

Lockheed Martin delivered an MC-130J Commando II to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., today. Aircraft 5713 is the fourteenth of 27 MC-130Js to be assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command. The squadron uses the Commando II on missions such as in-flight refueling, infiltration/exfiltration, and aerial delivery and resupply of special operations forces.

India Tests Sea-Based Brahmos Missile

01/10/2013

The Indian Navy successfully tested on Wednesday a highly-maneuverable version of a sea-based Brahmos supersonic cruise missile, an Indian defense source told RIA Novosti. The missile was fired from an unspecified warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal in a 34th test by the Indian military. The source said the missile made a “double-maneuver in S-form” and hit the designated target ship just one meter above the waterline, “ripping through the ship’s hull.”

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