May, 2013 Military Aviation News
05/31/2013
Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy director at Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told journalists attending the IDEX 2013 exhibition in Abu Dhabi that Russian defense minister Sergei Choigu signed an intergovernmental agreement on the Su-35 with China in January. Dzirkaln, who headed the Russian delegation to the arms show, added that the work on firm contract is ongoing “in a planned manner” as the sides are “detailing” delivery terms.
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05/31/2013
China's Defense Ministry dismissed as ridiculous on Thursday a U.S. report that Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, saying the country needed no outside help for its military development.
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05/31/2013
The F-35 Lighting was the first choice of the Australian air force. But several thunderbolts have struck the stealth aircraft, including the arrival of new generation Sukhois that are skewing the odds against the Australians.
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05/31/2013
Italian opposition parties and some lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party called on the government on Thursday to abandon its plans to buy 90 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
Italy's total planned investment in the new Lightning II Joint Strike fighters (JSF) exceeds 10 billion euros ($12.97 billion) even though it cut its order last year to 90 aircraft from the 131 it had originally penciled in to buy more than a decade ago, a move it said would save 5 billion euros.
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05/31/2013
The chief executive of Saab AB SAAB-B.SK +0.71% believes the growing focus on value for money in defense procurement is an opportunity for the Swedish aero-defense group. "There is no point being cheap if you can't win a war," Hakan Buskhe told The Wall Street Journal from his office at Saab's headquarters. "But when money is getting tighter around the world, you still need to be able to afford flying."
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05/31/2013
The Defence Minister AK Antony today expressed hope that the country’s indigenously developed fighter aircraft, LCA TEJAS, will get Final Operational Clearance of the Indian Air Force by the end of next year.
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05/31/2013
Moscow is trying to persuade Tehran to withdraw its lawsuit against Russia’s state-run arms export company Rosoboronexport over a cancelled deal to supply S-300 air defense systems to Iran, Russian Technologies (Rostech) CEO Sergei Chemezov said. Iran’s Defense Ministry and The Aerospace Industries Organization have launched a $4 bln lawsuit against Rosoboronexport in an international arbitration court in Geneva in April 2011.
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05/31/2013
Reports that Syria’s president had confirmed receiving a consignment of Russian-manufactured S-300 air defense systems emerged Thursday, but were quickly brought into question. In comments widely reported across the world, Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying Damascus had received initial deliveries of the S-300 system.
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05/31/2013
Russian and Norwegian naval forces will conduct a joint exercise in the Barents Sea on June 4-7, Northern Fleet spokesman Vadim Serga said on Thursday. Russia’s Northern Fleet will contribute the tugboat SB-523, an Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft and an Mi-8 Hip helicopter to the Barents-2013 exercise.
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05/31/2013
Russia is ready to expand military contacts with Finland and to help the country modernize its armed forces, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday. Shoigu is on a two-day visit to Finland hosted by his Finnish counterpart Carl Haglund. “This is the first contact at the defense ministerial level. I hope we will expand contacts at the level of chiefs of staff and commanders of military districts,” Shoigu said at a joint news conference with Haglund in Helsinki.
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05/30/2013
The Syrian president has told Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV station that Damascus received the first shipment of Russian air defense missiles, according to remarks released by the station Thursday.
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05/30/2013
European military transport and multiple aircraft producer Airbus Military has confirmed that it is in the early stages of talks with South Africa about its C295 light/medium aircraft family.
"We've been talking with South Africa about the 295, for maritime surveillance and transport," Airbus Military light and medium aircraft programmes head Rafael Tentor told Engineering News Online in Seville, Spain, on Wednesday.
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05/30/2013
The White House is declining to confirm reports that a U.S. drone killed the Pakistani Taliban's second-in-command White House spokesman Jay Carney says if the reports are true, the death of Waliur Rehman would deprive the militant group of its chief military strategist involved in "horrific attacks" against America at a CIA base in Afghanistan, other attacks against Pakistani civilians and soldiers.
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05/30/2013
The Marine Corps may join the Air Force in moving up its expected initial operating capability from 2016 to the latter part of 2015. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos made the announcement during a presentation May 29 at the Brookings Institution. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley last week said the service will issue a report detailing the operational start date to Congress in coming days.
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05/30/2013
An indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order has been given to Northrop Grumman by the U.S. General Services Administration for a combat simulator. The enhanced Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator, for the U.S. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, is an advanced technology simulator that generates complex, dynamic electromagnetic environments to simulate true-to-war conditions.
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05/30/2013
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will make a state visit to Washington in October, US Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday during a visit to Rio. "President (Barack) Obama has asked me to extend an invitation to your president to come to Washington in October for the only state visit that will occur in Washington this year," Biden said.
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05/30/2013
Fábrica Argentina de Aviones Brig. San Martin S.A. (FAdeA S.A.), based in Cordoba (Argentina), awarded Liebherr-Aerospace the contract to supply various components for the flight control system, the landing gear and the air management system of the IA-63 Pampa aircraft. Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, Lindenberg (Germany), Liebherr’s center of excellence for landing gear and flight control systems.
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05/30/2013
Perhaps the Chinese government turned loose its hacker squad to poach sensitive U.S. military documents, giving President Obama a new set of grievances to lodge in his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, that simplistic explanation may be just plain wrong. "For almost anything that happens, we point at China as the culprit," noted security expert Ken Silva.
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05/30/2013
The anti-Naxal operations in Maoist hotbed of Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh are set to get a boost with Indian Air Force (IAF) deciding to provide helicopter support from Nagpur where a new unit is being set up. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a DRDO function, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said there was need to deploy some new systems in the Maoist-hit areas which would provide better surveillance capabilities to the forces there.
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05/30/2013
It seems India needs the support of US Navy to complete crucial trials of the naval version of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-N). Absence of pilots experienced in carrier-based operations has forced the Aeronautical Development Agency ( ADA), lead partner in the development of LCA-N, to request the US Navy to train its test pilots in catapult assisted take-off and barrier arrested recovery (Catobar).
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05/30/2013
Russia is disappointed with the EU move to end the ban on arms sales to the Syrian opposition and may reconsider its own commitments to restrictions on weapons deliveries to the war-torn country, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday. “Every decision has two sides. If one side lifts restrictions, the other may consider itself free from observing earlier commitments,” Shoigu said at a joint news conference in Helsinki with his Finnish counterpart, Carl Haglund.
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05/29/2013
A suspected US drone has crashed in the southern Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, according to reports. The militant group al-Shabab said on Twitter that an American unmanned aircraft had come down near a town under its control. A regional governor told Reuters that fighters had shot at the object.
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05/29/2013
A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter crashed off the southern Japan island of Okinawa early Tuesday after the aircraft developed problems in flight. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely.
The F-15, flying out of Kadena Air Base, went down in the Pacific about 70 miles east of Okinawa, the military said in a statement.
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05/29/2013
Freedom doesn’t come easy, or cheap, and America is leading the charge for the world’s latest and greatest weapons systems. From the best in fighter planes and unmanned aircraft to the latest combat ships, the U.S. isn’t lacking in highly sophisticated tools to stave off the enemy.
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05/29/2013
The last American A-10 attack aircraft has left Europe. A-10s were designed during the Cold War for combat against Russian ground forces in Europe. That war never happened, but the A-10 proved to be a formidable combat aircraft in post-Cold War conflicts, first in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and later in Afghanistan and Iraq. During the last decade the most requested ground support aircraft in Afghanistan has been the A-10.
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05/29/2013
Combat aircraft are the traditional Paris air show scene-stealers. But it has been a long time since there was an undisputed vedette to hog the limelight—a gap that the Sukhoi Su-35S fighter could fill this year as it makes its debut outside Russia.
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05/29/2013
Russia and the United States split starkly Tuesday over the EU move to end its ban on arms sales to Syria, with Moscow denouncing it as a violation of international law and Washington applauding the move while repeating its aversion to Russian weapons sales.
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05/29/2013
MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors are going on round-the-clock duty in northern Russia as part of a snap combat readiness check of the nation's aerospace defense capabilities, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The fighters, “in conjunction with A-50 airborne warning and control system aircraft, are performing continuous missions to protect the airspace, including from cruise missile strikes,” the ministry said in a statement. The aircraft are to be refueled while still in the air.
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05/29/2013
Russia’s delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Syria is a restraining factor against possible foreign interference in the Syrian conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday. “We believe such steps are to a great extent restraining some ‘hot heads’ from considering scenarios in which the conflict may assume an international scale with the participation of outside forces,” Ryabkov said.
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05/29/2013
Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company, will provide provide the Praetorian electronic warfare self protection system for an undisclosed Arabian Typhoon customer. The company announced today that it has completed deliveries of the Praetorian system for Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoons. All 236 Tranche 2 Typhoons operated by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain will be equipped with electronic support measures, electronic countermeasures and missile approach warning elements.
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05/28/2013
Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said yesterday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed. During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the two sides are set firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the US-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan’s armed forces.
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05/28/2013
U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman said on Monday they remain fully committed to the development of the Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft system of record, and the critical capabilities the system will provide the German armed forces and its allies, responding to recent media reports that highlighted a series of challenges in the program.
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05/28/2013
John McCain slipped across the Syrian border and met with rebels, according to the Daily Beast. He met with Gen. Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, and with dozens of other leaders, CBS reports. He was in Syria for several hours and brought two security guards with him.
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05/28/2013
On May 11th Israel crashed a Heron UAV with engine trouble into the sea, before it could crash in a populated area. The next day all Heron 1s were grounded until it could be determined what the problem was and if it was common to all Heron 1s. About a hundred Heron 1s are in service or on order. The largest user is India, followed by Israel. The 1.2 ton Heron UAV can stay in the air for 30 hours or more and has a payload of 250 kg (550 pounds).
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05/28/2013
I always think of that scene in Apollo 13: “We need to make this… fit into this… using this.” It’s a frustration that’s central to the whole film: how could we be able to send human beings all the way to the Moon and still be foiled by something as simple as the shape of a valve? More to the point, how could we send a rover all the way to Mars, and still worry about something as banal as a broken wheel or a bent rod?
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05/28/2013
The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating.
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05/28/2013
Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry. Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships.
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05/28/2013
Russia's Defense Minister ordered a snap combat readiness check of the nation's Aerospace Defense and long range and military transport aviation units on Monday, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said. The alert exercise, part of a series of random checks of the Russian Armed Forces which began in February, also involved Air Force and Air Defense Forces units from the Western Military District, Gerasimov said during a teleconference.
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05/28/2013
In last year's National Defense Authorization Act, the US Congress instructed the Pentagon to commission an independent assessment of the overseas basing presence of US military forces. Last month, a team from RAND released the conclusions of that report.
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05/28/2013
When the Air Force grounded 17 combat squadrons in response to the harsh budget mandate known as the sequester, was it expecting an outcry that never came? Did someone on the Air Staff think public outrage would force Congress to act? That’s exactly what happened when the Federal Aviation Administration reacted to the sequester by threatening to shutter control towers at 149 airports — something it never really intended to do.
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05/28/2013
After fighting two wars in nearly 12 years, the United States military is at a turning point. So are the American people. The armed forces must rethink their mission. Though the nation has entered an era of fiscal constraint, and though President Obama last week effectively declared an end to the “global war on terror” that began on Sept. 11, 2001.
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05/28/2013
Defence Minister AK Antony on Monday will inaugurate an airbase here to house squadron of IAFs lethal Su-30 MKI combat aircraft, making it the first fighter squadron in south India that will help maintain vigil over the Indian Ocean region.
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05/28/2013
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are preparing to take part in a large-scale international exercise, Saber Strike, to take place in early June, the Estonian TV reported on Sunday. Saber Strike is a USAREUR-led theater security cooperation exercise to be conducted in the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on June 3-14.
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05/26/2013
Taiwan faces tough choices over future defense decisions as China’s air defense network continues to grow beyond its shores. At present, China’s land-based mobile air defense missile systems, HQ-9 and S-300, can reach only a small sliver of northwestern Taiwan. Though a clear advantage during a war over control of the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, it is not complete air dominance of the island itself.
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05/26/2013
South Korea has ordered another 40 of the locally made FA-50 fighter-bombers for $25.5 million each. Two years ago the South Korean Air Force ordered the first twenty (for $30 million each), and the first of these is to arrive in three months with the last of that first order arriving within three years.
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05/26/2013
Expanding its combat assets by inducting several new platforms including nuclear submarines, fighter planes and aircraft carriers, the Navy has decided to almost double the size of its manpower in next 15 years. The Navy has also decided to give B.Tech degrees to its officers to handle the high end technology being inducted into the force and the first batch of its officers with these degrees will pass out from the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Kerala tomorrow.
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05/26/2013
U.S. President Barack Obama promised on Thursday to end the perpetual war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001. To achieve that will require luck, great statesmanship, a soft touch that has not been a U.S. strength lately and a rejigging of the budget to put more money and effort into diplomacy, foreign aid and the training of foreign armies and less into the combat wings of the military and the CIA.
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05/26/2013
Estonia completed on Saturday large-scale military drills, which began on May 9 and involved some 5,000 military personnel, including from NATO allies, the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces said. The Spring Storm (Kevadtorm) drills have been held annually in different parts of Estonia since 2003. This year they were held in northern and central Estonia and involved for the first time units from the UK, Belgium and Poland as well as the Estonian navy.
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05/25/2013
Two RAF Typhoon fighters were scrambled as the flight from Pakistan, with 297 passengers on board, was diverted to Stansted airport. A British man was arrested today on the tarmac over an alleged bomb threat on a flight bound for Manchester. Two RAF Typhoon fighters were scrambled as the flight from Pakistan, with 297 passengers on board, was diverted to Stansted airport in Essex after two men reportedly tried to enter the pilot’s cabin.
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05/25/2013
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has issued a contract for the modernization of the Navy’s fleet of Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft. The Novella mission system will be installed in an unspecified but “large” number of aircraft serving in the Northern Fleet, making them Il-38Ns. Of the 59 aircraft produced between 1967 and 1972, some 18 are currently in operation.
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05/25/2013
The F-35 Integrated Test Force is wrapping up a series of night flights, which are testing the aircraft's capability when flying in instrument meteorological conditions. It is a necessary step in delivering a core competency to the warfighter - the ability to fly the jet safely when there are no external visibility references for the pilot.
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05/25/2013
Ahead of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the beginning of Russia’s military and technical cooperation with foreign countries, Deputy General Director of Rosoboronexport Viktor Komardin speaks about India’s role in this cooperation and export of defence products to other countries.
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05/25/2013
Sequestration has hit the Air Force particularly hard, impacting its force structure, readiness and modernization, senior Air Force leaders said here today. Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley and Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, the chief of staff, said Congress must provide a solid budget number so the Air Force can ground its planning in reality. The Air Force understands it must do its part to work through the debt and deficit reduction problem, Welsh said.
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05/25/2013
It's a rule of thumb in Middle East conflicts that whenever peace talks are announced, each side steps up the fighting so it can grab as much territory as possible before the cease-fire lines are drawn. This struggle for position is happening now in Syria, in the run-up to planned negotiations in Geneva next month that will be co-sponsored by the United States and Russia.
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05/25/2013
After a year-long delay, the Airbus Military A330MRTT has gained its “release to service” as a tanker in the UK, allowing the Royal Air Force (RAF) to start operational refueling. The service had been obliged to extend the service life of its aging VC10 and TriStar tankers in the meantime. The recent deployment of RAF Eurofighter Typhoons to Malaysia relied on Italian Air Force Boeing KC-767s to refuel the aircraft en route.
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05/25/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry has signed a contract with the Beriev Aircraft Company for the purchase of six Beriev Be-200 amphibious planes, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) said on Friday. “The contract is worth 8.4 billion rubles [$268 million],” UAC said in a statement. “The first two planes will be basic Be-200ChS models, while the following four will be the Be-200PS version without firefighting equipment,” the statement said.
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05/24/2013
The U.S. Navy's long awaited MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone took its first flight yesterday in Palmdale, California. A Navy press release, delivered yesterday, points out that with 360-degree scanning capability and an Automatic Identification System — meaning it can classify different types of ships by itself — the MQ-4C will be the main Naval spying drone at sea from 2015 onwards.
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05/24/2013
It may be high-tech but it's also flawed – for better or worse, the US' F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is here to stay. Today, David Axe walks us through the developmental problems that have plagued this troubled aircraft from the start.
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05/24/2013
The F-35 Integrated Test Force is wrapping up a series of night flights, which are testing the aircraft's capability when flying in instrument meteorological conditions. It is a necessary step in delivering a core competency to the warfighter - the ability to fly the jet safely when there are no external visibility references for the pilot.
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05/24/2013
A United Nations human rights investigator has called for all states to declare a moratorium to prevent so-called “killer robots” being deployed on the battlefield. Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on executions, said that unmanned robotic weapons systems with varying degrees of autonomy and deadliness were being tested or used by the United States, Britain and Israel without debate on moral and legal issues.
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05/24/2013
The Indian Air Force will be operating its fleet of about 120 MiG-21Bis fighters until 2019, that is, two years later than they were originally scheduled to be decommissioned, said Norman Anil Kumar Browne, Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. The decision by the Indian Air Force is due to the delay in the commissioning of India’s own HAL Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) and the purchase of 126 French Rafale fighters.
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05/24/2013
Numerous countries are interested in obtaining a fighter jet jointly developed by Pakistan and China, said a senior officer of the Pakistan air force. "We've been receiving inquiries and expressions of interest on the JF-17 Thunder from many countries in the Middle East, Africa and even as far as South America," Air Marshal Sohail Gul Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, told China Daily on Thursday.
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05/24/2013
In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy on Thursday, President Barack Obama defended his administration's use of drones to kill terrorists abroad, and in a nod to concerns, outlined plans to limit the use of such strikes. As described in a White House statement, the key elements of the president's policy for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the United States and outside a war zone are as follows:
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05/24/2013
The European Aerospace Defense and Space Company (EADS) on Thursday offered to invest US$2 billion in South Korea's long-delayed fighter jet development project if it wins Seoul's jet procurement deal. The multinational defense firm made the offer as its Eurofighter Tranche 3 has been competing with Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth jet and Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle for the 8.3 trillion won ($7.3 billion) contract to replace the South Korean Air Force's aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.
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05/24/2013
Australia may save millions on state-of-the-art combat aircraft after defence company Lockheed Martin trumpeted the first-ever fall in the cost of the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Lockheed Martin revealed a $US4.5 billion ($4.6bn) reduction in costs in 2012 in an update report to US congress.
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05/24/2013
The news for the May 23 flight of Turkish combat aircraft over Agathonisi does not mainly focus on the fact that the aircraft possibly recorded and photographed the establishments on the island, but on the fact that for some reason the two Turkish RF-4 and the two F-16 that accompanied them stayed in the FIR (Flight Information Region) of Athens and in Greece’s national airspace for 40 minutes.
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05/23/2013
The drawdown of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus tightening budgets, are driving members of the aviation community toward new ways to develop and maintain perishable skills. That doesn’t just mean pilots; those who choreograph aircraft in the sky are also turning to simulators and contracted trainers.
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05/23/2013
Yemen’s president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and the commander of the country’s Air Force, Brigadier Rashid Al-Janad, have responded to recent crashes of military aircraft in Yemen by saying that “bad people” were behind the incidents, as well as the assassination of Yemeni pilots.
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05/23/2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he had given a "wish list" of military equipment to India during a visit this week, presenting a conundrum for New Delhi as it weighs whether arming the Afghan army is in its interests. India wants to stabilise Afghanistan and is concerned about the resurgence of militant groups after foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
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05/23/2013
If anyone wanted to see evidence of the US Navy’s steps toward rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific last week, it was right there in haze gray. At the biennial International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX) in Singapore, the littoral combat ship Freedom was open to visitors.
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05/23/2013
South Korea will deploy 200 indigenous Surion light utility helicopters by 2020 to replace its aging fleet of choppers, the Army said Wednesday. The Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) launched a project to build a two-engine transport utility helicopter in 2006 to replace the Army's UH-1H attack helicopters and 500MD light helicopters, which have been in service for decades.
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05/23/2013
TOP 10 FASTEST AIRCRAFT IN THE WORLD. Got the need for speed? Whether you’re looking for an adrenalin rush or just a faster way to travel from point A – B, check out the following aircrafts that move faster than the speed of sound.
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05/23/2013
International Training and Education Conference (ITEC), an annual forum geared towards to the military, industrial and academic world, will be held, for the first time, in Rome, Italy, from May 22-24, 2013. The conference is designed to foster relationships between participants and allow them to share knowledge in the simulation, education and training fields.
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05/23/2013
Another Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] C-130J Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft number 5724) was ferried to the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, today. Brig. Gen. Scott Goodwin, director of Operations, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., flew the aircraft to Dyess AFB. Goodwin is a command pilot with more than 3,500 flying hours in four types of aircraft, including the C-130 Hercules.
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05/23/2013
India test-launched a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Russian-built guided missile frigate Tarkash off the coast of Goa on Wednesday, a defense ministry source told RIA Novosti. “The missile performed a maneuver in the pre-determined flight path and successfully hit the target,” the source said.
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05/22/2013
China's all-weather fighter base in Tibet is now widening its range of options in the event of a conflict with India. Intelligence intercepts and satellite monitoring has confirmed that China may have to some extent overcome Tibet's extreme altitude and temperatures to operationalise an all-weather airfield near the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
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05/22/2013
The newest Russian attack helicopters Ka-52 Alligator, Mi-28NE Night Hunter, surface-to-air missile system S-300V Antey-2500 and the combat vehicle tanks BMPT Terminator were presented at the Russian exposition in the Istanbul International exhibition of arms and military equipment IDEF-2013.
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05/22/2013
Singapore has ordered another 20 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder and 100 AIM-120C7 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for its 98 American F-15 and F-16 fighters. The AIM-9X-2 is the latest version of the Sidewinder, a missile that has come a long way since it first appeared in the 1950s. The 9X-2 can lock-on-after-launch. That is, the missile can be fired and then directed to a target via a datalink.
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05/22/2013
The Indonesian Military (TNI) is conducting a large-scale war game codenamed “Wibawa Yudha II” from May 6-29. The military drill involves tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of military vehicles, dozens of warships and planes.
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05/22/2013
An “augmented reality” flight helmet for Britain’s new F-35 fighter allowing the pilot to see 360 degrees has “significant technical deficiencies” which have forced designers back to the drawing board.
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05/22/2013
President Barack Obama’s administration has decided to give the Pentagon control of some drone operations against terrorism suspects overseas that are currently run by the CIA, several US government sources said on Monday. Obama has pledged more transparency on controversial counterterrorism programs, and giving the Pentagon the responsibility for part of the drone program could open it to greater congressional oversight.
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05/22/2013
Iraq's Central Criminal Court has resumed an investigation into officials suspected of corruption in a $4.2 billion deal to purchase Russian weapons, the head of the Iraqi Parliament's Integrity Committee, Bahaa al-Araji, said on Tuesday. "The investigation will go ahead. The witnesses and suspects will give evidence, and Defense Ministry experts will evaluate the possible damage," he said.
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05/22/2013
Russia is developing an advanced target simulation system for its air defense units based on the short-range Pantsyr system, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The new system "can launch up to 12 targets in one salvo simulating cruise missiles or multiple rocket launcher rounds," the ministry said. A prototype of the new simulator has been tested jointly with the Air Force’s antiaircraft units at the Ashuluk test site in the Volga area of Astrakhan, the Defense Ministry said.
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05/21/2013
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft system without an on board human pilot. They are remotely or autonomously operated transportation platforms. Combined with a ground station or integrated with other elements, a UAV becomes an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) which can be advanced enough to take off, fly, and land by itself. UAVs can provide many services and there is a growing interest in using them for commercial applications.
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05/21/2013
Airmen from the 1st Combat Communications Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, set up the Army Navy/Mobile, Special Type, Navigation Aid, AN/MSN-7, a mobile air traffic control tower, for the first time on Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, May 14.
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05/21/2013
President Barack Obama's administration has decided to give the Pentagon control of some drone operations against terrorism suspects overseas that are currently run by the CIA, several U.S. government sources said on Monday. Obama has pledged more transparency on controversial counterterrorism programs, and giving the Pentagon the responsibility for part of the drone program could open it to greater congressional oversight.
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05/21/2013
Mirage 2000-5 - Multirole single engine combat aircraft, Operational as single-seater and two seater. A Taiwanese fighter jet ploughed into the sea off the island's north coast on Monday, the air force's second crash in less than a week, military officials said.
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05/21/2013
We focused on naval aviation a lot last week, from the news about the U.S. Navy launching its X-47B stealth drone off an aircraft carrier to talking about China and India's commissioning of brand new carrier-borne fighter squadrons. To wrap things up, we thought we'd show you (above) what's likely China's major training facility for its new carrier-aviation force.
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05/21/2013
Swedish manufacturer Saab is upgrading its bid for Brazil's long-delayed FX-2 jet fighter purchase plan, even as it weighs challenges from formidable rivals Boeing and France's Dassault. Saab is one of the three leading contenders for Brazil's jet fighter replacement program, said to be worth $6 billion-8 billion but wants to make sure its jet will compete successfully for roles in both the Brazilian air force and navy.
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05/21/2013
A Lockheed Martin F-35B Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (STOVL) Lightning II test aircraft recently completed the first-ever Vertical Takeoff (VTO) on May 10. VTOs are one of the many capabilities required for the fielding an F-35B aircraft. While not a combat capability, VTOs are required for repositioning of the STOVL in environments where a jet could not perform a short takeoff. In these cases, the jet, with a limited amount of fuel, would execute a VTO to travel a short distance.
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05/21/2013
Russia and Peru will sign a contract to upgrade Lima's fleet of Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters by the end of May, Konstantin Biryulin, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service, said on Monday. Belarus sold around twenty of the fighter jets to Peru in 1997. According to defenseindustrydaily.com, Peru signed a contract in 2008 for Russia's UAC MiG to upgrade eight of the original MiG-29S standard aircraft to MiG-29SMT standard. That work was completed in 2012.
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05/21/2013
Military inspectors from the United States and Italy will carry out observation flights over Russian territory this week under the international Open Skies Treaty, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. The experts will fly over Russia on May 20-24 on board an Italian Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft, and will use surveillance equipment certified internationally and approved by the Russian side, the ministry said.
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05/21/2013
Russia is ready to develop jointly with Turkey a long-range air defense complex based on S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, state arms seller Rosoboronexport head Sergei Ladygin said on Sunday. Turkey launched a tender for the purchase of long-range air defense systems long ago but no winner has been announced to this day.
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05/20/2013
Two systems. One, the S-300, is an advanced version of the air-defense system originally designed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and further developed in the 1990s. The S-300 has several advantages over the older Soviet-era anti-air batteries Syria already uses. First, the range of its radar and missiles allows it to hit targets at ranges of up to 200 kilometers.
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05/20/2013
Almost four years after the MV-22 Osprey arrived in Afghanistan, trailing its reputation as being dangerous and hard to maintain, the U.S. Marine Corps finally has had an opportunity to test the controversial hybrid aircraft in real war conditions. The reviews are startlingly positive. “This is an ugly duckling that turned into a swan,” said Richard Whittle, the author of a book about the craft and a senior scholar at the Wilson Center, a research center in Washington.
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05/20/2013
Hamid Karzai has let the Pentagon’s cat out of the bag — to the displeasure of the Obama Administration. The Afghan president revealed inside information about President Obama’s war plans after all U.S. “combat troops” completely withdraw in 17 months at the end of 2014.
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05/20/2013
The U.S. Navy’s first Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) designed to fly from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier entered the public consciousness in June, 2012 as a UFO sighting as it traveled from Edwards AFB to Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Not quite a year later and within 72 hours time, the UCAS-D provided a glimpse of what the future might be for Naval Aviation.
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05/20/2013
This March 10, 2010 photo released by the U.S. Navy shows Afghan commandos practicing a quick disembark from and MI-17 transport helicopter during static drills prior to an air assault into the outer regions of Kabul, Afghanistan. The air assault was the second mission coordinated through the Afghan National Air Corps with the commandos, but the first combined assault with the American CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Photo: MC2 David Quillen, U.S. Navy.
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05/20/2013
Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Garretson is the Division Chief for Air Force Irregular Warfare Strategy, Plans and Policy (and previously the Chief of Future Science and Technology Exploration for Air Force Strategic Planning). Recently he published a paper titled A Range-Balanced Force, An Alternate Force Structure Adapted to New Defense Priorities. The topic on hand was, you guessed it, RPAs and UAVs.
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05/19/2013
A suspected U.S. drone strike killed four al-Qaida militants Saturday in a southern Yemeni province once overrun by the group, according to security officials. The officials said the attack took place around dawn in an area called Deyqa in Abyan province. Officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to brief the media.
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05/19/2013
Yemen's air force has been the target of "sabotage", the country's military aviation chief said in a televised interview, days after a fighter jet crashed in the capital Sanaa. "The air force is the target of systematic sabotage," General Rashed al-Janad told the private channel Al-Saida in the interview broadcast late on Friday. He said the Sukhoi SU-22 that crashed in Sanaa last Monday, killing the pilot, was caused by "shots hitting the aircraft" as it prepared to land at a base next to the c
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05/19/2013
China’s first jet-powered stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), the Lijian or “Sharp Sword,” was recently spotted undergoing taxiing tests in China, AIN reports. The Lijian prototype rolled off the assembly line late last year after three years’ joint development by Hongdu Aviation Industry and Shenyang Aircraft , subsidiaries of the state-owned China Aviation Industry (Avic).
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05/19/2013
Determined to stamp out arms and drug trafficking as well as stop illegal immigrants from entering the country, Libyan air force jets have continued to conduct air surveillance along the nation's southern and eastern borders, Yusuf al-Takouss, spokesman for the Air Force, told journalists Friday. 'The Mig 21 combat planes and other types of aircraft involved in the campaign took off from the military airport in Sheba (south) to monitor border movements,' he said .
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05/19/2013
The Navy’s unmanned X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) made it’s first touch-and-go landings on an aircraft carrier on the USS George H.W. Bush on Friday.
Don Blottenberger, UCAS-D Deputy Program manager, commented, “This landing, rubber hitting deck, is extremely fulfilling for the team and is the culmination of years of relative navigation development. Now, we are set to demonstrate the final pieces of the demonstration.”
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05/19/2013
France has again cut the number of Rafale jet fighters it will buy, from 234 to 225. Originally, France planned to buy 294 Rafales but only 200 have actually been ordered so far and about 120 delivered. Four have been lost due to accidents. Seven years ago the French Air Force activated its first squadron of Rafale fighters.
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05/19/2013
Russia will actively seek new deals on the Latin American arms market, which it expects to reach a value of $50 billion in the next ten years, the head of a Russian Technologies (Rostec) high-tech state corporation delegation said on Saturday.
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05/19/2013
A group of Russian military observers will carry out two inspection missions over the United States under the Open Skies Treaty between May 19 and June 3, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Russian inspectors, accompanied by U.S. officials, will be flying on board a Tupolev Tu-154 LK-1 plane from the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and the Travis Air Force Base in California.
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05/18/2013
Airbus SAS plans to use next month’s Paris air show to bolster export prospects for its A400 military cargo plane as it rushes to meet a mid-year deadline to deliver the first model to the French air force. “Le Bourget is going to be a break-out point for exports,” Domingo Urena-Raso, the Airbus Military chief executive officer, said in an interview, referring to the airport north of Paris where the aerospace industry will gather starting June 17.
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05/18/2013
France expects the US will soon approve the speedy shipment of two Reaper surveillance drones after sending a formal request in early May, American and French sources said. French acquisition of the first batch of unarmed General Atomics Reapers seals a long-running, politically charged debate on what type of aircraft the Air Force will use to fill a capability gap in medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft.
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05/18/2013
The New Zealand Ministry of Defence only just finished awarding a $120-million contract to buy 10 SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite anti-submarine/anti-surface warfare helicopters from Kaman Corporation a week ago, but already the MoD is busy planning out its next series of acquisitions.
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05/18/2013
The Pentagon is seeking congressional approval to shift about $9.6 billion in this year’s defense budget to priority projects, mostly to pay for greater-than-expected Afghanistan war and transportation costs.The largest single request is to move $1.3 billion into Army operations and maintenance “to support funding shortfalls for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan operations,” according to budget documents sent to Congress today.
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05/18/2013
During fiscal year 2013, the Defense Department was funded by temporary measures, or continuing resolutions, that put a huge crimp on operations and maintenance spending. The stopgap measure set O&M budgets at the same level as 2012, and created a funding crunch for the military services as the cost of operations increased and appropriations were delayed.
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05/18/2013
The last four A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from the 81st Fighter Squadron left Spangdahlem May 17, 2013. Twenty-one aircraft relocated to the United States over the past few months due to the deliberate and comprehensive restructure planned by the U.S. Air Force that has lead to the inactivation of the 81st in June. The loss of A-10s is a significant event for the United States here in Europe.
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05/18/2013
The world airspeed record was smashed on this day in 1958 after a U.S. Starfighter aircraft hit an astonishing 1,404mph – marking a golden age in aircraft feats. The supersonic jet stunned the world – and especially America’s Cold War rivals – by becoming the first combat aircraft to travel at twice the speed of sound. It flew 196mph quicker than the previous fastest airspeed, set by a McDonnell F-101A Voodoo just six months earlier.
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05/17/2013
In the heady world of military procurement, the difference between an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and an F-18E/F Super Hornet is a matter of degree of performance: both could arguably do the job Canada needs in the air. But for ships, the matter is far more conclusive: you either build the ships you have to have, or you do not.
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05/17/2013
Nigerian soldiers have begun an offensive against Boko Haram Islamists, raiding camps in a remote northeastern park, while more than 2,000 troops have been deployed to retake territory seized by the insurgents, a military source told AFP Thursday. “Our men raided some terrorist camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve,” in Borno State, said the senior officer who requested anonymity.
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05/17/2013
The United States is sending a force of 200 Marines supported by two aircraft to Italy as a precaution against unrest in Libya. The force would deploy in case of an attack similar to the one on the US consulate in Benghazi last year. On Wednesday Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said that the Marines were being transferred to Sigonella air base in Sicily. "It is taking place in accordance with bilateral agreements," Bonino told a joint session of the House and Senate foreign commissions.
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05/17/2013
In China, government controlled media recently carried comments by a senior admiral in which the construction of a second carrier (as rumored, in a yard near Shanghai) was denied, but it was confirmed that a second, larger carrier was in the planning stage. It would make sense that as much experience as possible be gained from the first carrier (the Liaoning) first before finalizing the design of the second one.
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05/17/2013
The Czech Republic is hoping to sell its L-159 Alca fighter aircraft to Poland, just months after an expected deal with Iraq apparently fell through. Prime Minister Petr Necas announced May 13 the Czech Republic was taking part in a tender that could result in the sale of the aircraft to Poland.
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05/17/2013
Five years after it walked away from a US Navy program to provide unmanned surveillance aircraft for Australia, the government has asked the US for renewed access to the technology.
Giant American defence company Northrop Grumman has developed the MQ-4C Triton drone for large-scale maritime patrol tasks. It is the latest version of the Global Hawk that the Howard Government was involved with during the late 1990s.
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05/17/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the furlough of 680,000 civilian employees for one day a week, from early July through September, to avoid taking deeper cuts in training and maintenance, which could have degraded readiness to the point of threatening "core missions," he said.The Department of Defense furlough plan will cut work hours and pay of most civilian employees by 20 percent for up to 11 weeks to save $1.8 billion.
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05/17/2013
he latest in a series of Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35A high angle of attack (AOA) testing was recently completed. The testing accomplished high AOA beyond both the positive and negative maximum command limits, including intentionally putting the aircraft out of control in several configurations. This included initially flying in the stealth clean wing configuration.
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05/17/2013
Russia will deliver 12 Mil Mi-17V5 military transport helicopters to the Afghanistan Armed Forces by the end of 2013, state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Thursday. The helicopters were options in a $367.5 million deal Rosoboronexport signed with the Pentagon in May 2011 for delivery of 21 Mi-17V5s. According to US officials, the deal could be worth up to $900 million including spares and servicing.
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05/16/2013
Drones are everywhere. They are blasting suspected al-Qaida militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. They are menacing China. They are being shot down in Israel. They are hovering outside of homes in America and spying on their residents. And they are forcing us to rethink some basic legal principles—for good reason, because drones are making the old ones obsolete.
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05/16/2013
Back in February the African country of Niger received its first jet combat aircraft in the form of two Su-25s. These were received from Ukraine, which has a lot of Cold War surplus weapons, and refurbished these two ground attack aircraft. It is believed that Ukraine also supplied pilots and ground crews, at least until some Niger personnel could be trained to do the work.
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05/16/2013
The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer is backing calls to restore a valve on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jet that improves the fighter’s chances to survive a hit from a high-explosive round. Adding an improved valve “would result in the aircraft being fully compliant” with its operational requirements, Frank Kendall, the undersecretary for acquisition, wrote a lawmaker last month in a previously undisclosed letter.
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05/16/2013
Behind the gates of Hurlburt Field, Special Operations troops train for dangerous missions in enemy territory. Wednesday they offered a rare glimpse into their world, showcasing some of the planes they fly in combat. This is a CV-22 Osprey, it's one of several Hurlburt Field aircraft you'll see in our local skies, especially as night is falling. "Benefits of the Osprey are you can fly like an airplane and land like a helicopter, which no other aircraft can do," said Captain Jonathan Appleby.
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05/16/2013
The Air Force Special Operations Command’s fleet of more than 200 customized C-130 cargo planes will shrink by more than half in the coming years. Shedding older aircraft will allow AFSOC to save money on maintenance and to spend more on high-tech weaponry and sensors for its future fleet, said Maj. Gen. Kenneth D. Merchant, director of global reach programs at the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.
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05/16/2013
Bell Helicopter is participating in the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC), held May 14 to 16 in Tampa, Fla. Bell Helicopter will feature an armed Bell 407 on static display, its first commercially qualified armed helicopter, a CV-22 model and 3-D interactive programs demonstrating the capabilities of the V-22 Osprey and Bell V-280 Valor.
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05/16/2013
Minister of Defense Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Wednesday denied reports that a cooperation project between South Korea and Indonesia to develop the Korean Fighter Experiment (KFX) combat airplane was canceled, saying that it was merely put on hold until the new government in South Korea was settled.
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05/16/2013
The first Boeing [NYSE: BA] P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft arrived today, on schedule, at India Naval Station Rajali. The P-8I is one of eight aircraft Boeing is building for India as part of a contract awarded in 2009.
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05/16/2013
The aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya has been put in a dry dock at Russia’s Sevmash shipyard for “cosmetic” repairs ahead of final sea trials and delivery to the Indian navy later this year, the company said. “The work is underway to repaint the hull under the waterline,” said Sergey Novoselov, head of defense export projects at Sevmash.
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05/15/2013
The pilot of a Turkish F-16 fighter jet has been found dead after the aircraft crashed near the Syrian border, the military said late Monday, without providing details of the plane’s mission, VoR Reported. “The debris of the jet and the pilot’s body have been recovered,” according to a military statement published online.
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05/15/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday confirmed a Pentagon plan to reduce the number of civilian furlough days this year from 14 to 11. Sharp budget cuts are forcing the department to require most civilians to take unpaid leave one day a week for 11 weeks, beginning July 8, Hagel said during a town hall meeting at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. As he came to his decision, Hagel said, he kept in mind the department’s core missions to ensure military readiness and protect the country.
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05/15/2013
Beechcraft Defense Co. has received a $210 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce 35 T-6 training aircraft. Although the contract was issued by the Air Force, 33 of the planes are for the U.S. Navy and two for the U.S. Army. Production begins this month and final delivery of aircraft is expected in early 2015. Beechcraft said the deal, under the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System procurement program, includes an option for two additional aircraft.
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05/15/2013
The Czech Republic participates in a Polish tender for training planes with the aim to deliver the L-159 aircraft to Poland, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas told CTK in Warsaw Monday.
Necas Monday met his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk and they discussed the extension of both countries' cooperation in the economy, energy industry and defence.
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05/15/2013
The first pilotless flight over British airspace has been successfully completed. Aerospace company BAE Systems flew a Jetstream 31 - dubbed the "flying test bed" - from Warton near Preston in Lancashire to Inverness in Scotland. Strictly speaking, the flight was not unmanned -- two pilots were in the cockpit as a precaution.
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05/15/2013
Over the past decade, India has invested heavily in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Recognizing India’s significant economic and development contributions, the United States has called on New Delhi to play an important role in the new Silk Road initiative aimed at transforming Afghanistan into a regional trade hub.
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05/15/2013
he X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) completed its first ever carrier-based catapult launch from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia today. “Today we saw a small, but significant pixel in the future picture of our Navy as we begin integration of unmanned systems into arguably the most complex warfighting environment that exists today: the flight deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
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05/15/2013
The worldwide community of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] C-130J Super Hercules operators recently surpassed a landmark 1 million flight hours milestone, logging this time through numerous combat, special operations and humanitarian missions.
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05/15/2013
If fresh media reports are true, Russia, Syria’s longtime supplier of military equipment, may soon provide Damascus – or already has – with advanced S-300 air defense systems, tipping the balance in the devastating 26-month conflict in the Middle Eastern country. But the “if” is a big one.
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05/15/2013
Egypt is likely to become the first export customer for Turkey's Anka UAV - with more orders from the Middle East to follow, manufacturer TAI said. Anka - A medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) design received its certification from the Turkish authorities at the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul. The name means Phoenix in English.
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05/14/2013
The pilot of a Turkish F-16 fighter jet has been found dead after the aircraft crashed near Turkey's border with Syria, reports say. The plane was flying over the Amanos Mountains in the southern province of Osmaniye on Monday when it lost radio contact, Anatolia news agency said. The pilot reportedly sent a message saying "I'm jumping" before contact was lost. Rescuers found his body near to the wreckage of the aircraft.
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05/14/2013
On April 29, at Blair House, Arab League ministers led by Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani reiterated their commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative, including a (by now, familiar) proposed finesse, that the 1967 border might be adjusted with land swaps to accommodate the large settlement blocs. Three days later, on May 1 (and again on May 3), Israeli aircraft attacked an apparent cache of Hezbollah-bound Iranian weapons near Damascus.
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05/14/2013
The scope of United States (U.S.) military assistance to Nigeria and the U.S. new policy of using regional bloc leadership in solving crisis in Africa may be part of the reasons why the May 2, 2013 policy announced to civil rights activities in Abuja by U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence P. McCulley on withdrawal of military cooperation with Nigeria was shelved.
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05/14/2013
The Department of Defense awarded Northrop Grumman a $555.6 million contract for modernization of the Global Hawk drone system on Monday. The contract, designated as being for "indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity" (IDIQ), does not necessarily mean that Northrop will collect the full amount of the ceiling value, although it very well might.
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05/14/2013
The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer is backing calls to restore a valve on Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s F-35 jet that improves the fighter’s chances to survive a hit from a high-explosive round. “The addition of an improved” valve “would result in the aircraft being fully compliant” with its operational requirements, Frank Kendall, the under secretary for acquisition, wrote a lawmaker last month in a previously undisclosed letter.
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05/14/2013
No other country in the world has a site like the Woomera Prohibited Area, a 127,000sq km zone in northern South Australia where our defence force can test bombs and undertake rocket research. It is free from the noise of mobile phones, televisions and radios meaning it is one of the world's best sites to test electronic warfare and cyber-space simulation.
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05/14/2013
No one disputes the fact that Canada needs to procure new fighters, but that’s where universal agreement ends. Several aircraft types are competing to be Canada’s next fighter jet. In this ongoing series, defence analyst Richard Shimooka examines the pros and cons of each contender. In this installment: the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Saab Gripen.
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05/14/2013
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company announced that Roderick “Rod” McLean has been selected vice president and general manager of the F-16/F-22 Integrated Fighter Group (IFG). Michael Cawood has been selected to serve as vice president and deputy for IFG. Both appointments are effective immediately
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05/14/2013
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) have successfully tested a prototype air-launched Extended Medium-range Ballistic Missile (eMRBM) target at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
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05/14/2013
Lockheed Martin announced the redesign of www.F35.com, the official website of the F-35 Lightning II. The new design features enhanced functionality and compatibility with a variety of mobile devices while providing users the most up-to-date information on the F-35 program.
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05/13/2013
China has formed its first aircraft carrier-borne aviation strike force, significantly enhancing the navy's blue-water capability, amid maritime territorial disputes with neighbours including Japan and Vietnam. "A carrier-borne aviation force has been formally established as part of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy," the state-media reported.
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05/13/2013
Israel’s military grounded a fleet of high-altitude surveillance drones on Sunday after one was downed over the Mediterranean Sea. The military said it intentionally crashed the unmanned aircraft late Saturday because of a malfunction. The IAF Heron-1 UAV was downed by the air force after its controllers discovered an engine failure. The failure was discovered during a routine flight over the Mediterranean, off the coast of Netanya.
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05/13/2013
Almost four years after the MV-22 Osprey arrived in Afghanistan, trailing a reputation as dangerous and hard to maintain, the U.S. Marines Corps finally has had an opportunity to test the controversial hybrid aircraft in real war conditions. The reviews are startlingly positive. The unusual aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but turns its rotors to fly like an airplane, are being used for everything from freight to hundreds of assaults.
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05/13/2013
After deliberating for nearly a decade South Korea has finally agreed to purchase 36 U.S. AH-64E Apache helicopter gunships. A lot of the opposition was because of price. So five years ago the U.S. offered South Korea 36 refurbished AH-64s, rebuilt to like-new condition, for about $23 million each. That was a nearly 60 percent discount off the then current price of new ones. These helicopters would have a useful life of about 10,000 hours in the air.
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05/13/2013
This week the Navy will launch an entirely autonomous combat drone — without a pilot on a joystick anywhere — off the deck of an aircraft carrier, the George H. W. Bush. The drone will then try to land aboard the same ship, a feat only a relatively few human pilots in the world can accomplish. This exercise is the beginning of a new chapter in military history: autonomous drone warfare.
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05/13/2013
Even as the western and eastern fronts with Pakistan and China are bolstered with additional Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons, India has also kick-started plans to base its most lethal "air dominance'' fighter in south India to keep a "strategic eye'' over Indian Ocean.
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05/13/2013
North Korea has decried “blackmail” and “provocation” in the arrival of the US aircraft carrier group Nimitz to its southern neighbor. The warships will take part in joint exercises with South Korea, as tensions in the peninsula run high.
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05/13/2013
Dassault Aviation, the French maker of Rafale fighter jet which is in exclusive negotiations with the Indian ministry of defence for the $12 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender is facing rough weather at home. In the latest strategic defence review carried out under the insistence of the French government, last month, France has capped the purchase of Rafale fighter jets to 225.
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05/13/2013
Russian military inspectors will make a surveillance flight over the territory of Bulgaria under the international Open Skies Treaty within a period starting Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported. Russian experts will conduct the inspection flight on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between May 13 and 17, a ministry spokesman told journalists.
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05/13/2013
A new Russian carrier-deck pilot training site will be ready for operation by next year, Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said on Sunday, replacing a Soviet-era base in Ukraine which Kiev has said it may lease to other countries. The work on the training facility in the city of Yeisk, on Russia's Black Sea coast, “is proceeding according to plan,” he said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
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05/12/2013
Chinese cyber spies have been caught trying to steal the secrets of Britain’s most sophisticated combat jet, The Mail on Sunday has learned. A covert unit within the Chinese Army has been using highly sophisticated cyber weapons in a desperate attempt to acquire classified information about the stealthy Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
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05/12/2013
After years of planning and months of detailed preparation Spitfire day finally arrived. On Thursday down on the Bo’ness Road the huge replica warplane was unveiled as this district’s tribute to 71 aircrew who died while serving at Grangemouth aerodrome during World War II.
The air cadets whose idea it was must be delighted that their plan to honour that lost generation has been fulfilled of a permanent reminder of a very important part of our modern history.
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05/12/2013
The Indian Navy is all set to induct a Boeing P-8I into its force this year, making it the second navy after the US to have such aircrafts, a senior naval official said. The first long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, P-8I, would be inducted this year, the official said. "The Indian Navy would be only the second operator of this aircraft after US Navy to operate the P8 Poseidon.
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05/12/2013
The Indian Navy has commissioned its first squadron of MiG-29K/KUB shipborne fighters, dubbed the "Black Panthers," a MiG spokesperson in India said on Saturday. The ceremony at an airbase in Dabolim, in the state of Goa on India's west coast, was attended by India's Defense Minister A K Antony, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral D K Joshi and MiG Director-General Sergei Korotkov.
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05/11/2013
Just moments ago, CNN’s Barbara Starr reported that U.S. combat Marines in the South of Spain are now on alert for deployment into Libya to assist with evacuation of Americans. A senior military official confirmed that although the Marines are still in Spain, they could be on the move soon if the U.S. government issues an evacuation order. The 500 Marines are equipped with, among other combat equipment, six MV-22 Ospreys for rapid insert and evacuation.
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05/11/2013
While Iran's got a somewhat less than "Epic" new propeller-powered UAV, China might be jumping on the stealth drone bandwagon sooner than you thought. Extremely blurry photos posted on Internet forums over the past few months may show a Chinese stealth UAV, supposedly called the Lijan or Sharp Sword, along the lines of the U.S. Navy's X-47B.
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05/11/2013
On May 11 the Navy will commission the first of three MiG-29K squadrons at its base in Goa. One is for training. The 16 aircraft originally ordered have all been delivered, as have four of a further 29. They will fly from the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (previously Admiral Gorshkov), which has taken five years longer than planned to be refitted. Later, they will also fly from the Indian-built aircraft carrier (IAC-1), which is under construction in Kochi in Kerala.
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05/11/2013
Taiwan recently promoted a female C-130 pilot to be the first female squadron commander. Lieutenant colonel Chen Yueh-Fang joined the air force in 1992, at a time when women were first being allowed to attend flight school. She was one of six (out of 14) female flight school students who completed flight training. She was told the male and female students would be treated the same and they were. She was in the second class that allowed women to compete.
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05/11/2013
As Jérôme Camps, an engineer at Dassault Aviation’s main design center, showed off a ghostlike 3-D model of one of the company’s small jets here recently, his hand passed through the plane’s skin to reveal an intricate web of support structures as well as a jumble of multicolored cables and pneumatic tubes, rendered in vivid detail.
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05/11/2013
If building a MALE UAV, and a turboprop trainer – Hurkus, due to fly for the first time in the coming weeks – wasn’t enough, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has embarked on early studies for a national combat aircraft program. While it is only in the concept phase for the moment, with assistance from Swedish fighter manufacturer, Saab, senior officials will make significant decisions on the program at the end of the year.
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05/11/2013
Due to prolonged delays in the ambitious Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project, the future plans for an Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been shelved temporarily. The 'Tejas' LCA has taken 30 years already, at an escalated project cost of Rs 5,489 crore. Since the LCA project was sanctioned in 1983 at a cost of Rs 560 crore, the time overrun has resulted in a 10-fold increase in the project cost.
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05/11/2013
Russian paratrooper divisions will receive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) within the next three-to-five years, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov, Commander of Russia’s Airborne Forces, told journalists on Friday. “UAV subdivisions already exist within the reconnaissance and special operations sections, in the artillery and the air-defense sections of the Airborne Forces.
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05/10/2013
From trademark tanks and fighter jets to the latest, unrivalled missile defense systems – the Victory Day parade stages a military show right in the heart of Russia’s busy capital. RT takes a closer look at the defense technology in the spotlight. Over 11,000 servicemen from all the branches of the Russian armed forces marched through Moscow’s central square to mark the 68 year of WWII Victory.
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05/10/2013
The Strike UAV (SIHA) project was formally given the go-ahead by Turkey’s Defence Industry Executive Committee in July 2012 and the SSM is currently preparing an RfP for the programme’s preliminary concept phase. The work will be carried out by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), using its Anka medium altitude long-endurance UAV as the point of departure for development of the SIHA, which is expected to weigh around 5000 kg with an external payload capacity of 1000 to 1500 kg.
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05/10/2013
In southwestern Afghanistan, this reporter for The Washington Times recently hitched a ride on a helicopter manned by Afghans, including the pilot and two door gunners, as well as U.S. military personnel. The 20-minute flight was aboard an Mi-17, a Russian-made aircraft that Afghans have learned to fly.
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05/10/2013
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that China "could threaten America's primary means of projecting power and helping allies in the Pacific," and Admiral Robert Willard, former head of U.S. Pacific Command, notes that it "has exceeded most of our intelligence estimates of their military capability and capacity every year," there is cause for concern.
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05/10/2013
Australia will hold defense spending at $100 billion over four years and remains committed to the purchase of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The level of spending is "appropriate and in current circumstances sustainable," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said during her presentation of the 2013 Defense White Paper.
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05/10/2013
The operators of British Reapers have moved to a UAV control center in Britain. For the last four years British Reaper operators worked out of the main U.S. Air Force UAV control operation in Nevada, at first as part of a joint U.S./British Reaper unit. This was convenient and inexpensive way to learn how to operate such a center (where UAVs are operated via satellite link).
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05/10/2013
In last week's Defence Department white paper, released by the Prime Minister at Fairbairn's air force base, the Australian public got a scary one-line insight into the future of its air force. ''Armed unmanned systems will be available in greater variety and sophistication in years to come,'' it said.
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05/10/2013
USAF officials are preparing by year’s end to begin flight testing of a communications gateway technology designed to solve the vexing problem of allowing stealthy aircraft to communicate with legacy fighters, though they operate using different protocols. The goal is to “network” combat air forces so that pilots of the F-22 — and in the future the F-35 — can share data with those flying legacy aircraft such as the F-15 and F-16 aircraft, says Lt. Col. Scott Hamilton.
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05/09/2013
Recently the headlines across U.S. media outlets haven't been pleasant for Boeing. Between its lithium-ion batteries smoldering and threatening to catch fire and accusations of lower quality parts from Japanese suppliers there is a lot of fuel for the fire. There's at least one positive headline for Boeing and its investors: the recent flight test of its X-51A hypersonic aircraft. Let's take a look at why this overlooked headline means much more to the company's future.
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05/09/2013
“Following the handover ceremony at the airfield of the Novosibirsk-based Chkalov aviation plant, the aircraft departed for its assigned home base,” reads the Sukhoi press release. “Several more Su-34 fighters will be delivered to the Russian Air Force shortly.” The statement continues: “Thanks to the sizeable government orders for Su-34 aircraft placed by the Russian Defence Ministry in 2008 and 2010, the [Novosibirsk] facility has secured a steady workload for years to come.”
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05/09/2013
Israel has warned the U.S. that a Russian deal is imminent to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria, weapons that would significantly boost the regime's ability to stave off intervention in its civil war. U.S. officials said on Wednesday that they are analyzing the information Israel provided about the suspected sale of S-300 missile batteries to Syria, but wouldn't comment on whether they believed such a transfer was near.
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05/09/2013
Israeli missiles breached Syria's vaunted air defense system over the weekend, but that offered little comfort to U.S. military planners weighing the risks of any intervention against President Bashar al-Assad's forces. With some of the possible U.S. military options in Syria involving a need for air power, the Pentagon remains concerned about Assad's ability to shoot down enemy aircraft with surface-to-air missiles, particularly in a sustained campaign.
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05/09/2013
It could be the roar the engine makes as it soars above the battleground scattering enemy activity from the fight or when its rugged body loaded with a high-tech weapons system delivers an aerial arsenal, but whatever the reason, the A-10 fighter aircraft is loved by battlefield service members.
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05/09/2013
Senior Israeli Air Force leaders believe that unmanned aircraft are the future, including autonomous (at least some of the time, under software control) fighters and bombers. Israeli UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) manufacturers, who have long been leaders in the field, were asked to move more aggressively in this direction. The Israelis are following the lead of the U.S. Navy, which is currently out front when it comes to UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) development.
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05/09/2013
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] today announced that it has successfully demonstrated the Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system in multiple tests against free-flying Qassam-like rocket targets. The prototype laser system has destroyed eight small-caliber rocket targets in flight at a range of approximately 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) in tests conducted in March and April 2013.
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05/09/2013
Ten Turkish companies participated in the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Industry Recognition Event during the IDEF tradeshow today. Turkish companies are major contributors to the current international production of the F-35 Lightning II and the advanced Turkish SOM weapon in development to be used on the F-35 and have resulted nearly a thousand jobs for Turkish industry.
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05/09/2013
Estonia will hold annual military exercises involving about 4,500 personnel from several NATO countries on May 9-25, the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces said. The Spring Storm drills have been held annually in different parts of Estonia since 2003. This year they will involve for the first time units from the UK, Belgium and Poland as well as the Estonian navy.
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05/09/2013
FLYHT Aerospace Solutions has received a purchase order from a major avionics integrator for seven AFIRS 228 (Automated Flight Information Reporting System) for Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft owned and operated by a Middle-Eastern country's air force.
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05/08/2013
A brand new F-35 with additional capabilities landed Monday afternoon. The new jet marks the beginning of a significant ramping up of Air Force training at the F-35 schoolhouse and an increase in some capabilities for the program. The Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base is set to receive an additional 13 of the new F-35s, known as Block 2 aircraft, by the end of the year.
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05/08/2013
Military sources have revealed that the Nigerian Air Force Alpha combat aircraft, which crashed near Niamey, Niger Republic on Monday, killing the two pilots on board, was returning from a reconnaissance (recce) mission in Mali in support of the AFISMA operations in the country.
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05/08/2013
From potent long-range missiles and new-generation nuclear submarines to expanding space, electronic and cyber warfare capabilities, China is pursuing ``long-term comprehensive'' military modernization designed to ``fight and win short-duration, high-intensity regional military conflicts''.
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05/08/2013
Bulgaria’s caretaker government under Prime Minister Marin Raykov sees the acquisition of new fighter jets for the country as a priority and is keeping the process going, although it will not be empowered to make a decision and there is no Parliament to vote on any such decision. This emerged on May 7 2013, a day after President Rossen Plevneliev, constitutionally the Bulgarian military’s commander-in-chief, spoke out strongly in favour of going ahead with the acquisition.
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05/08/2013
France's National Assembly and Senate have voted to extend the country's military intervention in Mali. A resolution passed both houses of parliament on April 22. Not a single vote was cast in opposition. Three days later, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 2100, creating a policing mission beginning July 1, 2013. The mission is called by its French acronym MINUSMA. Its projected size is 11,200 soldiers and 1,440 police.
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05/08/2013
Air Force officials say the across-the-board spending cuts have led the service to cease operations for one third of the bomber and jet fighter force. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Mark Welsh told a Senate committee that nine fighter units and three bomber units have stood down.
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05/08/2013
Boeing is providing an upgraded communications system for U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers so aircrews can send and receive information via satellite links, allowing crews to change mission plans and retarget weapons in flight and better interact with aircraft and ground forces.
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05/08/2013
Boeing has delivered a training center for the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, enabling the base to cut costs by training pilots and loadmasters onsite.
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05/08/2013
Tests of Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 fighter jets in the Chkalov state flight test center in Akhtubinsk, Astrakhan Region in south Russia may start in July, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said. “In two months,” he said Monday when asked when the center would start tests of such jets, adding that the first serial fifth-generation jet may be manufactured in 2014-2015.
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05/07/2013
Syrian rebels shot down a military helicopter in the country's east, killing eight government troops on board a day after opposition forces entered a sprawling military air base in the north, activists said Monday. In the past months, rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad have frequently targeted military aircraft and air bases in an attempt to deprive his regime of a key weapon used to target opposition strongholds and reverse rebel gains in the 2-year-old conflict.
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05/07/2013
The 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron executed the first combat Extracted Container Delivery System, or XCDS, airdrop April 29, successfully demonstrating the increased accuracy that this new technology provides. The new airdrop method is designed to pull the bundles out of the aircraft at a faster rate than the current airdrop process, which improves the overall accuracy of the drop itself.
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05/07/2013
India abstained from the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the United Nations and the government will take all measures to ensure that it does not impact national interest, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony also said India's position in this regard has been placed on record at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
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05/07/2013
A Nigerian warplane crashed in Niger on Monday, from where it was conducting military operations in neighbouring Mali, and the two pilots were killed, an army source in Niamey said. The fighter jet was part of Nigeria’s air fleet engaged with an African force battling hardline Islamists in Mali. The Niger military source said it had suffered a “mechanical” problem.
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05/07/2013
India is still to finalize the terms for a potential purchase of 126 fighter jets from Dassault Aviation S.A.,more than a year after the French defense contractor was chosen for the deal estimated to be worth more than $10 billion. Commercial discussions are continuing with Dassault because of which a specific time frame cannot be provided for the delivery of the Rafale combat planes, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told a lawmaker in the lower house of Parliament Monday.
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05/07/2013
India will commission MIG-29K fighter jets for the first time into its Navy later this week in the western state of Goa, a senior defense official has said. A squadron of the combat aircraft, MIG-29K (K stands for " Korabelny" meaning "Carrier Borne" in Russian), will be commissioned into the Indian Navy by Defense Minister A.K. Antony on 11 May at INS Hansa naval base in Goa, the Indian Navy PRO told the media.
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05/07/2013
A no-fly zone over Syria means American boots on the ground. Among President Obama's difficult options as he grapples with growing pressure to intervene with force in the war in Syria is a no-fly zone, an option that would effectively block Syria's ability to use its air power or missiles against rebel forces or to strike outside its borders.
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05/07/2013
President Museveni has continued to pursue the air defence revolution that began in July 2011 with the acquisition of a fleet of Su-30 fighter jets. "Fighter jet planes from Russia were recently delivered at the Entebbe military airbase," an insider source told The Observer at the weekend. The Observer has learnt that another fleet of Su-30 fighter jets were delivered in the country early this month.
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05/07/2013
US officials are “highly skeptical” of claims that Syrian rebels had deployed chemical weapons in their war with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday. “We find it highly likely that any chemical weapon use that has taken place in Syria was done by the Assad regime. And that remains our position,” Carney said.
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05/07/2013
Serbia is planning to buy several MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum fighter jets from Russia, and Serbian pilots are already being trained in flying the aircraft, the country’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday. Serbia expects to buy the aircraft on credit, he said, adding that the final cost of the deal will depend on what weapon systems are installed on them as well as on the volume of spare parts to be purchased.
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05/06/2013
The Department of Defense identified the three airmen killed when a KC-135 tanker assigned to McConnell Air Force Base crashed Friday near Chon-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan. The airmen, who were assigned to the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington, the news release said.
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05/06/2013
Israeli jets bombed a military research facility north of Damascus early Sunday, a senior official told NBC News - the second Israeli attack on targets in Syria in recent days. Heavy explosions shook the city, and video shot by activists showed a fireball rising into the sky after Sunday's strikes. Reuters reported that a Western intelligence source said the operation hit Iranian-supplied missiles that were en route to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
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05/06/2013
South Korea and the United States will hold an annual joint naval exercise in waters around the Korean peninsula from the end of this week. Military sources say Aegis destroyers from both countries, P-3C patrol aircraft as well as submarines will take part in the drill.
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05/06/2013
With a direct eye on Taiwan, the Chinese military may be moving into the large-scale deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. The Associated Press reported over the last few days that Chinese aerospace firms had developed dozens of drones, that its technology was maturing rapidly and that they were “on the cusp” of widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes.
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05/06/2013
Indian Navy is celebrating the diamond jubilee of its aviation wing May 11 with the commissioning of its first shipboard Mig-29K combat jet squadron in Goa. The aircraft will be deployed on the carrier INS Vikramaditya, currrently undergoing sea trials in Russia and which is expected to be inducted later this year.
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05/06/2013
An army marches on its stomach, according to an old military adage. Today's military is tethered to a gas pump. The amount of fuel used per individual soldier has skyrocketed in recent years because of an increased use of aircraft and armored vehicles. In Afghanistan, that dependency has meant long and costly supply lines that are vulnerable to attack and limit the reach of American forces.
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05/06/2013
Four flights in one year. That's the flight track record of the naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft -LCA Navy (NP-1) since it made its maiden flight on April 27 last year in Bangalore. Four flights in one year. That’s the flight track record of the naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft -LCA Navy (NP-1) since it made its maiden flight on April 27 last year in Bangalore.
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05/06/2013
MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti) - Syria condemned on Sunday Israel over airstrikes against targets around Damascus, saying the attacks aim "to give direct military support to terrorist groups" fighting the government, the Associated Press reported. The Syrian Foreign Ministry also said Sunday in a letter sent to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council that the "Israeli aggression" had killed and wounded several people and "caused widespread destruction."
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05/06/2013
Israel decided to close airspace to civilian aircraft over its northern part of the country in the wake of reports on alleged Israeli airstrikes on Syria, the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.
The daily cited Israel’s leading airline Arkia as saying in a statement that after instructions from the Israeli Defense Ministry the airline was “forced to announce the cancellation of interior flights from Haifa to Eilat.”
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05/05/2013
Israeli strikes on Syrian army targets show co-ordination with "terrorists" including al-Qaeda linked militants, the Syrian foreign ministry has said. The strikes had led to a number of casualties and widespread damage, it reported in a letter sent to the UN. State media said a research centre and other sites had been hit overnight. Israeli sources said weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon were the target.
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05/05/2013
The Marine Corps has a long and storied history with the bird they affectionately call the "Phrog." More than four decades have passed since the CH-46A Sea Knight entered the Corps' arsenal, and now, 49 years later, the birds will be resting their wings as their last flights come to an end as the Corps transitions to the MV-22 Osprey.
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05/05/2013
AUSTRALIA'S armed forces will face firmly north and increase their collaboration with the US military,potentially allowing B-52 long-range bombers and drone aircraft to fly from Australian bases,under plans announced by the government yesterday.The formal response to last year's Australian Defence Force Posture Review report also committed to upgrading airfields on the remote Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean to support the anticipated arrival of a squadron of RAAF armed surveillance aircraft.
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05/05/2013
Last week Con Coughlin became the first British journalist to see a British pilot conduct a perfect test landing of Britain's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Here he describes an aircraft that is set to become one of Britain’s leading strike fighters for the next generation.
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05/05/2013
Embraer Defense & Security is stepping up its marketing drive in the region and is demonstrating that with its participation at this week's International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF'13), which takes place May 7-10 at the Tüyap Fair & Exhibition Center, in Istanbul, Turkey.??
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05/05/2013
The Kyrgyz government says it has found the bodies of two US pilots after a military refuelling plane crashed in the Central Asian state on Friday. Search teams found the remains on Saturday morning, the emergencies ministry told news agencies. The search for the third member of the plane's crew was continuing.
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05/04/2013
Amid growing concerns the Middle East faces major security threats, Iraq has ordered a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-16IQ fighters worth $830 million. The contract underlines Iraq's drive to give its postwar air force a combat capability in the next few years following the U.S. military withdrawal completed in December 2011.
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05/04/2013
The U.S. Navy believes it has found a laser technology that is capable of being useful in combat. This is not a sudden development but has been going on for most of the last decade. Three years ago the navy successfully tested this new laser weapon (six solid state lasers acting in unison), using it to destroy a small UAV.
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05/04/2013
Marines at a far-flung base in southwest Afghanistan sent off an urgent request for mortar rounds, needing an air delivery made to a landing zone under enemy fire for days. The choice came down to two Connecticut-made helicopters. One option to deliver the pallet of 60mm rounds was a manned Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter. The other was an unmanned Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-MAX helicopter. The Sikorsky helicopter made in Stratford requires a crew of five.
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05/04/2013
Back in February the African country of Niger received its first jet combat aircraft in the form of two Su-25s. These were received from Ukraine, which has a lot of Cold War surplus weapons, and refurbished these two ground attack aircraft. It is believed that Ukraine also supplied pilots and ground crews, at least until some Niger personnel could be trained to do the work.
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05/04/2013
An aerial tanker jet reportedly flown by a Fairchild Air Force Base crew crashed today in the rugged mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation where the U.S. operates an air base key to the war in Afghanistan. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Florida, told Reuters News Service that the congressman was advised the KC-135 Stratotanker was based out of McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas but that it was being operated by a Fairchild crew.
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05/04/2013
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Israeli companies were behind 41 percent of all UAVs exported in 2001-11. Those Israeli exports went to 24 countries, including the United States. i-hls reports. That volume’s expected to expand as production costs are relatively low. Israeli industry officials boast that it’s significantly cheaper to buy an advanced UAV than it is to train an air force pilot.
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05/04/2013
Australian government officials restated their commitment to purchase 100 F-35 fifth-generation multirole fighters from Lockheed Martin to support the country’s Air Combat Capability Transition, with an Initial Operational Capability date of 2020 for the F-35 fleet.
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05/04/2013
U.S. officials say Israel has launched an airstrike into Syria, apparently targeting a suspected weapons site. The officials say the strike occurred overnight Thursday into Friday. They say it does not appear that a chemical weapons site was targeted. One official says the strike appeared to hit a warehouse.
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05/04/2013
A Boeing X-51A WaveRider unmanned hypersonic vehicle achieved the longest air-breathing, scramjet-powered hypersonic flight in history May 1, flying for three and a half minutes on scramjet power at a top speed of Mach 5.1. The vehicle flew for a total time of more than six minutes.
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05/04/2013
A US military Boeing KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in Kyrgyzstan for unspecified reasons on Friday, the United States Air Force said. "A US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft crashed today in northern Kyrgyzstan," the US Air Force's 376th Air Expeditionary Wing based in the country said. The Boeing KC-135, also known as the Stratotanker, crashed into a mountain gorge about 60 kilometers (36 miles) west of the capital Bishkek.
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05/03/2013
In acknowledging the likely use of chemical weapons in Syria, US President Barack Obama is nonetheless seeking to pursue a cautious path. On the one hand he does not want to be stampeded into military action by more hawkish voices on Capitol Hill without conclusive and demonstrable evidence. But equally he wants to send a strong message to the Syrian government in Damascus.
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05/03/2013
The growing power of Islamist fighters in southern Syria is causing alarm in Jordan, which backs rebels battling President Bashar Assad but fears those linked to Al-Qaeda. Similar concerns among Syria’s other neighbors, including Turkey and Israel, are complicating an already disjointed world response to the bloody turmoil at the heart of the Middle East.
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05/03/2013
The Navy on Thursday inaugurated its first squadron with both manned and unmanned aircraft amid debate over the military’s burgeoning use of drones in warfare. Military officials launched the effort by reactivating the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35, known as the “Magicians,” which served for 19 years before being deactivated in 1992.
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05/03/2013
India has postponed the development of the homegrown Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program, according to sources in the Indian Defence Ministry, because the MoD first wants to complete the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program. The LCA is behind schedule by more than 15 years and the MoD has spent more than $1 billion in its development.
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05/03/2013
Australia said Friday it would buy 12 Boeing EA-18G Growler advanced electronic warfare technology aircraft because it can’t risk delivery delays in their replacement, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The government announced last year that its air force will equip 12 of Australia’s F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters with Growler radar-jamming equipment and other gear to knock out a wide array of electronic devices from 2018.
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05/02/2013
China’s UAV development appears to have bypassed the cottage industry stage where many Western UAV programs find their roots and has emerged onto the high-tech stage as if it appeared out a fog. The staggering numbers of UAVs on display at the 2012 Zhuhai Airshow were too many to count. Just six years before, at the 2006 Zhuhai Airshow, you could count them with one hand.
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05/02/2013
The US Air Force is looking at equipping its Reaper unmanned aircraft with a British-developed, man-in-the-loop missile better able to reduce collateral damage than the current weapons carried by the machine, according to sources. Britain’s dual-mode Brimstone missile is being evaluated by the Air Force’s secretive Big Safari Group, British defense procurement minister Philip Dunne revealed in a speech at the offices of Washington law firm McKenna, Long and Aldridge on April 23.
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05/02/2013
After slipping by each other the narrow aisle of an E-8C Joint STARS aircraft, more than a dozen Airmen settle into their seats and begin to flip switches and work through checklists. Their olive-green headsets block out the roar of the jet engines and replace it with busy radio chatter as the crew prepares for the mission ahead.
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05/02/2013
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency sent a recommendation to airlines not to use Syrian airspace for flights and it has banned its air carriers from flying over Syria to avoid an unspecified threat from Syrian ground forces.
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05/02/2013
The Obama administration is placing a large bet on the ability of a Syrian former professor of military engineering to build a coherent rebel army that can defeat the regime of Bashar al-Assad, combat Islamic radicals and help build a stable new Syria.
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05/02/2013
Early Tuesday morning, the United States delivered its first direct shipment of food and medical supplies to the rebel Free Syrian Army, with some help from its representatives in Washington. At about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location across Syria's northern border, a U.S. C-17 transport aircraft based out of Dover Air Force Base offloaded the first of what will be several shipments.
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05/02/2013
We've been hearing for years now that the U.S. military's crop of slow-moving spy planes fielded for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- ranging from MQ-9 Reaper drones to manned MC-12 Liberties -- will be totally useless in a fight against an adversary armed with sophisticated radars and anti-aircraft missiles (often labeled anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) weapons).
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05/02/2013
France’s announcement that it plans to cut 24,000 military jobs by 2019 is causing concern in the U.S. about commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Europe’s only defense block. “This is very disappointing news,” ,” Nick Burns, former undersecretary of state for political affairs and former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said in an email. “NATO is still in Afghanistan and has major responsibilities in the Balkans.”
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05/02/2013
Reports of the use of chemical weapons in Syria have sparked talk of U.S. military intervention, but experts said stopping the bloodshed in the war-torn country could prove a gargantuan task. U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly said any use of chemical weapons would constitute a "red line" that could spur U. S. military involvement at some level, but Obama urged caution Tuesday, suggesting in a White House press briefing that more proof was needed.
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05/01/2013
Canada’s search-and-rescue network is in desperate need of rescue itself, with aging planes, a shortage of military personnel and an information system at the “breaking point” all threatening the ability to respond to emergencies, a new report warns. Auditor general Michael Ferguson paints a troubling picture of a network stretched to the limits, hampered by a lack of investment and a lack of coordination.
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05/01/2013
The United States plans to deploy later this year a dozen more Osprey military aircraft to Japan's Okinawa prefecture which hosts two major U.S. airbases. In spite of protests from residents, the U.S. military had already deployed a fleet of 12 Osprey aircraft at its Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island.
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05/01/2013
Six MV-22B Ospreys and two KC-130J’s flew from Marine Corps Air Station, New River, N.C., to Moron De La Frontera, Spain, April 27, completing the longest and largest transatlantic flight of any Osprey squadron to date. Their mission; crisis response. Major Anthony Krockel, the executive officer assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365, said it took a lot of planning and preparation and approximately 15 hours to cross the Atlantic.
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05/01/2013
Nearly half of the fighter squadrons in U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa halted flying operations three weeks ago. The action was a result of the reduction of flying hours Air Force-wide -- one impact of the current sequestration-related budget challenges affecting the Defense Department. When factoring in ongoing and anticipated deployments, there is limited ability to respond to operational requirements across two combatant commands.
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05/01/2013
"Whether the military effect would produce the kind of outcome that not just members of Congress but all of us would desire — which is an end to the violence, some kind of political reconciliation among the parties and a stable Syria — that's the reason I've been cautious, is the right word, about the application of the military instrument of power, because it's not clear to me that it would produce that outcome," Dempsey said at a lunch with reporters.
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05/01/2013
RUSSIA'S air transport agency on has banned all Russian civilian planes from flying through Syrian air space after the crew of a Russian passenger jet reported coming under threat over the war-torn country. The federal agency Rosaviation said the ban on flights over Syria went into force on Monday and will remain until further notice.
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05/01/2013
The Army unveiled the OH-58F Kiowa Warrior during it's first flight at Redstone Arsenal. Redstone employees and civilian contractors spent the past 4 years re-manufacturing and assembling the first modified versions of the helicopter. "Both of these aircraft were actually assembled up in Meridianville and we've seen an influx of about 30 million dollars into the local economy over the years in support of this program" says Armed Scout Helicopter Project Manager Col. Robert Grigsby.
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05/01/2013
With the combat role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan tapering off, aircraft accidents emerged as the biggest killer of U.S. troops here during the first four months of the year. Since Jan. 1, 13 service members have been killed in five crashes. U.S. troop deaths remain at their lowest levels here in recent years. The number so far this year, 33 through Tuesday, is the lowest at this point since 2008.
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05/01/2013
Boeing today rolled out the F-15SA, ushering in a new era in fighter aircraft capability and affordability for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The F-15SA, the newest variant of the combat-proven F-15, provides improved performance and increased survivability at a lower life-cycle cost. The aircraft has two additional wing stations for increased payload and capability.
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