June 26, 2013 Military Aviation News

Australia seeks Triton superdrones to keep a watch on Indian Ocean

06/26/2013

Rising Indian Ocean rivalries as China seeks to safeguard key energy lifelines loom behind an Australian push for a $3 billion fleet of maritime superdrones, which will likely boost intelligence sharing with the United States. With elections looming and pressure for budget savings, the purchase of up to seven MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft has emerged as rare point of bipartisan agreement between Australia's Labor government and conservative opponents.

Israeli F-4s Actually Fought North Korean MiGs During the Yom Kippur War

06/26/2013

Even if the McDonnell Douglas F-4 was developed as interceptor in response to the need of the U.S. Navy to protect their aircraft carrier, the ultimate version of the Phantom II was the USAF F-4E, a multi role fighter which was also sold to several air forces around the world. One of the countries to receive the F-4E was Israel that bought the first examples in 1969 and later made the Phantom the mainstay of its Air Power bringing the F-4 in all the major Arab-Israeli conflicts.

Azerbaijan celebrates Armed Forces Day

06/26/2013

Azerbaijan celebrates the Day of the Armed Forces on June 26. The Azerbaijani armed forces are highly disciplined, powerful, equipped with modern military machinery, always ready to defend the country and capable of resolving any problem. The Azerbaijani army is professional and the most powerful army in the South Caucasus region.

Italian minister defends F-35 jet purchase on eve of tense vote

06/26/2013

Italy's cash-strapped government plans to go ahead with purchasing 90 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, Defense Minister Mario Mauro said on Tuesday, ahead of a vote that risks splitting the ruling coalition. The lower house of parliament is due to vote on Wednesday on a motion, presented last month by opposition groups and some members of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), that calls on Italy to drop the fighter investment.

Sequester Already Taking Toll on Military

06/26/2013

The news media have, by and large, stopped writing about sequestration and Congress has stopped agitating about it. So it stands to reason that it’s not that big of a deal, right? Surely the doomsayers who predicted grave consequences from willy-nilly cutting $1 trillion from the budget over the next decade–including more than $500 billion in defense cuts–have been proven wrong. Not quite. In fact, sequestration is already taking a serious toll on our military readiness.

Tejas in race against time as Antony sets December 2014 delivery deadline

06/26/2013

It will be a race against time for the developers of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, as Defence Minister A.K. Antony has set a December 2014 deadline for the final delivery of the homemade fighter. But, going by the amount of work remaining on the aircraft, it will be a rush for the scientists to get the final operational clearance within the allocated time.

Editorial: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

06/26/2013

Over two decades, hundreds of millions of euros spent on European UAV technologies have failed to deliver capabilities sought by regional militaries. Some, like Britain’s Herti, or Harfang, the Franco-German adaptation of Israel’s Heron, have yielded modest capabilities. Others, like EADS’ Talarion, have been long in gestation at tremendous cost but with scant prospects for adoption.

Asia driving 'explosion' in global arms trade: study

06/26/2013

Asian powers are outpacing the United States to become the biggest spenders on defense by 2021 and are fuelling an "explosion" in the global arms trade, a study showed. The global arms trade jumped by 30 percent to $73.5 billion between 2008-2012 in spite of the economic downturn, driven by surging exports from China and demand from countries like India, and is set to more than double by 2020, defense and security consultancy IHS Jane's said on Tuesday.

Lockheed Martin Wins U.S. Army Helicopter Maintenance Program

06/26/2013

Lockheed Martin received an aircraft maintenance and logistics contract with an initial funding value of $5 million from the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., to provide field and sustainment-level maintenance for U.S. Army helicopters. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will lead the Army’s Regional Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Central Operations at Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

All Articles