August, 2013 Military Aviation News
08/31/2013
Cameroon has ordered an undisclosed number of Mi-17 transport helicopters from Russia at the MAKS 2013 International Air and Space Show, Russian Technologies has revealed. The contract was signed by Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaikin and Cameroonian Defence Minister Alain Mebe Ngo’o at the MAKS show held outside Moscow.
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08/31/2013
Without any need to seek parliament's approval for a military operation, Mr Hollande made clear his readiness to order French forces into action alongside their American allies. Russia, for its part, moved to maximise Britain's discomfort, saying that the Commons vote showed that London had joined the European mainstream by voicing unease with the "dangerous" course chosen by America.
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08/31/2013
Recently the video about the taxiing test of China's "Sharp Sword" attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was exposed. Media said that China's "Sharp Sword" stealth attack UAV proof test has already begun and the frequent land taxiing tests indicate the preparatory work for the first flight is underway. In an interview with CCTV reporter, military expert Du Wenlong revealed that China's first stealth UAV will make the first flight after one year and it is in good technical conditions at the presen
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08/31/2013
I see the Obama “reset” is going so swimmingly that the president is now threatening to go to war against a dictator who gassed his own people. Don’t worry, this isn’t anything like the dictator who gassed his own people that the discredited warmonger Bush spent 2002 and early 2003 staggering ever more punchily around the country inveighing against. The 2003 dictator who gassed his own people was the leader of the Baath Party of Iraq.
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08/31/2013
As RAF Typhoon interceptor jets touched down in Cyprus – within striking distance of the Syrian capital Damascus – the Government said the aircraft had been sent to protect UK bases. The Ministry of Defence insisted: “They are not deploying to take part in any military action against Syria.” A spokesman said: “We can confirm that as part of ongoing contingency planning, six RAF Typhoon interceptor fast jets are deploying to Akrotiri in Cyprus.
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08/31/2013
Production work to roll out the country's first indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas began in full throttle and the first few aircraft should roll out by mid-2014, India's top defence scientist said on Friday. The lightweight multi-role combat aircraft, which is in the making for 30 years now, has gone through several phases of streamlining in the drawing room after the armed forces expressed reservation about its faulty initial design.
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08/31/2013
Pilots of Russia’s famed Russkiye Vityazi (the Russian Knights) aerobatic display team on Friday tested new Su-30SM multirole fighter jets, the aircraft’s manufacturer said. “During the flights, pilots of the famed aerobatics team performed a series of aerial stunts and familiarized themselves with unique super-maneuverable capacities of the Su-30SM fighter jet.
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08/31/2013
Russia is developing an unmanned combat air vehicle based on the T-50 fifth-generation fighter jet, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) said Friday. The drone is still mostly on the drawing board, however, as development is currently at a “preliminary research stage,” in accordance with plans approved by the Russian Defense Ministry, UAC president Mikhail Pogosyan said at the MAKS-2013 airshow near Moscow.
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08/31/2013
Russia’s MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors will stay in service until “at least 2028” or possibly five or 10 years more, Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Friday. “We are satisfied with this aircraft; it performs its functions wonderfully,” the general said, adding that as next-generation long-range missiles and aircraft are developed, interception functions could be assigned to newer warplanes as well.
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08/30/2013
While speculation is that Navy warships floating off the coast will lead the expected attack on Syria, the Air Force has a fleet of fighters and bombers deployed nearby and ready if called upon. And Air Force aircraft can reach Syrian targets from the U.S. mainland if need be, just as in the Libyan campaign.
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08/30/2013
A U.S.-led military strike on Syria would probably last only a couple of days, but wreak havoc on the country's command and control facilities, air defenses and aircraft, analysts said. The White House may as early as Thursday order a military intervention in the war-torn country after accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime of using chemical weapons against civilians.
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08/30/2013
Air Tractor President Jim Hirsch isn’t in the business of making pretty airplanes. His crop-dusters are big, slow, and sturdy—perfect for flying low over cornfields and landing on dirt airstrips. He’s betting that means they’re pretty well suited to blowing up terrorists, too. The company is affixing armor plating, sensors, and weapons ranging from .50 caliber machine guns to air-to-ground missiles onto planes originally designed to douse cropland with chemicals and spray water on brush fires.
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08/30/2013
Two F-35 fighter jets have completed dozens of test flights from the deck of this amphibious assault ship over the past three weeks, but several flights were scrapped on Wednesday for maintenance issues, just as more than a dozen journalists arrived for a demonstration.
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08/30/2013
During three weeks of flight testing the Advanced Super Hornet, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Northrop Grumman demonstrated that the fighter can outperform threats for decades to come with improvements that make the jet much harder for radar to detect and give it significantly more combat range.
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08/30/2013
The day after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said U.S. forces were ready to strike Syria, a website backing President Bashar al-Assad announced that an elite group called the “Eagles Martyrdom Aerial Squadron” was ready to sacrifice itself in kamikaze attacks on the enemy.
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08/30/2013
Six RAF Typhoon jets have been deployed to Cyprus to protect UK interests and sovereign bases "at a time of heightened tension in the wider region", the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The jets are being sent to Akrotiri in Cyprus as a "prudent and precautionary measure" and are not deploying to take part in military action against Syria, the MoD said.
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08/30/2013
The international defense industry fair (IDEF 13) held in Istanbul, Turkey, from May 7 to 10 saw the Turkish industry announce a number of developments. The most notable was the revelation of three potential concepts for the TF-X national combat aircraft program, a stealthy aircraft that is ultimately expected to replace the F-16.
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08/30/2013
All the signals from Washington and London suggest that military action against Syria is now a strong possibility. Contingency plans are being drawn up, potential target lists are being reviewed and various military assets are being moved into position. The US Navy is re-positioning several vessels, including four cruise missile-carrying destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean and probably a missile-firing submarine.
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08/30/2013
Boeing will highlight products and services capable of supporting Poland's plans to modernize its armed forces at this year's MSPO International Defence Industry Exhibition, including a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system and the AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The exhibition will be held Sept. 2-5 in Kielce.
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08/29/2013
The interim Czech government said it plans to renew its lease of JAS Gripen fighter jets, while a parliamentary committee in Switzerland said yes to a proposed 23 billion kronor ($3.5 billion) purchase of the Swedish-made warplanes. Following two days of discussions of the deal that would see the Swiss military purchase 22 Jas Gripen jets, the security and defence committee of the Swiss parliament voted 14-9 in favour of the deal.
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08/29/2013
When members of Congress return from their August recess, their plates will be very full. Our legislators need to fund the government for the next fiscal year, which starts October first. Although it may seem like a simple task to keep the government operating, a potential partisan collision over raising the debt ceiling once again presents the threat of a government shutdown.
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08/29/2013
The US has offered to sell four unarmed drones to Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, according to a newspaper report. However, the aircraft could be easily converted for combat use. The US government could deliver to Germany four unarmed MQ-9A Predator B drones, including ground control stations, the Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported in their Wednesday edition, citing a defense ministry answer to a request from the Left party's parliamentary faction.
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08/29/2013
Media reports indicate the United States and its allies could begin retaliatory air strikes against Syria as early as Thursday morning. If the air strikes occur, big questions remain as to their goals and scope. Will the air strikes focus on suspected chemical weapons caches in Syria?
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08/29/2013
Britain risks sleep-walking into a full-scale war by launching missile strikes against Syria, former top brass warned last night. Retired commanders cautioned that an ill-thought-out attack against President Assad’s brutal regime could provoke revenge attacks at home and abroad.
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08/29/2013
Russia says it's planning to build a new fighter jet that would be more advanced than the newest American models. The so-called sixth-generation fighter jet “will most likely be pilotless,” former Russian air force chief Pyotr Deinekin told the state news agency RIA Novosti this week — even though Russia has yet to develop a fifth-generation fighter jet.
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08/29/2013
During three weeks of flight testing the Advanced Super Hornet, Boeing and partner Northrop Grumman demonstrated that the fighter can outperform threats for decades to come with improvements that make the jet much harder for radar to detect and give it significantly more combat range.
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08/29/2013
A unit of Russian fighter jets will be deployed in Belarus before the yearend, Belarusian Defense Minister Yury Zhadobin said Wednesday. He did not say whether the jets will be located at an airbase Russia is planning to open in northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders, but a Russian Air Force general said in late June that Russian Su-27SM3 fighter jets would be stationed at the base, due to open “within a few months’ time.”
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08/29/2013
In a groundbreaking deal, Russia is to deliver Mi-17 military transport helicopters to Cameroon, a spokesperson for Russian Technologies said Wednesday. The deal was signed by Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport, which is part of Russian Technologies, and Cameroon’s Defense ministry at the MAKS-2013 International Air Space Show just outside Moscow.
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08/29/2013
Russia’s MiG fighter jet maker has signed two additional contracts with India worth a total $55 million, the corporation said Wednesday. They are part of a general contract with India’s air force. Under the first, $43 million contract, a servicing center will be established in India for maintenance and repair of Zhuk-ME on-board radars, MiG representatives said.
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08/28/2013
Small groups of men go about their work with quiet professionalism as sections of the plane’s fuselage start to take shape. This is early days in the return of the Hawk production line to BAE Systems for the first time in nearly six years. In a few months, however, there will be up to 200 men working on all aspects of the £18m plane.
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08/28/2013
An F-16C pilot killed in an April crash near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan was flying low and didn’t see the mountains in his flight path because of bad weather, according to a recently completed investigation. Capt. James Steel, 29, was navigating by sight, instead of using his instruments to navigate, according to the report, which was released Tuesday.
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08/28/2013
F-16 Fighting Falcons returned to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, recently, and could be seen screaming across the skies above base as red- and blue-force aircraft. Guardsmen from the 162nd Fighter Wing, Arizona Air National Guard, located at Tucson International Airport, are currently visiting to train Republic of Singapore pilots on air-to-air maneuvers in the F-16.
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08/28/2013
A Swiss parliamentary committee Tuesday gave the green light to Switzerland's proposed purchase of 22 combat aircraft from Saab AB, helping clear the way for final political approval of a critical export order for the Swedish aero-defense group. A deal with Switzerland would mark an important win for Saab against its rivals and be financially important in its own right for the Swedish company.
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08/28/2013
Naval Academy graduate Bill Gigliotti knows the stereotypes people conjure up when he tells them he's a test pilot. "A guy with a flight suit," said Gigliotti, who also graduated from the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, known as Topgun. "Throw a scarf around our necks, it's all glamorous and sexy. But that's a very small part of what our job is."
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08/28/2013
Russia is actively developing an unmanned sixth generation aircraft, said a former Air Force commander. Unlike NATO allies who will use American F-35 5Gs, self-sufficiency is an absolute must for Russia, said the commander, so 6G evolution is inevitable.
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08/28/2013
The administration of US President Barack Obama said Tuesday it has moved beyond the question of whether or not chemical weapons were used in Syria last week, and by whom, and is now working with other nations – though not Russia – to determine the appropriate response.
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08/28/2013
After nearly 90 Russians were evacuated from Syria on Tuesday, the emergencies ministry sent another plane for citizens willing to leave the war-torn country, a spokeswoman said.
“An Il-62 plane took off for Latakia. This special flight is for Russian and CIS nationals who had earlier expressed their determination to return to Moscow,” emergencies ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said.
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08/28/2013
Russia’s top diplomat disagreed with his US counterpart in a phone conversation about the situation in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday. In the conversation, requested by the United States, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Syria’s government was to blame for the use of chemical weapons in that country, but Lavrov rejected that viewpoint, the ministry said in a statement.
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08/28/2013
While the United States and Russia might be engaging in a war of words over Syria, Edward Snowden, adoption and gay rights, the differences are not stopping the two countries from joining together with Canada in an anti-terror exercise this week.
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08/27/2013
Saipan, which is 200km north of Guam, the most substantial US military base in the region, is to have an expanded airfield capable of receiving fighter jets and refuelling tankers and heavy-lift transport aircraft. About 700 support personnel are expected to be based on the 20km-long island, which has a population of 48,220 and is a member of the Northern Mariana archipelago administered by the US.
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08/27/2013
In 2012, the Department of Defense received $118 billion for weapons procurement. Next year, it will receive less than $100 billion — a lot less if the deficit-cutting mechanism called sequestration again kicks in. Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg News revealed last week that sequestration could drag down budget authority for weapons procurement by another 16% from the administration’s already reduced 2014 request, to a figure somewhere in the mid-eighty billions.
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08/27/2013
The Defense Department may have to fire at least 6,272 civilian employees if automatic cuts known as sequestration slice $52 billion from its fiscal 2014 budget, according to a Pentagon planning document. Additional budget analysis is “likely to produce further reductions” as the services focus on shrinking their contract labor forces, according to a Pentagon “execution plan” obtained by Bloomberg News.
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08/27/2013
Prague expects to renew its lease on 14 Swedish fighter jets beyond 2015, outgoing Czech prime minister Jiri Rusnok said Monday. "The negotiations are at an advanced stage. The ball is actually in our court. The Swedes are awaiting our final answer to their recent offer," he told reporters. The new contract with Stockholm over the supersonic JAS-39 Gripen combat jets could be inked at the end of the year or in early 2014 by the new government, he added.
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08/27/2013
President Barack Obama faces the toughest foreign policy dilemma of his administration as he decides how to respond after concluding that Syria’s regime used chemical weapons against innocent civilians. Obama “believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people,” Secretary of State John Kerry said today.
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08/27/2013
India, seeking to build its first regional aircraft, is considering roping in local and foreign partners for the project, after spending more than two decades to build a smaller plane.
A study under review by a government panel favors tie-ups with equipment makers rather than purchasing engines and parts from them, Satish Chandra, head of aircraft program at National Aerospace Laboratories, a state-owned plane designer involved in the development, said in a telephone interview from Bangalore.
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08/27/2013
The Japanese Defense Ministry has scrambled its interceptors for the second time in four days in response to the approach of Russian military airplanes, local media said late Sunday.
Two Russian Il-38 anti-submarine patrol aircraft passed near Japan’s northern shores, though they did not violate the country’s airspace, the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a statement cited by Jiji newswire.
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08/27/2013
Russian designers are proceeding with development of an unmanned “sixth-generation” fighter jet, former Air Force chief Pyotr Deinekin said Monday. “The sixth generation of aircraft will most likely be pilotless. Naturally, we are actively working on this,” Deinekin said in an interview with RIA Novosti. Russia will probably not be able to skip a generation and will need to complete all of its fifth-generation projects, he added.
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08/27/2013
This new fleet order for Cirrus Aircraft follows an agreement between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, under the Saudi British Defence Cooperation Programme (SBDCP). The aircraft will provide primary flying training to the RSAF at the King Faisal Air Academy in Riyadh through the support of theUK's BAE Systems.
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08/26/2013
The Syrian government accused rebels of using chemical weapons Saturday and warned the United States not to launch any military action against Damascus over an alleged chemical attack last week, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze. The accusations by the regime of President Bashar Assad against opposition forces came as an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from a purported chemical weapons attack on Wednesday.
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08/26/2013
Not since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 has Russia carried out a military maneuver like the “readiness test” that began on July 12. Demonstrating in front of the country’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Federation put on display an impressive series of exercises that provided audiences with a taste of its modern military power.
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08/26/2013
The increasingly bellicose statements on Syria coming from London and Washington will sharpen the focus of Monday's meeting of top US, British, French and other generals in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
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08/26/2013
Japan scrambled fighter jets on Sunday as a pair of Russian military planes flew along the nation's northern coastline, the defence ministry said. Two IL-38 planes flew along shorelines of Hokkaido, Aomori and Akita, facing the Sea of Japan (East Sea), but stayed away from Japanese airspace, the ministry added.
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08/26/2013
U.S. and international troops spent much of August flying simulated combat sorties at Red Flag in Alaska, one training exercise allowed to continue despite sequestration budget cuts.
Red Flag-Alaska 13-3, which wrapped up Aug. 23, involved 60 aircraft and 2,600 people. The group included Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps troops, and military members from South Korea, Japan and Australia.
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08/26/2013
UK and US military chiefs are drawing up a list of targets for precision-guided bombs and missiles to strike at the heart of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Defence correspondent Ian Drury looks at the options.
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08/26/2013
HUNTER-based fighter jets will join a major exercise off the coast from today. The East Coast Air Defence Exercise will run this week, giving the Royal Australian Air Force a chance to maintain its operational skills. The exercise scenario is designed to test passive and active capabilities with a ‘‘Blue’’ force protecting Australian air space while a ‘‘Red’’ force attacks.
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08/26/2013
Italian military inspectors will fly over the territory of Russia starting from Monday under the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian Defense Ministry official said. “In the period between August 26 and 31, a group of Italian inspectors will make a surveillance flight over the territory of the Russian Federation on board an Italian [Lockheed Martin] C-130J aircraft,” Col. Ruslan Shishin, acting head of the ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said.
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08/25/2013
The United States is repositioning naval forces in the Mediterranean as it considers a possible military response to an alleged chemical attack near the Syrian capital, Damascus, that killed hundreds. Below are details of U.S., French and British forces in the region that could be involved in any attack.
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08/25/2013
The Pentagon notified Congress Friday of a possible $1.2 billion foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia, which would support the ally's fleet of aircraft with associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support.
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08/25/2013
A two week series of training missions that concluded today attracted military air crews from around the world to Alaska. Crews from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and South Korea have been simulating war scenarios using F-22 jets, C-130s, C-17s and AWAC Airbornes.
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08/25/2013
The Defense Department may have to fire at least 6,272 civilian employees if automatic cuts known as sequestration slice $52 billion from its fiscal 2014 budget, according to a Pentagon planning document. Additional budget analysis is “likely to produce further reductions” as the services focus on shrinking their contract labor forces, according to a Pentagon “execution plan” obtained by Bloomberg News.
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08/25/2013
The US Navy has sent an extra missile warship to the Mediterranean as President Barack Obama considered his options for a possible military strike on Syria in response to a gas attack that has killed hundreds. Syria hasd sought to avert blame by saying its soldiers had found chemical weapons in rebel tunnels. A senior UN official arrived in Damascus to seek access for inspectors to the site of last Wednesday's attack.
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08/25/2013
U.S. President Barack Obama considered options on Saturday for a possible military strike on Syria in response to a nerve gas attack that killed hundreds as Syria sought to avert blame by saying its soldiers had found chemical weapons in rebel tunnels. A senior U.N. official arrived in Damascus to seek access for inspectors to the site of last Wednesday's attack, in which opposition accounts say between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed by gas fired by pro-government forces.
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08/25/2013
As combat operations resume in Afghanistan while the situation in Egypt continues to deteriorate, it’s clear we live in uncertain times and defense must remain a top priority in Washington. Not only is it important to our national security, but also for ensuring the safety of our brave soldiers when we ask them to serve in the most hostile regions of the world.
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08/25/2013
A Russian military delegation has left for the United States Saturday to take part in a US-Canadian-Russian air-defense exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The live-fly exercise Vigilant Eagle 2013 will take place from August 26 through 30.
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08/25/2013
Russia’s Defense Ministry is not abandoning the purchase of MiG-35 fighter jets and could sign a deal next week, Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov said Saturday. The contract could be signed at Moscow’s MAKS International Aviation and Space show, which will run from August 27 through September 1, while first deliveries could start in 2015-2016, he said.
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08/24/2013
Russia is highlighting some of its most advanced fighter aircraft at Moscow's MAKS-2013 air show. After energy, armaments remain the Russian Federation's most popular exports.
The fifth-generation jet combat aircraft on display and performing aerial acrobatics include the Sukhoi T-50 PAKFA and Sukhoi Su-35S multirole fighter jets. The MAKS-2013 air show opens Tuesday in the Moscow regional town of Zhukovsky, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.
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08/24/2013
Vietnam has signed a contract to buy 12 Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia, which is its third purchase of this aircraft, Interfax reported Tuesday (August 20). The Su-30MK2 combat aircraft made by Sukhoi, a major Russian aircraft maker, will be delivered in 2014 and 2015 under a deal signed last week, the Russia-based news agency cited a military-diplomatic source as saying. Experts estimate that the contract is worth more than US$600 million, according to Interfax.
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08/24/2013
On Aug. 20, an F-35 Lightning II carrier variant (CV) refueled from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 for the first time. With the completion of this test, the F-35C joins the A and B models in proving that all three variants of the F-35 can be refueled from a common tanker platform, despite different methods.
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08/24/2013
Boeing officially began assembling the second KC-46A Tanker this week as workers loaded the aircraft’s wing spar into an Automated Spar Assembly Tool. The on-time milestone brings the program another step closer to delivering the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation aerial refueling tanker.
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08/24/2013
Russia’s Almaz-Antei corporation will showcase for the first time its newest S-350E Vityaz mid-range air defense system at the upcoming MAKS-2013 air show near Moscow, the company said. The Vityaz, which is expected to replace the outdated S-300 systems, is superior to similar foreign models, according to Almaz-Antei statement released on Friday.
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08/23/2013
On August 8th the Afghan Air Force (AAF) conducted its first independent air assault operation. In the past AAF helicopters were part of larger NATO air operations and under NATO command. This time it was an entirely Afghan operation, with only a few NATO advisors (mostly for support functions). Operating from Jalalabad airfield (east of Kabul near the Pakistan border).
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08/23/2013
The Defense Department may have to fire at least 6,272 civilian employees if automatic cuts known as sequestration slice $52 billion from its fiscal 2014 budget, according to a Pentagon planning document. Additional budget analysis is “likely to produce further reductions” as the services focus on shrinking their contract labor forces, according to a Pentagon “execution plan” obtained by Bloomberg News.
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08/23/2013
For Air Force Capt. Daniel “Swoop” Welch, flying a B-52 bomber has become the family business. His father, retired Lt. Col. Don Welch, was trained to drop nuclear bombs with the aircraft during the height of the Cold War. His grandfather, retired Col. Don Sprague, flew B-52 combat missions in Vietnam. “It is definitely a testament to the robust design of the B-52,” said Welch, 28. “Getting to fly the same aircraft as my father and grandfather has been pretty cool.”
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08/23/2013
The US Air Force is now facing a shortage in the number of pilots able to operate the military’s quickly expanding drone fleet, according to a new report published by a top Washington, DC, think tank. According to Air Force Colonel Bradley Hoagland, who contributed to a recent report on the Air Force’s drone program prepared by the Brookings Institution, it is quickly hitting a wall in the number of operators for its 159 Predators, 96 Reapers and 23 Global Hawks.
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08/23/2013
Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle (SE) is the only remaining candidate for South Korea's next-generation fighter jet project, but questions persist over whether it can meet operational needs to counter potential threats from North Korea and other Asian neighbors flexing their military muscles, experts say.
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08/23/2013
The day after a deadly assault in Syria that bore many of the hallmarks of a chemical weapons attack, a sharply divided Obama administration on Thursday began weighing potential military responses to President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Senior officials from the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence agencies met for three and a half hours at the White House on Thursday to deliberate over options, which officials say could range from a cruise missile strike to a more sustained air ca
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08/23/2013
The Republic of Korea seems set to launch the F-15SE Silent Eagle, by confirming Boeing as winner of the F-X III contest for 60 more combat aircraft. The Yonhap news agency reported that the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35A have been eliminated. Boeing, Eurofighter and Lockheed Martin all said this week that they had received no official notification on the outcome of the F-X III contest.
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08/23/2013
The third Boeing [NYSE: BA] C-17 Globemaster III airlifter for the Indian Air Force (IAF) departed for India Aug. 20 from the company’s Long Beach facility. It joins the first and second India C-17 airlifters, which arrived in June and July, respectively. Boeing is on track to deliver two more C-17s to the IAF this year and five in 2014.
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08/23/2013
Russia on Thursday denied that two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers violated Japanese airspace when carrying out routine flights earlier that day near Okinoshima Island, off the southeast coast of Japan. Japanese media, citing the country’s Defense Ministry, reported that the planes intruded into the country’s airspace, in response to which Japan scrambled several fighter jets.
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08/22/2013
The U.S. Air Force recently released the accident report for an F-22 that crashed last November during a training flight in Florida. The cause of that accident turned out to be a high power electrical wire that was worn and in contact with a hydraulic line. The charged wire eventually caused a hydraulic leak that the aircraft sensors detected, which shut down the hydraulic system in flight.
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08/22/2013
In this month's cover story, Mark Bowden's description of the drone operator's reaction -- one of shock and uncertainty -- to performing a specific mission clearly undermines the widely circulated but exceptionally irresponsible criticism that drones have created a "Playstation mentality" among their operators.
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08/22/2013
The U.K. is examining whether to extend use of its Sentinel reconnaissance planes after successful deployments in combat zones, even though the aircraft was due for withdrawal after troops pull out of Afghanistan. The Royal Air Force has operated the Raytheon Co (RTN).-built Sentinel R1 in conflicts from Afghanistan to Libya and Mali, where the modified Bombardier business jet was used to support French operations against insurgents this year.
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08/22/2013
Clearfield • For a decade, Alliant Techsystems in Utah has been providing Lockheed Martin with critical components for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which is America’s newest warplane. ATK on Wednesday celebrated the completion of what it described as a significant milestone in its work on the F-35 — the completion of its 150th set of wing skins that encase the aircraft’s wings in a carbon-composite material that is lighter than aluminium and stronger than steel.
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08/22/2013
During RED FLAG-Alaska, fighter aircraft dominate the skies. Participating forces identify hostile targets while waging a simulated war - but not all hostiles are fighters. Eielson's own Civil Air Patrol 71st Composite Squadron plays a role during RF-A by simulating Antonov An-2 Colts, primarily using a deHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver aircraft. Their presence gives fighter pilots the opportunity to train in visually identifying low-flying, special operations forces-carrying aircraft.
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08/22/2013
For reasons international and domestic, the United States is unlikely to make significant cuts in assistance to Egypt, despite calls from Congress to do so and a Cabinet-level meeting this week about the country. About 1,000 civilians have been killed in Egypt in the last week, most of them backers of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi who have faced off in the streets against the Egyptian army and other security forces.
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08/22/2013
Japan and South Korea’s unprecedented joint participation in air force exercises over Alaska shows that America’s two staunchest Asian allies are willing to cooperate on security despite their political differences. Their aircraft have been flying the annual Red Flag Alaska training drills that end Friday, along with U.S. and Australian forces.
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08/22/2013
The Navy is warning residents in the Belle Chasse and West Jefferson areas to expect increased flight operations at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base next week. Navy Reserve F/A-18 Hornet pilots will be preparing for mandated aircraft carrier landing qualifications, according to a statement Wednesday from the air station.
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08/22/2013
Russia will deliver another batch of 12 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter aircraft under a recent contract worth about $450 million, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. The contract was reportedly signed last week, and the Su-30s are expected to be delivered to Vietnam in 2014-2015.
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08/22/2013
The company commemorated the event at its headquarters in Wichita, USA, with employees and dignitaries. With more than 1,600 hours already logged in AT-6 test aircraft, Beechcraft is offering the AT-6 to U.S. partner nations in need of light attack air support for the most demanding scenarios.
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08/21/2013
The US Air Force is unable to keep up with a growing demand for pilots capable of operating drones, partly due to a shortage of volunteers, according to a new study. Despite the importance placed on the burgeoning robotic fleet, drone operators face a lack of opportunities for promotion to higher ranks and the military has failed to identify and cultivate this new category of aviators, Air Force Colonel Bradley Hoagland wrote in the report published.
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08/21/2013
In the face of tighter military spending, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots training to fly F-22 Raptors traveled to Belle Chasse this week for aerial combat exercises with the Louisiana Air National Guard’s “Bayou Militia.” The Air Guard pilots are helping their active-duty counterparts learn to fly one of the world’s most advanced aircraft.
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08/21/2013
The air force on Tuesday landed a C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft -- configured for special operations and airborne assault -- at the world’s highest airstrip in north-eastern Ladakh, barely eight km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), signalling India’s aggressive stance towards China following a spurt in incursions in that sensitive sector.
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08/21/2013
A defence review approved by Parliament in 1998 recommended that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) get new equipment, the Seriti Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday. Rear Admiral Alan Green, the first witness to testify in the commission's public hearings in Pretoria, said some of the SANDF's equipment needed to be replaced. Since its establishment in 1994, the SANDF did not have large combat vessels and had to use “rather aged off-shore patrol vessels”.
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08/21/2013
The first of five C-130J Super Hercules airlifters designated for delivery to Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB), Ark., in 2013 was ferried to the base today from the Lockheed Martin facility here. This aircraft is the first new C-130J for Little Rock AFB since 2009.
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08/21/2013
Last Wednesday, Aug. 14, U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Russell Clift performed the first F-35B night-time vertical landing aboard the USS WASP. During the Ship Suitability Sea Trials, also known as Developmental Test Phase Two (DT-II), the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant will demonstrate critical capabilities of the aircraft that will be employed by the U.S. Marine Corps and international partners the United Kingdom and Italy.
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08/21/2013
Boeing today marked its recent production of the 250,000th Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit, a major milestone for a program that, since 1998, has reliably and affordably converted unguided munitions into near-precision weapons. The company facility in St. Charles produces more than 40 JDAM kits every day, on time and on budget.
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08/21/2013
Russia’s Defense Ministry postponed the purchase of 37 MiG-35 fighter jets until 2016 because the defense industry cannot fulfill the contract, a senior defense official said Tuesday. “The Finance Ministry has nothing to do with it, the industry is not ready yet,” Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said, after confirming that 16 MiG-29SMT fighter jets will be bought instead.
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08/21/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry and the MiG aircraft corporation have agreed the purchase of 16 MiG-29SMT fighter jets until 2016, the Kommersant daily reported Tuesday citing a high-ranking military source. The agreement is part of the government’s effort to keep the struggling combat aircraft maker afloat following the announced delay of the contract on the purchase of 37 MiG-35 fighters until after 2016.
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08/20/2013
A B-1B Lancer strategic bomber out of Ellsworth Air Force Base crashed Monday in the US State of Montana during a routine training mission but all four crew members survived, the US Air Force said. “A crew of two pilots and two weapon systems officers were on board. All four members of the aircrew safely ejected with some injuries,” the US Air Force said in a statement on its website.
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08/20/2013
he U.K. Royal Air Force has begun preparations to move the Eurofighter Typhoon main operating base in Scotland to Lossiemouth from Leuchars. The plans, originally announced by the U.K. Defense Ministry in 2011, also will see Leuchars becoming an army garrison starting in 2015. Building has begun at Lossiemouth to accommodate the new fighters, including the renovation of hangars and a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) facility to keep the aircraft ready to intercept potential threats.
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08/20/2013
The Indian Navy has received a major setback and jolt, with the explosion sinking the Russian-b submarine at the Mumbai harbour, with at least 18 sailors, including three officers, killed. This is one of the worst tragedies to hit the Navy since the sinking of INS Khukri during the 1971 India-Pakistan war and has left the Navy particularly vulnerable, with just six or seven of the remaining 14 submarines operational.
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08/20/2013
When U.S pilots encounter enemy air defenses, onboard electronic warfare (EW) systems protect them by interfering with incoming radar signals—a technique known as electronic attack (EA) or jamming. Conversely, electronic protection (EP) technology prevents hostile forces from using EA methods to disable U.S. radar equipment assets.
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08/20/2013
What would it take to build a self-reliant city from scratch? For starters, you would have to find a location and chalk out a plan for the organised development of settlements, roads, high-rises, open spaces and transportation facilities. Then you start making provisions for exigencies¯setbacks like power failure or adverse weather. And, after a blueprint is in place, you obtain the raw material to start construction. All this, before you even lay the foundation stone.
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08/20/2013
Two F-35B Lightning II jets (BF-01 and BF-05) touched down aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) Aug. 12, kicking off a second round of testing of the new aircraft. The second of three test phases (DT-II) includes the first night operation at sea as well as the first launch and recovery of the F-35B at sea by a U.K. test pilot.
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08/20/2013
Japan and South Korea air forces are participating with U.S. counterparts in military combat training at Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks. The two-week exercises in the Delta Junction area run through Friday. It's the first time Japanese and South Korea air forces have jointly trained in Alaska or anywhere, according to Lt. Col. Tom Pagano, commander of the 353rd Combat Training Squadron that plans the Red Flag Alaska training exercise.
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08/20/2013
Despite recent reports to the contrary, it has been a rough patch for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, now known as the "Lightning II." Under current plans, the Air Force's "plane of the future" is slated to cost at least $1.5 trillion over its lifetime, which, Pentagon analyst Winslow Wheeler has pointed out, is the equivalent of the Gross Domestic Product of Spain.
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08/20/2013
For Air Force Capt. Daniel "Swoop" Welch, flying a B-52 bomber has become the family business. His father, retired Lt. Col. Don Welch, was trained to drop nuclear bombs with the aircraft during the height of the Cold War. His grandfather, retired Col. Don Sprague, flew B-52 combat missions in Vietnam.
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08/20/2013
US and Russian diplomats will meet in The Hague at the end of August to discuss preparations for the long-delayed Syria peace conference, a Russian diplomatic source told RIA Novosti on Monday. “The meeting will be held at the end of August in The Hague,” the source said, adding that the exact date is yet to be determined.
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08/19/2013
European aerospace consortium EADS has been eliminated from a bid to provide fighter jets worth $7.3 billion to South Korea due to a failure to meet some requirements, a report said Sunday. The Eurofighter was dropped from the bid also sought by US company Boeing after the South's military found that the EADS proposal did not meet its key demands, Yonhap news agency said.
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08/19/2013
The first CV-22 Ospreys have touched down at RAF Mildenhall, England, beginning a new phase for Air Force special operators in Europe. But the fleet might face an uncertain budget future. The first of the 10 tilt-rotor aircraft made the flight across the ocean and touched down at RAF Mildenhall, England, earlier this summer, with the rest expected to arrive through the end of 2014.
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08/19/2013
Two F-35B Lightning II jets (BF-01 and BF-05) touched down aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) Monday, August. 12th, kicking off a week of Development Testing II (DT-II) where Wasp Sailors and Integrated Test Force (ITF) team members are testing and further validating the F-35B.
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08/19/2013
The Pentagon has awarded contracts to a Who’s Who of US defence companies to develop a lethal long-range combat drone that will be based at sea. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems all received $15 million (£9.6 million) preliminary contracts to design for the US Navy’s planned Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike.
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08/19/2013
The Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) has reportedly been eliminated from South Korea's multibillion-dollar fighter jet project, leaving Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle as the sole final candidate, government sources said Sunday.
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08/19/2013
Four months after admitting that 12 of its 26 Gripen jet fighters had been placed in storage because they were too expensive to operate and there were not enough qualified pilots to fly them, South African officials admitted that the maintenance contracts for all the Gripens had expired in April. That made long term use of the Gripens dangerous.
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08/19/2013
Iran plans to withdraw its four billion dollar claim if Russia fails to honor its S-300 contract. Russia proposes new S-300 air defense system replacement to Iran. The S-300 system could become Iran's most advanced air defense system.
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08/19/2013
South Korea's first home-grown light combat fighter, named the FA-50, will be delivered to the Air Force this week, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Sunday. The FA-50 is a light combat aircraft that was developed based on the T-50, a supersonic advanced trainer, in order to replace the military's superannuated fighters, like the F-5E/Fs and A-37s.
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08/19/2013
A group of UN experts arrived in Syria on Sunday to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war there, media reports said. The 20-member team, headed by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, checked into a hotel in central Damascus on Sunday refusing to speak to reporters on Sunday, Reuters reported.
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08/18/2013
Let’s get real and tamp down the moral posturing about democracy in Egypt. Freely elected President Morsi and his now-deposed Muslim Brotherhood government weren’t practicing democracy. They were co-opting the laws and slowly destroying all possible opposition. Besides, they were aligning with America’s jihadist enemies in Syria, Gaza, and elsewhere.
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08/18/2013
Throughout the day, on August 6, President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner of Argentina chaired a historic United Nations Security Council meeting that revealed a seismic shift in geopolitical consciousness and incipient strength. The agenda of Security Council meeting 7015 was: “Cooperation Between the United Nations and Regional and Sub-regional Organizations in Maintaining International Peace and Security.”
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08/18/2013
There’s a new version of the U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAV. The IGE (Improved Gray Eagle) began flight testing in July. The new version has a better engine, fifty percent more fuel capacity, over 75 percent more endurance (from 30 to 53 hours), and its payload increased by 50 percent from 372 kg (798 pounds) to 558 kg (1,227 pounds).
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08/18/2013
The Chinooks have been parked in a hangar at RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire since 1995.
The scandal was exposed in 2008, forcing the MoD to deliver a quick fix to get the aircraft flying by 2010. But someone failed to order the correct computer codes for pilots to fly them. Tory MP Edward Leigh described the saga as a “gold standard procurement cock-up”, leaving special forces in Afghanistan short of air support.
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08/18/2013
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), maker of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), tactical reconnaissance radars, and electro-optic surveillance systems, demonstrated the Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle’s (UAV’s) electronic attack capability.
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08/18/2013
Visitors of the 12th Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE) last week fought heat, humidity and a crowd of more than 90,000 teenagers waiting to buy their favorite Japanese Manga comic books, toys and posters. The biannual TADTE, held at the World Trade Center, was forced to share half the floor space with the 14th Comic Book Exhibition due to a lack of interest in Taiwan’s defense industry.
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08/18/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry has postponed the purchase of 37 MiG-35 fighter jets until 2016, Kommersant daily reported Saturday. The ministry was originally due to sign the purchase agreement with MiG in June, but last month the aircraft corporation's general director Sergei Korotkov told RIA Novosti that the contract had still not been signed.
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08/17/2013
Canada’s air force has determined that unlike its counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, it does not need approval from civilian aviation agencies to fly drones in domestic airspace and it will operate those unmanned planes as it sees fit, according to newly released Department of National Defence documents.
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08/17/2013
Recent photos from a Chinese shipyard appear to show a section of a new Chinese aircraft carrier under construction. This appears to be a carrier similar to the American Nimitz class ships (100,000 ton vessels using a catapult rather than a ski jump flight deck for launching aircraft). Large ships, including warships, are often built in sections, then the sections are welded and bolted together.
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08/17/2013
Citizen airmen, they’re called. Members of the Air National Guard. Some have day jobs as airline pilots, police officers or construction workers. Those with the 131st Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base made history this month. They’re the first citizen airmen certified to drop nuclear bombs. Don’t panic: Nothing’s been ordered, and the U.S. Air Force is still around to do the heavy lifting in a doomsday scenario.
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08/17/2013
The United States, which has refused to cut off its hefty 1.3 billion dollars in annual military aid to Egypt, continues to argue that depriving arms to the 438,500-strong security forces will only "destabilise" the crisis-ridden country.There is perhaps a more significant - but undisclosed - reason for sustaining military aid flows to Egypt: protecting U.S. defence contractors.
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08/17/2013
One of the most distinctive features of U.S. military power is the Air Force’s fleet of heavy bombers. These long-range aircraft can visit tailored effects on targets anywhere in the world within a few hours, a capability no other nation has. The need to sustain such a fleet is dictated not only by the role America has assumed as guarantor of global security, but also by the geographical reality that vast oceans separate the U.S. from the rest of the world.
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08/17/2013
Most nations, including many close allies of the United States, require up to a week’s notice before American warplanes are allowed to cross their territory. Not Egypt, which offers near-automatic approval for military overflights, to resupply the war effort in Afghanistan or to carry out counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, Southwest Asia or the Horn of Africa.
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08/17/2013
Few military projects are more notorious than the V-22 Osprey. The name has become synonymous with flawed government contracting and planning. Originally conceived in 1980 in the wake of the botched Iranian Hostage Crisis rescue mission, the Osprey was supposed to represent a new type of aircraft that could land and takeoff vertically but also carry plane sized equipment and personnel. So ends the theory.
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08/17/2013
South Korea said at least one firm vying for a $7.4 billion fighter jet contract qualified for the next round of negotiations, concluding the price bidding stage for one of the largest contracts currently on offer for the global defense industry.
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08/17/2013
The second Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] HC-130J Combat King II to be assigned to Air Combat Command’s (ACC) 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., was ferried by a Moody AFB crew from the company’s Aeronautics facility here on Aug. 14, 2013.
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08/17/2013
For decades the mysterious Area 51 site in the Nevada desert has been the subject of countless conspiracy theories, including the existence of extraterrestrials, alien autopsies and whether the site even existed at all. But newly declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents finally acknowledge that Area 51 did indeed exist and reveal that it was used as a base to test U-2 and other spy planes.
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08/16/2013
Last Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in a ceremony marking the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, an event which, combined with the following atomic bombing of Nagasaki, compelled Japan to surrender nine days later on August 15, ending the Second World War.
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08/16/2013
Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101, the Navy's first F-35C Lightning II carrier variant aircraft squadron, completed its first flight in its new aircraft at the squadron's home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. August 14. The 1.3-hour flight was made by VFA-101 aviator Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chris Tabert. The flight followed an Aug. 8 decision by Commander, Naval Air Force, Pacific, Navy Vice Adm. David Buss, granting the Fleet Replacement Squadron interim "safe for flight" status.
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08/16/2013
Lockheed Martin Corp. has received a contract worth $852.3 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to provide the required equipment for F-35 fighter jets under Low Rate Initial Production Lot 6 (LRIP-6). This contract is slated for completion in Dec 2016.
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08/16/2013
China and Russia hailed their high-level military collaboration and said they are planning more such exercises over the next few years, as they wrapped up their joint counterterrorism drill, Peace Mission 2013, on Thursday. Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, said after simulated combat in the drill that both sides have made military exercises, bilateral and multilateral, regular events.
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08/16/2013
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, known as “D-M” to our neighbors, is home to the 355th Fighter Wing, the premier air combat base for all Air Force A-10 C fighter aircraft training. Davis-Monthan is also home to other vital Department of Defense units including 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern), 55th Electronic Combat Group, 563rd Rescue Group and the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, nicknamed “The Boneyard.”
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08/16/2013
Two Boeing Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) aircraft have arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for airborne tests of the target-tracking capabilities they will provide to the U.S. Army. The extensively modified Beechcraft King Air 350 ER aircraft will undergo mission systems calibration and testing to certify them prior to delivery.
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08/16/2013
August 15 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama on Thursday scrapped a military exercise the United States was due to hold next month with Egypt and “strongly condemned” the violent crackdown by security forces on protesters in the Middle Eastern country, in which hundreds were killed and thousands injured. “The cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop,” Obama told reporters in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where the first family is vacationing.
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08/15/2013
A senior Boeing Co. executive said Wednesday that a decision would be made this year on whether to continue its current production rate of C-17 military transport aircraft, as the aerospace giant continues a quest to find overseas buyers for the jets. Boeing has signaled that it could decide this year whether to end production of the aircraft, the last large aircraft still being built in Southern California, once the center of the U.S. aerospace industry.
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08/15/2013
Nukes aren't the only military implement North Korea's been tinkering with over the last few years. During a recent air force parade, the Hermit Kingdom reminded the world of its deadly, deadly fleet of 30-year-old attack choppers. Today, new images have surfaced of a mysterious, camouflaged cargo jet.
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08/15/2013
The Israeli Air Force is joining the U.S. and many other nations in replacing paper manuals, maps and other documents used in its aircraft (mainly in the cockpit) with tablet computers. The air force has not announced which brand of tablet computer will be used, and many air force crew are already using various tablets and smart phones to more conveniently consult scanned paper documents.
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08/15/2013
Australian Strategic Policy institute (ASPI) executive director Peter Jennings says reconciling defence's ambitious equipment proposals with the budget reality will be a big task. "The only way to avoid being locked into unsustainable long-term spending commitments is for the new government to make the unpalatable choice between increasing defence spending and cutting future capability plans," he says in a new study.
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08/15/2013
When India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C22) rose from its launch pad at 11.41 p.m. on July 1, 2013 from the spaceport at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh and put into orbit a navigation satellite called the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS-1A) 20 minutes later, it signalled that India can build its own navigation satellites for civilian and defense requirements and put them into tricky orbits.
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08/15/2013
Is India's aging fleet of conventional submarines threatening to go the MiG-21 way? The Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), already 30 years in the making, was slated to replace the obsolete MiG-21 in the 1990s but is still at least two years away from becoming fully-operational.
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08/15/2013
Four U.S. weapons makers each received $15 million in funding on Wednesday for continued work on a new unmanned combat plane for use on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, the Pentagon announced. Lockheed Martin Corp , Boeing Co , Northrop Grumman Corp and privately-held General Atomics each received a contract valued at $15 million to fund a preliminary review assessment of their designs for a new type of drone to be used for surveillance and possible strikes.
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08/15/2013
The Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) first C-130J Super Hercules took to the skies today for its first flight at the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] production facility here. This C-130J (Lockheed Martin aircraft number 5730) is scheduled for a 2014 delivery to the ROKAF, a legacy C-130 operator.
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08/15/2013
The first production Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter for the Turkish Air Force (TAF) has made its maiden flight, marking a key milestone towards its delivery. The aircraft, known as MSN9, took off from Seville, Spain, at 13:56 local time (GMT+2) on August 9 and landed back in Seville 5 hours and 30 minutes later.
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08/14/2013
Israel and Egypt are quietly cooperating to quell Islamist militants along their border, Western officials say, a sensitive relationship illuminated by a deadly Israeli drone strike late last week inside Egyptian territory. Israel's intervention in the Sinai Peninsula—which Egyptian officials denied, and which Israeli officials neither confirmed nor denied—would be the clearest manifestation of the high-level interaction between Israeli and Egyptian military and intelligence chiefs.
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08/14/2013
The Pentagon’s internal watchdog is poised to publish a classified report scrutinizing how much time the military’s V-22 Osprey spends in maintenance and unprepared for flight. The Defense Department inspector general’s audit will determine whether the Osprey’s performance “meets mission capability rate requirements, as well as how the frequency of repairs and the replacement of supply parts” affects its mission readiness, officials with the IG’s office wrote in their August newsletter.
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08/14/2013
Soon, military and community leaders will get a chance to see what all the fuss - and all the construction at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort - has been about. The new Joint Strike Fighter will be displayed at the base during an inivition-only event Tuesday. Among the invited guests are area officials and the media. Brig. Gen. Robert Hedelund, the commanding officer for the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing is among those scheduled to attend the event.
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08/14/2013
The Air Force is setting out to do something it hasn’t done in more than two decades: acquire a heavy bomber. The aspiration is to have an operational long range strike bomber in the air by the mid-2020s. To do so, the service will have to avoid some of the pitfalls of the past, and keep funding flowing to the program despite budget pressures, analysts said.
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08/14/2013
Since the dawn of aerial combat, pilots have needed a direct line of sight to engage their target. However, the days of one-on-one Top Gun style dog-fighting may finally be nearing their end. Thanks to new technology developed by the European Air Force, pilots no longer need direct visual confirmation of their target. Instead, they can engage multiple enemies with the help of a radically advanced helmet.
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08/14/2013
Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd., whose drones already provide crowd surveillance above Brazil’s soccer stadiums, is seeking a sales boost as the South American country bolsters security for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. “The intelligence-gathering electronic and optics technologies of Elbit and our Brazilian partners are perfectly suited for the homeland security challenges at these events,” Chief Executive Officer Bezhalel Machlis said in an interview.
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08/14/2013
For the United States and its allies, the F-16 has proven time and again to be the perfect all-around, multi-mission fighter aircraft, and with ongoing delays in developing a revolutionary new plane, air forces are preparing to keep it flying for decades to come.
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08/14/2013
Keeping track of 60 aircraft from U.S. and allied partners during a two-week exercise could seem to be an impossible task especially in a training space the size of Florida. To help with the giant task of tracking and collecting data, fighter aircraft are equipped with Air Combat Maneuver Instrument Pods to track actions ensuring pilots can learn from their flying experience and sharpen their war-fighting skills,.
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08/14/2013
India’s air force has a fairly high casualty rate, most of it not in combat. A total of 66 defence personnel and 6 civilians have died between 2009-10 and 2012 due to plane crashes. A total of 54 defence aircrafts have crashed in 45 months, an average of 1.2 crashes per month. There were 16 crashes in 2009-10, which increased to 17 in 2010-11 and declined to 15 in 2011-12. Six crashes took place till the end of 2012.
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08/14/2013
The U.S. Air Force says many of its combat air forces will start flying again after being grounded since April because of budget cuts. The grounding affected about one-third of the Air Force's active-duty combat aircraft, including squadrons of fighters, bombers, and airborne warning and control craft.
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08/13/2013
Britain's BAE Systems is gearing up for strong growth in commercial and international orders for its wide range of electronic systems, and expects that to help offset declining military spending in the United States and Europe.
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08/13/2013
The CIA admitted late Friday it has a number of documents about drones, but told a federal court that disclosing even the number of documents it possessed would damage national security. The disclosure came around 11:00 p.m., hours after President Barack Obama held a press conference promising more transparency around national security issues.
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08/13/2013
U.S. drones have been battering Yemen, killing at least 28 people, and American spy planes watch from overhead. And now, Yemen’s skies are looking to get even more crowded. The U.S. Navy is helping the Yemeni air force buy 12 light spy planes, adding to the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military aid the U.S. given to the Sana’a regime.
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08/13/2013
The first successful landing of a drone the size of a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier in July drew acclaim from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus as “the future,” but the vision raises questions about Pensacola’s traditional role as a training ground for thousands of military aviators.
“The manned aircraft portion of Naval aviation is going to decrease in favor of unmanned,” said retired Adm. Robert Kelly.
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08/13/2013
When the president lifts off from the White House lawn, he’s joined by a few new wingmen. On President Barack Obama’s vacation flight Saturday to Martha’s Vineyard, new MV-22 Ospreys made their debut escorting his staff, Secret Service agents and the news media – although not the chief executive himself – to the island off the Massachusetts coast.
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08/13/2013
Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Monday the basic trainer aircraft (BTA) project of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) "is still on" and the Indian Air Force has not sought more Swiss-made Pilatus PC-7 Mark II basic trainers. Answering queries from media persons about IAF "favouring" Pilatus over state-run HAL's HTT-40 trainer, which is still under development, Antony said that the project to build the BTA was being pursued.
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08/13/2013
India launched its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier on Monday, a landmark moment in the $5 billion or 500 crores project that seeks to project the country's power and check the rising influence of China.
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08/13/2013
South Korea's arms procurement agency on Monday approved a long-delayed plan to buy four aerial refueling tankers from 2017-19 to extend the operational range of the country's fighter jets. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it will open bidding for the project in February of next year and select a contractor in October in the same year.
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08/13/2013
Lockheed Martin received a $223 million contract to provide the Republic of Korea with Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) systems for the nation’s AH-64E Apache helicopter.
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08/13/2013
The final version of the engine for Russia’s first fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet will be available by the end of the current decade, the United Engine Making Corporation said Monday. T-50 prototypes are currently using a preliminary, “Stage 1” engine, while the “Stage 2” engine will make the jet’s capabilities “even more impressive,” a corporation spokesman told RIA Novosti, without providing any technical details.
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08/12/2013
President Viktor Yanukovych’s signing of Ukraine’s renewed NATO Annual National Plan last month, and the country’s completion of naval exercises with the alliance, in line with the Eastern European country’s commitment to supporting NATO counterpiracy operations, reaffirm its interest in maintaining a transatlantic relationship, at least to some extent.
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08/12/2013
The Air Force plans to increase the number of airmen and aircraft it will rotate through Australia as part of the U.S. military's Pacific Pivot and increased presence in Australia.
President Obama announced in 2011 on his trip to Australia the U.S. plan to deploy 2,500 Marines on 6-month rotations to the port city of Darwin. The president explained that it would serve as a stepping stone toward increasing the U.S. military's partnership with Australia.
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08/12/2013
The story with F-16 fighter jets is similar. Since 1980, we've sent Egypt 221 fighter jets, valued at $8 billion. "Our American military advisers in Cairo have for many years been advising against further acquisitions of F-16s," Springborg said. Egypt already has more F-16s than it needs, he said.
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08/12/2013
The airman killed in a helicopter crash on Okinawa was a decorated para-rescue veteran whose effort to recover a wounded soldier was captured in one of the most iconic combat photos to come from the war in Afghanistan, the Air Force said Saturday.
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08/12/2013
British military inspectors will fly over the territories of Russia and Belarus starting from Monday as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian Defense Ministry official said. “In the period between August 12 and 16, a group of British experts will make a surveillance flight above the territories of Russia and Belarus on board of a Swedish SAAB-340 observation aircraft,” Ruslan Shishin, the acting head of the ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said.
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08/11/2013
Israel is shrinking its military, along with its defense budget. To deal with these changes the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is selling off older equipment, much if from semi-retired status (kept in reserve for an emergency) rather than stuff being used regularly. Among the items being offered are probably the last Kfir jet fighters (25 0f them) available for sale.
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08/11/2013
The Egyptian military has confirmed that Friday's air raid on targets in the Sinai region that killed four fighters was carried out by one of its aircraft. The armed group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis had earlier said Israeli drones were behind the attack. It further accused the Egyptian army of co-ordinating the attack with the Israelis.
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08/11/2013
Government officials say they will soon begin negotiations with the United States on a larger American military presence to help deter what they say is increasing Chinese aggression in Philippine-claimed waters in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
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08/11/2013
PRINCE HARRY is to join the Army’s most elite Apache helicopter unit and could soon be flying from an aircraft carrier taking part in some of the most challenging missions faced by pilots. Recently qualified Apache commander Captain Wales is one of three pilots earmarked for operational experience with the Royal Navy’s high-readiness force, known officially as the UK’s Response Force Task Group.
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08/11/2013
The F-35s soaring through the sky are continuing to ramp up their training operations and have started to simulate some combat-type missions. For the first time last month, the Joint Strike Fighter was controlled by an air battle management squadron on the ground at Tyndall Air Force Base.
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08/10/2013
The crash of an F-22 Raptor jet fighter Nov. 15 at Tyndall Air Force Base was caused by a “chafed wire” that ignited a fire and caused the jet to lose power, the Air Combat Command Investigation Board announced Friday.
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08/10/2013
The Joint Strike Fighter Pilot Training Center was completed this month with capabilities to hold 8 full mission F-35B simulators, classrooms, briefing rooms and more. Construction of new facilities aboard Fightertown continue for the expected arrival of two training and three operational F-35B squadrons.
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08/10/2013
South Korean F-15K combat jets have flown nonstop to Alaska, using in-flight refueling to take part in an upcoming U.S.-led multinational exercise known as "Red Flag," South Korea's Defense Ministry said Friday. The flight to Alaska "has become the first time for our fighter aircraft to fly non-stop by aerial refueling to participate in a joint drill overseas," spokesman Wi Yong Seop told a news briefing.
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08/10/2013
A plane crash-landed in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu Friday, killing four people when the aircraft burst into flames on the tarmac of Aden Adde International Airport. All six onboard were crew members; the two survivors are being treated at an African Union hospital in the city.
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08/10/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry will procure up to 60 Mi-28UB helicopters to improve the training of pilots for Mi-28N gunships, the Air Force commander said. The Mi-28UB is a combat training variant of the Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter that can be operated both from the pilot's cockpit and the flight instructor's cockpit as it is equipped with a dual hydromechanical flight control system.
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08/10/2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed “philosophical” matters, not an arms deal, with Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief during a recent meeting in Moscow, a presidential aide said Friday. Western media reported after the meeting that Saudi Arabia had offered to buy Russian arms worth $15 billion if Moscow agreed to stop backing the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The story was credited to anonymous sources and was never confirmed by Russian or Saudi officials.
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08/10/2013
India and China are interested in using Ukraine’s carrier-deck pilot training site in Crimea, a senior defense official said Friday. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti in mid-July that Moscow had officially informed Kiev that it will not use the Nitka site in 2013. “There are other countries that are showing some interest in using Nitka. These are India, China and others,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Mozharovskiy said.
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08/10/2013
Russia has postponed the delivery of a batch of S-300 missile defense systems to Syria, despite having received advance payment, a prominent Russian newspaper reported Friday.
The delivery, originally scheduled for spring 2013, has been pushed back to June 2014, Vedomosti business daily said, citing an annual report by the Moscow-based company Avangard, which manufactures rockets for S-300 systems.
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08/09/2013
Camp Grayling is hosting National Guard soldiers from all over the country this week for the annual combat training exercises known as Northern Strike. Each year, hundreds of soldiers participate in live fire exercises to practice defending American soil. Northern Strike is a two week program that brings 24 National Guard units from 12 different states to Grayling.
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08/09/2013
Obama administration policy toward Syria is a slow train wreck. Unremitting pressure from war-minded elites is pushing President Barack Obama closer to military intervention in the bloody civil war. Yet getting involved would be a fool's errand. Nevertheless, America's putative allies appear to believe that they are entitled to U.S. support. The president should disabuse them of this dangerous notion.
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08/09/2013
The crash of a U.S. Air Force helicopter inside an Okinawa military installation Monday amid local opposition to the deployment of tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft at a U.S. Marine Corps base on the main island has put Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government on the spot. Despite the central government’s swift request that helicopters of the type involved in the accident, in which one of the four-member crew was believed killed, be grounded until the cause of the crash is identified.
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08/09/2013
NATO will conduct a series of dynamic and demanding exercises this autumn that will put both troops and commanders from the NATO Response Force (NRF) to the test. The Alliance has ambitious plans to increase training activity over the next few years to maintain readiness and interoperability. This will include more ambitious and frequent exercises, a broader range of scenarios and a comprehensive training plan to cover the full range of Alliance missions.
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08/09/2013
Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15J Eagles landed here Aug. 4 to participate in this calendar year's first RED FLAG-Alaska. The F-15Js form part of the JASDF fighter-interceptor aircraft inventory used to engage hostile aircraft. The F-15J was brought to RF-A 13-3 to help JASDF members improve their tactical flying skills and their ability to generate aircraft in a simulated combat environment.
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08/09/2013
Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornet demonstration pilot Capt. Patrick "Flocho" Pollen is ready and raring to go for the Abbotsford International Airshow this weekend - literally.
"I'm strapped into the cockpit as we speak," said the fighter pilot during an interview over the phone with the Times on Wednesday. "I'm making a quick stop in Cold Lake this afternoon . . . then zipping down to Abbotsford right after.
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08/09/2013
On July 15, a Russian-made MIG-21 Bison fighter jet, operated by the Indian Air Force, crashed while attempting to land at the Uttarlai air base in the Barmer district of Rajasthan. This was the second MIG-21 crash, at the very same air base, in two months. However, unlike in the previous accident, which had no casualties, this time the pilot was killed. The crash has been attributed to pilot error.
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08/09/2013
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army celebrated one million flight hours for the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) during ceremonies held today at Lockheed Martin’s Orlando, Fla., facility.
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08/09/2013
The U.S. Navy recently flew Boeing EA-18G Growler aircraft with sensor system upgrades and its newest data network, demonstrating how the enhanced technologies would allow aircrews to locate threats more quickly and accurately.
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08/08/2013
Airmen from South Korea and Japan will join U.S counterparts for military combat training this week at Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Red Flag Alaska training exercise begins Thursday and runs through Aug. 23.
The Air Force says at least six types of aircraft will be involved, including F-16s, F-15s, A-10s, KC-135s, KC-130s and F-18s.
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08/08/2013
The U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force intercepted for the first time an anti-ship cruise missile surrogate using Raytheon Company's Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) cued by JLENS. An affordable, elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system, JLENS uses a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.
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08/08/2013
More than 160 Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 "Red Devils" participated in rapid embarkation training aboard Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, July 22 through Aug 2. "The purpose of this training was to conduct a rapid deployment into an unknown area in which we embark the entire squadron in a short amount of time," said Gunnery Sgt. Willie Dennis, the aviation ordinance staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge with VMFA-232 and a Syracuse, N.Y., native.
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08/08/2013
The U.S. Defense Department has alerted Congress to a possible sale to Iraq of a $2.4 billion integrated air defense system. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Iraqi government has requested the equipment, including 40 truck-mounted Avenger fire units made by Boeing Co., 681 Stinger surface-to-air missiles made by Raytheon Co. and 216 medium-range Hawk missiles also made Raytheon, among other products.
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08/08/2013
Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Tahir Rafiq Butt says that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) must prepare for a two-front situation in view of its combat role in the anti- terrorism campaign, which has evolved since the 9/11 attacks on the US, and in addition to its traditional adversarial role as India’s neighbour.
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08/08/2013
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is all set to attain the capability of keeping its indigenously developed fighter aircraft JF 17 Thunder airborne for a longer haul, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt said on Wednesday. “The ground tests have been very successful and I am satisfied. The air-to-air refuelling test will be done successfully by end of this summer,” Air Chief Marshal Butt said in an interview with Defence Jane’s Weekly.
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08/08/2013
The F-35s soaring through the sky are continuing to ramp up their training operations and have started to simulate some combat-type missions. For the first time last month, the Joint Strike Fighter was controlled by an air battle management squadron on the ground at Tyndall Air Force Base.
(Read More...)
08/08/2013
Military inspectors from Russia and the United Kingdom will on Wednesday carry out an inspection flight over Swedish territory as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian nuclear security official said. The flight will be carried out by a Russian Antonov An-30B plane from Sweden’s Uppsala airport along an agreed flight route with the maximum range of 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles), said Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center.
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08/08/2013
An Antonov An-26 plane that made an emergency landing Wednesday outside Moscow belongs to the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet, the Defense Ministry said. The An-26 plane made an emergency landing Wednesday morning at the Ostafyevo military airbase about 30 km (19 miles) south of the center of Moscow.
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08/07/2013
Northrop Grumman will provide the Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for U.S. Air Force and Taiwan F-16 fighter jets, after winning a competition by Lockheed Martin looking to prolong the life of F-16 legacy aircraft with a radar upgrade program.
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08/07/2013
One of the criticisms of the early years of British military operations in Afghanistan from the summer of 2006 was that there were not enough soldiers – or helicopters – to support the challenge of the mission. Early on, accepted policy in Helmand Province dictated the support of regional seats of government, which effectively tied the British Army into “platoon houses” soon after, which significantly hampered its ability to conduct proactive, deliberate operations.
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08/07/2013
Japan has been accused of ignoring its policy of self-defence after launching its largest warship since the end of the Second World War as the government faces down China over a disputed chain of islands. The new ship is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters at once - but Japanese officials insist it is not an aircraft carrier and will not be used to launch military jets.
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08/07/2013
As explosive ordnance and the means to deliver it against enemy fortifications have evolved through the centuries, government and military leaders throughout history have sought increasingly strong facilities in which to establish secure command and control.
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08/07/2013
Five Chinese JH-7A fighter-bombers carried out their first reconnaissance mission in China-Russia joint military drills in Chelyabinsk Tuesday. The flight lasted for more than an hour and focused on getting familiar with the environment, unaided eye reconnaissance and searching for combat targets, said Wang Xiaoliang, one of the pilots.
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08/07/2013
Yemen was thrust back into the forefront of the international fight against terrorism Tuesday when the U.S. and Britain evacuated embassy staff due to a threatened attack, a suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged members of al-Qaida, and militants shot down a Yemeni army helicopter.
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08/07/2013
China continues to modernize its nuclear forces by enhancing its silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and adding more survivable mobile delivery systems. In recent years, the road-mobile, solid-propellant CSS-10 Mod 1 and CSS-10 Mod 2 (DF-31 and DF-31A) intercontinentalrange ballistic missiles have entered service.
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08/07/2013
The Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft completed its 500th vertical landing August 3. BF-1, the aircraft which completed this achievement, also accomplished the variant’s first vertical landing in March 2010 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
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08/07/2013
The Russian Air Force will take delivery of its first fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet "in the third quarter of this year" for final state test flights starting in the fourth quarter, the service's commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Tuesday. In late April, President Vladimir Putin said the T-50 would enter service with the country’s armed forces in 2016, and not 2015 as had been previously announced.
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08/06/2013
If you know anything at all about Army aviation, then you know that soldiers fly helicopters. When the Army and the Air Force became separate services after World War Two, the Air Force got almost all of the fixed-wing planes and the Army got almost all the rotorcraft. However, there are a handful of exceptions to this general rule — areas where the type of aircraft each service typically flies isn’t well suited to a mission it must perform.
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08/06/2013
A U.S. military helicopter crashed at an American base on the southern island of Okinawa, Japanese and U.S. officials said Monday. A HH-60 rescue helicopter crashed in a training area at Camp Hansen with four crew members on board, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement. The status of the crew members is unknown, it said.
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08/06/2013
Activist hedge fund TCI has said the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company (EADS) should sell its stake in Dassault Aviation as the holding was "a poor use of capital." TCI wrote to EADS's chief executive officer, Tom Enders, demanding that the aerospace company sell its holding, worth €4bn ($5.3bn, £3.5bn), and give the earnings to the shareholders.
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08/06/2013
While missile maker Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Hyderabad, is setting up three new production units, Bangalore-based aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has asked the defence estates department to locate 1,000 acres of land for setting up a new division for helicopters, Defence Minister A K Antony said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
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08/06/2013
Grainy photos of what appears to be a slice of the PLA Navy's first indigenously built aircraft carrier have been flying around the Internet the past few days. Of their veracity I have little doubt. China's leadership has openly proclaimed its plans to put a modest fleet of flattops to sea in the coming years. Chinese shipyards have adopted the Western practice of modular construction, meaning that they build the hull in sections, including many of the systems that make an inert hulk a living, f
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08/06/2013
India’s defense minister says his country’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program should be inducted into the Indian Air Force by the end of this year or early next year. The program is 15 years behind schedule.
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08/06/2013
Lockheed Martin will offer a universal, highly adaptable and affordable mission equipment package (MEP) to meet requirements for the Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift (JMR/FVL) rotary wing program, with potential applications for other customers and platforms.
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08/06/2013
Military inspectors from the United States and Norway will fly over Russia’s territory starting from Monday as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian Defense Ministry official said. “In the period between August 5 and 10, a joint mission of US and Norwegian experts will make a surveillance flight above the territory of Russia on board of US Boeing OC-135B observation aircraft,” Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of the ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said.
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08/06/2013
The handover of the aircraft means that 17 examples of the type are now in service with four customers – Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the United Kingdom. Converted from an Airbus A330 commercial passenger jet by Airbus Military at Getafe near Madrid, the aircraft will serve with the UAE Air Force and Air Defense at Al-Ain airbase.
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08/06/2013
The first Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter for the Turkish Air Force has begun final tests towards its delivery. Airbus reported this morning that the four engines on the aircraft were successfully run simultaneously for the first time on 29th July at the Airbus Military facility in Seville, Spain. The aircraft will be transferred to the Airbus Military delivery centre in September.
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08/05/2013
The China-Russia joint drill, code-named Peace Mission-2013, enters the phase of battle planning Saturday as China's last troops arrived at the designated area. Peace Mission-2013, which takes place in Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural Mountainous region from July 27 to August 15, has three phases - troop deployment, battle planning and simulated combat.
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08/05/2013
One thing is certain: it's not your father's B-52. The B-52 Stratofortress has been the Air Force's star long-range strategic heavy bomber and premier standoff weapon for more than 50 years. For generations, the B-52 has successfully executed missions all over the globe.
But in the 21st century, the pace of things has accelerated beyond the wildest dreams of the original designers who first put plans for the aircraft on the drawing board more than 60 years ago.
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08/05/2013
At first, the statement is shocking. “Reduce the number of carrier strike groups from 11 to 8 or 9, draw down the Marine Corps from 182,000 to between 150,000 and 175,000.” But those words July 31 from US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel brought into the open some of the behind-the-scenes discussions that have been going on at the Pentagon for months.
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08/05/2013
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner approved the deal, which will give Argentina the capability to attack the Falklands with laser-guided bombs. The 20 aircraft sold to the Argentine military are at Spain’s Albacete air base and will be shipped to Tandil air base south of Buenos Aires.
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08/05/2013
A dog fight has broken out between Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman and MD R K Tyagi over who should supply the Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA). The spat started after HAL said it was presented with unrealistic requirements over HTT-40s, while the IAF later diluted the same for the Pilatus it bought.
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08/05/2013
India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), built by Cochin Shipyard in the southern state of Kerala, is all set for a launch. Elizabeth Antony, wife of Federal Defence Minister A.K Antony will formally hand over the 260-metre warship, weighing over 40,000 tonne, to the naval authorities at a function at the shipyard on August 12.
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08/04/2013
Equipment from Cassidian's entire IFF "action chain" was deployed for the German forces during the exercise, with MSSR200001 interrogators on ground stations and LTR400 transponders on a German Luftwaffe C160 mission aircraft.
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08/04/2013
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. France is to cut more than 30,000 defence posts and reduce or delay orders for jet fighters and other equipment as the socialist government seeks to balance the need for stringent spending cuts with a bid to sustain the country’s role as a big milit
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08/04/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry and Russian Helicopters Holding on Saturday signed a 12.6 billion rubles (about $380 million) contract for 40 Mil Mi-8 AMTSh helicopters, the company said. The contract was signed by Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov and Russian Helicopters CEO Dmitry Petrov. Helicopter deliveries are to begin next year, Petrov said.
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08/03/2013
South Korea will resume its procurement process this month for a jet fighter contract expected to be worth more than $7.2 billion, Yonhap news agency reported. outh Korea's Defense Acquisition Procurement Agency suspended bidding for the 60 aircraft in mid July over concerns that manufacturers' bids were higher than the budgeted $7.2 billion. DAPA announced the decision to restart bidding in mid August in a meeting presided over by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin.
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08/03/2013
Officials are trying to figure out how two F-16C Falcon aircraft collided on Thursday night off the coast of Chincoteague, Va. The F-16C jets were assigned to the 113th Wing D.C. Air National Guard and were part of a routine training mission off the coast of Chincoteague, Va. late Thursday night when they crashed, say officials.
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08/03/2013
In conventional combat aircraft, the target generally needs to be in both the pilot's field of vision and within the sights of the plane itself. That is, the plane needed to be pointed in the general direction of whatever you're shooting at. But in the case of the new Eurofighter Typhoon, pilots can squeeze off a few Sidewinders at bogies incoming from any direction thanks to a super helmet that links their eyes to the plane's electronic brain.
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08/03/2013
France will review how many Dassault Aviation SA (AM) Rafale combat jets it buys in 2015 as the government looks to exports deals to sustain production. An export order from India is all-but assured and one or two more export buyers will sign on as Brazil, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar show interest, said French defense officials, who asked not to be identified. Dassault was named preferred bidder in India to supply at least 126 jets.
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08/02/2013
It's 9 a.m. on a recent Tuesday, and there's a buzz outside the Thunderbird hangar at Nellis Air Force Base that hasn't been heard in months. The F-16 Fighting Falcon jets glisten in the sun, as Thunderbird pilots Maj. Blaine Jones and Lt. Col. Greg Moseley speed-walk along a line of maintenance crew members more than 30 people long, grinning as they salute and backhand slap each crew member's hand _ the customary Shake-and-Bake before every flight.
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08/02/2013
The US defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, warned on Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to stop using up to three navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the army and marine corps if Congress doesn't act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014.
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08/02/2013
An aviation fantasy from the realms of Star Wars, the F-35 is the most sophisticated, expensive and controversial jet fighter ever produced. From the advanced radar system in the nosecone to the thrust-vectoring nozzle at the rear, expore the futuristic fighter jet in more detail.
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08/02/2013
The UK defence contractor, which last year failed to pull off a £30bn tie-up with Airbus-owner EADS, warned of job cuts running into the hundreds after a first six months hit by defence spending cuts and ongoing delays in price negotiations for 72 Saudi Typhoon fighter jets. Ian King, chief executive, said that despite the “challenging environment”, there was no need for more merger talks or any radical change in strategy.
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08/02/2013
In the blue skies above the pristine waters of the Coral Sea, four Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets slide into formation off the left-hand quarter of the Airbus KC-30A tanker, circling at 26,000 ft (7,924 m) approximately 120 miles (192 km) northwest of the city of Brisbane, capital of the Australian state of Queensland.
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08/02/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress doesn't act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014.
(Read More...)
08/02/2013
Moscow’s hostility toward Finland’s future intentions on NATO membership has surfaced again in the wake of a visit by US official James Townsend, who accused Russia of meddling and criticized it for laying barriers in the way of any future Finnish application.
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08/02/2013
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has delivered the first of its new long-awaited A400M military transport planes to France, the defence ministry said Thursday. The French military "has received the first aircraft of the A400M series of military transport aircraft" said the ministry, adding it would fly to the Orleans-Bricy airbase on Friday to enter service.
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08/02/2013
Talking to mediapersons here, the Indian Navy vice chief, Vice Admiral R.K. Dhowan, said that the 40,000 tonne indigenous aircraft carrrier (IAC) was one of its most prestigious warship projects and was unprecedented in terms of size and complexity.
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08/02/2013
The U.S. Navy recently awarded Boeing a $1.98 billion contract for 13 additional P-8A Poseidon aircraft, continuing the modernization of U.S. maritime patrol capabilities that will ultimately involve more than 100 P-8As. The contract includes long-lead funding previously approved by the Navy.
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08/01/2013
Panamanian investigators unloading the cargo of a seized North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba under sacks of brown sugar found yet more military hardware on Tuesday. The authorities discovered 12 engines for MiG-21 fighter jets and five military vehicles that officials said resembled missile control centers. Investigators earlier in July had found two MiG-21 fighters and two missile radar systems on board the Chong Chon Gang.
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08/01/2013
Four months after admitting that 12 of its 26 Gripen jet fighters had been placed in storage because they were too expensive to operate and there were not enough qualified pilots to fly them, South African officials admitted that the maintenance contracts for all the Gripens had expired in April. That made long term use of the Gripens dangerous. This contract was with a reliable, and expensive, South African firm (Denel).
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08/01/2013
Two Air Force pilots escaped injury this week when their T-38 Talon jet belly landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. Details about the incident were unclear, but the 12th Flying Training Wing said in a brief statement that the twin-engine, supersonic aircraft touched down without its landing gear on the base's east runway.
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08/01/2013
The Indian Air Force's indigenous dream appears to have gone sour as all major projects for home production of key aircraft are showing symptoms of distress. IAF chief NAK Browne in a letter to Defence Minister A.K. Antony had highlighted the delays and high costs in the development of basic trainer aircraft required urgently for rookie pilots, but these are not the only areas of concern.
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08/01/2013
The modernised MiG-31BM fighter interceptor has been shown in action in Siberia after deployment at the Kansk Air Base in Krasnoyarsk region. The Kansk air group is the first and only sub-unit in Russia's Central Military District to be fully equipped with upgraded planes, according to a report on Zvezda TV, closely linked to the country's Defence Ministry. Reports say it is the fastest military plane in the world.
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08/01/2013
While a final price hasn't been disclosed, an estimated four per cent price reduction means Australia is likely to pay around $US101 million ($A112 million) per fighter. The estimate comes after producers Lockheed Martin and the US Defense Department agreed on the 71 JSFs in the next two production blocks - known as Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lots six and seven.
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08/01/2013
In 1996, the U.S. Air Force figured it needed to buy 11 C-130J cargo planes for about $840 million. Today, the service's plans call for a total of 168 of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made aircraft for $15.5 billion -- more than 18 times the original cost estimate. The Air Force's C-130J Super Hercules tops the list of major weapons systems that have had the largest increases in projected costs, according to a Military.com analysis of the Defense Department's latest acquisition data.
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08/01/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress doesn't act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. Speaking to Pentagon reporters, and indirectly to Congress, Hagel said that the full result of the sweeping budget cuts over the next 10 years could leave the nation with an ill-prepared, under-equipped military.
(Read More...)
08/01/2013
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet landed in San Diego for the first time Tuesday, stopping in a city saturated with military and defense industry representatives invested in keeping the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program aloft.
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08/01/2013
Iran and Russia have not discussed Moscow’s tentative offer to supply Tehran with Antei-2500 surface-to-air missile systems instead of the S-300, whose sale was previously blocked by the Kremlin, Iran’s envoy to Russia said Wednesday. “As for the Antei-2500 [missile] systems, it’s just words,” Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi told RIA Novosti. “There were no agreements, and there are no talks [on the matter].”
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