November 06, 2013 Military Aviation News
11/06/2013
After three decades of development and a development cost in excess of R8 billion, the South African designed and built Rooivalk attack helicopter has finally deployed operationally, and also fired its weapons in anger. Three Rooivalk helicopters, belonging to 16 Squadron based at AFB Bloemspruit near Bloemfontein, were airlifted to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a week ago.
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11/06/2013
A landing gear failure caused an F-16C to skid off the runway July 16 at Osan Air Base, South Korea, destroying the jet and causing minor injuries to the pilot, Air Combat Command announced today. The pilot, who was assigned to the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., was able to exit the aircraft. The jet’s landing gear collapsed immediately after touching down for landing after a routine training flight.
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11/06/2013
Bosses from four Malaysian firms visited BAE Systems’ sites in Warton and Samlesbury, Lancashire, on Monday and got a first-hand look at its world-class aerospace manufacturing facility and flight test centre for military aircraft. They also visited Kilgour Aerospace in Blackpool which has been involved in the aerospace industry since 1966, as part of a two-day visit organised by BAE Systems and the SME Corporation Malaysia.
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11/06/2013
The Indian and US navies began conducting their annual Malabar joint exercises today in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Tamil Nadu, an annual event since 1992. The exercises will run through Nov. 11. The exercises will include gun-firing, fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers, combating terrorism and maritime interdiction operations exercises.
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11/06/2013
The U.S. Air Force has ordered another 24 MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper UAVs. Although defense budgets are being cut and the air force is scrounging to come up with enough cash to keep its F-35 production going, the Reaper is still one of the most active combat aircraft in air force service. So the orders just keep on coming, at least as long as there is demand. As long as there is a terrorist threat out there, there will be demand.
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11/06/2013
In the final years of his nearly 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force, Slim spent 10 to 12 hours a day in a cool, dark room in the Arizona desert, stationed in front of monitors that beamed back aerial footage from Afghanistan.
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11/06/2013
The popular image of a stealthy, fifth-generation fighter and subsonic drone-dominated future in military aviation appears to have a serious challenge at hand. On 1 November 2013, Lockheed Martin’s ‘Skunk Works’ development department unveiled the ‘SR-72’ project designed to replace the retired Mach 3 capable SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
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11/06/2013
Last month, headlines were dominated by the near catastrophic level of political dysfunction in Washington, D.C., including a federal government shutdown and a congressional game of chicken regarding the debt ceiling. While there was an 11th-hour deal to avert the worst-case scenario, there’s a strong possibility that this latest sideshow will repeat itself at the top of next year.
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11/06/2013
The former Soviet states of Turkmenistan and Belarus have agreed on a project to jointly build an aerial drone factory in the energy-rich Central Asian nation. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday during a working visit to Turkmenistan that his country would dispatch aviation specialists to implement the project.
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11/06/2013
Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers returned on Tuesday from a tour-of-duty in South America, where they carried out a series of patrols in line with a combat training program. During the mission, which started on October 28, the nuclear-capable bombers visited Venezuela and Nicaragua, and conducted a series of patrols over the Caribbean.
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