December, 2013 Military Aviation News
12/31/2013
Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The U.S. Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who had never before alighted upon a ship, hovered just off the tarmac and then set down with a thud.
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12/31/2013
Recently photos from China showed what appeared to be an American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter landing at a Chinese military base. This mystery helicopter was promptly dubbed “Copy Hawk” for the Chinese eagerness to copy foreign military gear. While China has never had any Black Hawks, they did manage to buy 24 S-70s, the civilian version of the UH-60, 30 years ago (before the Tiananmen Square massacre and subsequent arms embargo).
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12/31/2013
The Lebanese army fired on Syrian aircraft that violated the country's airspace Monday, the first time Lebanon has done so since Syria's uprising broke out nearly three years ago, security officials said. The move suggests Beirut is trying to enforce greater respect for its borders in the hopes of slowing the expansion of the conflict into Lebanon, where it has exacerbated sectarian tensions and prompted shadowy groups to conduct attacks that have killed dozens this year.
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12/31/2013
At the end of November China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, formed a battle group to undertake ocean-based maneuvers in the South China Sea for the first time. Military expert Cao Weidong told the CCTV in an interview that during the training the Liaoning would assess its performance in three combat areas: air and missile defense, anti-ship offense, and anti-submarine offense.
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12/31/2013
The United States Air Force is almost finished testing a top-secret stealth drone at its Area 51 installation in Arizona, according to a report by Aviation Week. The Northrup Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)-built drone, named the RQ-180, will primarily be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and is seen as the direct replacement for the Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) SR-71 “Blackbird,” which was retired in 1998.
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12/31/2013
What’s that strange bird flying overhead? Why, it’s a gray-breasted Dronus Predatorus, and it must be hungry, because it looks like it’s searching for prey. I know this thanks to my handy Drone Survival Guide poster, which describes itself as a 21st Century birdwatching guide. “Our ancestors could spot natural predators from far by their silhouettes,” say the Dutch graphic artist who wrote it. “Are we equally aware of the predators in the present-day?”
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12/31/2013
Air Marshal Arup Raha, an ace fighter pilot, will on Tuesday take over as the Air Force chief succeeding incumbent Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne. Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal RK Sharma will succeed Raha as the Vice Chief of Air Staff. Born on December 26, 1954, 59 year-old Raha is expected to have a tenure of three years as the Chief of Air Staff.
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12/31/2013
A bombing range in the Pinelands in southern New Jersey and airspace over the Atlantic Ocean could be part of a nationwide effort to develop guidelines for using unmanned aerial drones in civilian life. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday picked a proposal using those test sites, developed by Rutgers University, Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, as one of six projects around the country that will oversee “critical research.”
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12/31/2013
The political battles over chronic deficit spending in the United States has led to sharp and often unexpected cuts in the military budget over the last few years. This has forced the U.S. Air force to make major cuts in the hours combat pilots fly for training. The latest cut reduces many pilots to 120 hours a year. That’s about half of what it was a decade ago. There is concern that this will threaten the domination of the air the United States has had since World War II.
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12/30/2013
A year after escaping a round of job cuts, Michigan’s largest military base faces a possible loss of personnel under a U.S. Air Force plan to eliminate an air-to-ground attack fighter. After next year, the Air Force plans to remove the A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the “Warthog,” from its inventory due to budget cuts.
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12/30/2013
Russia grounded all its 122 MiG-31 fighters after one of them crashed (because both of its engines failed) in the Far East (outside Vladivostok) on December 14th. The two man crew managed to glide to an unpopulated area where they ejected and came safely to the ground. The aircraft was a total loss. This incident was doubly disturbing because this was its first flight after a major overhaul.
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12/30/2013
The United States’ planned military pivot to the Pacific was largely clouded by fiscal uncertainty as Congress and the Department of Defense wrestled with budget cuts throughout 2013. Even as aircraft and a new warship moved to the region this year, the department’s top leaders warned a full shift will never be possible if lawmakers allow the defense budget to be slashed by a half-trillion dollars over the coming decade.
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12/30/2013
The Chinese campaign of conquering real, or imagined, nearby “lost territories” by winning many little victories in battles none of the victims is willing to go to war over continues. This campaign is quite active in the South China Sea, North Korea and along the Indian border. China has, in the last few years, taken control of sizable chunks of India and large swaths of the South China Sea one tiny piece at a time.
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12/30/2013
On December 20, the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) was cleared to enter operational service with the Indian Air Force (IAF). Now Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) faces the daunting transition from handcrafting Tejas prototypes into factory-assembling the 200-fighter Tejas fleet that Defence Minister A K Antony has envisioned.
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12/30/2013
France has begun operating one of its new RQ-9 Reaper UAVs in Mali. Earlier in 2013 France decided to buy two RQ-9s and by the middle of the year had upped the order to a dozen. This was apparently with the understanding that one or two would be available for French use in Mali before the end of the year.
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12/29/2013
U.S. Army Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters are widely used transport aircraft for the U.S. Military. first introduced in 1979 they have been used in very major conflict since then. Today they are equipped with advanced avionics and electronics, such as global positioning systems. With that being said the helicopter has had numerous safety problems in the past some attributable to their age.
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12/29/2013
When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden travelled to Asia last week, his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was simple: start talking. While tensions have ratcheted up in the fight over a cluster of islands in the East China Sea, experts worry things could get far worse. In fact, the most optimistic outcome for the year ahead is that the two old foes settle into an uncomfortable Cold War.
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12/29/2013
A joint venture of two companies based in North America has bagged the deal to supply 21 UH-1 combat utility helicopters to the Philippine Air Force. The joint venture of American firm Rice Aircraft Services Inc. and Canadian company Eagle Copters Ltd. won the contract for the supply and delivery of Huey helicopters, the workhorse of the military’s operations.
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12/29/2013
Achieving yet another milestone, India’s indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) completed 500 sorties in a year after attaining initial operational clearance last week. According to a defence ministry release issued on Saturday, 500 sorties by Tejas completed on Friday, are the highest by the aircraft in a calendar year. The highest number of sorties attained earlier in a calendar year was below 300.
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12/29/2013
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Saturday said the government expected the first of the 12 Korean FA-50 lead in fighter jets to be delivered in June 2015. Gazmin made this statement after the defense department recommended that President Benigno Aquino III allow the payment of the 52-percent down payment for the P18.9-billion fighter jets. “We recommended the approval of the DP (down payment) and progress billing,” he said.
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12/29/2013
The Russian armed forces will start getting advanced Buk-M3 air defense missile systems in 2016, the Air Defense Force's chief said on Saturday. “We are now in the midst of planned rearmament to replace Buk-M1 with Buk-M2. We expect to receive Buk-M3s starting from 2016,” Maj. Gen. Alexander Leonov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
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12/29/2013
The armed forces of Nepal have signed a deal with Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport to buy two Mil Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters, the Himalayan Times has reported. The agreement was signed on December 19. The country’s government, which had earlier allocated more than $30 million for purchasing helicopters for the armed forces, approved the deal earlier this week.
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12/29/2013
The US Air Force will patrol the airspace over the Baltic states for four months starting from January, Lithuanian media reported Friday, citing the country’s military. Four US F-15C Eagle fighter jets will replace the current Belgian F-16AM Fighting Falcons on a rotation basis.
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12/28/2013
Democratic and Republican senators are demanding that China rescind its new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea and the sharp tone risks antagonizing Beijing, The Hill newspaper reported.
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12/28/2013
The $552 billion 2014 military defense budget signed by President Barack Obama will continue to fund high-tech cyber and unmanned aircraft operations. The budget, which grants central Cyber Command $68 million in operational costs alongside more money for research and individual unit operations, instructs agencies to work towards controlling the proliferation of "cyber weapons."
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12/28/2013
After China announced an air defense zone in November, the U.S. demonstrated its displeasure by deliberately entering the air space with an unannounced incursion by a pair of B-52 bombers. As with that dramatic gesture, new Chinese figures suggest the air zone did not deter activity by foreign militaries.
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12/28/2013
The Thunderbirds, grounded last spring by sequester-driven budget cuts, will be back in the air in 2014. The Thunderbirds schedule will begin New Year’s Day with a flyover at the Rose Bowl Parade in Los Angeles, followed by a year of airshows and flyovers across the country. In December, the team announced a schedule of 66 demonstrations at 34 locations this year, its 61st season.
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12/28/2013
The governor of Okinawa approved a land reclamation project that will move a U.S. military base out of a crowded city center after 17 years of wrangling, removing a thorn in U.S.-Japan relations.
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12/28/2013
The Russian Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily [VVS]) is to clear its MiG-31 'Foxhound' combat aircraft to resume flight operations after they were temporarily grounded following a crash in the far east of the country, state media reported on 26 December. The grounding order is to be lifted on 30 December, Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti reported VVS spokesman Colonel Igor Klimov as saying.
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12/28/2013
The induction of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas into the Indian Air Force will be a ‘game changer’ for the country’s air defence preparedness, says Avinash Chander, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. “Though delayed, the India developed fighter aircraft has emerged as a ‘contemporary aircraft’, as good or in a way better than the competitors in its class,” Avinash Chander told Business Line.
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12/28/2013
Textron Inc., the manufacturer of Cessna aircraft, will boost its lineup of propeller-driven aircraft after reaching a deal to buy Beechcraft Corp. for $1.4 billion, as it seeks to counter a slump in business-jet sales. The Providence, Rhode Island-based company will purchase all outstanding equity interests in Beech Holdings LLC, the parent of Beechcraft, it said in a statement yesterday.
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12/28/2013
Australia will deploy two military aircraft to South Sudan for United Nations efforts to restore peace to the world's youngest nation. Australia's Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss announced on Thursday that Australia had agreed to a UN request for support to transport personnel and equipment to the war-torn country.
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12/27/2013
Chinese state media is once again bragging about Beijing’s military prowess, touting the fact that China’s new H-6K strategic bomber can attack U.S. military bases in South Korea as well as the Japanese mainland using long range nuclear cruise missiles. The report features on the prominent pro-Communist Party news website Want China Times.
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12/27/2013
A Russian cargo plane has crashed into a military base, killing all nine crew members.
No casualties were reported among base personnel in the Thursday crash on the outskirts of the Siberian city of Irkutsk. The Emergencies Ministry and the Investigative Committee said the nine crew members on the An-12, a four-engine turboprop, were killed. No cause was immediately determined.
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12/27/2013
Wichita workers on Textron AirLand’s secret multi-mission tactical military jet, the Scorpion, never called the project by its real name until it became public in September. And they rarely used its code name – SCV12-1. “It was too much of a tongue twister,” said Dale Tutt, the Scorpion’s chief engineer. “Most of the time we just called it ‘the project.’ Internally, we all knew what we were working on.”
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12/27/2013
The United States is supplying Iraq with arms and surveillance technology to combat al-Qaeda-backed insurgents amid worsening violence, the New York Times reported Thursday, two years after the last American combat troops left the country.
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12/27/2013
They were put on alert during the most recent anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If the call came, the Air Force’s newest aeromedical evacuation team members would head for the designated C-130 or C-17 waiting on the Ramstein tarmac, grabbing duffel bags of surgical tools and other equipment from a warehouse and embarking on a race against time and distance.
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12/27/2013
A day-old truce in a besieged rebel-held town near Damascus broke down Thursday as Syrian warplanes bombed the divided northern city of Aleppo for a 12th straight day, activists said. By Wednesday, the Aleppo air blitz that began on Dec. 15 had killed at least 422 people, mostly civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group relying on activists and other sources inside the war-torn country.
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12/27/2013
According to reports by DefenseNews and DefenseTalk, Pakistan launched production of the Block-II JF-17 combat aircraft at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex near Islamabad. The Diplomat reported earlier this year that Pakistan expected to begin exporting the JF-17 in 2014; the beginning of production last week is set to keep it on track to meet that deadline.
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12/27/2013
Australia will deploy two military aircraft to South Sudan for United Nations efforts to restore peace to the world's youngest nation. Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss announced on Thursday that Australia had agreed to a UN request for support to transport personnel and equipment to the war-torn country.
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12/26/2013
Secret U.S. missile and electro-optics technology was transferred to China recently by Israel, prompting anger from the U.S. and causing a senior Israeli defense official to resign. The head of defense exports for the Israeli Defense Ministry resigned after a U.S. investigation concluded that technology, including a miniature refrigeration system manufactured by Ricor and used for missiles and in electro-optic equipment, was sent to China, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
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12/26/2013
A little more than a year after Macomb County and regional leaders beat back an attempt to substantially cut the number of A-10 aircraft stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base – the Air Force is again gunning for the odd-looking planes known as “Warthogs” – this time pushing to eliminate the entire U.S. fleet. The Air Force hopes to retire all 326 A-10 Thunderbolts, including the 18 planes stationed at the Harrison Township base.
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12/26/2013
Australia will provide two military aircraft to move United Nations forces into South Sudan and possibly help with evacuations, but is yet to consider providing any other assistance. The acting prime minister, Warren Truss, made the announcement as he reaffirmed calls for Australians to try to access commercial flights to leave the country after fighting broke out in Africa’s newest country.
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12/26/2013
Preparing to supply 126 Rafale combat aircraft to India, French firm Dassault Aviation is carrying out gap analysis of aerospace PSU HAL's fighter plane production capabilities to recommend upgrades. Dassault Aviation and HAL have to work together to produce 108 Rafale fighter planes in India as part of the contract to supply 126 Medium-Multi-role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) to the Indian Air Force.
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12/26/2013
The Russian air force is planning to order an additional batch of new Yak-130 combat trainers because demand for the aircraft is growing, the air force’s top commander said Wednesday. The current contract with Russia’s Irkut aircraft corporation stipulates the delivery of 55 Yak-130s to the air force. A total of 42 aircraft have been delivered so far.
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12/25/2013
Syrian warplanes have killed at least 15 people in Aleppo, raising the death toll to over 360 during the past 10 days of bombings, activists said. The opposition says it will not attend the Geneva-2 peace talks if the regime continues to launch air raids.
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12/25/2013
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe minces no words about his intention to revise the country’s pacifist constitution, while boosting military forces amid growing tensions with China over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “It is my career goal. For what purpose did I become a politician? I definitely want to carry through with it,” the premier told public broadcaster NHK on Sunday.
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12/25/2013
Greek Patriot air defense units “harassed” four Turkish F-4 military aircrafts by putting them under radar-lock while they were flying in international airspace over the Aegean Sea, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on their website Dec. 24. Military sources told daily Hürriyet the Greek military used Patriots defense units for the first time against Turkish military aircraft, as they previously resorted to military planes.
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12/25/2013
The Israeli military says it has carried out an air strike in the Gaza Strip in response to the deadly shooting of an Israeli civilian who was working along the border fence.
The shooting prompted Israel to warn it would respond “forcefully”.
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12/25/2013
A Chinese military utility helicopter roughly equivalent to the Sikorsky H-60 made its first flight on Dec. 23, state media report. The helicopter, with the unconfirmed designation Z-20, is a 10-metric-ton (22,000 lb.) aircraft suitable for operation from high-altitude fields, China Central Television says. For almost three decades, China has relied on 24 UH-60 Black Hawks bought in the 1980s for such operations.
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12/25/2013
The U.S. Air Force has signed a contract with Pratt & Whitney to have the aerospace company provide maintenance and repair of F119 jet engines through the end of next year. The contract was announced Monday by members of Connecticut’s legislative delegation in Washington. The deal, which is worth $231.46 million, is an extension of an existing contract between the Air Force and the company, which makes and maintains jet engine.
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12/25/2013
Three U.S. aircraft from Hurlburt field were attacked while performing a mission in South Sudan on Saturday, according to a news release from U.S. Africa Command. Three CV-22 Ospreys, tiltrotor aircraft that can function as both airplanes and helicopters, were hit by small arms fire while attempting to evacuate U.S. citizens from the town of Bor, the release said.
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12/25/2013
Aerospace and defense engineers and executives, like the militaries they serve, face adversaries. Certainly, these enemies are of a different nature than those faced by warfighters, but their effect can be just as incapacitating and severe. Military officials facing tight budgets are opting to extend the life of currently fielded aerospace and defense platforms on the ground, at sea, and in the air. In some cases, lifespans are even being doubled.
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12/25/2013
A reaction force of 150 Marines is poised to enter South Sudan to help protect US Embassy personnel and, if needed, to evacuate the roughly 100 Americans who remain in the country, Pentagon officials say. The hope is that the US troops can help beef up security amid growing fears of civil war breaking out in the country.
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12/25/2013
The Swedish government is working on a joint strategy with Saab to extend the Gripen-E combat fighter offer to Brazil to include a radically up-scaled industrial dimension that would see Brazil become the primary production base for future Gripen-E sales to South America and Africa through a joint venture development and profit sharing partnership with Embraer.
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12/24/2013
Paris has turned its sights to potential defense markets in the Gulf in the hope of selling its Rafale fighter jets. This follows the failure of French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, which builds the Rafale, to secure a multi-billion-dollar contract to sell the aircraft to Brazil. French President Francois Hollande, who visited Brazil recently, said in Brussels on Friday that he had expected the outcome “for several months,” but that he hoped the Rafale would be bought by other countries.
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12/24/2013
The U.S. was moving regional troops and aircraft closer to South Sudan as a precaution should they be needed for more evacuations of diplomatic and aid personnel, Pentagon officials said Monday. Army Gen. David Rodriguez, head of the Africa Command (AFRICOM), had ordered the "repositioning of forces in the region to give himself maximum flexibility" to respond as the crisis in Sudan threatens to spiral into civil war, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
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12/24/2013
The J-10B — the upgrade version of China's J-10 fighter — recently entered service with the People's Liberation Army, with its designer Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group already developing the more advanced J-10C, reports the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television.
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12/24/2013
In his book 'Australian security in the Asian century', Dr Sanu Kainikara outlines what can only be termed a 'challenging' security environment for this nation in coming decades. A regional arms race, growing demand for resources, and the pressures of exploding population levels will all contribute. It is therefore no wonder that the Australian Defence Force is undertaking comprehensive upgrades, designed to retain a strong tactical advantage. A big part of this is the adoption of 'fifth generat
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12/24/2013
BAE Systems has secured a $1bn (£611m) contract to upgrade South Korea's fleet of F16 fighter jets, in a fillip for the UK arms manufacturer after it lost out on a much more lucrative deal with the United Arab Emirates.
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12/24/2013
Lockheed Martin delivered its 16th C-5M Super Galaxy to the U.S. Air Force from its facilities here today. U.S. Air Force aircrews ferried aircraft tail number 87-0036 to Dover Air Force Base, Del. It is the fourth C-5M delivery in 32 days and the sixth for 2013.
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12/23/2013
Syrian aircraft pummeled opposition areas in the northern city of Aleppo Sunday, killing at least 32 people and extending the government’s furious aerial bombardment of the rebel-held half of the divided city to an eighth consecutive day.
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12/23/2013
As Defence Watch readers know Brazil recently selected the Gripen fighter jet built by Saab as its new military aircraft. The contract is worth $4.5 billion. Brazil’s air force was told of the government’s decision by President Dilma Rousseff just 24 hours before the public announcement last week.
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12/23/2013
Three US military aircraft attempting to evacuate American citizens from a remote region of South Sudan came under fire as gun battles raged between the country's military and rebel militia. Four US service personnel were wounded in the attack. The aircraft were hit on Saturday while preparing to land in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state – scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the past week.
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12/23/2013
On April 12 2011, a Typhoon fighter jet loitering just south of Libya’s embattled city of Misurata released two laser-guided bombs on to two T72 tanks belonging to forces loyal to Muammer Gaddafi. It was the first time a Eurofighter Typhoon flown by the Royal Air Force had fired on ground targets in combat.
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12/23/2013
Following Washington’s move to increase its military footprint in Asia, China has declared it is building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of a size to compete with the mightiest in the US naval fleet. Chinese website qianzhan.com, citing top sources in the People's Liberation Army, said China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.
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12/22/2013
President Barack Obama was briefed by his national security team on Saturday after four U.S. military service members were wounded when their aircraft were fired upon during a mission to evacuate American citizens from chaotic South Sudan.
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12/22/2013
The strategic Sukhoi Su-24 fighter-bombers along with F-4 Phantom combat planes of the IRIAF accomplished all the tasks they were set to do during the second day of the main phase of large-scale wargames, codenamed Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Velayat 4 (Devotees of Velayat Airspace 4), on Saturday morning, spokesman for the air maneuvers, General Hossein Chitforoush, said on December 21.
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12/22/2013
Brazil's decision to buy Swedish fighter jets instead of F/A-18 Super Hornets from Boeing eliminates its most promising foreign-sales prospect just as the U.S. company faces critical decisions about extending the jet's production line past 2016. The loss of the $4.5 billion contract for 36 planes is the latest blow to Boeing's defense division, whose F-15 fighter jet last month lost a potential 60-plane order from South Korea to Lockheed Martin Corp's next-generation F-35 fighter.
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12/22/2013
Gunfire hit three U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battleground between the country’s military and renegade troops, officials said. Four U.S. service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where small-arms fire downed a U.N. helicopter the day before.
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12/22/2013
Russia’s Aviakor aircraft plant on Saturday announced plans to begin assembly of An-140 light cargo planes for the Russian military in 2017. “We are working design changes at present. The first plane for the customer - the Russian Defense Ministry – should be delivered in 2017,” said Alexei Gusev, general director of Aviakor.
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12/21/2013
A little more than a year after Macomb County and regional leaders beat back an attempt to substantially cut the number of A-10 aircraft stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, the Air Force is again gunning for the odd-looking planes known as “Warthogs” – this time pushing to eliminate the entire U.S. fleet.
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12/21/2013
he U.S. Defense Department and top suppliers on the $392 billion F-35 fighter program are developing a plan to drive down the cost of the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, the head of enginemaker Pratt & Whitney told Reuters. The project uses an "innovative" new mechanism to encourage companies to invest their own funds to lower production costs, Dave Hess, president of Pratt & Whitney, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
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12/21/2013
Japan's Cabinet has approved a national security strategy that would boost spending on military equipment, officials said. The strategy, that includes the revised National Defense Program Guidelines and a Mid-term Defense Program, could start the export of weapons from Japan for the first time since the second world war.
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12/21/2013
The Russian Defense Ministry and the United Aircraft Corporation will sign a contract on the development of the Il-112V light transport plane next year, a deputy defense minister said Friday. The development of the twin turboprop aircraft, designed to carry six tons of cargo to a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), was canceled in 2011 under former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, but his successor Sergei Shoigu reportedly approved the revival of the Il-112 program earlier this year.
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12/21/2013
The British company – which leads the activities of the European consortium in the Middle East region – also said that negotiations with Saudi Arabia over the price for 72 of the fighters remain stalled. Shares in the company dropped on the London Stock Exchange on the news.
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12/20/2013
Pakistan rolled out its 50th JF-17 Thunder Block I multi-role combat aircraft Wednesday and will now begin construction of the next batch of 50 which will be of the Block II standard.
The 50th example of the Sino-Pakistani fighter was rolled out during a ceremony at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in the town of Kamra not far from the capital Islamabad. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and Chinese dignitaries were in attendance.
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12/20/2013
BAE Systems suffered a bruising setback after Britain’s negotiations to supply 60 Typhoon fighter jets to the UAE collapsed and pricing talks on a separate deal with Saudi Arabia stalled. It is a double blow for Britain and Europe’s biggest defence company which had hoped a win in the UAE would solidify its position as one of the biggest suppliers of combat aircraft to the Gulf region. BAE already has contracts for Typhoons with Saudi Arabia and Oman, and is in talks with Bahrain.
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12/20/2013
World's lightest and India developed supersonic fighter Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is battle-ready for testing by its air force pilots three decades after it was conceived, designed and developed with cost overruns and inordinate delays. "The home-grown aircraft is ready for flight tests by Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots to assess its air prowess and strike power," state-run Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) director PS Subramanian told ahead of its IOC on Friday at New Delhi.
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12/20/2013
After a decade of discussion, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff announced Wednesday the acquisition of 36 Gripen NG fighter jets, from Sweden’s Saab (STO:SAAB-B), for the FX-2 program of the Brazilian Air Force. Defense Minister Celso Amorim and Gen. Juniti Saito, the air force's chief of staff, said at a press conference after the official announcement that the planes will be delivered in 4 years. The total cost of the deal will be $4.5 billion.
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12/20/2013
Alright folks, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas Mk-I is all set to achieve Initial Operational Clearance-2 on December 20. Forget the critics, this combat jet is now all set to be flown by serving pilots of the Indian Air force (IAF) who are going to miss the Mig-21 FL a lot less once they get their hands on this baby.
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12/20/2013
In cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Lockheed Martin has delivered the first F-2 aft and leading edge flaps as part of a restoration plan to replenish Japan’s F-2 fleet. Eighteen Japanese F-2B fighter aircraft based at Matsushima Air Base were destroyed during a tsunami that hit the nation in March 2011.
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12/20/2013
Boeing delivered the 500th Focused Lethality Munition (FLM) to the U.S. Air Force this month, completing the contract for the low-collateral-damage weapon 100 percent on time and on cost. “This Direct Attack FLM team not only delivered to our customer with remarkable efficiency, but also provided an important tool to protect the lives of U.S. and coalition forces around the world,” said Gary Rodenberg, Small Diameter Bomb program manager for Boeing.
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12/20/2013
It could take Russia about three years to complete the development of a fifth-generation attack helicopter and start testing its prototype, a defense industry official said Wednesday.
The Mi-28NM, a modernized version of the Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter that is being upgraded to standards of a fifth-generation aircraft, has been in development since 2008.
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12/20/2013
The Advanced Tactical Leadership Course (ATLC), led by the UAE Air Force’s Air Warfare Centre, aims to make sure the UAE and its allies can operate together effectively to support security in the Gulf. Following the exercise the commander of the RAF’s 83 Expeditionary Air Group praised the UAE’s ‘first-class’ training.
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12/19/2013
Japan plans to beef up its military with a wide-range of new arsenal to deal with Chinese national security threats. The island nation plans to spend roughly $232 billion over the next five years on hardware it believes is capable of securing disputed islands in the South China Sea. The list of purchases includes “anti-missile destroyers, submarines, 52 amphibious vehicles, surveillance drones, U.S. fighter planes and 17 Boeing Osprey aircraft, capable of vertical take-off,” the BBC reported.
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12/19/2013
An overconfident pilot who got less than half the sleep he needed before a night training mission was responsible for causing a midair F-16 collision over the summer that forced the other pilot to eject over the Atlantic Ocean, according to a U.S. Air Force report released Wednesday.
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12/19/2013
Dateline August 2012: U.S. Air Force makes decision to establish an F-35 pilot training center at Luke Air Force Base following a three-year process that included an extensive environmental impact analysis. Dateline June 2013: U.S. Air Force chooses Luke AFB as the primary training site for the F-35A, and is the location for 72 additional F-35 Lightning II aircraft, bringing the eventual total number of the aircraft to be based at Luke to 144; six squadrons of 24 F-35A aircraft each.
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12/19/2013
The United Kingdom is testing a new collision warning system (CWS) for its fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, it was disclosed on 15 December. Answering questions in the House of Commons, Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond said that the system will be rolled out across the fleet depending on the results of the current test programme. He did not, however, say when this might happen.
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12/19/2013
High over Afghanistan, a two-man team of U.S. naval aviators found itself in trouble April 8 after an aerial refueling mishap damaged the right engine of their supersonic F/A-18F Super Hornet. Turbulence ripped the fighter away from an Air Force KC-135's refueling hose, leaving a piece of the tanker's refueling apparatus attached to the Super Hornet and causing the fighter to suck airborne fuel through its right engine.
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12/19/2013
The Government constantly reviews the security environment and ensures that the IAF is fully equipped to meet the security challenges. The IAF is in the process of modernizing its fleet by procuring various aircrafts including the Sukhoi-30 MKI and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft. In addition, existing fleets of aircraft such as Mirage-2000, Jaguar and MiG-29 are being upgraded as per requirements.
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12/19/2013
Saab SAAB ABs's win of a coveted contract in Brazil gives a significant lift to the Swedish defense group's strategy of offering value for money as it competes for the world's defense-procurement dollars. Brazil ended a lengthy process to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets by selecting the latest "E" version of Saab's JAS Gripen jet fighter in a deal worth $4.5 billion. Boeing Co. and France's Dassault Aviation competed on winning the contract, which calls for 36 fighter jets.
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12/19/2013
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday hailed the induction of Pakistan Air Force's 50th JF-17 fighter aircraft, built with Chinese help, as a move towards "self-reliance" and said the country's defence strategy is being devised on modern lines.
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12/19/2013
The C-130J Super Hercules program reached another significant milestone with the delivery of its 300th aircraft, which was ferried today by a U.S. Air Force crew from the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] facility here.
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12/19/2013
Russia is upgrading its short-range Pantsir-S air defense systems with an improved capability to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday. “The modernization of these unique systems aimed at increasing their effectiveness against UAVs has already started,” Col. Igor Klimov said.
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12/18/2013
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) would brief Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the proposed measures for enhancing defence production exports, during his scheduled visit to a key PAF facility today (Wednesday). The PM would be visiting Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra to receive the relevant briefings on the contemplated exports of the PAF aircraft, especially the JF-17 Thunder, sources in PAF informed The Nation on Tuesday.
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12/18/2013
After many false starts, Europe looks ready to back plans for a drone development programme aimed at cutting its reliance on U.S. and Israeli rivals and bolstering its position in the industry. European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday will throw their weight behind a drive to build a next-generation European surveillance drone by 2020 to 2025, according to a draft communiqué seen by Reuters.
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12/18/2013
The 2013 sale of 22 Swedish JAS 39E Gripen jet fighters to Switzerland was the last act in a very contentious competition between the Gripen, the French Rafale, and the Anglo-German (mainly) Eurofighter. Most of the secret evaluations of the three fighters were recently leaked to the media and provided some interesting insights on all three aircraft. The Gripen won the competition not because it was the best fighter but because it was OK on all counts and it was the cheapest.
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12/18/2013
Various units from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps came together to exercise their ability to conduct combat operations across the Pacific by participating in a nonstop operations surge Dec. 10 to Dec. 13 on Guam and the nearby island of Tinian.
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12/18/2013
For the first time, agencies involved in designing and developing light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas will display to the country what a pilot can do in its cockpit while the aircraft is in the sky. Dedicating the aircraft to the nation, National Flight Testing Centre (NFTC) pilots will take it to the skies during an official flypast this Friday, marking the second Initial Operational Clearance (IOC-2) of Tejas.
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12/18/2013
Before the sun rises, the sound of an F-16 Fighting Falcon can be heard taking off, breaking the dull silence of the morning as they participate in a two week close air support training exercise with various squadrons and units.
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12/18/2013
A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan has killed six US soldiers, the deadliest day for American troops in the country since March. There was no fighting reported in the area where the aircraft came down, Nato said in a brief statement, and Afghan officials including the provincial governor and police chief said the chopper had suffered a mechanical fault.
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12/18/2013
Well before the Joint Strike Fighter has flown one combat mission, the Air Force is already talking about the next generation of fighter aircraft that will succeed it. Despite the budget crunch that has paralyzed most military modernization programs, Air Force leaders are talking about developing the sixth generation fighter jet as well as a new cargo plane that would replace the C-130 and C-17.
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12/18/2013
Iran believes its contract to buy S-300 missile defense systems from Russia is legitimate and expects it to be fulfilled, Iran’s ambassador to Russia said Tuesday. Mehdi Sanai said the systems “are defensive, so no international laws, norms and rules are violated.” Sanai said that he had discussed the issue with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the latter’s visit to Iran, and noted Moscow’s “good will in its resolution.”
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12/17/2013
A MiG-31 'Foxhound' combat aircraft operated by the Russian Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily - VVS) crashed in the Far Eastern Primorye region on 14 December, national media disclosed. The twin-seat interceptor came down some 26 km from the Tsentralnaya Uglovaya airbase near Vladivostok, RIA Novosti reported. Both crew members are said to have ejected safely.
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12/17/2013
Cassidian, EADS’ military division soon to be transformed into Airbus Defense and Space) celebrated last week the delivery of the 400s Typhoons jet fighter to the customer – the German Luftwaffe. On December 4th the 400th Typhoon that received the marking ‘31+06’ at the company’s Military Air Systems Center at Manching, near Munich was the 112 Typhoon delivered to the German Air Force.
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12/17/2013
The four diminutive cargo planes parked on the National Guard air base in this Rust Belt town last year never would have been selected for a recruiting poster. Lacking the grace of a fighter or the girth of a freighter, the newly built twin-prop aircraft were the minivans of combat aviation — unsexy, utilitarian haulers of people and gear. But that didn’t matter to pilots and ground crews here. They loved the planes, as did troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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12/17/2013
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf last week reassuring them the United States is not abandoning them while seeking a rapprochement with Iran, their main rival, and one way to do that is make available advanced weapons systems that have long been withheld.
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12/17/2013
Japan will boost its military spending in coming years, buying early-warning planes, beach-assault vehicles and troop-carrying aircraft, while seeking closer ties with Asian partners to counter a more militarily assertive China.
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12/17/2013
The Air Force will spend more money to boost combat readiness if Congress passes a budget to reduce the impact of sequestration, but the military branch is still exploring how additional dollars might impact spending, the service branch's top leaders said Friday. Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh briefed reporters on the state of the military service in an annual address.
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12/17/2013
The plan to export Czech-made L-159 fighter jets to Iraq has definitively failed, daily Hospodárské noviny (HN) writes today, adding that Iraq signed a contract for the purchase of 24 FA-50 combat aircraft from South Korea earlier this month. The Czech Aero Vodochody aircraft maker negotiated about the possible sale of L-159s worth about $1 billion for several years.
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12/17/2013
A batch of Su-34 fighter jets was delivered to Russia’s military Monday in the final consignment under a 2008 deal with the Defense Ministry for Sukhoi aircraft maker to deliver 32 of the two-seat bombers. The aircraft, also known by the NATO codename Fullback, were handed over at the Novosibirsk aircraft plant, which is part of the Sukhoi holding company.
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12/17/2013
Russia’s Air Force has grounded all MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor jets while investigators establish the cause of a crash of one of the planes, RIA Novosti has learned. The temporary suspension was imposed after a MiG-31 crashed near the Tsentralnaya Uglovaya airbase outside Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Saturday, an Air Force source said. The two-man crew guided the aircraft to a deserted area before ejecting to safety and they were released from hospital Monday.
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12/16/2013
On November 25th Pakistan announced that it had put the two locally made UAVs designs (Burraq and Shahpar) into service. Pakistan has used some foreign (mostly Chinese) made UAVs in the last decade, without much success. These two new models are means to give the Pakistani military something they can use on a regular basis. While the basic technology of recon UAVs is widely available, the ability to build and maintain reliable UAVs is another matter.
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12/16/2013
The US Army has successfully used a vehicle-mounted laser to shoot down numerous mortar rounds and drone aircraft for the first time. Taking place over the course of several weeks, the test involved destroying more than 90 incoming mortar rounds and multiple drones. Eventually, the Army hopes to test an even more advanced laser system that could shoot down more dangerous weapons, such as incoming cruise missiles.
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12/16/2013
India is yearsbehind the Chinese military withthe Communist neighbour currentlyoutnumbering the country’scombat power by a 3:1ratio, a defence ministry documenthas revealed.India hopes to bridge the gap inthe next 15 years by improvingits fighting capacity with newstealth jets, aircraft carriers,nuclear-powered submarines,warships and land-based strikeformations.
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12/16/2013
China’s declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea on November 23 confounded many observers, including veteran China-watchers. The move alarmed China’s neighbors and was met with a rapid U.S. response, which involved flying two unarmed B-52s through the zone as a form of calibrated defiance.
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12/16/2013
Yemen's parliament on Sunday called for a stop to drone attacks in a symbolic vote that reflected growing public anxiety about Washington's use of the unmanned aircraft to combat al-Qaeda in the impoverished country. Motions passed by the Yemeni parliament are not binding and can be struck down by the president, and are seen as no more than recommendations to the government.
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12/16/2013
U.S. Air Force bomber experts are surveying industry to find companies with the expertise to upgrade power control and distribution systems aboard the B-52H jet bomber to apply MIL-STD-1760 power to the B-52H's bomb-bay and underwing weapons.
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12/16/2013
Three decades after the project started, India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is all set for initial operational clearance and production, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief Avinash Chander said Sunday. The DRDO got permission to start the programme to design and develop an indigenous Light Combat Aircraft way back in 1983.
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12/16/2013
Enhancing the Army Special Forces' capabilities to airdrop combat vehicles and heavy equipment, DRDO has developed a a heavy system which can drop loads up to 16 tonnes from the IL-76 transport aircraft using parachutes.
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12/16/2013
On December 11th India retired its 124 remaining MiG-21FL jet fighters. This is the first phase of India retiring all of its MiG-21s. There were originally twice as many MiG-21FLs, which was the first MiG and first supersonic jet in Indian service. These aircraft arrived in the 1960s and 70s and until their retirement were used for training new fighter pilots. The MiG-21FL trainers and will be replaced by the new Indian designed and made Tejas light fighter.
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12/16/2013
The second consignment of Russian weapons and military equipment, to be delivered to Iraq under the deal signed in 2012, will arrive later than previously announced, a senior Iraqi lawmaker said on Sunday. Last year, Iraq signed a $4.3 billion deal with Moscow to buy Russian weapons and military equipment, including around 40 Mi-35 and Mi-28NE attack helicopters. Iraq took collection of the first four Mi-35 helicopter gunships this fall.
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12/15/2013
A Chinese air force pilot was killed when a fighter plane crashed during night training in east China's Zhejiang Province, the defence ministry announced on Friday. The Jian-8 plane crashed in Anji County in Zhejiang Province on last night, leaving the pilot dead, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
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12/15/2013
MP Yuriy Syrotiuk (the Svoboda faction) said that two Russian IL-76 military transport aircraft are staying in Hostomel in Kyiv region with unknown purposes. "It’s known for sure that two Russian military aircraft are staying in Hostomel. It's unknown whom and what they brought to Kyiv, but they are staying there," Syrotiuk told a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.
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12/15/2013
Operational Clearance (IOC) later this month. Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, said the '4plus generation' LCA designated as 'Tejas', is all set to be inducted in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the project for Mark II, designed to be more powerful and capable, will commence soon. After long delays and several cost overruns, Tejas, which will replace aged fighter aircraft MIG 21, will be inducted on December 20 in Bangalore by Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
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12/15/2013
Typhoon has lost the bid offering 60 aircraft for the Government of South Korea. The Koreans initially favored the newest version of the Boeing F-15, known as the ‘Silent Eagle’, but later reverted to opt buying only 40 of the F-35A stealth fighter from Lockheed Martin. Given this precondition, EADS is currently offering the Koreans a mix of two jet fighters – namely, buying 40 Eurofighter Typhoons and 20 F-35s for their next-generation fighter procurement project.
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12/15/2013
Canada is rejecting a Vatican call for the United Nations to take a closer look at the ethics and legality of drone warfare, The Catholic Register has learned. The Holy See made its first statement ever about weaponized drones and other automated weapons systems at a United Nations arms control meeting in Geneva Nov. 14.
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12/15/2013
And yet, Illustrious' retirement sets the stage for a new age in aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. That same year, Britain aims to launch the lead vessel of a new class of carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The new Queen will be a technological marvel, equipped with a new "highly mechanized weapon handling system" that can be operated, in a pinch, by as few as a dozen sailors. The entire vessel, twice the size of the carrier it is replacing, will boast a crew of only 679 souls.
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12/15/2013
Two Russian Air Force crew members ejected to safety when their MiG-31 interceptor crashed on Saturday in the Far Eastern Primorye region, local authorities said. The aircraft went down 26 kilometers from the Tsentralnaya Uglovaya airbase near Vladivostok, after taking off at 5:07 a.m. Moscow time from the Knevichy airfield.
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12/14/2013
Britain's high-profile drive to sell Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets in the Persian Gulf seems to be running into trouble, with the United Arab Emirates reportedly having second thoughts about acquiring as many as 60 of the aircraft. If Emirates' planned $10 billion procurement to replace its aging Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000-9 jets to counter regional rival Iran is still on, that could boost the prospects of the Typhoon's main rival, Dassault's Rafale multirole fighter.
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12/14/2013
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has offered SE Asian countries almost $20bn in aid and loans, in what is being seen as an effort to combat Chinese expansion. The announcement came at a summit in Tokyo, weeks after China's declaration of a new air defence zone overlapping areas claimed by Japan and South Korea.
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12/14/2013
Japan's Self-Defense Forces will acquire 17 of the U.S. military's controversial Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft over five years from next April, a source close to the issue said Friday. Japan will also purchase three surveillance drones and 52 amphibious vehicles to enhance its capability to defend remote islands, the source said.
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12/14/2013
An Indian Defence Ministry document has revealed that it will take nearly 15 years for the South Asian country to improve its fighting capacity to China’s level as the communist neighbour is currently outnumbering India’s combat power by a 3:1 ratio.
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12/14/2013
The first F-35A Lightning II fighter jet destined for Luke Air Force Base rolled out of a Lockheed Martin assembly plant here Friday amid cheers and whoops from military and political leaders, and a blaring rendition of rock legend AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” Dozens more of the twin-tailed planes will follow.
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12/14/2013
A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials. The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.
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12/14/2013
At a ceremony attended by more than 2,000 employees and guests, Lockheed Martin celebrated the production of its 100th F-35 Lightning II. Defense leaders Gen. Robin Rand, Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Brig. Gen. Michael Rothstein, Commander, 56th Fighter Wing, Luke AFB, Ariz., joined the employees who build the F-35 for the celebration.
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12/14/2013
The 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., received another C-130J Super Hercules that was ferried from the Lockheed Martin plant here by a U.S. Air Force crew, Dec. 12, 2013.
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12/14/2013
Greek armed forces test-fired a Russian-made S-300 air defense system on Friday, for the first time since it was bought 14 years ago. Greece is the only NATO member that has an S-300 in service. The system was initially purchased by Cyprus in the mid-1990s, and was later transferred to the Greek island of Crete following objections from Turkey.
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12/13/2013
This morning, Textron AirLand successfully completed the first flight of the Scorpion, the company's new tactical twinjet, which was announced earlier this year. The Scorpion took off from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, and flew for 1.4 hours.
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12/13/2013
The Indian Air Force is negotiating with French aviation major Dassault Aviation's Rafale for 126 medium fighter jets in a multi-billion dollar deal, Chief of Air Staff of IAF, Air Chief Marshall N A K Browne today said. The deal suffered a "setback" due to the death of an official, who handled the negotiation, in September. Now a new Joint Secretary has joined last week to take the negotiations forward, Browne told reporters here.
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12/13/2013
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Singapore's Defense Minister Dr. Ng Eng Hen met today at the Pentagon and reaffirmed their countries’ longstanding defense relationship. Minister Ng is in the United States to witness the Singapore Armed Forces' Exercise Forging Sabre and the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Republic of Singapore Air Force's Peace Carvin II F-16 detachment.
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12/13/2013
Ukraine has served as a back channel for China to circumvent Russia’s intellectual property rights protections. In recent years, debt-ridden Kiev sold to Beijing hundreds of Russian-made aircraft engines to equip China’s JL-trainers and J-10 and J-11 combat aircraft — themselves knockoffs of Russia’s Sukoi fighter jets.
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12/13/2013
The MiG-21 FL fighter jet from Indian Air Force (IAF), which had changed the course of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh due to its accuracy, flew into the annals of history yesterday. “I have the greatest professional regard for MiG-21. The agility of MiG-21 cannot be matched by any of the present day fighters,” the Hindustan Times quoted Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne as saying while bidding farewell to one of the first variants of MiG-21 combat aircraft.
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12/13/2013
Artyom Ivanovich Mikoyan, the outstanding Soviet aircraft designer, created aircraft that set 55 world records. Here’s a look at five of the most interesting designs produced by the MiG Experimental Design Bureau.
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12/13/2013
The indigenously developed light combat aircraft 'Tejas' would officially replace the MiG-21 FL fighter jet, Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne said on Thursday. "One major phase has passed over and now we look toward the new induction into the force. The LCA will replace the MiG-21," Browne told reporters at the headquarter of Eastern Air Command here.
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12/13/2013
Iraq signed a $1.1 billion deal Thursday to buy 24 multi-role light fighters from South Korea, officials said, in what will be the Asian nation's biggest arms export. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said it would deliver the T-50IQ, a variant of its T-50 supersonic aircraft, to Baghdad between 2015 and 2016, under the terms of the deal signed in Seoul.
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12/13/2013
President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday against foreign powers seeking to secure a military advantage over Russia and said any attempts to destroy the existing global strategic balance would be futile. Speaking in his annual State of the Nation address, Putin dismissed arguments that the proposed European missile shield is defensive only and described it as having a strategically offensive potential.
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12/13/2013
Russia could quadruple its annual arms sales to $50 billion by 2020 in a race for the top spot on the global arms exporters list, a senior government official said Thursday. “Not counting inflation, I think we could reach $50 billion [in arms exports] annually by 2020,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Moscow. “It is four times the current amount.”
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12/12/2013
Loyal readers of Flashpoints know any type of new Chinese military weapon or gadget is always a hot topic of conversation for this blog. And rightly so—Beijing has presented us defense geeks with new ballistic and cruise missile technology, a new carrier with rumors of a domestically built flattop allegedly under construction, fresh ICBM’s, increasingly advanced submarines and more. The rumor mill is always churning with new developments and technologies to digest and dissect.
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12/12/2013
The paragraphs were slipped into a massive defense bill by a Mississippi senator. Part assertion, part plea, they are aimed at the Pentagon, and more than anything else, they reflect the worry that Sikorsky Aircraft and other helicopter manufacturers feel about their future. Rather than investing in new technologies and funding a new generation of rotary winged aircraft, the Pentagon is moving to upgrade existing helicopters.
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12/12/2013
Advanced Typhoon fighter aircraft took part in the advanced tactical leadership course (ATLC), led by the UAE Air Force’s Air Warfare Centre, to ensure the UAE and its allies can operate together effectively to support security in the Arabian Gulf. Flt Lt Jim Fordham, a Typhoon pilot with 3 (Fighter) Squadron, said the exercise helped the RAF to share knowledge with the UAE.
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12/12/2013
Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody Aerospace is developing the concept of new aircraft L-169, which will have more Czech-made equipment and longer flying range compared with the older L-159 version, news servers iDnes and Aktuálne.cz said today. The design philosophy of the new model is based on the older L-39 Albatros aircraft, which is still used in a number of countries.
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12/12/2013
This is the view from the cockpit of Britain’s newest Typhoon jet fighter. Test flights have begun on the latest version of the £80 million Typhoon, which will be able to carry more fuel, heavier weapons and a new generation of radar. The RAF will next year start taking delivery of 40 of the new fighters which are the third version of the Eurofighter jet.
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12/12/2013
Even as the workhorse of the Indian Air Force, MiG-21, bowed out on Wednesday, indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, is just a formality away from passing into the hands of the force. Dubbed the world’s lightest fighter, the tail-less little wonder is due to ceremonially earn its initial operational clearance (IOC) and move closer to joining the IAF at its birthplace, Bangalore, on December 20.
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12/12/2013
The MiG-21 FL fighter jet, which had heralded the "supersonic era" in IAF and had changed the course of the 1971 Indo-Pak war due to its accuracy, flew into the annals of history on Wednesday. "I have the greatest professional regard for MiG-21. The agility of MiG-21 cannot be matched by any of the present day fighters," Browne said after bidding adieu to one of the first variants of MiG-21 combat aircraft, which dealt severe blows to Pakistan air force in the 1971 Bangladesh war.
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12/12/2013
A senior government minister warned Wednesday that Russia could retaliate with a nuclear strike if a new US military strategy threatened its security. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia was “preparing a response” to plans by the United States to develop a new fast-strike weapons platform capable of hitting high-priority targets around the globe.
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12/12/2013
Russia will soon start developing a prototype of an advanced lightweight fighter jet to supplement fifth-generation T-50 aircraft, a top government official said Wednesday. The new aircraft is expected to be cheaper to produce and easier to maintain, but should also possess combat capabilities and performance characteristics comparable with those of heavy-class aircraft.
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12/12/2013
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has delivered its first F-35 Lightning II centre fuselage to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin at a ceremony held at TAI's facilities in Ankara, Turkey today. This is the first F-35 centre fuselage manufactured by TAI as an international manufacturing partner to Northrop Grumman. The centre fuselage will be installed into a U. S. Air Force aircraft at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Fort Worth, Texas.
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12/11/2013
Japanese complaints about growing incidents of Russian warplanes flying close to Japanese air space have left Russian officials perplexed. The Russian aircraft are flying more training missions in the Pacific and there is a lot of Japanese airspace off the east coast of Eurasia, so Russian warplanes out there cannot avoid passing close to Japanese air defense radars. In the last six months Japanese fighters have been sent aloft an average of once a day to check out approaching Russian warplanes.
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12/11/2013
A Chinese man accused of trying to export high-grade carbon fiber to his home country from the United States for use in military aircraft was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly five years in prison, federal prosecutors in New York said. Ming Suan Zhang, 42, pleaded guilty on Aug. 19 to one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for trying to export aerospace-grade carbon fiber, a controlled commodity, without a license.
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12/11/2013
Once again, the U.S. Chair Force wants to sacrifice the blood of the heroic infantry in favor of Mitchellesque strategic-bombing dreams and white-scarf fighter missions. It should be disbanded and its functions assigned to fighting services made up of Real Men.
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12/11/2013
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel reaffirmed US military ties with Qatar on Tuesday, during a regional tour aimed at shoring up Gulf alliances amid disagreements over policy on Iran and Syria. Hagel met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and his minister of state for defence, Major General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah, in Doha where they renewed a defence agreement.
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12/11/2013
Navy MH-60S Seahawk Helicopters and MV-22B Ospreys landed Dec. 9 at the recently cleared Baker and Charlie runways on Tinian’s North Field during Exercise Forager Fury II. The MH-60S executed forward arming and refueling point training while the Ospreys transported troops to the location during the exercise which allows Marine Aircraft Group 12 to improve aviation combat readiness and will simulate operations in a deployed, expeditionary environment.
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12/11/2013
While the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan winds down the price tag for waste in the funding for the Afghan Security Forces continues to rise. The most recent evidence of mismanagement emerged during Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko’s recent visit when he found 16 C27A aircrafts waiting to be destroyed at the Kabul International Airport.
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12/11/2013
France's Dassault Aviation and Reliance IndustriesBSE 0.57 % are planning to set up a facility to produce wings of Rafale combat aircraft selected by IAF for meeting its requirement of 126 fighter planes. The two firms are planning to set up a Rs 1,000-crore facility for producing the wings of the Rafale combat aircraft and it is most likely to come up in Bangalore, industry sources told PTI here.
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12/11/2013
France is deploying a sizeable number of aircraft, including transport and combat helicopters, to the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of its intervention force there, which aims to improve the fragile humanitarian situation in the country. Other nations, including the United States and United Kingdom, are also contributing aircraft to support CAR operations.
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12/11/2013
The indigenously-developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has undertaken 2,400 sorties to meet the requirements of the IAF, which is set to induct the aircraft on December 20. "The LCA has clocked over 2400 flights till now with highest ever number of sorties achieved in the current year. The programme has achieved highest ever average number of flights per aircraft per month during this year," HAL officials said here.
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12/11/2013
The Royal Australian Navy accepted the first two MH-60R helicopters from the U.S. Navy in a ceremony today at the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] facility in Owego, N.Y. “The advanced anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities of the MH-60 Romeo are a game-changer in shifting the advantage from the submarine to the helicopter, which is essential in today’s maritime security environment."
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12/10/2013
Boeing Co. must decide in March 2014 whether to invest tens of millions of dollars to continue production of the F/A-18 fighter jet, a senior Boeing executive said on Monday, underscoring his confidence that sufficient orders would emerge to keep the plane in production until beyond 2020.
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12/10/2013
An announcement by the U.S. Air Force last week may have gone largely unnoticed by most residents of Southern Utah. That announcement was that Hill Air Force Base near Ogden would be the home of the first operational wing of F-35A aircraft. The move means 72 of the fighter jets and their pilots will be stationed at Hill.
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12/10/2013
There is no more potent symbol of statehood than military power. It is not surprising therefore that Eurocrats regard defence policy as a key element in their drive for a state called Europe, playing a role on the global stage.
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12/10/2013
The first-generation Typhoon fighter jets are considered the most advanced multi-role/swing role combat aircraft in operation, and the next-gen Typhoon Tranche 3 models are even more impressive. Taking flight for the first time in a series of test runs, check out this beast of the skies in these majestic videos.
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12/10/2013
The evolution of technology has apparently altered the world and humanity’s existence at monumental proportions. Now, we have all the hi-tech gadgets which are useful to our daily grind. Whichever field, technology has offered tremendous contributions that simplified man’s endeavors. Thanks to the likes of Einstein and the tenacity of the world’s geniuses who make these changes possible.
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12/10/2013
A Russian fighter jet unit has arrived at a Belarusian airbase where it will be stationed on alert duty as part of an integrated regional air defense network, Belarusian news agency BelaPAN reported. Four Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets and technical personnel have been based at the Baranovichi airbase, BelaPAN said on Sunday.
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12/10/2013
Russia has begun testing a new radar designed to detect highly maneuverable aerial targets – including cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles – at a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (over 1,800 miles), allowing it to cover most of Europe. The new-generation over-the-horizon radar, dubbed Container, was put on trial duty near the town of Kovylkino in Russia’s republic of Mordovia on December 2.
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12/10/2013
The US Defense Department is facing allegations that it misled Congress over the purchase of Russian helicopters for Afghan security forces amid revelations that a Pentagon study recommended an American-built aircraft for the job, the Associated Press reported. The United States has bought dozens of Russian military transport helicopters for use in Afghanistan in the past two years.
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12/10/2013
he Abu Dhabi general aviation show is to take place a week earlier than planned, show organisers have said. The Abu Dhabi Air Expo event will now take place at the Al Bateen business aviation airport.on February 25-27.
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12/09/2013
South Korea has announced it is expanding its air defence zone, which will now partially overlap with a similar zone announced by China. The two zones will now both include a rock claimed by both countries and controlled by South Korea. The defence ministry said it would co-ordinate with "related countries".
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12/09/2013
US Army leaders are considering scrapping its entire fleet of Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters, while pulling the National Guard’s Boeing AH-64 Apaches into the active-duty force to fill the scout helicopter role as the Army seeks to fulfill its longer-term requirement of a newly developed armed aerial scout, according to several Army and defense industry sources.
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12/09/2013
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, has set sail from the Qingdao naval base in northern China's Shandong province and will reach the disputed South China Sea within months to conduct a range of military training exercises, our sister paper Want Daily reports.
The J-15 naval carrier-based fighter jets will also join in the military exercises and will conduct live-fire tests to enhance air defense anti-missile, anti-ship, anti-submarine capabilities in three areas.
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12/09/2013
In the last years of the twentieth century, two weapons changed the way that America fights air wars: smart bombs (bombs that “see” a target using a television camera or a radiation sensor, or that head for a programmed location) and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Smart bombs came into their own in the first Gulf War.
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12/09/2013
If the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has taken decades for completion, it is now in a record-breaking sprint to the finish line. The Tejas has flown an unprecedented 450 test flights this year towards a splashy ceremony in Bangalore scheduled for December 20, where Defence Minister A K Antony will preside over its induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF).
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12/09/2013
India’s first set of Russian-made MiG-21FL supersonic combat jets is all set to be phased out from the air force on December 11, with Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne presiding over the event. The deafening roar of the Mikoyan-Gurevich plane’s afterburner, an iconic delta-wing fighter aircraft that heralded the ‘supersonic era’ in the Indian Air Force (IAF), will no longer be heard. It will fly into the annals of military aviation history once the MiG-21FL supersonic combat jet comes into use.
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12/09/2013
First flown by manufacturer Fairchild-Republic in 1972, and bearing the official name "Thunderbolt II," the A-10 was designed as a "tank buster" to blunt the edge of an armored Soviet invasion of Western Europe. But the world has changed a lot since then.
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12/07/2013
Two European countries are separately seeking support services and aircraft from the United States under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation agency, in its required notifications to Congress, said the sales would have a combined value of $307 million.
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12/07/2013
By sending its first aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, Beijing aims at more effective control over disputed islands in the region, but the vessel has five major weaknesses that make it unable to match up against U.S. carriers, according to a Friday report in a Chinese state-run newspaper.
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12/07/2013
The US military has stepped up its use of drones over the past decade, and the Navy has just announced the successful testing of another new drone, which was launched from an underwater submarine. The drone, dubbed “XFC” after its eXperimental Fuel Cell, is an all-electric, fuel cell-powered, unmanned aerial system (UAS), according to a Navy press release. The drone was developed through the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) SwampWorks program.
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12/07/2013
Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH says a milestone has been reached in its Typhoon fighter program - delivery of the 400th production aircraft to Germany. The delivery of the Typhoon to the German Air Force on Wednesday also coincided with the first flight of a Trance 3 Typhoon.
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12/07/2013
The Marines are putting their combat power to work with exercise Forager Fury II between Guam and Tinian this week. The exercise includes more than 1,200 Marines and Sailors working out of Andersen Air Force Base and 400-500 Marines mostly working on Baker Runway in Tinian.
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12/07/2013
Israel has envisioned the design of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack enemy fighter-jets.
The Israel Air Force has been examining the prospect of a new generation of UAVs that could intercept enemy warplanes. The proposal to the Air Force was meant to reduce dependence on expensive manned aircraft platforms, including the Joint Strike Fighter of the United States.
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12/07/2013
The latest top secret unmanned spy plane to be uncovered isn’t just a design idea, it’s already flying at the Air Force’s famed Area 51. Unlike the recently announced SR-72, the new RQ-180 from Northrop Grumman is believed to be currently in flight testing according to Aviation Week and Space Technology.
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12/07/2013
Boeing and Saab AB [Stockholm: SAABB] have signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to jointly develop and build a new advanced, cost-efficient T-X Family of Systems training solution for the upcoming competition to replace the U.S. Air Force's aging T-38 aircrew training system. The JDA, with Boeing as the prime contractor and Saab AB as primary partner, covers areas including design, development, production, support, sales and marketing.
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12/07/2013
Japan placed its air force on alert on Friday after two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers flew near its airspace, the Japanese military said. The two Russian bombers reportedly flew near Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido island and flew above the Sea of Japan past the Honshu island. The Russian aircraft did not violate the country’s airspace, but Japanese fighter jets were put on alert, the Japan Self-Defense Forces said.
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12/06/2013
Discovery Air Inc. ("Discovery Air") announced today the pending acquisition of Advanced Training Systems International, Inc. ("ATSI") by Discovery Air Defence Services Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Discovery Air). ATSI is a U.S. airborne training services company based in Mesa, Arizona. It currently owns a fleet of ten (10) Douglas A-4 Skyhawk aircraft and offers airborne training services, including, among other services, tactical "Red Air" services, fighter lead-in training.
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12/06/2013
Maintainers from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, used innovation and flexibility to ensure mission success during the first-ever Israeli Blue Flag exercise. Blue Flag, which took place Nov. 24-28, was a multinational aerial warfare training exercise hosted by the Israeli air force and included forces from the U.S., Israel, Italy and Greece.
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12/06/2013
Britain is discussing offering logistical support to France for its military operation in the Central African Republic, officials said Thursday, an effort that could mirror U.K. assistance for a previous French intervention in Mali. The U.N. Security Council on Thursday authorized increased military action by France and African troops to try to end near-anarchy in the impoverished country.
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12/06/2013
High above the border province of Paktika, in eastern Afghanistan, NATO airwaves crackle and shriek. “Kandahar this is Card Shark Seven-Eight at ten”, a Texan twang rings over the radio. An Australian dispatcher guides a different aeroplane: “Charlie Lima approved for niner zero”. “Pyramid One-One are you on this frequency?” bellows another American.
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12/06/2013
A former top general of the Air Force weighed in on the debate over the future of the A-10, saying it is time to let the venerable jet go and move on to newer jets that can face newer threats. “You got to let it go and progress in to the next generation,” said retired Gen. T. Michael Moseley, who served as chief of staff of the Air Force from September 2005 to July 2008.
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12/06/2013
Airbus Military has tested a roll-on, roll-off firefighting system for use on its C295 medium airlifted. The self-funded development program aims to widen the multi-mission capability and appeal of the twin-turboprop transport. Early trials conducted at a site near Cordoba, Spain, in October tested how the aircraft reacts when large amounts of water are released.
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12/06/2013
Lockheed Martin delivered its 14th C-5M Super Galaxy to the U.S. Air Force from its facilities here today. An Air Force crew flew the Super Galaxy to Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y., where it will undergo internal paint restoration before traveling to its permanent home at Dover Air Force Base, Del. It is the second C-5M delivery in the last two weeks and the fourth for 2013.
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12/06/2013
The 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., received another C-130J Super Hercules, which was ferried today from the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] plant here. Maj. Gen. Timothy Zadalis, commander, 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center), Scott Air Force Base, Ill., flew the Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft serial number 5736) to Little Rock AFB. Zadalis is a command pilot who has flown seven aircraft variants, including the C-130.
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12/06/2013
An MC-130J Commando II designated for Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., was ferried today from the Lockheed Martin plant here. This MC-130J has the distinction of being the 200th C-130J Super Hercules delivered to the U.S. Government, which is the largest Super Hercules operator.
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12/06/2013
Boeing has delivered the 13th production P-8A Poseidon ahead of schedule to the U.S. Navy, marking a perfect on-time record for the year. The aircraft's arrival at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 4 follows the Navy’s announcement of initial operational capability and first P-8A deployment last week.
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12/05/2013
The East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) has recently been the focal point of controversy. The Japanese government has waged wars of public opinion and a diplomatic offensive to demand China withdraw its ADIZ and threatened to handle the issue harshly. Combat aircraft from countries like Japan and the US flew across China's ADIZ without notifying China in advance, testing boundaries to see what they can get away with, while China monitored the moves throughout.
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12/05/2013
The Romanian Air Forces recently inaugurated their largest aircraft maintenance hangar, which will be used for the maintenance of the C-130 Hercules aircraft. The C-130 Hercules, produced by Lockheed, is the largest aircraft owned by the Air Forces, which runs four such military planes.
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12/05/2013
The U.S. Air Force may have to cut funding for research and development unless Congress reverses a law requiring across the board spending cuts, the No. 2 Air Force acquisition official said. Lieutenant General Charles Davis, military deputy to the Air Force's top weapons buyer, said Pentagon leaders were determined to protect funding in new technologies, but the Air Force would have to cut funding in that area somewhat to ensure the readiness of its forces if sequestration stayed in effect.
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12/05/2013
On Tuesday, the South Korean navy launched an air and sea military exercise in the area that China recently claimed as part of its East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). On Wednesday, the Korea Joongang Daily reported that, “The Korean Navy yesterday launched a joint sea and air military drill near the waters surrounding Ieodo” Rock. The report said the drill consisted of two P-3C maritime patrol aircraft as well as one of the ROK Navy’s three Aegis destroyers.
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12/05/2013
Putting a new missile or bomb on a warplane is not a simple process. It takes months, or years if there are problems. There’s lots of opportunities for problems. The process begins with lots of calculations that determine, in theory, if the new weapon will fit on the aircraft and be able to operate safely and effectively. There is software for this.
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12/05/2013
The day after Thanksgiving saw the VP-16 “War Eagles” become the Navy’s first operational P-8A Poseidon squadron to deploy overseas – when the first two of its six aircraft took off from NAS Jacksonville for Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. “I’m truly excited about leading the Navy’s first operational P-8A Poseidon deployment.
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12/05/2013
More than a decade after initiating the “War on Terror,” along with invasions and occupations that brought regime change to both Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington’s defense planners face the arduous task of refocusing America’s military towards the threats of the future: defeating anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) weapons and strategies that are quickly being adopted by nations and non-state actors alike.
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12/05/2013
A $151 million deal for 14 Boeing CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopters to South Korea has gotten the green light from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). Released under the Foreign Military Sales program, the Dec. 3 DSCA notification said the aircraft will be sold and transferred to South Korea incrementally once the US Army begins taking receipt of new-production CH-47F model aircraft, a process estimated to begin in the January time frame.
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12/05/2013
Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet is making good progress as it nears initial combat use by the U.S. Marine Corps in July 2015, but the company must still finalize the software needed to deliver weapons and fuse data from its many sensors, the Pentagon's F-35 program chief told Reuters on Wednesday.
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12/04/2013
Russia is finalizing an advanced air engagement system combining “fire-and-forget” guidance and “single-shot kill” ability within a single air-to-air missile. The system aims to frustrate any missile evasion maneuvers enabling a target to escape. The K-77M air-to-air missile with this advanced guidance system will be fitted on to the fifth-generation fighter jet PAK-FA (advanced frontline aircraft system, also codenamed T-50) and it will start to be delivered to the Russian Air Force by 2017.
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12/04/2013
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Moss Point, Miss., Unmanned Systems Center started production of the first NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) Block 40 Global Hawk aircraft, enhanced to meet NATO operational requirements.
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12/04/2013
The US Navy's (USN's) P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft programme has achieved initial operational capability (IOC) with the inaugural deployment of two aircraft on 29 November and their subsequent arrival at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, on 1 December.
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12/04/2013
Czech manufacturer Aero Vodochody Aerospace says it is party to negotiations between the Ministry of Defense and Draken International for the sale of its jets. Draken is a U.S. firm that provides tactical fighter aircraft for contract air services for customers such as the U.S. military for airborne adversary support, flight training, threat simulation, electronic warfare support, aerial refueling, research, and testing services.
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12/04/2013
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning ship, sailed out from a military port in Qingdao of east China's Shandong province to the South China Sea on the morning of November 26, accompanied by the guided missile destroyers "Shenyang" and "Shijiazhuang", the guided missile frigates "Yantai" and "Weifang" of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN). The Liaoning ship and its accompanying warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait into the South China Sea on November 28.
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12/04/2013
The Pentagon on Tuesday announced Utah will be the home for the Air Force’s first operational F-35A Lightning IIs, the controversial fighter jet. The announcement was not unexpected. The U.S. Air Force said in 2010 Hill Air Force Base was a preferred site for the F-35s.
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12/04/2013
In the absence of having any next-generation combat aircraft currently under development, Europe faces the risk of strategic downgrading, according to the France-based air and space academy.
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12/04/2013
Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Billie Flynn opened the second day of the Aerospace Innovation Forum in Montreal with a talk about innovations in military fighter aircraft. The key to pushing the envelope currently is to take the human, who has historically been the limiting factor, out of the equation to push what the aircraft itself can do, Flynn says. The F-22 was the start of that new paradigm.
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12/04/2013
Russia’s armed forces will conduct test flights of a drone aircraft from the United Arab Emirates early next year, the manufacturer said. The unmanned United 40 Block 5 long-range reconnaissance vehicle will be tested to assess whether it meets the military’s operational needs. The medium-altitude drone can stay airborne for more than 100 hours and can also be equipped with Namrod air-to-surface guided missiles.
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12/04/2013
Riyadh-based Al Raha Group for Technical Services has been awarded an estimated $45m extension of an existing contract for third party logistics, repair and return management services on Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15s.
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12/03/2013
The US called on China to scrap its newly declared air defence identification zone on Monday, warning that Beijing risked a potentially dangerous confrontation with Japan and its allies at the start of a trip to the region by vice-president Joe Biden. The explicit request for China to “rescind” threats against unannounced aircraft passing over a chain of islands in the East China sea was made by the US just hours after Biden landed in Tokyo ahead of a six-day trip to Japan, China and South Korea
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12/03/2013
No military aircraft from China have entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) since Beijing's recent demarcation of an ADIZ over the East China Sea, Defense Minister Yen Ming said Monday. Part of China's new ADIZ overlaps with Taiwan's, but no Chinese military aircraft have been spotted in Taiwan's air defense zone, Yen said at a hearing in the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
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12/03/2013
The Nigerian military said on Monday evening that five of its aircraft were ‘incapacitated’ when suspected Boko Haram members attacked an Airforce base in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Soldiers, however, killed 24 of the insurgents in a gun-battle, the defence headquarters said.
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12/03/2013
In the late 1980s, when it was apparent the Soviet Union was on its last legs, Colin Powell was Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser. One day, he found himself sitting at a table in the Kremlin across from the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. “Ah, General, I’m so sorry,” said Gorbachev, “you’ll have to find a new enemy.”
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12/03/2013
As much as we like the look of the F-22 Raptor (and we certainly do), the Russians have managed to give their own fifth-generation fighter, the PAK FA, a much better paint job. The last time we saw this futuristic aircraft, it was sporting a not-entirely displeasing blue camo color scheme, but this latest one is apparently called "shark camo.
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12/03/2013
Last week China announced a new air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, basically insisting it's in charge of the airspace over the disputed Senkaku Islands claimed by Japan. Japan and the United States said they would not recognize the ID zone and promptly sent in warplanes to underscore the point. U.S. B-52 bombers flew over the Senkakus, practically inviting a Chinese intervention.
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12/03/2013
he 82nd Aerial Target Squadron received the last of the "new" QF-4 aerial targets as the Vietnam-era aircraft landed here Nov. 19. The QF-4, Aircraft 68-0599, spent more than 20 years in the Air Force "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., before being brought back to life for one last mission.
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12/03/2013
Lockheed Martin will demonstrate the latest advancements in simulation and training for the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The event, Dec. 2-5, is the world's largest modeling, simulation and training conference.
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12/03/2013
Russia and the United States will hold a joint military exercise next July, a spokesman for Russia’s Central Military District said Monday. Col. Yaroslav Roshchupkin said the drill, dubbed Atlas Vision 2014, will be held in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals.
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12/02/2013
Syrian government helicopters dropped barrels full of explosives on a rebel-held town near the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 50 people in two separate attacks over the weekend, activists said on Sunday. The shelling hit near a bakery in the town of al-Bab, located east of Aleppo, killing at least 24 people, said Rami Abdurrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Akram al-Halabi, a rebel spokesman based in nearby in Aleppo.
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12/02/2013
U.S. special operations aviation experts are asking industry for new software tools to help helicopter pilots evade enemy radar and radar-guided missiles and weapons. Officials of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Special Operations Mission Planning Office (SOMPO) at Fort Eustis, Va., have released a broad-agency announcement (H92238-14-R-0001) for the Threat Modeling for Enhanced Helicopter Mission Planning program.
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12/02/2013
Faced with the twin challenges of a harsher competitive international marketplace and reduced national defense spending, Saab is launching a battle plan to increase profits and sales. The program will include cost-reduction initiatives and a greater focus on expanding high-in-potential niche business areas such as drone design and production.
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12/02/2013
Under abnormal conditions and in an unfamiliar location, maintainers from Royal Air Force Lakenheath had to use their creative minds and adaptability to ensure mission success during the first-ever Israeli “Blue Flag” exercise.
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12/02/2013
Electronic warfare (EW) experts at the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Nashua, N.H., will build 262 AN/ALE-55 fiber optic towed decoys (FOTDs) and 70 electronic frequency converters (EFC) under terms of a $28.2 million U.S. Navy contract announced last week.
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12/02/2013
The 2013 sale of 22 Swedish JAS 39E Gripen jet fighters to Switzerland was the last act in a very contentious competition between the Gripen, the French Rafale and the Anglo-German (mainly) Eurofighter. Most of the secret evaluations of the three fighters were recently leaked to the media and provided some interesting insights on all three aircraft. The Gripen won the competition not because it was the best fighter but because it was OK on all counts and it was the cheapest.
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12/02/2013
The U.S. Navy’s X-47B UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) successfully carried out more tests aboard an aircraft carrier during November. In this case both existing X-47Bs were used. This comes after an X-47B made two out of three carrier landings for the first time on July 10th. The November tests further stressed the capabilities of the automatic landing system, especially in high speed and complex (different directions) winds. The autolanding systems passed all these tests.
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12/01/2013
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Saturday denied Beijing’s claim that it scrambled fighter jets in response to Self-Defense Forces aircraft that had entered China’s new air defense identification zone, saying Tokyo has received no such reports. “There have been no abnormal situations, such as (Chinese) aircraft suddenly approaching (SDF planes in the ADIZ), as announced by China yesterday,” Onodera, surrounded by reporters, said Saturday morning.
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12/01/2013
Tension escalated over the East China Sea after China scrambled its fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes in the new defence zone on Friday. China's defence ministry said its military was on "high alert," and prepared to act "based on different air threats to firmly ensure air-defence safety."
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12/01/2013
The U.S. military is conducting daily flights through China’s newly declared air-defense zone without notifying Beijing authorities in advance, a U.S. defense official said today. The disclosure indicates that U.S. flight activity in the area, where China has unilaterally sought to exert control, is more extensive than was previously known. The Pentagon had acknowledged a flight by two unarmed B-52 bombers through the air zone earlier this week.
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12/01/2013
China, Japan and the United States are continuing their tense standoff in Beijing's disputed new air defense zone Friday - a treacherous situation that both sides warn could lead to violence, intended or not. To this point, a senior official in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said Friday that commercial airlines are being told to abide by Beijing's call to notify it of plans to traverse the newly declared zone over the East China Sea, even if the U.S. government doesn't recognize it
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12/01/2013
Chief of Air Staff (CoAS) Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne on Saturday stressed on the significance of jointmanship in the armed forces. "Any future operational response will demand an integrated strategy and employment of service specific strengths in a joint operation," he said. Browne, who also heads the Chiefs of Staff Committee, was addressing the passing out parade of the 125th course at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla.
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