February 14, 2014 Military Aviation News
02/14/2014
France recently received its first two American Reaper UAVs and immediately put them to work. These are replacing older Harfang UAVs. France wasted no time in retiring the Harfangs as three of them have been given (or sold very cheaply) to Morocco. France and Morocco have long had good relations, especially in military matters.
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02/14/2014
Gliding through the air like a phantom in the night, the B-2 Spirit evades enemy air defenses, finds its target, then unleashes its firepower only to slip away from the enemy as quietly as it came. During the years, Red Flag exercises have progressed from dog fight air-to-air combat training into complete combat integration involving all aspects of air warfare. Air-to-ground attacks are a vital part of an air campaign, and the 13th Bomb Squadron brings the B-2, a vital asset, to that fight.
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02/14/2014
With a substantial contract under its belt to upgrade South Korea’s fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s, BAE Systems is now looking to extend its activities in the market for modifying other nations’ aircraft by looking at Boeing’s F-15 and F/A-18 jets, said executives from the US arm of the British-based company.
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02/14/2014
Swedish defense group Saab AB hopes that a recent Brazilian order for its Gripen aircraft will help it win more fighter-jet deals from other countries, even as the company’s fourth-quarter earnings fell amid tough market conditions, its chief executive said Thursday. “Brazil’s choice of Gripen has received attention across the globe,” Hakan Buskhe told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. “This gives an extra boost to a number of other discussions that we are involved in.”
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02/14/2014
A UK trade body has said that it still sees the potential of supplying Eurofighter to India, which has postponed till the next fiscal its plan to buy 126 fighter planes from France's Dassault Aviation. "We are very keen, should the opportunity arise, to offer India a cost effective solution," Adam Thomas, a senior spokesman for the Defence & Security Organization at the UK Trade and Investment, told PTI at the Singapore Airshow here.
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02/14/2014
Boeing Co is mounting a last-ditch campaign to convince U.S. lawmakers to buy more fighter jets and stave off a shutdown of a St. Louis production line after the U.S. Navy failed to fund the jets. The Navy's fiscal 2015 budget plan omits funding for any extra F/A-18E/F Super Hornets or EA-18G Growlers, according to several sources familiar with the issue. The White House is due to submit its 2015 budget request to Congress on March 4.
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02/14/2014
While the Indonesian government is snubbing the Singapore Airshow this week, the country’s main military manufacturer is using it as an opportunity for a coming-out party, with staff members in orange flight suits courting potential buyers. The showing for the state-owned manufacturer, Indonesian Aerospace, which almost collapsed after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, represents a new sense of optimism that has not been seen in the country’s domestic military sector since the 1980s.
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02/14/2014
Russian aircraft makers are expected to manufacture about 150 military and civilian aircraft in 2014, a government official said Thursday. “The plan for 2014 stipulates production of over 100 combat aircraft and 46 civilian planes, including 40 Sukhoi Superjets,” said Andrei Boginsky, who heads the aviation construction department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
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02/14/2014
Pakistan today said it is looking to sell JF-17 Thunder combat jets and trainer aircraft to Saudi Arabia, but rejected reports it was in talks with the oil-rich nation for nuclear cooperation. Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is scheduled to visit Pakistan during February 15-17. The visit is expected to focus on deeper security and defence cooperation between the two sides.
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02/14/2014
Boeing today delivered Kuwait's first C-17 Globemaster III airlifter, an aircraft that will expand the Kuwait Air Force's capabilities in military and civilian operations, including humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
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