April 22, 2014 Military Aviation News
04/22/2014
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Sunday there have been an “abnormal” number of flights by Russian military aircraft close to Japanese islands in recent days. The country’s air defense force scrambled fighter jets for seven days in a row through Saturday after spotting Russian military planes flying along the Japanese archipelago, according to the Defense Ministry.
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04/22/2014
National Guard attack helicopter units just can’t be as battle-ready as full-time regular Army ones, Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine Fox has been telling the Hill. That’s why the Guard should give all its AH-64 Apache gunships to the active-duty force to replace older aircraft lost to budget cuts.
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04/22/2014
The Russian Ministry of Defense has placed an order for its first 16 Mikoyan MiG-29 SMT jet fighters in the “new light tactical version,” Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG said in a statement The fighters were modernized and fitted with improved ability to eliminate air, ground and sea targets with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, the statement said.
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04/22/2014
The U.S. approved plans to sell Mexico as many as 18 Black Hawk helicopters in a $680 million deal aimed at bolstering efforts to combat drug trafficking. The State Department approved the potential sale of 18 UH-60M Black Hawks made by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in an announcement that comes ahead of a planned visit to Mexico this week by U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
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04/22/2014
The NATO alliance should focus on its historic mission of deterring Russian aggression in Europe as members wrap up their mission in Afghanistan, Poland’s defense minister said.
NATO members need to properly fund their militaries at “the level of defense spending that would guarantee that capabilities would grow and not deteriorate,” Tomasz Siemoniak said during a visit here last week.
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04/22/2014
The German government is taking part in the NATO mobilization in Eastern Europe with at least one warship and six combat planes. According to the Ministry of Defence, the vessel “Elba” will head a flotilla of five mine detectors due to depart soon from the port of Kiel in the Baltic Sea.
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04/22/2014
Those fighting to save the A-10 jet fighter are missing the point. The U.S. Air Force is the best in the world at close air support in a permissive environment like Afghanistan, even without the A-10. In the future, elite U.S. forces can do without it as the military continues to chase terrorists across the Middle East and Africa, and the A-10 has even less purpose in any future high-end combat in more contested areas, like China, with rapidly improving air defenses.
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04/22/2014
More than 150 representatives of the Russian Air Force and their colleagues from Belarus will meet this week to discuss joint exercises and test the integration of the countries’ air forces and air defense systems, a spokesman for the Russian military said Monday. The meeting will take place at the Ashuluk Firing Range in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region from Monday to Friday, with Russian Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev overseeing the operations.
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