April 24, 2014 Military Aviation News
04/24/2014
Fighter jets were scrambled after two Russian military aircraft were spotted approaching UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets took off from RAF Leuchars in St Andrews, Fife, on Wednesday. The jets were sent to investigate the Russian planes, which are believed to have turned away shortly afterwards.
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04/24/2014
Dutch fighter jets scrambled Wednesday to intercept a pair of Russian military aircraft that entered their airspace, a fairly routine action that comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO, a Dutch official said. Maj. Wilko Ter Horst said that the military learned around 3:50 p.m. (9:50 a.m. ET) that two Russian TU-95 bombers, known as Bears, had come a half-mile inside its airspace.
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04/24/2014
The US Navy is close to the next phase of its plan to build squadrons of robotic “top guns,” carrier-based unmanned aircraft capable of collecting intelligence, watching for enemies, and bombing them if necessary. On April 17, the Naval Air Systems Command issued a “restricted” draft request for proposals for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system to the four contenders who have already been involved in the preliminary design review.
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04/24/2014
After a series of battle successes in the Syrian civil war over the last few months, Syrian President Bashar Assad may direct his army to renew efforts in the south of the country, primarily along the border with Jordan. The Arab media have published several reports in recent weeks to the effect that a major military campaign is in the works for the region in which the Syrian uprising erupted a little more than three years ago.
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04/24/2014
The failure of contracted pilots to keep their aircraft over water during an Oct. 5 night flight over Panama led to a crash that killed an Air National Guard member and three other crew members, according to an Air Combat Command-directed Accident Investigation Board report released Wednesday. The two pilots survived.
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04/24/2014
China’s military has used annual budget increases in excess of 10 percent to buy precision-guided weapons, fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. Now it’s seeking to upgrade its recruits to operate them. For Wu, a 20-year-old journalism student at a university in Beijing, that means his college fees are paid and he has an extra 3,500 yuan ($561) a year to live on.
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04/24/2014
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced in Canberra his government has approved the acquisition of a multi-billion jet fighters to boost Australia’s air defence capability. Australia will spend $12. 4 billion for 58 Texan-built F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter jets. Boasting the fighter planes’ capability, the prime minister gave some specs: a top speed of 1960km/h, fire air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and a cannon using the most sophisticated avionics and sensors.
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04/24/2014
Canada is about to station combat-ready fighter aircraft in Eastern Europe. The six CF-18s we are sending abroad will apparently be based in Poland. The only reason for their presence is a perceived threat from one country only – Russia. While this gesture may be tokenism, be assured it will nonethless be expensive (our contribution to the “liberation” of Libya came in at around $100-million).
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04/24/2014
Flying military combat aircraft requires an exceptional amount of decision making in a very short window with lots of distractions. Now, the Defense Department wants the defense industry to build them much better autopilot. The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, or DARPA, announced a new program to build an automatic pilot kit to install into military planes.
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04/24/2014
Lockheed Martin’s Group 1 family of unmanned aircraft systems is migrating to enhanced automation capabilities using its Kestrel™ “Fly Light” flight control systems and industry-leading mobile Ground Control Station (mGCS) software. The increased automation allows operators to focus on executing the mission, rather than flying various aircraft.
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