May 07, 2014 Military Aviation News
05/07/2014
U.S.-backed leaders in the Syrian opposition have come to Washington to lobby for better arms, challenging the Obama administration’s position that providing advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles is too risky. Ahmad al-Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, is leading a delegation to meet administration officials and lawmakers and persuade them to provide lethal arms to the Free Syrian Army.
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05/07/2014
With foreign combat troops preparing to leave Afghanistan, India has agreed to supply the country with military equipment. Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid says the move risks raising tensions. India's decision last week to pay for arms and equipment from Russia to boost the strength of the Afghan National Army (ANA) could be a dramatic game-changer in the region - as well as a step fraught with escalation in regional rivalries.
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05/07/2014
Faced with smaller budgets over the next decade, the U.S. Army has halted evaluation of new UAVs and is standardizing on four existing models (Gray Eagle, Shadow 2000, Raven, and Puma). All four of these were developed and purchased in large quantities over the last dozen years and will remain the primary army UAVs for the next 5-10 years.
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05/07/2014
After 23 years of high-tempo operations, the Air Force is in a precarious position, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. The general was joined in his testimony by his fellow members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, and the vice chairman, Navy Adm. James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld Jr.
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05/07/2014
With the crisis in Ukraine forcing Eastern European governments to refocus on defense, several are expanding their helicopter fleets to replace largely Russian-built aircraft, with an emphasis on transport. Poland is developing the largest helicopter procurement program in the region, with plans to buy 70 new aircraft this year as part of a military modernization program that extends to 2022.
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05/07/2014
Russian military planes and ships have been stepping up patrols in the Pacific in response to tensions in Ukraine, according to the commander of Pacific Air Forces. “[There’s been] a significant... increase in the amount of activity from Russia in the Asia-Pacific,” PACAF commander Gen. Herbert Carlisle said Monday. “And we relate a lot of that to what’s going on in the Ukraine.”
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05/07/2014
The U.S. Air Force projects that its annual spending on long-range bombers will almost double after 2019 as it seeks a new stealth aircraft that may pit Northrop Grumman Corp. against a joint bid from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. The service’s total budget for bomber production and upgrades will jump to about $9.5 billion in fiscal 2020 from less than $5 billion for the previous year beginning Oct. 1, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Bloomberg News.
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05/07/2014
The Defense Department is working with the State Department and NATO allies to provide reassurance, deterrence and support to Ukraine, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. The U.S. government’s response to Russia’s actions in the region is being done carefully and without taking actions that would escalate the crisis, Evelyn N. Farkas said.
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05/07/2014
Lt. Gen. Michael Bednarek, chief of the US Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, said that the Iraqi government and armed forces are working on countering terrorism in cooperation with the United States. Speaking to Azzaman on May 3, Bednarek said, “The cooperation consists of supplying Iraq with weapons, information, training, development and aerial maps to detect the movement of terrorist forces and armed groups opposing the Iraqi government.”
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05/07/2014
When about 3,000 U.S. soldiers traveling on a dirt road in Iraq came under fire from behind a ridge in the opening weeks of the 2003 American invasion, the retired Air Force chief master sergeant says he called for air support from the only plane that could fly low and slow enough to tell friend from foe: the A-10.
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