May 31, 2014 Military Aviation News
05/31/2014
Paratroopers with 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, participated in a regional training event at the Military Base in Adazi, Latvia, May 27-28, involving forces from across the Baltic nations. The purpose of the event was a NATO fixed-wing, live-fire exercise focusing on close-combat attack and close-air support. The Latvian National Defense Force hosts the military event every year in late spring.
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05/31/2014
Boeing Co., the second-biggest defense contractor in the U.S., and Saab AB expect demand for maritime and aerial surveillance systems to grow in Asia as territorial disputes intensify.
Demand for maritime patrol craft and affiliated equipment in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow steadily for the foreseeable future, Chris Chadwick, head of Boeing’s defense business, said yesterday in Singapore.
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05/31/2014
Rule changes for commercial airlines that supplement military aircraft in the rapid transport of troops and supplies are on the way. The U.S. Air Force said the upcoming changes to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program are the result of a review and industry-military consultations, meant "to ensure the nation's capability to rapidly airlift service members and military supplies around the world at a reasonable cost to taxpayers."
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05/31/2014
President Barack Obama’s emphasis this week on restricting the use of the military abroad risks an unintended consequence: deepening concern about fading U.S. engagement among Asian nations locked in disputes with China. Obama’s defense chief, Chuck Hagel, leads the U.S. delegation to an annual security conference in Singapore that started today, two days after Obama said the armed forces can’t be the “primary component of our leadership.”
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05/31/2014
The South African Air Force held its first Air Capability Demonstration (ACD) of the year at the Roodewal weapons range outside Polokwane in Limpopo this week, and put on an impressive show that included Rooivalk attack helicopters and seven Gripen fighters.
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05/31/2014
The government recently announced it was stumping up more than $12 billion to buy 58 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (in addition to the 14 already approved). Many voices were raised in protest. Some asked how the government could find that much money at a time when it was proclaiming the need for parsimony elsewhere. Others questioned whether the F-35 was the right aircraft to buy.
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05/31/2014
A pair of French nuclear strike jets were involved in a near miss with a third military aircraft over Scotland. The Mirage 2000 jets flew within 200ft of a BN2T Defender flying 30 nautical miles north east of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. The incident was investigated by the UK Airprox Board, which reports on near misses in UK airspace.
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05/31/2014
Two additional C-130J Super Hercules aircraft operated by the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) ferried from the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] facility here today. These C-130Js will join the ROKAF’s other two Super Hercules aircraft, which were delivered in March. ROKAF aircrews also currently operate a fleet of C-130H legacy aircraft.
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05/31/2014
The Russian Airborne Forces have started receiving the newest Verba man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) equipped with an automated fire control system that has no foreign rival, military spokesman Yevgeny Meshkov said Friday. "The surface to air-missile regiment of the Ivankvsky Airborne Forces division is the first to have started receiving and studying the modern system of air defense battle," Meshkov said.
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