August 08, 2014 Military Aviation News
08/08/2014
President Obama has ordered air strikes to protect US interests in the city of Erbil and and prevent the “genocide” of 40,000 Iraqi refugees isolated on a mountain. He told a gathering in Washington DC this morning that he had authorised the targeting of any Islamic State convoy or troop movements in the direction of the northern Kurd city of Erbil which is the location of a US support and training effort.
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08/08/2014
The release of the 2014 National Defense Panel report landed with a quiet thud last week as most of Washington headed out for August vacations. Much delayed from its original congressionally mandated release three months after the Quadrennial Defense Review, the NDP review seemingly ignored today’s intractable budgetary realties by arguing for an even bigger defense budget. At the same time, it offered few tradeoffs and even fewer creative ideas for building a more efficient military.
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08/08/2014
The Egyptian military has captured a large cache of anti-aircraft weapons delivered by convoys from Sudan and Libya. On Aug. 5, five policemen and four suspected insurgents were killed in a battle on the Matrouh highway, the usual convoy route along the Mediterranean coast. The sources said the insurgents attacked two security checkpoints on Matrouh.
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08/08/2014
United States military aircraft on Thursday dropped food and water to thousands of Iraqis beseiged by Islamic militants on a mountain top in norther Iraq, according to a senior Pentagon official. The military made the announcement after the planes had delivered the supplies and left the area. President Obama was scheduled to discuss the mission in a televised address Thursday night.
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08/08/2014
Russian strategic nuclear bombers and other military aircraft entered US air defense identification zones (ADIZs) at least 16 times over the past ten days, American defense officials confirmed on Thursday. “Over the past week, NORAD has visually identified Russian aircraft operating in and around the US air defense identification zones,” said Maj. Beth Smith, spokeswoman for US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
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08/08/2014
The federal government is scrapping plans to purchase as many as four new manned spy planes for domestic and international surveillance missions. The Department of National Defence notified military contractors on Tuesday that Ottawa is no longer considering purchasing the new planes, citing “security and technical feasibility” reasons.
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08/08/2014
Nearly two years after an international intervention against jihadists in Mali, France officially launched a successor operation on August 1st, dubbed Operation Barkhane. The goal is to combat terrorism in the Sahel-Saharan region. A total of 3,000 French soldiers will be deployed in five partner countries, the "G5 of the Sahel": Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
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08/08/2014
The U.S. Air Force announced Eielson Air Force Base is its preferred location for two new squadrons of F-35 fighters Aug. 7, less than a year after the base avoided losing an F-16 squadron. “Today, Alaska is a huge winner in this, but so is the nation because there is no question about our military readiness in Alaska,” Sen. Mark Begich said at a press conference held in Anchorage immediately following the announcement.
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08/08/2014
The United States has suspended the delivery of military aircraft to Iraq. Officials said the administration of President Barack Obama has rebuffed Iraqi requests for the combat aircraft after concluding that the Iraqi military was not capable of securing these platforms amid the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The officials said the F-16s no longer had a home with the ISIL siege on the Iraq Air Force base at Balad.
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08/08/2014
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has suspended its cooperation with the Afghan National Army (ANA) at various military facilities after the killing of a US major general, Der Spiegel reported Thursday. ISAF commander Joseph Dunford suspended the Afghan military support mission by ordering on Tuesday all international instructors and military consultants to remain in their camps until Friday, while the incident is being investigated.
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