October 19, 2014 Military Aviation News
10/19/2014
The number of times Japanese fighter jets scrambled to ward off Russian military aircraft more than doubled in the last six months, amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to ease. The increased activity in Japan's north also comes as the armed forces pivot their focus southwards towards China, the assertive Asian giant which is seen in Tokyo as the more immediate challenge.
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10/19/2014
An unmanned US plane on a top-secret, two-year mission to space has returned to Earth and landed in California. The aircraft, resembling a miniature space shuttle and known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or X-37B, spent 674 days in orbit around the planet.
It was the unmanned plane's third space flight, but its mission has been shrouded in mystery.
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10/19/2014
Sweden's military continues to investigate reports of "foreign underwater activity" in the Stockholm archipelago using high-tech equipped naval vessels, aircraft and home guard forces. Chief of operations Jonas Wikstrom says the information "from a credible source" that sparked the operation Friday was still considered worth pursuing the intelligence operation.
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10/19/2014
The Air Force’s mission with the MC-12 Liberty in Afghanistan is over. The 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron flew its last flight Oct. 1 at Bagram Air Field, the last of more than 40,000 combat missions and more than 200,000 hours of surveillance flights since 2009. The Army stood up Joint Task Force Thor at Bagram to take over the MC-12 mission from the Air Force.
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10/19/2014
Militia commander Yuri Bereza and his 150 Ukrainian irregulars were closing in on pro-Moscow separatists in their last stronghold in this eastern city when Russian troops and armor thundered in out of nowhere to cut them off in the suburb of Ilovaisk. No satellite or drone surveillance detected the sudden movement of the Russian columns. No word of the impending attack had been radioed from the border guard base the invaders had to have passed.
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10/19/2014
Gen. Lori Robinson received a fourth star Thursday and became head of Pacific Air Forces, making her the first woman to lead the major air command. Robinson, who now oversees more than 46,000 personnel, 10 wings, nine bases and about 400 permanently assigned aircraft in a region that encompasses 52 percent of the globe, is the Air Force's second female four-star general after Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger, who was promoted to the service's highest rank in 2012.
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10/19/2014
The Rafale fighter aircraft the Indian Air Force is buying from France “will be swatted like mosquitoes in an August night” by Chinese combat planes in a war, Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin claims. Russia’s MiG-35 aircraft was an early loser in the competition to sell 126 medium multirole combat aircraft to India, a deal that could be one of the largest military contracts in the world topping $20 billion.
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10/19/2014
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced Saturday he was going to sign a demobilization decree next week that would allow conscript soldiers to opt for volunteer military. “I have prepared a decree – to be issued next week – that will demobilize all those who want to serve on contract. What for? Because it’s only fair to serve in the army and earn more,” Poroshenko said during an interview with several TV channels.
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10/19/2014
Reports of Islamic State (IS) pilots flying stolen jet fighters over the Syrian city of Aleppo have not been confirmed by coalition forces, the Pentagon said. "We do not have any operational reporting of ISIL flying jets in support of ISIL's activity on the ground," the US Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin said during a press briefing on Friday. "I cannot confirm that," he added.
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