December 11, 2014 Military Aviation News
12/11/2014
The staff of retiring Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin offered assurances this week that the A-10 planes at Selfridge Air National Guard Base are safe from elimination for another year, despite worries by some lawmakers. Though the defense bill approved in the House last week allows for 36 of the A-10 Thunderbolts - about 10 percent of the U.S. fleet - to be placed on “backup status,” that does not mean the planes will be mothballed.
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12/11/2014
Two multibillion-dollar contracts for the team of Sikorsky Aircraft and Lockheed Martin were not forgotten in the omnibus spending bill unveiled this week. The $1 trillion bill, which totals 1,603 pages, includes $368 million for the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program and $100 million for the Combat Rescue Helicopter Program.
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12/11/2014
Congress is on track to approve a $1.014 trillion,1,603-page annual spending package that includes $512 billion in defense spending and $492 billion in non-defense spending. The sweeping legislation covers the entire discretionary budget of the federal government. It sets funding priorities and new policies for the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
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12/11/2014
A new report prepared for Ottawa on options for new fighter jets gives the government an excuse to avoid buying the F-35 if it chooses. Analysis undertaken by the Department of National Defence found that it’s “highly unlikely” Canada would find itself participating in first-strike conflict with other countries that have sophisticated air-defence systems – a scenario where the Lockheed Martin F-35’s vaunted stealth capabilities and other features might be most useful.
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12/11/2014
U.S. lawmakers late Tuesday unveiled a $1 trillion federal budget deal that includes a smaller pay raise and housing allowance for troops, but more funding for commissaries and weapons.
The massive spending bill, called the Omnibus Appropriations Act, would avert a government shutdown this week and fund most federal agencies for the rest of the year.
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12/11/2014
Lockheed Martin Corp's Skunk Works was the driving force behind development of many well-known U.S. military aircraft, including the famed "Blackbird" or SR-71 spy plane that could fly from New York to Los Angeles in just over an hour. Following are some facts about the Lockheed division, whose Skunk Works name is a registered trademark, and some of the weapons it has or is developing.
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12/11/2014
The US Navy successfully deployed and operated, for the first time, a cutting-edge ship-based laser weapon system aboard a naval vessel in the Persian Gulf that will enhance both surface, air and ground capabilities, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced.
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12/11/2014
The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to purchase up to 100 combat planes, over 120 helicopters, up to 30 naval vessels and some 600 armored vehicles annually in the next five years, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Wednesday. "By the end of the state rearmament program in 2021 the share of modern weaponry in the Armed Forces will be within the range of 70-100 percent," Gerasimov said at a meeting with foreign military attaches in Moscow.
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12/11/2014
The United States program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (IS) in Syria will not begin until at least March of next year, the US special ambassador to fight IS told the House Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. “The program is to train 5000 [people] per year and the training, we hope, will start in March,” Brett McGurk said in response to a question, confirming that the soonest the forces could be sent to Syria would be March of 2016.
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