December 19, 2014 Military Aviation News
12/19/2014
The United States selected Australia and Japan to render maintenance and upgrade of its F-35 Lighting strike fighter based or operating in the Pacific region as part of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme or JSF. Australia will be providing heavy air frame maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade to F-35 aircraft based in the Southern pacific. Japan will render the same service to aircraft based in the northern Pacific.
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12/19/2014
The German Air Force (GAF) is not seeing a more confrontational attitude from Russian pilots it is intercepting over the Baltic region, despite concerns being raised by Western leaders of increased aggression over recent weeks. Speaking during a media tour of Amari Air Base, Estonia, on 17 December, the GAF's detachment commander Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Schnitger said that the Russians that his pilots have encountered since they took on the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission in September.
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12/19/2014
The Netherlands announced on 15 December that it will sign a contract in April 2015 for an initial eight Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs). In total the Netherlands is planning to buy 37 F-35s, with the first of the eight initial aircraft expected to enter service in 2019. Full operational capability (FOC) is expected to be attained in 2024 with all aircraft delivered.
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12/19/2014
Discussions on the transfer of Rafale fighter jets from France to India have made "good progress'' and are "put on fast track'', the Ambassador of France to India, Francois Richier, has said. According to him, discussions had started in early 2012 and have taken three years due to the "importance and complexity" of the deal.
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12/19/2014
The aircraft that the Air Force would love to kill is regularly raining death on Islamic State militants, defense officials confirmed. The A-10 Thunderbolt II has been used almost daily since November to attack Islamic State targets in Iraq, officials told Air Force Times. In mid-November, several A-10s from the Indiana Air National Guard's 163rd Fighter Squadron along with about 300 airmen were moved from Afghanistan to Southwest Asia to support airstrikes in Iraq.
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12/19/2014
There will be routine operations on Christmas Day, including flying combat missions to drop bombs on IS targets. A large number of Australian defence personnel will be spending Christmas far from home. They'll be in Afghanistan, aboard Australian ships and in Middle East support bases.
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12/19/2014
The U.S. Army is moving ahead with a controversial plan to shift helicopters between the active-duty and National Guard and buying new aircraft without competition, despite ongoing litigation trying to block it. Getting rid of military equipment is never easy. Over decades, planes, tanks and ships become engrained in military bases throughout the country, building vocal and powerful supporters in local communities, Congress and the defense industry.
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12/19/2014
Numerous senior leaders of the Islamic State (IS) have been destroyed during the US-led coalition airstrikes, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated. “I can confirm that since mid-November, targeted coalition airstrikes successfully killed multiple senior and mid-level leaders within the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” Kirby said in a statement published Thursday.
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