February, 2015 Military Aviation News
02/28/2015
The Pentagon has launched a wide-ranging study of electronic warfare, looking across the services at major platforms such as the EA-18G Growler and the F-35’s three versions. “We are doing right now in the Department of Defense a study that looks at all electronic attack[:] what is the situation in electromagnetic warfare across the spectrum in our maneuver,” Adm. Jonathan Greenert told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee yesterday.
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02/28/2015
The U.S. Navy has awarded a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Sikorsky Helicopter a contract worth $2 billion to service the Navy's H-60 helicopters through Jan. 31, 2020, the Pentagon announced on Friday. The fixed-price contract covers "performance-based logistics" on 1,710 assemblies and components, and covers the repair, modification, overhaul and replacement of hardware for the Navy's fleet of H-60 helicopters.
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02/28/2015
The Air Force is requesting $10 billion above what sequestration-level funding provides in order to support its global responsibilities, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James told members of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee here today. James said the potential return of sequestration jeopardizes the Air Force’s ability to sustain its various global missions and hampers its ability to focus on its main priorities: people, modernization and stewardship.
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02/28/2015
Are the Iraqis up to the fight? That's the question that will preoccupy senior U.S. military leaders for the next few months as a small team of Americans tries to prepare a massive force of Iraqis for the decisive Battle of Mosul. U.S. officials hope to launch the invasion of Iraq's second largest city in April or May with a force of 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqi soldiers.
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02/28/2015
The horrific killing of captured Jordanian Air Force Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh by Islamic State militants has highlighted the risks coalition pilots face as they fly combat missions against ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria. Lt. Muath al-Kasaesbeh was flying a Jordanian F-16 against an ISIS target in northern Syria when the fighter jet became the first aircraft lost since the U.S.-led coalition began air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
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02/28/2015
India have spent big from the 2011 fiscal year to the last fiscal year on the Army, Air Force and Navy for procuring arms, weapons and other defence-related systems. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the three services have placed orders worth Rs 83,858 crore. During this period, India's own defence sector earned Rs 69 crore by export of military hardware.
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02/28/2015
Taiwan’s military strength ranks 15th in the world and ninth in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of conventional war-making capability across land, sea and air, according to a survey conducted by military Web site Global Firepower. The nation’s ranking has fluctuated between 14th and 18th since 2009, peaking at 14th in 2011 and 2012 and last year standing at 17th, according to the Web site.
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02/28/2015
On the surface, it might not seem like Carey Lohrenz's old office has much in common with the rhythms and interactions found in the typical modern workplace. That’s because, back in the '90s, her job as a naval aviator meant she spent most of her time in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat, a beast of a fighter jet armed to the teeth with a machine gun and missiles with a range of more than 100 miles.
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02/28/2015
United States and anti-Islamic State coalition military forces launched 31 airstrikes against the militant group in Syria and Iraq, destroying significant number of fighters, equipment and infrastructure, a US Defense Department said in a statement on Friday. “Attack, fighter, bomber and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 airstrikes in Syria,” the statement said, adding that 11 airstrikes were conducted in Iraq.
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02/27/2015
“Nothing lasts forever.” That’s the message a Boeing plant worker scrawled on the fuselage of the 279th and final C-17 Globemaster aircraft being assembled Thursday at the Long Beach manufacturing plant where the mammoth aircraft has been built for roughly a quarter century. Thursday was the day when workers gathered to participate in — or at least watch — the last “major join” of a C-17 Globemaster that is ever expected to take place.
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02/27/2015
With uncertainty looming large over the signing of multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal, finalization of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) deal is likely to gather pace. The government had signed a joint development programme for FGFA with Russia.
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02/27/2015
As a Royal Australian Air Force Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) continues to support operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the service is placing a major emphasis on getting the type's long-delayed boom refuelling capability on-line.
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02/27/2015
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has awarded Lockheed Martin Australia a contract to supply a modern C-130J-30 Virtual Maintenance Trainer and a Multi-Function Training Aid (MFTA) to support maintenance and aircrew training at RAAF Base Richmond.
Through this major upgrade, the RAAF will have a standardised curriculum tailored for its operations and based on decades of C-130 training innovation by Lockheed Martin.
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02/27/2015
The UAE spent 18.33 billion dirhams ($5 billion) on deals signed with local and international arms dealers at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in the capital Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported. The amount was the most spent since the IDEX began in the early 1900s, and a 30% increase from the last event, held in 2013.
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02/27/2015
The strategic waters of the South China Sea are claimed by a confusing collection of various nations. The region’s strongest – and most vocal – stakeholder is China. On Thursday, the US Navy admitted that it is monitoring the area, launching its most advanced spy plane out of the Philippines.
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02/26/2015
Saudi Arabia has now offered to let Israeli fighter jets use its airspace to attack Iran when necessary, in exchange for Israel making progress in the peace talks with Palestinians, a senior European source told Israeli Channel 2. “The Saudi authorities are completely coordinated with Israel on all matters related to Iran,” the European official in Brussels said.
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02/26/2015
Ukraine and its allies hope this month’s cease-fire deal with Russia and Russian-backed rebels brings relative calm to southeastern Ukraine. But the Minsk agreement is deeply flawed, and there is every chance it may yet unravel, even if it holds for the short term. The accord’s greatest flaw is in letting Russia maintain unsupervised control of Ukraine’s border in the Donbass region until the end of the year.
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02/26/2015
One of the world’s biggest weapons buyers, the United Arab Emirates, is revamping its burgeoning defense industry to lessen the country’s dependence on foreign arms-makers, just as Western firms scramble for deals in the Middle East. The U.A.E. is merging more than a dozen local, state-owned defense equipment suppliers, aiming to be more self-reliant in outfitting its armed forces.
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02/26/2015
The U.S. Army has no interest in taking over the Air Force's fleet of A-10 attack planes, even if it would save the venerable Cold War-era aircraft from the bone yard. The service's top civilian, Army Secretary John McHugh, rejected the idea of accepting hand-me-down A-10 Warthogs from the Air Force. "No chance," he said during a breakfast meeting with reporters on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. "That's not even been a topic of casual conversation."
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02/26/2015
The Navy continues to evaluate whether it will need more EA-18G Growler electronic jamming aircraft on the deck of a carrier even though service officials chose to include no new Growlers in its 2016 defense budget request. The current configuration for an aircraft carrier’s air wing includes five Growler aircraft per squadron; however, an ongoing evaluation of the jamming aircraft is leading the service to consider increasing this number to seven or eight per squadron.
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02/25/2015
The following statement was released by the United States Military. The 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing F/A-18 Hornet that crashed earlier yesterday near Statenville, Ga., was conducting low-altitude tactics training when the mishap occurred. The pilot, Maj. Roy Nicka, and the weapons systems officer, 1st. Lt. Robert Reynolds, escaped serious injury when they ejected from the aircraft, and were treated for minor injuries at South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta, Ga. There are no reports of injuries
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02/25/2015
Pilatus Aircraft has shipped another PC-21 expanded envelope trainer aircraft off its final assembly line for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). The aircraft represents the 100th turboprop trainer PC-21 to be rolled off the company's final assembly line in Switzerland, and an overall 1000th aircraft to have been manufactured to date by Pilatus.
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02/25/2015
Exporting combat jets is a multibillion-dollar business involving some of the biggest names in the global defense industry. U.S., French and British competitors dominate the trade, often banking on their political leaders to court potential customers, from Latin America to Asia. And then there’s Sweden. With little in the way of a global marketing machine, the tiny Nordic country has had outsize success in winning export orders. That’s thanks to Saab AB’s Gripen combat jet.
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02/25/2015
The US Marine Corps' (USMC) MV-22 Osprey has conducted a first in-flight refuelling with a US Air Force KC-10 aircraft. Refuelling was carried out as part of Cobra Gold 2015, which involved five MV-22 Ospreys. The aircraft flew more than 2,200nm, travelling from Clark Air Base, the Philippines to Utapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in Thailand. During this process, the KC-10 aircraft delivered 40,000lb of fuel in mid-flight.
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02/25/2015
Australia is poised to send extra troops to Iraq to train its security forces in the fight against Islamic State. The New Zealand government on Tuesday announced it would send 143 soldiers as part of a 400-strong joint Australia-NZ training team, subject to agreement from Canberra.
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02/25/2015
The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Joint Direct Attack Munition Extended Range (JDAM ER) demonstrated significant range increase while maintaining its expected accuracy during flight testing conducted by Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The testing centered on a new wing kit that, when used in conjunction with the weapon’s guidance kit, increases the bomb’s range from approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) to more than 45 miles (72 kilometers).
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02/24/2015
Jordan’s small air force has been playing an outsize role in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State group, not only flying more missions than any other partner nation but also opening its bases to other allies to allow them to mount more sorties.
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02/24/2015
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has received the first BrahMos missile integrated Su-30 MKI multi-role combat aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft was handed over at the ongoing Aero India 2015 exhibition at Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bengaluru.HAL chairman T Suvarna Raju said: "The successful completion of the first Su 30 aircraft integrated with BrahMos missile shows the synergy between DRDO, HAL and IAF.
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02/24/2015
Over the years, Selfridge Air National Guard Base has been a survivor of multiple base closing rounds: adding and subtracting aircraft, changing missions, morphing into a headquarters for Coast Guard personnel, Customs and Border Patrol and more. But for the third year in a row, the Air Force has proposed grounding its entire fleet of A10s, a venerable aircraft that happens to be the sole attack jet left flying out of Selfridge.
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02/24/2015
“Dead on arrival” was how a disappointed veteran of previous Aero India shows in Bengaluru described the 10th edition of the event. As the curtain came down on it on Sunday, defence analysts, business visitors and many spectators summed up the last five days to The Hindu as: “slack”, “flat”, “no show”, “dull”, “drab” and “lacklustre”, each for a reason.
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02/24/2015
France has deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf as part of the US-led military campaign against Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq, a defence ministry official said. “The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation ... [in Iraq] begins this morning,” a member of staff of the defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told AFP as his entourage made its way to the carrier.
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02/23/2015
Israel has signed a deal to purchase 14 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the US, with the option of another 17, the Defense Ministry announced on Sunday. In an agreement inked over the weekend, Israel will obtain the aircraft as part of a total $2.82-billion package that began with the purchase of 19 of the fighters in 2010.
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02/23/2015
It’s still quiet on the CF-18 front in Iraq, at least for now. The Canadian Forces doesn’t have any new updates on bombing runs. Feb. 13 was the last one (at least publicly released) with the jets leading other coalition fighter planes in an attack on a building suspected of being used by ISIL to make improvised explosive devices or IEDs. There could be a new technical briefing sometime this upcoming week. (Defence Watch will update when new information is released).
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02/23/2015
When Egypt signed an agreement to purchase 24 Dassault Rafale fighters, it marked a milestone for the program: the first international sale of the jet, which has struggled to find a market outside of its home nation of France. But what should be a celebratory attitude at the company's Paris headquarters has instead turned glum, as the crown jewel of its expansion plans — a $12 billion deal with India that has been in the works since 2012 — now appears in danger.
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02/23/2015
“We must expect to be the force of first resort more often than ever before,” he will tell an air force conference in Melbourne today. “Governments now require increasingly rapid military responses, whether in the form of humanitarian missions or combat forces capable of deploying over vast distances and being able to immediately operate with our major allies.
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02/23/2015
London's successful blocking of the Gripen fighter sale to Argentina appears to have done little to stop Buenos Aires' determination to replace its aging attack and fighter fleet. Nor has it halted its threats to use force to "liberate" the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands from British control. In October, Argentina's Defense Minister Agustin Rossi announced plans to procure 14 Saab Gripen fighters to replace its single-engine Dassault Mirage III/5, which saw combat during the 1982 Falklands War.
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02/23/2015
The Typhoon combat jet will receive a £165 million makeover with a new package of enhancements that will include integration of the Brimstone 2 missile, representatives of the four-nation program announced on the opening day of the IDEX defense show on Sunday. The single largest part of the package is the £72 million deal with BAE Systems to complete integration of MBDA's air-to-ground Brimstone 2.
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02/23/2015
He once described his role as an Apache pilot fighting the Taliban as “the best experience ever”. But Prince Harry has now decided never to fly a combat helicopter again. The Prince, who spent five months in the cockpit of a gunship in Afghanistan, has opted to hang up his flying goggles, even though the Army is short of pilots. Prince Harry, 30, or Captain Wales as he is called in the Forces, was expected to return to the skies with the Army Air Corps after arranging the Invictus Games.
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02/23/2015
The US-led coalition against the Islamic State militant group conducted six airstrikes on insurgents' positions in Iraq and Syria, the US Defense Department said in a statement Saturday. According to the statement, two fighting positions of the insurgents were destroyed in Syria.
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02/23/2015
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Drian will meet his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in the week of February 23 looking to prevent the collapse of a deal to sell 126 Rafale fighter jets. Three years ago, French company Dassault Aviation won the right to start exclusive negotiations with India to supply 126 Rafale fighters in a deal which could be worth as much as $12 billion.
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02/22/2015
Nigeria’s military has announced it has recaptured Baga from Boko Haram, more than a month after the town was overrun in the worst massacre of the Islamist terror group’s six-year insurgency. Defence spokesman Chris Olukoladesaid many terrorists had drowned in Lake Chad as they tried to flee bombardment from Nigerian air force jets.
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02/22/2015
Some 200,000 people are expected to attend the Australian International Air Show, where about 600 companies from more than two dozen countries will show their wares between Feb. 24 and March 1, said Ian Honnery, CEO of Aerospace Maritime and Defense foundation of Australia (AMDA), which organizes the show. The event is the 12th in the biennial series at Avalon, which is south of Melbourne and close to the regional city of Geelong.
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02/22/2015
According to the Emiratis’ state news agency, UAE F-16E/Fs targeted IS oil refineries on 16 February from an unnamed Jordanian airbase. The agency said ‘similar’ attacks had been carried out on 10 and 12 February. The airstrikes come just weeks after reports indicated the country had suspended its involvement.
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02/22/2015
A government watchdog report on the Air Force’s proposed retirement of the A-10 says the service “cooked the books” by releasing manipulated statistics that painted the plane as unreliable and a killer of civilians and American troops. When the Air Force released its budget for fiscal year 2016 earlier this month, it detailed a plan to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II, commonly referred to as the Warthog, by 2019.
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02/22/2015
Concerns about the Islamic State group, Iran's growing influence and Yemen's upheaval are boosting the regional defense market's land sector ahead of the massive International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, analysts said. Playing into the rivalry between the Arabian Peninsula states and Iran, Yemen's Houthi takeover has stoked deep fears of a radical Shiite front, analysts said.
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02/22/2015
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman T Suvarna Raju on Thursday said that HAL is willing to take full responsibility for the Rafales that it manufactures if the contract with French Defence major Dassault is signed. The comment assumes significance in the backdrop of a disagreement between India and Dassault over who would take guarantee for the Rafale fighter jets.
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02/22/2015
The biennial Aero India 2015 show turned into a carnival Saturday, as over 60,000 people flocked to the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) here to witness spectacular aerobatics and thrilling aerial feats by fighters, helicopters, stunt aircraft, transport planes and even unmanned aerial vehicles.
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02/22/2015
US and Jordanian officials are expected to talk on the sidelines of IDEX, discussions that may carry extra weight in light of US lawmakers' recent pressure to expedite foreign military sales to Jordan. The lawmakers appear to hope that Jordan — which at press time had launched airstrikes but committed no ground troops in the fight against the Islamic State group (also called ISIS or ISIL) — could assume a strengthened role in the US-led coalition, given the incentive of US weaponry and backing.
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02/21/2015
The armed forces have differing needs. That fact is playing out right now as the Air Force and Navy are arguing about the importance of stealth technology in the next generation of fighter aircraft. That's according to The Air Force Times, which cites Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, who earlier this month said stealth could be "overrated," arguing that there's only so much that can be done to prevent detection.
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02/21/2015
Border surveillance and security technologies are expected to take center stage at this week's International Defense Exhibition, driven by internal and regional stability issues and the fight against Islamic State extremists, according to a former senior US defense official. "The whole idea of border surveillance and security will be an overriding theme in this one," said William Landay, retired director of the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
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02/21/2015
Airmen with the Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Extender Aircraft Maintenance Unit here waste no time when answering the call to defend the nation -- even with little to no notice. Although the KC-l0 Extender’s primary mission is aerial refueling, it can combine the tasks of a tanker and cargo aircraft by refueling fighters and simultaneously carry the fighter support personnel and equipment on overseas deployments.
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02/21/2015
The Ministry of Defence insists that the Russian aircraft did not enter British airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from the nation's coast. But it says they were inside the UK's "area of interest", and the RAF scrambled Typhoon jets to intercept them. If the MoD's account is accurate, they may have been flying too far away for ordinary plane spotters to detect them - although a woman in Cornwall claims she saw them flying inland.
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02/21/2015
Russia expressed confidence that the long delayed concluding agreement with India on the joint production of the fifth generation fighter aircraft can be signed this year. The two countries signed an initial contract in 2010 to build the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme, however, they have not been able to agree to the final terms of the contract.
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02/20/2015
The military says Canadian CF-18 fighter jets conducted a single attack in Iraq last week, leading a coalition strike that destroyed a factory making improved explosive devices. Navy Capt. Paul Forget says the attack on Friday was a success. He says coalition air attacks and Iraqi ground efforts continue to degrade the operational ability of the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
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02/20/2015
Nobody knows exactly where "Rat 55" lives or precisely what technology it uses to accomplish its mission, but it sure is an exotic beast. The USAF's secretive NT-43A testbed is a highly modified 737-200 that goes far beyond ground-based radar and infrared signature testing on stealthy aircraft by plying its trade high up in the sky in their target aircraft's natural operating environment.
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02/20/2015
The Air Force's current plans for high-altitude surveillance, keeping the decades-old U-2 flying while upgrading the new RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, will not meet the demands of the military for reconnaissance, and the service needs to start again with a new aircraft to replace both spy plans, the head of Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works said.
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02/20/2015
As enemy fighters get more lethal, the Air Force's air-to-air combat training is looking to take a giant leap into the virtual world. Technology moves so rapidly that it is impossible to create a "real world threat environment" that can accurately simulate combat with the most advanced aircraft, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh says. So the Air Force plans to emphasize the virtual component of air-to-air combat training.
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02/20/2015
It became known as the Rafale curse. Several times in the past 15 years France’s Dassault Aviation came close to securing the first export order for its Rafale fighter jet, only to fail at the final hurdle. On Monday the curse appeared to be lifted when Egypt signed for 24 aircraft at an estimated value of €5.2bn. Now investors are beginning to question whether the curse has been transferred to Eurofighter Typhoon, the European combat aircraft programme 33 per cent owned by BAE Systems.
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02/20/2015
As the Defense Department seeks funding to develop a sixth-generation fighter, the Air Force and Navy appear to have differing opinions on the importance of stealth, while a top contractor on Wednesday called low observability for the future fighter "foundational." Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told a Washington audience Feb. 4 that stealth might be "overrated" for future fighters.
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02/20/2015
The Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] achieved a third successful air-launched flight test, with the missile performing as expected during low altitude flight. The test, conducted on Feb. 4, was in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy joint-service LRASM program.
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02/20/2015
Russia is ready to send additional Mikoyan MiG-29K/KUB aircraft to India if New Dehli decides to increase its MiG-29K/KUB fleet. "The Indian Navy plans to establish three naval aircraft squadrons that will fly MiG-29K/KUB. Two of the squadrons will be deployed to two aircraft carriers, while the third one will be used for training," Sergei Korotkov, who heads Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, told RIA Novosti.
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02/20/2015
The British media is awash with news about another two jets being scrambled to intercept Russian bombers flying near British airspace, despite it hardly being newsworthy. RAF Typhoon jets were sent up to escort two Russian aircraft spotted off the south-west coast of Britain on February 19. The incident is the latest in what have been almost monthly intercepts near what the UK likes to call the "UK area of interest" over several years.
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02/19/2015
India is tripling its fleet of nuclear submarines in the country’s priciest naval expansion in five years, a move that comes as China increases naval activity in the Indian Ocean.
A cabinet committee on Tuesday approved plans to build six nuclear-powered submarines and seven stealth warships at a cost of about 1 trillion rupees ($16 billion), according to government officials familiar with the matter. They asked not to be named as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
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02/19/2015
Ace Combat Horizon Legacy Plus is an enhanced version of a game originally released in 2011, which itself was a remake of 1997’s Ace Combat 2. This Plus edition comes with a few alterations designed to take advantage of Nintendo’s recently arrived New 3DS. The question is, have those changes brought anything meaningful to both the original game, or the franchise?
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02/19/2015
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is one of the best examples that align with ‘Make-in-India’ endeavour of the government of India. The company under the leadership of its chairman, T Suvarna Raju, is fast moving from a manufacturing to that of a technology driven company. T Suvarna Raju, shares his views with BusinessLine on HAL’s future and its participation at Aero India.
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02/19/2015
War fighter needs are complex, urgent and constantly developing. The Czech Republic, an allied partner through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, recently needed a rapid response solution to modernize their Mi-171Sh fleet.
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02/19/2015
The United States is trying to determine whether military cooperation with Saudi Arabia will change under King Salman, a report said. The Brookings Doha Center asserted that the rise of King Salman has raised the prospect of a new U.S. defense and military relationship with Riyad. In a report, the center cited the appointment of Salman’s son, Mohammed, as the kingdom’s new defense minister, according to Middle East Newsline.
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02/19/2015
Cope North, an annual multinational training exercise hosted by Andersen Air Force Base, began early this week and will continue through Feb. 27. The exercise started in 1978 between the U.S. Air Force and the Japanese Self-Defense Force. It has been held in Guam since 1999.
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02/19/2015
Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-22 fighter jet, making its debut in warfare more than nine years after it was deemed combat-ready, has flown at least 112 missions against Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. Air Force’s commander of combat forces said. The stealth fighter known as the Raptor has guided airstrikes into Syria, disseminated large volumes of data to fellow fliers and attacked Islamic State’s oil facilities, Gen. Herb “Hawk” Carlisle said in a telephone interview.
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02/19/2015
“Many places in the state are likely to witness heavy snowfall and rainfall from February 19 to 24 due to western disturbance over J&K, which may trigger avalanches and landslides,” said a Met official. “On February 19, sky is likely to remain partly cloudy with occurrence of rains and thunderstorm. From February 21 to 23, there is possibility of heavy snowfall and rains,” he said and added there will be significant decrease in day temperatures and slight rise in night temperature.
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02/19/2015
The F-35 fighter may be the most challenging project in the history of military innovation. Conceived two decades ago as a single airframe that could replace the Cold War tactical aircraft of three U.S. military services and numerous overseas allies, F-35 is the Pentagon’s biggest investment effort ever in cutting-edge technology.
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02/18/2015
The Air Force's special operators are about to stand up their newest wing, but the wing's home, at RAF Mildenhall, England, will be temporary. The 352nd Special Operations Group at Mildenhall is accepting CV-22 Ospreys, and its base personnel has climbed to more than 1,000, the line between a group and a wing. Soon, the group will become a wing, said Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command.
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02/18/2015
The Royal Australian Air Force’s air combat and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities will be substantially increased over the next decade as new fifth generation capabilities are introduced. The current RAAF air combat fleet comprises 71 Boeing F/A-18A/B Hornets in three fighter squadrons and one operational conversion unit based at Williamtown near Newcastle and Tindal in the Northern Territory, and 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets in a single squadron based at Amberley.
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02/18/2015
President Barack Obama's strategy in Syria and Iraq is not working. The president is hoping that limited air strikes, combined with U.S. support for local proxies—the peshmerga, the Iraqi security forces, the Sunni tribes and the Free Syrian Army—will "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
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02/18/2015
Sen. Debbie Stabenow Tuesday pledged her support for the A-10 aircraft fleet to members of the Base Community Council at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township. The U.S. Air Force has announced plans to retire the A-10 aircraft fleet from Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township in fiscal year 2017, a decision that could have huge financial impact in Macomb County and the region.
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02/18/2015
A French Defense Ministry official denied a media report that France is in the final stage of talks for a sale of up to 36 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar. "Certainly not," the defense official said when asked about a Reuters report that the negotiations with Qatar were in the "final stage." The Reuters report quoted a senior French source.
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02/18/2015
The State Department announced Tuesday it would allow sales of armed drones to allies and partners on a case-by-case basis, a move that stands to dramatically expand exports of American-made unmanned aircraft around the world. The Obama administration said that, under a new policy, it would expand the sale of unmanned military aircraft but would approve the sales individually.
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02/18/2015
The mega-competition to build South Korea's indigenous fighter jet, dubbed KF-X, kicked off on Feb. 9. But the first round of bidding in the country's largest-ever arms procurement deal failed due to an insufficient number of participants. Only the team of Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin submitted a proposal for the KF-X program by the deadline, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
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02/18/2015
The 10th edition of the biannual Aero India show will not showcase a flight display by any Russian aircraft, despite ongoing programs between the two countries, while the US is expected to have the largest corporate presence with 64 companies, according to the Indian Ministry of Defence.
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02/18/2015
British Prime Minister David Cameron praised Boeing [NYSE: BA] for providing excellent value, and a close partnership with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD), which led to a five-year extension of the contract under which Boeing supports the Royal Air Force’s Chinook helicopters.
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02/17/2015
Australia, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Norway are all hitting new milestones as the F-35 comes closer to entering their combat forces. Australia, the Netherlands and the Italians will all train at Luke AFB with the Aussies being the first to arrive, the Dutch next month and the Italians at the end of the year. The British are training with the Marines at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station and their first plane has arrived their already with operational testing going on in Edwards.
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02/17/2015
After a crippling three decade wait by the Indian Air Force for the home-made fighter jet Tejas, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has reportedly set a deadline of a month for training and maintenance manuals to be shared with pilots. The first Tejas- a Light Combat Aircraft- was presented with much fanfare last month to the Air Force by the manufacturer - state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is based in Bangalore.
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02/17/2015
The US unit of Europe's Airbus Group was awarded a contract modification worth $220.5 million to build 41 more UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters for the US Army, planned as flight trainers at Fort Rucker, Alabama. A service budget official said at a roundtable with reporters earlier this month that next year marks the last of the Lakota fleet for the active Army. The president's budget request for fiscal 2016, released Feb, 3, included $187 million for 28 more helicopters.
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02/17/2015
The raids by the Egyptian air force on Islamic State (IS) camps and arsenals is an escalation in Cairo’s 20-month campaign against the cult. The strikes were in retaliation for the murder by mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic workers held hostage by IS in Libya. The air action coincided with Egypt’s shift from a defensive to an offensive strategy for containing and ultimately defeating IS in northern Sinai.
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02/17/2015
It's been more than six months since the United States first sent warplanes to conduct airstrikes against the militant group ISIS, and four months since the formation of an international coalition to help fight the terror group. Since then, warplanes from Western and regional members of the coalition have flown hundreds of missions against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.
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02/17/2015
President Xi Jinping is expected to authorize robust defense spending for this year despite China's slowing economy, determined to strengthen the country's armed capabilities amid growing unease in Beijing at Washington's renewed focus on Asia. While China keeps the details of its military spending secret, experts said additional funding would likely go toward beefing up the navy with anti-submarine ships and developing more aircraft carriers beyond the sole vessel in operation.
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02/17/2015
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain does not think much of the raw data the Air Force recently released on the A-10 attack jet, which the service is trying to shelve and which he wants to keep. Air Force tallies show the so-called “Warthog” has killed more “friendly” troops and Afghan civilians since 2010 than any other U.S. aircraft, USA Today reported.
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02/17/2015
France and Egypt were poised on Monday to sign a multibillion-euro deal for the first sale of the Rafale fighter jet despite human rights concerns. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was to travel to Cairo to sign the €5.2bn deal for 24 Rafale fighters that Paris hopes will prompt others to snap up its premier combat jet.
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02/17/2015
Egyptian warplanes staged a second wave of airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya on Monday in retaliation for the slaughter of 21 Egyptian Christians by ISIS militants, Egypt's state-run Ahram Online reported, citing security officials. The airstrikes followed an earlier wave that struck ISIS camps, training areas and weapons depots, the military said in a statement.
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02/16/2015
The US Air Force's desire to gradually phase out operation of the Fairchild Republic A-10 is in no way indicative of a lack of enthusiasm for the close air support (CAS) mission, its chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh says. Welsh treated reporters at the Air Force Association annual air warfare conference in Orlando, Florida, to an impassioned defence of the CAS mission and plans to retire the A-10, which he said can fly to about 2028, regardless of funding levels.
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02/16/2015
New regional war unfolding in central Africa as Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad unite against Boko Haram – with help from France, America and Britain. An MI-24 helicopter gunship, bristling with rockets, clattered over the swirling brown current of the Chari river before landing in Chad's capital, N'Djamena. Moments later, two state-of-the-art Rafale jets – the pride of the French air force – swept overhead, bound for the same airport.
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02/16/2015
Looking east to the bloody conflict gripping Ukraine, NATO-member Poland has kicked off an unprecedented military spending spree worth billions to overhaul its forces as Warsaw believes peace in Europe is no longer a given. The escalation of tensions with Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and subsequent role in the crisis in that country's east has sounded the alarm on NATO's eastern flank in countries that were under Moscow's thumb during the Cold War.
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02/16/2015
A British politician has called for an end to British tax payers money going to Argentina after it was reveals that the country has reached an agreement with China to purchase fighter jets capable of attacking the Falkland Islands as talks with Beijing start to produce results.
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02/16/2015
Retiring Vice Adm. David H. Buss, who stepped down as the Navy's "air boss" Jan. 22, has guided the Navy's F-35C Lightning II through some difficult times. But he insists the controversial next-generation fighter jet is now well on its way to becoming operational and, more than that, is essential to the future of carrier air wings. "I'm very happy with where we are with the program now," Buss said during an interview at his office at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
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02/16/2015
The Navy's newest amphibious assault ship, America, has some of the fleet's most advanced command and control capabilities and electronic warfare technology, but one low-tech asset has won over sailors and Marines who have been underway: space Compared with earlier big-deck amphibs, the America has more room throughout its aviation spaces. This allows the ship to generate sorties farther from shore,
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02/16/2015
After days of ferocious attacks, a ceasefire went into effect after midnight Sunday in Ukraine, followed by brief accusations of violence. President Petro Poroshenko ordered the Ukrainian military to hold its fire against pro-Russian militants in the nation’s East. The separatist Donetsk People’s Republic also announced a truce. The ceasefire aims to end 10 months of violence in eastern Ukraine.
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02/16/2015
The question of what airplanes the Indian Air Force will be flying in 2030 is not easy to answer. The important factor is how the Indian economy grows in the next decade which determines how much money is spent on defense. And even when there is money to spend, previous Governments had the lazy attitude that “lets just buy it from another country”. At least Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister to push “Make in India” even for defence purchases.
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02/15/2015
Islamic State fighters led a suicide attack on an air base where U.S. and coalition troops are training Iraqi forces after taking a nearby town, the first territorial gain by the militant group in months, the Pentagon said Friday. Most of the Islamic State fighters died in the attack, killed either by Iraqi government forces or by detonating their suicide vests, said Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman.
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02/15/2015
VLADIMIR PUTIN has been accused of putting the Russian economy on a “war footing” as the Kremlin spends billions of pounds a year on nuclear submarines, combat jets, supersized drones and ballistic missiles. Admiral Lord West of Spithead, a former head of the Royal Navy, said Russia’s rearmament of its military forces was “extremely worrying”. It would be “madness” if Britain slashed defence spending after the next election, he added.
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02/15/2015
As Congress takes up the fiscal year 2016 defense budget, supporters of the A-10 Thunderbolt II jet say world events show the combat-proven “Warthog” is needed now more than ever. There’s no telling whether that argument helps save the A-10 — a mainstay mission of Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base — from its proposed retirement amid an expected pitched battle over the Pentagon budget.
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02/15/2015
A Defense Department study of the Army's controversial Aviation Restructuring Initiative found the service's plan saves more money and presents less "risk" compared with the National Guard's proposed alternative, according to findings obtained by Army Times. The study by DoD's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office found:
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02/15/2015
Women in the military: a worldwide sampling
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02/14/2015
Eight Islamic State fighters were killed when they attacked an air base where U.S. and coalition forces are training Iraqi forces. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said that initial reports Friday showed that all of the IS attackers were killed by Iraqi troops at or inside a gate to al-Asad air base in the western province of Anbar.
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02/14/2015
After twenty years of searching, France has finally found a buyer for its Rafale fighter jet. President Francois Hollande announced on Thursday that Egypt will buy 24 aircraft as part of a deal reportedly valued at 5.2 billion euros ($5.9 billion), and his Defense Minister is heading to Cairo on Monday to sign the agreement.
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02/13/2015
Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said. Al-Baghdadi, about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, had been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of Iraq's north and west last year.
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02/13/2015
As a new ceasefire for eastern Ukraine was signed on Thursday, in an attempt to halt the worsening conflict between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels, the United States is sending to Europe a warplane that was designed during the Cold War for one purpose: to destroy Russian tanks in Europe.
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02/13/2015
Sen. John McCain, and Ashton Carter, the incoming next defense secretary, agree on one thing – the need for acquisition reform at the Pentagon. They should start by looking at the F-35 program. McCain, in his opening remarks at Carter’s confirmation hearing last week, provided a litany of examples of major programs that had incurred huge cost overruns, from a new aircraft carrier to the F-35 combat aircraft. His basic message was that if the Pentagon doesn’t change the way it buys weapons.
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02/13/2015
Washington can sometimes seem like a bunker, where assorted think tanks regularly lob hand grenades detailing what’s wrong with every nook and cranny of the U.S. military. This week, for a change, one got tossed outlining the fundamental weaknesses of the Chinese military. This is a big deal. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the prospect of a rising Chinese military has been cited as the justification for all sorts of U.S. weaponry.
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02/13/2015
The Air Force's most advanced fighter has been in battle against the Islamic State group for about five months, and has performed well enough to now be an anchor of airstrike sorties. The F-22 flew its first combat mission in September, striking an Islamic State headquarters building in Syria. Since then, the F-22 has flown as part of strike packages in most of the combat sorties as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in both Iraq and Syria.
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02/13/2015
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will showcase its indigenous products including Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Tejas in Bengaluru at the 10th edition of Aero India show, scheduled for February 18-22. HAL would also be showcasing its technical competence built over the years, the company in a release said.
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02/12/2015
When Jordanian air force pilot Maaz Al Kassasbeh ejected from his F-16 above ISIL-controlled Raqqa last December, his chances of evading capture — and thus of survival — began to diminish rapidly after an hour. Combat search and rescue veterans call this the “golden hour” after a pilot is downed behind enemy lines, when the chances for rescue and surviving injuries are greatest. But in truth, the Jordanian airman probably had even less time.
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02/12/2015
President Obama is requesting a three-year commitment for air and some ground forces to flush out Islamic State forces. What that means for Cherry Point air station, home to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, remains to be seen. Cherry Point Public Information Officer Mike Barton said, “As a general rule, it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on how presidential and congressional level decisions would affect Cherry Point.
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02/12/2015
Boeing Co. is restructuring the way it designs weapons and other systems for the Pentagon, just as the giant aerospace and defense company finalizes its pitch for what many analysts view as the most important U.S. military contact in 14 years. The company BA, -0.01% is still smarting with problems uncovered last year in building new aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force that triggered a $425 million pretax charge and could leave it nursing a loss for the initial stage of the program.
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02/12/2015
As a child, Air Force Lt. Col. Merryl Tengesdal imagined flying among the stars, thousands of miles above the Earth’s surface. Today, she is one of eight female pilots ever to fly the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and the only black female pilot in U-2 history. A Bronx, New York, native, Tengesdal also is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing inspector general, and she was recently was selected for promotion to colonel.
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02/12/2015
It's delayed and incomplete, but light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas is still the most popular indigenous defence product after the Agni missile series. It will lead the Indian defence fraternity's 'Make-in-India' campaign at the five-day Aero India, entering its 10th edition. For the first time, its makers will be able to boast that their customer, Indian Air Force, has accepted it. LCA will fly in formation during the customary flypast, presided over by PM Modi, defence minister Manohar Parrika
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02/12/2015
A first export contract for the Dassault Rafale combat jet appears imminent, but it is not with India, where negotiations have dragged on for three years. Instead, according to multiple reports in French media this week, Egypt will acquire 24 aircraft. The deal will be part of a $6 billion package that also includes a French frigate and an MBDA air defense missile system.
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02/12/2015
F-35 test pilots are starting the aircraft's engine and simulating takeoffs in extreme cold temperatures with special arctic gear as a way to prepare the stealth fighter to perform in combat. The testing, which will finish up at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in March, assesses the ability of the aircraft to start up, launch afterburners and even function in short-takeoff-and-landing, or STOVL, mode -- in extreme arctic temperatures, F-35 test pilot Cmdr. Tony "Brick" Wilson said.
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02/12/2015
Developers of the fifth generation fighter aircraft AMCA (that is just off the drawing board) are looking out for a global aero-engine manufacturer with whom they can upgrade and co-develop the fighter’s engine. They bank on the discussions they have slated with two manufacturers during next week’s Aero India - General Electric of US and Klimo of Russia - a top military scientist said on Wednesday.
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02/12/2015
A Russian fighter jet Su-24 crashed near Volgograd prompting Moscow to suspend operations of all aircraft of the same model, as the fate of the pilots remains unknown. The tactical bomber crashed about 7km away from the runway in Russia's southern city of Volgograd near the Marinovka airport. An investigation has been initiated into the incident as Moscow has ordered that all the twin-engine frontline bomber be grounded.
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02/11/2015
The White House was ready to share with lawmakers Tuesday its plan to seek authority for the use of military force against the Islamic State group, setting up the first war vote in Congress in 13 years. Presidential counsel Neil Eggleston was set to address the Senate Democrats' luncheon, the day before President Barack Obama is expected to formally unveil his proposed authorization, a Democratic official revealed.
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02/11/2015
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov recently announced that a new long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will soon be made in Russia, according to Sputnik News. The article further notes that this new drone will be able to conduct reconnaissance missions and also be capable of attacking targets. “We are finalizing research and development work related to the drones that will solve an array of tactical, operational and strategic tasks,” the deputy defense minister elaborates.
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02/11/2015
A combative Syrian President Bashad has dismissed talk that the United States may be softening its insistence that he step down from office as it grows more concerned about the growth of radical Islamists. In an interview with BBC News broadcast Tuesday, Assad accused the U.S. of fomenting terrorism through its support of "moderate" groups seeking to overthrow him, and defiantly insisted that he would not bend to American demands.
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02/11/2015
Northrop Grumman will develop a new aircraft design for the US Air Force's (USAF's) Northrop T-38C Talon combat aircraft trainer replacement programme, known as T-X, the company's programme director for T-X told IHS Jane's on 9 February. "Northrop Grumman is using our advanced design and prototyping expertise to build a new design for the air force T-X programme [because] the air force has evolved and matured its requirements," said Marc Lindsley.
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02/11/2015
When the Pentagon this spring announces who will design and build a major new stealth bomber for the Air Force, the decision will determine Boeing’s future in the combat aircraft business. The choice could also reshape the military industrial base. Top aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said that whatever the outcome, it could precipitate an aggressive move by Boeing, the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor, to acquire the aircraft unit of No. 3 defense player Northrop Grumman.
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02/11/2015
The V-22 team of Bell Helicopter and Boeing [NYSE: BA] recently delivered two MV-22 Osprey flight training simulators to the HMX-1 Presidential Airlift Squadron, enabling Marine aviators to more efficiently train for their critical and highly-visible transport mission. With the simulators, which are installed at the squadron’s headquarters in Quantico, Va., aircrews can rehearse missions without having to fly their tiltrotor aircraft. That reduces fuel use and wear and tear on the V-22s.
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02/10/2015
Throughout modern history, Europe has fielded some of the world’s most capable military forces. While many of those powers are nowhere near their zenith, they still field some of the most technologically advanced forces anywhere on Earth.European nations used to dominate the planet. But after two destructive world wars, most of countries couldn’t keep up with the United States and the Soviet Union, which emerged as superpowers after the Second World War.
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02/10/2015
India and Russia agreed in early 2007 to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter program. Ever since then, the Sukhol/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or as it is called in India, the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) project, has been plagued by delays, costs overrun, and unsteady technology In 2014, a prototype of the plane even caught fire during a demonstration flight for technical evaluation, causing heated arguments between India and Russia.
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02/10/2015
India on Monday said it wants to acquire "unique and transformative" military technologies from the US under the new bilateral Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), even as the two countries prepare for the next round of talks on the matter later this month.
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02/10/2015
Iran has launched indigenously-built combat fighter, Saeqeh 2 (Thunderbolt 2), on Monday for training purposes. "The double-cockpit supersonic fighter jet which has been designed and built by the defense ministry's aerospace industries organization in cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran's Air Force will do close-range cover and backup in tactical missions as well as advanced pilot training missions."
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02/10/2015
Lockheed Martin received an $82 million Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract in December from the U.S. Army for AH-64 Apache helicopter Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) system sustainment.
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02/09/2015
After a delay of more than 10 years, the Canadian Armed Forces hope to proceed sometime in the spring with the purchase of a new search-and-rescue aircraft fleet. Treasury Board is scheduled to review on Feb. 19 the request to send the bidding package to aerospace firms for the $3.1-billion program.
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02/09/2015
The Air Force's fiscal 2016 budget proposal, like the previous budget, calls for eliminating A-10 units across the service while giving new missions to Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units. The service on Friday released details on how those and other changes would affect bases stateside and overseas.
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02/09/2015
A two-star general last month reportedly accused Air Force pilots who tell Congress about successes of the four-decade-old Warthog of committing “treason,” drawing the wrath of senators, defense policy critics and bloggers. The Air Force inspector general’s office has confirmed that an investigation was launched on Jan. 22.
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02/09/2015
In the wake of the brutal execution of a Jordanian pilot who was captured after his plane was forced down over Syria, the resolve of the Arab members of the anti-ISIS coalition seemed to be faltering. The New York Times reported last week that the United Arab Emirates, a resurgent Middle Eastern power and a key regional partner for the United States, suspended strikes against ISIS indefinitely in the wake of the capture of a Jordanian fighter pilot.
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02/09/2015
Military investigators say human error caused an Idaho Army National Guard helicopter to crash during a training mission in November near the Boise airport, leading to the death of two pilots on board. Right before the crash, the pilots were practicing a routine emergency procedure: flying their Apache attack helicopter to safety on a single working engine, Col. Tim Marsano, a Guard spokesman, said in a statement.
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02/09/2015
The maiden flight of India's light combat aircraft (LCA) (Navy) Naval Prototype (NP2) was conducted from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore airport yesterday afternoon.
The aircraft, part of Indian Naval Aviation Carrier borne aircraft development programme, took off at 1227 hours yesterday and flew for 35 minutes, an official press release said. The flight was piloted by Captain Shivnath Dahiya, an experienced test pilot from the Indian Navy with the National Flight Test Centre (N
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02/08/2015
U.S. Air Force F-22s and F-16CJs escorted Jordanian fighters for recent airstrikes in Syria, the Pentagon said Friday. The American stealth jets are now part of the "standard strike package" used by U.S. and coalition aircraft in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said.
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02/07/2015
A U.S. Air Force F-16C believed to be taking part in combat operations against Islamic State (ISIS) forces in Syria has become the first to be officially ‘saved’ from certain impact with the ground by the recently fielded Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS).
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02/07/2015
Airmen from the 8th Fighter Wing sharpened combat skills and gained insight from their South Korean air force counterparts during exercise Buddy Wing 15-2 Feb. 3-6, at Daegu Air Base, South Korea. During this iteration of Buddy Wing, 8th FW Airmen deployed to Daegu to train alongside Airmen of the 11th FW, learning how to operate as one force with dissimilar fighter aircraft as they integrated mission planning, briefing, flying and debriefing together.
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02/07/2015
The U.S. military is moving additional troops and aircraft into Iraq to prepare for combat search-and-rescue missions, a defense official said Friday. The move comes amid heightened concern about the risks to U.S. and coalition partner pilots flying over Iraq and Syria. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said some aircraft were recently deployed into northern Iraq as a precaution.
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02/07/2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be the first Indian Prime Minister to fly in a fighter jet. Hectic talks are under way between the ministry of defence, the Prime Minister’s Office and makers of French Dassault Rafale, which is the major contender for the long awaited Multi Medium Role Combat Aircraft deal worth over Rs 82,000 crore.
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02/07/2015
Boeing has received a contract from the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to continue the provision of support services for US military aircraft. Valued at $223m, the performance-based agreement is the second of two received by the company under a five-year deal agreed in September 2014, and covers support for 11 different aircraft, reducing combat logistics support costs and boosting readiness.
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02/07/2015
The United States-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) conducted airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, resulting in destruction of units, a dozen vehicles and several staging locations, the US Central Command said in a statement on Thursday.
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02/07/2015
The Latvian Army reported Friday that NATO fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft over the Baltic Sea. NATO Baltic Air Policing QRA ITA Typhoon jets on 6 FEB scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces Il-38 over the Baltic Sea," the Latvian Army tweeted.
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02/06/2015
There are few nations in the Middle East, perhaps aside from Morocco (a bit of prejudice here), that is as blessed with such decent people and respected leadership as Jordan. It is a vulnerable, but stable desert kingdom constantly defying the forces arrayed against it. Jordan's boundless generosity has provided a safe haven for the human tide of refugees that have been thrust upon it from war-ravaged Syria and Iraq.
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02/06/2015
Kazakhstan is to acquire the Sukhoi Su-30SM 'Flanker' as it looks to recapitalise its Soviet-era fighter force, the government announced on 4 February. The disclosure was made by the Commander in Chief of the Kazakhstan Air Defence Forces (KADF), Major General Nurlan Ormanbetov, during a visit to the Irkutsk Aviation Plant where the Su-30SM is built.
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02/06/2015
On Monday, President Barack Obama’s budget request for the Pentagon featured more than $5 million dollars for an item tagged “Next Generation Fighter.” If you haven’t heard of it, it’s the plane of the future meant to replace the F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18 Growler aircraft by 2030. Much like the future itself, it’s been a source of much speculation but exists only as an idea.
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02/06/2015
With the White Mountains of Crete as their backdrop, U.S. and Hellenic air forces F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft soared to great heights and speeds as part of a continuing flying training deployment (FTD) Jan. 16 through Feb. 13 at Souda Bay, Greece.
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02/06/2015
The gruesome killing of a Jordanian pilot who had crashed in Islamic State territory laid bare a problem of the U.S.-led coalition: There's no sure way to rescue an airman who's down behind enemy lines. Now, in response, the U.S. has moved search-and-rescue aircraft closer to the battlefield, defense officials said Thursday.
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02/05/2015
The fight against the Islamic State group is down one key ally for now: the United Arab Emirates. Officials said Tuesday that the UAE suspended its airstrike efforts in December after Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured by IS militants, according to the New York Times.
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02/05/2015
Putting a brave face despite the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet contract flowing into rough weather, France on Wednesday claimed that everything is going "normal". Interestingly, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will not be raising the issue of the much delayed Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) during his three day-visit beginning tomorrow.
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02/05/2015
The Air Force is asking for a small increase in its flight hours as it still tries to dig itself out of a readiness hole dating back to a stand down of combat squadrons in 2013. Seventeen combat squadrons were forced to stand down for three months, while additional squadrons faced reduced flying hours as a result of sequestration in 2013. More than 44,000 flying hours were cut.
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02/05/2015
Hundreds of new Russian aircraft, tanks and missiles are rolling off assembly lines. Russian jets roar through European skies under NATO's wary eye. Tens of thousands of troops take part in war games showing off the military's readiness for all-out war.The muscle flexing suggests that Russia's economic woes so far are having no impact on the Kremlin's ambitious military modernization program.
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02/05/2015
“The Indian Air Force’s capabilities are continuing to deteriorate, despite the arrival of a government that seems ready to make big acquisition decisions,” summarizes a recently published Jane’s Defence Weekly briefing on the current state of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Among aviation experts, the IAF has been notorious for its high accident rate in its MIG-21 fleet.
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02/05/2015
The Defence Select Committee found the UK had carried out 6% of coalition air strikes against the jihadist group and said it was "surprised and deeply concerned" it was not doing more. But it stressed it was not in favour of deploying combat forces to battle IS. The government said military action was just part of "comprehensive" action by the international coalition.
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02/05/2015
Revolted by ISIS’s brutal execution of a Jordanian pilot by burning him in a cage, a powerful group of Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday called on the Obama administration to boost military aid to the Arab kingdom. All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote the State and Defense departments asking for increased assistance. The US already is giving Amman $1 billion in military and economic assistance this year.
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02/05/2015
A pair of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers followed by swarms of U.S. Air Force Raptors, Falcons, Eagles and Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets roared through the skies over Nellis Air Force Base on Tuesday. They headed out for a historic Red Flag air combat exercise to mark 40 years since the base began hosting them at the end of the Vietnam War.
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02/05/2015
The B-52 Stratofortress bomber was built during the Cold War, but its digital capabilities have entered the 21st century thanks to Boeing’s ongoing Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) upgrade. On Jan. 28, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a full rate production contract to deliver 10 CONECT kits that modernize communication systems for the B-52 bombers today and into the future.
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02/04/2015
Jordan said Tuesday that it would hang several jihadist prisoners in reaction to a video showing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters burning alive captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Jordan’s government has reportedly scheduled the executions of several jihadist prisoners in response to the killing. One of those reportedly slated for execution is Sajida al-Rishawi, the prisoner ISIS had demanded to be released in exchange for al-Kasasbeh’s release.
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02/03/2015
The Air Force plans to increase the number of combat air patrols that MQ-9 Reaper pilots fly.
The Air Force's fiscal 2016 budget would fund 60 MQ-9 combat air patrols in a 24-hour period, an increase from 55, said Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein. MQ-1 Predator pilots would be funded to fly five combat air patrols, for a total of 65 combat air patrols per day.
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02/03/2015
The Obama administration’s fiscal year 2016 budget proposal for the Air Force includes continued purchases of F-35 fighters, transport aircraft and a large increase in research and development funding for the long-range strike bomber. Among the four services, the Air Force had the largest plus-up with some $16 billion more than the 2015 enacted level. Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force deputy assistant secretary of budget, said that is because the demand for what the service provides is growing.
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02/02/2015
Tensions between Russia and the UK have heightened after it was revealed that the Russian bomber intercepted by RAF fighter jets was carrying a nuclear missile designed to destroy Trident submarines. The TU-95 aircraft were spotted on long range radar flying down from Scotland towards the English Channel, where they were close to entering British airspace, the Sunday Express report.
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02/02/2015
U.S. Rep. David Jolly, BRAC is not a four-letter word. OK, so it’s not really a word, just another military acronym. But to Jolly, BRAC is still not in the category of those four-letter words you won’t find in these pages. BRAC, which officially stands for the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (I guess BCRC is just too hard to say), is being pushed by the White House and Pentagon, which are looking to cut spending even as they are increasing it.
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02/02/2015
In the first 24 hours of the Kurds’ latest offensive there were 16 coalition air strikes. Peshmerga fighters attacked from positions near Mosul Dam, taking Islamic State by surprise and cutting their supply lines. Now the Kurds are close to the militants’ stronghold in the city of Mosul.
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02/02/2015
Lt. Col. John Davis said the enemy in Afghanistan had gotten used to the Apache AH-64D. The enemy knew roughly how long the Apache would take to get there, how long it could engage, when it would have to leave for fuel and when it might come back. The first battalion commander to deploy the new Apache AH-64E Guardian in combat said that's why the new model managed to scare a confused enemy.
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02/02/2015
The Zhukovsky and Gagarin Air Force Academy in Armavir, Krasnodar is set to receive five new Yakovlev Yak-130 light attack training aircraft this week, with twenty more to be delivered before the year is out, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports. The completed planes, which have been undergoing testing in the Irkutsk region in Siberia at the Irkut Corporation plant, are set to make their long journey across the country this week.
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02/01/2015
A diplomatic spat erupted as the Government warned it was “absolutely unacceptable” that the two Tupolev 95s were in Irish-controlled airspace for five hours without notifying the Irish authorities. The planes were flying with their transponders switched off – meaning they could not be ‘seen’ by civilian aircraft as they passed through the busy airspace, where around 1,800 planes a day travel.
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02/01/2015
Chadian aircraft on Saturday bombed the Nigerian town of Gamboru in a raid targeting extremist group Boko Haram, security sources said, as regional efforts to combat the Islamists intensified. An initial raid was carried out around midday by two fighter jets on the town in Nigeria's far northeast along the Cameroon border, sources from Chad and Cameroon said on condition of anonymity.
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02/01/2015
The Philippines air force said Saturday that one of its light planes, which is manufactured in Italy, crashed in the sea during a training mission. Two pilots were killed in the crash, according to The Associated Press (AP). The single-prop SF-260FH which crashed, was a trainer aircraft, according to GMA News, which cited Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Canaya.
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02/01/2015
The historical relationship between the United States and Russia can hardly be described as rosey. The two countries are inextricably linked due to the Cold War era, with the world’s two modern superpowers having enjoyed an extremely suspicious relationship with one another for decades during the 20th century.
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02/01/2015
People in southwest Utah may once again experience loud booms and rumbles across the region as the U.S. Air Force and invited allied forces take part in Red Flag military training exercises. Called Red Flag, the combat trainings started Monday and continue though Feb. 13.
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