March, 2015 Military Aviation News
03/31/2015
Defense News reports that five Antonov AN-32 military transport aircraft have gone missing in Ukraine. According to an Indian Air Force official, the last five out of 40 AN-32s undergoing upgrades at the Kiev-based Antonov State Company have become “untraceable.” “These five aircraft are almost lost as it is difficult to trace them and diplomatic efforts to find their whereabouts have failed,” the Air Force official stated.
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03/31/2015
Nigeria’s military is acquiring new and second-hand hardware for all three branches of service as it battles Boko Haram insurgents on land and maritime insecurity and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. Over the last couple of years, Nigeria has received armoured vehicles, small arms, combat aircraft and large and small naval vessels, among other items, from mostly Asian and Eastern European suppliers.
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03/31/2015
A dark night without electricity turned bright as mid-day Monday as jets bombed what apparently was a storage area for Scud missiles in the Faj Attan district of Yemen’s capital. Balls of fire shot into the air and thunderous blasts shook the city as aircraft, presumed to be from Saudi Arabia, hit the missile depot.
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03/31/2015
Korea Aerospace Industries has been chosen the preferred bidder for the KF-X fighter project aimed at filling a vacuum as a result of about 100 old fighter jets being decommissioned later this decade. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration made the decision in a meeting chaired by Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Monday.
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03/31/2015
Even as sequestration budget cuts loom over US Army aviation, helicopter modernization plans are driving numerous requirements, officials said at an industry conference here. Army officials portrayed Army aviation as active around the globe, with a need to be ready for anything. Behind the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), the greatest emphasis is on technology to see and fly through dust, fog and other obscurants, known as degraded visual environment-mitigation (DVE-M).
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03/31/2015
The Air Force ’s Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program should be decided in the next few months. Easily the biggest undecided defense competition in the world, LRS-B should result in 75-100 new bombers worth at least $50 billion in revenue, plus much more in design, support, and long-term upgrade work.
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03/31/2015
The South Korean military preliminarily selected Korea Aerospace Industries on Monday as a partner in its $7.7 billion project to develop its own advanced jet fighter with technological help from the American military contractor Lockheed Martin.
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03/31/2015
Since last Thursday, the bombings have been targeting Houthi rebels and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. According to local residents speaking to Reuters, the airstrikes have largely targeted the area around the presidential palace. Figures released by Yemen’s health ministry — which is currently Houthi controlled — said 35 people had been killed over the weekend, with another 88 injured.
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03/31/2015
Capable of tracking nearly 100 vehicles at once, the Chinese military has launched its new airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C), taking to the skies with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
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03/30/2015
Every day, dozens of unmanned jet aircraft as big as private business jets take off from airports scattered around the globe. They fly for thousands of kilometres, staying aloft for as long as 36 hours, often changing course to cope with unexpected developments, before returning to land. To call them drones grossly understates the sophistication, safety and cost-effectiveness of autonomous and remotely piloted aircraft.
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03/30/2015
In the time it took Boeing and the US Marines to develop and put into service the Osprey tilt-rotor helicopter, Italy's AgustaWestland has lingered over development of its own, smaller tilt-rotor, prompting questions about the fate of the program. Initially developed in partnership with Bell, the AW609 has racked up test flights and turned into an all-Italian program after the US firm went its separate way.
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03/30/2015
Few organizations boast a reputation of dysfunction comparable to the Arab League’s. Over seven decades the Arab League has distinguished itself through infighting and fecklessness. But now, with the Obama administration seen as missing in action in the Middle East, the alliance of 22 countries is undergoing a renaissance. Over the weekend, the Arab League met in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and endorsed the creation of an intervention force to fight terrorism in the Middle East.
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03/30/2015
Japan's growing need to improve its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities to counter quieter Chinese submarines in littoral waters could set off a three-way race between an upgraded indigenous platform against longer-term solutions, analysts said. Last August, the Defense Ministry decided to start replacing its aging fleet of 46 SH-60J and 39 SH-60K Seahawk helicopters, providing an initial ¥7 billion (US $57.6 million) as part of a ¥48.1 billion development project.
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03/30/2015
In the makeshift Iraqi army command headquarters for the operation to clear Tikrit, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim reads out the coordinates for targets that planes from the U.S.-led coalition are to strike: the local council building, the teacher’s institute, a local mall. As he speaks, other planes find their mark, and the headquarters, a former chemical engineering building at the city’s university, shudders from the reverberations.
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03/30/2015
The US Army's effort to improve the operational capabilities of its rotorcraft fleet through the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) is heading for preliminary design requests in May as it aims for a 2023 production goal. After the May requests, contracts are expected to be awarded to the two competitors in March 2016, a request for proposals issued for the engineering and manufacturing design phase in early 2017.
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03/30/2015
How to avoid missile batteries and navigate defensive radar systems in Syria are among the issues preoccupying military planners as Parliament debates the merits of expanding and extending Canada’s Middle East mission. So far, the debate among MPs has revolved around the need for a broader military mission in Iraq and the legality of extending air strikes to include that country’s troubled neighbour.
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03/30/2015
American and Ukrainian specialists will fly over the territory of Russia and Belarus under the Treaty on Open Skies on March 30 — April 4, Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center has announced. "Within the framework of the international Treaty on Open Skies a US mission with the participation of Ukrainian representatives plans to conduct an observation flight over the territory of a group of participating states.
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03/29/2015
The U.S. Navy rescued two Saudi Arabia air force pilots from the Gulf of Aden, a U.S. military official said Friday. The pilots had ejected from their F-15 aircraft after it suffered mechanical failure, Saudi officials told U.S. sources. The two were not seriously injured. The USS Sterett, a guided-missile destroyer, coordinated the search, while the USS New York looked for the men. A rescue helicopter flew from Djibouti to retrieve them on Thursday.
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03/29/2015
A new Chinese-built seaplane could help seal Beijing's control over its claims in the South China Sea (SCS), say military specialists on China. The Jiaolong (Water Dragon) AG600, under construction by China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA), will be China's largest operational seaplane. CAIGA did not respond to inquiries after the company's announcement on March 17 that it had completed the front fuselage assembly for the prototype.
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03/29/2015
Australia's Iraq air task group has completed its first rotation with six Super Hornets heading home after seven months of operations. Their replacements have already started flying missions against Islamic State terrorists. Air task group commander Air Commodore Glen Braz says the new strike team has completed a comprehensive transition and is now engaged in combat air operations.
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03/29/2015
Here at the headquarters of Iraqi ground forces, after three days of American airstrikes that at times witnesses here described as “carpet bombing,” Iraq’s military seemed in no great hurry on Saturday to press its advantage. It also seemed to be moving very slowly on promises to withdraw Shiite militias from the battlefield.
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03/29/2015
As the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program continues to accrue criticism over cost and schedule overruns and missed milestones, the U.S. Navy is looking to an old standby—the Boeing-built F/A-18 Super Hornet—to plug potential holes in its airborne fleet.
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03/29/2015
Despite no apparent movement on Malaysia's Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) program, this month's Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) show revealed a new player in the mix. Boeing, Dassault, Eurofighter and Saab have been the main contenders for the MRCA program, which will replace Royal Malaysian Air Force MiG-29N fighters, for a number of years now, with little detectable progress.
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03/29/2015
Saudi-led international coalition launched another series of airstrikes Saturday destroying the airport runway in the western Yemeni city Hudaydah, a local source told Sputnik. Shiite Houthi rebel groups seized vast territories in Yemen forcing the elected authorities to resign. On Wednesday night, an international coalition of Arab. countries led by Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign targeting the positions of Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
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03/28/2015
Russia’s increasing presence in Latin America, frequent visits to the region by top-ranking Russian officials as well as widespread rumors of the sale of military aircraft to both Nicaragua and Argentina has attracted the attention of the West. Despite the pressure from a number of Western nations over Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has recently ended a four-nation (Cuba, Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua) tour in the region.
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03/28/2015
NATO was forced to scramble over 400 times in 2014, to intercept Russian military warplanes.
This is NATO's answer to Russia's threat to the Baltics. 14 US Air Force F-16 fighter jets have simulated low altitude ground attacks, during exercises in Estonia this week. Pilots practiced communicating with ground forces, critical skills that would be needed during any future real-life operation.
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03/28/2015
The UK is to deploy a pair of Raytheon Sentinel R.1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) surveillance aircraft to the Middle East to bolster its support of the international mission against the Islamic State in Iraq. The deployment, which was announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 26 March, will see the aircraft conduct wide-area airborne surveillance to provide pattern-of-life intelligence and to track the laying of improvised explosive devices.
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03/28/2015
The U.S. Air Force is sending another rotation of combat aircraft to Europe to bolster security in response to the ongoing Ukraine crisis, this time tapping into the Air National Guard to support strategic interests an ocean away. Twelve F-15 Eagle fighter jets and about 200 airmen from the 125th Fighter Wing, a Florida Air National Guard unit from Jacksonville, are en route to Europe, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-U.S. Air Forces Africa officials announced Friday.
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03/28/2015
As a U.S. Army Stryker convoy crossed from Lithuania to Poland on March 24 —within about 12 miles of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad—nearby NATO warplanes scrambled to intercept Russian bombers and fighters over the Baltic Sea.
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03/27/2015
Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi left his refuge in Aden for Saudi Arabia on Thursday as Houthi rebels battled with his forces on the outskirts of the southern port city.
Throughout the day, warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies struck at the Shi'ite Houthis and allied army units, who have taken over much of the country and seek to oust Hadi.
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03/27/2015
For much of its history, China has made a point of steering clear of other countries’ internal affairs. But that changed late last year, when the Middle Kingdom entered into the international arena in a way it hadn’t before, offering both money and military might to fight the terrors of the Islamic State.
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03/27/2015
Supporters of the famous A-10 "Warthog" attack aircraft — a club that includes U.S. ground troops stationed in dangerous places around the world — are getting a lesson in Defense Department appropriations politics. They are learning that there are ways to mothball a fleet of warplanes. When those ways run into serious opposition, there are… other ways.
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03/27/2015
The Iranians have suffered a humiliating defeat. More than 20,000 fighters with Iranian-backed Shiite militias have withdrawn from the 3-week-old battle to oust Islamic State militants from the Iraqi city of Tikrit. And the Iraqis have turned back to the U.S. military for help. U.S. aircraft launched airstrikes in Tikrit on Wednesday for the first time since the battle began, providing vital military support that came only after the Iraqi government agreed to seize command and control of the fig
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03/27/2015
Lt Kiran Shekhawat was part of the naval women's contingent that marched down Rajpath this Republic Day. Today, her body was retrieved from the fuselage of the Dornier that "ditched into the sea" on Tuesday night. A routine training sortie had claimed the life of the young woman - the first lady officer in the armed forces - post-Independence - to be killed in the line of duty.
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03/27/2015
Defending Russia said it has confirmed delivery to Kazakhstan of four Russian fighter aircraft Su-30SM. The delivery marks the completion of the first phase of the order, which was announced in February and will see a total of 36 aircraft manufactured and exported to Kazakhstan, as the country looks to bolster its combat aircraft reserves.
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03/27/2015
The biggest story this year so far in the F-35 joint strike fighter world is not the soaring cost of the aircraft — a problem that appears to have been contained, according to the program manager — but the determination of the Marine Corps to put the aircraft into service even though its mission software is unfinished and cracks surfaced in one of its main bulkheads.
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03/27/2015
NATO jets and Sweden's air force were scrambled on Tuesday to escort Russian combat aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea, according to officials. Two nuclear-capable Russian bombers and two fighter planes were flying in international airspace, according to Sweden's armed forces.
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03/27/2015
The aircraft's mass production is expected to be launched in 2019. The twin-engine turboprop plane, developed by the Ilyushin Aviation Complex (JSC IL), will be manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association at an aircraft plant in Voronezh, located some 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Moscow. It will replace the Antonov An-26.
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03/26/2015
Japan's navy today took delivery of its biggest warship since the Second World War as it continues expanding its military capability in an attempt to shed its post-war pacifism. Today the Izumo, a helicopter carrier as big as the Imperial Navy aircraft carriers that battled the United States in the Pacific, was delivered to the navy in a crowning achievement for the nation's military forces.
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03/26/2015
The man in charge of the Pentagon’s $391 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is sick of the intense criticism his embattled program has received over the past few years. He says the aircraft is in much better shape than the public has been led to believe. For years, the F-35 has raised eyebrows for its enormous cost overruns, schedule delays and significant technical and design problems.
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03/26/2015
Even as the government on Wednesday announced the dates of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France on April 9, 2015, Dassault handed over two upgraded Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force in a formal ceremony at the Dassault Aviation Flight Test Centre in France. Mr. Modi will also travel to Germany on April 12, 2015 and Canada on April 14, 2015 before returning on April 17, 2015.
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03/26/2015
Nicaragua’s sudden interest in purchasing a squadron of MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia could trigger a pointless arms race between one of the smallest and one of the largest militaries in Latin America.
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03/26/2015
Airbus Group NV said it sold additional shares in Dassault Aviation SA, cutting its holding in the maker of the Rafale fighter to 24.6 percent and using the proceeds to fund growth. Airbus said it sold 1.61 million shares in total, with 71 percent of the lot going to institutional investors for 1,030 euros a share and the remainder to Dassault for 980 euros apiece, according to a statement today. The transaction corresponds to 1.64 billion euros ($1.8 billion), Airbus said.
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03/26/2015
Russia's reported plans to lease 12 fighter aircraft to Argentina is forcing Britain to "beef up" it's defence of the Falklands, the Defence Secretary has said. The Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft would be sent to Buenos Aires in exchange for beef and wheat, in a proposal which would help Moscow beat EU sanctions over Ukraine. Michael Fallon said that while any agreement between Russia and Argentina was not yet signed, Britain would increase its presence on the archipelago.
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03/26/2015
The Swedish Air Force and NATO jets on Tuesday tracked four Russian combat aircraft flying with their transponders turned off over the Baltic Sea, officials said. The Russian planes — two long-range, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 bombers and two Sukhoi Su-27 fighters — were flying in international airspace, according to Sweden's Armed Forces and alliance sources.
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03/26/2015
Saudi Arabia amassed heavy military equipment and artillery near its border with Yemen, showing signs of an impending military intervention. A formal go-ahead for the invasion might be given on Thursday by the Arab League. As the conflict in Yemen escalates, US officials are saying that Saudi Arabia may be preparing airstrikes to defend Yemen’s embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against advancing Houthi rebels, as it starts moving weapons to areas near its neighboring country’s border.
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03/26/2015
"This year the [Novosibirsk] aircraft factory must deliver 16 Su-34 frontline bombers," Mikhailov said, adding the factory is ready to exceed the production target. "Three aircraft will be delivered soon," said the director of the Moscow-based United Aircraft Corporation's Military Aviation Programs Directorate. Mikhailov described the aircraft as solid, sound and able to cover long distances with refueling. "In other words, it meets all the requirements for the frontline bomber," he said.
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03/26/2015
A US official says the airstrikes began after the Iraqi government requested US help. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the American attacks had not yet been officially announced. An Associated Press reporter in Tikrit reported hearing warplanes overhead late Wednesday, followed by multiple explosions.
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03/24/2015
Dozens of military personnel were injured when an RAF transport plane on its way to Afghanistan nose-dived 4,400ft after the captain's camera became lodged alongside the aircraft's joystick. The Voyager jet was around five hours into its journey from Brize Norton to Camp Bastion when the Nikon camera, used by the captain to take photographs on board, got stuck between the arm rest and the side-stick controller when his seat moved forward.
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03/24/2015
The next step in getting the new Marine Corps F-35B ready for combat roles is scheduled for May off the East Coast. The Marine Corps will run its new F-35B Lightning II through weapons tests in sea trials during a two-week period, according to Maj. Paul Greenberg, of the Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication. He said what is called Operational Test Period 1 is scheduled aboard the USS Wasp.
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03/24/2015
The US Air Force (USAF) on 20 March released requirements for its Northrop T-38C Talon combat aircraft trainer replacement programme, known as T-X. USAF Secretary Deborah Lee James, the service's senior civilian official, has emphasised open discussions with potential T-X manufacturers to keep the effort affordable.
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03/24/2015
The Air Force is on the attack to eliminate the beloved A-10, insisting that the venerable Warthog is not the only airframe up to the close-air support task. To press the point, service leaders showcased a group of fighter pilots, who described their CAS missions in other aircraft. But opponents on Capitol Hill, and troops on the ground, aren't having it, and the service faces an uphill battle to cut the jet and bring its beleaguered F-35 online in time.
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03/24/2015
Russia is rekindling its once-strong ties to Nicaragua, possibly including providing the Central American nation with jet fighters, stoking unease as far away as the Andes in South America.
Later this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive in Nicaragua as part of a swing through four Latin American nations, the culmination to a series of high-level Russian visits to this Central American nation in the past year.
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03/24/2015
The United States-led coalition against the Islamic State conducted 14 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, resulting in the destruction of tactical units, fighting positions, vehicles and machinery, the US Central Command said in a statement. “On March 22, Coalition military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria, using fighter and bomber aircraft to conduct eight airstrikes,” the statement, released on Monday, said.
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03/24/2015
The Chinook sale will enhance the defense of The Netherlands and support NATO cooperation, according to the DSCA. The 17 Chinooks will supplement existing Chinook helicopters and eventually replace the Netherlands’ aging Chinook fleet.
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03/24/2015
Russia plans to start production of fifth-generation T-50 fighter jets in 2016, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said Monday. As of now, the United States is the only country whose Air Force includes a fully-operational fifth-generation jet fighter. “We have plans to deliver the first series of fifth-generation fighter jets next year,” Borisov said during a visit to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant in the country’s Far East, where Russia is developing the PAK-FA fighter jet.
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03/24/2015
Finland’s Defense Minister Carl Haglund met his Swedish and British counterparts on board a US aircraft carrier Sunday in a sign of growing military cooperation between Helsinki and NATO.
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03/23/2015
In just 5 years, beginning with 2010, China` arms sales have grown 143 per cent. That is how China has become the world`s thrid largest exporter in weapon commerce, overtaking the position which was by now occupied by Germany. However, the new study that shows these numbers also reveals the fact that 5 per cent share is still poor when compared to United States` and Russia`s combined 58 per cent. As international conflicts continue to emerge around the world,
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03/23/2015
The lack of U.S. airstrikes in and around the city of Tikrit is slowing the Iraqi counteroffensive to retake the strategically situated city from the Islamic State’s terrorist army. The assault, carried out by the Iraqi Security Forces and Shiite militiamen trained, equipped and led by Iran, has encircled the Sunni-dominated city north of Baghdad after more than three weeks of fighting. The Pentagon now says the battle is “static.”
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03/23/2015
The U.S. Air Force wants to kill the A-10 Warthog. Really, really wants to kill it. But some of the Air Force's ideas for replacing the A-10 are starting to strain credibility. As you're probably aware, the Air Force has argued multiple times in recent months that its new F-35 stealth fighters (built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)) can do an "adequate" job of providing ground troops with close-air support.
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03/23/2015
NATO's military commander is again calling on the West to consider sending defensive weapons to Ukraine, to help it offset Russia's continued support for the pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine's east. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, speaking Sunday, told a Brussels conference that he does not think "any tool of (the) United States or any other nation's power should necessarily be off the table."
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03/23/2015
Faced with huge delays in clinching new fighter projects even as it grapples with fast-eroding air combat power, IAF finally has some reason to cheer. The force will get its first two upgraded Mirage-2000 fighters with new avionics and weapons this week. The defence ministry says France will hand over the two "almost new" Mirage fighters to the project management teams of IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) on March 25.
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03/22/2015
The helicopter went down in Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib province, an area held by opposition fighters, including those from al-Nusra Front, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Four crew members were captured, while a fifth was killed, the watchdog said.
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03/22/2015
“I don’t think that Danes fully understand the consequence if Denmark joins the American-led missile defence shield,” wrote Vanin. “If they do, then Danish warships will be targets for Russian nuclear missiles. Denmark would be part of the threat against Russia. It would be less peaceful and relations with Russia will suffer. It is, of course, your own decision – I just want to remind you that your finances and security will suffer.
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03/22/2015
Airbus Group expects to see growing demand for military aircraft in Asia amid simmering tensions in the South China Sea and other areas. The Asian market for defence and space-related business could grow to about $50 billion a year within the next five years, from $45 billion now, said Christian Scherer, executive vice president for marketing and sales at Airbus Defense & Space, the planemaker's defence unit.
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03/22/2015
Mammoth Russian military drills ordered by President Vladimir Putin from the Pacific to the Black Sea are designed to send a message to the West: keep your distance and don’t overplay your hand on Ukraine, observers say. Since the start of the Ukraine crisis more than a year ago, Russia has flexed its muscles with a series of war games but the scale of the latest military exercises has triggered a series of new questions.
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03/22/2015
Navy leaders have launched a study to find ways to lower the costs of aircraft carriers, explore alternatives to the big-deck platforms, and increase competition among vendors. The Navy study is expected to last about a year and will examine technologies and acquisition strategies for the long-term future of Navy big-deck aviation in light of a fast-changing global threat environment, service officials said.
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03/22/2015
The Philippines is planning to purchase 24 more combat aircraft, adding to the 12 FA-50 fighter jets it had ordered from South Korea in 2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said. It did not specify when or from whom the aircraft would be ordered. The FA-50s were the first order by the Philippines for advanced combat aircraft in decades amid the increasing tensions with China over disputed territories in the South China Sea.
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03/21/2015
Over recent years, Iran has made great play of its burgeoning domestic aerospace capabilities by revealing a number of 'new' combat aircraft types to the world.
For about the last five years, state media has heralded a steady stream of new fighters and other types which, it claims, demonstrate the Islamic republic's ability to design, develop, and manufacture the latest generation of combat aviation.
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03/21/2015
The Air Force doesn't have enough fighter pilots in its active duty cockpits due to force structure cuts and increased airline hiring, leading to a long-term drop in those available to train new pilots and test new aircraft, service leaders told lawmakers Thursday.
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03/21/2015
Joint Base Lewis-McChord Army helicopter crews that spent much of last year navigating Afghanistan’s mountains are heading to sea next week for their first drills training to land on an aircraft carrier. A number of Apache and Blackhawk helicopters from JBLM’s 16th Combat Aviation Brigade are expected to spend Monday flying in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the carrier USS John Stennis.
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03/21/2015
France-based Dassault Aviation can offer a customised financial package to support the Rafale jet fighter should Malaysia decide to procure the combat aircraft from the company. Dassault chief executive officer Eric Tappier said the package could be similar to the one taken up by Egypt to support the Rafale multirole fighter aircraft.
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03/21/2015
A local company, Aerospace Technology Systems Corp Sdn Bhd (ATSC), has offered to upgrade the 10 MiG-29N aircrafts of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) to Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). ATSC chief executive officer Lt Col (Rtd) Fadzar Suhada said today the enhancement proposed by the company would make the aircraft not only on par with other MRCA fighter jets in the market but also extend the lifespan by a minimum of 25 years.
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03/20/2015
As the Russian Airforce is deploying its TU-22M3 ‘Backfire’ aircraft into the recently incorporated area that is Crimea, there are several things changing for the NATO and other military forces in the region. While the political situation has everything to do with these being added to the might of the Russian air and sea fleet over there, the relevance to the whole situation is not that important at all.
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03/20/2015
Eventually, the U.S. Air Force wants to replace the low and slow-flying A-10 Warthog with the fast-moving F-35 stealth fighter. But it’ll take years before the troubled jet fighters are ready for duty. In the meantime, the Air Force still needs a plane for dedicated close air support missions?—?something the A-10 excels at. So what does the flying branch propose? Not keeping the Warthog.
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03/20/2015
The crews of the Baltic Fleet's naval aviation conducted a series of night training operations and are planning to practice bombing shortly, the Russian Defense Ministry's press service said Thursday. "As part of the large-scale exercise…the crews of Su-27 fighter jets and Su-24M bombers of the Baltic Fleet's naval aviation conducted a series of night training flights," the press service said.
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03/20/2015
On Tuesday, US-led aircraft carried out 11 airstrikes throughout Iraq. A key target was a drone which had found its way into the hands of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), marking the first time the US has targeted a UAV controlled by the terrorist group.
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03/20/2015
Demonstrations of Russia's nuclear capability during a time of crisis with the West are provocative and concerning, US Strategic Command Commander Admiral Cecil Haney said on Thursday. "The demonstration of their capability during crisis such as long-range strategic aircraft flights, their violation of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), etc., really shows where we are as a world.
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03/19/2015
NATO jets scrambled to intercept Russian military aircraft as they neared Latvian airspace, officials said on Wednesday. Estonian radar detected the aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday night, NATO said. Other than the lead aircraft, NATO said, none of the other Russian military aircraft was on a flight plan. NATO sent jets to identify the planes and later reported that the military aircraft flew on into Russian airspace.
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03/19/2015
Iraqi security forces surrounding Tikrit continue to receive reinforcements ahead of the final phase of the operation to clear Islamic State fighters from the heart of the city. The call to battle has attracted fighters from popular volunteer groups including the Badr Organization, the League of the Righteous, the Peace Brigades and their affiliates.
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03/19/2015
Imagine an aircraft carrier—in the sky, not on sea. From its bay, it deploys swarms of armed drones that can fly, spy and kill, all guided by the touch of a computer keyboard thousands of miles away. This isn’t a scene from a science-fiction movie. It’s part of a recent proposal from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon skunk works that brought us the Internet, videoconferencing and GPS. Now Darpa is soliciting ideas from companies on how to bring this technology to life.
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03/19/2015
Aviation industry professionals and fans will not want to miss this year's Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2015 or Lima '15 in short. Two combat-proven Rafale aircrafts, a single-seater and a two-seater belonging to the French Air Force, are ready to dazzle visitors at the fair. Specially flown in to showcase the capabilities of a true multirole fighter aircraft.
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03/19/2015
Reports from the US Department of Defence Inspector General and Director of Operational Test and Evaluation into the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter question the project’s ability to produce an aircraft which is safe to fly — let alone overcome more than 50 issues identified by audit.
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03/19/2015
Belarus will get four combat and training aircraft Yak-130 in April, BelTA learned from Oleg Demchenko, President of Irkut Corporation. “We are going to deliver four Yak-130 aircraft to Belarus in April,” said Oleg Demchenko during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2015 in Malaysia.
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03/19/2015
Lockheed Martin delivered today a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) P-3 Orion aircraft 37 days ahead of schedule. This is the 12th of 14 aircraft in the program to receive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) modifications and phased depot maintenance. The MLU replaces the outer wings, center wing, horizontal stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer leading edges. All necessary fatigue life-limiting structures are replaced, leading to significantly reduced maintenance and sustainment costs.
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03/19/2015
The Russian military will deploy ten Tu-22M3 Backfire C supersonic strategic bombers to Crimea as part of the current large-scale snap inspection of combat readiness, a source in the Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. "In the framework of the snap inspection of the combat readiness of the Northern Fleet and some units of the Western Military District, 10 TU-22M3 strategic bombers will be deployed to the Crimean Peninsula," the source said.
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03/19/2015
The Indian Air Force plans to start mounting BrahMos cruise missiles on its aircraft in 2016, BrahMos Aerospace CEO Sudhir Mishra told RIA Novosti Wednesday. The short-range supersonic missile was jointly developed by Russia and India and has been in use by the Indian Navy since 2005.
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03/18/2015
A unit of Malaysian maintenance, repair and overhaul firm Airod has proposed an upgrade programme for Malaysia’s fleet of 10 RAC MiG-29 aircraft. The upgrade, which an industry source says is being considered by the air force, would see the type upgraded to what it refers to as the “MiG-29NM” standard.
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03/18/2015
The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has begun flight operations on the first deployment of its upgraded Airbus Helicopters Puma Mk. 2 utility helicopter. Three Pumas are being sent to support the U.K.’s contribution to NATO’s Resolute Support Mission. The new NATO mission has been set up to help Afghan ministries and institutions, as well as support command levels of Afghan security forces, and the helicopters will be used to carry personnel around the Kabul region to avoid useing ground transport.
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03/18/2015
Russia plans to station state-of-the art missiles in its westernmost Baltic exclave and deploy nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea as part of massive war games to showcase its resurgent military power amid bitter tensions with the West over Ukraine. The Russian military exercises this week range from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean and involve tens of thousands of troops, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
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03/18/2015
An MQ-1 Predator was lost Tuesday while flying over northwest Syria, according to a defense official. Syria's official news agency claimed the drone hwas shot down, but the defense official was unable to say exactly how the unmanned aircraft crashed. The Air Force is in the process of phasing out Predators in favor of the newer MQ-9 Reaper.
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03/18/2015
Negotiation is taking place for procurement of medium multi-role combat aircraft from Dassault Aviation France but “no final decision” has been taken, the government informed the Rajya Sabha today. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said review of existing fleet and induction of new aircraft is a continuous process and such a review is carried out keeping in view the operational requirements of the Air Force.
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03/18/2015
As the UK’s largest remaining defence contractor, BAE Systems is in a state of flux, with its domestic market continuing to experience reduced spending, but the need to provide a sovereign capability remaining at a consistent high.
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03/18/2015
Subsequent to the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) of Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has handed over the First Series Production (SP1) of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 17.1.2015. The requirement of fighter aircraft is periodically reviewed and it is ensured that the operational requirements of the IAF are met.
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03/18/2015
About 10 Russian warships led by the Admiral Ushakov torpedo boat have conducted air defense exercises in the Barents Sea as part of the Northern Fleet snap drills, the Defense Ministry announced in a statement. "In the course of the snap Northern Fleet combat readiness drills, a group of diverse strike forces led by the Admiral Ushakov destroyer held joint military exercises with two antisubmarine ship search and strike groups in the Barents Sea," the statement said.
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03/18/2015
About 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-34 (Fullback) strike fighters and Russian modernized Sukhoi Su-27 (Flanker) multirole fighters have been relocated to the country's Kaliningrad Region to conduct bombing drills, the Defense Ministry said. "After the relocation the crews of the multipurpose Su-34 aircraft are to conduct bombing of ground targets at an unknown firing field in the Kaliningrad Region," the ministry said in a statement.
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03/18/2015
Russia delivered two Mil Mi-17 "Hip" helicopters to Nepal, and the two countries are negotiating the supply of more, the head of Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport's regional department told RIA Novosti. "Our relations with Nepal are developing rapidly. Two Russian-supplied Mi-17s fly in the country. We are negotiating the additional delivery of helicopters for the Interior Ministry and the armed forces [of the country]," Vladimir Ereschenko said.
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03/17/2015
The Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are among the platforms Boeing will showcase at the Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia, March 17-21, 2015. Other key Boeing capabilities featured include the AH-6i Light Attack/ Reconnaissance helicopter and the ScanEagle from Boeing subsidiary, Insitu Pacific.
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03/17/2015
The first of three C-295 transports ordered from Airbus Military for the Philippine Air Force is scheduled for delivery later this month. "It will serve as additional transport support for the Armed Forces' requirements (and complement) the three existing C-130s" now in use, the Philippine Star newspaper quoted Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya. "They will be especially helpful in HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster response) operations."
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03/17/2015
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would eliminate its dependency on external suppliers for its defense industry. In a speech at the inauguration ceremony of the Radar and Electronic Warfare Technology Center, launched by Turkey's leading state-owned defense system producer, ASELSAN, in Ankara, Erdogan said: "We plan to eliminate external dependency on defense equipment supply with ongoing projects and investments by 2023.
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03/17/2015
For a $55 billion program that is supposedly shrouded in mystery, we sure do hear a lot about the significance of the Long-Range Strike Bomber competition to the companies vying for the win. So who is the frontrunner? That definitely depends upon who you ask. Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, an Arlington-based think tank that focuses on defense, has made it clear that his money is on The Boeing Co., teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp..
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03/17/2015
Residents in Hawaii noticed an increase in fighter aircraft activity as well diversity of airframes in and around the airspaces of the state in the last couple of weeks as the Hawaii Air National Guard hosted its second large-scale "Sentry Aloha" fighter exercise of 2015.
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03/17/2015
vetlana Alexandrova — Pakistan would like to expand military technical cooperation with Russia by purchasing Russian Mi-35 helicopter gunships, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain told Sputnik. "Pakistan would like to procure a variety of Russian military hardware," Hussain said.
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03/17/2015
ussian fighter jets and ground support aircraft will practice penetration of "enemy's" air defenses during a month-long exercise in Siberia, the Eastern Military District said Friday. "During the drills Su-30SM fighter jets and Su-25 attack aircraft will practice interoperability in penetration of air defenses and joint attacks on communications networks behind enemy lines," the district's press service said in a statement.
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03/17/2015
Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over Germany, as well as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, on March 16-21 under the Treaty on Open Skies, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov announced.
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03/17/2015
The crews of two military planes that collided mid-air near Fort Bragg in December had failed to complete visual scans of their flight paths and were too reliant on automated anti-collision systems, according to an Air Force investigative report obtained by The Fayetteville Observer.
The Army and Air Force planes, which were carrying 13 people on separate training exercises, declared emergencies and landed safely, the report said.
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03/16/2015
Rafale International has re- emphasised its commitment to Malaysia that goes beyond defence technology through its participation in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2015 (LIMA'15). In a statement Monday, it said its two combat-proven Rafale, a single-seater and two-seater fighter aircraft, were already parked on the LIMA tarmac, ready to take to the skies over the five days of the exhibition.
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03/16/2015
The US Navy is aiming to have a forward presence of 120 ships by 2020, up from 97 ships today, putting ships "where it matters, when it matters." That's according to the latest update of the US maritime strategy, a document that guides the concepts and development of the sea services — the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
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03/16/2015
As Defense Secretary Ashton Carter settles into office, a formidable challenge awaits him: eradicating the menace of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria and Iraq. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Carter reiterated that he and the Obama administration hope “with our air power and other kinds of assistance, [to] inflict defeat on ISIS, and then make it a lasting defeat.”
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03/16/2015
They’re big. They’re ugly. And they fly. No, they’re not mosquitoes from Alaska. They’re B-52 Stratofortress bombers from North Dakota. And they’re old, too. Older than the pilots who fly them. The one that 32-year-old Capt. Jeffrey “Shredder” Stock flew in last week’s Red Flag air combat exercises at Nellis Air Force Base.
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03/16/2015
China has overtaken Germany as the world’s third-largest arms exporter and cut its own dependence on imports by producing more-sophisticated weapons, according to a new report. State-owned defense suppliers such as Norinco Group have become prominent at arms fairs, opening new markets beyond established customers in South Asia by, for example, selling armed drones to Nigeria in its battle against Boko Haram rebels.
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03/15/2015
China should allow potential overseas buyers to learn more details of the FC-31 or Shenyang J-31, the nation's second fifth-generation stealth fighter designed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, writes the Kanwa Defense Review, a Chinese-language military magazine based in Canada.
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03/15/2015
In December 2013, Turkish officials warned that because military pilots were leaving service at such an alarming rate, much greater attention must be paid to the training regime. Slightly over a year later, Turkey mourns the loss of six pilots in a span of six days. Two Turkish RF-4E reconnaissance jets crashed into a hill on Feb. 27 near Malatya, eastern Turkey, killing all four pilots aboard.
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03/15/2015
The Rafale fighter jets sold to Egypt will be modified to remove nuclear missile capability and NATO standard communications, a source close to the deal said. "There will be a few modifications," the source said. Once adapted, the fighters will be delivered, with the first three in time for Egyptian pilots to fly the twin-engine fighter in Egyptian colors over the opening of a new waterway on the Suez Canal in August.
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03/15/2015
Nearly 30 years after the first U.S. stealth bomber took flight, the Air Force's aging fleet is primed for a makeover; albeit an expensive one. The Pentagon is looking to upgrade its stealth aircraft for the first time since the 1970s, developing a high-priority, super-classified, next-generation bomber.
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03/14/2015
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not receive the software package required to operate the Pentagon’s top close-air support bomb until 2022, according to military.com. The article also stated that the JSF office already had discovered earlier that the precision-guided air-dropped Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) does not fit onto Joint Strike Fighter Marine Corps variant without modifications to the aircraft’s weapons bay.
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03/14/2015
Restrictions on Pentagon spending and uncertainty over federal government budgets is a key reason the company is considering selling or spinning off Sikorsky Aircraft, United Technology CEO Greg Hayes said. “Defense spending is going to be the governor of growth for them,” Hayes told CNBC. “As much as I like doing business with the DOD, there is huge uncertainty, as well as the margin cap.”
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03/14/2015
Since the end of last year, countries from Sweden to the United States have noted increased activity of Russian long-range bombers above international waters. What is the point of these patrols and is there reason for the EU and the U.S. to be concerned? RBTH presents eight facts about these flights.
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03/14/2015
Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody's subsonic L-159 combat aircraft stand in a hangar in the town of Odolena Voda near Prague, March 11, 2015. REUTERS/David W Cerny
The Czech government has approved a sale of 15 subsonic fighter planes to Iraq, the defense minister said on Monday, following the failure of a previous attempt to offload surplus stock to Baghdad.
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03/14/2015
According to a statement released by the Pakistani army, its military has just tested its own indigenously developed, armed drones. The unmanned aircraft come equipped with laser-guided missiles and will be deployed against terrorists along the country’s northwestern border with Afghanistan.
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03/13/2015
The JF-17 Thunder (also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong), a combined development project between “all-weather” partners China and Pakistan, hasn’t quite been selling like hotcakes on the international budget fighter market. The lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat jet, jointly developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, sells at an attractive price point, with a unit cost of just around $15-25 million.
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03/13/2015
History was achieved today when the first Italian F-35A Lightning II rolled out of the Cameri Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility, marking the first F-35A assembled internationally and the first of eight aircraft currently being assembled. The aircraft, designated as AL-1, will now proceed to additional check-out activities before its anticipated first flight later this year.
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03/13/2015
NATO is moving forward to modernize its Airborne early Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft with new flight deck and avionics systems, US defense contractor Boeing said in a statement on Thursday. “These improvements provide NATO with an AWACS fleet that will save time and fuel, and will also decrease operational costs by allowing a reduction in the flight crew size,” Boeing AWACS Program Manager Jon Hunsberger said.
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03/13/2015
The Indian Army Wives Agitation Group has urged the country’s defense ministry to scrap old French-developed helicopters that put military personnel’s lives at risk, Meenal Wagh Bhosale, a founding member of the group, told Sputnik on Thursday. “During my meeting with the defense minister, I, on behalf of the Army Officers’ Wives, demanded that these vintage choppers should be phased out,” Bhosale said.
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03/13/2015
Military pilots from Russia and Serbia will conduct joint training exercises in September 2015, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday. "Air Force officials from Russia and Serbia agreed at planing conference in the Russian Defense Ministry on March 12 to carry out joint tactical drills in September this year," spokesman Col. Igor Klimov said in a statement.
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03/12/2015
Langkawi is an idyllic location for an air show, but its sunny skies aren’t likely to shed much light on Kuala Lumpur’s procurement agenda. The two years since the last instalment of the biennial Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition have been eventful for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
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03/12/2015
Seven Marines and four Army aircrew were presumed dead Wednesday, according to a U.S. Defense official, after their Black Hawk helicopter crashed into waters off the Florida Panhandle during a nighttime training mission. By late Wednesday morning, human remains had washed ashore in the area near Eglin Air Force Base, base spokeswoman Jasmine Porterfield said.
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03/12/2015
The Czech Republic has announced plans to sell 15 training and combat aircraft to Iraq for a approximately EUR 28 million. Martin Stropnicky, Czech Defence Minister: "The contract consists of 15 units (of L-159 aircraft) for Iraq. These are three single-seated and one double-seated aircraft directly from the Czech army arsenal and 11 pieces that are stored in Aero Vodochody."
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03/12/2015
The Mykoyan MiG-31 Foxhound supersonic interceptor aircraft will stay in service with the Russian Air Force until 2026, the head of the MiG corporation said Wednesday. "The MiG corporation is currently developing heavy fighter-interceptor aircraft to replace the MiG-31, but the MiG-31 will remain in service until 2026," Sergei Korotkov told RIA Novosti.
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03/12/2015
A series of military exercises with live firing were launched Wednesday in Russia’s southern and western regions and in the Far East, the Defense Ministry said. During a tactical fight training exercise in South Russia’s Stavropol Territory, about 20 Su-25SM (NATO reporting name Frogfoot) fighter-bombers will make 30 sorties with live firing of missiles and rockets.
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03/12/2015
Italian fighter jets protecting airspace over the Baltic states were deployed to intercept a Russian refueling aircraft over the Baltic Sea, Latvian National Armed Forces said via Twitter. The IL-78 (Midas) is an air-to-air refueling tanker and is part of a regiment based in western Russia's Ryazan Region nearly 200 kilometers (122 miles) southeast of Moscow.
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03/11/2015
The European President recently called for the formation of a 'European Army' in order for the continent to better face the growing threats on its doorstep from Moscow and others. While Jean-Claude Juncker's proposal was dismissed by key member states almost as soon as it was announced, might not the formation of a European Air Force gain more traction at a time of heightened security concerns and squeezed defence budgets?
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03/11/2015
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilots will have to wait until 2022 to fire the U.S. military’s top close-air-support bomb after the Small Diameter Bomb II enters service in 2017, JSF officials explained. The Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) is an upgrade from previous precision-guided air-dropped weapons because of its ability to track and hit moving targets from up to 40 miles.
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03/11/2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin expands on his motivations for annexing Crimea last year in a preview for an upcoming documentary. Putin notes that Russia was “forced to start working on returning Crimea to Russia because we could not abandon this territory and the people who live there to the mercy of fate, to be crushed by nationalists.” ”It wasn’t us who committed a coup d’etat, it was done by nationalists and people with extreme views, they were given support,” Putin said."
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03/11/2015
Pakistan plans to offer its PAC JF-17 Thunder fighter jets to Bulgaria under the country's tender to acquire 16 combat aircraft for its military. The Bulgarian Air Force is aiming to replace its outdated Soviet-designed Mikoyan MiG-21 aircraft, reports local news agency Novinite.
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03/11/2015
Development of hi-tech technology from the scratch, lack of skilled manpower and technological complexities were some of the reasons the government today gave for delay in completion of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project.
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03/11/2015
US and anti-Islamic State Coalition military forces continued to weaken the militant group by launching 12 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the US Defense Department said in a statement.
“Fighter, bomber and remotely piloted aircraft conducted four airstrikes near Kobani [in Syria],” the statement, issued on Tuesday, said. “Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight airstrikes in Iraq.”
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03/10/2015
As it faces yet more political backlash over the mothballing of the A-10 warplane, the Air Force is launching a new effort to prove that it truly cares about the mission of supporting ground troops with massive firepower. In an unprecedented move, top Air Force leaders last week convened a “Close Air Support Summit” at the Pentagon with senior officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, National Guard Bureau and Special Operations Command.
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03/10/2015
On Feb. 24, two Turkish RF-4E Phantom planes on reconnaissance crashed into a mountain near Malatya, in southeast Turkey, killing four pilots. Eight days later, two more pilots died when an F-4E-2020 Phantom, upgraded by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), crashed during a Turkish-Azerbaijani joint air exercise.
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03/10/2015
Last week Air Force officials appeared on Capitol Hill to discuss the weapons programs they want to fund in 2016. As usual, details about one of the biggest programs, the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B), were few and far between. The Air Force wants to keep potential adversaries guessing about the bomber’s capabilities, so all it has said is that it plans to buy 80-100 strike aircraft at a cost of $550 million each with initial fielding in 2025.
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03/10/2015
Much against the wishes of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Defence Ministry has decided that only state-owned monopoly Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will meet the service's future basic trainer requirements through its HTT-40 trainer, which is still under development. However, to meet the Air Force's immediate needs, until the homemade HTT-40 is inducted, MoD has ordered another 38 Swiss-made Pilatus PC-7 Mark-IIs to top the 75 ordered by the outgoing government in 2012.
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03/10/2015
Faced with delays over its biggest airforce deal, a worried Indian government has asked Russia to expedite production of the planned fifth-generation fighter aircraft and given up its earlier condition that it should be a 50-50 joint venture, a report says. The deal for buying 126 Rafale fighter aircraft from France's Dassault has been delayed over negotiations over the $11 billion price tag and guarantees over quality.
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03/10/2015
Russia continues to flex its military muscles throughout Europe. Russian President Putin has sent tens of thousands of Russians troops and heavy equipment into Georgia and now eastern Ukraine, and has only received a light slap on the wrist for his illegal military aggression. Is it any wonder Russian military aircraft are now constantly buzzing European aircraft and encroaching on European airspace? Putin is doing what any bully will do when unchallenged…that is, continue to act belligerently.
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03/09/2015
Sikorsky is close to beginning upgrades to the UAE's helicopters that would them the "most advanced armed Black Hawks ever produced," a company vice president told Defense News.
Robert Kokorda, vice president of sales, said the UAE-funded development program of the kits to weaponize UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters is in its final development stages.
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03/09/2015
Faced with continuing deadlock in the mega deal to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters, India is now pressing the throttle to seal the even bigger project with Russia for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). India has told Russia it wants deliveries of the FGFA to begin in 36 months after the main contract is inked, instead of the 94 months envisaged earlier, top defence sources said.
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03/09/2015
As part of the U.S. military's shift to the Asia-Pacific region, the Navy is dispatching more ships and sailors for exercises with partner nations. There are also opportunities to work alongside the Chinese military in training and humanitarian operations. But make no mistake — China is at the heart of the new strategy, and the Middle Kingdom is pushing back.
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03/09/2015
On board the USS Carl Vinson: The morning after the night Gepetto bombed a suspected Islamic State facility in Iraq, he was saying in the aircrew room of this carrier that "typically, when I launch I do not have a target". The 29-year-old lieutenant, who can be identified only by his call sign, is a pilot with the Fighting Redcocks squadron of F/A 18F Super Hornet and F/A 18C Hornet fighter jets.
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03/09/2015
American and Czech specialists will fly over Russia on March 9-14 under the Treaty on Open Skies, Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center has announced. "In the period of March 9-14, within the framework of the international Treaty on Open Skies, a joint mission of the United States and the Czech Republic will conduct an observation flight over the territory of the Russian Federation aboard the American observation aircraft OC-135B," Ryzhkov said.
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03/09/2015
On January 2 the German Luftwaffe, which had provided a contingent of four Eurofighters on base for NATO Baltic Policing patrols since September, handed over to a Spanish air force detachment of the same aircraft type, which took over patrolling duties at Estonia’s Amari Air Base near Tallinn. The Spanish war jets will fly a training mission over Estonian territory on Sunday, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
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03/08/2015
Five years ago, Lockheed Martin told U.S. Air Force officials that Taiwan’s air force was on the verge of collapse and no other defense contractor in the world could help. Eager to sell F-16s, the company went on a PR blitz. The pitch—Washington and the Pentagon needed to sell fighter jets to Taiwan … or else.
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03/08/2015
The top U.S. military officer will press the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during a visit to Iraq this week about its plans for avoiding sectarian fallout once the Iranian-backed operation to dislodge the Islamic State from the city of Tikrit concludes. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was confident that Iraq would ultimately defeat the Sunni militants in Tikrit, a largely Sunni city northwest of Baghdad.
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03/07/2015
Indonesia’s Natuna Archipelago, with only 27 of its 154 islands inhabited, is the republic’s northernmost region in the South China Sea and potentially its most vulnerable. Due to their proximity to the disputed areas and features in the South China Sea, the Natuna Islands could become yet another flashpoint in the area.
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03/07/2015
The assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader, in broad daylight on a bridge near the Kremlin at the end of February was a terrorist act. We shall probably never know for certain who was behind this murder, which happened to be very convenient for President Vladimir Putin as Nemtsov had planned to lead a protest march against Russia’s dictatorial regime and to expose Putin’s aim of destabilizing Ukraine.
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03/07/2015
Arizona Sen. John McCain says he will work to reverse the process of retiring the A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-support jet, after the recent announcement that the Air Force will put nine A-10s at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base into backup status. “We will be working hard and most likely reverse that decision in the defense authorization bill,” McCain, Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday.
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03/07/2015
The Air Force plans to set up new squadrons of F-15Es and F-16s with a specific focus on close air support for ground troops — a role now primarily done by the A-10 that the Air Force wants to retire. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, briefed reporters on the plan Friday, following a week-long Pentagon summit of top Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy leaders on the future of the close air support.
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03/07/2015
Those who enjoyed the sight of Air Force fighters arcing over southern Oahu in January during the "Sentry Aloha" air combat exercise are about to get a second helping. The Hawaii Air National Guard said it will host its second large-scale Sentry Aloha exercise running for the next two weeks.
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03/07/2015
More than 40 Russian fighter jet crews practiced destroying enemy missiles and aircraft during military exercises over the Barents Sea, the Russian Defense Minister said Friday. "Over 40 crews flying MiG-31 (Foxhound) fighter-interceptors and Su-24 (Fencer) attack bombers from the Central Military District participated in tactical flight exercises over the Barents Sea.
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03/06/2015
The Afghan military will be without its own fixed-wing close air support for another fighting season this summer against the Taliban, with the first of 20 A-29 Super Tucano turboprops expected to begin arriving in December. "This is a huge asset they're looking forward to getting inside Afghanistan," Army Gen. John Campbell told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, but "they won't have much for the next fighting season."
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03/06/2015
During an Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the world is watching — allies and enemies — to see if our country continues to invest in its own defense, especially in the Arctic. Some of the people responsible for that defense are in Alaska. At Anchorage’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, dozens of plaques with red stars on them line a wall of an operations floor.
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03/06/2015
Bulgaria is to be offered the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, according to national media reports. The single-seat, single-engined fighter is to be offered by Pakistan as an alternative to the several Western aircraft types that are all vying to be selected by Bulgaria as it looks to replace its ageing MiG-29 'Fulcrum' and Sukhoi Su-25 'Frogfoot' platforms, the novinite.com Sofia News Agency reported on 4 March.
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03/06/2015
For all the talk of shrinking global defense budgets and sequestration, the U.S. military’s three prime combat aircraft contractors—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman—have enjoyed a good run of late, with each company’s stock currently bumping up against its 52-week high. But don’t expect the smooth sailing to last, says one prominent industry analyst.
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03/06/2015
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] restarted the wing production line for the P-3 Orion Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) program for Canada and Chile on March 4. The P-3 wing line was last in production in August 2014. The gap in production extended the opportunities for global operators to assess their fleet needs.
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03/05/2015
The Pentagon has announced that depleted uranium (DU) munitions have not, and will not, be used by US aircraft in the conflict against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The policy U-turn contrasts with statements made over previous months, where Pentagon officials claimed that DU would be used if needed; the decision reflects a growing stigmatisation of the controversial weapons.
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03/05/2015
The US Air Force (USAF) has placed 18 primary combat-coded A-10 Thunderbolt II close-combat support aircraft into the backup-aircraft inventory (BAI) status. Congress has authorised an increase a total of 36 A-10 aircraft into BAI status. The service, however mothballed a fewer number of aircraft to assess whether the action adequately balances ongoing requirements and the need for upgrade.
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03/05/2015
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Red Flag - the United States Air Force's premiere air-to-air combat training exercise. For the last four decades it's evolved and today it continues to hone the skills of its participants to meet current and future real world adversarial challenges.
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03/05/2015
Though questions remain about how realistic the plans are, Moscow reportedly said Monday that it hopes to build its second aircraft carrier -- which would measure about 10 percent larger than the ones currently in the United States' Nimitz-class fleet. The National Interest, citing Itar-Tass News Agency, reported that the proposed carrier would be able to hold about 100 aircraft and would use a catapult take-off system.
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03/05/2015
RUSSIA says it has been conducting mock “attack runs” on NATO warships in the Black Sea as reports emerge of commercial airliners having to “dodge” prowling Russian bombers. As tensions continue to escalate over Russia’s barely concealed involvement in the Ukrainian civil war, it has adopted an increasingly aggressive posture towards its old Cold War enemies.
(Read More...)
03/05/2015
Over recent years, Iran has made great play of its burgeoning domestic aerospace capabilities by revealing a number of 'new' combat aircraft types to the world. For about the last five years, state media has heralded a steady stream of new fighters and other types which, it claims, demonstrate the Islamic republic's ability to design, develop, and manufacture the latest generation of combat aviation.
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03/05/2015
The increase comes despite a slowing Chinese economy. State-run Xinhua news agency notes that it is a smaller increase than previous years. In 2014 the budget had increased by over 12% over 2013, and this year's would be the smallest increase in five years. The total military budget will rise to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.45 billion) which will still be a distant second to the US' more than $600 billion in military spending in 2013.
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03/05/2015
Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said that it is yet unclear whether the deal on the deliveries of French Rafale fighter jets will be finalized before the April's visit of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France.
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03/05/2015
Russia's new Richag-AV radar and sonar jamming system can be mounted on helicopters, ships and other military equipment to jam potential adversaries' weapons systems from distances of several hundred kilometers away; it has been hailed by developers as having no analogue anywhere in the world.
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03/03/2015
The UK Royal Air Force has conducted 159 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq with Panavia Tornado GR4s since deploying the type to the region late last year, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. Details of the combat activity were disclosed during a visit to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus by defence secretary Michael Fallon on 1 March.
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03/03/2015
Forty years ago, an attack aircraft Su-25 (GrachRook) took off from an airfield in Moscow suburb Kubinka for its maiden flight. Time has not dimmed its lustre. This aircraft remains a fearsome fighting machine, and can be called the future of Russian attack aviation. At the beginning of 2015, there were 14 air assault squadrons, composed of 150 Su-25; 60 Su-25SM; 52 Su-25SM2 /SM3; and 15 Su-25UB. Of all these storm-troopers 80 more machines will be upgraded to the SM version by 2020.
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03/03/2015
More than 25,000 Iraqi troops and militia fighters began a long-awaited operation Monday to retake the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, from the Islamic State in what many see as a test of the central government’s ability to retake and hold much of the territory lost to the militant group last summer.
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03/03/2015
The Air Force has begun moving A-10 attack jets into backup status, even as it continues to use the plane in airstrikes against the Islamic State. Air Force officials announced the move on Friday. Eighteen planes will be placed into “Backup-Aircraft Inventory” (BAI) status, with the possibility of 18 more being mothballed later this year. The designation means the Thunderbolt II planes are considered to be undergoing maintenance or otherwise unable to fly.
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03/03/2015
Pilots from the U.S. Air Force, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian air force conducted large force employment (LFE) training here Feb. 19-27, as part of exercise Cope North 2015. This year marks the 86th iteration of the multilateral training exercise, which is a long-standing, multinational event designed to increase interoperability and improve combat readiness and develop a synergistic disaster response capability between the countries involved.
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03/03/2015
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and H. N. Burns Engineering Corp. have agreed to collaborate on technology that enhances military helicopter pilots’ ability to fly in low visibility conditions caused by weather, dust or other obstructions. Known as degraded visual environments (DVE), the blinding conditions are a primary cause of major helicopter accidents.
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03/03/2015
Russia's Ministry of Defense has removed the Antonov An-70 military transport aircraft, jointly developed by Russia and Ukraine, from its national armament program, the Izvestia newspaper said. The ministry could also request the return of 2.95 billion rubles (nearly $100 million at the 2010 exchange rate) transferred to Ukraine's Antonov design bureau in 2010, when both countries started research and development work on the project, initially launched in the early 1980s.
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03/02/2015
Pakistan's Air Force (PAF) Thursday stood up its unit of Chinese Karakorum Eagle AEW&C aircraft in a ceremony attended by the head of the PAF, Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Though the exact location of the ceremony was not given, it is believed to have been held at PAF Base Masroor in Karachi as the prime minister was known to have been in the city that day.
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03/02/2015
At number 63 Karl Marx Street, the tinted glass facade of the Ministry of Defense of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) stands insolently among the scenery of shattered windows and crushed roads. On the snow-covered square in front of the church, a dozen of half-asleep men smoke cigarette after cigarette while they wait for the recruitment office to open. The fatigue, anxiety and cold make their legs shiver, but don’t dissuade them from joining the Luhansk people’s militia.
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03/02/2015
For the third year in a row Japan has increased its defense budget, this time to $41 billion. Japan is also striving to generate enough popular support for changing the laws that govern the aggressive use of its military. The most recent motivator for this was the recent execution of two Japanese citizens by Islamic terrorists (ISIL in Syria). Longer term the Japanese are becoming more alarmed at increasing Chinese military activity in waters and air space around Japan.
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03/02/2015
One of the United States' most advanced aircraft was in Clark Air Base in February for a temporary rotational detachment that allowed Filipino pilots to join patrol missions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). The spy plane – a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft – that is under the operational control of the US Navy Patrol Squadron 45 based in Yokosuka, Japan shows the country's commitment to a strategic pivot to Asia.
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03/02/2015
The constant, insatiable demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance has driven the Air Force to reduce funds for some missions in order to keep more spy aircraft flying and to increase combat air patrols, Air Force leaders told lawmakers Friday. The fiscal 2016 budget request looks to keep flying the U-2, previously planned for early retirement, at least until 2019 to address the demand for surveillance. The budget also would fund 60 combat air patrols per day, up from 55.
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03/02/2015
A second letter of request (LoR) from the Saudi government detailing requirements for the Eastern Fleet replacement program was delivered to the US Navy in February, barely a month after an initial request was sent, according to sources here at the International Defence Exposition show.
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03/02/2015
When circumstances change, defence policy should too. Yet British governments have a patchy record. For many years, Conservative governments preferred a series of budget cuts to a properly conducted review of defence and security. The last serious effort to calibrate military spending with foreign policy was under Labour in 1998. The coalition government’s review of 2010 was another budget-driven exercise, which lacked intellectual rigour and did deep damage to Britain’s military power.
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03/02/2015
Russian inspectors will conduct observation flights over the territories of Spain and Portugal at the beginning of March, under the Treaty on Open Skies, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov has announced. "Observation flights will be conducted during the period of March 1-8 from the Open Skies airfields in Lisbon (Portugal) and Getafe (Spain) at a maximum range of 1200 and 1800 kilometers [745 and 1118 miles] respectively," Ryzhkov said.
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03/02/2015
The United States and Germany will carry joint observation flight over the Russian territory within the framework of the Treaty on Open Skies, Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, told journalists.
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