February, 2016 Military Aviation News
02/29/2016
On the horn of Africa, as you may have read, the tiny nation of Djibouti, home to American, French, German, Italian, and Japanese military bases. Is about to welcome the Chinese as well.
Last November, China and Djibouti reached an agreement to set up a naval base in the Obock region in the north of the country, where an American outpost was evicted last August. The U.S. base that remains, called Camp Lemmonier, costs the United States $70 million a year in lease fees and development aid.
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02/29/2016
Despite the first major cease-fire of the Syrian civil war appearing to remain intact on its second day, airstrikes believed to have been conducted by Russian or Syrian aircraft have continued to hit targets in Aleppo, the Hama provinces and the Turkmen-populated region of Bayirbucak yesterday.
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02/29/2016
A welcome decision made back in 2008 to purchase U.S.-made Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets no longer appears very attractive in 2016 – and Israel is considering backtracking on it. So say Israeli government sources quoted by Middle East Newsline (MENL).
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02/29/2016
At the end of the third quarter of the 2015-16 financial year, 40 per cent (Rs.37,000 crore out of Rs.93,675 crore) of the capital budget of the armed forces remained unspent. As it will not be possible to spend all of the remaining funds in the January-March 2016 quarter, approximately Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore (15 to 20 per cent) may be returned unspent.
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02/29/2016
The Cold War was one such example, a vicious confrontation masquerading as a morally clear conflict. The ones to profit enormously from it were, as ever, those working in defence and beavering away on the next murderous device for the next lethal, preferably bogged down conflict. It produced false enemies in search of a fiction, leading to bloody proxy wars, long-ended engagements with lasting consequences, and trillions of dollars in waste.
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02/29/2016
Saudi Arabia's recent actions have caused a great deal of anxiety within its region. On 4 February, a military spokesman suggested that Saudi Arabia was ready to send troops ground troops to fight ISIS in Syria. A week later Saudi Arabia announced that it will send combat aircraft and soldiers to Turkey to participate in the US-led coalition against ISIS.
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02/29/2016
Delaying the purchase of five F-35 joint strike fighters was “an incredibly difficult decision,” but one the Air Force had to make due to budget constraints, a top general said Thursday.
“When we looked at readiness and our ability to win today’s fight, and then our ability to continue to procure F-35s at the current rate, we just ran out of money,” said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the head of Air Combat Command.
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02/29/2016
Compared to its two sister services (Indian Army and Indian Navy), the Indian Air Force, the world’s fifth largest, is not only the most capital intensive but also the most dependent on foreign supplies. Whether it is fighter planes or transport fleets or mid-air refuellers or trainers or helicopters, the IAF buys everything from foreign vendors. Our indigenously produced fighter aircraft, Tejas (LCA) is yet to get Final Operational Clearance to be inducted inducted into the IAF.
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02/29/2016
Russia's ongoing airborne campaign in Syria wouldn’t have been such a game changer without the help of some of the country’s most sophisticated weapons.
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02/28/2016
This awesome interactive map shows China’s emerging area denial and anti-access military capabilities in the South China Sea. It is useful in visually tracking China’s progress towards creating an overlapping field of control over a vast majority of the area.
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02/28/2016
One reason the Russians have combat troops in Syria is because this gives Russia a chance to put its post-Cold War military to the test. What the Russians are preparing for is the possibility of clashes between Russian and NATO forces in Eastern Europe. Both NATO and Russia are not sure how their respective post-Cold War forces would do against each other. Most East European nations are preparing for the worst and paying close attention to whatever Russia does in Ukraine and Syria.
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02/28/2016
When asked about Russian operations in Syria, most people would immediately mention the Russian fighter-bombers, attack aircraft, combat helicopters, and cruise missile volleys. Few would mention the quiet work behind the scenes that was performed by a large group of highly dedicated professionals who helped transform the Syrian military that was on the brink of defeat, into a force that could once again begin liberating Syria’s territory. Without denying the importance of the air campaign.
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02/28/2016
Remember the USAF’s new Airbus tanker? It has been seen recently over the skies of Edward Air Force base. It did not just go away after being sidelined by the Boeing protest via the GAO route several years ago, it has become a staple of several allied air forces.
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02/28/2016
In a bid to strengthen country's defence forces, the Defence Ministry has issued an order worth Rs 22,000 crores for purchase of helicopters, CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache, which will be inducted in the forces soon. "The ministry has already issued an order for purchase of 15 Chinook Helicopters and 21 Apache helicopters which will soon be inducted in the forces," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
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02/27/2016
A new manned fighter will be defined in an era when unmanned air vehicles are ubiquitous and unmanned combat air vehicles are a reality. UCAVs will not replace manned aircraft but will influence the design of the next fighters by relieving them of some missions, such as suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses or stand-in electronic attack. One argument for the Navy’s RAQ-25 carrier-based air refueling system is that it can extend both the range and life of the strike-fighter force.
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02/27/2016
The U.S. Air Force has revealed the designation and shape of its new stealth bomber. The big, radar-evading warplane—the successor to the Air Force's iconic B-2 stealth bomber—has been designated B-21. And based on the single computer-generated image the flying branch has released, the B-21 looks a lot like ... well, the B-2 from 30 years ago.
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02/27/2016
Not long after Defense Secretary Ash Carter prodded his cyber commanders to be more aggressive in the fight against Islamic State, the U.S. ramped up its offensive cyberattacks on the militant group. According to several U.S. officials, the attacks are targeting the group’s abilities to use social media and the Internet to recruit fighters and inspire followers, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
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02/27/2016
Saudi and UAE military aircraft have arrived at the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey. Turkish authorities announced Thursday that Saudi warplanes set to be used in the fight against ISIS would shortly arrive in the country. The planes are to be stationed at the Incirlik base, which is already hosting US, British and French war planes taking part in the strikes against IS fighters in Syria.
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02/27/2016
Finmeccanica has commenced the final assembly of the Polish Air Force's first two Aermacchi M-346 advanced / lead-in fighter trainer aircraft at its Aircraft Division facility in Venegono Superiore, Varese, Italy. The development is part of a contract secured by the company from the Polish Ministry of Defence (MoD) to supply eight aircraft and associated logistic support.
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02/27/2016
China is making increasing inroads into the African defence market with up to two-thirds of militaries on the continent now using its equipment. According to data in the latest annual edition of The Military Balance, produced by the London based International Institute of Security Studies (IISS), and a report this week from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a rapid rise in Chinese military transfers to the continent has been underway since 2005.
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02/27/2016
The U.S. Air Force has given up on trying to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft at least until 2022 and likely well beyond, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
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02/27/2016
The growling in Indian stomachs started last year when in May the US handed over to Pakistan a chunk of used military hardware; over 14 combat aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armoured personnel carriers. The pronouncement of selling eight more F-16s by the Obama administration, in an attempt to shore up the two countries’ relationship despite Washington’s reservations about Pakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal, was like sprinkling salt on Indian injuries.
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02/27/2016
Speaking at the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida., Masiello described the efforts the service is undertaking to develop engines that could travel at or above the widely accepted hypersonic range of Mach 5.
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02/26/2016
The head of US Air Mobility Command says he is not overly concerned about the Boeing KC-46A’s eight-month development delay and legacy KC-10 and KC-135 aerial tankers won’t start retiring until the next-generation tanker is ready for combat.
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02/26/2016
India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas achieved yet anothermilestone ahead of the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) on Wednesday. Sources confirmed to 'Mathrubhumi' on Thursday that the Limited Series Production (LSP-3) variant of Tejas had its first flight fitted with the new quartz radome from Cobham.
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02/26/2016
From Feb. 4 to 12, two T-346As (Italian Air Force designation for the AleniaAermacchi* M346 “Master”) belonging to the 61° Stormo (Wing) based at Lecce Galatina airport, Italy, deployed to Albacete airbase, Spain, to take part in the TLP (Tactical Leadership Programme) in the “Aggressors” role. The Italian Masters had already successfully undertaken such task at Grosseto airbase in May 2015.
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02/26/2016
AROUA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, proclaimed the sign on the concrete and glass terminal building. The designation was something of a misnomer, because only three or four planes land each week in this sleepy outpost in northern Cameroon, near the Nigerian border, all of them domestic flights. The schedule of the flights tends to be unpredictable.
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02/26/2016
Despite its venerable service to the Air Force, the A-10 is nearing the end of its lifespan, a top general said Thursday. “We have literally flown the wings off it,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Deale, the director of operations for Air Combat Command and a former A-10 pilot. The Air Force has made several attempts to retire the plane and shift its resources and maintenance crews over to the fifth-gen F-35 — efforts that have repeatedly been shot down by Congress.
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02/26/2016
When the next U.S. president takes office in 11 months he or she will be confronted with China’s four stationary and one mobile aircraft carriers in the South China Sea. As the Obama administration is likely to continue its failed legal and diplomatic strategy for responding to China, it is necessary for the next president to now consider a far more robust strategy.
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02/26/2016
It’s clear that the recently adopted ceasefire threatens the Turkish and Saudi interests in Syria significantly. Both countries support a wide range of Islamic militant groups including Al Nusra Front, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the UNSC.
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02/26/2016
Canada will send about 100 Air Force personnel and four F-18 Hornet fighter jets to train with the Romanian military, Canada’s Defense Ministry announced in a press release. "This exercise continues to build on the strong relationship between Canada and Romania, an important NATO ally, strengthening our mutual confidence in using common NATO procedures," the release quoted Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan as saying on Thursday.
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02/26/2016
Lockheed Martin recently received a $7.9 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the U.S. Air Force to support additional integration of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM®) onto the Polish Air Force F-16C/D aircraft. This second contract for Poland includes support for a broad range of certification and flight activity. Integrated logistics support and program and technical oversight will conclude in 2018. Poland became JASSM’s third international customer in September 2015.
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02/25/2016
Russia hopes to sign a contract for Su-34 strike aircraft with Algeria later this year, with talks at an advanced stage, according to a Russian military-diplomatic source speaking at the Singapore Airshow. “The related talks are ongoing and they have reached an advanced stage. The contract has yet to be signed,” a high-ranking military-diplomatic source told Russia’s TASS news agency.
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02/25/2016
Rushing across the sky with supersonic speed. Capable of all-weather, low-level, high-speed penetration into enemy territories. Designed to replace a whole range of existing air force fleets of its time. Tornado: a nation-uniting miracle of engineering.
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02/25/2016
Pilots from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force conducted a large force employment here Feb. 18-26 as part of exercise Cope North 16.
The exercise began with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training Feb. 14, followed by an LFE exercise that shifted the focus to air-combat tactics.
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02/25/2016
After 30 years, the U.S. Air Force’s eyes behind enemy lines, called JSTARS or Joint Stars (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System), is finally getting an upgrade. Contracts are expected to be awarded this year for industry to update the system with new technology and a replacement aircraft. It’s been a long wait for JSTARS, which uses airborne radar to monitor targets on the ground—particularly moving vehicles—and relay the data to allied forces below.
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02/25/2016
The Pentagon’s Joint Multirole (JMR) investigation into a new generation of helicopters is highlighting the differences between what the Army and Navy need in terms of vertical lift aircraft, Navy and industry said last week.
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02/25/2016
Flying the next generation F-35A Joint Strike Fighter jet is like stepping out of a Toyota Camry into a Lamborghini, a U.S. Air Force pilot told reporters Wednesday. “That’s as close as I can give you as an example,” Maj. Chris White said. When you take off, it gives you a shove into the back of the pilot’s seat, he said.
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02/25/2016
Australia will increase its annual defence spending by $26bn over the next decade amid concerns about the increasing pace of military modernisation to its north, regional tensions and the continuing threat of terrorism.
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02/25/2016
As tensions escalate in the South China Sea, the US plans to increase its freedom-of-navigation (FON) operations through Chinese waters. Last October, the Pentagon conducted its first FON in the South China Sea, sending the USS Lassen within the 12-mile territorial limit of Beijing’s artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago. The move elicited outrage from Chinese officials.
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02/25/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday handed a map depicting the current operational situation in Syria to the US defense attache in Moscow, the ministry's press service said.
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02/24/2016
Brazil’s Embraer company will be showcasing its basic trainer A-29 ‘Super Tucano’ at the forthcoming DefExpo in Goa for the first time. Keeping in mind that the Super Tucano’s role will not be limited to training alone, the company has equipped the A-29 (the Super Tucano version for the Brazilian Air Force) with systems designed not only to comply with basic requirements, but also to keep pace with the continual changes taking place in the aircraft’s potential operating theatres.
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02/24/2016
Women will finally be allowed to serve in fighter streams of all armed forces in the country.
Four months after the government approved the induction of women into the combat stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF), President Pranab Mukherjee said, “In the future, my government will induct women in all fighter streams of our armed forces.” The announcement was made on Tuesday during his address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
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02/24/2016
For the past 15 or 20 years, China been engaged in a concerted effort to modernize and upgrade its military. To be sure, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 2016 is a much more formidable fighting force than it was in 1996. It has — as the result of a concerted, multi-decade effort, backed up by a rapidly expanding defense budget – crafted a new military force increasingly more capable of projecting power across the modern battlespace, particularly at sea, in outer space, and in cyberspace.
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02/24/2016
Six F-35A of 31st Test Evaluation Squadron have deployed to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho this month for an “operational deployment test” that will clear the way for 10 operational jets from the first combat-coded squadron, which will follow this summer.
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02/24/2016
Organizers of the Smoky Mountain Air Show, featuring the Navy's Blue Angels, on Tuesday announced the rest of the lineup for the April 16-17 show. Besides the Navy's renowned demonstration team, the acts at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base will include Greg Koontz Airshows, Younkin Airshows, Aeroshell Acrobatic Team, Commemorative Air Force's Dixie Wing WW II warbirds and Jacquie B Airshows.
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02/24/2016
The partial truce that Russia and the United States have thrashed out in Syria capped something of a foreign policy trifecta for President Vladimir V. Putin, with the Kremlin strong-arming itself into a pivotal role in the Middle East, Ukraine floundering and the European Union developing cracks like a badly glazed pot.
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02/24/2016
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT) today signed an agreement with Taqnia Aeronautics to jointly explore helicopter production opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new agreement outlines the investment, technology and skills needed to establish production jobs for Saudi citizens, and could lead to direct involvement in the assembly of Sikorsky S-70 BLACK HAWK helicopters in the Kingdom.
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02/24/2016
China has almost doubled its weapons exports over the past five years, a military think tank said on Monday. According to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China’s arms imports have shrunk by twenty five percent from 2011 to 2015.
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02/24/2016
Equipment of the Russian Aerospace Forces has been renewed by more than a half, the forces deputy commander, Lt. Gen. Andrey Yudin, said Tuesday. "We are rearming with modern multi-purpose aircraft, in particular here in the south of Russia, with Su-30SM, Su-35S, new helicopters. In general, the aviation fleet has been seriously renewed and can successfully perform any tasks," Yudin told reporters at the Armavir aviation school in southwestern Russia.
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02/23/2016
Saab will roll out the first Gripen E version at Linkoping, Sweden on May 18, said Richard Smith, the company’s head of marketing and sales for the combat aircraft. In a bullish briefing at the Singapore Airshow last week, Smith said that thanks to the 60 new-build E/F jets for Sweden, plus the Brazilian Gripen order and other surveillance and submarine programs, the Swedish company’s backlog was at an all-time high of $13.5 billion.
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02/23/2016
In a milestone for India’s Tejas light-combat aircraft (LCA), two Tejas fighters travelled from India to performed aerobatics at the Bahrain International Air Show (BIAS-2016) from January 21-23. Business Standard has obtained the first official account of this first international outing, where the Tejas impressed global aerospace experts, taking an important first step towards export in the future.
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02/23/2016
Raytheon on Monday officially announced it is teaming with Italian aerospace company Finmeccanica and CAE to offer the T-100 for the US Air Force T-X advanced trainer competition, a move first reported by Defense News last week.
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02/23/2016
The global transfer of major arms has risen in recent years, with the United States increasing its dominance of the trade while the flow of weaponry to Africa, Asia and the Middle East has increased, a new study published Monday showed.
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02/23/2016
US Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Monday reiterated that Washington's decision to sell F-16 combat aircraft to Pakistan was to help it fight terrorism. “Our security partnership with Pakistan was made clear,” Verma said while answering questions after delivering a lecture on “Indo-US strategic partnership: Present status and future trends”
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02/23/2016
The United States’ aircraft carriers have always been an almost untouchable deterrent, steel behemoths capable of projecting the full weight of the U.S. military wherever they deploy. Yet while many militaries could never hope to match the U.S. carrier fleet in size and strength, countries such as China, Iran and Russia have spent recent years adjusting their forces and fielding equipment designed to counter one of the United States’ greatest military strengths.
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02/23/2016
The Italian government recently cleared the way for expanded U.S. drone operations from an air base in Sicily, giving the American military more options for tracking — and potentially targeting — Islamic State militants and their spread across North Africa.
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02/23/2016
BAE Systems and India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) are considering establishing a joint venture to co-produce variants of the Hawk trainer, upgrade the Jaguar aircraft and establish a partnership focused on logistics and producing spares in India.
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02/23/2016
Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu paid an official visit to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghani. Representatives of both countries discussed, among others, the sale of S-300 missile systems, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
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02/23/2016
Daesh terrorists are going door-to-door in Raqqa and in the surrounding villages looking for civilians to be used a human shields against the Syrian army and popular forces moving in from Aleppo and Hama provinces, Iran’s Fars news agency wrote on Sunday.
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02/22/2016
On Feb. 20, coalition military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 18 strikes using attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using rocket artillery and fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets.
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02/22/2016
The commander of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Monday that he is wary of the situation in the South China Sea being painted as a battle between the United States and China, but added the presence of a Chinese missile system on a disputed island will not stop the U.S. military from flying over the region.
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02/22/2016
When this base opened its gates to the public Feb. 20 for a chance to see dozens of aircraft and support vehicles displayed near the airfield, cars lined up for several miles waiting to get inside. It's rare that top military aircraft from America, Australia and Japan would be gathered in one spot; rarer still that the public would get an up-close look. But Cope North, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored two-week exercise running through Feb. 26, provided the opportunity for this open house.
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02/22/2016
When the Russian aircraft first arrived at Hmeimim, the war was going badly for the Syrian government. The terrorists were able to make major advances during the prior months, and were close to threatening Damascus itself. Syrian forces were demoralized by their setbacks and suffering from shortages of equipment and ammunition.
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02/22/2016
Hundreds of residents lined up at the gates of Andersen Air Force Base to take part in one of the few events during which the base is open to the public. The Pacific Air Partners Open House event concluded Saturday afternoon but not before providing residents the opportunity to see up close the various aircraft utilized by the U.S. Air Force and its partners in the Pacific.
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02/22/2016
The American head of the global Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program has acknowledged the software in the aircraft is "a big risk" ahead of a Senate inquiry into the Federal Government's acquisition of the jets. Australia is spending $17.8 billion on buying 72 US-made aircraft and associated systems, with the first expected to arrive in Australia in 2018 and enter service in 2020, replacing the F/A-18 Hornet fleet.
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02/22/2016
Dwight David Eisenhower was in the White House when the KC-135 Stratotanker rolled off the assembly line. Tensions with Moscow were running high and the island nation of Cuba was a constant source of news. That was 57 years ago. Friday morning, when the same, now-aging aerial refueling jet rolls down the runway at MacDill Air Force Base, Barack Obama is in the White House, tensions with Moscow are once again running high and Cuba is once again a constant source of news.
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02/22/2016
The Predator unmanned aircraft system and the Hellfire missile were the right technologies at the right time for an America that had just declared war against terror following the horrific events of September 11. Just over six months before planes slammed into the Twin Towers, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, the Predator had gone from aerial intelligence collection asset to flying assassin.
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02/22/2016
China has almost doubled its weapons exports in the past five years, a military think tank said on Monday, as the world’s third-largest weapons exporter pours capital into developing an advanced arms manufacturing industry. In 2011 to 2015, China’s arms imports fell 25% compared with the previous five year period, signaling a growing confidence in the country’s homegrown weaponry despite key areas of weakness.
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02/21/2016
Fighter jets that shoot high-powered lasers. Robots that mine hours of intelligence data in milliseconds. A tactical aircraft that can think for itself. These are just a few of the cutting-edge technology breakthroughs the Air Force hopes will change the game in the future battle space.
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02/21/2016
In the Singapore Airshow 2016 today, Indonesia agreed to buy about one dozen Sukhoi Su-35 fighter planes from Russia, to upgrade its fleet. The transaction will take a month to complete. The Indonesian Air Force wants to replace 12 of its aging Northrop Grumman Corporation (F-5 fighters. The country already has two of Russia’s Su-27SK aircraft, three Su-27SKM, two Su-30MK, and nine Su-30MK2 jet fighters.
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02/21/2016
China has allowed the PLA to export its domestically developed J-10 fighter jet as the country looks to attract buyers at the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. booth at the Singapore Airshow 2016, which kicked off on Tuesday, Feb .16, according to a report China Daily.
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02/21/2016
The Canadian government has formed a Cabinet committee to shepherd high-profile defense purchases, including those of fighter aircraft, through the country’s notoriously problem-plagued procurement system. The committee will oversee billions of dollars in new purchases and ensure they do not get stalled in a federal bureaucracy that has seen other defense acquisitions derailed or delayed for years.
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02/21/2016
The world powers' view of Iran has significantly shifted. Those days in which Iran was being punished for violating the law seem to have gone. For many, it is baffling that Iran is now capable of getting away with breaking international laws, particularly in the last few months after the nuclear deal was reached between the six world powers (known as P5+1; China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, plus Germany) and the Islamic Republic.
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02/20/2016
India has reportedly unveiled plans to commence captive flight trials of indigenously developed Anti-Radiation Missile (ARM). Developed by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the air-to-surface tactical missile will also complete its maiden flight test by May this year. With a range of 100 to 125km, the missile is capable of targeting the enemy's air defence capabilities by attacking radars and communication facilities.
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02/20/2016
The Afghan military is expected to field its first specialised surveillance drones as soon as March, a US commander in Kabul said, as the Asian nation slowly expands its own air force. The boost in military hardware comes as Afghan security forces, fighting largely alone since the withdrawal of most international forces in 2014, have struggled for months to hold back a Taliban insurgency.
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02/20/2016
Cameroon has apparently received the first of two refurbished Mi-24 attack helicopters from Russia, as part of an order for six. A Cameroonian military source told IHS Jane's Defence Weekly that the first helicopter was received by Cameroon’s Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) in mid-February when it arrived in Douala from Russia, where it is currently being assembled.
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02/20/2016
The company, which employs around 10,000 in Lancashire, said 2015 operating profits rose from £1.3bn to £1.5bn. The solid results come just months after the firm said it was slowing down production of the Eurofighter Typhoon and shedding up to 371 jobs at its sites in Samlesbury and Warton.
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02/20/2016
Moderate rebel groups should be supplied with surface-to-air missiles to defend themselves against air strikes from the Assad regime and its allies, Saudi Arabian foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told Der Spiegel. n recent months, Syrian government forces have driven back rebel groups, supported by intensive air strikes from the Syrian air force and allies Russia.
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02/20/2016
After years of delay, the Air Force is gearing up to replace its 500 T-38 training jets, which are used to teach young pilots how to fly front-line fighters and bombers. The supersonic T-38 has been in service with the Air Force for over 50 years, and despite periodic upgrades cannot mimic the features of the latest “fifth-generation” fighters.
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02/20/2016
After 20 years, a St. Louis company may finally get its chance to try to prove that the Pentagon used its technology to make stealth combat aircraft stealthy without paying for it. An appeals court on Friday revived a patent-infringement suit that Zoltek Corp. first filed in March 1996. The court said a judge erred in ruling the patent invalid, and ordered a hearing on whether the F-22 fighter plane and B-2 bomber used a Zoltek invention.
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02/20/2016
A U.S. air attack killed dozens of militants in Libya on Friday, marking an escalation in the American campaign against the Islamic State as the militant group expands its reach from North Africa to Central Asia. U.S. and regional officials said that U.S. F-15 fighter jets struck a suspected Islamic State camp on the outskirts of Sabratha, a restive city in western Libya, killing at least 40 people in an early-morning attack that targeted senior militant Noureddine Chouchane.
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02/20/2016
China have given the green signal for exporting its domestically-developed J-10 fighter as the country looks to attract buyers at the Singapore Airshow, the media reported on Thursday. A large-scale model of the FC-20, the export version of the J-10, is on display at the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp booth at the six-day Singapore Airshow 2016 that started on Tuesday.
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02/19/2016
Saab’s next-generation Gripen E combat jet will be rolled out of the assembly site at Linkopping, Sweden, on May 18, the company announced during a briefing with reporters at the Singapore Airshow. Three aircraft are planned for the test phase of the new aircraft E/F variant, which has been purchased by Swedish and Brazilian air forces.
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02/19/2016
What began as a simple lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) has evolved into an aircraft armed to the teeth. At the Singapore Airshow this week, the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. (CATIC) displayed the supersonic Hongdu-built L-15 Falcon attack/fighter/trainer (AFT) aircraft armed with new weapon systems not seen outfitted on the Falcon before.
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02/19/2016
This is the moment a Russian Blackjack bomber, capable of carrying 16 nuclear missiles, was intercepted by RAF Typhoons as it headed for UK airspace. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed two Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack aircraft were spotted heading towards Britain with Typhoons sent out in response.
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02/19/2016
Widely published satellite imagery from Feb. 14 shows the presence of new Chinese air defense systems on Woody Island in the South China Sea, highlighting continuing maritime frictions in the area. But new imagery obtained by Stratfor provides a higher-resolution view of the deployment and activities taking place across the island.
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02/19/2016
The Obama administration said Thursday that a proposed Russian sale of fighter jets to Iran would violate a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran, setting up another standoff related to last year's nuclear negotiations. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said transferring the Sukhoi-30 jets, comparable to American F-15E fighter bombers, requires the U.N. Security Council's approval.
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02/19/2016
On February 15, six Turkish fighter jets and a Navy transport plane violated Greek airspace over island territories in the eastern Aegean Sea nearly two dozen times. Commenting on the latest violation, Russian military analyst Alexei Kupriyanov decided to take a look back at the recent history of the decades-long conflict between Athens and Ankara.
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02/18/2016
China’s deployment of anti-aircraft missiles on a disputed island it has occupied and expanded in the South China Sea ups the ante for the United States and its allies as they seek to deter further Chinese expansion in the area.
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02/18/2016
The Russian Aerospace Forces have received over 60 Yak-130 combat training aircraft since 2010, the plane’s manufacturer said Wednesday. "Deliveries of Yak-130 aircraft to the Russian Defense Ministry were commenced in 2010, and in 2011 for export. As of the beginning of 2016, over 60 Yak-130 aircraft have been delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces, which are widely used in educational centers," the Irkut Corporation representative told reporters at the Singapore Airshow 2016.
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02/18/2016
A formation of four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters swept through the skies of South Korea on Wednesday as the militaries of South Korea and the U.S. flexed their muscles against North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests.
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02/18/2016
CAE reports it has bid on a Canadian government contract to provide combat support training services to the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, and Canadian Army. The bid for the 10-year Contracted Airborne Training Services program was submitted earlier this week and includes CAE's joint venture partner Draken International, a U.S.-based company with the world's largest fleet of privately owned fighter aircraft for adversary and threat training.
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02/18/2016
China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact,” Beijing’s then foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, impatiently told Southeast Asian leaders looking for U.S. support in the South China Sea in 2010. The message was clear enough: they should do as they were told.
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02/18/2016
The Afghan air force is poised to take a major step forward in 2016 with the initial deployment of the A-29 Super Tucano, an attack plane bought by the Pentagon to give the Afghan military the ability to drop bombs in combat. But before the plane has flown a single combat mission, a new report suggests the Afghan military is struggling to avoid killing civilians with the other aircraft it already has.
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02/18/2016
The Typhoon jets were dispatched from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire on Wednesday afternoon following the security alert. An RAF spokesman said the situation was "on-going" and was not uncommon.
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02/18/2016
Officially throwing open the contest for fighter aircraft once again, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that India will select one or two fighter aircraft which will be manufactured locally by a private company under Make in India initiative. This is in addition to the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the production of which is being scaled up.
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02/18/2016
The Spanish military decided to purchase a Predator B drone system consisting of four planes and two ground control stations with satellite links, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) said in a press release on Wednesday.
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02/18/2016
Iraqi officials have lost track of "highly dangerous" radioactive material. Authorities are desperately tracking down the missing materials, and are worried that it may have fallen into the hands of Daesh (IS/Islamic State).
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02/17/2016
According to Richard Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian military affairs with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, the TL-7 is making its debut as the export model of the KD-88 precision-guided air to surface missile that entered PLA Air Force service on the Xian-built JH-7A fighter bombers in 2006 and 2007.
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02/17/2016
The Malaysian government has selected MD Helicopter’s new MD530G as the country’s attack helicopter in competition with Airbus, Bell, Boeing and Turkish Aerospace Industries for the long-running requirement. MD will deliver six MD530Gs to Malaysian Army Aviation. Deliveries are expected to start towards the end of this year, while the full complement will arrive in country during the first quarter of 2017.
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02/17/2016
Welcome to Permanent War, as Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev dubbed today’s Middle East. It isn’t as bad as it sounds, provided, of course, that you’re not in it. The bonfire built on tribal enmity and national disillusionment will have to burn itself out over time. The risk lies in the possible spread of the fire outside the region.
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02/17/2016
Indonesia’s 24-strong fleet of BAE Systems Hawk light combat aircraft are to receive a self-protection system upgrade from Finmeccanica. Performed by Singaporean prime Aptronics, Finmeccanica’s Seer radar warning receiver will be installed on an initial batch of aircraft for current operations, with an option to provide further systems in future, Finmeccanica says.
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02/17/2016
In late 1995, escalating Chinese threats against Taiwan prompted President Bill Clinton to stage a show of American support for the beleaguered island that Beijing’s leaders couldn’t ignore. Clinton sent two aircraft carrier battle groups steaming into the conflict zone, their heavily armed fighter jets poised on deck for takeoff.
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02/17/2016
Northrop Grumman Corp. can resume work on developing a new Air Force bomber after a federal overseer on Tuesday rejected a protest led by Boeing Co. on Northrop's contract for a program that could ultimately cost more than $80 billion.
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02/17/2016
On February 15, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan arrived in Moscow on an official visit; the minister is expected to meet with Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin, Deputy Premier Dmitry Rogozin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
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02/17/2016
Iran plans to buy the Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters, the Mil Mi-8 and the Mil Mi-17 helicopters, as well as other weapons from Russia in an arms deal worth more than $8 billion, the Kommersant newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.
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02/17/2016
Russia has started construction of seven Mi-171Sh combat-transport helicopters for the Bangladesh Air Force, a deputy CEO of the Russian Helicopters company said Tuesday.
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02/17/2016
Russian Helicopters plans to sign a contract with India for the delivery of an additional batch of 48 Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters in 2016, the company’s deputy director general said Tuesday.
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02/16/2016
A few scattered reports have emerged in Western news outlets over the last couple of years regarding the J-18 V/STOL fighter, but newly available evidence lends additional weight to the theory that China has a third fourth generation fighter program (in addition to J-20 and J-31 that are well known already).
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02/16/2016
The U.S. Air Force will send six F-15s to Finland this spring for exercises that will operate out of a base about 100 miles from the border with Russia, military officials say. The six jets from the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Oregon will fly training missions with Finnish forces as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which the United States initiated in 2014 to reassure NATO allies after Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
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02/16/2016
A decision by the US State Department to sell 8 F-16 fighter jets to help Pakistan in its counter-terrorism operations came in the face of intense opposition by the Indian lobby in Washington and some US Congressmen who argued these aircraft would be used against India.
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02/16/2016
Boeing has resurrected the possibility of a sale of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter to India, as part of a broader concept to support New Delhi’s development of an indigenous aerospace sector. Jeff Kohler, vice-president of international business development for Boeing Defense, says discussions are underway between the US and Indian governments about the potential for the US to support New Delhi’s “Make in India” initiative, which envisages local production across a range of industries.
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02/16/2016
The Tu-214R is a Russian ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) aircraft. In other words, a quite advanced spy plane. As we have already explained here in the past, it is a special mission aircraft equipped with all-weather radar systems and electro optical sensors that produce photo-like imagery of a large parts of the ground: these images are then used to identify and map the position of the enemy forces, even if these are camouflaged or hidden.
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02/16/2016
One year ago this week, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works chief Rob Weiss announced that his advanced design team had been working on a clean-sheet aircraft for the US Air Force’s T-X programme as a potential alternative to the South Korean T-50 Golden Eagle, which Lockheed jointly developed with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and now exports around the globe.
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02/16/2016
The U.S. Air Force selected Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop and build the new Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) late last year. Like other recent big defense contracts, that award is under protest from competitors. But it’s a good bet the Air Force source selection was a sound one. Why? Because stealth matters.
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02/16/2016
At least 4 Polish F-16 jets could participate in air alert mission in Syria, the head of the National Security Bureau, Pawel Soloch, said Monday. He added that Warsaw was ready to conduct patrol missions, adding that this move would show solidarity with its allies.
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02/16/2016
India is considering an offer from the US defense corporation Lockheed Martin to organize manufacturing of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft in the country, local media reported Monday, citing high-ranking sources. Besides the F-16s, the US side has also offered other options for warplanes, whose production may be launched in India. The proposal includes aircraft production both for the domestic market and exports, The Economic Times noted.
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02/16/2016
Russia will soon send S-300 air defense systems to Iran while the countries have not held any negotiations on the possibility of delivering S-400 systems.
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02/15/2016
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is preparing to receive its first squadron of 14 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs in-country in late 2018. They will be preceded by a squadron of 12 Boeing EF-18G Growlers that will arrive next year. Like other air arms receiving advanced combat aircraft from the U.S., the RAAF must make careful choices about weapons and software commonality, and training, if costs are to be restrained.
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02/15/2016
The situation in Syria has reached a watershed moment and a dramatic escalation of the war appears imminent. Let’s look again at how we reached this point.
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02/15/2016
This year’s aerial display at the Singapore Airshow will include a unusual joint performance between a Republic of Singapore Air Force Boeing F-15SG fighter and AH-64D Apache attack helicopter.
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02/15/2016
A defence analyst says a "bizarre" logistics system could ground Joint Strike Fighter jets headed to the Williamtown Air Force base in New South Wales, even if the planes are fit to fly.
Analyst David Archibald has lodged a submission to a Senate inquiry into Australia's Joint Strike Fighters. A total of 72 jets will be based at the Williamtown Air Force base, as well as at Tindal in the Northern Territory.
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02/15/2016
The Iraqi army's recent triumph in Ramadi made it clear that its soldiers aren't cut from the same cloth as those who ditched their gear and fled in terror from the Islamic State group in 2014 — and Marines have been a pivotal part of that transformation.
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02/15/2016
A Saudi defense ministry adviser confirmed late Saturday that the kingdom had sent fighter jets to Turkey’s Incirlik air base for the military campaign against ISIS militants in Syria. Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri told Al Arabiya News Channel that Saudi Arabia was committed to stepping up the fight against ISIS and that the move was part of those efforts.
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02/15/2016
Smaller aircraft carriers and more cruisers. Multiple unmanned airframes for tanking, strike missions and dog-fighting. Sixteen carrier strike groups. As budget season kicks into high gear, House lawmakers called in experts Thursday to discuss the future of the carrier air wing.
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02/15/2016
National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center chief Sergei Ryzhkov said that Russian experts will hold an observation flight over Italy under the Treaty on Open Skies this week.
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02/15/2016
The Russian private design bureau ‘Modern Aviation Technologies’ has developed a single-engine, all-composite aircraft SR-10. Developed by a private Russian design bureau called KB SAT, the aircraft features a moderate forward-swept wing (FSW) scheme. This feature allows the plane to be more compact, improves stability at low speeds and takeoff and landing performance.
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02/14/2016
The crisis in Syria has reached a “hinge point,” where decisions made in the near future could either end the war or “define a very difficult set of choices for the future,” says Secretary of State John Kerry .
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02/14/2016
It's 44,500 tonnes of robust Indian diplomacy cruising on the high seas, hot on the trail of the Chinese in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), first in Sri Lanka and now, Maldives. India has dispatched its largest and most potent warship, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, accompanied by destroyer INS Mysore and tanker INS Deepak, to Maldives to reaffirm its abiding commitment to be "the net security provider" in the IOR.
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02/14/2016
The U.S. decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan will not alter the military balance in the region, but it will reinforce the centrality of Pakistan’s Army, experts say. The F-16 fighting Falcon is one of the most modern fourth generation aircraft in service, and over 4,400 aircraft of the model have been produced so far and are in service with 25 countries.
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02/14/2016
Eurofighter has conducted trials of the Storm Shadow missile and Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile as part of the improvements to enhance swing-role capability of its Typhoon combat jet.
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02/14/2016
More than twenty advanced MiG-29K ship-based fighter jets will enter service with the Russian Navy before the end of 2016, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. The MiG29K is a 4++ generation jet which can efficiently engage in high-maneuverability combat by using its cannon and missiles for aerial combat as well as for destroying targets on surface.
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02/14/2016
BRITAIN had to rely on 21 foreign aircraft to plug defences last year. Military chiefs asked Nato for help after Nimrod spotter planes were scrapped in cuts. Since then incursions by Vladimir Putin’s nuclear-powered submarines and combat jets have been reported almost weekly. Germany, France, Canada and the United States have all flown to the rescue amid fears Russia is trying to track British subs carrying Trident nuclear missiles.
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02/14/2016
The Singapore Airshow 2016 will feature fighter jets from countries including Singapore, South Korea and the United States. To be held from Feb 16 to 19 for trade professionals and Feb 20 to 21 for the public, the Airshow's aerobatics lineup will feature a mix of military assets from both the East and West. The Airshow on Sunday (Feb 14) provided a preview of its aerial display show at the Changi Exhibition Centre.
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02/14/2016
China's military modernization effort continues to drive defense procurement in Asia as Beijing develops fifth-generation fighter aircraft, procures Russian Su-35 aircraft, builds aircraft carriers, extends the range and punch of its ballistic missile force, pushes to dominate the South China Sea, and threatens to invade Taiwan and occupy the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
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02/14/2016
RSAF aircraft are being deployed to Incirlik airbase, Turkey, from where they will launch air strikes against ISIS, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusogluy said on Feb. 13. Saudi Arabia has been part of the US-led coalition fighting Daesh since 2014; by moving its combat planes closer to the area of operations it will be able to increase the ops tempo.
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02/14/2016
India's quest to build fighter jets through its "Make in India" industry initiative may not be realistic in the near future due to a financial crunch and the lack of in-house building capability, forcing continued reliance on imports, said officials and defense analysts. The government wants to build over 250 fighters in the next 20 years at a cost of more than $200 billion, which will cover life-cycle cost as well, said an Indian Defence Ministry source.
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02/13/2016
The Air Force must stop relying on older aircraft. It needs to invest in cutting-edge platforms, Gen. Mark Welsh, the service’s chief of staff, told Congress. “The platforms and systems that made us great over the last 50 years will not make us great over the next 50 years,” Welsh told a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
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02/13/2016
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is being awarded three Navy contracts devoted to military aircraft, including a $141.9 million deal to modernize Greece’s P-3B, the U.S. Department of Defense announced during its Thursday digest of contracts.
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02/13/2016
The commander of the Afghan Air Force Major General Abdul Wahab Wardak said Thursday that the A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft will start combat operations with the Afghan Air Force from the month of March. During a ceremony “Re-birth of the Afghan Air Force” at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Gen. Wardak said the Afghan Air Force is expecting to receive a total of 8 A-29 aircraft until March.
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02/13/2016
The Nigerian Air Force has armed two of the four Dassault Aviation-made Alpha jets it procured from the United States in 2015. Prior to arming the jets, the planes purchased from the United States could not be used in combat operations due to their inability to carry weapons. Instead, the jets were designated for training purposes.
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02/13/2016
Alenia Aermacchi (Finmeccanica, Stand G55) is promoting two new roles for the M346–companion training, and dissimilar air combat training (DACT). “Our existing customers told us it would make an excellent aggressor,” company test pilot Giacomo Ianelli told The International Fighter Conference in London last November. Singapore was the first export customer for the Italian jet, and operates 12 of them for advanced pilot training at Cazaux airbase in France.
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02/13/2016
Six test and evaluation F-35 fighters are on a simulated deployment to conduct key initial operational capability mission sets, the Air Force said. The sets are suppression of enemy air defenses, close air support and air interdiction. The achievements of the F-35A squadron's ability to deploy, employ and sustain operations will set the benchmark capability for the Air Force to declare F-35A initial operational capability, which is scheduled for this fall.
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02/13/2016
Last week Nigeria joined a dubious international clique when it bombed a logistics base used by the militant group Boko Haram in the country’s northeast. Though the airstrike itself was unremarkable—the Nigerian Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes against Boko Haram in recent months—it was the first Nigeria has delivered via an unmanned drone.
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02/13/2016
Now that Iran is sitting on a pile of cash and the import ban on conventional military hardware has been partially lifted following the nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic is looking to replace its hodgepodge of vintage military hardware. This may soon include producing Russian Su-30 multi-role fighters and T-90 tanks within their own borders.
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02/13/2016
A combined Boeing/U.S. Air Force aircrew aboard the KC-46 tanker successfully refueled an F/A-18 aircraft in flight February 10th. The air refueling was the program’s first using the KC-46’s hose and drogue system. During the 4+ hour flight, the tanker’s air refueling operator smoothly transferred fuel to the F/A-18 flying at 20,000 feet.
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02/12/2016
Naval Air Systems Command is set to release a new draft request for proposal for its unmanned aerial refueling tanker to industry later this year, USNI News has learned. Built from the work of its Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program, the draft RfP for the air segment for the follow-on Carrier Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS) will come out ahead of the a final RfP in FY 2017 and a contract award in FY 2018.
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02/12/2016
Indonesia has agreed to purchase 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-35S multirole fighter jets, according to Indonesian media reports. Indonesia’s Minister of Defense, General Ryamizard Ryacudu, will visit Moscow in March to sign the final agreement.
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02/12/2016
A fuel malfunction almost caused an F-16 pilot to eject over Islamic State group-held territory last year — but a savvy KC-135 tanker crew saved him from abandoning his aircraft over enemy territory. Being careful to not disclose too much information, the Air Force said a Stratotanker deployed from McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas was refueling some A-10s in the area when the F-16 flew up in need of a helping hand.
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02/12/2016
Last year, Foto Poork‘s photographer Filip Modrzejewski had the opportunity to take part in an aerial refueling mission in support of some of the aircraft involved in the exercise. He flew aboard a German Air Force Airbus A310 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport), a tanker-variant of the civilian A310, that operated at 20,000 feet supporting some GAF Panavia Tornados, which can be refueled mid-air using the so-called hose-and-drogue system.
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02/12/2016
Modernization took the biggest hit in the Defense Department's fiscal year 2017 budget request, but the $102.5 billion in the procurement account can purchase a lot of capabilities, Mike McCord, DoD’s chief financial officer, told reporters at a Feb. 9 Pentagon news conference. As part of the Bipartisan Budget Act signed in November, the Defense Department had to make up $22 billion in its budget. Modernization took the biggest hit, McCord said.
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02/12/2016
As battles continue to rage around the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, so too does the war of words among two far-away countries involved in the fight -- Russia and the United States. The defense ministry for Russia, which has been lambasted for its own airstrikes in support of a Syrian government ground offensive around Aleppo, turned the tables Thursday with an accusation against the United States.
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02/12/2016
India is set to soon offer a locally made combat version of the Hawk aircraft for export to the world with license producer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) set to roll out the first of the highly weaponised light attack planes by February 2017.
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02/12/2016
Lockheed Martin selected its Greenville Operations facility in Greenville, South Carolina as the preferred Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO) site to manufacture its T-50A aircraft offering in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition.
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02/12/2016
Lockheed Martin announced today that it will offer the T-50A in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition. The T-50A was developed jointly by Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) to replace the T-38 and train the next generation of pilots to fly 5th Generation aircraft.
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02/11/2016
Air Force pilots of the 1980s-era stealthy B-2 Spirit bomber plan to upgrade and fly the aircraft on attack missions against enemy air defenses well into the 2050s, service officials said. “It is a dream to fly. It is so smooth,” Maj. Kent Mickelson, director of operations for 394th combat training squadron, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
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02/11/2016
Belarus has signed a preliminary deal with Russian state-owned aircraft maker Irkut to purchase new Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets for the country’s Air Force, reports local pro-government daily Sovetskaya Belorussiya — Belarus Segodnya. The new aircraft will replace the outdated Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters.
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02/11/2016
Pressure is growing on the U.S. military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference. With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules of engagement limited, the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, believes broader authorization of force is the best way of supporting stretched local troops.
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02/11/2016
Last month’s release of the 2016 Marine Corps Aviation Plan highlighted the service’s struggles to keep its planes flying and its pilots trained. Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the deputy commandant for aviation, stated in the report’s introduction that the Corps has seen “a decrease in flight hours per month per aircrew and an uptick in [its] mishap rates,” leading to concerns about the readiness of Marine squadrons.
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02/11/2016
Russia’s air power assets operating in Syria are about to be given a significant boost. The most modern fighter aircraft in service today with the Russian Aerospace Forces will deploy to Kheimim aerodrome near Latakia, Syria. The Russian contingent in Syria announced Feb. 5 that the aircraft, the Su-35S will be place in operation for the first time outside the borders of the Russia.
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02/11/2016
As it reconsiders its unmanned aviation strategy, the Navy has decided to cease funding the X-47B bat-winged drone that made aviation history in recent years. The first-ever autonomous unmanned aircraft to be launched from and recovered on a carrier deck, the X-47B, is likely to run out of funding by the end of fiscal year 2016. The Navy has not requested money for the program in its fiscal year 2017 budget.
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02/11/2016
Sri Lanka has reportedly shown interest in purchasing Light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas from India. Light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas is the multi-role light fighter that is in development with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and recently showcased its acrobatic skills successfully at Bahrain International Airshow 2016, a first such display outside India.
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02/11/2016
An impressive airshow put up by PAF at the old Doha International Airport yesterday was witnessed by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. A JF-17 Thunder, a multi-role light combat aircraft indigenously produced in Pakistan in co-operation with China, and a Super Mushshak trainer jet presented aerial stunts at the show where pilots demonstrated the two aircraft’s advanced capabilities.
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02/11/2016
Russia and India have resumed talks on the joint Sukhoi/HAL Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project after nearly a year of stagnation, The Times of India reports. "We have got the clearance to restart the talks. Accordingly, a Russian team is here and cost negotiations began yesterday," a high-level defense source told the newspaper on Wednesday.
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02/11/2016
The remarkable performance of Russia’s advanced, super-maneuverable Su-35S multirole fighters in Syria has gained the attention of military buyers throughout the world, according to journalist, military expert and Director of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade Igor Korotchenko.
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02/10/2016
This lower funding level buys eight fewer fixed-wing aircraft including five Lockheed Martin F-35As and three C-130Js for the US Air Force and 35 fewer rotorcraft for the Army and Navy than are afforded in the current budget, according to US Defense Department (DOD) officials.
The budget does protects other high-priority air force procurements including the Boeing KC-46A and Northrop Grumman Long-Range Strike Bomber.
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02/10/2016
The first time the USAF attempted to refuel an aircraft in flight, aircrews successfully stayed aloft for 151 hours. That was over 85 years ago, and the Air Force today has made quite a few innovations since then. A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 63rd Air Refueling Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is providing air refueling support to the F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron over the skies of Souda Bay, Greece, during a flying training.
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02/10/2016
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are both American warplanes competing for orders on the international fighter market. While the F-35 represents a new generation of technology, not every nation can afford the stealthy fifth-generation fighter. Moreover, the United States might not always be willing to sell the F-35 to all of its allies and partners. That represents an opportunity for Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
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02/10/2016
Taiwan's incoming Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is about to come face to face with unprecedented vulnerabilities in national security, thanks to a variety of factors which the new government is likely to find difficult to alter in the near future.
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02/10/2016
Deployment by Russia of its state-of-the-art armaments in the Kaliningrad Region, a Baltic exclave, limits NATO’s capabilities in the Baltic region, Director-General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies John Chipman said during presentation of The Military Balance 2016 report.
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02/10/2016
Drawdown days are officially over for the Marine Corps. The service's fiscal 2017 budget request would keep the active-duty force at a steady state of 182,000 troops, a number projected to remain constant until fiscal 2021. The Marines' base budget request of $23.4 billion represents a $169 million increase over the previous year, with an additional $1.6 billion in overseas contingency operations funding earmarked for operations and maintenance, personnel and procurement.
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02/10/2016
The first group of Iraqi Air Force pilots officially ended training on the L-159 aircraft. It is part of the contract between the company Aero Vodochody Aerospace and the Ministry of Defense of Iraq. Four pilots and 12 technical staff graduated. Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický (ANO), Iraqi Ambassador the Czech Republic Walid Hamed Shiltagh and several other Czech and Iraqi officials and Aero representatives attended the graduation ceremony.
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02/10/2016
The west’s decades-long advantage in military technology is being eroded as defence spending in the rest of the world, notably Asia, soars, an authoritative report says. The latest annual Military Balance by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) shows that advances in weapons-related technology once the preserve of the west – including cruise missiles, unmanned drones and electronic warfare – are becoming increasingly accessible to more and more countries.
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02/10/2016
India's light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas has reportedly conducted the first test firing of a beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), Derby, in Jamnagar, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat. Carried out by a limited series production (LSP) platform, the LSP-7 Tejas fired the BVRAAM missile on a Ballistic Non Guided (BNG)mode, reported OneIndia.
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02/10/2016
Some 40 combat aircraft have been redeployed at forward airfields in southern Russia as part of the large-scale snap combat readiness drills, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday. "Some 40 combat planes, including fighter jets, tactical bombers, strike aircraft, military-transport planes, as well as attack helicopters from the 4th Air and Air defense Army of the Southern Military District have been redeployed," the ministry said in a statement.
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02/09/2016
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Turkey's centre of excellence in defence and aerospace industries, and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ) are planning to extend cooperation for the Kruk Combat Helicopter Procurement Programme of the Armament Inspectorate of Poland. The proposed plan will see TAI supplying customised T129 ATAK multi-role combat helicopter for Poland's Kruk programme.
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02/09/2016
A proven warfighter appears likely to stay at Selfridge ANGB for the immediate future. The A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, an air-to-ground attack platform best known as the ‘Warthog,’ will remain in the U.S. Air Force inventory until at least 2022, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
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02/09/2016
Once they were the pride of the isolated communist country – a fleet of 210 military aircraft bought decades ago from Russia and China. However, much like the old munitions inherited from that era, many of these planes no longer fit modern needs and have become a burden to the Albanian armed forces. Now the Albanian Defence Ministry has decided to sell off some of these relics in an international auction.
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02/09/2016
The V-22 Osprey was once considered a true “ugly duckling”, one of a number of platforms and systems that were too costly, performed badly and even posed a danger to their users. Without question, designing, building and operating a platform that could fly like an airplane and take off and land like a helicopter was a challenging endeavor.
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02/09/2016
The US Air Force has a problem. While it bets its future on the stealth of the F-22 and F-35 fighters, that stealth has come at a cost: reduced weapon loads. To be stealthy, the aircraft both have to carry all of their weapons in internal bays, significantly limiting how many bombs and missiles they can carry to strike at targets on the surface and defend themselves from other fighters.
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02/09/2016
China toned down vitriolic rhetoric in response to the recent passage of a US warship near a disputed island in the South China Sea. Chinese government-controlled media outlets, however, seized on the transit of the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur on Jan. 30 within 12 miles of Triton Island in the Paracels archipelago with stepped up threats to deploy missiles and warplanes on some of its 3,200 acres of newly-created islands.
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02/09/2016
We now have an idea of how defense giant Northrop Grumman visualizes America's first sixth-generation fighter, and it comes from an unlikely source: A Super Bowl commercial. The plane seen buzzing around during the high-dollar ad may foreshadow the real fighter that will enter service in 15 to 20 years, replacing the F/A-18 Super Hornet and perhaps even the F-22 Raptor.
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02/09/2016
In the bitter quarrel with Turkey over the latest alleged violation of the Turkish airspace by the Russian Sukhoi SU-34 frontline bomber, Russia sees no role for NATO to play. On the contrary, Turkish Prime-Minister Ahmet Davutoglu instructed his country’ s Foreign Ministry to demand from Russia to give the explanations over the alleged incident straight to the NATO secretary general, Russia’s RIA News agency reported.
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02/09/2016
If not a direct opposition from Washington, this machine possibly would have become indispensable in Arab East and in Iran. But tanks aside, Russian fighter jets are taking on a large niche in the markets of many countries of the world. The fighter jets image considerably strengthened when analysts studied and estimated the impact of Russia’s air campaign in Syria.
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02/09/2016
The ongoing snap military exercises in southern Russia involve up to 8,500 troops, some 900 military vehicles and 200 aircraft, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Monday.
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02/08/2016
The military is considering using unmanned drones to patrol waters surrounding New Zealand.
At present, six Orion aircraft provide airborne surveillance, support for customs and police operations, search and rescue missions and disaster relief. Illegal fishing and drug smuggling need to be watched for in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is the fourth largest in the world and 20 times the country's land mass.
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02/08/2016
A damning report last week on the progress of the F-35, by the Pentagon’s top weapons tester, has fuelled concern that delivery schedules for the new fighter could be delayed once again. Any further delay in the delivery of the 72 Australian F-35s would create an acute problem for the RAAF, which would be forced to keep its 71 Classic F/A-18 Hornets flying beyond their effective life expectancy.
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02/08/2016
Sweden’s discomfort over Russia’s long-term political and military ambitions in the Baltic Sea and High North has risen further after a senior military chief stated the Nordic state could find itself under attack "within a few years."
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02/08/2016
Turning the U.S. Navy’s next carrier-based drone into a tanker, as the service announced this week, is probably a reasonable idea. For some time, buddy-tanking F-18 Hornets has been a questionable use of other Hornets, but one completely necessitated since 2009 by the full retirement of the Lockheed S-3 Viking.
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02/08/2016
Canadian fighter jets pounded Islamic State targets in Iraq on Saturday, destroying a fighting position and heavy engineering equipment in two separate attacks. After more than a year of attacking ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, these could be among the last combat missions flown by CF-18s.
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02/08/2016
China’s purchase of 24 new Russian Su-35 aircraft is essential for Beijing. The Chinese Air Force will not only get new jets that could affect the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait, but may also allow the Chinese military to assess the progress and development of J-11.
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02/08/2016
When asked if the Gulf state was prepared to send troops to Syria, Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash told reporters in Abu Dhabi that this had been his country’s position all along.
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02/08/2016
Syrian Air Force jets pulverized Daesh positions in the eastern part of Aleppo province on Saturday, causing serious damage to the main road used by the militants to send oil tankers into neighboring Turkey.
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02/08/2016
Japan, in close cooperation with the international community, will not hesitate to take measures against North Korea after Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket, the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Sunday.
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02/07/2016
Safety concerns have, for now, grounded plans by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) to fly a radar-equipped balloon that can spot hostile threats coming from as far as Malacca. The 55m-long helium-filled military blimp, known as an aerostat, was supposed to be airborne early last year to watch over Singapore.
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02/07/2016
Things have changed a bit around Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq since the 2011 withdraw of U.S. troops in the Anbar province. What once was a busy hub for aircraft coming in to scatter the area with military personnel now seems far more subtle in its footprint. The Iraqi military installation now houses different components of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including the 8th Iraqi Army Division and the Anbar Operations Command (AOC).
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02/07/2016
At 1430 on February 5th, the first Italian made F-35A flew into the pattern at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland and touched down. Known to all Naval Aviators as “Pax” this historic flight of an Italian fighter pilot, wearing his cold water survival suit, flew the single seat, single engine F-35A flew in the dead of winter over the North Atlantic.
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02/07/2016
It’s regrettable but predictable Canadian defence policy and programs under the Liberals are receding toward a new “decade of darkness”. Historically — at least so far as the last 60 years are concerned — the Liberal party has seldom encountered a significant military effort it enthusiastically endorsed or a defence expenditure for which it couldn’t envision a better use of its funds.
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02/07/2016
Senior Fellow at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies Boris Dolgov told Radio Sputnik that the prospect of Turkey's military invasion in Syria is "very high."
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02/07/2016
According to the South Korean Yonhap news agency, the rocket is believed to have range of over 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles). Earlier this week, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) confirmed it had received North Korea’s notification of plans to launch a satellite between February 8 and 25. Pyongyang later changed the launch dates by one day.
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02/06/2016
Belarusian Yak-130 aircraft will test air-to-air rockets for the first time in the former air force exercise area Polessky in Gomel Oblast on 5 February, representatives of the Belarusian Defense Ministry told BelTA. According to the source, Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense units continue mastering the combat and training aircraft Yak-130. “Today Belarusian pilots will launch guided air-to-air missiles using Yak-130 aircraft for the first time ever in the former exercise area Polessky.
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02/06/2016
The F-35 needs to pass new tests at a base in Idaho later this month for it to stay on track toward being combat ready for the Air Force by August. The Air Force is sending its version of the Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35 to Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwestern Idaho from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to Maj. Gen. Jay Silveria in a Reuters report.
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02/06/2016
For months, members of Congress and former Pentagon officials have been criticizing the Obama administration's approach to defeating ISIS, arguing that airstrikes and occasional special-forces operations are not enough to destroy the Islamist insurgency. In November, Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA, told CBS's Face the Nation, "I think it's now crystal clear to us that our strategy, our policy vis-à-vis ISIS, is not working."
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02/06/2016
Most ads aren’t designed to break big news, but Northrop Grumman has been in the habit of using dramatic commercials to bring us surprise details on its vision for America’s air combat future. The company’s latest one gives us one of the best looks yet at their evolving sixth-generation fighter concept.
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02/06/2016
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has been busy highlighting key pieces of the Pentagon’s upcoming budget that will be published on February 9th. One of the primary items identified in it is the development of an aerial arsenal ship. The arsenal ship concept is something we talk about regularly here on Foxtrot Alpha, both those that fly and float.
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02/06/2016
Ashton Carter, the US secretary of defense, is currently on a promo tour for the Pentagon's 2017 budget — and as he's been attempting to sell the proposed $582.7 billion in funding, he has been spilling the beans about a number of previously classified weapons and technology programs.
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02/06/2016
The Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world and BAE Systems has created a helmet that could make its pilots more effective. Striker II has an integrated night vision camera and a high definition digital display that projects flight information onto the visor. BAE claims the helmet has the ability to virtually see through a Typhoon by linking up to different systems on the aircraft.
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02/06/2016
JSC Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG plans to sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry on the delivery of MiG-35 fighters before the end of this year, MiG Deputy Director General Alexey Beskibalov told journalists.
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02/06/2016
The fighter aviation division of the Russian Southern Military District received four Su-30SM (NATO reporting name Flanker-C) fighter aircraft on Friday, the district’s press service said.
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02/05/2016
The US Air Force has not only ditched long-standing plans to retire the hardy Fairchild Republic A-10 attack airplane but is launching a follow-on wing replacement programme to keep the combat veteran flying well into the next decade.
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02/05/2016
Retired Royal Australian Air Force wing commander Chris Mills doesn’t like the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that Canberra is buying from the United States. Noting the new plane’s sluggishness and poor results in simulated air combat against the latest Russian fighters, Mills has called for Australia to lobby the United States for F-22 Raptors.
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02/05/2016
Equatorial Guinea has acquired two C295s from Airbus Defence and Space. One will be used for troop transport and the other for maritime surveillance. A government announcement late last month said Equatorial Guinea representatives visited the Airbus Defence and Space facility in Seville, Spain to sign the deal. The first aircraft is expected to be delivered in September.
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02/05/2016
Indian Navy Aviation today stands poised on a springboard that would propel the Fleet Air Arm to greater heights with a quantum leap in the forces' offensive capabilities. Indian Navy has been building its fleet air arm with an aim to acquire a formidable and sturdy defence capability. The exponential growth of a fledgling Fleet Requirement Unit with ten amphibian Sealand aircraft in 1953 into a modern force is testimony to the Navy’s aspirations and resolve in developing this arm.
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02/05/2016
The Obama administration wants to enlarge the U.S. military presence in eastern and central Europe next year by stockpiling heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other military equipment across the region, a substantial expansion of U.S. efforts to counter a resurgent Russia.
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02/05/2016
In the Department of Defense's budget request for 2017, the Air Force has conceded what to many has been obvious—that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not be ready to take the place of the A-10 Thunderbolt II (also known as the "Warthog") in close air support missions any time soon. In its budget request, the Air Force is seeking funds to keep the A-10 flying, and DOD officials say the aircraft will remain in service until at least the 2022 fiscal year.
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02/05/2016
The military risks committing itself to buying billions of dollars of F-35 fighter jets before they have demonstrated they are fit for combat, a new Pentagon report warns. The development of the Joint Strike Fighter F-35, a fifth-generation stealth jet, has been beset by spiraling costs and schedule delays. The program's price tag is nearly $400 billion for 2,457 planes -- almost twice the initial estimate.
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02/05/2016
On Thursday, the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC said in a Twitter message that the Saudi Ministry of Defense stands ready to deploy ground troops to Syria to aid in the international anti-Daesh coalition efforts. The Guardian said on Thursday citing unnamed Saudi sources that Saudi Arabia could deploy "thousands of special forces," "probably in coordination with Turkey."
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02/05/2016
Belarus has reached a preliminary agreement with the Russian Irkut Corporation to acquire Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighters for its Air Force, the country’s deputy defense minister said Thursday. According to Igor Lotenkov, as quoted by the SB – Belarus Segodnya newspaper, these aircraft will replace its outdated Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters.
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02/05/2016
A supersonic BrahMos cruise missile will be tested from a Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) fighter jet for the first time in the second half of 2016, the head of Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace enterprise, Sudhir Mishra, said Thursday.
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02/04/2016
U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co is in a "conversation" on manufacturing its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet in India, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg was quoted on Wednesday as saying on his first visit to the country. "We see the Super Hornet as an opportunity ... to tie directly into the 'Make in India' strategy," Muilenburg told the Hindustan Times in an interview whose authenticity was confirmed by the company.
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02/04/2016
An annual Washington budgeting dance in recent years, where Pentagon officials seek to retire their legacy A-10 fleet and members of Congress take pains to preserve it, appears on hold for awhile after Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he expects the aircraft to fly through 2022.
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02/04/2016
The Pentagon has long discussed the possibility of a bulk order of F-35 joint strike fighters that would span several years and multiple international partners. But now the Department of Defense’s top weapons tester is raising concerns about committing to the so-called “block buy” before testing of the aircraft is complete.
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02/04/2016
Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday announced plans for the Pentagon to buy more Navy ships, aircraft, munitions and capabilities over the next five years. He said the administration's fiscal 2017 defense budget will include money to buy nine Virginia-class attack submarines and 10 Aegis destroyers. The purchase of the submarines had been planned, but Carter said one of them would have a Virginia payload module to triple its firepower.
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02/04/2016
On the night of March 29, 2013, a contingent of Russian combat aircraft flew across the Gulf of Finland and came within 18 to 24 miles of Swedish territory near Gotland Island, which is only 100 miles from Stockholm. The aircraft followed a flight path that deviated from typical Russian air force routes in the region.
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02/04/2016
The Russian military says Turkey has violated an international treaty by barring a planned Russian surveillance flight. Defense Ministry official Sergei Ryzhkov says the Turkish military has refused to allow the mission intended to monitor the areas near Turkey's border with Syria and air bases used by NATO warplanes.
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02/04/2016
The development of India’s indigenous fighter is an important development for India and might well reshape the export market as well. It has been an uphill battle to develop the aircraft and to get it into production and operations. But India is making clear progress with regard to the way ahead for the LCA.
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02/04/2016
Flight testing has begun on the new APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radars (SABR) as part of an upgrade program for US Air Force’s F-16 combat aircraft, defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced in a news release.
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02/04/2016
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has selected Boeing to provide the service with P-8 maintenance training devices. This is the first international sale of P-8 maintenance training equipment currently used by the U.S. Navy for its P-8A Poseidon fleet. The RAAF virtual trainers were purchased through the U.S. Navy and RAAF Cooperative Program and will be used to train P-8A maintenance personnel starting in early 2018.
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02/04/2016
Russia is considering possibly delivering air defense systems and MiG-29 fighter jets to Serbia, a source in the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Wednesday. "We are working on the issue of deliveries of air defense systems and MiG-29s to Serbia. This country is our strategic partner in Europe, in many spheres, including military-technical cooperation," the source told RIA Novosti.
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02/03/2016
A SENIOR Pentagon official has slammed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, saying it could not win a dogfight against an older jet, could not meet its test and evaluation deadlines, and could not fly unsupported against a threat.
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02/03/2016
Iraq began receiving its own F-16IQ fighters in 2014 and now has over ten of them regularly in action. To support this effort Iraq recently ordered nearly two billion dollars’ worth of missiles and smart bombs for their F-16s as well as some useful accessories. Iraq bought nearly 20,000 bombs, but only enough laser guidance tail kits for half of them. Most of the bombs were 227 kg (500 pound) types with about a quarter of them being 908 kg.
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02/03/2016
The dawn of the combat laser era might begin in 2021 when the US air force hopes to begin demonstrations of a podded electric laser system for fifth and sixth-generation fighter jets that can destroy incoming missiles, not just steer them off course.
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02/03/2016
Two Chinese military aircraft flew into South Korean and Japanese airspace, and Japan's Self-Defense Force fighter jets scrambled to intercept the planes. Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff stated the two combat planes entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone, or KADIZ, on Sunday, Yonhap reported. Kyodo News reported the aircraft were the Shaanxi Y-9 – a medium-size plane capable of transporting 25 tons of cargo.
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02/03/2016
The Indian Air Force’s quick fix solution for its fighter crunch is to crank up production of the Su-30 MKI – the backbone of its combat fleet. India had initially contracted with Russia for 272 Sukhois, but that number will in all probability cross 300 by 2019. With multiple squadrons of older MiG-21 interceptors and MiG-27 ground attack jets being retired in quick succession, the IAF fighter fleet is set to decline to a low of 32 squadrons – or around 576 aircraft.
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02/03/2016
One plane has two powerful jet engines with afterburners, flies at almost 2,000 mph, can soar more than 12 miles above the earth, and has 34 air combat victories in Operation Desert Storm. The other hums along at 150 mph, powered by a six-piston engine and a two-bladed propeller. It can't get much higher than 3 miles above the ground. It's more suited to carry your grandma than a gun.
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02/03/2016
The Pentagon is developiong a repurposed “arsenal plane” that would carry large volumes of bombs and missiles into battle alongside modern combat aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-35. The Department of Defense (DOD) is also investing in “fast, resilient mircodrones” that can launch from fighter jets travelling at Mach 0.9 and fly through strong crosswinds.
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02/03/2016
Michael Dickens and Julian Lopez can't fly the Air Force's most advanced fighter jet, but the F-22 Raptor wouldn't have much of a bite without them. Airman 1st Class Lopez and Tech Sgt. Dickens are among the crews at Langley Air Force Base that keep the stealth fighter supplied with a lethal mix of bombs and missiles, plus a 20-millimeter multi-barrel cannon for close encounters.
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02/03/2016
Tensions between Russia and Turkey continue to escalate following the downing in November of a Russian Su-24 fighter jet that strayed into Turkish airspace. Questions are being raised now whether the two countries are heading for a military confrontation. A leading Turkish military expert told Al-Monitor that such a Russian move could spell disaster for Turkey.
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02/03/2016
Russia has sent its advanced, super-maneuverable Su-35S multirole fighters to Syria to test the brand-new aircraft in a combat environment for the first time ever; aviation experts explain what makes the warplanes so unique.
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02/02/2016
AN RAF fighter jet pilot who suddenly lost his sight while on a training flight was guided down to safety by a colleague who raced to his aid, it has emerged. Leading airmen described the rescue at RAF Leeming as "amazing" - saying the 622mph maximum speed Hawk T Mk 1 combat planes would still have been travelling at 115mph when they landed at the North Yorkshire station.
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02/02/2016
The Aros satellite took photos of the Lattakia air base used by the Russian Air Force, showing the vast array of fighter jets on hand, the operations of the new S-400 batteries, and the intensive amount of sorties in the area.
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02/02/2016
The Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) effort is being retooled as primarily a carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling platform as part of several Pentagon naval aviation mandates as part if the the service’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget submission, USNI News has learned.
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02/02/2016
France has placed an order for four Lockheed Martin C-130 aircraft – two standard C-130J transports and two KC-130Js equipped for in-flight refueling of helicopters, the defense procurement office said. “Direction Générale de l’Armement ordered on Jan. 29, 2016 from the US Air Force four new Hercules C-130Js,” the DGA said in a Feb. 1 statement. The first two aircraft will be delivered between the end of 2017 and early2018, with the two refueling versions due in 2019.
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02/02/2016
The Pentagon's next five-year budget proposal seeks over $13 billion in funding for a new submarine to carry nuclear ballistic missiles, plus orders for more Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp fighter jets, according to sources familiar with the plans.
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02/02/2016
One of the biggest questions facing the future of US Navy carrier-based aviation is what will be the primary mission of its new unmanned jet. Some believe the aircraft — to be produced by the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program — should be a stealthy strike jet able to penetrate an enemy’s defenses without risking a pilot. Others want a spy plane, able to launch from a carrier and produce high-quality, real-time intelligence.
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02/02/2016
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Monday that Su-35 fighters have been deployed to Hemeimeem air base in Syria. The Su-35 is Russia’s most advanced fighter that is fielded in significant numbers. NATO designates the aircraft as the SU-35S Flanker-E.
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02/02/2016
Aviation Week has published a 48-page report from Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, which casts serious doubts on whether the Marines' current version of the F-35, the Block 2B, is capable of entering combat on it own.
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02/02/2016
The Indian armed forces have suffered from time and technology challenges over the last 30 years, but apparently to make up for the lost time, the government has now approved the Indian Air Force's (IAF) requirements for unmanned combat aircraft, technically called Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs).
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02/02/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry, commenting on the statement of a NATO representative regarding the ‘classified images’ of the so-called violation of the Syrian-Turkish border by a Russian jet, said that such allegations were expected from NATO as they are trying to withhold information from the public and media.
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02/01/2016
Dutch F16 fighter jets will take part in bombing raids over Syria, ministers agreed on Friday. ‘We can only prevent attacks if we remove IS’ safe havens in Iraq and Syria,’ prime minister Mark Rutte said at his weekly press conference. The Netherlands currently has four F16 fighters flying missions over Iraq and their mission will now be extended to eastern Syria, Rutte said. In addition, the Netherlands will ‘intensify’ its support for the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces in Iraq Kurdistan.
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02/01/2016
U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
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02/01/2016
The Canadian government is busy promoting Canada’s defence industry in Kuwait even as a United Nations report accuses a Saudi-led coalition, which includes Kuwait, of “widespread and systematic” bombing of civilians in Yemen.
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02/01/2016
In late January a Russian MiG-31 jet fighter was lost due to unspecified equipment failure. The air force grounded all 120 MiG-31s until the exact cause could be determined. The most likely culprit is age which is why in late 2015 the air force received $378 million to upgrade another 50 of the older MiG-31s to the MiG-31BM standard. Unfortunately the recent crash was of a BM model as were some previous crashes. The latest crash was not unexpected.
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02/01/2016
Chinese jet fighters are likely to be at a disadvantage in the event of an aerial confrontation with Western combat aircraft - or even fighters from US ally Japan - over the East and South China Seas, foreign and Chinese aviation experts have said. Defense admitted that there is a "definite gap" between Chinese military technology and some developed countries. The statement said Beijing will continue to strengthen China's armed forces.
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02/01/2016
On one level the Japanese Ministry of Defense latest budget request for the financial year starting April appears to be business as usual, as the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) chugs along with its piecemeal procurement of 42 F-35s and decisions on the eventual replacement of its aging F-2 and F-15 fleets shelved.
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02/01/2016
The Ministry of Defence has decided to locally produce 106 upgraded Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas” jets to replace the ageing fleet of MiG fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The “Tejas Mark 1-A” will have 43 improvements over the existing Tejas currently being test-flown by the IAF for various parameters and slated for final operation clearance in March. The existing project is running years behind schedule.
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02/01/2016
The deployment brings the total number of F-15s at Okinawa’s Naha base to 40. Japan and China have had tense relations over the sovereignty of islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and as Diaoyus in China.
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02/01/2016
The Turkish Air Force has declared an 'orange alert' at key bases after an alleged violation of the country’s airspace by a Russian fighter jet, Anadolu news agency reported, citing military sources in Ankara.
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