May, 2016 Military Aviation News
05/31/2016
On May 19, The Straits Times published an article written by Xu Bu, China's Ambassador to Asean, that criticises US involvement in the South China Sea ( "US 'rebalancing' is fishing in S. China Sea's troubled waters"). Ambassador Xu accused the United States of being the "driving force" behind increased tensions in the region, but his rhetoric is based on faulty assumptions and misinterpretations of the facts and the law.
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05/31/2016
Local ground forces backed by U.S.-led military aircraft launched an operation Monday to storm the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah, officials told NBC News. The advance marks the latest in a series of attempts to dislodge ISIS militants who have controlled Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, for more than two years. An Iraqi military spokesman said an operation to retake the center of the city began at 5 a.m. Monday local time (10 p.m. Sunday ET).
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05/31/2016
The Bulgarian Cabinet last week approved defense projects worth well more than a billion euro to acquire new jet fighters and two new naval patrol vessels. The Bulgarian Parliament’s committees on defence and on budget and finance has approved the military shopping list, also including armoured vehicles, at the end of March, The Sofia Globe reported.
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05/31/2016
Russia has delivered the first two Mi-28NE attack helicopters to Algeria, out of an order for 42 of the aircraft. Photos posted by defence blog Secret Difa3 show two Mi-28NEs in Algerian colours being unloaded from what is apparently an Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft in Algeria on 26 May. Algerian Mi-28s have been seen flying in Russia for several months now ahead of deliveries.
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05/31/2016
It is, in many ways, a surreal conflict, one where some combatants can get a latte after the battle. For that reason, it can be easy for Americans to forget we’re even fighting a war. Though our airmen and women fly hundreds of missions a day, it’s not uncommon for the conflict to go unmentioned on the news for weeks.
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05/31/2016
Fighter aircraft avionics have come so far, so fast that it’s hard to realize that only a century ago, the first U.S. Army Air Corps was doing battle over northern France in open cockpits equipped with shockingly rudimentary controls. Today, fighters like Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor are so fully-equipped with advanced head-up display technologies that one wonders whether neuro-activated flight controls are just around the next cloud.
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05/31/2016
If the U.S. Air Force’s biggest problem is that it is so good at its job that some Americans have come to question its relevance, stealth appears to be suffering a similar fate within the Air Force. In his recent series of articles for War on the Rocks, which challenge the utility of stealth technology for future generations of aircraft, Col. Mike “Starbaby” Pietrucha offers a number of thought-provoking ideas that deserve further discussion.
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05/31/2016
The Indian Air Force now has one more advanced landing ground in the country's strategically important northeast, with plans to modernize ten more airfields in the east. India had operationalized one more upgraded Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh in the country's northeast. Mechuka will be capable of landing larger aircraft like C-130J aircraft.
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05/31/2016
Member of the Democratic Majlis of Syria and of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PDS), Ahmet Arac, spoke to Sputnik about how the Turkish Army is preparing to invade Syria.Amid violent clashes between militants of Daesh and troops of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the town of Azaz in northern Aleppo district, reports are surfacing suggesting that the Turkish Army units have been seen located in the district of Azaz.
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05/30/2016
U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
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05/30/2016
The Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) said on Sunday that they had registered four aircraft of Russia's Aerospace Forces in the airspace near the borders of the Baltic nation.
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05/30/2016
A next-generation military space plane which can launch satellites into orbit every day is a step closer. The US military plans to build a reusable space plane which can fly cheaply and quickly into space to deposit vital defence satellites. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is now welcoming design proposals for the revolutionary vessel.
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05/30/2016
As the drug smugglers' go-fast boat streaked across the blue Caribbean Sea in March, carrying more than a thousand pounds of cocaine toward its U.S. destination, they were completely unaware they were being observed from above. Suddenly, they felt a presence and looked up. Coming at them, low and fast, was the unmistakeable silhouette of one of the nastiest weapons in the Air Force arsenal — a B-1B Lancer, the backbone of America's long-range bomber force.
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05/30/2016
The Air Force is beginning to work on how fast, lethal, durable and capable a new “A-10”-like aircraft would need to be in order to provide U.S. military ground troops with effective close-air support for decades to come.
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05/30/2016
Prospective types of jets and helicopters will be tested by the Russian Chkalov State Flight Tests Center at the Chauda range in Crimea, Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, the Russian Aerospace Forces commander, said Sunday. "It is the first time we have got such a range and it is very good that the State Flight Tests Center’s pilots will work here. Tests of new aircraft will be held here," Bondarev told reporters.
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05/30/2016
It is a known fact that the life of military aircraft is extremely short-lived, especially when technology is constantly evolving. The best aircraft of WWI and WWII went obsolete within just a few months. Only very few aircraft are able to withstand the test of time. One such aircraft is the Soviet MiG-21, Farley wrote for the online magazine National Interest.
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05/30/2016
All Russian airplanes, fuel and ordnance have passed mandatory safety checks ahead of the Aviadarts-2016 flight skills competition, Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Saturday.
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05/30/2016
Large-scale military pilot exercises got underway in the Russian peninsula of Crimea under Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev’s command on Saturday. The Aviadarts show is an annual competition to test flight skills and precision shooting organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. The contest, which features fighter jets, bombers and other aircraft, was first held in Russia in 2013.
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05/30/2016
Islamabad may not be able to seal a deal for the purchase of eight multirole US F-16 fighter jets from Washington as it has not submitted a letter affirming its commitment to pay the full price for the jets in time, according to a diplomatic source.
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05/28/2016
After testing the concept in 2015 India has decided to adopt the increasingly popular practice of training pilots and ground crews to use designated sections of highways as temporary air strips. This practice became popular during the Cold War, particularly in Europe where most countries either regularly used the practice or had the procedures available in case needed.
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05/28/2016
The AACUS is an autonomy applique kit that enables operations of full-scale rotary-wing aircraft in and out of austere landing zones, tactically, with little human assistance. “We know how to make things fly, we’ve been doing it for over 100 years,” said Retired Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley, formerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Unmanned Systems.
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05/28/2016
Squeezed in Europe by U.S-led sanctions and robust NATO reactions in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea, Russia is now finding itself in a prime position to exploit the unfolding geopolitical dramas stirred up by China in East and Southeast Asia. Moscow has proactively demonstrated its determination to play a leading role in shaping the outcome of the highly explosive regional conflicts, at the expense of Beijing and potentially Washington as well.
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05/28/2016
Let me get this out of the way: the trillion dollar F-35 fighter jet program is an embarrassing mess. But it’s hard not to marvel at the very expensive technology’s promises. This conflict squeezed my brain this week, when the Air Force stopped by Gizmodo’s office with a $400,000 F-35 helmet in hand. They even let me wear it.
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05/28/2016
A Navy captain from Virginia Beach was testifying before Congress on Thursday about the shortage of flyable fighter jets at Oceana Naval Air Station. As he spoke, word came to military officials seated behind him: A pair of F/A-18F Super Hornets from Oceana had “a mid-air mishap” off the coast of North Carolina, forcing four aviators to eject and sending their $57 million aircraft hurtling into the Atlantic Ocean.
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05/28/2016
“As detailed in its statement released today, the U.S. Air Force is moving its formal production decision on the KC-46 tanker program—known as Milestone C—from June 2016 to August 2016 to allow additional time to implement the solution to a refueling boom loads issue identified during flight testing earlier this year.
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05/27/2016
GE Aviation Thursday won major new business, as South Korea selected the GE F414 engine for its next-generation fighter jets. The Evendale-based arm of GE beat out Eurojet to be the preferred bidder for the South Koreans. The Korean KF-X fighters jets are expected to be deployed starting in the mid-2020s, according to Bloomberg News.
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05/27/2016
The Pentagon has concluded that an intercept of a U.S. military aircraft by Chinese fighter jets last week over the South China Sea violated an agreement the two governments signed last year, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday. The Pentagon findings contradict what the Chinese Defense Ministry said earlier in the day.
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05/27/2016
US Navy leaders have made no secret the fleet’s maintenance accounts are underfunded. The situation – exacerbated by several years of sequestration-mandated budget cuts, a government shutdown, Congress’ chronic ability to pass a budget before the end of each fiscal year, a high operating tempo and the cumulative effects of all those problems – is affecting the readiness of ships, aircraft and sailors.
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05/27/2016
At a time when budget constraints are driving the US Air Force to divest fighter and attack aircraft faster than they can be replaced with the Lockheed Martin F-35, outgoing chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh says it would not be a “wild idea” to resume production of an improved version of the F-22 Raptor air superiority jet.
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05/27/2016
Lockheed Martin has received a $321.8 million sole-source contract from the U.S. Navy for the continuation of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) integration and test phase. The integration and test contract funds continuation of LRASM flight testing and integration onto the U.S. Air Force B-1B and the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F aircraft. LRASM early operational capability for the U.S. Air Force and Navy is expected in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
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05/27/2016
The Hongdu Aviation Industries Group celebrated its 65th anniversary by unveiling an advanced L-15 Falcon trainer jet equipped with bombs and radar, thought to be a passive electronically scanned array (PSEA), that will help accuracy in airborne combat.
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05/26/2016
Paris has agreed to decrease the pricing of its long-awaited deal on Rafale fighter jets with New Delhi by some 7-8 percent, local media reported Wednesday. The countries have been in talks on Rafales since 2012 but disagreements on the pricing and India’s demands for additional guarantees have hindered the signing.
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05/25/2016
The new Navy Osprey will have a longer range, improved radios and greater fuel carrying capacity than the existing Osprey. It will both hover like a helicopter and reach airplane speeds as fast as 280mph.
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05/25/2016
Following on reports of Botswana in discussions with Sweden over the purchase of eight Gripen C/D fighter jets, it has emerged that the southern African country is seeking to acquire armoured vehicles and air defence systems as well.
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05/25/2016
The Navy has plans to boost its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler capabilities in the coming years to match an evolving threat, but plane manufacturer Boeing is still pushing for conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system and a new engine that the company says would add even more range and warfighting capability.
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05/25/2016
The Pentagon appears to be no closer to reaching an agreement with Lockheed Martin on contracts for the production of 151 F-35 Lightning II aircraft as part of low-rate production lots nine and 10.
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05/25/2016
Canadian training and simulation firm CAE has teamed with American warplane contractor Draken International to offer 16 Douglas A-4 Skyhawks as aggressors for Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 combat training.
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05/25/2016
Venezuela’s military is ready for the looming invasion by the United States. That was the message President Nicolás Maduro seemed eager to convey over the weekend as he presided over a military exercise that put his country’s troops and weaponry center stage in the midst of a political crisis.
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05/25/2016
Force protection is critical in a foreign military engagement. Russia, it seems, is learning this the hard way. At least four helicopters and 20 trucks were destroyed at the T4 airbase near Palmyra, most likely by Grad rockets fired by the Islamic State. This is a significant loss to Russian forces in theater.
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05/25/2016
INDIA IS yet to respond, either verbally or in writing, to a letter sent to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on April 1 by his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, who made what is said to be the “best offer” his country can make in a government-to-government deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets, sources told The Indian Express.
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05/25/2016
The Tejas LCA, India's indigenously developed light combat aircraft, which continues to be under development for the last three decades, is a compromised aircraft and has only 35 per cent indigenous components. The induction schedule has been revised several times from the initial 1995 deadline.
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05/25/2016
NATO is ready to intervene in the situation in Libya if the country's Government of National Accord (GNA) files a corresponding request, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.
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05/24/2016
Sweden’s state-funded military materials procurement agency is denying that a deal has been struck to sell 12 Saab JAS Gripen C/D multirole fighters to Botswana. Försvarets Materielverk (FMV) confirmed that while the organization is "in talks" with Botswana, the number of aircraft under discussion is around eight and not 16.
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05/24/2016
A Chinese government bureau is planning a base station for an advanced rescue ship in the disputed Spratly Islands, state media reported on Monday, as China continues its push to develop civilian and military infrastructure in the contentious region. The ship, which would carry drones and underwater robots, is set to be deployed in the second half of the year, said Chen Xingguang, political commissar of the ship, which is under the South China Sea Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.
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05/24/2016
Turkish military aircraft launched airstrikes Monday to hit Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq, the military has said. “The warplanes struck previously-identified targets such as gun positions, caves, shelters and bunkers in the Metina region. The strikes were conducted between 04:28 am and 05:34 am,” the General Staff said on its official site later the same day.
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05/24/2016
TENSIONS between the super powers are high and the race is on to dominate. But if you think the next major military battle for dominance will be over land or sea, or any other piece of the Earth, then think again. Experts predict the world’s global powers will soon be taking their battles into space.
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05/24/2016
U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, 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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05/24/2016
Russia said it summoned a U.S. defense attache on May 23 after an American military aircraft flew into civilian airspace during a reconnaissance mission near Russia's far-eastern border.
Russia's defense ministry said that the USAF RC-135 surveilllance plane risked colliding with passenger planes as it flew over the Sea of Japan on May 22 because it had turned its transponders off and could not be detected by civilian radar, although it was flying at an altitude typically used by passenger jets
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05/24/2016
The US Army is looking into all sorts of ways to blast drones out of the sky. Including—get this—with a frickin’ laser beam. In April 2016, the ground combat branch deployed a truck-mounted laser cannon to a trial at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During the exercise, troops used the beam to torch a tiny, quadcopter-type drone , the kind you can buy online.
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05/24/2016
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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05/24/2016
The 21st century is defined by connectivity, from our iPhones to the networks that power our economy. The US military is not immune to this. Either it seizes opportunities presented by the information age, or risks precipitating problems if it retreats into anachronistic paradigms.
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05/24/2016
The United States is rescinding a decades-old ban on sales of lethal military equipment to Vietnam, President Obama announced at a news conference in Hanoi on Monday, ending one of the last legal vestiges of the Vietnam War. The United States has long made lifting the embargo contingent on Vietnam’s improving its human rights record, and recently administration officials had hinted that the ban could be removed partly in response to China’s buildup in the South China Sea.
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05/23/2016
The RAF has sent both jets and ships to engage in the defense of the Baltics. Four RAF Typhoons are participating in the current NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission. ccording to the UK Ministry of Defence in a piece published on May 17, 2016: Royal Air Force Typhoons have completed their second interception in less than a week during the latest NATO Baltic Air Policing mission.
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05/23/2016
The pilot of EgyptAir Flight 804 spoke to air traffic control for “several minutes” before the doomed aircraft took its fatal plunge, according to a report that directly contradicts initial accounts of the crash. Pilot Mohamed Said Shoukair had “a conversation” with air traffic controllers in Cairo, according to The Independent, citing French television station M6.
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05/23/2016
Last month, it had seemed that India was on track to inking its long-awaited purchase of 36 Dassault Rafale multi-role fighters from France. At the time, the two sides had finally agreed upon a firm price, which was the main sticking point. In May, the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice began keeping a close eye on the Rafale deal, so as to avoid the prospect of corruption. It is not clear where matters stand today.
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05/23/2016
Both China and Russia appear to be building unmanned aerial vehicles designed to negate America’s advantages in stealth aircraft. Earlier this year, photos first emerged of a new High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) UAV termed the Divine Eagle that foreign observers believe is designed to detect and eliminate stealth enemy aircraft far from the Chinese mainland.
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05/23/2016
Chinese and Russian warplanes have been increasingly aggressive intercepting U.S. military aircraft and patrolling near America’s West Coast, prompting the Air Force’s top combat officer to label their provocations one of his top worries. Air Force Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, who leads Air Combat Command, said in an interview with USA TODAY that meeting the challenge from the Russian and Chinese to flights in international airspace is essential but dangerous.
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05/23/2016
When you’ve got an itch, you scratch it. That urge is often caused by an irritation, which is how China and Russia perceive recent U.S. military moves in their neighborhoods. That’s what accounts for a flurry of dangerous fly-bys of U.S. warplanes and ships by Beijing’s and Moscow’s aircraft. But figuring out the root motive—and even who’s in the right—is a little more complicated.
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05/23/2016
Russian specialists would carry out an observance flight over the territories of the United Kingdom and Ireland under the Open Skies Treaty. Russian specialists would carry out an observance flight over the territories of the United Kingdom and Ireland under the Open Skies Treaty, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said Monday.
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05/23/2016
Flight tests of Russia’s high-speed helicopter demonstrator are scheduled to start in June. Just as promised, the rotorcraft will accelerate to a record 450 km/h, Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote.
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05/22/2016
An American drone strike targeted the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, United States officials said on Saturday, in the most significant American incursion inside Pakistan since Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the Qaeda leader, in 2011.
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05/22/2016
Russia’s Mi-28 Night Hunter attack helicopters will soon be equipped with an advanced on-board laser system to defend against MANPAD missiles and air-to-air missiles, a senior adviser to the deputy head of the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET), told RIA Novosti.
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05/22/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry presented the A-50U - the Aerospace Forces' most advanced airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C, or AWACS) at an air base in the Ivanovo Region.
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05/21/2016
Adding range and smart guidance to existing munitions, via a kit, is the backbone of America’s “smart weapon” revolution. Laser guided bombs, GPS guided JDAMs, and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers are all bolt-on kits that drastically increase the capability of existing air-dropped weapons.
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05/21/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry is introducing new methods of combat training based on the experience gained in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday. "Modern military conflicts are very brief. Decisions to create and prepare various groups of troops are made within tight deadlines. In view of these peculiarities and the experience gained in Syria the armed forces are introducing new forms and methods of combat training," he said.
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05/21/2016
It all depends by what you mean by “advantage”. The US armed forces are much larger than the Russian ones, that is true. But, unlike the Russians ones, they are spread all over the planet. In warfare what matters is not the size of your military, but how much of it is actually available for combat in the theater of military operations TMO (conflict area).
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05/21/2016
The US Air Force is buying 112 HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopters to replace the HH-60G Pave Hawk that was introduced under the Reagan administration in the 1980s. The Sikorsky design was selected in late 2013 and a $1.2 billion development contract that funds four pre-production examples and six aircrew and maintenance trainers was awarded in July 2014.
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05/21/2016
The first squadron of Tejas fighter jets will be flying before Diwali this year as a step towards taking the fighter formations the Indian Air Force (IAF) closer to the sanctioned strength, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said. In an interview to All India Radio, the minister also said that the share of imports in defence will go down to 30-35 percent in next five to eight years.
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05/21/2016
Russia’s MiG-35 multirole fighter jets will soon be equipped with the latest platform-less inertial navigation system, Igor Nasenkov, deputy head of the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET), told RIA Novosti.
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05/21/2016
The advanced helicopter under development for the needs of Russia's Navy will be essentially an entirely new vehicle, Kamov Design Bureau General Designer Sergei Mikheev said Friday.
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05/20/2016
The US Marine Corps ideally wants its new Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion to carry 13.6t (30,000lb) externally over 110nm (204km) unrefueled, but early analysis indicates that it will fall approximately 907kg short of that “objective” key performance requirement.
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05/20/2016
Swedish defence major Saab has unveiled its next generation fighter aircraft, Gripen E, which the company today said is being offered to the country under the 'Make in India' initiative with transfer of technology. Gripen E, which was unveiled yesterday, has significantly improved avionics system when compared to previous versions of the Gripen.
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05/20/2016
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said that ministry plans to renew the production of Mi-14 Haze nuclear-capable amphibious anti-submarine helicopters.
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05/20/2016
Russia has provided Iran with the first batch of S-300 air defense systems, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin said Thursday. "We have a signed contract with Iran, the first batch has now been unloaded, approximately a battalion. We will continue to fulfill our commitments until year-end," Kozhin said.
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05/20/2016
Chinese fighter jets shadowed a US reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea, but kept a safe distance and did not make any dangerous maneuvers, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday.
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05/19/2016
An EgyptAir flight heading from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar with 69 people on board, the airline said. The plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it disappeared shortly after entering Egyptian airspace, the airline tweeted. A total of 69 people were on board -- 59 passengers and 10 crew members.
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05/19/2016
A B-52H Stratofortress crashed around 8:30 a.m. on Andersen Air Force Base's flight line, the base's public affairs office has confirmed. All seven aircrew members safely exited the aircraft. No injuries have been reported. Emergency responders are on scene, according to Andersen's public affairs.
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05/19/2016
It’s that time of year again, and the end of an era. On Friday, the Obama Administration released the last annual Pentagon China report under its watch. Working the China military observers’ graveyard shift this weekend, I published analyses of the report’s overall content, and its key omissions — namely, any mention whatsoever of China’s maritime militia of “little blue men” trolling for territorial claims.
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05/19/2016
Fourteen months after the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria, the Obama administration is considering selling his government 12 warplanes. It is a thorny decision because Mr. Buhari is an improvement over his disastrous predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, and is fighting Boko Haram, the Islamist extremists who have terrorized the region. But he has not done enough to end corruption and respond to charges that the army has committed war crimes in its fight against the group.
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05/19/2016
With the RAF and the USAF setting up four squadrons of aircraft between them at two nearby RAF bases, there is a clear opportunity to shape a common sustainment solution. And the impact of so doing could be significant on the North Sea neighbors, namely, the Danes the Norwegians and the Dutch.
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05/19/2016
South Korea will select a foreign jet engine maker to power the country's first indigenously-developed combat aircraft by next month, the defense procurement agency said Wednesday.
European jet engine giant Eurojet Turbo GmbH is competing against U.S. rival General Electric (GE) for the South Korean deal to procure engines for its high-profile indigenous fighter jet project, known as the Korean Fighter Experimental, or KF-X.
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05/19/2016
In a recent article in Foreign Policy, “Terrorist Have Drones Now. Thanks, Obama,” James Barmfort summarizes the conventional wisdom in the media and among analysts about the diffusion of drones. According to this view, drones represent a “game-changer” that could promote instability and conflict around the world and even lead to a shift in the distribution of military power in the international system.
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05/19/2016
Saab has unveiled its next-generation Gripen E fighter, some three years before delivering its first of at least 96 production examples to the air forces of Sweden and Brazil. Rolled out at the Swedish manufacturer's Linköping site in Sweden on 18 May, aircraft 39-8 is the first of three test aircraft which will support the Gripen E programme.
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05/19/2016
According to the US Department of Defense, two Chinese military aircraft intercepted a US military reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea in an “unsafe” manner this Tuesday.
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05/19/2016
Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to blow up the Pentagon’s Under Secretariat for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L). More specifically, his committee’s writing of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 would cleave that office into two new under secretariats, for research and engineering (USD R&E), and management and support (USD M&S).
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05/18/2016
Despite having performed a maiden sortie some three years ago, details remain sketchy on the flight-test campaign of the BAE Systems Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator.
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05/18/2016
A U.S. military aircraft "with lethal technical abilities" illegally entered Venezuelan airspace twice over the past week, President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday. "Our military aviation detected the illegal entry, for unusual espionage tasks, of the Boeing 707 E-3 Sentry, which is an airborne early warning control center system that has all the mechanisms for espionage," said Maduro during a press conference at the presidential palace.
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05/18/2016
A Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) training aircraft crash in a paddy field in Nenasi, near here this afternoon. The Aermacchi MB339CM aircraft was in the midst of a training flight when it encountered technical difficulties.
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05/18/2016
Of late, Sri Lankan President Sirisena has announced, apart from the reconciliation efforts with Tamils and other minorities in the island country, also a few other important decisions of his government. One of those decisions is to make the country a bigger military power — which may be possible in the immediate future. Another is, to fight corruption in the government and nation at large which is also not easy ambition considering that he really meant what he said.
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05/18/2016
The British planes were initially shadowing two Su-27 Flanker fighters and an IL-20 'Coot-A' Reconnaissance plane when two more Su-27s were detected, according to the Ministry of Defense. It was the second time in a week that RAF Typhoons had been scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft as part of the policing mission in the region.
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05/18/2016
Amid ongoing tensions in the South China Sea, the top US Marine Corps officer has criticized Beijing’s activity in the region and vowed that the Pentagon will continue its aggressive tactics around the disputed Spratly Islands.
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05/18/2016
Chief of Indian Air Force has test flown an indigenously designed and produced Light Combat Aircraft - Tejas, giving the go ahead to roll it out into active operations.
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05/17/2016
On May 13 The Indian Council for Defence Procurement approved the agreement for the purchase of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. "The signing of the contract could take place at the end of 2016, and we are talking about the purchase of the five regiments of the S-400 two-division composition and, and six thousand missiles totaling about $6 billion," - said a TASS news agency source, close to the Ministry of Defence of India.
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05/17/2016
The Navy’s V-22 Osprey program is working toward fielding an aerial tanking capability for the Marine Corps’ MV-22B tiltrotor assault transports by 2018, the program manager said. Col. Daniel Robinson, the Navy’s program manager for the V-22 Osprey, speaking to reporters May 16 at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition at National Harbor, Md., said the “summer of 2018 is the target for this capability.”
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05/17/2016
India's navy has all but finalised plans for a nuclear-powered super-carrier, which is scheduled to be built in Kochi with US help. In preparation for the long-gestation project, estimated for the year 2028, the navy is setting up the building blocks that will identify the aircraft to be based on the carrier, called the Vishal (to be pre-fixed with "INS" on commissioning).
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05/17/2016
One of the more headline-grabbing takeaways of the 2016 Defense Department report on Chinese military strength involves the size of the Chinese air forces, which now approach 3,000 aircraft. This number puts China ahead of any country in the world, other than the United States and Russia. However, the numbers bear more scrutiny.
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05/17/2016
As defense analysts brood over the evolving military balance in the western Pacific, considerations related to undersea warfare keep coming to the fore. Given the lethality of modern antiship cruise missiles, surface combatants of all types may well be scarce on the future naval battlefield.
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05/17/2016
A United Arab Emirates military aircraft crashed Sunday, killing a pilot and an instructor. The fatal event is the UAE military's twelfth crash in six years. The General Command of the UAE's armed forces said the plane went down during a training flight over the country.
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05/17/2016
Amid concerns about future sales of combat aircraft, Boeing is working to secure long-term work upgrading and maintaining military hardware. The company already does significant work supporting military aircraft fleets, and believes this is one area where it can expand its business as it faces a slowdown in new combat aircraft production.
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05/17/2016
Two naval prototypes of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Light Combat Aircraft Tejas successfully conducted 33 test flights from a so-called Shore Based Test Facility—a full-scale model of an aircraft carrier deck—in Goa last month, according to the Business Standard.
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05/17/2016
In the ongoing South China Sea conflict, Washington has argued that Beijing does not have claims to the waterway. But according to a pair of Chinese diplomats, China’s sovereignty over the region has been recognized by the international community since World War II.
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05/17/2016
Moscow expends its best efforts to perform a contract for deliveries of Russia's S-300 air defense systems to Iran, the director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Monday. "Everything depends on both parties. We do our best to fulfill the contract," Alexander Fomin told reporters.
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05/16/2016
The military of the United Arab Emirates says a military aircraft has crashed during a training flight in the Gulf country, killing two onboard. The military's general command announced the accident in a brief statement Sunday. It says the pilot and an instructor were killed.
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05/16/2016
India is in talks with "certain" countries in Africa for possible export of the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter even as the Defence Ministry has set a target of $2 billion worth of exports over the next two years. The weapons trial of the LCH is planned in July-August this year. While the Army has placed an order for 114 LCH with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the IAF has ordered 65.
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05/16/2016
Instead of harping on India's role in seeking to block the sale (by the United States) of F-16 fighter aircraft to his country, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, must study the reasons for the opposition to the deal across the political spectrum in the US.
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05/16/2016
In April 2015, the Sir Richard Williams Foundation of Australia cohosted a symposium on Integrating Innovative Airpower with the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. The symposium was being held as the Danes were being threatened by the Russians in rather dramatic terms – if the Danes were to participate in the NATO missile defense system, then their ships were subject to direct strike by the Russians, including with the use of nuclear weapons against them.
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05/16/2016
An expert says the Pentagon's annual report on the Chinese military leaves out an important discussion about China's Maritime Militia force which trolls the South China Sea looking to make territorial claims.
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05/16/2016
It took 31 days to transform this otherwise dull gray F-15 Eagle into a colorful abstract worthy of its noble avian namesake. The powerful warplane is adorned with wisp-like feathers that stretch across its 43-foot wingspan and onto its fuselage. Its nest, Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Ore., is home to the the 173rd Fighter Wing and the Air Force's only F-15C training schoolhouse. The ramp holds 32 Eagles in all.
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05/16/2016
On Wednesday, SDF Spokesman Tajir Kobani announced that commanders of the SDF-affiliated groups in Northern Syria have, in a secret meeting, coordinated the process of a joint final operation for liberating Raqqa from Daesh terrorists.
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05/16/2016
Russia has withdrawn the bulk of its forces from Syria and agreed with Washington a ceasefire in the country. However, Moscow would have to return its aircraft to the Syrian battlefield since Washington continues to supply arms to terrorist groups, an article on the foreign affairs analysis website Voltaire Network read.
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05/16/2016
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier-General, Hossein Dehqan, in response to a question by a reporter said that Iran has not demanded S-400 air defense systems from Russia.
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05/16/2016
The defense ministers of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan met in Qabala, Azerbaijan, earlier Sunday. "In order to increase combat capabilities and readiness of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian armed forces we considered it appropriate to hold joint military exercises. [We] also stressed the need for close cooperation in the field of cybersecurity and the protection of oil and gas pipelines.
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05/14/2016
The Directorate of Flight Safety has released the flight safety investigation report into a Jan. 24, 2014 accident. That involved a controlled ejection by pilots of a CT-156 Harvard II aircraft during a training flight at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
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05/14/2016
The crash of a fighter jet in eastern China on Wednesday will almost certainly be followed by similar accidents as the People’s Liberation Army ramps up training to improve combat readiness, military analysts said. Liang Yang, a spokesman for the PLA Navy, confirmed late on Wednesday that a fighter jet from the East Sea Fleet crashed into a sewing machine factory during a night training mission at about 7.30pm in Taizhou in Zhejiang province.
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05/14/2016
The U.S.-led coalition fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is denying the terrorists’ ambition to act as a state by targeting their finances, revenue sources, recruiting efforts and leaders, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman said today. Army Col. Steve Warren briefed reporters by video teleconference live from Baghdad, beginning his remarks by welcoming an announcement by the Belgian government that beginning July 1 it would extend its counter-ISIL airstrikes into Syria
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05/14/2016
Twelve F-22 Raptors from the 95th Fighter Squadron and about 220 Airmen from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, completed on May 8 a month-long deployment to Royal Air Force Lakenheath. This historic deployment was the largest Raptor deployment in Europe to date and is part of their Global Response Force training.
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05/14/2016
U.S. military officials are closely watching social media and news reports that say ISIS believes it may soon come under siege in Raqqa, Syria, its self-declared capital. "We have seen this declaration of emergency in Raqqa, whatever that means," Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, told reporters Friday. "We know this enemy feels threatened, as they should."
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05/14/2016
After evaluating the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35 as Denmark’s next primary fighter jet, the country’s government is recommending the F-35 “unequivocally” as superior in “strategic, military, economic, and industrial aspects.” Is this a needed win for this troubled jet?
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05/14/2016
It was just a few years ago, in March 2011, when a pair of U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers – during a harsh winter storm – took off from their base in South Dakota to fly across the world to launch the air campaign in Libya, only 16 hours after given the order. Today, many in the Air Force are questioning whether a similar mission could still be accomplished, after years of budget cuts that have taken an undeniable toll.
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05/13/2016
British Typhoon fighter jets have intercepted three Russian military transport aircraft approaching the Baltic States, the defense ministry said on Thursday. The British fighters, scrambled from Amari Air Base in Estonia, intercepted the Russian aircraft, which were not transmitting a recognized identification code and were unresponsive, the ministry said.
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05/13/2016
India could soon ink a pending contract with Russia on stealth jet fighters, as both countries have "ironed out" their differences regarding the co-development of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), the Tribune reported, citing sources. The research and development (R&D) contract was pending since 2013 following the completion of the preliminary design contract (PDC) that cost $295 million (Rs. 1,483 crore) for both countries.
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05/13/2016
Thailand might buying four more Swedish jet fighters to add to a current squadron of 12 of the same type, Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong said on Thursday. Rajin, a former air force chief, said that he viewed the Saab JAS 39 Gripen multi-role combat aircraft as "technologically advanced" and suggested that his successor buy an additional four jets, Xinhua news agency reported.
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05/13/2016
The Kremlin’s air war over Syria demonstrated that Russia’s once dilapidated military has recovered from its low-point in 1990s in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. But while the Russian Air Force showed off new precision-guided weapons and new high-performance aircraft like the Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H, Su-34 Fullback and the Su-35S Flanker-E, it was evident that Moscow still lacked certain capabilities.
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05/13/2016
Guam is within China’s military strike reach with new missiles and bomber aircraft capabilities that demonstrate China’s continued efforts to neutralize America’s ability to come to the aid of its allies and friends in the region, according to a May 10 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).
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05/13/2016
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, was awarded a $461.1 million contract in March 2016 from the United States Pentagon to supply the U.S. Marine Corps with more than two dozen new utility and attack helicopters. The contract includes 12 UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters and 16 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and the associated auxiliary fuel kits.
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05/13/2016
The historic, lethal and combat-tested AC-130 gunship - known for attacking ISIS and Taliban fighters during close-air support high-risk combat missions - is getting a massive technological upgrade with newer weapons and avionics to increase the effectiveness of the attack platform and extend its service life into future decades, service officials said.
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05/13/2016
Denmark’s government and defence ministry have recommended the selection of the Lockheed Martin F-35 as the nation’s future combat aircraft, following an evaluation involving the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Eurofighter Typhoon.
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05/13/2016
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) recently delivered two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft: one HC-130J long range surveillance/search and rescue aircraft to the U.S. Coast Guard and an MC-130J Commando II Special Operations tanker to the U.S. Air Force. The Coast Guard’s HC-130J was originally delivered in 2015 and received post-production modifications at Lockheed Martin’s Greenville, South Carolina, facility. It was ferried from Greenville on May 10 by a Coast Guard crew.
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05/12/2016
The Kremlin’s air war over Syria demonstrated that Russia’s once dilapidated military has recovered from its low-point in 1990s in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. But while the Russian Air Force showed off new precision-guided weapons and new high-performance aircraft like the Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H, Su-34 Fullback and the Su-35S Flanker-E, it was evident that Moscow still lacked certain capabilities.
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05/12/2016
How the U.S. Army will transport many of its troops into battle situations for the next few decades is playing out in a plain, white hangar on the sidelines of Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. Employees at Bell Helicopter have been assembling a portion of the latest technology in tiltrotor aircraft for the last few weeks, known as the V-280.
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05/12/2016
Although the co-pilot of a C-130J in Afghanistan was performing an unneeded and unauthorized high-power, rapid ascent takeoff when the aircraft crashed Oct. 2, that was not the cause of the accident. The official investigation by the Air Force determined that a forgotten night vision goggle case had jammed the control yoke, directly leading to the crash that killed 14 people, and that neither the co-pilot flying the aircraft nor the takeoff maneuver itself were responsible.
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05/12/2016
The United States yesterday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region.
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05/12/2016
The US Air Force (USAF) has completed four-ship combat training missions with F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft at the Utah Test and Training Range. The four F-35s, based out of Hill Air Force Base (AFB), helped active-duty and reserve pilots from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings (FW) to detect and jam enemy radar and identify and destroy targets from roughly 40,000ft.
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05/11/2016
In May 2016 Chinese warships in the South China Sea were seen practicing detailed exercises for halting merchant ships and boarding them. China claims to control all of the South China Sea but the rest of the world does not agree with that. The May exercises are another sign that China does not care what the world thinks. In one part of the exercise the intercepting destroyer fired its guns, as it would to force a ship that refused orders to halt and be boarded.
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05/11/2016
The Swedish government will soon place a structured offer to India to push through the Gripen-NG fighter aircraft deal, a product of Swedish defence major Saab, which is also keen to develop production processes in India. Sweden offered the Gripen-NG deal to India when a high-powered Swedish trade delegation visited the country in February this year.
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05/11/2016
Here at the F-35 integrated test force, pilots spend their days simulating real missions to prepare the jets to one day operate on the battlefield. Defense News got a glimpse into the day-to-day life of an F-35 test pilot during a May 4 visit to Edwards Air Force Base. We followed Maj. Raven LeClair, assistant director of operations for the 461st flight test squadron, as he zipped up his flight suit, climbed into the cockpit, taxied to the runway and finally took off into the clear, desert sky.
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05/11/2016
The US Congress’ House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has requested that the USAF begin a study on the possibilities of restarting production of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fifth generation fighter in the FY2017 defense authorization bill. Production of the F-22 was halted in 2009 at 187 aircraft, well short of the USAF Air Combat Command’s (ACC) stated requirement of 381 aircraft—let alone the original 749 aircraft originally planned.
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05/11/2016
ANY BIG-TICKET MILITARY technology purchased from the US comes with rules. Big stacks of strict guidelines outline exactly what allies can do to the hardware and the systems that run it. Generally, it comes down to: nothing. No modifications, no additions, no deletions. You can’t even make repairs without written consent from the Pentagon.
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05/11/2016
The Air Force’s new F-35A multi-role, stealth Joint Strike Fighter brings an unprecedented ability to destroy targets in the air, attack moving enemies on the ground and beam battlefield images across the force in real time, an Air Force pilot told Scout Warrior in a special interview.
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05/11/2016
Pilot error led to two F-16s colliding on the runway at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in 2015, which left one pilot with life-threatening injuries, according to an accident investigation report released Monday. After completing an orientation flight during the Red Flag training exercise at Nellis Aug. 15, the two aircraft attempted to land. The first F-16 landed without incident but did not clear the runway quickly , according to the report released by the Air Combat Command Accident Investigat
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05/11/2016
The naval version of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which will operate from India’s indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, after it is commissioned in 2018, has completed a successful flight-test campaign in Goa. Commodore (Retired) CD Balaji, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which oversees the Tejas development programme, told Business Standard that taking off and landing from a 200-metre deck has been fully established.
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05/11/2016
On Tuesday, the Pentagon conducted its latest maritime reconnaissance in the South China Sea, performing a freedom of navigation patrol within the 12-mile territorial limit of Beijing’s recently-constructed artificial island. This time, China responded in kind.
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05/11/2016
According to Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, "The five firing units of the S-400 Long Range Surface to Air Missile system are planned for induction in Indian Air Force in the 13th plan period (2017-2022)."
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05/10/2016
F-35 critics often point to the Pentagon's decision to start building the fifth-generation fighter before design and testing is complete as the root of the program's problems. Even now, as the Air Force prepares to declare its F-35A jets operational this year, so-called "concurrency" remains an obstacle.
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05/10/2016
A U.S. airstrike has killed the so-called “emir” heading Islamic State operations in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province as well as a number of the group’s top commanders, the Pentagon confirmed on Monday. Shaker Wahib al-Fahdawi al-Dulaimi, also known as Abu Waheeb, was traveling in the Iraqi city of Rutba when his convoy was struck by American aircraft, according to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
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05/10/2016
Tensions in the South China Sea and continued warnings about Chinese militarization of the disputed areas has led many Pentagon planners and analysts to sharpen focus on Chinese Air Force acquisitions and technological advances.
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05/10/2016
The U.S. Air Force plans to arms its fleet of drones and fighter jet with high-tech laser weapons, according to Next Big Future. The Air Force plans to begin firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s and C-130s until the technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35.
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05/10/2016
Last week the Russian military brought more than a hundred international journalists, including our CNN crew, to Palmyra. The trip was orchestrated to showcase Moscow's role in liberating the ancient heritage site but it also said a lot about the Russian army's capabilities and the scale of their assets in Syria.
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05/10/2016
Back in 2009, when the Department of Defense had but one problem on its mind, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force had the idea of developing a light air support (LAS) aircraft for the close air support (CAS) mission for counterinsurgency operations. The focus was on a non-developmental platform, one that was cheap and easy to operate and maintain, intended primarily for foreign militaries with limited budgets, infrastructure and trained personnel.
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05/10/2016
The US Air Force has awarded the Raytheon Company a more than $104 million contract to produce additional air-to-air missiles for US allies Australia, Romania, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, the US Department of Defense said in a press release.
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05/10/2016
The US military is bringing a number of F-15C fighter jets to Finland for joint exercises with the country's armed forces, which kick off today. This is the first time that US military aircraft have engaged in such large scale maneuvers in Finland, even though the exercise would considered trivial by US standards.
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05/09/2016
India has finally, after years of negotiations, placed an order for 36 Dassault Rafale Fighter jets. This includes accessories, training, tech support and a ten year maintenance contract. All this drives the per-aircraft price up to $247 million.
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05/09/2016
On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised observers by ordering the withdrawal of the “main part” of Russia’s forces from Syria. In a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, he said, “the task which was given to the Defense Ministry and the armed forces has overall been fulfilled.” A month later, in his annual call-in program, Primaya Liniya, Putin claimed that the Syrian army was capable of “serious offensive operations” even after the supposed withdrawal.
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05/09/2016
U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
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05/09/2016
The third time the high-pitched alarm rang "deedle deedle" in the F/A-18F Super Hornet's cockpit, it was clear that something with the air flowing into their regulators had gone horribly wrong. "That's when I realize my lips were tingling, my fingers are tingling, and I'm like, 'S---, man, something's wrong,' " a Navy pilot recalled. "And the guy in the back's like, 'Hey, dude! My fingers are blue!' "
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05/09/2016
The Indian Air Force is massive and so are the problems it faces. The BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, Arjun Ram Meghwal, admitted recently that Indian women were afraid of flying the MiG-21 fighters due to its high accident rate. On a supplementary to defence minister Manohar Parrikar on induction of women in the IAF’s combat stream, Meghwal said women were afraid of flying the MiG-21s due to their high accident rate.
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05/09/2016
An upgrade of Taiwan's fleet of F-16 fighter planes will begin in early 2017, shortly after the completion of a hangar that is being built for that purpose, according to the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. Upon completion next January, Taiwan's biggest fighter jet maintenance facility will have the capacity to handle the upgrade of 24 aircraft per year in the country's F-16A/B fleet, AIDC Chairman Anson Liao said.
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05/09/2016
The Indian Air Force has asked the Defence Ministry to find a way out in the wake of a recent amendment in the Customs Act removing blanket duty exemption for defence goods, a move that may delay modernisation and maintenance programmes of fighter planes like Mirage and Jaguar. Under the new rules, which came into effect from April 1, customs duty exemption has been given to specific projects, all of which are in production in the country.
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05/09/2016
The Taliban attacked the Afghan police compound at first light, coming from all sides at the American Green Berets holed up inside. The insurgents fired assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. They came in what a soldier called “human waves.” Not even strafing runs by American F-16 fighters stopped the assault. The elite American soldiers — whose mission was only to train and advise Afghan troops — had never seen a firefight as intense.
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05/08/2016
Don’t be surprised if the traffic on a highway is stopped and a military aircraft lands, an experiment carried out a year ago when the Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft descended on the Yamuna Expressway connecting Delhi with Agra. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has drawn up plans to expand the scope of using the highways as “alternative landing grounds” for war-time operations or in an emergency
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05/08/2016
Russian officials are trying to discredit a new report that implicates the Russian military in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17. Nearly two years ago, that attack in the skies over eastern Ukraine killed 298 people. The latest report comes from a U.K.-based organization called Bellingcat, which bills itself as a group of citizen investigative journalists.
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05/08/2016
Russia's military on Friday insisted no aircraft flew over a Syrian refugee camp the day it was hit by deadly strikes, suggesting the al-Qaida-linked Al-Nusra Front could have shelled the location. "We have attentively studied the information from the air space monitoring data in this area for May 4 and 5, 2016. There were no flights by Russian or any other aircraft," spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies.
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05/08/2016
It’s no surprise that the A-10’s first mission was a show of force over the Scarborough Shoal, which China refers to as Huangyan Island and claims as its own. With plans to develop the narrow strip of land into a tourist destination, Beijing was incensed to see the Warthogs fly by.
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05/08/2016
J. Michael Gilmore, the U.S. Defense Department’s top weapons-tester,confirmed on April 26 that the Pentagon will conduct a head-to-head test of a new F-35 stealth fighter and an old A-10 attack jet in the close-air-support mission. Critics of the high-tech, budget-busting F-35 and fans of the tried-and-true A-10?—?a rugged, purpose-built ground-attack plane?—?applauded the announcement.
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05/08/2016
More than one hundred aircraft participated in the final rehearsal of Victory Day military parade in Moscow, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry press service said Saturday.
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05/07/2016
When commercial aircraft product launches are stage-managed with a careful unveiling of billions of dollars worth of orders from a few hand-picked customers, the sight of a new military aircraft propelled into development with no announced buyers can come across as a rarity bordering on reckless.
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05/07/2016
The Swiss Air Force is to replace a wing on its Boeing F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft after it discovered a disbond in an adhesive joint during regular inspection. The joint between the wing and the fuselage of one F/A-18 aircraft was found to have become detached, according to the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sport (DDPS).
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05/07/2016
Indian Air Force gains by participating in international combat exercises, especially when its fighter jets are pitted against US F-16s and F-18s which are used by Pakistan, government said on Friday. Without naming Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Lok Sabha that knowledge of close combat ability of F-16s and F-18s was important for the Western front of India.
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05/07/2016
Additionally, U.S. military officials revealed that it would provide more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources to the Nigerian military and plans to train Nigerian infantry troops to more effectively combat the insurgents.
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05/07/2016
The Pentagon has placed a small number of U.S. advisors on the ground in Yemen to support Arab forces battling al-Qaeda, military officials said on Friday, signaling a new American role in that country’s multi-sided civil war. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. personnel had been in the country for about two weeks, supporting Yemeni and Emirati forces that are fighting a pitched battle against militants near the southeastern port city of Mukalla.
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05/07/2016
The United States has continued its foreign military sales (FMS) momentum from last year into the first half of this fiscal year and is on pace to exceed its 2015 profits from selling combat aircraft in part to countries in the Middle East and Asia, according to Defense News. Last year, the U.S. pocketed $43 billion in foreign military sales.
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05/07/2016
Since January, dozens of Turkish residents have been killed in cities along the Syrian border, victims of rocket attacks believed to have been carried out by Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State. In an effort to counter these attacks, the Turkish military will fast-track two programs aimed at developing armed drones.
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05/07/2016
A new financial report projects that the largest US defense contractors are looking forward to a new bonanza of expensive aircraft sales to Gulf states and Israel, including an extra squadron of F-15 jets, the Defense News reported on Friday. "The… finalization of a ten-year military funding plan for Israel [is] expected to be in the $40 billion to $50 billion range," the newspaper stated, citing a financial report from Guggenheim Securities.
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05/07/2016
In what can be seen as a sharp denial to the US, India has dismissed a proposal made by Lockheed Martin Corp to build F-16 fighter jets in India. India's defense minister Manohar Parrikar said in Parliament, "The experience of flying against F-16 is what we require as we are not going to induct F-16, at least; as of now."
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05/06/2016
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters followed a major general of Vietnam’s air defense force on Wednesday during a surprise military inspection on two of the country’s most modern air regiments in the southeast province of Dong Nai.
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05/06/2016
Several prominent leaders in the national defense community are calling upon the Pentagon to re-start production of the high-speed F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet which began air attacks against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. The F-22's recent performance in combat missions for Operation Inherent Resolve over Iraq and Syria have led observers and analysts to emphasize the importance of the fighter.
(Read More...)
05/06/2016
The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) is reportedly planning to open talks with Russia for the purchase of fighter aircraft. The type and numbers have not been specified, but it seems Sri Lanka is not going to engage with any of its neighbours in South Asia for new combat aircraft to replace its ageing MiG-27s and IAI Kfirs.
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05/06/2016
The Chinese navy has begun a comprehensive combat drill in the South China Sea involving its most advanced warships amid rising tensions with the United States over the disputed waters.
A naval group of two destroyers, two frigates, and a supply ship left Sanya, Hainan province, on Wednesday for drills analysts said were aimed at boosting combat readiness. Another destroyer will join them soon.
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05/06/2016
As the BJP and the Congress lock horns over the AgustaWestland chopper deal, the Narendra Modi government has decided to up the ante by initiating investigation into all the defence deals finalised by the previous UPA government, including the high-profile Rafale jets. Sources in the Defence Ministry have told India Today that a probe has been ordered into the previous acquisition of Pilatus Aircraft and MMRCA deal (Rafale jet deal) finalised during the Congress-led UPA-2 regime.
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05/06/2016
Since the 1960s, Labour and Conservative governments have sold the Saudi regime entire fleets of combat aircraft, as well as providing regular continuing supplies of training, upgrades and ammunition. Since the onslaught on Yemen began in March last year, the flow of arms – bombs, rockets and missiles in particular – has not only continued, but dramatically increased.
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05/06/2016
US missile manufacturer Raytheon is zeroing in on low-cost, tube-launched small unmanned aircraft like the Coyote and autonomous swarming technology to capture new business as part of the Pentagon’s Third Offset Strategy.
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05/06/2016
Boeing has equipped the U.S. Navy’s new P-8 Maintenance Training Facility with a suite of realistic, interactive training systems, another key step in the service's efforts to fully integrate the aircraft into the fleet.
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05/06/2016
India has sent letters of request to eight countries in relation to a corruption probe into the process of procuring helicopters from an Italian producer, AgustaWestland, for the Indian Air Force, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Thursday.
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05/06/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry published a video of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducting flights in Syria on its official YouTube channel. The video shows the incredible Su-25 fighter jet, Mi-8 transport-combat helicopter, Su-35s, the Su-24M and fighter-bomber Su-34.
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05/05/2016
The Algerian Air Force has asked to evaluate the Sukhoi Su-35 multi-role fighter jet in preparation for the possible acquisition of at least 10 of the aircraft at a cost of up to $900 million, a Russian defence industrial source has revealed.
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05/05/2016
The US Air Force is pressing forward with a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper upgrade that would allow the widely fielded armed aircraft to takeoff and land automatically.
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05/05/2016
Kratos Defense is gaining ground in the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) market traditionally dominated by the world’s largest defence firms and privately-held General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in the USA, having captured at least one significant classified contract and most recently winning a place on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) “Gremlins” project.
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05/05/2016
The Air Force plans to arm its fleet of drones and fighter jets with high-tech laser weapons able to incinerate enemy targets from the sky, service officials said. Aircraft-launched laser weapons could eventually be engineered for a wide range of potential uses, including air-to-air combat, close air support, counter-UAS(drone), counter-boat, ground attack and even missile defense, officials said.
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05/05/2016
Finland’s center-right government’s tightening grip on public spending could result in the acquisition of fewer combat aircraft in the Finnish Air Forces’ (FAF) HX Fighter Replacement Program (HX-FRP). Such a path to procurement strengthens the possibility that economic and affordability factors could see Finland acquire a fleet of combat drone aircraft to supplement the FAF’s operational needs and support its overall capability.
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05/05/2016
The Indian Navy will induct a new squadron of MiG-29Ks in a ceremony scheduled to take place on May 11 in the southern state of Goa. The Russian fighter aircraft is replacing the obsolete British Sea Harriers which served the Indian Navy since 1983, and were placed aboard the INS Viraat warship, which is also being decommissioned.
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05/05/2016
About 30 aircraft of Russia’s Air Force were withdrawn from the territory of Syria, leaving just enough forces in the country for the necessary fight against terrorist groups, according to the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major-General Igor Konashenkov.
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05/05/2016
Russia will consider a potential request from Iran on acquiring Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and combat aircraft, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik.
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05/05/2016
A new batch of Mil Mi-8/17 transport helicopters has been supplied by the Russian Helicopters company under a Defense Ministry contract, it was announced in a corporate press release Wednesday.
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05/05/2016
Poland’s Defense Ministry plans to buy 24 Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters under its ongoing tender to purchase new combat helicopters for the country’s Air Force, according to local business daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
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05/04/2016
NATO scrambled its fighter jets conducting the Air Policing Mission five times to intercept military aircraft of the Russian Federation in international airspace over the Baltic Sea from April 25 to April 30, reports Lithuania's National Defence Ministry.
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05/04/2016
Japan will lease military aircraft to the Philippines in another sign of deepening security ties between the two former foes to counter Beijing's increasing regional influence. The agreement was made Monday afternoon during telephone talks between Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin, the ministry said.
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05/04/2016
Textron Systems says it has successfully demonstrated a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) with its Aerosonde unmanned air vehicle using the hybrid quadcopter technology that it is pursuing along with Latitude Engineering and Cloud Cap Technology.
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05/04/2016
The Army is preparing for the first official flights of two high-tech, next-generation aircraft now being designed with a wide range of abilities to include flying faster, flying farther without needing to refuel, operating in high-hot conditions and having an ability to both reach high speeds and hover like a helicopter.
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05/04/2016
Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $1.27 billion contract to deliver F-35 Lightning II aircraft, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday. The Marine Corps will receive six F-35B aircraft, Air Force will get three F-35As and the Navy will take the delivery of four F-35Cs.
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05/04/2016
The Indian Navy has finalized a plan to acquire 100 cutting-edge technologies in the next 15 years to build its war-fighting capabilities, but how realistic that will be is a million-dollar question. The 15-year prospective plan unveiled last month calls for acquiring a range of futuristic technologies.
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05/04/2016
Congress recently included language in draft defense spending authorization legislation that would nudge the U.S. Air Force to consider upping its future orders of B-21 Long-Range Strike Bombers. Independent experts say the Pentagon should rethink its planned purchase of 100 bombers and potentially double them.
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05/04/2016
The U.S. Marine Corps has got an air force problem. Its current fleet of fighter jets, purchased from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, is in poor repair. And a new fleet of of vertical-launching F-35 stealth fighters that the Marines have been waiting years to put into action is coming on-line too slowly to keep up flying units’ strength.
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05/04/2016
As negotiations between India and France for the sale of 36 Rafale jet fighters are on, a parliamentary panel today expressed its displeasure over the non-conclusion of the deal. Parliament's standing committee for the defence ministry said in its report: "The committee are unhappy to note that although a considerable time has elapsed, negotiations with France on Rafale (fighter aircraft) could not be taken to a logical end."
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05/04/2016
As part of a deal valued at $699 million, Washington agreed to sell Islamabad up to eight Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets, in addition to radar and other equipment. Much of the cost would be covered by the US government’s Foreign Military Financing fund, with Pakistan paying some $270 million.
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05/03/2016
Beijing denied a US aircraft carrier permission to make a port call in Hong Kong, a US consulate official says, a rejection that comes amid escalating tensions in the South China Sea. The Chinese Foreign Ministry told the US on Thursday night the visit by the USS John C. Stennis would not be allowed, said the official, who requested anonymity.
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05/03/2016
Framed by a matted khaki sky, a Royal Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone armed with four Hellfire missiles and two GBU-12 laser-guided bombs takes off from this undisclosed location. The unmanned aircraft is on its way to Iraq or Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition air war against the Islamic State, the terrorist army also known as ISIS. There is a 16.1 percent chance the Reaper will return to this base with fewer rockets and bombs, according to RAF data.
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05/03/2016
While critics of the F-35 welcome a showdown with the purpose-built ground-attack A-10, US fighter pilot Lt. Colonel Joshua Wood doesn’t share the same enthusiasm. As commander of the US Air Force’s 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron — a division tasked with developing new tactics for frontline fighters — Lt. Wood believes the showdown would not deliver any reasonable insights as results could be skewed.
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05/03/2016
The US Army wants to find the right balance between when it uses soldier and contract maintainers for its fleet of aircraft, but right now the levels are “out of balance,” according to the new Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM) leader. “I think we are contractor heavy,” Brig. Gen. Doug Gabram said at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Mission Solutions Summit on Friday.
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05/03/2016
The U.S. and its NATO allies are dusting off their old playbooks this week during a trip abroad by Defense Secretary Ash Carter, citing the myriad threats facing Europe as the impetus for the Pentagon's pushing the Cold War alliance back onto a continental war footing.
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05/03/2016
Known for an ability to keep flying after taking multiple rounds of enemy machine gun fire, land and operate in rugged terrain, destroy groups of enemy fighters with a 30mm cannon and unleash a wide arsenal of attack weapons, the A-10 is described by pilots as a “flying tank” in the sky -- able to hover over ground war and provide life-saving close air support in high-threat combat environments.
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05/03/2016
For the first time since the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the AAF has engaged in live combat using modern-day fixed-wing combat aircraft. In April, the Afghan Air Force (AAF) reached a major milestone in its development. For the first time since the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the AAF has engaged in live combat using modern-day fixed-wing combat aircraft.
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05/03/2016
The U.S. Army awarded LONGBOW Limited Liability Company (LLC) a $57.1 million foreign military sale contract to provide the Indian Air Force with LONGBOW Fire Control Radar (FCR) systems for their new Apache AH-64E helicopters. LONGBOW LLC is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Corporation.
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05/03/2016
The US State Department has approved a possible $30-million worth sale of air-to-surface Hellfire Missiles and associated equipment to France, the Defense Cooperation Agency said in a press release on Monday. "The estimated MDE [Major Defense Equipment] cost in this amendment is $25 million. The total estimated cost is $30 million," the release stated.
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05/02/2016
America’s ancient but venerable flying tank, the A-10 Warthog, is on the budgetary chopping block. Congress is fighting to keep it flying, and has laid out exactly what they want to see out of any potential replacement jet. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (H.R. 1735) proposed by House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry proposes that the A-10 be protected from retirement until the end of 2016.
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05/01/2016
Turkish violations in the Aegean continued on Good Friday when a Turkish military aircraft flew over Inousses and Panagia. The Turkish military aircraft violated the Athens FIR when it flew over the island of Inousses at a low altitude at 10:53, 10:56 and 11:00. Four minutes later, it flew over the islet of Panagia, east of Inousses. The Turkish aircraft was recognized and intercepted by Greek military aircraft.
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05/01/2016
Last week, Petro Poroshenko announced that Ukraine's defense enterprises would soon create a new engine for the country's fighter jets. Unfortunately, the engines would still be attached to Russian MiG and Sukhoi airplanes. Therefore, Ukrainian media have also reported that the defense industry could also produce Ukrainian-designed aircraft.
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05/01/2016
Russia said on Saturday it had sent a fighter plane on Friday to intercept a US aircraft approaching its border over the Baltic Sea because the American plane had turned off its transponder, which is needed for identification.
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05/01/2016
Next year will bring the first flights of the prototype rotorcraft vying to replace the Army’s venerable Black Hawk and other helicopters. But don’t expect the futuristic aircraft to hit battlefields for another decade and a half — unless their manufacturers find other customers first.
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05/01/2016
A former Air Force Chief and an infamous big business wheeler-dealer are attempting to influence the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) to acquire multi-role JF-17 ‘Fierce Dragon’ fighter aircraft jointly developed by China and Pakistan, at a higher rate, an Air Force inside source said. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said a JF-17 will cost the SLAF a staggering US $ 29 million while the same aircraft from a reputed manufacturer in Russia would cost between US $ 20-25 million.
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