July, 2016 Military Aviation News
07/31/2016
TURKISH citizens and police have ‘surrounded’ the Incirlik air base it operates with the United States — and where a large stockpile of NATO nuclear weapons is held — ahead of a visit by a senior US official tomorrow.
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07/31/2016
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States struggled to match each other’s best weapons. The MiG-25 informed the F-15; the Tu-95 “Backfire” resembled the B-52; submarines and tanks were designed with their competitors firmly in mind.
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07/31/2016
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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07/31/2016
Lockheed Martin has delivered the 24th, and final, MH-60R SEAHAWK® helicopter to the U.S. Navy in support of the Navy’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The milestone delivery took place during a July 27 ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Owego, New York facility.
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07/31/2016
A jet fighter pilot killed in a crash during a training exercise in Twentynine Palms on Thursday has been identified as a 36-year-old Arcadia man, the U.S. Marines announced Saturday. Third Marine Aircraft Wing pilot Maj. Richard “Stranger” Norton died in the F/A-18C Hornet crash, which took place about 10:30 a.m. Thursday near the Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, U.S. Marine Corps officials said in a written statement.
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07/31/2016
India is now planning "a direct strategic purchase" of six flight refuelling aircraft (FRA) or tankers to enhance the reach of its fighter jets, bombers and surveillance aircraft after the bid to acquire them through global tenders failed twice over the last decade.
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07/31/2016
New Delhi and Moscow near an $8 billion deal to upgrade the fearsome Su-30MKI fighter jet into the Super Sukhoi, but the deal does not threaten the joint Indo-Russia fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) program.
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07/31/2016
Russian military forces in Crimea are in possession of modern air defense S-400 systems, a source from military in Crimea told RIA Novosti Friday.
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07/30/2016
The Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., completed an historic test mission July 8 on an aircraft system that will enhance the life and lethality of the F-15. The first-ever flight equipped with the Advanced Display Core Processor II tested the aircraft’s flight safety, in-flight refueling and basic landing capabilities over Eglin’s water and land ranges.
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07/30/2016
South Africa’s Rooivalk deployment with the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the blue eyed boy of the mission due to its unrivalled effectiveness, according to an SA Air Force (SAAF) official. Lieutenant Colonel Danie Bellingan, OC of 16 Squadron, said the Rooivalk is highly respected in the DRC as it is an effective and well utilised weapon, being preferential to the Mi-24 attack helicopters there.
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07/30/2016
Lockheed Martin has delivered the 24th, and final, MH-60R Seahawk helicopter to the U.S. Navy in support of the Navy’s foreign military sales (FMS) program with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The milestone delivery took place during a July 27 ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Owego, New York facility.
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07/30/2016
The European Forum on Armed Drones (EFAD) launch was on the eve of an important European Parliament meeting, jointly organised by the subcommittee on Human Rights and the Subcommittee on Security and Security and Defence, focusing on the human rights impact of armed drones in counter-terrorism operations. A video of the meeting, including inputs from Jennifer Gibson of Reprieve and Radhya Almutawakel of the Yemeni Mwatana Organisation for Human Rights is availablehere.
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07/30/2016
On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second trip to the US as PM in September last year, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the proposal to purchase 22 ‘assault helicopters’, or helicopter gunships, from Boeing for the Indian air force and the army. The decision had come as a surprise to experts then, for Boeing was offering a version of the Apache by way of direct sale. Moreover, this flew in the face of the Make In India policy.
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07/30/2016
The F-35B is “ready to go right now” if it is needed to fly combat missions, the head of Marine Aviation told reporters Friday. Although the F-35B is still being tested, the Marine Corps declared in July 2015 that it was ready to fly operations. The Marine version of the F-35 needs upgraded software and other improvements.
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07/30/2016
While many have forecasted unmanned aircraft as the future of aviation, Lt Gen Jon “Dog” Davis believes the next generation of medium-lift, long-range rotorcraft should still have a pilot in the cockpit for some missions.
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07/30/2016
In a display of high technical competence and self-dependence, India has successfully upgraded the Mirage 2000 fleet of the Indian Air Force. The mid-life Final Operational Configuration (FOC) upgrade was done in a record time of eight months by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector manufacturer.
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07/30/2016
The Akinci Air Base near the Turkish capital of Ankara that served as the de-facto headquarters for attempted coup plotters will be shut down, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday.
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07/29/2016
Russia is very satisfied with the combat performance of its new generation of armed helicopters. That’s because these new helicopters are performing well in Iraq, where they are not being flown by Russians but by Iraqis. This is a big deal because Russia needs export sales and evidence that locals can handle this new tech in combat is a big selling point.
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07/29/2016
The U.S. Navy has made it official in early July 2016 and announced what it will call its first carrier-based unmanned combat aircraft. This UCAS (unmanned combat air system) will be called the MQ-25A Stingray and it will enter service in the early 2020s. All this comes after a decade of design, development and test flights. The UAV that made the MQ-25A possible rolled out as the X-47B in 2008.
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07/29/2016
The Air Force is preparing to send B-1 bombers to Guam for the first time in a decade. The Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, and approximately 300 airmen will deploy on Aug. 6 to Andersen Air Force Base as part of the military's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific, according to an Air Force release. The bombers were last in the region in April 2006.
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07/29/2016
When Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James was asked this week about a surprise proposal from within her service to squeeze two new aircraft types into an already overcrowded modernization plan, she said she hadn't seen the proposal and then asked the obvious question: "Where would we get the money?"
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07/29/2016
A multinational initiative to acquire a pooled fleet of Airbus A330 multirole tanker/transports has edged closer to take-off, with the Netherlands and Luxembourg agreeing to buy an initial two examples.
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07/29/2016
Lockheed Martin completed the first flight of an F-35A Adir for the Israeli air force on 25 July, just one month after rolling the aircraft out at its Fort Worth site in Texas on 22 June.
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07/29/2016
The incursion of an Israeli-made unmanned air vehicle into that nation’s airspace from inside Syria on 17 July has provided the authorities in Washington with another reason to block future sales of such equipment to Moscow.According to the Israeli military, the origin of the intruding UAV has not been verified, but sources suggest that it was probably a Searcher 2 designed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) which was being operated by Russian forces deployed within Syria.
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07/29/2016
Russia and China will hold joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, the Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said Thursday. "Based on the consensus reached by the parties, the Chinese and Russian navies will hold joint Sea Cooperation-2016 exercises in the South China Sea in September," Yang told a briefing, noting that the drills "are not aimed at third countries."
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07/29/2016
The Syrian Air Force has received its first two upgraded Sukhoi Su-24M2 all-weather attack aircraft from Russian armories. According to media reports, they are expected to improve the combat capabilities of Syrian air power in the fight against the terrorists. However, according to experts, Moscow and Damascus may also have a hidden motive.
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07/28/2016
One month after Israel received the new stealth F-35 “Adir” (Hebrew for “Great One”) in Dallas, Texas, the aircraft was tested for the first time on Tuesday in the southern US. Israel was the first country to buy the fighter jet under the US’s Foreign Military Sales process. The Letter of Agreement was signed in October 2010.
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07/28/2016
In 2007, India began an official tender process for 126 multi-role, medium-range combat aircraft (MMRCA) with Paris-based Dassault at a cost of about $11 billion. It was the world’s largest fighter jet deal at the time. Since then the deal has unraveled. Negotiations stalled over price and quality and, ultimately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opted to purchase only 36 “ready to fly” aircraft from Dassault. Even this more modest version of deal has yet to fully fructify.
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07/28/2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin has longed to have the US coordinate efforts with Russia in Syria to provide legitimacy to the Russian expeditionary force in the Syrian theater. Recently news leaked that Russian combat aircraft purposefully bombed a secret US base on the Jordanian-Syrian border. US and British troops were active from time to time at the facility and a group of British troops had just left. Four American-backed rebels were killed in the attack.
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07/28/2016
The Air Force’s first F-35 squadron has completed all preparations necessary to declare the joint strike fighter combat capable, and sources say an initial operating capability declaration could be made early next week.
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07/28/2016
India has stepped up negotiations with Russia to upgrade its 194 Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole aircraft with the near fifth-generation level at a cost of more than $8 billion. The upgraded version would be renamed Super Sukhoi. "A Russian team was in New Delhi earlier this month to discuss [the] upgrade plan with India, which will be finalized in the next four to six months," said a senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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07/28/2016
The US Air Force has proposed millions of dollars in incentives for contractors who bring forth a T-X trainer aircraft that exceeds the service’s outlined performance requirements, according to the latest draft request for proposals released late on 26 July.
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07/28/2016
Airbus’s continued difficulties with producing and delivering the A400M tactical transport have led it to announce a fresh charge of just over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) against the program. “Industrial efficiency and the step-wise introduction of the A400M’s military functionalities are still lagging behind schedule and remain challenging,” says Airbus Group chief executive Tom Enders.
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07/28/2016
With the budget of the US Air Force stretching resources, the Pentagon is looking to the private sector to participate in war games. To prepare for future military conflicts, US Air Force pilots undergo intensive training that includes simulated dog fights. This ordinarily pits military pilots against each other, one in a US jet, the other in an "enemy" fighter painted in blue, brown, or black camouflage.
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07/28/2016
On the first day of his India visit, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Frank Kendall signed a deal with India for delivery of four more Boeing P-81 long range maritime spy planes.
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07/27/2016
A recent report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, written by Maj. Gen. Jeff Harrigian and Col. Max Marosko of the US Air Force, gives expert analysis and never before seen detail into how the US's fifth-generation aircraft would fare in a war with China.
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07/27/2016
Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries successfully completed the initial test flight of its second T-50A configured aircraft in Sacheon, South Korea. The T-50A is the company’s aircraft offering in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition.
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07/27/2016
A U.S. Air National Guard (ANG) unit successfully released eight Lockheed Martin Enhanced Laser Guided Training Rounds (ELGTR) during recent flight evaluations at the Barry M. Goldwater Ranges near Gila Bend, Arizona. These flight evaluations marked the first time an ANG unit has flown the training round and completes the evaluation of ELGTR on their F-16C/D Block 40/42 aircraft.
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07/27/2016
While rumblings of two potential close-air support platforms for the US Air Force shook Washington last week, discussions surrounding a possible light-attack aircraft and A-10 replacement have yet to reach the service’s secretary.
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07/27/2016
Israel is considering contracting out the heavy maintenance of its future Lockheed Martin F-35As, as it seeks domestic provision of overhaul activities on the type.
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07/27/2016
Greece has launched a modernisation effort for its fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3B Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Two examples of the turboprop type operated by the Hellenic Navy have been inducted into the process, transferring on 13 July from Elefsis air base to an overhaul facility at Tangara, near Athens.
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07/27/2016
US and Russian officials held constructive dialogue via videoconference on Tuesday on flight safety measures to deconflict air operations in Syria, US Department of Defense spokesperson Peter Cook said in a press release.
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07/27/2016
As the Iraqi army and its allied Peshmerga units prepare a major offensive on Mosul to flush out Daesh terrorists, Helgurd Hikmet, a representative of the Regional Government of Kurdistan, discussed the details of the upcoming operation with Sputnik.
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07/27/2016
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the United States and other members of its anti-Islamic State (Daesh) coalition have defined the next set of military plans aimed at retaking control of the Daesh strongholds in Iraqi Mosul and Syrian Raqqa.
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07/27/2016
On Sunday, Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev said that Russian warplanes crossed into the so-called "Bulgarian zone of responsibility" with switched off transponders four times during the previous month. He demanded explanations from Moscow calling the alleged incidents "provocations of Bulgaria and its Air Force." He added that Sophia was "taking preventive measures."
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07/25/2016
It seems that China is ready to launch its first indigenous aircraft carrier (CV), the Type 001A, by the end of the year. As a result, China, which operates a rehabilitated ex-Soviet aircraft carrier, is expected to become a full-fledged aircraft carrier operating country soon. Furthermore, it’s certain that the country will continue to bring more domestic aircraft carriers into service to turn itself into an aircraft carrier superpower.
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07/25/2016
Bulgaria’s defense minister said on Sunday there had been a rise in violations of its airspace by Russian military and commercial aircraft in the past month, calling the alleged breaches a “provocations toward Bulgaria and its air forces”. Nikolay Nenchev told Bulgarian television channel Nova TV that Russian military aircraft had entered what he termed “Bulgaria’s area of responsibility” in NATO airspace four times in the past month.
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07/25/2016
An official news agency says China has unveiled the world's largest amphibious aircraft that Beijing plans to use for marine missions and fighting forest fires. The Xinhua News Agency said the AG600 rolled off a production line in Zhuhai in southern China on Saturday. It measures 37 meters (121 feet) in length with a wingspan of 39 meters (128 feet).
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07/25/2016
Already way behind China, India is struggling to even keep up with Pakistan in the critical arena of AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) aircraft that can detect incoming fighters, cruise missiles and drones much before ground-based radars as well as direct fighters in combat operations.
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07/25/2016
Six F-35B Lightning IIs with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 participated in Red Flag 16-3, making it the first time in history that the fifth generation fighter has taken part in the three-week long exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Red Flag is a multiservice air-to-air combat training exercise including the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps.
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07/25/2016
The US Air Force is considering two new procurements to boost their close air support mission, including an off-the-shelf option for permissive environments and a cheap, clean sheet design aircraft that would replace the Fairchild Dornier A-10.
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07/25/2016
Lockheed Martin pointed an economic weapon of mass disruption at Ottawa and it appears that Justin Trudeau has blinked caving to the defense contractor’s threats.
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07/25/2016
The best plane in the Soviet arsenal, the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker entered service in 1985, but it is still a formidable and versatile fourth-generation fighter aircraft that has turned into an export bestseller, defense analyst Robert Farley wrote for the National Interest, adding that despite its age the plane has a bright future ahead of it.
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07/25/2016
Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar is planning to agree on the purchase of Russian helicopters for the country's Air Force during his upcoming Moscow visit, the press service said Sunday. "One of the major aims of the visit is to purchase Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters for Afghan Air Force," the press service said in a statement, adding that Kabul is expected to negotiate maintenance and repair as well.
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07/24/2016
China has removed its new generation surface-to-air missiles from a disputed island in the South China Sea+ after US withdrew its aircraft carrier ahead of a landmark verdict by an UN-backed tribunal, a media report said on Saturday.
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07/24/2016
The technical details of air-to-air missiles are extremely complicated, but the concept is simple?—?destroy your target before the target destroys you. One way to improve the odds is to add an air-breathing ramjet engine to give the weapon a boost. That’s the design philosophy behind the Meteor, a 419-pound rail-launched MiG killer which entered service for the first time with the Swedish air force on July 11.
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07/24/2016
The Egyptian Air Force will be the world's first and largest operator of the new Mikoyan MiG -35 multirole and air superiority jet fighter and will receive its first two fighters at the end of this year. This generation 4.5 (or generation 4++) fighter made by Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG is in the same league as the Sukhoi Su-35S, the first of which will be delivered to China later this year.
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07/24/2016
China’s Chengdu Aircraft Company (CAC) has built a new Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) J-20 stealth fighter jets with video footage on Chinese websites showing the latest rendition in full fury this week. This is the second known J-20 LRIP fighter jet after the first with the serial number 2101 displayed in late December 2015. There are believed to be a total of four such next generation jets in the possession of the Chinese Air Force.
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07/24/2016
Reports indicate that Russia has produced as many as 46 new supersonic MiG-29M fighter jets with rumors that a buyer has been lined up for a $2 billion warplane contract.
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07/23/2016
A massive search and rescue operation is currently on in the Bay of Bengal to locate an Indian Air Force's AN-32 aircraft which went missing today morning with 29 people on board. The plane was on a routine weekly flight from Chennai to Port Blair.
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07/23/2016
After the Abbott government approved the purchase of 72 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), its fast jet capability was locked in for years to come. From around 2020, the F-35s will join 24 Super Hornets (delivered from 2010) and 12 Growler electronic attack aircraft (delivered from 2015). Project AIR 6000, under which the F-35s are being acquired, still has one squadron of aircraft to acquire in the future.
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07/23/2016
Russian military analyst Vladimir Tuchkov explains why the Russian Defense Ministry continues to order new Tupolev Tu-95 turboprop-powered strategic bombers, which entered into service in the Soviet (and then Russian) air forces over 60 years ago.
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07/23/2016
India is constructing a special dock for high-capacity aircraft carriers at the existing premises of Cochin Shipyard Limited. According to official sources, the new dry dock will cost an estimated $270 million.
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07/22/2016
During the past two days at Langley Air Force Base, key fighter wing commanders have been brainstorming over a question that, for security reasons, they can't discuss in detail. They command pilots who fly the two most modern fighters in the nation's inventory: the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning, fifth-generation stealth aircraft designed to take on other superpowers.
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07/22/2016
For the first time, the Air Force will test the airworthiness of an aircraft that is currently not planned to be in its inventory, a move that could increase the plane’s chance of success in the international market. The Air Force announced on Wednesday that it had signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Textron AirLand, under which the service will conduct an airworthiness assessment of Textron’s Scorpion aircraft.
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07/22/2016
Lockheed Martin and Pilatus Aircraft Ltd have successfully completed the initial production test flight of the first PC-21 aircraft destined for the Australian Defence Force under the AIR 5428 Pilot Training System program.
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07/22/2016
The US Air Force will determine how many Northrop Grumman B-21 bombers are needed for the fleet after the first aircraft is fielded in the 2020s, according to the service’s deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.
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07/22/2016
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that New Delhi deployed nearly 100 Russian-made T-72 tanks to the Chinese border, in the northern region of Ladakh. Indian military officials cite a Chinese buildup on its side of the border as necessitating the move.
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07/21/2016
Two years after the first of Israel’s new top-of-the-line trainer jets rolled onto the tarmac, the last batch of planes — acquired in a multi-billion dollar deal with Italy — landed in Israel Wednesday morning. The three Aermacchi M-346s, known in the Israeli Air Force as the Lavi, complete a 30-plane, $1-billion deal inked in 2012 with the Italian government. Rome, in exchange, purchased an equivalent value of Israeli aerospace technology, including satellites and surveillance planes.
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07/21/2016
The French defense procurement agency DGA has awarded Dassault Aviation and MBDA a contract for the mid-life upgrade of 55 Mirage 2000D aircraft in service with the French Air Force. The goal of the mid-life upgrade is to allow them to operate alongside the Rafale combat aircraft beyond 2030, DGA said in a statement Tuesday.
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07/21/2016
The three-week long Red Flag 16-3, a U.S.-only exercise that tests all participating units’ combat capabilities in a joint environment that centers on multi-domain integration, kicked off here July 11.
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07/21/2016
The Government of India is set to finalise the purchase of 36 Rafale combat aircraft in fly-away condition from France for the Indian Air Force (IAF). The move comes as the IAF is in critical operational necessity for multirole combat aircraft. The Dassault Aviation-built multi-role jet fighter will be supplied as part of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) signed by France and India in January this year.
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07/21/2016
Boeing demonstrated an improved display computer system on a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles earlier this month, uniting the host of upgrades the service will implement on its F-15Es and F-15Cs.
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07/21/2016
Textron and the air force signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), allowing the service for the first time to certificate the aircraft’s airworthiness in the absence of a programme of record, according to a 15 July news release.
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07/21/2016
A failed military coup last week will not affect Lockheed Martin’s business relationship with Turkey, though it could be too early to make that call, according to top Lockheed Martin executives.
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07/21/2016
Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan confirmed the delivery of the Russian-made S-300 air defense systems, noting that they were already partially deployed in the country, Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesman Seyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini said Wednesday.
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07/21/2016
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that there could be a link between the pilots who shot down a Russian jet last November and the Gulen movement, blamed for last week's failed coup attempt, and suggested that foreign countries may have been involved in the attempt, as well.
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07/20/2016
Turkey has reportedly received its first Boeing CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift rotorcraft, following its completion in-country at the port of Izmir. Ankara has 11 of the type on order from the US government for its army, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows, plus options for three more.
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07/20/2016
Bell Helicopter and Boeing have received a more than half a billion dollar US Navy contract to build four MV-22 Osprey tilt rotors for Japan, the US Department of Defense announced.
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07/20/2016
Taking a page from the Pentagon playbook, China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will now conduct regular combat patrols of the South China Sea.
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07/20/2016
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) supersonic interceptor is one of the fastest combat aircraft in the world, and remains an integral element of Russia’s aerospace defense arsenal.
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07/20/2016
India's deal with France to purchase Rafale fighter planes is taking more time than expected as the two sides have yet to reconcile their differences over a number of issues related to the deal.
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07/19/2016
China’s navy chief told his U.S. counterpart that Beijing would continue construction work on disputed South China Sea islands regardless of foreign opposition, state media said, underscoring Chinese defiance toward an unfavorable international-arbitration ruling. Adm. Wu Shengli’s comments on Monday came days after a July 12 arbitration tribunal at The Hague rejected Beijing’s historic and economic claims over much of the South China Sea, handing a legal victory to the Philippines.
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07/19/2016
Boeing's KC-46 tanker successfully refueled an A-10 combat aircraft, clearing the final hurdle before the Air Force approves the first production order. The "milestone C" testing was completed July 15 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. During a four-hour flight, the KC-46 offloaded 1,500 pounds of fuel to the A-10, at 15,000 feet. "This completed the required air refueling demonstrations needed for the upcoming production milestone decision," said Boeing spokesman Chick Ramey.
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07/19/2016
The Marine Corps’ F-35B is taking part in the Air Force’s premier air-to-air combat training exercise for the first time ever. The joint strike fighters from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 are participating in Exercise Red Flag, which began on July 11 and runs until July 29 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
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07/19/2016
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is planning a move into the Indian market with its Predator family of unmanned air vehicles in the wake of diplomatic initiatives that should ease restrictions on the sale of the technology to New Delhi.
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07/19/2016
Three people were killed when a Portuguese air force Lockheed Martin C-130H tactical transport crashed at Montijo air base on 11 July. Flight Fleets Analyzer records the destroyed aircraft – tail number 16804 – as having been 38 years old. The loss leaves Portugal with an active fleet of four Hercules, with another in storage, it adds.
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07/19/2016
The Israeli air force has introduced ultrasound maintenance measures to enable it to swiftly repair cracks in the wings of its fighter fleet. The crack detection system grounds the fleet for the shortest possible time, the IAF says, adding that the service has used it recently to repair cracks in the wing support bulkhead of its Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fleet.
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07/19/2016
Aerial refuelling has become one of the top priorities of the Israeli air force, and in recent months various tests have been carried out to help provide longer-range operations for helicopters and heavy transport aircraft.
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07/18/2016
Over the last century of military aviation, several fighters have earned the nickname “flying coffin.” Over the last century of military aviation, several fighters have earned the nickname “flying coffin.” Military aviation inherently pushes up against the limits of technology and human endurance, particularly where fighter and pursuit aviation is concerned. Flying a fighter is remarkably dangerous, even when no one is trying to shoot you down.
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07/18/2016
In the 21st century, there are fighter jets, and then there are fighter jets. Which kind you get depends on how much you want to pay. Got hundreds of millions of dollars to toss around? Then like the U.S. government, you can hire Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to design and build you an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter -- widely considered the most capable air superiority combat jet in the world.
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07/18/2016
However history ultimately judges the F-35 Lightning II, Lockheed’s stealthy aircraft will surely be described as one of the most hotly debated designs ever. The U.S. Air Force, hoping to declare its version of the “fifth generation” fighter jet ready for by the end of 2016, has launched a new P.R. blitz to show critics that the planes are every bit as good as it says.
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07/18/2016
On Saturday morning a Black Hawk military helicopter carrying the eight Turkish servicemen made an emergency landing at the airport of the northern Greek city of Alexandroupoli. The arrivals – three Majors, three Captains and two Sergeant Majors — requested political asylum in Greece, which later returned the helicopter to Turkey.
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07/18/2016
The Federal Aviation Administration has banned all flights between the United States and airports in Turkey. The indefinite ban took effect on Saturday in the wake of the failed coup attempt in Turkey that left 265 dead and over 2,000 injured.
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07/17/2016
Secretary of State John F. Kerry wrangled for hours with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Friday, discussing a plan that includes first-time coordination between the U.S. and Russia on airstrikes targeting militant groups operating in Syria. Late Friday, amid distractions over an unfolding military coup in NATO ally Turkey, Kerry announced agreement on a series of steps that he said, "if implemented in good faith," could ease the Syrian civil war, which has claimed nearly a half-million liv
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07/17/2016
The FAA banned all flights into and out of Turkey for U.S. aircraft on Saturday, one day after a coup attempt rocked the country that is a NATO member and critical U.S. ally. The agency issued a notice saying it was prohibiting all U.S. commercial and private aircraft from operating into or out of any airport in Turkey.
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07/17/2016
India will send two C-17 military transport aircraft to war torn South Sudan's capital city Juba tomorrow to evacuate over 300 Indians stranded there, an exercise which will be led by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh. "The General takes charge again! 2 C-17s proceeding to Juba tomorrow with Gen_VKSingh leading evacuation from South Sudan," MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
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07/17/2016
The U.S. and international community would not recognize China’s attempt to set up a no fly zone over the South China Sea, a top Air Force general said Wednesday. China has indicated it may declare an “air defense identification zone” or “ADIZ” that would give the Communist nation control of the airspace over the South China Sea and require any aircraft to get Chinese permission before entering the area.
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07/17/2016
The Turkish authorities on Saturday halted, at least temporarily, all American-led strike missions against the Islamic State that had been flying from the Incirlik air base — the first major impact of the attempted coup on the broader allied campaign against the terrorist group, United States officials said.
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07/17/2016
Boeing will begin developing interior, power and electronic specifications for the next-generation “Air Force One” under a $127.3 million contract awarded by the US Air Force on 15 July. The award is intended to reduce the risk of delays and cost overruns before the USAF commits to full-scale development and procurement of up to three 747-8s, the Defense Department says in a contract award bulletin.
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07/17/2016
Tokyo has long had ambitions to acquire the ultra-advanced fighter jet, but after US politics got in the way the aircraft’s production was phased out which means Japan would have to pay a hefty sum.
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07/17/2016
Russia’s largest radio electronics manufacturer gave a glimpse into the future of Russian air superiority confirming on Monday that components for a sixth 6th generation fighter jet are being tested on the 5th generation PAK FA T-50 prototype.
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07/16/2016
MQ-25A Stingray, service officials told USNI News this week. Approved following a lengthy U.S. Air Force Material Command process for not only for the official “designation” (MQ-25A) but also the “popular name” (Stingray), the service can now have an official title for the unmanned aerial vehicle that’s had several labels since late last year. The word came to the Navy via a July 11 memo from the Air Force.
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07/16/2016
The PAK FA has played the bugbear for Western air forces for nearly a decade, the terrifying Russian jet that will eat F-35s for breakfast. American aviation analysts in search of something, anything that might threaten U.S. air dominance settled on the PAK FA, a frankly evil looking jet that bore a very mild resemblance to the MiG-31 “Firefox” that Clint Eastwood made famous.
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07/16/2016
Embraer’s developmental KC-390 tanker/transport is due to depart on a multinational demonstration tour in the coming days, following a successful debut at the Farnborough air show.
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07/16/2016
BAE Systems has been awarded a new support deal for the Royal Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoon fleet, that will for the first time allow cost savings achieved under the programme to be ploughed back into capability enhancement.
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07/16/2016
The South Korean navy has taken delivery of the first of eight Lockheed Martin PC-3 Orion aircraft to be upgraded by Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD). The work saw the aircraft receive improved radar, communications, acoustic devices, and other digitized systems, says Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration in a statement.
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07/16/2016
Fighting has intensified in Turkey as forces loyal to President Erdogan shoot down a helicopter from an F-16 fighter jet while the military coup plotters have taken fire on mass crowds throughout Istanbul unleashing a wave of terror.
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07/16/2016
The Russian Aerospace Forces put into service four jets, 23 helicopters and 15 drones in the second quarter of 2016, Anatoly Gulyaev, head of the Armaments Department of the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
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07/16/2016
The Russian Defense Ministry will receive seven more modernized Tu-95MS strategic cruise missile carriers, Tupolev PJSC director general Alexander Konyukhov said Friday.
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07/16/2016
Russia’s MiG-31BM and Su-27 fighter jets have been put on alert for tactical flight exercises in the Tver Oblast in the country’s west.
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07/15/2016
IT’S not often that a complex legal judgment has such an obvious and devastatingly clear outcome. But that is what the Permanent Court of Arbitration achieved at The Hague in the Netherlands this week, when it ruled on a dispute between the Philippines and China over who owns a number of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea.
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07/15/2016
The Marines' F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has four deployments lined up across the next five years, a senior official said this week - and some of them could take it into the heart of the coalition fight against the Islamic State. Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow on Monday, Col. William Lieblein said by 2021 the aircraft will have completed three shipboard pumps with a Marine Expeditionary Unit, and one on an aircraft carrier.
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07/15/2016
MBDA and Boeing completed the first firing of the former's Brimstone 2 air-to-surface missile from an AH-64E attack helicopter in June. The system – which its developer calls the Future Attack Helicopter Weapon – is being marketed as the primary armament for the British Army’s future fleet of AH-64Es. Made on 13 July, the announcement about the test success came three days after then-Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed plans to purchase 50 of the rotorcraft.
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07/15/2016
The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II has flown its first public displays in the UK this week at Farnborough and the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. The US Marine Corps aircraft, which is usually based at MCAS Yuma in Arizona, is operating out of RAF Fairford and performed its first full Farnborough display on 12 July. It also made flybys with the Red Arrows and a USMC KC-130 earlier at the show.
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07/15/2016
There might only be 15 F-16s remaining to be built at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility in Texas, but there is still a lot of life in the fighter, the company says. While many at Fort Worth are now focussed on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Randy Howard, director F-16 business development, has a different task.
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07/15/2016
Integration of MBDA's Storm Shadow cruise missile with the Eurofighter Typhoon has cleared a key milestone, with a powered firing having recently been performed in the UK. Building on a significant number of carriage and release trials performed in 2014 and 2015, the integration activity "culminated in a powered firing which took place from a development aircraft on 14 June, flying out of BAE Systems' site in Warton, Lancashire," Eurofighter says.
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07/15/2016
Saab's promotion campaign for the new Gripen E fighter jet has suffered major setback. It is therefore hardly surprising that Saab's leadership has been clutching at straws. Recently, the company has been pinning all its hopes of international triumph on Canada's indecision regarding the updating of its fleet of military jets.
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07/15/2016
Reports claiming that the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Academy is developing a hypersonic nuclear-capable outer space strategic bomber are not true, a representative of the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters Thursday.
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07/15/2016
The new US proposal on military cooperation with Russia on Syria includes a plan to establish a joint command center with prospects of integrated operations, The Washington Post reports.
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07/14/2016
The possible successor to the U.S. military’s iconic Blackhawk helicopter was unveiled Tuesday at the Farnborough International Airshow. Bell Helicopter gave attendees an up-close look at the V-280 Valor, which is part of the Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) program for assessing next-generation aircraft capabilities. Bell teamed up with Lockheed Martin to produce the aircraft’s advanced tiltrotor systems.
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07/14/2016
It's something akin to raising the dead. A troubling shortage of flyable combat aircraft - one military official recently called the air fleet the "smallest, oldest and least ready" in history - is forcing the military to go to its "boneyard." The Marine Corps announced last month it was taking the extreme step of resurrecting 23 F/A-18 Hornets to meet fleet requirements until the new - and much-delayed - F-35 fighter is eventually delivered.
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07/14/2016
The U.S. Army awarded the LONGBOW Limited Liability Company (LLC) an $89.8 million contract to upgrade the Apache attack helicopter’s LONGBOW Fire Control Radar (FCR). The LONGBOW LLC is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The contract includes the production of 84 Radar Electronics Units (REUs) as well as software upgrades.
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07/14/2016
Bombardier has provided additional information to the US Air Force following the service’s proposal to sole-source a Gulfstream G550 to fulfill the EC-130H Compass Call’s mission. In May, the air force suggested Gulstream’s jet was the only option which did not require additional development or certification work.
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07/14/2016
Rafael and Northrop Grumman are teaming to offer the former’s Toplite optronic system for the US Marines Corps’ Bell Boeing MV-22 tilt rotor. The two companies teamed to respond to a request for proposals issued for an advanced optronic system that is needed to improve the operational capabilities of the MV-22 in different combat scenarios.
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07/14/2016
Production is under way on the first Embraer A-29 Super Tucanos for the Lebanese Air Force, with delivery to start at the beginning of 2017. In November, the US government agreed a $173 million foreign military sales contract that will see Embraer's US partner Sierra Nevada deliver six of the light-attack turboprops to the Lebanese air force by 2019.
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07/14/2016
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will return to its mission to combat Daesh terrorist group in Persian Gulf, after undergoing technical maintenance in France, French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday. The head of the country added, that France will boost its assistance to the Iraqi army in the fight for freeing Mosul from terrorists in northern Iraq by sending military instructors to the country.
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07/14/2016
The Netherlands Air Force has received 14 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods for air-to-ground firepower support, according to Lockheed Martin statementr.
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07/14/2016
In what appears to be a major reversal, the Turkish government has issued a call for improved relations between Iraq and the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
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07/14/2016
The Russian Strategic Missile Forces Academy is developing a hypersonic strategic bomber capable of striking with nuclear warheads from outer space, Lt. Col. Aleksei Solodovnikov told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
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07/13/2016
The initial reports coming into Baghdad’s operations center seemed implausible: A convoy of dozens of Islamic State vehicles were preparing to flee advancing Iraqi forces in Fallujah. A surveillance drone dispatched to the area confirmed the reports. Staff officers gathered around screens and stared incredulously as the numbers of vehicles continued to expand, the militants apparently oblivious to the target they presented from the air.
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07/13/2016
Russia will arm its sixth-generation combat drones with microwave weapons. These weapons, which disable an aircraft’s electronic equipment, already exist today “and can hit targets within a radius of tens of kilometers,” said Vladimir Mikheev, a director of state-owned Russian electronics firm KRET, in an interview with TASS.
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07/13/2016
An international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute Tuesday, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea. Chinese President Xi Jinping rejected the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which is likely to have lasting implications for the resource-rich hot spot, which sees $5 trillion worth of shipborne trade pass through each year.
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07/13/2016
Lockheed Martin is exploring options to bring its weapons integration expertise to bear on the European S-70 BLACK HAWK helicopters made by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company. The goal is to produce an armed kit scalable to the requirements of customers that procure BLACK HAWK aircraft direct from Lockheed Martin.
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07/13/2016
Czech manufacturer Aero Vodochody is looking forward to its L-159 light attack aircraft taking part in a Red Flag-series exercise in the USA for the first time. The aircraft is going to be used by contractor Draken International as an aggressor during the exercise, which will pit it against a number of different US Air Force fighters, as well those from other allied forces.
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07/13/2016
Less than two months on from the roll-out of its new-generation Gripen E, Saab is seeing unprecedented interest in its fighter at the show, says chief executive Håkan Buskhe.“So many people are visiting us – we’ve probably never had so many,” Bushke says. “There is extremely strong interest in how we can provide that capability while being so lean,” he adds, noting that the company will complete development of the Gripen E for less than $2 billion.
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07/13/2016
Textron AirLand’s Scorpion jet has emerged as an early contender for a significant military training deal in the UK, with the versatile type to be offered under a new teaming agreement with Qinetiq and Thales. First details of the UK’s Air Support to Defence Operational Training (ASDOT) requirement emerged earlier this year, with a new capability expected to enter use in January 2020.
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07/13/2016
On the same day that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Beijing has commissioned its fourth guided-missile destroyer.
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07/13/2016
Inter-government talks between India and France on the purchase of Rafale fighter planes have hit another major roadblock as France has reportedly proposed an arrangement that India is most likely to reject outright.
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07/13/2016
Russian-made Mi-38 multirole civil helicopters attracted the attention of foreign buyers at Farnborough Airshow in the United Kingdom, the manufacturer said Tuesday.
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07/12/2016
Israel’s top three defense firms are jockeying for a substantial share of an aerospace sector that each believes is bound to surge in coming years: the conversion of heavy utility helicopters to self-defending, multirole combat/transport aircraft. Given the glut of shoulder-fired missiles on the black market and the growing need to move troops in and out of high-threat areas, executives here say demand to upgrade the thousands of heavy transports operating around the globe is set to expand.
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07/12/2016
Russia has offered its nuclear aircraft carrier, dubbed "Storm," to India for purchase, a senior Indian Navy official said. The offer comes as India and the US discuss the transfer of technology for India's future nuclear aircraft carrier, the INS Vishal. A diplomat with the Russian Embassy confirmed that a Russian team visiting India last week made the offer.
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07/12/2016
The Department of Defense announced two initiatives with industry to reduce F-35 Lightning II production and sustainment costs today. The first is a two-year extension of the “Blueprint for Affordability for Production” program announced in 2014, and the second is the creation of a similar concept to reduce the operation and sustainment costs of the F-35 weapon system.
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07/12/2016
Boeing will deliver 50 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the British Army under an agreement signed between the U.S. and UK governments, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced today. The agreement is also a precursor to potential, significant long-term support opportunities for Boeing.
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07/12/2016
Embraer and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have signed a teaming agreement to jointly market and support the KC-390, a multi-mission mobility and aerial refueling aircraft. Under the agreement the companies will together pursue new business opportunities, both for the aircraft itself and for aircraft support and sustainment. Embraer will provide the aircraft while Boeing will be responsible for in-service support.
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07/12/2016
The UK Ministry of Defence has firmed up two expected orders at the Farnborough air show, committing to the purchase of both the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and AH-64E Apache attack helicopter. As the show opened, it was announced that an order for nine P-8s that were selected through the UK’s November 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review has been placed, along with a deal for 50 new-build Apaches: both through foreign military sales with the US government.
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07/12/2016
Raytheon and the US Air Force have started flight testing of the Small Diameter Bomb II’s coordinated attack capability, which uses GPS and anti-jamming to attack static targets from at least 40 miles away. Recent flight tests also employed the SDB II’s normal attack capability, which fires on fixed and moving targets using infrared imaging and millimetre-wave seeker modes, according to Raytheon.
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07/12/2016
Russia will deploy its Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea no earlier than October and recent media reports regarding a planned early deployment are false, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.
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07/12/2016
By making this move, the country aims to ensure its military security in the region. Russia's Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) is currently developing infrastructure facilities on military bases and garrisons in the Far North, Far East and Siberia for 20,000 service members, their families and civilians working for the Ministry of Defense.
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07/11/2016
An F-35 fighter pilot says he would be confident flying the Joint Strike Fighter against any enemy in the world, including Russian and Chinese 5th Generation stealth fighters.
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07/11/2016
India is finally taking forward the negotiations with Russia on stalled mega projects to jointly develop a futuristic fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) as well as upgrade its existing Sukhoi- 30MKI jets into 'Super Sukhois' with advanced avionics and weapons.
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07/11/2016
British F-35s will use Airbus technology to help store, distribute and protect encrypted information on the combat jet when it comes into operation in 2018. Airbus Defence and Space has secured a deal to supply what’s known as local key management system (LKMS) technology for the strike aircraft and two other British military aircraft types – the Voyager A330 inflight refuelling jet and Hercules C-130J airlifters – in a deal recently struck with the British Ministry of Defence.
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07/11/2016
Leonardo has introduced a new multi-role variant of its M-346 trainer, which will allow operators to use it as either a trainer or a combat aircraft. The fighter-trainer variant – or M-346FT – development is approximately 24 months from completion. The key differences in the new variant are the weaponry, a tactical datalink and electronic countermeasures equipment.
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07/11/2016
Bell Helicopter is touting its co-developed V-22 tiltrotor for the German air force’s heavylift rotorcraft requirement, despite the programme having largely focused on only two other options to date.
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07/11/2016
Turkish and Italian experts will carry out a joint observation flight over Russia's territory under the Open Skies Treaty this week, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said.
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07/11/2016
The Neuron technology demonstrator will be converted into a series of aircrafts including not only comparable combat drones, but also a future generation unmanned fighter jet.
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07/11/2016
In the face of continued extortion efforts by Lockheed Martin to force the Canadian government to purchase the defective F-35 Lightning fighter jet at a staggering cost of nearly $200 million per unit, Ottawa appears intent on procuring Boeing’s F/A 18E Super Hornet to replace the air force’s aging CF-18 fighter fleet citing lower costs, earlier availability, and higher performance.
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07/11/2016
A $1 billion fighter jet package to Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait raises a host of concerns that known systematic violators of human rights may turn weapons against their own population or that the weapons may ultimately find their way into the hands of Daesh.
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07/11/2016
The jet crashed in Estahban-Kharameh region of Fars province, near Bakhtegan Lake, the Fars News Agency said citing sources. According to the media, both pilots ejected in time and survived.
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07/10/2016
Russia’s military says one of its helicopters was downed by the Islamic State in Syria, killing two of its airmen. The incident highlights the continued threat to low-flying aircraft posed by IS.
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07/10/2016
European authorities have certified an interim fix for a power gearbox issue with engines on Airbus Group SE's (AIR.PA) A400M transport aircraft, paving the way for countries to resume normal operations of the planes, company officials said on Saturday. "It's good news. It means that we're going to be alleviating the pain of the nations sooner," Fernando Alonso, president of Airbus Military Aircraft, told Reuters. "It means they will essentially be able to use the aircraft normally again."
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07/10/2016
The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was a low-altitude strike plane born out of a shotgun wedding between competing Air Force and Navy requirements—with Defense Secretary McNamara as the minister. Despite its troubled adolescence, it grew into a capable high-tech night bomber that lasted decades in service, noted for its sleekly elegant profile.
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07/10/2016
China’s PLA Navy has launched its largest ever live fire drill in the South China Sea just days before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is set to issue a ruling over the Philippines’ case brought against Beijing’s South China Sea claims.
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07/10/2016
Russia supplied Iraq with a new batch of the Mi-28NE "Night Hunter" military helicopters, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Saturday. The statement also stressed that these helicopters "made a significant contribution in the [Iraqi] land forces' fight against Daesh and the victory [over terrorists] in several operations."
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07/10/2016
After its successful use during Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria, the Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bomber is now set to carry even better weapons than those that made it the jihadist terrorists’ worst nightmare, Zvezda TV reported.
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07/09/2016
The Chinese navy conducted combat drills near its southern island province of Hainan and the Paracel islands in the South China Sea, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. The drills come ahead of a July 12 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on a case brought by the Philippines disputing several of China's territory claims in the South China Sea.
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07/09/2016
Bell Boeing Joint Project Office has received a $73 million U.S. Navy contract for the manufacture and delivery of one CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. The job is expected to be completed by February 2020. Work will be performed in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Utah, California, Canada, Arizona, the U.K., Washington, Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, Vermont and North Carolina, as well as at various locations inside and outside the U.S.
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07/09/2016
The Direction Générale de l’Armement flew on July 6 the first sea trials of the Neuron technology demonstrator for a combat drone with the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, a spokesman for the defense procurement office said. The demonstrator for an unmanned combat aerial vehicle flew out at sea for “about an hour” at some 1,000 feet, flying both with and without Rafale fighter jets, the spokesman said.
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07/09/2016
The Lockheed Martin F-35B advanced short take-off and vertical landing aircraft will make its debut at this year’s Farnborough International Air Show. The last combat aircraft in this class to premiere at Farnborough was the Yakovlev Yak-41 (Yak-141) Freestyle more than 20 years ago. How times have changed.
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07/09/2016
A Royal Air Force official has revealed that the UK has not ruled out acquiring a mixed fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35s, as the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B that is currently contracted carries out its first display to the British public.
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07/09/2016
Lockheed Martin may decide to move the industrial participation that Canada currently benefits from on the F-35 to another programme partner if Ottawa decides against acquiring the Lightning II, the company says.
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07/09/2016
Boeing will help the U.S. Air Force train its KC-46 Pegasus maintenance personnel for the next seven years under a new $78 million contract, which includes contract options. Under the agreement, Boeing will install maintenance training systems at two Air Force bases.
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07/09/2016
Boeing and Mahindra Defence Systems today formally opened a center in Gurgaon to provide C-17 training services to the Indian Air Force (IAF). Once fully operational, the new center will be capable of conducting local and multi-site simulations for added realism and more robust training.
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07/09/2016
Canada will lead a multinational military force that includes a frigate, a battlegroup and up to six combat aircraft as part of the NATO enhanced ‘forward presence’ in Eastern Europe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press release on Friday.
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07/09/2016
Enforcing the no-fly zone in Syria that Hillary Clinton advocates would require the destruction of Russia's anti-aircraft missiles in the Arab republic which could lead to military escalation, speaker at ongoing Counter-NATO Summit in Warsaw Joseph Gerson of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) organization told Sputnik.
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07/09/2016
The head of Air Combat Command said Thursday the Air Force would likely declare the F-35A combat-ready within the “leading edge” of the August through December window for initial operating capability.
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07/08/2016
Russia’s accident-prone aircraft carrier is set to be put to the test — if it gets there. Its history of embarrassing breakdowns may see an anticipated mission to Syria backfire. The aircraft carrier is the largest leftover of the Soviet era’s Cold War still active in the Russian navy. Now Russian government news agency Tass has declared the warship will be sent into the Mediterranean to conduct air strikes against insurgents and Islamic State in Syria between October and January.
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07/08/2016
Lockheed Martin Corp. is in the final stages of negotiations with the Pentagon to conclude a multibillion-dollar contract for the next batch of stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets after months of protracted talks, a senior company official said Thursday.
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07/08/2016
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a five-year contract extension worth approximately $504.3 million by the Government of Canada to provide In Service Support (ISS) for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) fleet of 17 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, known in Canada as the CC-130J.
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07/08/2016
The Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi has declared a flight test milestone for the T-50, before handing over the fifth-generation fighter to the Russian government for additional testing.
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07/08/2016
The Canadian government is consulting industry representatives on a replacement for its CF-18 fighters, as the new Liberal administration steps away from the controversial Lockheed Martin F-35 programme.
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07/08/2016
Lockheed Martin’s F-35B is due to embark on a third phase of ship-based developmental testing (DT) in October, the final step before it begins qualification trials on the UK’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.
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07/08/2016
The four-engined jet was inducted during a ceremony in Chengdu, according to China’s defence ministry. "The Y-20 entering into service marks a crucial step for the Air Force improving its strategic power projection capability," says Air Force spokesperson Shen Jinke.
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07/08/2016
As the world awaits the ruling on the territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea, US analysts predict how China will react if an international court at the Hague rules for the Philippines.
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07/08/2016
The US Air Force fleet aged due to budget cuts may negatively affect the ability of the forces to perform their combat tasks, US Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott West said.
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07/07/2016
China on Wednesday inducted its largest indigenously-built transport aircraft Y-20, a breakthrough in military aviation technology for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) that allows the world’s largest force to transport cargo and troops over long distances in diverse weather conditions.
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07/07/2016
Two Swiss combat jets were scrambled this morning to escort an El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) plane following a bomb scare. The crew of flight 002 inspected the plane's passengers and contents without any indications of a bomb and the flight landed at 1 pm at Ben Gurion Airport.
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07/07/2016
France has quietly insisted that an $8.9 billion government-to-government (G2G) deal with India be signed before a 50 percent offset deal for Rafale fighters is finalized, according to a French Embassy source in India.
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07/07/2016
The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is the biggest ship in the Russian navy and the most visible symbol of the Kremlin's military power. This October, she will travel to the Mediterranean and carry out air strikes in Syria, according to a report from the Moscow-based Tass news agency.
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07/07/2016
Boeing delivered three H-47 Chinooks to the Australian Army, only 85 days after receiving the order, thanks to excellent cooperation with Australia and the U.S. Army. The deliveries increase Australia’s CH-47F Chinook fleet to 10, all of which were delivered early.
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07/07/2016
Russia is ready for dialogue with individual NATO members to improve the mechanisms of preventing incidents at sea and in the air, Russian envoy to the Western military alliance Alexander Grushko said Wednesday.
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07/07/2016
Canada needs to upgrade its fighter jets fleet as it is unable to meet concurrently its obligations to NATO and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a press conference on Wednesday.
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07/06/2016
The Italian Air Force has completed the first fuel transfer from a KC-767A tanker aircraft to T-346A and FT-339C jet trainers. The in-flight refuelling was conducted between jet trainers belonging to the 61st Wing at Galatina near Lecce and tanker aircraft from 14th Wing at Pratica di Mare, near Rome.
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07/06/2016
The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is the biggest ship in the Russian navy and the most visible symbol of the Kremlin’s military power. This October, she will travel to the Mediterranean and carry out air strikes in Syria, according to a report from the Moscow-based Tass news agency.
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07/06/2016
The first of Britain's next-generation stealth fighters touched down in the U.K. for the first time, the Royal Air Force announced Thursday. The F-35B Lightning II was flown by RAF pilot and Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols across the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by two U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, the RAF said in statement.
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07/06/2016
Coalition forces fighting the Islamic State group in northern Syria destroyed one of their own combat drones Tuesday after the unmanned aircraft crashed, the US Air Force said.
The MQ-9 Reaper — the armed version of the Predator drone — crashed while flying a combat mission after remote pilots lost “positive control” of the aircraft, the Air Force said in a statement.
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07/06/2016
Flying close to ground troops in combat in hostile and high-threat conditions requires a host of unique attributes for an aircraft -- such as flying slow and low to the ground, absorbing some degree of small arms fire and having an ability to quickly maneuver in response to fast-changing ground combat conditions.
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07/06/2016
GE Aviation has secured a $1bn contract to continue developing the three-stream adaptive cycle engine for the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). The company will develop the engine under the USAF's Adaptive Engine Transition Programme (AETP).
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07/06/2016
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Thursday that Israel is looking into buying US-made next generation vertical takeoff aircrafts.
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07/05/2016
A UK Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft with full Phase 3 Enhancement (P3E) weapons is set to participate in this year's Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) and Farnborough International Air Show. To be flown by BAE Systems experimental test pilot Nat Makepeace, Typhoon will carry four Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, two Brimstone 2 low collateral precision strike weapons, two ASRAAM missiles and two Paveway IV laser guided precision weapons.
(Read More...)
07/05/2016
India’s ministry of defence (MOD) has issued a combined tri-service requirement for the acquisition of up to 150, medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAVs.
(Read More...)
07/05/2016
According to annual report, Russia's Irkut aircraft manufacturer will finish the deliveries of 14 Sukhoi Su-30MKA multirole fighters to Algeria in 2017.
(Read More...)
07/05/2016
According to the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer, flight tests of Russia's Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighter aircraft are at the final stage.
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07/05/2016
According to Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer, Russia will start serial production and deliveries of the Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighter aircraft to the country's Aerospace Forces in 2018.
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07/04/2016
Beijing announced the manoeuvres will be held in waters between its southernmost territory, Hainan island, and the contested Paracel Islands from July 5 to 11. International shipping and aircraft are prohibited from entering the waters during that time.
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07/04/2016
France has offered to invest EUR 1 billion to revive India's combat jet engine project, proposing a joint development plan that could see the stalled 'Kaveri' gas turbine powering indigenous Tejas fighters by 2020.
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07/04/2016
?he head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said that the United States and Canada will carry out an observation flight over Russia's territory under the Open Skies Treaty.
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07/04/2016
During a meeting with Finnish President Niinisto on Friday, the two leaders engaged in a frank discussion on how best to ensure peace in the region leading to historic steps by both sides. If Finland were to join NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday during an official state visit that his country would be forced to reposition its troops to guard against the specter of NATO hostility.
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07/04/2016
The indigenous jet comes in at about one-tenth of the unit cost of an American made fighter jet with combat specifics that wowed the India’s most venerable fighter pilots. "It is comparable and on par with any fourth generation fighter aircraft you have in the world," said Madhav Rangachari, the Commanding Officer of the Indian Air Force squadron 'Flying Daggers 45.'
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07/02/2016
Chinese military activity near islands covered under the U.S.-Japan defense treaty resulted in a record number of Japanese fighter aircraft responses in recent months, Japan Defense Ministry officials say. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets against Chinese aircraft about 200 combined times in April through June, compared with 114 incidents during the same period last year, defense officials told broadcaster NHK during a news conference Thursday.
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07/02/2016
The aircraft was carrying out a training task and the pilot managed to eject himself, a source told Sputnik.
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07/02/2016
Score one for the combat geeks, after the news broke this week that a computer defeated a human fighter pilot in a virtual dogfight. For years, there has been a debate between those who sees drones as the inevitable future of air combat, and those who insist that a human must always be in the cockpit. But the drone crowd received a boost after researchers devised an artificial intelligence, or AI, that bested a human pilot in aerial combat.
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07/02/2016
Russian Helicopters delivered two Mil Mi-17V5 rotorcraft to Serbia on 28 June, marking the first delivery of a new rotary type to the country’s air force in 25 years.
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07/02/2016
US Department of Defense spokesman Peter Cook said that US-led coalition forces have conducted an airstrike in the Iraqi city of Mosul, resulting in the deaths of two senior military commanders of Daesh.
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07/02/2016
Russia's Rostvertol plant, manufacturing military and commercial helicopters, plans to supply domestic and foreign customers with over 120 Mi-28NE attack helicopters and multirole Mi-35M helicopters in 2016-2018, the company said in its annual report for 2015.
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07/02/2016
Tejas, which has been in the making for almost 30 years, was inducted into the 45 squadron nicknamed “Flying Daggers.” Initially, two aircraft have been handed over to the IAF by the state-owned manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) along with a trainer. The fighter jet was jointly developed the HAL and the Aeronautical Development Agency.
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07/01/2016
U.S. Air Force officials for the first time said publicly how they’re planning to use the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in a war with China. The bottom line: a lot needs to change in the way the Air Force uses its warplanes in battle.
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07/01/2016
The (eventual) retirement of the A-10 Warthog has been a challenging issue for the Air Force. The original plan to replace the A-10 entirely with F-35 has fallen by the wayside, buttressed by the reality that the extended combat deployments undergone by the fighter/attack force were never envisioned when the F-35 plan was hatched. Twenty-five years of continuous conflict, most of it irregular in nature, has highlighted the utility of a relatively slow, heavily armed multirole aircraft.
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07/01/2016
Israel has entered the 'age of the fifth generation combat aircraft'. Its first F-35I 'Adir' was rolled out at Lockheed-Martin's facility in Ft. Worth, Texas. Israel's new Minister of Defense, Avigdor Liberman, attended, and the Israeli media was filled with superlatives: 'deadlier than any other plane', 'it will change the Middle East' and so forth.
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07/01/2016
The US Air Force has awarded two five-year development contracts to GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney worth up to $1 billion each to continue development of a next-generation military jet engine and prepare for an anticipated competition in the early 2020s for the chance to power a new combat aircraft and possibly re-engine the Lockheed Martin F-35.
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07/01/2016
The Lockheed Martin’s F-35’s newest snag doesn’t come from a technological issue, but an international policy problem, according to the director of the US Air Force’s F-35A Integration Office.
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07/01/2016
With its advanced boom refuelling system for the A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) having achieved full operational capability, Airbus Defence & Space has turned its attention to trialling an automatic mode for the fly-by-wire controlled structure.
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07/01/2016
With rising security concerns in Turkey, the US military is taking steps to bar civilian staffers and military families from traveling to country. In its fight against Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, the United States has relied on Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. As the country becomes increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, however, the Obama administration has become increasingly concerned with safety.
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07/01/2016
The Russian Helicopters company on Thursday announced that it had supplied the fourth Mi-26TS heavy transport helicopter to China. The Mi-26TS is an export version of the Mil Mi-26T helicopter. Russian Helicopters signed the supply contract with China's Lectern Aviation Supplies Co Ltd in 2014. China has been operating three such helicopters to date.
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07/01/2016
Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan expressed hope on Thursday that Russia would complete the supply of S-300 air defense systems to Iran by the end of 2016.
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