December, 2016 Military Aviation News
12/31/2016
IT WAS a good year for imaginative military innovations. From Star Wars-style speeders to an inescapable surveillance drone, many of the futuristic advances seem straight out of science fiction or Hollywood blockbusters.
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12/31/2016
The Nigerian military has rushed an Augusta helicopter to the battle front in Rann, northern Borno, to pick one of the four soldiers wounded in Friday’s fierce battle with fighters of the Boko Haram terror sect. Nigerian soldiers had killed at least 15 terrorists after the sect members sprung a surprise attack on their location on Friday morning, as exclusively reported by PREMIUM TIMES.
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12/31/2016
The Air Force F-35 is using “open air” ranges and computer simulation to practice combat missions against the best Chinese and Russian-made air-defense technologies – as a way to prepare to enemy threats anticipated in the mid-2020s and beyond. The testing is aimed at addressing the most current air defense system threats such as Russian-made systems and also focused on potential next-generation or yet-to-exist threats, Harrigian said.
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12/31/2016
A decade ago, a far-sighted navy chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, posted his most talented engineering officer, Commander CD Balaji, to develop the Naval Tejas fighter at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which oversees the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme.
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12/31/2016
T-X contenders are off to the races today, after the US Air Force released its much anticipated final request for proposals for the T-38 trainer replacement programme. The $16.3 billion RFP encompasses a total of 350 aircraft, including delivery of the initial five test aircraft, contract options for LRIP lots 1 and 2 and full-rate production of lots 3 through 11.
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12/31/2016
It was one thing for Donald Trump to take aim on Twitter at Boeing’s replacement for the Air Force One presidential fleet. Posh executive aircraft with billion-dollar price tags are popular targets as new heads of state take office: within a month of entering the White House in 2009, President Barack Obama made a similar, public critique of a presidential helicopter deal.
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12/31/2016
The US Air Force has launched the bidding phase in a $6.9 billion competition to select a replacement the Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS ground surveillance fleet with a business jet-class aircraft.
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12/31/2016
The Department of Defense said that US defense contractor Lockheed Martin Aeronautics received a $61 million Air Force contract to provide maintenance support for F-22 Raptor combat aircraft.
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12/31/2016
After brokering a ceasefire agreement between the Syrian government and opposition rebel groups, Russia bolstered Turkish military operations in the fight against Daesh, with three airstrikes around al-Bab.
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12/30/2016
Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Damir Krsticevic said on Thursday before the cabinet meeting that Croatia needed combat airplanes for its Air Force and that the decision would be made in 2017, stressing that such a decision should be reached by consensus of parliamentary parties because it is a non-partisan issue regarding national security, reports Index.hr on December 29, 2016.
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12/30/2016
The Israeli air force officially retired the F-16A/B "Netz" fighter aircraft, concluding the plane's 36 years of operational service with the branch. 90 Netz aircraft were withdrawn from service during a ceremony at Israel's Ouvda Air Force Base. The event was marked by high praise for the plane's combat capabilities, including its performance during several of Israel's most notable armed conflicts.
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12/29/2016
What the former assistant secretary of the Navy said is descriptive of the entire military. Each service’s culture, and interservice rivalries, and bureaucratic viscosity are resistant to reform. Which is why the next secretary of defense, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, has the most difficult management challenge in American government.
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12/29/2016
Sweden is facing a major challenge in how it will fund a huge future defense modernization bill, a situation compounded by serial underspending by various Swedish governments in defense budgets delivered since 2004.
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12/29/2016
In the last 16 years, Croatia’s armed forces been have significantly reduced in numbers, actually more than halved, but in some areas the numeric decline was less pronounced. During these years, Croatian Air Force and Air Defence managed to survive and even modernize some of its resources. In late 2016, Air Force has nearly a hundred different aircraft, of which 49 planes and 48 helicopters, reports Vecernji List on December 28, 2016.
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12/29/2016
The most senior officer of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha, set to retire on December 31, told reporters on December 28 that the service needs to add 200 to 250 new aircraft in the medium-weight fighter jet category to maintain its edge over regional rivals.
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12/29/2016
India has requested for quotations from seven global manufacturers for electronic warfare (EW) self-protection suites to accelerate the upgrading of its self-developed light combat aircraft Tejas Mark-1A. Interestingly, India did not send a request to the Russian manufacturer Rosoboronexport though it has been selected to compete in the tender for AESA radars for the same aircraft.
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12/28/2016
On Monday the Israel Air Force retired the last of its F-16 "Netz” (Hawk) aircraft, used in the “Flying Dragon” force – aka “Red Squadron” – based at the IAF's Uvda base in southern Israel. The plane, which flew for years in operational missions and was later used for teaching combat pilots in advanced stages of training, has been grounded after 36 years of activity.
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12/28/2016
China's lone aircraft carrier is prowling the Pacific as the country seeks to assert its military might and build up its naval warfare capabilities. The Liaoning carrier's J-15 fighter jets practiced air confrontations and air refueling in the Yellow Sea late last week before the ship and its flotilla of escorting frigates and destroyers headed into the open Pacific beyond Taiwan and Okinawa.
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12/28/2016
Boeing’s decision to manufacture advanced medium combat aircraft, Super Hornet in India, has run into a fresh hurdle with issues over their export. Michael Koch, who is Boeing’s President for Defence, Space and Security in India, told BusinessLine that the aircraft maker is committed to producing Super Hornets in India.
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12/28/2016
The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a US-backed militia which claims to be fighting the Daesh jihadist group, has expressed hope that it will be able to get US-made handheld anti-aircraft weaponry, or MANPADS. The statement stands in odds with the weapon’s utility to the SDF, as Daesh has no aircraft.
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12/28/2016
Iran is looking to add an aircraft carrier and possibly heavy submarines to bolster its navy. Constructing an aircraft carrier is "among the goals" of the Iranian navy, a senior commander recently told FARS News Agency.
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12/27/2016
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project is now in big trouble. And the vast army of Australia’s Joint Strike Fighter contractors are also in jeopardy because our government, led by Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, has not woken up to what it means to have Donald Trump as US President.
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12/27/2016
What the former assistant secretary of the Navy said is descriptive of the entire military. Each service's culture, and interservice rivalries, and bureaucratic viscosity are resistant to reform. Which is why the next secretary of defense, retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, has the most difficult management challenge in American government.
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12/27/2016
President-elect Donald Trump is concerned about the cost of the fifth-generation F-35 combat aircraft to be built by Lockheed Martin Corporation for the U.S. military. The U.S. plans to buy more than 2,400 F-35 aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled until 2037 with an estimated service life up to 2070. The F-35 is the Pentagon is expected to cost around $400 billion over the next 22 years.
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12/27/2016
As India looks to replace its ageing Soviet-era lightweight combat aircraft fleet, two players have emerged as possible contenders, American defence major Lockheed Martin's F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 70 and Swedish defence major Saab's Gripen E fighter aircraft.
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12/27/2016
China has tested an improvised version of its stealth fighter and plans to sell it at half the price of the US variant to break Western monopoly over the high-tech aircraft, which will have strategic implications for India as Pakistan has already shown interest in acquiring it.
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12/26/2016
An improved version of China's FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter jet has conducted its maiden flight in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, according to aviation industry sources. Previously known as the J-31, the twin engine, radar evading aircraft is still under development by Shenyang Aircraft Corp, part of the Aviation Industry Corp of China.
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12/26/2016
The president-elect ardently advocated substantially increased defense spending, and just as ardently favors unrestrained entitlement spending. For about $500,000 in expenditures, the 9/11 attackers did over $2 trillion in damage to the United States and the world economy. The linked physical and cyber infrastructures of complex societies are vulnerable to such asymmetries. General Atomics’ scientists toil to redress this imbalance with, for example, the Predator and other RPA's.
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12/26/2016
The dogfight for picking the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) for the security of the Indian skies is beginning anew, this time for a much larger number than the 2007 figure of 189 asked by the Indian Air Force (IAF) -- an estimated 400 for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and 60 for the Indian Navy.
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12/26/2016
Russia’s defence ministry has identified the military Tupolev Tu-154 which came down in the Black Sea after departing Sochi. It lists the airframe as RA-85572, a Tu-154B variant, which Flight Fleets Analyzer shows as a 33-year old jet originally ordered by the Soviet air force in 1981.
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12/26/2016
China's first aircraft carrier group conducted a series of military tests in the Yellow Sea December 24, ahead of scheduled testing farther away later, its military reported.
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12/24/2016
The government on Friday gave the go ahead to the IAF to purchase one more C17 heavy transport aircraft and also gave the nod to the Coast Guard’s proposal to acquire six multi-mission maritime aircraft for Rs 5,500 crore.
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12/24/2016
NATO member Romania is holding talks with the United States about the purchase of 12 F-16 fighter jets, as European allies said they cannot provide the requested number of aircraft, Romanian defence minister Mihnea Motoc said.
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12/24/2016
A Dassault Aviation-Reliance Group joint venture, formed to execute significant offsets for the Rs. 58,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal, plans to manufacture and supply military combat aircraft on a "worldwide basis".
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12/24/2016
Textron AirLand has completed the debut flight of its first production-conforming Scorpion, with the multi-mission platform having received numerous enhancements over its earlier prototype.
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12/24/2016
Chinese defence websites have published footage of what is apparently the second AVIC FC-31 Gyrfalcon fighter aircraft. Still imagery shows the aircraft taking off. One major difference is the configuration of the aircraft’s twin canted tail. Produced by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the FC-31 features a cropped tail, whereas the first prototype designated J-31, had a nearly triangular tails with a horizontal top.
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12/24/2016
Lockheed Martin has received a $90.3 million contract to provide new helmet display systems and oxygen masks for the super-expensive and controversial F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike aircraft, the US Department of Defense announced on Thursday.
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12/24/2016
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $151 million contract to support the Target Sight System (TSS) on US and Pakistan AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters, the US Department of Defense said in a press release.
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12/23/2016
The Canadian military is assigning a CF-18 fighter jet to the airshow circuit for next year, despite Liberal government claims it does not have enough aircraft to meet its defence commitments. Each year, the Royal Canadian Air Force assigns a CF-18, painted to highlight a specific theme, to fly at airshows across North America.
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12/23/2016
The U.S. Marine Corps is progressing with a new project to arm its MV-22 Osprey aircraft with new weapons such as laser-guided 2.75in rockets, missiles and heavy guns - a move which would expand the tiltrotor's mission set beyond supply, weapons and forces transport to include a wider range of offensive and defensive combat missions, Corps officials said.
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12/23/2016
The air forces of Latin America are unique in comparison with any region except perhaps sub-Saharan Africa, in that their combat aircraft components are composed of an odd but nonetheless effective mix of combat capable trainers operating alongside smaller numbers of relatively modern combat aircraft.
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12/23/2016
President-elect Donald Trump has hit the F-35 programme once again, this time courting Lockheed Martin competitor Boeing for the Joint Strike Fighter mission. Trump delivered the news in a 21 December tweet: “Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!"
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12/23/2016
An 18-month-old plan to equip the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton with a signals intelligence payload will proceed after the US Navy received approval from top Pentagon officials August 2016, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) tells FlightGlobal.
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12/23/2016
Kongsberg and Raytheon have carried out a long-range flight test of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) from a Lockheed Martin F-16, as the developmental weapon continues its qualification campaign.
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12/22/2016
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on Thursday approved an increase in defense spending to record levels to counter growing Chinese military power in the East China Sea and an escalating North Korean ballistic missile threat. Abe's cabinet on Thursday signed off on a 1.4 percent increase in spending to 5.13 trillion yen ($43.66 billion) for the year starting April 1.
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12/22/2016
The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) has upgraded the first batch of its fleet of KF-16C/D Block 50/52 fighter jets, a variant of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, arming the aircraft with bombs capable of destroying key underground targets in North Korea, according to local media reports.
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12/22/2016
Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody is eager to secure enough sales for its L-159 ‘Advanced Light Combat Aircraft’ (ALCA) such that it can revive the L-159’s production line.
Speaking to local media (Ceské Noviny), Aero Vodochody spokesperson Tereza Vrublová outlined Aero’s expectation of growth and increased demand in the advanced trainer and light combat aircraft market.
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12/22/2016
Over the past month, president-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken out against Pentagon waste, in what one analyst has described as “taking down the military-industrial complex, one tweet at a time.”
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12/22/2016
Incoming US president Donald Trump called the Lockheed Martin F-35 “very expensive” and vowed to bring down the stealth fighter’s costs after a 21 December meeting with the chief executives of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
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12/22/2016
The US State Department has approved the possible sale of five Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Norway to replace Norway’s Lockheed P-3C Orion and Dassault Falcon 20s.
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12/22/2016
China’s secretive H-20 bomber is well on its way to becoming a fully developed next-generation strategic stealth aircraft, but not in the near future. A Chinese admiral said that China and the rest of the world must be patient while waiting for the H-20 to be launched.
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12/22/2016
US defense contractor Northrop Grumman Systems has received a contract worth nearly $27 million to create testing and support programs for the P-8A Poseidon's system to detect radar and other electronic threats to the aircraft and to US Navy vessels, the Department of Defense said in a press release.
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12/21/2016
Boeing and Saab’s bid for the US Air Force trainer competition took flight from St. Louis, Missouri, on 20 December, demonstrating the clean-sheet design jet’s performance for the first time.
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12/21/2016
A fire aboard a US Marine Corps F-35B was caused by a loose bracket designed to hold together electrical wires in the aircraft’s weapons bay, F-35 programme executive officer Lt Gen Chris Bogdan says.
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12/21/2016
Antonov rolled out the new An-132D multipurpose turboprop transport on 20 December in Kiev, Ukraine, as the Saudia Arabia-backed project prepares to enter the flight test phase. The roll-out of demonstrator comes about two years after Antonov launched the project, which updates the 40-year-old An-32 design with Honeywell avionics, Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A engines and other improvements.
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12/21/2016
The Israeli air force (IAF) is continuing with the upgrade of its Boeing F-15I Ra’am, and has selected the Raytheon APG-82(V)1 radar to provide a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) capability.
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12/21/2016
The Rolls-Royce Corporation received a contract worth nearly $408 million to provide maintenance support for V-22 Osprey vertical take-off aircraft engines, the US Department of Defense said in a press release on Tuesday.
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12/21/2016
India and Russia have agreed to extend the strike range of the BrahMos PJ-10 supersonic cruise missile. Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre told his country’s parliament Friday that the two nations decided to engage in "joint technical development work" in June after India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MCTR).
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12/21/2016
It appears that despite its impressive technical characteristics and capabilities, the new Chinese J-11D jet cannot be considered a true analogue of the super-maneuverable Russian Su-35 multirole fighter.
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12/21/2016
The Russian Aerospace Forces will strengthen groups on strategic directions by 2018 and start deploying systems to counter space threats based on "new physical principles".
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12/21/2016
The Russian Aerospace Forces will be reinforced by over 900 brand new aircraft and the same number of renovated ones by 2020.
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12/21/2016
Russia plans to supply Serbia with six MiG-29 fighter jets next spring as part a military and technical cooperation assistance program, the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Tuesday.
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12/19/2016
China recently deployed one of its H-6 bombers on a long-range patrol of the Nine-Dash Line that it claims marks the extent of its territorial waters in the Pacific Ocean. The flight was made in response to remarks by President-elect Trump suggesting that the United States might abandon its long-standing policy towards Taiwan and recognize the island as an independent country.
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12/19/2016
TERN drone for the Navy could be an even bigger deal than we initially thought. One year ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) tapped Northrop Grumman to build it a TERN prototype, capable of launching from and landing on small naval warships. Just six months later, before TERN had even conducted its first test flight, DARPA decided it liked the new drone so much that it “doubled down” and ordered Northrop to go ahead and build it a second test vehicle.
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12/19/2016
The Pentagon’s emerging “Arsenal Plane” or “flying bomb truck” is likely to be a modified, high-tech adaptation of the iconic B-52 bomber designed to fire air-to-air weapons, release swarms of mini-drones and provide additional fire-power to 5th generation stealth fighters such as the F-35 and F-22, Pentagon officials and analysts said.
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12/19/2016
South Korea's Air Force has upgraded the capability of its F-16 fighter jets by equipping them with bombs and missiles capable of hitting key underground facilities in North Korea and shooting down combat aircraft at long range, officials said. The completion of the upgrade enables the South Korean jets to fire AIM-120 mid-range air-to-air missiles, according to the Air Force. The missiles have a range of 50 to 180 kilometers.
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12/19/2016
Despite all its flaws, the F-35 will give Israel the ability to maintain air superiority over all its neighbors and further afield, and allow it to attack where it has never attacked before.
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12/18/2016
The flight comes three years after US Navy awarded Northrop a $226 million contract to engineer, manufacture and develop the aerial refueling system the carrier-based airborne early warning and control fleet. “This takes the E-2D to another level, which will bring more combat persistence to the US and our allies,” says Jane Bishop, Northrop’s vice-president for C-2/E-2 programmes, in a statement.
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12/18/2016
Indonesian air force Hercules C-130 aircraft crashed in country's Papua province on Sunday resulting in death of all 13 people on board, media reported. Victims of the crash included three pilots and 10 military personnel, BBC reported.
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12/18/2016
The state-of-the-art J-20 fifth-generation jet fighter is a key part of the Chinese air force. According to Chinese military expert, Li Li, the J-20 could possibly break the US monopoly on fourth-generation fighters.
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12/18/2016
A little-known statute in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) permits opposition groups in Syria to receive anti-aircraft missiles, sparking worry among analysts that they could be used to target civilian airliners.
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12/18/2016
Chinese state media reported that Beijing’s military has conducted live-fire drills for the first time. The drills took place using fighters and an aircraft carrier in the Bohai Sea, near Korea. This will likely exacerbate tensions with Washington, who has been critical of China’s increased military presence in the hotly-disputed South China Sea.
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12/16/2016
As a result the Air Force immediately purchased a long endurance remotely piloted aircraft called the GNAT 750 resulting in the creation, production and development of the RQ-1 Predator of the early 1990s. By 1996, operators were flying intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over the Balkans providing an eye in the sky during a period of unrest.
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12/16/2016
China appears to have added weapons to man-made islands it built in the South China Sea, an American-based research group says. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says the weapons include anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. The center published new satellite images to support its findings.
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12/16/2016
CHINA’s first aircraft carrier has this week engaged in public live-fire exercises, flexing its own weapons as well as those of its fully armed combat aircraft. Beijing has declared Liaoning to be ‘fully operational’ and ready for combat after three years of testing, training and evaluation. Now it has set about proving this is so.
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12/16/2016
The Royal Australian Air Force has awarded its new Alenia C-27J Spartan tactical transports with initial operating capability. The RAAF has received four examples of a total order for 10 aircraft, says Australian defence minister Marise Payne in a statement.
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12/16/2016
Boeing has delivered to NATO the first of 14 modified E-3A airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft featuring an upgraded cockpit and avionics suite. Handed over on 16 November, the enhancements were covered by an engineering, manufacturing and development contract awarded in 2012.
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12/16/2016
Serbia may receive six Russian MiG-29 fighter jets in March of 2017, the country’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday. He also said the agreement on the delivery of MiG-29 jets could be signed in Moscow on December 21 at a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
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12/16/2016
Indian specialists will train Vietnamese pilots to fly Russian Su-30MK2 fighter planes. In a commentary for Sputnik China, Moscow-based military expert Vasily Kashin said this will add a new dimension to the defense cooperation between India and Vietnam.
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12/16/2016
The US military has grounded its fleet of Osprey aircraft in Japan after one crash-landed in the sea near Okinawa, in an incident that will fuel further local anger over the US deployment on the island. The Pentagon described the incident on Tuesday night as a “mishap” and said the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey had landed in shallow water 0.6 miles (1km) off the coast of Nago in northern Okinawa. Five crew members were injured.
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12/15/2016
The indigenously designed and built Light Combat Aircraft designed for the Navy (LCA-Navy) has been rejected by the Indian Navy, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba said. The fighter built in India doesn't meet requirement of the Navy, he said. The Navy will now look at global manufacturers and its options are limited to USA, France, Russia and Sweden for a fighter that can join the fleet in the next six years.
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12/15/2016
Images have appeared on restricted Chinese social media platforms that show the country's first stealth fighter, the J-20, in Air Force markings with serial numbers which indicate the jet is now entering squadron service with the Chinese Air Force.
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12/15/2016
The RFP was presented to four countries on 9 December, namely Italy, Portugal, the USA and Sweden, which have until March 2017 to submit their bids. Bulgaria will purchase its fighter through a government-to-government agreement with one of the countries, and the proposals will be prepared by the governments together with the respective manufacturers.
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12/15/2016
A new report suggests that China has dedicated significant effort to militarizing outposts in the South China Sea, but the US remains ready to respond to further “aggressive” behavior.
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12/15/2016
The Russian Helicopters holding has transferred to the Russian Defense Ministry all the Mi-28N, Mi-35M and Mi-26 helicopters, set to be delivered in 2016, the holding’s press service said in a statement on Wednesday.
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12/15/2016
Russia's Black Sea Fleet has formed a full-strength squadron of 12 advanced Su-30SM multirole fighter jets in the country's southwestern region of Crimea, the fleet's spokesman said Wednesday.
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12/14/2016
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has attracted fierce controversy for years amid massive cost overruns and delays. The stealthy fighter jet's costs have doubled from initial estimates and the program is now set to cost $1.509 trillion through to 2070. Donald Trump joined the chorus of criticism on Monday, tweeting that "the F-35 program and its costs are out of control".
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12/14/2016
The Marine Corps crew of an MV-22 Osprey is being treated for injuries after the aircraft went down off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, Marine officials in the Pacific said Tuesday. The five crew members were rescued after the aircraft landed "in shallow water" off the coastline of Camp Schwab around 10 p.m. local time, according to a statement from III Marine Expeditionary Force.
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12/14/2016
President Mauricio Macri has approved the purchase of airplanes for the Air Force, patrol vessels for the Navy and armored vehicles and combat rifles for the Army, it was announced Monday to give the Armed Forces back some of their lost firepower, Defense Minister Julio Martínez revealed. The total purchases will surpass 40 billion pesos (2,500 million US dollars), the minister added.
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12/14/2016
Barnes Air National Guard base in Westfield did not make the cut as the Air Force continues to narrow down the field of potential bases to house the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the base announced on Tuesday.
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12/14/2016
The first two Lockheed Martin F-35Is for the Israeli air force landed on at Nevatim air force base on 12 December, delivered on schedule despite temporary delays caused by the weather.
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12/14/2016
The German air force has received its sixth Airbus Defence & Space A400M transport, featuring a new baseline tactical configuration to allow the aircraft to operate in more contested environments.
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12/14/2016
Raytheon has received a nearly $40 million Defense Logistics Agency contract for maintenance on Sikorsky H-60 helicopters operated by the US Navy and Saudi Arabia.
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12/13/2016
Indonesia’s Minister of Defence Ryamizard Ryacudu confirmed to state media outlet Antara News that the Indonesian government is in talks with Russia for eight Su-35 Flanker-E multi-role fighters. As per Antara News, Moscow and Jakarta are currently locked in discussions over the price for the eight aircraft, which are expected to replace the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU)’s Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs.
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12/13/2016
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter might just be the most controversial American weapons program of all time—and for good reason. The fighter, with a total cost coming in at $1 Trillion over its lifespan, promises game changing capabilities, but has had its share of setbacks and technical challenges over the years. And now, the program is under attack by President-elect Trump. Yikes.
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12/13/2016
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) operates a total of 70 Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense Production revealed in Islamabad on December 7, according to local media reports.
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12/13/2016
India is set to initiate a major international competition to acquire new age radars for its indigenous combat planes in the coming weeks, the winner of which is likely to gain a strong foothold for future domestic projects.
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12/13/2016
Solid-state slab lasers have already evolved to a point of maturity where they could soon be demonstrated on an Air Force Special Operations AC-130 gunship, a US Air Force study finds.
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12/13/2016
After campaigning to reduce wasteful government spending, US President-elect Donald Trump announced that he is poised to modify the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, on the same day that Israel was supposed to receive its first two F-35 fighters.
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12/13/2016
Belgrade has asked Moscow for deliveries of Russian-made weaponry with the goal to increase Serbia's defense potential, Serbian Foreign Minster Ivica Dacic said Monday.
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12/12/2016
Russia is solidifying its support for Pakistan at the Heart of Asia conference. Russian envoy Zamir Kabulov rejected India and Afghanistan’s criticisms of Pakistan. In what serves as a yet another indication that the ice between Moscow and Islamabad are melting, Kabulov praised Pakistani Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz’s speech at the HoA conference for being friendly and constructive.
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12/12/2016
China is ready to launch its new J-11D fighter after it failed to acquire Russian engines on schedule and was forced to develop its own technology, military observers said. The progress included advances in home-grown turbofan technology and radar systems, and showed that Beijing was no longer reliant on Russian engines for its new generation of fighters, analysts said.
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12/12/2016
China and Japan have continued their recent tit-for-tat moves in the airspace above the Western Pacific, with aircraft from the two Asian giants on Saturday again engaging in an apparently tense encounter over the high seas between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island.
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12/12/2016
In a memo leaked to Bloomberg, Michael Gilmore stated: “If not changed, the existing responses would at best be considered misleading and at worst, prevarications.” He was referring to draft responses being prepared in answer to questions from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain. Senator McCain last month challenged a fresh round of delays — and cost blowouts — relating to the delayed development of the strike fighter.
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12/12/2016
Israel’s most advanced weaponry, two F-35 stealth fighter jets, are set to touch down at Nevatim Air Force Base near Beersheba for the first time on Monday afternoon. Expected at the ceremony to welcome the jets to Israel will be President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel and US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
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12/11/2016
Two Japanese F-15 fighters Saturday launched decoy flares at Chinese Air Force aircraft that were flying over the Miyako Strait for routine offshore training in western Pacific Ocean, China’s defense ministry said. Spokesperson Yang Yujun said the Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft endangered the safety of the Chinese aircraft and their personnel. He added the Chinese pilot took quick measures and proceeded with the training.
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12/11/2016
Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew over the East China Sea to the south of Japan’s Okinawa Island and circled the international airspace surrounding Taiwan before passing over the Bashi Channel to return to China, officials from the Ministry of National Defense said. It was the second time in two weeks that Chinese military aircraft have flown around Taiwan and passed over the Miyako Strait between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands.
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12/11/2016
Indian Air Force (IAF) is slated to carry out a series of captive trials of indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile ‘Astra’ from a fighter aircraft from Monday.
Defence sources said the missile will be fired from Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft targeting a Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA) at different altitudes from different angles over the Bay of Bengal to reconfirm the killing efficiency of the all-terrain and all-weather weapon system.
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12/11/2016
India will get the first tranche of Rafale fighter jets from France in the next three years, Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha said today. "Rafale contract caters for delivery time between 36 months to about 66 months if I am not wrong. So within three years time we will have the first few aircraft delivered to us and within five and a half years we will have two full squadron of aircraft in operation," Raha said at a function here.
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12/11/2016
Russia's Aerospace Forces Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said that full lifecycle maintenance would be able to quickly supply components and blocks necessary for any type of flying vehicles, thus, enabling military personnel to repair the equipment faster.
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12/11/2016
Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Viktor Bondarev said that the tests of Russian Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighters are proceeding in leaps and bounds, the eighth prototype has already been delivered.
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12/10/2016
Bangladesh’s Minister of Law Anisul Huq informed the Bangladesh Parliament that the government will be procuring eight multi-role combat aircraft for the Bangladesh Air Force. As per local news outlets, such as the Daily News, Mr. Huq noted that the fighter acquisition – alongside the procurement of six Mi-171Sh helicopters, two maritime search and rescue helicopters, one medium-range surface-to-air missile system, and one unmanned aerial vehicle system.
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12/10/2016
Pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., are testing the ability of groups of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to accurately pass data amongst themselves during combat operations against advanced enemy surface-to-air missiles (SAM) defenses.
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12/10/2016
India will begin training Vietnamese fighter pilots starting next year, according to an agreement inked by the two countries this week. On December 5, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart, General Ngo Xuan Lich, signed a pact with Hanoi to train the pilots of its Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 multirole combat aircraft. The inking of the agreement came during Ngo’s much-awaited four-day visit to India, which began on December 3.
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12/10/2016
The first two F-35s expected to land in Israel next week will be the first 5th Generation jet fighters the U.S. hands out to a foreign ally. The two ADIR Jets are only the beginning. Over the next eight years, Israel will receive 50 aircraft forming two full ADIR squadrons flying the F-35. No. 140 Squadron will be the first to receive the new fighters.
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12/10/2016
NATO member Bulgaria said on Friday it has invited four countries to submit offers for the supply of multi-purpose combat aircraft for its Air Force. The invitation was sent to Italy, Portugal, the United States and Sweden, the defence ministry said in a statement.
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12/10/2016
Swedish aerospace major Saab says it would set up a brand new production line in India if it wins an Indian Air Force (IAF) contract for single-engined combat jets and would make the country a net exporter of such fighters -- once the necessary procedures are in place.
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12/10/2016
The US Marine Corps envisions teaming the medium-lift future vertical lift aircraft up with its own expeditionary group 5 UAV, though service officials say they will not force the pairing if timelines do not meet up.
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12/10/2016
Initially proposed as a joint development for Australia and France, the idea has drawn interest from Germany, Italy and New Zealand, said Vincent Dubrule, president of the NHI consortium, speaking at an event in Germany on 8 December.
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12/10/2016
On December 5, a Russian Su-33 fighter jet skidded off the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean while landing. On November 14, a MiG-29K fighter bomber crashed while landing on the carrier’s flight deck. The two mishaps raised a barrage of often unjustified criticism both in Russia and abroad.
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12/08/2016
Spain has joined Britain and France in signing a maintenance contract for the A400M military airlifter, allowing the three nations to draw on a common pool of spares and technical support, Airbus Defence and Space announced Wednesday. “Airbus Defence and Space has signed a long-term Global Support Service contract for the A400M new generation airlifter with the UK, France and Spain,” the company said in a statement.
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12/08/2016
The Navy announced that next generation aircraft avoidance systems will be installed on its new high-tech maritime surveillance drone. Northrop Grumman has received a $9.6 contract to install the Automatic Response Module of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X into the MQ-4C Triton’s avionics system.
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12/08/2016
The F/A-18 Hornet was stationed at the Iwakuni base in the Yamaguchi prefecture and is understood to have gone down at 6pm local time off the southern Kochi Prefecture. Initial reports from the Japanese Defence Ministry said the lone pilot and ejected from the fighter jet and survived the crash.
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12/08/2016
Minister for Defense Production Rana Tanveer Hussain Wednesday discussed supply of military aircraft to Egypt for training military — men as well as defence of the brotherly country. The minister who is currently on an official visit to Cairo in his meeting with Egyptian Defence Minister Gen Sedkhi Sobhy talked about the supply of Super Mashshak (trainer) and JF-17 Thunder (fighter) aircraft.
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12/08/2016
Sikorsky will deliver six Polish-made S-70i helicopters through 2018 to the Chilean Air Force after completing three months of contract negotiations.
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12/08/2016
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $67.3 million contract to provide spares for the Royal Saudi Air Force's (RSAF) F-15 sensor suite. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will produce LANTIRN Extended Range (ER) navigation pod spares, Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system spares and Sniper® Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) spares.
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12/08/2016
A Syrian state news agency reported on Wednesday that Israel was responsible for bombings that occurred near a military airport in Damascus. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s Defense Minister, was unwilling to specify which attacks were carried out by the Israeli forces, according to an official statement. The attacks were intended to prevent “advanced weapons, military equipment and weapons of mass destruction” from falling into the hands of Israel’s arch-enemy, Hezbollah.
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12/07/2016
Solid orders for its defense and space business helped Boeing (NYSE: BA) make it through the Great Recession in one piece, despite a drop in commercial airplane demand. However, in recent years, Boeing's defense business has been under pressure because of caps on U.S. military spending and a few key contract losses.
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12/07/2016
The Indian Navy’s professional decision not to induct the indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft has given armchair critics a new lease of life. Stand by for a lot of their ‘professional’ views against the Navy especially as the Indian Air Force (IAF) is now out of their cross hairs after its decision to induct 120 Tejas MK 1As — a decision which was born out of no other criterion but a professional assessment.
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12/07/2016
The Aero Vodochody Czech firm will send a brand new L-159 aircraft, which it has not been making for 13 years, to Iraq at the end of the year, Aero spokeswoman Tereza Vrublova told CTK yesterday. The company did not rule out that a mass production of this combat aircraft might resume. The assembly line for the production of the L-159 ALCA two-seat planes must be put into operation again. It has been maintained since the supply of the last planes in 2003.
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12/06/2016
Less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Taiwan’s president over the phone, China flew a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers around Taiwan for the first time, two U.S. officials revealed to Fox News.
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12/06/2016
Israel is contemplating the acquisition of additional Boeing F-15Is to support its future combat requirements. Although the country's air force investment is currently focused on the acquisition of 50 Lockheed Martin F-35s, Tel Aviv believes it needs more than one strike aircraft in its inventory.
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12/06/2016
Raytheon Systems' Paveway IV laser-guided bomb has been dropped from a Lockheed Martin F-35B, paving the way for integration of the weapon on the UK’s future Joint Strike Fighter fleet.
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12/06/2016
The US Department of State has made a determination to approve a possible $156 million Foreign Military Sale to Finland for upgrades to extend the life of its F-18 combat aircraft, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a release.
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12/06/2016
The crash of a Su-33 fighter jet that skidded off the deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier became yet another “bitter lesson” learned by Russian armed forces during the military operation in Syria.
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12/06/2016
A Russian Su-33 fighter jet has skidded off the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean while landing but the pilot ejected and his life is not in danger, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
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12/06/2016
The Russian military has transported over 710,000 tonnes of military supplies to Syria since the start of its ongoing counter-terrorist operation in the Arab country, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov said Monday.
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12/05/2016
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing needs a smaller army that has the structure and combat capability to succeed in modern warfare. China has the world's largest military and second largest military budget after the United States, but Xi plans to reduce its force by 300,000 soldiers, or some 13 percent, and focus on combat effectiveness, Reuters reported Saturday.
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12/05/2016
Sri Lanka is to buy China-made Xian Y20 military-cum civil transport planes, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told South China Morning Post. “I have travelled around in some of the Chinese transport planes we have. They are good workhorses. Some people have raised questions about their quality but I have always said, ‘Look, as far as I am concerned, I will always underwrite Chinese military transport planes’. We will buy two more,” Wickremesinghe said.
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12/05/2016
The Fort Bliss, Texas- based platoon of 22 Soldiers with Delta Company, 2nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division handles the intricate care and 24-hour operations of the Tactical Unmanned Aviation System assigned the RQ-7B ‘Shadow’ in support of Iraqi forces with their fight against the Islamic State group.
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12/05/2016
Arms companies in the UK and elsewhere in western Europe bucked the downward trend in sales in much of the rest of the world by recording a 6.6% rise last year, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
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12/05/2016
Russia doubts that US plans to substitute Russian helicopters in Afghanistan with its own aircraft will succeed, since there is no alternative to Russian equipment in the nearest decades, Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Sunday.
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12/04/2016
As the former Conservative government was leading the charge to bomb ISIS almost two years ago, the Royal Canadian Air Force was warning that its CF-18 pilots were not getting enough training time and that "resource reductions" were squeezing maintenance budgets.
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12/03/2016
In October, pilots of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., began flying integrated direct support practice sorties in the F-35A Lightning II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon for the first time as a regular component of the training curriculum at Luke.
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12/03/2016
Denmark said on Friday it would not extend a six-month mission for seven F-16 jets taking part in a US-led coalition focused on attacking Islamic State group targets in Syria and Iraq.
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12/03/2016
The F-35 global enterprise provides an opportunity for leveraging collaborative efforts to shape more effective capabilities at a more effective cost point. According to a post by Endre Lundeon December 1, 2016 from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence: How international cooperation saved us NOK 96 million in 2016.
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12/03/2016
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that via a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he received a confirmation Russia had nothing to do with the recent attack on Turkish forces in Syria. The Daily Turkiye reports Erdogan was speaking at a working breakfast with parliament members.
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12/03/2016
Ahead of Navy Day celebrations on December 4, Admiral Sunil Lanba, India’s chief of naval staff (CNS), caused a flutter in the media by suggesting that the Navy was scrapping the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project, India’s premier light fighter jet program. At a press conference, Lanba remarked that the navy was looking for temporary replacement jet from a source abroad for carrier-operations as the LCA (Navy) wasn’t “yet up to the mark.”
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12/03/2016
The US Air Force has released a draft request for proposals to replace its UH-1N Hueys, calling for a full and open to procure up to 84 helicopters. Three months after the USAF reset the Huey replacement programme with a new request for information released in September, the service is forging ahead with its first draft RFP.
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12/03/2016
The Lockheed Martin T-50A is soaring over Greenville, South Carolina with flight operations now underway. The initial test flight took place Nov. 19. The T-50A was announced as the official Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) offering for the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training (APT)/T-X competition in February, and Greenville was announced as the final assembly and checkout facility (FACO).
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12/03/2016
India has received proposals from two foreign companies within two months of asking countries like the US, Sweden and Russia to locally build a fighter under a generous technology transfer (ToT) arrangement. The winner will bag the right to sell the fighters to India for several decades as the Indian Air Force seeks to build 42 active squadrons.
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12/02/2016
When the mainstream U.S. media reports on Syria, it relies heavily on pro-rebel activists, including members of the White Helmets who have supplied false or dubious claims at key junctures of the war, reports Gareth Porter for Alternet.
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12/02/2016
The Russian Aerospace Forces are starting to convert their aerial demonstration team onto the powerful new Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H. The Russian Knights aerial demonstration team currently flies the original Su-27 version of the Flanker. But exactly why the Russians would allocate some of their best operational combat aircraft to an aerobatics team is somewhat puzzling.
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12/02/2016
The Charles de Gaulle, France’s lone aircraft carrier, is set to return to France this December for scheduled maintenance, a move that could deal a blow to the US-led coalition against Daesh. Refueling and maintaining the massive flattop cannot be delayed any longer, according to French officials, but France is intent on assisting the effort against Daesh in other ways.
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12/02/2016
Ukraine conducted a series of 16 successful missile launches during announced drills on Thursday, according to presidential press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko. The missile drills are scheduled to last until 17:00 GMT December 2, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) reported earlier, adding that the launches will extend into Russia's civil airspace.
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12/01/2016
The T-X trainer finished up its afterburner engine tests last week, Defense News reports, and just a few substantial tests stand between now and the plane’s inaugural flight. Next, the team will test how the engine responds to typical flight procedures such as takeoff, climb, and landing, before collecting data on how the plane responds to simulated system failures.
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12/01/2016
The North Korean government will likely develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching the US city of Seattle by the end of President-elect Donald Trump’s term in office, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Wednesday.
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