October, 2017 Military Aviation News
10/31/2017
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) first fifth-generation fighter aircraft, the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) J-20 multirole fighter, will soon move into serial production, according to a October 23 broadcast on China Central TV’s (CCTV) Channel 4, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly reports. The broadcast showed five J-20s flying in formation.
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10/31/2017
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and U.S. Air Force (USAF) scrambled fighter jets to intercept two nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers of the Russian Aerospace Force on October 30, the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced in a statement. JASDF and USAF aircraft escorted the Russian bombers as they skirted the Japanese islands of Hoshu and Hokkaido on Monday.
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10/31/2017
Last week, Japan disclosed that, following a change in Japanese law, it will now be donating five aircraft to the Philippines rather than leasing them as previously agreed. Though the move represents just one change in a broader relationship that has already been deepening in the defense realm, its significance for both sides and the wider region ought not to be underestimated.
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10/31/2017
The US Air Force believes a software reprogramming could solve some deficiencies discovered earlier this year on the Boeing KC-46 tanker, following initial findings from testing earlier this month.
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10/31/2017
The Defense Department plans to ramp up production of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter despite serious sustainment issues that have drawn out repair times and grounded jets, according to a recent government watchdog report.
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10/28/2017
At the recent ADEX defense expo in Seoul, South Korea was showing off its KF-X next-generation fighter jet. Although just a large plastic model for now, a lot is riding on this program. The KF-X embodies the future of South Korean aerospace, and if it succeeds, it will cement the country’s place as a frontrunner in the global aviation industry.
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10/28/2017
North Korea stepped up its defiant rhetoric against the U.S. on Friday and said the U.S. is making "criminal moves for igniting a war of aggression," according to a state-run outlet. The communist state also chided calls for negotiations for denuclearization and again slammed President Donald Trump as seeking "extinction" of North Korea through "pressures and sanctioning," said the propaganda site DPRK Today.
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10/27/2017
Pro-Russian media are claiming that an Israeli F-35I was hit and damaged by a Russian-made S-200 surface-to-air missile during an Israeli air strike in Syria earlier this month. Israel says one of its F-35s was damaged—after colliding with a bird. The story begins on October 16, when Israel announced that its aircraft had struck [3] a Syrian SAM battery near Damascus that had fired two hours earlier on Israeli reconnaissance planes flying over Lebanon.
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10/27/2017
Under a contract previously awarded by the Ministry of Defense of Iraq, Aero Vodochody has completed the L-159 conversion training of the third group of the Iraqi Air Force pilots. The conversion training of the L-159 pilots, ground staff and instructors included theoretical part and flight training. It also included basic conversion and weapon training, as well as emergency procedures, according to the company.
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10/27/2017
The relationship between the U.S. Air Force and a Jacksonville aircraft manufacturer continued Wednesday with an order for six A-29 Super Tucanos to be used by Afghan pilots for counterinsurgency operations and airborne self-defense for their government.
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10/27/2017
McEntire has been knocked out of the next two rounds of F-35 deployments because of the relatively young age of its current F-16 fighter jets, a Pentagon spokeswoman told The State. Also, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, who arranged Goldfein’s visit, acknowledged Thursday that the Air Force’s top officer would make no announcements regarding the F-35.
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10/27/2017
We have been talking a lot lately about some cutting-edge technologies that could be incorporated into the upcoming B-21 Raider stealth bomber or in other future stealthy aircraft designs. Seeing as evolving integrated air defense system technology will continue to slowly erode some of stealth's current advantages, electronic warfare, laser defenses, advanced decoys, and even high speed are potential applications that will bolster the survivability of future American air combat assets.
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10/26/2017
Northrop Grumman has withdrawn from participating in the US Navy’s competition to develop the MQ-25 Stingray, saying the company would have been unable to execute the programme under the terms of the service’s request for proposals.
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10/26/2017
Although Belgrade paid nothing for the aircraft, it will still spend €180 million ($212 million) on maintenance with the Russian manufacturer – a deal that includes the examples in its current inventory. Discussions between the two nations will also take place on a potential future upgrade of the MiG-29s, to include new avionics and weapons.
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10/26/2017
The USS Nimitz, which is the largest warships in the world, is the supercarrier of the United States Navy and the lead ship of her class. The US Navy has announced that the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Nimitz and other warships had entered the Asia-Pacific region to join the US 7th Fleet.
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10/25/2017
srael has returned its air force's fleet of Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to full operational status following a fatal crash earlier this year.
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10/25/2017
The People’s Liberation Army-Navy’s South Sea Fleet has deployed a squadron of submarines to the disputed waters of the South China Sea to increase battle readiness, the South China Morning Post reported Saturday.
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10/25/2017
India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has termed the Indo-Russia Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft project as the best technology offer India has ever received, and that it is a great opportunity for India as a country and for the defense industry as well. HAL Chairman T Suvarna Raju said he hoped India's Ministry of Defense would soon sanction the project while claiming that the first aircraft would be ready in three years from the date of approval.
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10/25/2017
The United States, South Korea and Japan have started the fifth cross-navy exercise off the Japanese and South Korean coasts since June 2016, where the sides will jointly practice detecting and tracking missiles launched in North Korea, the NHK broadcaster reported Tuesday, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces.
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10/25/2017
Indian Air Force's most formidable fleet of fighter jet Su-30MKI is gearing up for a complete overhaul of weapons and avionics which will lend the aircraft unmatched stealth features. The upgrade is being carried out by Russian agencies in collaboration with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
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10/24/2017
Terma has introduced the self-protection capability of the F-16 for the T-50 light-combat aircraft (LCA) at Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX 2017) this year.
The T-50 LCA family has been equipped with a modified wing weapon pylon (ACE-Pylon) to increase the aircraft’s chaff/flare payload capacity. The LCA’s self-protection capability upgrade is similar to the self-protection system fitted on the F-16, Terma stated.
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10/24/2017
The Indian Air Force (IAF) reportedly wants to discontinue work on one of the most ambitious joint Indo-Russian defense programs to date: the co-development and production of the Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), known in India as the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF).
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10/24/2017
Crew on an Embraer KC-390 requested an early return to base after the aircraft completing a stall test earlier this month, the Brazilian manufacturer says. As part of Embraer’s flight certification efforts, a prototype KC-390 transport aircraft conducted a stall speed test on 12 October. But decreased lift force caused an altitude loss that would prematurely call the KC-390 crew back to base, Embraer tells FlightGlobal in a 23 October email.
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10/24/2017
India is developing its own armed drones which should be available to the armed forces in the next five-seven years. Experts say American drones could be purchased for deep surveillance into Pakistani and Chinese territory. But, there is no pressing need for armed drones as of now.
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10/23/2017
The US has been deploying THAAD systems in South Korea since 2016 in response to the continuing missile and nuclear tests performed by the North. US Forces Korea (USFK) officially confirmed on Sunday that it had deployed a unit in South Korea charged with operating the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, the Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.
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10/23/2017
Nearly one year after a B-52H Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after takeoff at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the U.S. Air Force has finally identified the culprit: a flock of goddamn birds. Well, sort of. An investigation by Air Force Global Strike Command concluded that the crash, which took place during a routine training mission on May 19, 2016, was caused by a mechanical failure during an aborted takeoff, military officials announced Monday.
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10/21/2017
The US Navy is upgrading its Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters with an improved Lockheed Martin IRST21 sensor system, allowing the Super Hornet fleet to see and detect farther. Lockheed received two contracts worth $100 million through prime contractor Boeing and will provide advanced software development, hardware upgrades and prototype deliveries as part of the Block 2 IRST package.
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10/21/2017
The South Korean Air Force has announced the purchase of four Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced drones built on US military contract for surveillance missions. The drones, which cost $223 million apiece, are being purchased as part of ROKAF's new program of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). ROKAF told lawmakers in Seoul that the acquisition of the first two drones is set to take place in December, with two more to arrive in 2019.
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10/21/2017
Speaking at the 19th Congress of China's Communist Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged to complete the modernization of the country's military by 2035, and to transform it into a world-class fighting force by 2050. Military observer Andrei Kotz takes a closer look at the People's Liberation Army's plans for the future.
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10/20/2017
Boeing will invest and partner with a commercial spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute that specialises in in developing sensors for unmanned aircraft to avoid collisions.
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10/20/2017
Sikorsky believes a more complicated security environment bodes well for its MH-60R helicopter in South Korea's second Maritime Operations Helicopter (MOH) competition. Christophe Nurit, vice president-Asia at Sikorsky, a unit of Lockheed Martin, says the submarine threat facing South Korea has grown since the country's last MOH competition early this decade.
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10/20/2017
The USS Ronald Reagan’s presence off the coast of the Korean Peninsula in the Sea of Japan as part of previously reported naval and air force exercises with the South Korean navy is designed to persuade North Korea from taking military action, Reuters reported from aboard the ship Thursday.
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10/19/2017
North Korea’s nuclear testing site may be literally falling apart, with geologists claiming that repeated underground nuclear tests have fractured and perforated the rock beneath the mountainous testing ground that has hosted six nuclear tests in the last 11 years.
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10/19/2017
The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) to help jets take off from aircraft carriers - which has only just been tested on the US Navy’s brand new USS Gerald Ford - will now find its way onto India’s aircraft carriers.
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10/18/2017
Greece has moved a step closer upgrading a fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s with new radars, software-defined radios and other equipment. The US State Department has approved a package of upgrades valued at $2.4 billion to raise the Hellenic Air Force's fleet to the F-16V standard, a Defense Security Cooperation Agency notice says.
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10/18/2017
Embraer has announced a new order for six of its armed A-29 Super Tucano, but declines to identify the latest customer to have committed to the type. Listing potential applications as including "tactical and advanced training, as well as light attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance", the Brazilian airframer says deliveries to the undisclosed buyer will conclude during 2018.
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10/18/2017
Despite troubles at home, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is as committed as ever to international sales, and expects an order for up to 12 FA-50s in the first half of 2018. Sang Choi, vice-president and general manager of KAI’s international marketing division, says that while international customers have asked the company about its domestic travails, they have not expressed deep concerns about KAI. Choi spoke to FlightGlobal at the company’s chalet at the Seoul ADEX defence show.
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10/18/2017
The US Air Force has made an impressive show of force at this year's Seoul ADEX defence show, bringing four stealth fighters and several other aircraft. The stars of the USAF contingent at the show are two Lockheed Martin F-22s and two Lockheed F-35As. All four aircraft appeared in the static display, with an F-22 also performing a high-g aerial display.
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10/18/2017
The US and South Korean navies have kicked off a five-day round of military drills, the type of exercise that North Korea has previously responded with ballistic missile tests. Guided-missile destroyers USS Stetham and USS Mustin and supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan will join several South Korean ships as part of the Maritime Counter Special Operations Exercise (MCSOFEX), the commander of the US Navy’s Seventh fleet said.
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10/18/2017
French firm Thales has made a strong pitch for India's $1.8 billion global tender for the state-of-the-art active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar systems that were successfully tested on the Tejas MK1A light combat aircraft at the Cazaux airbase in France. The flight test conducted a few weeks ago mainly focused on metrological analyses of the radar performance.
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10/11/2017
Despite the ramshackle nature of North Korea's military, allied air forces would have a long, tough fight. In addition to eliminating North Korea's obsolete air force, they will be tasked with several urgent missions in what will probably be a fast escalating conflict. The list includes “decapitation” missions against senior leaders, shutting down North Korea's bristling air defence network and destroying artillery hidden in mountainous terrain north of Seoul.
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10/11/2017
BAE Systems has revealed a tentative order from Qatar for six examples of its Hawk trainer, but the manufacturer is cutting output of the type, as well as of the Eurofighter Typhoon, in a bid to maintain production into the next decade.
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10/11/2017
This week, the Finnish Air Force is carrying out its biggest tactical training event of the year, the Ruska 17 drills. This year's Ruska also marks the first time that the Swedish Air Force will practice defending its neighbor.
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10/10/2017
Fighter, assault and army aircraft of the Southern Military District and of Armenia’s Armed Forces have taken part in joint drills for the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) dubbed "Interaction - 2017," the Southern Military District’s press service reported on Tuesday.
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10/10/2017
Sky News has learnt that BAE will announce that many of the job cuts will affect its Warton plant in Preston, Lancashire, with the company's new chief executive, Charles Woodburn, also "trimming" its workforce at other locations. Insiders said the number of jobs being axed would number "well over 1,000", although the precise figure was unclear on Monday.
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10/10/2017
Canada has formally expressed interest in Australia’s used Boeing F/A-18A/B Hornets, marking a significant development in the Royal Canadian Air Force’s search for a fighter that could temporarily fill the CF-18’s mission.
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10/10/2017
A military official in Seoul said that although there is no sign of any impending “provocation” by Pyongyang, South Korea had detected “some movement from the North’s missile facilities and bases” and maintained ”the heightened reconnaissance and preparedness posture."
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10/10/2017
India's first three women air combatants will be given the Russian made MiG-21 Bison to fly after they are officially inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) next month. Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa considers the aircraft as the most potent to sharpen the skill of new fighter pilots.
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10/10/2017
Russia and Saudi Arabia reached agreements on the supply of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems, TOS-1A "Buratino" heavy flame systems, AGS-30 grenade launchers and Kalashnikov AK-103 assault rifles, Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation spokeswoman Maria Vorobyova told Sputnik.
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10/08/2017
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is now reviewing expert proposals to provide a one-time unclassified report on China’s development of advanced weapons. The Request for Proposals seeks unclassified, open-source assessments of specific Chinese weapons systems and areas of ongoing technological inquiry.
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10/08/2017
The recent standoff between the Indian and Chinese Armies at Doklam reinforced India’s need to develop and maintain the capability of fighting a two-front war. The two fronts, of course, being China and Pakistan, with which India has had long-standing border disputes.
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10/08/2017
With a just-delivered Black Hawk helicopter sitting on a military runway behind him, Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, vowed Saturday that “a tidal wave of air power is on the horizon” in the war against Taliban insurgents and that “this is the beginning of the end for the Taliban.”
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10/08/2017
The Indian Air Force says it is focussing on the immediate purchase of single-engine aircraft despite the pressing need for twin-engine fighter jets too as the former costs less and they would make up for the shortage at the moment.
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10/07/2017
Comprised of active-duty, Guard and Reserve aircrew service members, the men and women of the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron help project combat power by providing agile, effective air refueling in line with the objectives of the Combined Forces Air Component Command and Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component.
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10/07/2017
The Indian Air Force has been operating at its lowest combat strength in more than a decade. It is down to 33 squadrons as against a mandated 42 squadrons needed for a simultaneous and collusive two-front war scenario with Pakistan and China.
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10/07/2017
This IAF claim comes in response to Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's statement that Islamabad can use nuclear weapons to thwart any Indian attempt to enter Pakistani territory.
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10/06/2017
The US Air Force could have a decision on the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalisation programme by the end of the October, the service’s top civilian hinted during a 5 October event in Washington.
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10/06/2017
South Africa's Paramount Group has acquired four twin-seat Dassault Mirage F1s from the French government to support aggressor training. The surplus French air force fighters will be operated by its Paramount Aerospace Systems subsidiary. Paramount declines to disclose the purchase price, but says it is a "multimillion-euro" transaction.
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10/06/2017
France's bid to offer the Dassault Rafale to Belgium appears increasingly doomed following comments from the latter's defence minister. Under questioning from fellow lawmakers in the Belgian parliament, defence minister Steven Vandeput said Paris had not responded correctly to a request for proposals (RfP) covering the replacement of its Lockheed Martin F-16 fleet.
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10/06/2017
"Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, California, has been awarded a $130,469,576 contract for the Japan Global Hawk program," the release said. "This contract includes long lead material to initiate the program for three global hawk block 30 (I) air vehicles, two ground control elements, enhanced integrated sensor suite, spares, and a site survey."
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10/06/2017
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has officially commissioned the Chengdu J-20 fifth-gen stealth fighter into military service, with testing underway to make the plane fully operational. In an exclusive analysis for Sputnik, Russian military observer Vasily Kashin outlines the capabilities that the new plane provides.
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10/05/2017
India’s first female combat aircraft pilots are likely to fly supersonic fighter jets after they finish the last leg of their training later this month, Indian Air Force officials told Hindustan Times on Tuesday. Three women are currently training on British Hawk advanced jet trainers at an IAF facility at Kalaikunda in West Bengal. Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh and Avani Chaturvedi were commissioned as flying officers in the IAF in June 2016.
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10/05/2017
The $50 million base opened on Saturday and is staffed with 200 Turkish personnel. However, they will soon be joined by over 10,000 Somali and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) soldiers participating in the fight against Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, or al-Shabaab for short. A branch of al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab has fought the Somali government in an eight-year civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
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10/05/2017
A Russian Long-Range Aviation unit has started exercises involving over 20 aircraft, airfields and ranges from Kaluga Region in central Russia to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the country's Far East, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
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10/04/2017
The United States Air Force should consider shifting its balance of its strike forces from fighters to long-range bombers. At the end of the Cold War, the Air Force’s combat aircraft inventory included 411 bombers. Today, it has a total of 158 B-1, B-52, and B-2 bombers, of which only 96 are designated as Primary Mission Aircraft Inventory assigned to operational squadrons to support wartime missions.
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10/04/2017
The Russian News Agency TASS reports (citing an unnamed source) that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is planning to sign a contract for “over a squadron” of Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E multi-role fighters from the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in 2017. “They want a lot, over a squadron but the exact number will be specified in the course of negotiations that may be held in November during an air show in Dubai,” said a source speaking to TASS.
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10/04/2017
The US State Department has approved the sale of 3,900 Raytheon GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bombs Increment II (SDB II) weapons to Australia for use with its Lockheed Martin F-35As.
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10/04/2017
Bell Helicopter did not reach first flight with its V-280 Valor on 30 September as originally announced and instead projects the tiltrotor aircraft will meet that milestone in November, V-280’s programme manager tells FlightGlobal this week.
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10/03/2017
The US Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are ramping up their efforts to thwart small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), with two recent requests out looking for sensors and lasers to shoot down or disable them.
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10/03/2017
The service reported the trainer aircraft missing after the T-45 departed from Knoxville, Tennessee for NAS Meridian, Mississippi on Sunday. At about 6 p.m. 1 October, NAS Meridian received reports of a jet crash near Tellico Plains, Tennessee, about 112km (70mi) south of Knoxville. The training wing had a T-45C flying near Tellico Plains that had not returned to the air station, the navy says in a 2 October statement.
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10/03/2017
The Chengdu J-20 fighter has entered service with the Chinese air force, as reports of emerge of progress with indigenous engines. A brief, three-line statement from the Chinese ministry of defence said the devleopmental type had entered service, but added little else. It is not clear exactly how many have entered service, but Chinese defence chatrooms suggest the number of in-service examples could be six.
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10/03/2017
Joint Russian-Serbian BARS (Brotherhood of Aviators of Russia and Serbia) tactical flight drills have kicked off in the Russian central city of Lipetsk, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday. The drills are carried out in accordance with the international military cooperation plan and will conclude at the end of next week, according to the ministry.
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10/03/2017
On Monday, Russia has started the first delivery of six Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets to Serbia, a source in the sphere of military-technical cooperation told Sputnik. The first An-124 military transport aircraft, loaded with disassembled Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets, was scheduled to take off from Tretyakovo airport in the Moscow Region, which is operated by Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, at noon on Monday.
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10/01/2017
After a large army, the second most important arm of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces has historically been the country’s air force. The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) is the most powerful air force on the Korean Peninsula, with a capability far greater than its northern rival, providing air cover and support to ground forces defending south of the thirty-eighth parallel. Recently, the air force has taken on a new task as Seoul shapes a conventional force to deter North Korea’s nuclear we
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10/01/2017
During the Paris Air Show, on June 19, the company announced a coproduction agreement with the Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TATA), and now it has disclosed that in anticipation of a contract from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for a single engine aircraft manufacturing facility, it has already initiated steps to create the required ecosystem in the country.
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10/01/2017
While airstrikes by the US-led coalition in Syria have only resulted in terrorists seizing ever new chunks of Syrian territory, the Russian military operation, launched in 2016 , has led to a huge military shift turning the tables against the jihadists, an independent British journalist told Sputnik.
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