December 15, 2018 Military Aviation News

Bulgarian PM on fighter jet acquisition: ‘F-16 much better aircraft than all others available’ (updated)

12/15/2018

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov expressed hope on December 14 that the offer to supply his country with US-made F-16s would be improved “because I’ve talked with the pilots and a new F-16 is a much better aircraft than all the others available”. Borissov’s statement, against a background that Bulgaria’s decision on its choice of new fighter jets may be largely driven by political considerations, may deal a blow to the other two bids, Sweden’s Gripen and Italy’s Eurofighters.

Slovakia signs for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft

12/15/2018

Slovakia has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraft (12 single-seat and 2 two-seat models). Slovakia has signed the contract on Wednesday with Lockheed Martin vice president of international business development Ana Wugofski for new. F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraftto replace its Russian made MiG-29 jets.

India Selects Israeli Radar and Electronic Warfare Suite For Tejas Light Combat Aircraft

12/15/2018

India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) concluded a deal on October 26 with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary Elta Systems for the purchase of 83 ELM-2052 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and ELL-8222WB electronic warfare (EW) suites to be integrated with the Mark-IA Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), according to local media reports.

Counter hypersonic weapon possible by mid-2020s: DoD

12/15/2018

The USA could have a counter hypersonic weapon developed by the mid-2020s. However, creating a workable defense against hypersonic vehicles and missiles would require developing longer range radars and new space-based sensors to track and target an adversary’s weapons soon after they are launched, said Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, at a National Defense Industrial Association event on 13 December, according to a transcript and press release from the Pe

CBO: US Air Force funding too little to replace aging aircraft

12/15/2018

The US Air Force’s average funding level in recent years is too little to replace, on a one-for-one basis, aging aircraft with new aircraft in the coming decades. That’s according to research by the Congressional Budget Office, which notes that costly-to-replace Lockheed Martin F-16C/D and Boeing F-15C/D fighters, F-15E multirole fighters, Lockheed Martin C-130 cargo aircraft, and Rockwell B-1B bombers are nearing the end of their service life.

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