August, 2021 Military Aviation News
08/31/2021
The arduous airlift demands of the Afghanistan evacuation mission haven’t changed the U.K. Royal Air Force’s plans to retire its C-130s by 2030, its top officer said Aug. 27. “This is the first large-scale operation that we’ve done with our A400s, and it’s demonstrated that this is an aircraft with real potential and enormous capacity,” said RAF Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston in an interview with Defense News. “It flies much higher and much faster and carries a greater payload than the C-130.
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08/31/2021
An air force F-16 fighter aircraft left the runway, and ended up nose-down at Pingtung Air Base this morning, according to reports today, Tuesday, August 31. Pilots were rehearsing for the upcoming Han Kuang military exercises when the fighter jet overran the runway after landing at around 6:30 am. Witnesses reported seeing several firetrucks and ambulances rush to the scene of the incident.
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08/31/2021
The last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s airport, the Pentagon said Monday, bringing down the curtain on America’s longest war. The head of the U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, said the final liftoff of American military aircraft came one minute before midnight in Kabul — just before the start of Tuesday, the day set by President Biden as the deadline for the departure of U.S. troops.
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08/30/2021
A newborn baby is cared for prior to departing a C-17 Globemaster III, August 23, 2021 at a Middle East staging area. A 315th Airlift Wing aircrew from Joint Base Charleston, S.C. helped deliver the baby while aboard a C-17 Globemaster III carrying Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan moments before landing at a Middle East staging area.
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08/30/2021
U.S. military aircraft are now ferrying food, tarps and other material into southern Haiti amid a shift in the international relief effort to focus on helping people in the areas hardest hit by the recent earthquake to make it through the hurricane season. Aircraft flying out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, arrived throughout the day Saturday in the mostly rural, mountainous southern peninsula that was the epicenter of the Aug. 14 earthquake.
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08/29/2021
The first-ever incursion of Chinese military helicopters into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this week suggests that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be rotating through its arsenal of aircraft to probe the capabilities of the Taiwanese defense system and how it responds, experts said on Friday.
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08/29/2021
The four-blade multi-purpose aircraft was just taxiing on the tarmac, but the exercise sent a message to the world: the Taliban were no longer a group of ragtag soldiers wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles on battered pickup trucks. Elsewhere, since the fall of Kabul on 15 August to the hard-line Islamist group, the Taliban's fighters have been pictured showing off a host of US-made weaponry and vehicles.
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08/27/2021
A joint air combat exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will be held this year, the first of its kind between the two countries. According to The Senkei News, it was revealed on August 22 that the IAF and JASDF will conduct joint training exercises, the novelty of which is that it will be the first time that Japanese pilots will be tested against Russian-designed fighter jets.
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08/27/2021
Projecting unrivaled combat airpower requires a lot of training in and out of the classroom. While both are equally important, some of the most valuable training a pilot can get is by strapping into the cockpit of their aircraft and going head-to-head with another pilot in another fighter. This is where the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company comes into play.
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08/27/2021
Qatar has received its first batch of the new generation F-15 combat aircraft, produced by the United States and Boeing, in partnership with the Gulf state. The rollout took place on Wednesday in a ceremony at Boeing’s headquarters in the US state of Missouri, with the Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah in attendance.
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08/26/2021
During the first '2+2' meeting involving the foreign and defence ministers of India and Japan in late 2019, the two nations agreed to hold a military exercise involving their fighter aircraft. It would have been the first such training venture between the two countries, which have held drills involving warships, land-based forces and transport aircraft of their air forces. The fighter exercise, proposed to be held in mid-2020.
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08/26/2021
A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed today in Rajasthan's Barmer during a training mission. The pilot ejected safely, officials said. The MiG-21 Bison jet set a hut on fire after it crashed into it in the Matasar Bhoortiya village of Barmer this evening. The pilot is safe, officials said.
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08/25/2021
The US Navy’s Boeing MQ-25TM T1 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) refueled a Navy E-2D Hawkeye command and control aircraft in a test flight from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport last week, Boeing announced. During the flight, pilots from the Navy Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-20 did a wake survey behind the MQ-25 to check its stability before making contact with the other aircraft. The E-2D then received fuel from the MQ-25.
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08/25/2021
Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed an agreement with MBDA to assemble, integrate, and test the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) in India. Under the agreement, MBDA will assist the state-owned Indian defense manufacturer in setting up a facility within its existing manufacturing complex in Bhanur, Telangana. The facility will provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul of the missiles, adaptable to assembly, integration, and testing of the MBDA’s CAMM missile.
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08/25/2021
As the philosopher, The Notorious B.I.G., wrote, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”
But what if instead of money, it was a flightline full of fifth-generation fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force? Enter the Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, safety office. “During RED FLAG-Alaska, Eielson’s operations tempo goes from a drizzle to a downpour,” said Master Sgt. Ryan Smith, 354th Fighter Wing flight safety non-commissioned officer.
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08/24/2021
Evacuation planes landing in Kabul to rescue US citizens and Afghans are taking no chances — they’re making nose-dive combat landings and deploying decoy flares to ward off potential missile attacks. One French Air Force A400M taking off from the beleaguered airport launched a half-dozen flares moments after takeoff, footage from ITV Turkey posted by CBS News shows. The flares are designed to draw heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft.
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08/23/2021
Observers have been noting how the Sukhoi Su-75 ‘CheckMate’ revealed in July this year represented a transformation in Russian fighter design, based on the plane’s striking similarities to US jets (the F-35, and the Boeing X-32 experimental aircraft).
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08/23/2021
Evacuation planes landing in Kabul to rescue US citizens and Afghans are taking no chances — they’re making nose-dive combat landings and deploying decoy flares to ward off potential missile attacks. One French Air Force A400M taking off from the beleaguered airport launched a half-dozen flares moments after takeoff, footage from ITV Turkey posted by CBS News shows. The flares are designed to draw heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft.
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08/23/2021
Ahmad Massoud, leader of Afghanistan's last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance, said on Sunday he hoped to hold peaceful talks with the Islamist movement that seized power in Kabul a week ago but that his forces were ready to fight.
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08/21/2021
A Spanish military plane carrying 110 evacuees from Afghanistan took off from Kabul Friday to land in Dubai. Some 50 out of the passengers are to travel on to Spain, according to the Foreign Affairs minister, José Manuel Albares. Among the passengers are three Afghan families from the embassy in Kabul and captain of the Afghan paralympic basketball team, Nilofar Bayat among others.
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08/21/2021
The RC-135 spy plane was inducted into the US Airforce in January 1964 amid the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Boeing Defence and Integrated Systems designed and developed the aircraft, which was meant to replace the C-135 Stratolifter and aid the US in its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations against the erstwhile Soviet Union.
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08/21/2021
On Aug. 9, an Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) in a designated area of Fort McCoy’s impact area on North Post for the first time in post history as part of training in the Northern Lightning 2021 exercise.
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08/21/2021
United Kingdom (U.K.) Carrier Strike Group (CSG 21) and USS America Expeditionary Strike Group (AMA ESG) with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, begin multinational advanced aviation operations in support of Large Scale Global Exercise (LSGE) 21, Aug. 20.
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08/20/2021
After stunning the Biden administration with a lightning takeover of Afghanistan on Sunday, the Taliban found some unexpected presents from the fleeing Afghan army, including U.S.-made planes, armored vehicles, guns, and even night-vision goggles.
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08/19/2021
If you’re in the business of selling drones, precision weapons or stealth technology, Morocco’s Air Force could be your next customer. The African nation is bolstering military-to-military relations and connecting with defense companies to modernize its air power capabilities. Moroccan officials have singled out the use of drones in combat as “a key dimension of its military modernization efforts,” according to Samuel Ramani, a defense expert at the University of Oxford.
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08/19/2021
The Italian Air Force will get new tankers, SIGINT and CAEW assets while also continuing the development of special C-27J variants, as disclosed in the new multiyear defense planning document.
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08/18/2021
In a release Tuesday, Royal Air Force reported that Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets on Quick Reaction Alert based in Romania with 121 Expeditionary Air Wing have scrambled to intercept a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer aircraft. The Typhoons, from Number 121 Expeditionary Air Wing, are conducting NATO Enhanced Air Policing and scrambled as the Russian aircraft was detected entering the Bucharest Flight Information Region, heading towards Romanian territorial airspace.
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08/18/2021
State-owned plane maker Hindustan Aeronautical Limited has placed an order worth Rs 5375 crore for 99 F404-GE-IN20 engines and support services with US-based GE Aviation, to power the Tejas light combat aircraft. According to HAL CMD R Madhavan, this is the largest-ever purchase order placed by the state-owned aircraft manufacturer for the light combat aircraft.
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08/18/2021
Once the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan’s airfield in Kandahar on Friday, it didn’t take long for photos to appear on social media showing Taliban fighters posing with military helicopters such as U.S.-made Black Hawks and Soviet-made Mi-17s. After the group took over Mazar-i-Sharif airport this weekend, more photos followed, this time of Taliban members standing next to an A-29 attack plane and MD-530 utility helicopter.
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08/16/2021
The Air Force will deploy enough aircraft to ferry out “thousands per day” from Kabul as the American diplomatic presence draws down and more Afghan interpreters are brought out of the country, the Pentagon said Aug. 13.
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08/15/2021
A Russian Beriev Be-200 aircraft crashed near near Kahramanmaras, in southeastern Turkey, during a firefighting mission, to fight a fire that broke out during the day as a result of a lightning strike in the forest area on Aug. 14, 2021. According to the reports, five crew members (military, belonging to the Russian Federation) and three Turkish forest inspectors were killed in the incident (some sources say just 7 people were aboard).
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08/15/2021
Sources in the Russian military-industrial complex have reportedly stated that an upgraded and modernized version of the Su-57 is to begin serial production as of 2025. The modernization is part of the Megalopolis development program. According to TASS, among the main improvements of this «new Su-57» is the incorporation of the second stage engine, the Izdelie 30, and the renovation and upgrade of the cockpit, probably to unify as much as possible the production of the Su-57 and S-75 Checkmate.
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08/15/2021
The Afghan National Security Forces has a long record of losing track of U.S.-supplied guns and rifles. But as the Taliban gains territory following the U.S. troop withdrawal, Afghanistan could lose far more lethal weapons: combat aircraft. The Pentagon says that has not happened yet, and that the Afghan Air Force continues to fly missions and carry out airstrikes against the Taliban every day.
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08/13/2021
The U.S. Air Force operated some of its aircraft from a state highway as part of the Agile Combat Employment concept during exercise Northern Strike 21. According to the press release, this was the first time in history that the Air Force has purposely landed modern aircraft on a civilian roadway in the United States, with four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and two C-146A Wolfhounds landing on the Michigan State Highway M-32 near Alpena on August 5, 2021.
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08/13/2021
US aerospace company Lockheed Martin Corp. is open to setting up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India for F-21 to further sweeten its bid for the 114 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF), its representatives said on Wednesday. Michael Kelley, vice president, India, Lockheed Martin aeronautics strategy and business development, and Brett Medlin, the F-21 India campaign lead, are in the country to hold talks with government and IAF officials on the multibillion-do
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08/13/2021
Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc., Sacramento, Calif., will build BQM-167A Air Force Subscale Aerial Target (AFSAT) drones under terms of a potential $338.1 million U.S. Air Force contract announced Friday.
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08/09/2021
As the U.S. Air Force restructures its aircraft inventory to compete with China, the service is taking calculated risks in its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft portfolio, a top general said Wednesday. In its fiscal 2022 budget request, the Air Force proposed mothballing four of its 16 E-8 JSTARS aircraft, which are used for ground surveillance and targeting, as well as 20 Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 surveillance drones.
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08/08/2021
You may be hearing more jets flying through the sky next week as Camp Douglas in Juneau County hosts about 60 aircraft and 1,000 members of the U.S. military for a 12-day-long training exercise.
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08/08/2021
Turkey’s Baykar Savunma has revealed that the unmanned fighter jet it is currently working on will have low visibility and aggressive maneuverability. After being ejected from the F-35 program, Turkey is banking on the large stealth jet drone to provide it with the ability to penetrate enemy air defenses and attack military targets.
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08/06/2021
The Michigan Air National Guard took off and landed multiple planes on a four-lane stretch of State Highway M-32 Thursday, which is the first time that modern combat aircraft have intentionally landed on a U.S. civilian road, the Selfridge base said. Part of M-32 near Alpena in the northwestern part of the state was closed down for the training exercise, which was dubbed "Thunder Landing Zone (LZ)."
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08/06/2021
The Russian Defense Ministry gave the green light to the Su-30SM upgrade program, an aircraft that has been deployed in large numbers in the Air Force and Naval Aviation, to bring it to the SM2 version or as the Russian press calls it, Super Sukhoi.
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08/06/2021
TheM-346FA (Fighter Attack) is a light attack version of M-346 jet trainer developed by the Italian firm Leonardo. The first two aicraft were spotted on footage released by state news agency of Turkmenistan. The news agencsy reported that urkmenian President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov personally appreciated the new aircraft and flew one of them.
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08/05/2021
On 22 February, the Indonesian Survey Institute published the results of a poll that rated Minister of Defence Prabowo Subianto as the top performer among President Joko Widodo’s ministers, with 75% of respondents expressing satisfaction with his performance. The result should be taken with a grain of salt as it might only reflect a reaction to name recognition rather than actual performance.
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08/05/2021
The possibility of exporting the latest Sukhoi `Checkmate’ Light Tactical Aircraft (LTA) aircraft will be discussed in case India expresses substantive interest in this new fighter. “For our part, we are open to cooperation and are ready to consider all proposals. Our countries are already actively developing cooperation in the field of aviation technology,” a top officer of Russia based Rostec has told Financial Express Online. Adding, “The Indian military aviation fleet is almost 80% equipped
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08/04/2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin got a sneak peek of a new fifth-generation lightweight single-engine fighter jet at an air show just outside of Moscow on Tuesday. Russian aircraft makers unveiled a prototype of the stealth fighter dubbed "Checkmate" for the 68-year-old leader at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, ahead of its official unveiling later in the day, according to a statement from Rostec.
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08/02/2021
The National Democratic Coalition in the United States of America (NADECO – USA) has condemned the delivery of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria from the US. The group, in statement on Tuesday, July 29, cited alleged gross human rights abuses as part of the reasons why the US should not have delivered the aircraft to the West African country.
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08/02/2021
Japan’s defence minister has called on the international community to pay greater attention to the “survival of Taiwan” as he warned that China’s military build-up was enveloping the island. Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, told the Financial Times in an interview that broad international pressure was crucial to prevent Taiwan’s future being decided by military confrontation.
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08/02/2021
The owner of a private hospital in Afghanistan said the Afghan air force bombed the facility on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others. He said the hospital was targeted because the military erroneously believed Taliban fighters were being treated there.
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08/02/2021
Nationalist politician and Soviet Air Force veteran Viktor Alksnis drew attention to recent images of Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber aircraft in Syria, writing on Facebook that military pilots use commercial GPS receivers during their combat operations.
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08/01/2021
But what is significant is that while Xi, accompanied by three politburo members of his Communist Party and General Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, began his Tibet tour from Nyingchi Prefecture, which is just opposite India’s Arunachal Pradesh, the strengthening of the EAC through the induction of the Rafale is the recognition of its growing role.
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08/01/2021
According to information released by the Italian Navy on July 30, 2021, the first Italian Navy F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) fighter aircraft landed on the Cavour aircraft carrier after the test and certification activity carried out with U.S. F-35 during the "Ready for Operations" (RFO) campaign concluded at the end of April this year.
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08/01/2021
The U.S. Air Force’s Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) has been redesignated as the X-62A, according to the Air Force Materiel Command. The highly modified F-16 fighter has been operating for nearly 30 years as the NF-16D, the “N” signifying a permanent test modification. The aircraft’s redesignation reflects, in part, its years of testing in support of new technology development, but also highlights a new mission that is being added during a major upgrade for the aircraft.
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08/01/2021
The day is fast approaching when a Ford-class aircraft carrier will set sail armed with F-35C stealth fighter jets, bringing an as of yet unprecedented combat capability to warfare. What might this mean? Will it truly give the U.S. Navy an edge over major power rivals in terms of reach, attack pace and overall power projection? Potentially.
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