Military Aviation News Archive
06/05/2023
An unresponsive airplane flying over Washington, D.C., on Sunday prompted military fighter jets to intercept the plane at hypersonic levels, causing a loud sonic boom heard around D.C. and Virginia, officials said. The plane later crashed in Virginia and no survivors were found.
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06/05/2023
A handful of former German fighter pilots are reportedly working as military trainers in China and receiving enormous salaries, indicating yet another incident of “poaching” by China after similar patterns were recorded in the US, the UK, and France.
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06/05/2023
China’s defense minister defended sailing a warship across the path of an American destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait, telling a gathering of some of the world’s top defense officials in Singapore on Sunday that such so-called “freedom of navigation” patrols are a provocation to China.
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06/03/2023
The Russian-occupied Azov Sea port city of Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was struck by a Ukrainian missile on Friday, an occupation official said. Located about 60 miles from the front lines, Berdyansk is the latest example of long-distance targets Ukraine can now hit thanks to donated weapons. This is at least the fourth attack on the port city in the past few weeks.
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06/03/2023
The US Air Force (USAF) is denying reports that an unmanned aerial system (UAS) powered by artificial intelligence turned against its operators during an exercise. Recent comments by a USAF test pilot at a Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) summit in London appeared to indicate such an event had occurred during a training exercise simulation.
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06/03/2023
The blazing Langkawi sun did little to deter the crowds that had gathered on the tarmac to catch a glimpse of the ear-busting action unfolding above them at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre, right beside the island’s airport.
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06/02/2023
Team Misawa hosted the latest iteration of a PACIFIC WEASEL exercise over Draughon Range near Misawa Air Base, Japan, May 26, 2023. PAC WEASEL is a recurring air combat exercise that allows joint and bilateral partners to discover innovative solutions for any given mission. This exercise series supports the U.S. commitment to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific region by enhancing the readiness and tactical capabilities of U.S. Forces Japan and Japan Self-Defense Forces.
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06/02/2023
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland will help Ukraine train F-16 combat aircraft pilots, After speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European officials at the meeting of European leaders in Moldova.
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06/02/2023
Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) had the distinction of signing the largest contract for an export sale to the armed forces of Malaysia during the May 23-27 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA). The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) will acquire 18 of the FA-50 Block 20 “Fighting Eagle” trainer/light combat aircraft, a jet jointly developed by KAI with Lockheed Martin in the US. These aircraft will replace the BAE Systems Hawk 208 light fighters already in service.
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06/01/2023
U.S. defense officials are warning of an "alarming increase" in aggressive intercepts from Chinese military aircraft and vessels following a close encounter between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. military plane in international airspace over the South China Sea last week. These "risky" intercepts have the "potential to create an unsafe incident or miscalculation," said two U.S. defense officials who spoke about the incident on the condition of anonymity.
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06/01/2023
A Navy F-5N Tiger II crashed about 25 miles off the coast of Naval Air Station Key West, Fla., at 9:20 a.m local time., the service announced on Wednesday. The pilot of the fighter, assigned to the “Sun Downers” of Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC) 111, was recovered by the crew of a MH-60S Knight Hawk. The pilot was flown to a Miami hospital for further treatment, according to a service statement.
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06/01/2023
Over the next two weeks, more than two dozen US Air Force jets and tankers will participate in the drills, which began on May 29 and will last through June 9. The Arctic drills will feature 150 aircraft from 14 nations and take place at bases across Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
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06/01/2023
The Biden administration is poised to sign off on a deal that would allow General Electric Co to produce jet engines powering Indian military aircraft in that country, according to three people briefed on the decision. A deal finalizing the joint production of the engines is expected to be inked and announced by the time President Joe Biden hosts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit on June 22, the people said on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been
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05/31/2023
Aiming to secure support for Sweden's bid to join NATO, U.S. President Joe Biden signaled a transactional approach in his engagement with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The newly reelected Turkish leader has been one of the most consequential yet complicated members of the transatlantic military alliance.
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05/31/2023
Poland plans to purchase at least two Swedish early warning aircraft to complement additional tethered warning systems, but they’re perhaps not the planes some observers had been expecting. Early last week Poland’s defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced that he and his Swedish counterpart, Pal Jonson, had been in discussion, and Warsaw was “very advanced in acquiring early warning aircraft from Sweden.
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05/31/2023
The Botswana Defence Force is in talks with India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with a view to acquiring several of its Tejas fighter planes. In a move aimed at enhancing its defence capabilities, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) is currently engaged in talks with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India’s state-owned aerospace and defense company.
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05/31/2023
A People's Republic of China J-16 fighter pilot performed an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver during the intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, May 26, 2023. The PRC pilot flew directly in front of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence. The RC-135 was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law.
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05/30/2023
Josh Lospinoso’s first cybersecurity startup was acquired in 2017 by Raytheon/Forcepoint. His second, Shift5, works with the U.S. military, rail operators and airlines including JetBlue. A 2009 West Point grad and Rhodes Scholar, the 36-year-old former Army captain spent more than a decade authoring hacking tools for the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.
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05/30/2023
The trilateral drills will be done off Bataan province that’s facing the South China Sea from June 1 to 7, according to a Philippine Coast Guard statement Monday. The exercises will “strengthen interoperability” and will include maritime law enforcement training and maneuvering drills, it said.
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05/30/2023
The Ministry of Armed Forces tabled the amendment earlier this month to provide more information about the Rafale program’s upcoming efforts, particularly those related to the new F5 version that will be developed under the Military Planning Program (LPM) 2024-2030.
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05/29/2023
Russia unleashed waves of air strikes on Kyiv overnight in what officials said was the largest drone attack of the city but crowds poured into the streets later on Sunday to celebrate the anniversary of the Ukrainian capital's founding. Ukrainian military said it had downed 58 of the 59 launched drones, described by the air force as a record assault with the Iranian-made "kamikaze" drones. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said all 36 drones targeting Kyiv had been destroyed.
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05/29/2023
Tensions between Afghanistan and Iran escalated over the weekend after a heavy exchange of gunfire near a border post that killed at least three people and wounded several others. The clash appeared to have its roots in a simmering dispute over the rights of the two neighbors to their shared water resources.
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05/29/2023
Malaysia’s MoD signed several contracts for aircraft – Italian-built maritime patrol aircraft, Turkish MALE UAVs and South Korean light combat aircraft – at LIMA 2023 in Langkawi on 25 May. The deal for three Anka-S MALE UAVs was worth MYR423.8 million ($91.6 million) to Turkish Aerospace, and it was much awaited given that the two parties signed a letter of intent in around October 2022 after the RMAF had selected the Anka-S.
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05/28/2023
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have become synonymous with modern warfare. During the early phases of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the latter’s Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2s made international headlines by destroying scores of Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and air-defense systems with seeming impunity.
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05/28/2023
The Canadian defense minister Anita Anand announced at the 12th Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting on May 25 that Canada will supply the Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles to Kyiv. The announcement was part of a larger military assistance program for Ukraine.
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