Military Aviation News Archive
09/27/2022
U.S. Air Force guided missile experts are asking a team of Raytheon Technologies Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop one of the first hypersonic cruise missiles to be in the U.S. inventory. Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Armament Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $985.3 million task order Thursday to the Raytheon Missiles & Defense segment in Tucson, Ariz., to design and develop the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).
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09/27/2022
Walking into the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber this year, conference goers were immediately greeted with a large display from Google Cloud—a contender for the Pentagon’s major tactical cloud program and one of the conference’s major sponsors. On the floor, SAIC’s tower was right behind the Air Force Research Laboratory's booth, like a beacon of would-be connectivity.
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09/26/2022
On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
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09/26/2022
Slightly after dusk on Sep. 22, Ukrainian air defense operators near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine detected a swam of Russian drones volleying over the front lines. Coming at themwere some of Moscow’s newest weapons – Iranian–made Shaheed-136s. Russian President Vladimir Putin had trumpeted the purchase of these “suicide drones” after his July visit to Iran, placing great store in both their precision strike capabilities and reputed stealth. But Moscow and Tehran were both in for a shock.
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09/26/2022
China's military has suggested its advanced J-20 twin-seat fighter jets might be used in conjunction with drones to increase firepower. The twin-seat J-20s can carry out coordinated reconnaissance, coordinated strikes, and coordinated command missions when coupled with drones, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Sunday, quoting a Chinese military magazine.
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09/25/2022
The US Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a firm-fixed price contract to produce an additional 12 Sikorsky (a Lockheed Martin company) MH-60R Seahawk helicopters for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Procured via the US Government’s Foreign Military Sales agreement, the new aircraft will add a third ‘Romeo’ squadron of unparalleled capability to the RAN’s Fleet Air Arm.
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09/25/2022
The Russian air force reportedly has had a very bad day. The Ukrainian defense ministry on Saturday claimed its forces shot down four Russian warplanes in 24 hours. An Su-34, two Su-30s and an Su-25. Videos circulating online seem to confirm at least two of the shoot-downs. “Today is a good day,” the Ukrainian defense ministry tweeted.
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09/25/2022
The Russian Air and Space Forces [VKS] have tested and continue to test their new Tu-214R reconnaissance aircraft. These claims were published in several Russian media, including RIA Novosti. According to Russian military analysts, the Tu-214R was sent over to Ukraine to detect military targets. Other experts claim that the Tu-214R was used to map the current situation and detect future military structures.
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09/25/2022
North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday, Seoul’s military said, just days after a United States aircraft carrier arrived for joint drills with the South in a show of force against Pyongyang. South Korea had earlier detected signs the North was preparing to fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the president’s office said on Saturday – a weapon Pyongyang last tested in May.
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09/25/2022
The Philippine Air Force [PAF] is experiencing problems after having to ground half of its equipment. There is a shortage of spare parts for the FA-50PH light attack aircraft. Only three of these light fighter jets are operational, and the remaining nine aircraft are grounded. The PAF confirmed that they were experiencing problems, but they said the situation was not stressful.
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09/24/2022
The losses of the Russian occupiers for the day amounted to 550 people of military personnel, 18 tanks, 20 combat vehicles, 14 artillery systems, one aircraft and one helicopter. In total, since February 24, the enemy has lost 56,060 people, according to the General Staff of Ukraine.
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09/24/2022
On September 26 and 27, Allies Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Türkije, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Partner Finland will conduct the third Ramstein Alloy exercise in 2022 with a focus on NATO’s Deter and Defend concept.
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09/24/2022
Bulgaria's caretaker government decided to propose to parliament to purchase a second batch of eight F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft from the U.S. for a total of $1.296 billion (1.32 billion euro), the defence ministry said. The caretaker government also decided to finance 13 priority projects worth a total of 6.6 billion levs ($3.3 billion/3.37 billion euro) to meet some of the requirements for improving Bulgaria's defence capabilities to safeguard national security,.
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09/24/2022
The U.S. Air Force is building manned variants of the emerging sixth-generation fighter jet as part of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says that the family of systems will likely control as many as five drones at one time, a development that will introduce new tactics, expand the mission scope of a stealth fighter jet, and enable dispersed yet networked weapons and surveillance nodes to increase attack and reconnaissance options.
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09/24/2022
The Air Force’s array of 48 fighter squadrons and nine attack squadrons are today being asked to do the work of 60 squadrons, the head of Air Combat Command said Wednesday. This is stretching the fighter fleet thin, ACC head Gen. Mark Kelly said in a keynote address at the Air Force Association’s Air Space Cyber conference here — and, in a major war, will become unsustainable.
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09/23/2022
Don't get your hopes up. But it looks as though Selfridge Air National Guard Base (SANG) is once again in the running to become a training center for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. The Department of the Air Force (DAF) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Tuesday for the beddown of a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pilot Training Center (PTC) at Ebbing Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Arkansas, or SANG in Harrison Township, according to Tuesday's news release.
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09/23/2022
The Air Force awarded Raytheon Missiles and Defense a $985,348,124 contract to develop and demonstrate Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile prototypes, underscoring the U.S. Air Force’s focus on increasing interoperability with allies and partners to stay ahead of strategic competitors. HACM is an air-launched, scramjet-powered hypersonic weapon designed to hold high-value targets at risk in contested environments from standoff distances.
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09/22/2022
Iran's military moves in recent weeks have captured worldwide attention, stoking concern among rivals in the US and across the Middle East. On September 1, Iran's navy briefly seized two US Navy unmanned surface vessels in the Red Sea, succeeding on its second attempt capture a US drone within a week.
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09/22/2022
Swedish aerospace giant Saab has been awarded a contract to provide maintenance support for the South African Air Force’s Gripen fighter aircraft. The agreement covers component repairs and minor updates to ensure that the Gripens can continue supporting various missions. According to company business unit head Åsa Schöllin, the contract reflects South Africa’s trust in Saab’s ability to support global customers’ operational needs.
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09/22/2022
Argentina’s government has told lawmakers that it plans to spend about $684 million to procure new fighter jets and build related infrastructure. The information, provided last week in response to questions from the Defense Committee within the Deputies Chamber, came from the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, Juan Manzur, and the office of Defense Minister Jorge Taiana.
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09/22/2022
With its fighter squadron capacity dwindling since Operation Desert Storm, the Air Force must advance the development of unmanned aircraft that can fill the gap, the head of Air Combat Command said Sept. 21.
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09/21/2022
Russia’s failure to target Ukrainian integrated air defenses at the outset of hostilities in February have cost it at least 55 fixed-wing combat aircraft, while about 80 percent of Ukraine’s Air Force remains intact according to a senior U.S. Air Force general. Most if not all of those shootdowns were caused by Ukrainian surface-to-air missile (SAM) attacks on Russian aircraft, according to Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa.
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09/21/2022
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday announced that two of its FA-50PH light combat fighters have escorted and secured President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s flight up to 200 nautical miles as it departed for New York last Sept. 18. This is for the Chief Executive's participation to the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
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09/21/2022
In this Q&A with Ed Topps, senior vice president of the Strategic Aircraft Systems group for Sierra Nevada Corporation’s ISR, Aviation & Security (IAS) business area, Topps discusses: Foreign Military Sales for the A-29 Super Tucano; how SNC modifies the A-29 from Brazil’s Embraer; and the improved A-29C for Special Operations.
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09/21/2022
Saab has secured a contract to provide service, maintenance and repair support for Gripen C/D fighter aircraft operated by the South African Air Force (SAAF). The estimated value of this contract is approximately $30.70m (Skr333m). It is valid from 2022 to 2025.
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