Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

‘GREY WOLF TEAM’: HOW A USAF TASK FORCE WORKS TO KEEP UKRAINE’S PILOTS FIGHTING

06/11/2022

An ad hoc US Air Force task force known as the “Grey Wolf Team” is advising Ukraine’s air force in its defensive air campaign against Russia’s invasion. We exist because there’s a bunch of motivated people who want to help out. There’s not another team like this in the Air Force that’s doing the same thing,” said an Air Force fighter pilot who has worked extensively on the Grey Wolf Team.

Another Military Aircraft Crashes in Southern California, the Third in a Week

06/11/2022

Another military aircraft has crashed in the desert around El Centro, California -- the third in the region in seven days. It comes less than 48 hours after an MV-22B Osprey crash killed five Marines in the same area. On Thursday, a Navy MH-60S Seahawk was conducting a routine training flight from Naval Air Facility El Centro when it crashed at around 6 p.m. local time, the service said in a press release. A social media post from the facility said the crash was located about 35 miles north of Y

First F-35A in Aggressors Paint Scheme Unveiled At Nellis AFB

06/11/2022

On Jun. 9, 2022, the U.S. Air Force reactivated the 65th Aggressors Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The unit, apreviously flying the F-15C/D, inactivated on Sept. 26, 2014, due to Fiscal Year 2015 budget constraints but a plan to “resurrect” it and move 11 F-35A Lightning IIs from Eglin AFB, Florida, to Nellis, “as part of a larger initiative to improve training for fifth generation fighter aircraft” was announced on May 9, 2019.

Dassault and Airbus fighter Jet program is struggling to take flight

06/11/2022

Airbus and Dassault are struggling to reach a mutual agreement on who should take leadership and intellectual rights of its Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program. In March 2022, Dassault Aviation threatened to pull out of an alliance with Airbus. This was followed by Dassault requesting political intervention to help push the deal forward in July.

Chinese military plane crashes in residential area, at least one dead

06/10/2022

A Chinese military plane crashed in a residential area in central China on Thursday, killing at least one person, China's state-run national broadcaster CCTV said. The plane, a People's Liberation Army Air Force J-7 aircraft, was on a training mission in Hubei province when it crashed, damaging several houses, CCTV said.

The Sukhoi Su-57 completed combat operations over Ukraine

06/10/2022

The Russian Air Force has reportedly used four of its new Sukhoi Su-57, fifth-generation fighter jets, to carry out attacks against Ukrainian air defense systems. According to RIA Novosti, a source close to the operation reportedly said that four Su-57 fighter jets, working in a network, were used to identify and destroy Ukrainian air defense systems.

Ukrainian defenders destroy three enemy tanks, six drones in JFO area

06/09/2022

Ukrainian forces have repulsed seven enemy attacks and destroyed a significant number of military equipment in the area of the Joint Forces Operation in eastern Ukraine in the last 24 hours. The Joint Forces Task Force said this in a Facebook post, Ukrinform reports.

New Air National Guard Exercise Tests Agility in Michigan

06/09/2022

ir National Guard Airmen and aircraft from around the country are conducting the first Air National Guard Readiness Exercise Program event, Agile Rage 22. This exercise is hosted by the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, part of the National All-Domain Warfighting Center in Northern Michigan, June 4-18.

Lockheed expects to begin deliveries of F-16 combat jets in 2024

06/09/2022

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) expects to produce its new-build F-16 fighter jets next year and commence deliveries in 2024, its chief financial officer Jesus Malave said on Wednesday. The company has a list of key U.S. allies including Bahrain, Taiwan, Slovakia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia eager to purchase the jet.

U.S. Marine Osprey aircraft with 5 aboard crashes in Southern California just north of Mexico border

06/09/2022

An Osprey aircraft carrying five Marines crashed Wednesday in southeastern California just north of the Mexican border, military officials said. There was no immediate information about casualties or damage to property on the ground due to the crash in Imperial County near Glamis, east of Brawley.

The Ukrainian Air Force Is Sending An Old Aerobatic Jet Into Combat

06/09/2022

More than a hundred days into Russia’s wider war on Russia, the tiny, aging Ukrainian air force still is in the fight. It’s a remarkable feat, considering that the Russian air force has 10 times as many fighters—and most of them are much more modern than Ukraine’s 30-year-old planes are. An old aerobatic fighter jet, apparently returned to service with foreign parts, is a symbol of Kyiv’s continuing aerial defiance.

General Staff: Ukrainian aircraft launch airstrikes on Russian forces in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts

06/08/2022

On the 104th day of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Russian army is continuing to storm the city of Sievierodonetsk. Ukrainian helicopters carried out airstrikes on Russian forces in Kherson Oblast and Ukrainian planes attacked Russian ammunition depots in Mykolaiv Oblast.

Vietnam Modernizes Its Military With a Wary Eye on China

06/08/2022

Ukraine’s successes in resisting and even turning back an invasion by a numerically superior Russian force has raised expectations in East Asia that smaller nations in the region could conceivably fend off an attack from a large military like China’s. Taiwan, of course, has long struggled with executing such a defense strategy, but since its strategic considerations are in many ways unique, other countries nominally threatened by China may not be able to draw as many lessons from Taipei’s experi

What will Sweden and Finland contribute to NATO air power?

06/08/2022

As an unintended result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden will abandon their historical stance of neutrality and want to join NATO. But what combat power will their Air Forces bring to the table? First, it should be noted that both the Swedish and Finnish armed forces have, over the years, developed great interoperability with their neighboring NATO partners, honed through multiple bilateral and multilateral exercises.

U.S., South Korea show off air power in message to North Korea after missile launches

06/08/2022

The United States and South Korea conducted a joint air power demonstration on Tuesday, Seoul said, flying 20 fighter planes in the allies' latest response to North Korea's ballistic missile launches last weekend. The exercise consisted of four U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets and 16 South Korean combat aircraft, including F-15Ks, KF-16s and F-35A stealth fighters, flown in attack formation over the sea west of Korea.

Chinese Fighters Intercept, ‘Flip Off’ RCAF Combat Aircraft

06/08/2022

Canadian government sources told a news agency that Chinese fighters have repeatedly intercepted Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) aircraft participating in a U.N.-sanctioned operation in international airspace. The Global News report, quoted in a Newsweek article, said, “Those jets are frequently flying as close as 20 to 100 feet from the Canadian plane,” adding that Canadian pilots “sometimes see them raising their middle fingers.”

Situation in eastern Ukraine: Enemy shelling entire line of defense, Ukrainian army repels ten attacks

06/07/2022

Ukrainian defenders repelled ten enemy attacks in eastern Ukraine on Monday, June 6, with fighting going on at two locations. The press service of the Joint Forces Task Force said this in a Facebook post, Ukrinform reports. "Ukrainian defenders of the Joint Forces Task Force repelled ten enemy attacks today. Fighting is still ongoing at two locations," the statement said.

Egypt close to completing $3bn arms deal with Italy

06/07/2022

Egypt is close to finalising a $3bn deal with Italy to acquire combat aircraft, following three years of negotiations, according to an Italian newspaper. Il Fatto Quotidiano quoted an Italian government official as saying that the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is awaiting confirmation from Italian Prime Minister Mario Dargi to finalise the deal, which includes the purchase of 24 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

Details surface on China's 'dangerous' interception of RAAF P-8A

06/06/2022

Australia has accused China of conducting a dangerous intercept of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft in late May, with Australia’s Defence Minister subsequently saying that the Chinese jet released decoys that were ingested by the P-8A’s engine.

Four Russian tanks and attack helicopter destroyed in JFO area

06/06/2022

Ukrainian defenders have destroyed four Russian tanks, one attack helicopter and three artillery systems in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area over the past day. The relevant statement was made by the Joint Forces Task Force on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The JFO fighters continue to keep the defense within the designated control area in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions.

Zelenskyy says Russia has lost 200 aircraft in Ukraine, showing Putin's failure to dominate the skies

06/06/2022

Despite having a significantly larger air force than Ukraine (15 times larger by some accounts), the Russian military has failed to gain air superiority, and arguably maintains aerial parity. At best Russia has achieved local air superiority in the Donbas region. Gaining control of the skies has been seen as a crucial part of military doctrine since the Second World War, and it is something the United States and its allies had accomplished in the 1991 and 2003 invasions of Iraq.

Russia hits Kyiv with missiles; Putin warns West on arms

06/06/2022

Russia took aim Sunday at Western military supplies for Ukraine, launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad, as Vladimir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck.”

'Last flight' of doomed Russian general caught on video before he died in Ukraine when his SU-25 ground attack aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft missile

06/05/2022

Video of the final moments of a 63-year-old Russian general shot down and killed by Ukrainian forces has emerged today. Major General Kanamat Botashev was part of a two-ship formation flying low over the Donbass region when his £9million aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile, according to a report of his funeral in Russian outlet Kommersant.

Ukraine’s defense chief at GLOBSEC: “We need simplified, accelerated procedures for arms supplies”

06/05/2022

Ukraine needs simplified and accelerated arms supply procedures, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told a panel on military assistance within the GLOBSEC-2022 International Security Forum in Bratislava. That’s according to the Ministry of Defense press service, Ukrinform reports.

Navy pilot dies after his F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet crashes in the Mojave Desert

06/05/2022

A Navy pilot is dead after a fighter jet crashed Friday in the Southern California desert. Navy officials confirmed that on Friday F/A-18E Super Hornet that was based at Naval Air Station Lemoore went down at about 2:30 pm in the area of Trona, an unincorporated Mojave Desert community in San Bernardino County about 236 miles southeast of the air station.