Military Aviation News Archive
06/05/2022
After months of speculation, in April the Air Force officially chose the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail to replace its decades-old AWACS planes. But there’s a lag between making the choice and flying the planes — during which Mitchell Institute Executive Director Douglas Birkey says Congress and the Air Force must work together in a hurry to minimize the American military’s vulnerability in the skies.
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06/05/2022
The question was posed in a private briefing to U.S. intelligence officials weeks before Russia launched its invasion in late February: Was Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made in the mold of Britain’s Winston Churchill or Afghanistan’s Ashraf Ghani? In other words, would Zelenskyy lead a historic resistance or flee while his government collapsed?
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06/04/2022
Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has fired five generals and a police colonel as his military continued to suffer massive losses, it has been reported. Tens of thousands of Russian troops have been killed and Moscow has failed in its bid to capture Kyiv, instead now focusing on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
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06/04/2022
China’s most advanced aircraft carrier to date appears to be nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Friday, as experts suggested the vessel could be launched soon. The newly developed Type 003 carrier has been under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard northeast of Shanghai since 2018. Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on May 31 suggest work on the vessel is close to done.
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06/03/2022
Ten military airplanes will land on an Upper Peninsula highway later this month to practice operating in austere environments, the Michigan National Guard announced. A 9,000-foot section of the four-lane M-28 highway east of Munising in Alger County will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28, to accommodate the training exercise known as Northern Agility 22-1. Detours will be posted. Civilian access will not be permitted during the exercise.
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06/03/2022
The Biden administration plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones that can be armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for battlefield use against Russia, three people familiar with the situation said according to an exclusive Reuters report posted on June 1, 2022.
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06/03/2022
Following years of discussion, Sukhoi and MiG, two of Russia’s most powerful aircraft manufacturers, have finally merged with the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a part of the Rostec state corporation, state media Tass reported. he merger was approved by the UAC Board of Directors in November 2021. The shareholders of all three companies backed this decision in January of this year. “Relevant records were made on June 1 in the United State Register of Legal Entities,” the report said.
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06/02/2022
Senior Canadian government officials are growing increasingly concerned over a dangerous escalation in aggression by Chinese fighter pilots in the skies above the Asia-Pacific region. Multiple sources in the Canadian Forces and the federal government tell Global News that Chinese jets are repeatedly “buzzing” a Canadian surveillance plane that is part of a United Nations mission over international waters.
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06/02/2022
Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), concerning the development of future fighter aircraft. The contract includes studies on future combat air capabilities. As reported in the company’s press release, the study is preparatory in nature and is intended to expand work on how future combat air capabilities can be developed and realized.
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06/02/2022
Spokesman for the Polish Armament Agency (Polish MoD’s defense procurement organ) stated, via his Twitter account, that Warsaw is considering acquisition of the KAI FA-50 as a potential reinforcement of the Polish Air Force. The news appeared in the Polish public sphere in the wake of the MoD’s representatives’, including the head of the Polish MoD, Mariusz Blaszczak, visit to Korea, where they have been discussing the potential for industrial cooperation between Poland and Korea.
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06/02/2022
The Air Force’s secretive and highly classified Next Generation Air Dominance fighter program has started its crucial engineering and manufacturing development phase, Secretary Frank Kendall said Wednesday. In a discussion at the Heritage Foundation, Kendall said the Air Force began early experimental prototyping on NGAD in 2015, when he was the Pentagon’s top acquisition official.
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06/01/2022
The Michigan Air National Guard 127th Wing made history with the landing of an A-10 Thunderbolt II on M-32 near Alpena in Northern Michigan on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. The exercise, believed to be the first time modern military aircraft have been landed on a U.S. civilian roadway, was part of the annual Northern Strike war-readiness training exercise hosted by the Michigan National Guard.Provided by the Michigan Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
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06/01/2022
On 26 May, the US State Department announced preliminary approval of the sale to Egypt of 23 CH-47F Chinook Helicopters for an estimated cost of $2.6 billion. The sale includes related equipment such as engines, GPS, navigation and missile warning systems, software, machine guns and ammunition.
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06/01/2022
On his first trip to Asia as United States President last week, Joe Biden gave his strongest warning yet to Beijing that Washington was committed to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of an attack from China. Biden's comments, which compared a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, appeared to deviate from Washington's decades-old policy of "strategic ambiguity" on the issue and seemingly raised the possibility of a military clash between US and Chinese forces.
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06/01/2022
Turkey is demanding that the US should either change its decision on the F-35 stealth fighter supply program or return the money paid, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. “As for the F-35, Congress needs to reconsider its decision. We say either change the decision or return the money we invested,” Cavusoglu told Turkish news agency Anadolu.
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05/31/2022
Finland will deploy the US-made F-35 fighter jets to its northernmost region, Lapland, to deter the aggression from Russia as it seeks membership in the defensive alliance NATO. Helsinki is expected to receive the first batch of the aircraft in four years’ time, the country’s air force reportedly said in a statement.
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05/31/2022
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is cutting down its largest fighter jet procurement programme by half and has indicated the likelihood of a change in the procurement model to one which is more acceptable to foreign suppliers for compliance to Make in India requirements in view of the reduced numbers.
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05/31/2022
Taiwan on Monday reported the largest incursion since January by China's air force in its air defence zone, with the island's defence ministry saying Taiwanese fighters scrambled to warn away 30 aircraft in the latest uptick in tensions. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years or so of repeated missions by China's air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone.
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05/30/2022
According to reports, at least one surface-to-air missile was launched at F-16 fighters while they were departing after striking Iranian targets near Syria’s northwestern city of Masyaf.
Exactly who operates the S-300 systems in Syria is unclear. However, reports suggest that Russian military personnel oversee operations of the Syrian S-300s, and Damascus needs Moscow’s authorization before it can fire them.
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05/30/2022
The Japanese government is considering choosing British aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems to support prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in developing the F-X next-generation fighter aircraft for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), informed sources said.
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05/30/2022
The announcement to base the first F-35 multirole aircraft up north was made by the Finnish Air Force on Friday. “The Air Force’s F-35 fleet will be commissioned first to the Lapland Air Force in Rovaniemi in 2026,” Air Force Commander Brigadier General Juha-Pekka Keränen said.
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05/30/2022
Ukraine pushes back Russians to previous positions around Sievierodonetsk and a reported small counteroffensive had taken place in Kherson Oblast; meanwhile, Rusia had taken control of Lyman and Svitlodarsk. Ukraine says Russia has lost about 30,000 soldiers since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia continues to construct fortifications in Kherson Oblast.
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05/29/2022
Hundreds of Lithuanian citizens rallied together to raise nearly $5 million to purchase an advanced military drone for Ukraine to use in its ongoing war against Russia. The fundraiser was completed in just three and a half days, and was largely comprised of small donations from ordinary Lithuanian citizens, Reuters reported Saturday, citing Laisves TV, a Lithuanian internet broadcaster that launched the effort. The money, a total of $4.7 million, will now be used to purchase a Bayraktar TB2 mili
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05/28/2022
Ukraine has started receiving Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Denmark and self-propelled howitzers from the United States, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Saturday, saying the arms would bolster forces fighting Russia's invasion. "The coastal defence of our country will not only be strengthened by Harpoon missiles – they will be used by trained Ukrainian teams," Reznikov wrote on his Facebook page.
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05/28/2022
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law enabling people over 40 to enlist for the armed forces. They are expected to be people of normal working age. Previously the army had age limits of 18-40 years for Russians and 18-30 for foreigners. Russia is presenting it as a move to recruit more technical specialists. The new law says specialists are required to operate high-precision weapons and "experience shows that they become such by the age of 40-45".
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