Military Aviation News Archive
04/07/2022
Russia’s war repositioning to Ukraine’s south and east has heightened worries for NATO Black Sea ally Romania, which saw Russia close within 30 miles of its coastline when it captured Snake Island from Ukraine Feb. 24. American F-16s are currently conducting a NATO enhanced air policing mission in Romania, and in February the U.S. sent two F-35s to help deter Russia.
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04/07/2022
Serbia is considering a purchase of 12 new Rafale multipurpose fighter jets developed by French manufacturer Dassault Aviation, French media reported. Initially, Serbia and Dassault Aviation discussed the purchase of six aircraft but subsequently the number was increased to 12, La Tribune weekly reported on Tuesday, quoting sources familiar with the matter. The reelection of Serbia's incumbent president Aleksandar Vucic last Sunday is likely to facilitate the process, La Tribune added.
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04/06/2022
The 2022 war in Ukraine has demonstrated the vulnerability of advanced military aircraft to modern air defense systems on both sides. From Ukraine’s loss of the famed ‘Grey Wolf’ to Russia’s numerous losses of combat jets, vehicle-mounted and man-portable air defense systems are proving to be deadly to even advanced 4.5-generation fighters.
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04/06/2022
The U.S. Army has decided to shelve its Advanced Chinook Rotor Blades it was developing as part of the Boeing-manufactured CH-47F cargo helicopter’s latest upgrades due to issues that cropped up during testing, according to Brig. Gen. Robert Barrie, the program executive officer for Army aviation.
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04/06/2022
The Marines broke a record on Sunday when they loaded the most 16 F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters ever aboard a big-deck amphibious warship. Under cloudy skies on Sunday afternoon, deck sailors directed Marine pilots onto launching spots and maneuvered others into parking spots on the flight deck USS Tripoli (LHA-7), the Navy’s newest big deck amphibious warship, with more coming later this week.
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04/06/2022
While the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is a joint development between India and Russia, the sale of the systems to Philippines is a transaction between the two countries and we will be able to move ahead on a “bilateral basis”, said Indian Ambassador in the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran, amid the global developments following the Russian war in Ukraine. Philippines was also given clarification on the accidental BrahMos missile launch recently.
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04/06/2022
A new program appears to have been added to the relative flurry of activity in the field of next-generation air-to-air missiles, or AAMs, for the U.S. military. While very little is known about the Modular Advanced Missile, reference to which first appeared in a recent Air Force budget document, we now know that the weapon is an AAM and that there are plans to test-fire it from a fighter jet.
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04/06/2022
Not only are Ukrainian MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) a significant threat to the Russian Ka-52 and Mi-28 gunship helicopters operating over Ukraine but also ATGMs. The following clip has started to circulate online on social media on April 5, 2022, and shows a Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) Alligator gunship shot down by a Ukrainian Stugna-P ATGM.
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04/05/2022
Boeing will begin the delivery of second batch of F-15QA combat aircraft to Qatar this year. “We plan to begin delivery of the F-15QA to the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) in 2022,” Kuljit Ghata-Aura, President of Boeing Middle East, Turkey & Africa, told The Peninsula in an exclusive interview.
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04/05/2022
The U.S. Navy is one step closer to fielding MQ-25 Stingray refueling drones aboard its aircraft carriers. The Navy’s 2023 budget request includes $16.8 billion to allow the MQ-25 to begin formal procurement next year. The Stingray is the first done of its type. It will be capable of refueling the Navy’s carrier air wing, including F-35Cs, F/A-18s, and other carrier aircraft. It is expected to double the combat radius for carrier-launched aircraft.
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04/05/2022
The US Defense Department approved Monday the sale of eight F-16 combat aircraft to Bulgaria for $1.67 billion, bolstering its air force as the regional threat has risen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "The proposed sale will improve Bulgaria's capability to meet current and future threats by enabling the Bulgarian Air Force to deploy modern fighter aircraft routinely in the Black Sea region," the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
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04/04/2022
The Ukrainian leadership asked the United States to provide Kyiv with Su-25 attack aircraft as part of military assistance. This was reported on Wednesday [March 30] by the television company CNN, the Russian online portal Nezavisimaya Gazeta said.
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04/04/2022
Ukrainian forces braced for an intensified Russian onslaught against the eastern Donbas region Sunday as officials from Ukraine, the U.S. and other countries condemned Moscow over allegations of civilian executions. A gruesome cleanup was underway in the northern suburbs of Kyiv, the capital, following the withdrawal of Russian troops. Ukrainian soldiers were removing bodies from streets, homes and other sites in the towns of Bucha and Irpin, which had been recently occupied by Russian forces.
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04/04/2022
Marine Attack Squadron 214, also known as the Black Sheep, has become the last of the four squadrons assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma to be converted from AV-8B Harriers to the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter II. Maj. Gen. Bradford J. Gering, the commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, presided over the redesignation ceremony and said the switch to the F-35B represents a leap forward in the Marine Corps' air dominance.
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04/04/2022
Ukrainians have shared pictures of a burning Russian fighter jet they say was shot out of the sky in the Kharkiv region as Putin's forces continue to take heavy damages. Photos from the scene remains of Russian fighting aircraft Su-35 believed to have been hit by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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04/03/2022
Two South Korean air force planes collided in mid-air during training and crashed near their base on Friday, killing all four people aboard the aircraft, officials said. Both planes were KT-1 trainer aircraft — South Korea's first indigenously developed planes — that took off from an air force base in the southeastern city of Sacheon one after another for flight training, the air force said in a statement.
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04/03/2022
SNC says the aircraft, the most technologically enhanced and mission capable A-29 brought to market, are intended for AFSOC’s Combat Aviation Advisor (CAA) mission which is designed to build international partner capacity. The first two A-29Cs, delivered earlier this month, are already conducting training operations with AFSOC at Hurlburt Air Force Base.
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04/03/2022
The Air Force plans to cut nearly 6,000 military billets in fiscal 2023 as it looks to retire more of its mainstay combat aircraft, according to the Biden administration’s new budget request released Monday. But it is unclear how many airmen could be out of a job as a result.
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04/02/2022
A Ministry of Defence source told The Times a video (you can see it below) showed Starstreak being fired over Ukraine. The source added that the system had been used by Ukrainian forces for almost a week. The footage circulating online shows a high-velocity Starstreak projectile destroying an aircraft in the Luhansk region of Ukraine.
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04/02/2022
The Directorate for Air Armaments and Airworthiness of the Italian Secretariat General of Defence/National Armaments Directorate has signed an acquisition contract with Leonardo for the supply of one C-27J to the Slovenian Ministry of Defence. The contract also covers additional equipment for aero-medical operations, training services and integrated logistic support for two years.
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04/02/2022
The focus of European policymakers over the past several weeks has been on dealing with arguably the biggest military crisis on European soil since the end of World War II. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has triggered what the German government has called a Zeitenwende, a turning point in history, when it comes to Europe’s defense procurement and policies.
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04/02/2022
Just yesterday, we commented a video posted by the Russian MOD that proved that the Ka-52 Alligator helicopters are still lobbing unguided rockets at targets in Ukraine in the very same way we had observed a couple of weeks earlier, when the first clips of Russian Aerospace Forces Ka-52 and Mi-28 Havoc helicopters had started circulating online.
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04/02/2022
The report claimed that the exercise encompassed a variety of terrains, including plateaus and the sea, and that it demonstrated not only the great capabilities of the pilots and aircraft but also the solid logistics support capabilities of various airbases. Warplanes such as the J-11B and J-11BS from a brigade linked with the PLA Air Force reportedly took off from a location in Central China and flew thousands of kilometers to an undisclosed location.
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04/01/2022
A Russian official accused Ukraine of mounting a helicopter attack on a fuel depot inside Russian territory Friday, as footage surfaced of the facility engulfed in flames. The governor of Russia's Belgorod region claimed two Ukrainian military helicopters flew across the border at low altitude on Friday morning and struck the fuel storage facility, setting millions of gallons of fuel on fire.
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04/01/2022
The Ukrainian parliament have proposed cash payments to Russian military soldiers and pilots to sell their serviceable military equipment. Politicians have said that they could offer $1m for a Russian pilot to give up their fighter jet, to be transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
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