Military Aviation News Archive
06/17/2020
Raytheon has confirmed the first successful guided release of a StormBreaker smart weapon from a US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, ahead of the missile’s planned integration into the F-15E Eagle and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. No, it isn't the Marvel superhero's axe, forged in the heart of a dying star, it is however the latest generation of guided missile that will enhance the lethality of both the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
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06/17/2020
Amid the ongoing border standoff with China, the BrahMos air launched cruise missile has received clearance for combat use. The BrahMos armed SU-30 squadron was inaugurated earlier this year in January. "The fleet release clearance certification has paved the way for the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) squadrons to use the missile during combat missions," BrahMos Corporation told India Today.
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06/17/2020
The received wisdom that “missiles and rockets don’t win wars,” always a dubious assertion, is now obsolete and demonstrably false. Modern precision-guided missiles have the same combat effectiveness as fighting aircraft yet are easier to operate and less vulnerable as they don’t rely on huge, immovable, target-rich air bases. Precision-guided missiles and rockets can paralyze the civilian and military infrastructures of entire countries, thus paving the way to their defeat in war.
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06/17/2020
The U.S. government has approved the potential sale of an extensive upgrade package, dubbed the Hornet Extension Program, for Canada's CF-18A/B+ Hornet fighter jets. The proposed deal most notably includes enough AN/APG-79(V)4 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars to equip two squadrons worth of jets, which would give those aircraft a desperately needed boost in their ability to detect, track, and engage threats at extended ranges.
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06/16/2020
NATO fighter jets stationed in the Baltic states as part of the NATO air policing mission were scrambled eight times last week to identify and escort military aircraft of the Russian Federation in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Lithuania's Ministry of Defense said on Monday.
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06/16/2020
A military aircraft ploughed into a residential area in the Kubang Jaya Village, Siak Hulu Sub-district, Kampar District, in Riau Province on Monday. "Yes, an aircraft crashed some 500 meters from my house. The incident occurred at around 8:30 a.m. local time," Wahyu, a local resident, stated. No further report was received of any casualty, and the Air Force personnel have sealed off the crash site.
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06/16/2020
The Israeli air force’s F-35 special test aircraft is set to arrive in Israel, suitably enough, on the Fourth of July, along with three more Joint Strike Fighters. The arrival will start a planned process of upgrading the IAF’s F-35 aimed at making them the main target supplier for the Israeli defense forces.
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06/16/2020
Legendary Bangladeshi-origin fighter pilot Saif-ul-Azam, who passed away Sunday morning, evokes memories of his courage, steadfastness, and bravery in the Middle East, far away from his home. He will go down in history, perhaps the only pilot who piloted fighter planes for four countries -Jordan, Iraq Pakistan, and Bangladesh. He also holds the unique record of destroying fighter planes of two different air forces -- India and Israel.
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06/16/2020
Now, the stealth fighter will have a safer and more direct way to transmit intelligence data, video-sharing, targeting information and other combat essential communication through Link 16 data exchange enabling non-radio or voice connectivity between aircraft in war.
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06/16/2020
The pilot of the US Air Force F-15C fighter jet that crashed off the north-east coast of England has been found dead, RAF Lakenheath have confirmed. This evening Col Will Marshall, comandander of the 48th fighter wing at Suffolk’s RAF Lakenheath where the aircraft was based, said the pilot of the downed F-15C Eagle had been “located and confirmed deceased”.
He added that the pilot’s name would not “be released until all next of kin notifications have been made”.
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06/15/2020
The pilot of an F-15C Eagle fighter jet that crashed into the sea east of the United Kingdom Monday morning has been found dead. The F-15, from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, crashed into the North Sea at about 9:40 a.m. local time Monday, the Air Force said. The wing said the aircraft was on a routine training mission with one pilot on board, but that the cause of the crash remained unknown.
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06/15/2020
The F-15C Eagle, from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, crashed shortly after 09:40 BST while on a training mission. The cause of the crash is currently unknown but the US Air Force confirmed only one pilot was on board. Search and rescue teams are looking for the aircraft, which is believed to have crashed 74 nautical miles off the East Yorkshire coast.
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06/15/2020
The Egyptian Air Force intercepted two Russian military aircraft that were en route to Libya this past weekend, Avia.Pro reported on Sunday. “The Egyptian military for the second time in the last 48 hours intercepted a Russian military plane flying from the Khmeimim airbase to the Libyan national army airbase in Libya,” the publication said.
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06/15/2020
China has responded to an "unusual" flight by a US transport aircraft by sending its combat jets into Taiwan's airspace. Taiwan says it had to "forcibly" remove them. Communist China considers Taiwan its sovereign territory. Taiwan – never conquered during the 1949 Cultural Revolution – does not. Chairman-for-life Xi Jinping, however, has repeatedly asserted his intention to bring the island under Beijing's rule – by any means necessary.
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06/15/2020
According to information released by the U.S. Department of Defense on June 11, 2020, American Company Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $368,194,942 not-to-exceed, undefinitized contract modification (P00036) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N00019-17-C-0001. This modification provides for the procurement of five F-35A Lightning II lot 14 aircraft
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06/14/2020
China at the Line of Actual Control is not the only thing India needs to worry about. According to recent media reports, China is growing its military presence in the Indian Ocean too. Satellite pictures in May this year suggest China’s military base at Djibouti is being modernised. The facility, set up in 2017 as a logistics support unit, is being upgraded into a full-fledged naval base with a 1,120-feet pier that can berth Chinese warships, including the Liaoning aircraft carrier.
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06/14/2020
Ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus, China and the US have been at each other’s throats. While China has been taking advantage of the pandemic to forward its interests in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and India, the US has resorted to passing ant-China bills and pushed anti-China rhetoric globally.
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06/14/2020
The United States Air Force says that a woman has flown its new class of F-35A Lightning II fighter jets into combat for the first time ever. Captain Emily ‘Banzai’ Thompson piloted the stealth aircraft after deploying from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, according to the military.
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06/13/2020
China is apparently operating some of its Y-8FQ ASW (Anti-submarine Warfare) aircraft from a 3,100 meter (10,000 foot) airstrip on the Fiery Cross (Yongshu) Reef airbase. This base was completed in 2016 by dredging up enough sand to create a 271 hectare (677 acre) artificial island. Before that there were two tiny “islands” that were rocky outcroppings only exposed at low tide.
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06/13/2020
The Pentagon has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract $368.2 million to produce five F-35A fighters and an F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) jet. “Lockheed Martin is awarded a $368.2 million contract modification. This modification provides for the procurement of five F-35A Lightning II lot 14 aircraft, one F-35B lot 14 combat aircrafts and associated red gear for the government of Italy. Work is expected to be complete by June 2023,” Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.
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06/13/2020
Bolshakov blames the situation on Russia’s weak finances. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia in the 1980s and 1990s focused on improving its fourth-generation Cold War aircraft instead of fifth-generation models like the Su-57. While several hundred advanced fighters were produced, many were exported to foreign customers for cash instead of the Russian air force.
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06/13/2020
The Senate Armed Services Committee isn't keen on the U.S. Air Force's plans to retire legacy aircraft in favor of new technology, putting a stop to some proposed aircraft retirements and delaying others. In the committee's version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers say that the service must operate a minimum number of aircraft for each major mission set.
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06/13/2020
Deliveries of a new precision-guided bomb under development by Raytheon for the F-35 and other fighter jets have been at a standstill for about a year as the company struggles to correct a technical problem involving a key component. A fix for the issue, which brought production of the Small Diameter Bomb II to a halt in July 2019, could be approved by the government as soon as July, said Air Force spokesman Capt. Jake Bailey in response to questions by Defense News.
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06/12/2020
Moscow has also repeatedly voiced concern over the deployment of NATO forces near Russian borders, describing it as a threat to its security. Russia and the alliance have also blamed each other for conducting destabilising military exercises near borders. The US and NATO allies have repeatedly said that Russian fighter jets have performed unsafe maneuvers while shadowing their planes - accusations that the Russian military has rejected.
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06/12/2020
The Navy confirms to WKRG News 5 that two people killed in a plane crash in Alabama were personnel assigned to NAS Pensacola. According the Selma Times the local district attorney has identified the victims as Joshua Fuller and Vincent Segars, two Navy pilots. The Navy has not officially confirmed that information. Captain Segars currently serves as the commanding officer, Naval Aviation Schools Command according to his Navy bio.
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