Military Aviation News Archive
09/04/2021
No requests have come from foreign states yet for the purchase of Russia’s most advanced Checkmate light tactical fighter jet, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Friday. "No," he said in response to a corresponding question.
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09/04/2021
South Korea's planned aircraft carrier could have a distinctly British flavor. In fact, it could be a mini version of the Queen Elizabeth. Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) this week signed a memorandum of understanding with top British defense contractor, Babcock International, to work together to design and build the new CVX, South Korea's light aircraft carrier.
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09/03/2021
Senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Motaqi has called on the residents of the Panjshir Valley to lay down their weapons, but there is little sign of them complying. Dozens of Taliban fighters are said to have been killed in skirmishes along its borders since 15 August, when Kabul fell, and fighting is continuing.
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09/03/2021
Even though the Biden administration has stopped its efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan, private citizens are working around the clock to rescue those who have been left behind. The group Ark Salus intends to rescue Afghans who helped the U.S. military during nearly two decades of war.
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09/03/2021
A Philippine aircraft carrying soldiers crashed in July after an "unrecoverable stall", killing more than 50 people in one of the country's worst military air disasters, the armed forces said Thursday. The C-130 Hercules transport plane was loaded with nearly a hundred people, most of them fresh army graduates, when it overshot the runway while trying to land on the southern island of Jolo in Sulu province.
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09/03/2021
U.S. troops destroyed or disabled nearly 100 combat vehicles and dozens of aircraft before vacating the airport in Kabul on Monday, in a last-ditch bid to deprive the Taliban of the use of some American military equipment.
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09/01/2021
Hours after the U.S. Military officially withdrew from Afghanistan Monday, video surfaced of Taliban fighters celebrating at Kabul’s airport. The militants can be seen sitting inside cockpits of airplanes and helicopters the U.S. provided to the Afghan Air Force. While U.S. forces were able to get some of the equipment out of the country, much of it was abandoned. The Pentagon says troops disabled the gear before they left Afghanistan.
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09/01/2021
It’s a rare thing for an alliance to last as long as the ANZUS Treaty, signed 70 years ago today. A Brookings Institution study in 2010 reviewed 63 major alliances over the past 500 years and found only 10 lasted more than 40 years. These included NATO, ANZUS and the US–Japan treaty.
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09/01/2021
The Nigerian air force has about a squadron worth of light attack aircraft — their pilots and maintainers trained by U.S. Air Force personnel — to fight terrorists in the African nation. U.S. Africa Command noted the induction ceremony for the A-29 Super Tucano, a turboprop light attack aircraft, in an Aug. 31 release.
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09/01/2021
Red Flag-Alaska 21-3 concluded at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Aug. 27, strengthening interoperability and showcasing air dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. RF-A is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored multinational exercise that provides a simulated combat environment through a series of large force employment training, close air support, and joint offensive counter-air exercises.
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08/31/2021
The arduous airlift demands of the Afghanistan evacuation mission haven’t changed the U.K. Royal Air Force’s plans to retire its C-130s by 2030, its top officer said Aug. 27. “This is the first large-scale operation that we’ve done with our A400s, and it’s demonstrated that this is an aircraft with real potential and enormous capacity,” said RAF Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston in an interview with Defense News. “It flies much higher and much faster and carries a greater payload than the C-130.
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08/31/2021
An air force F-16 fighter aircraft left the runway, and ended up nose-down at Pingtung Air Base this morning, according to reports today, Tuesday, August 31. Pilots were rehearsing for the upcoming Han Kuang military exercises when the fighter jet overran the runway after landing at around 6:30 am. Witnesses reported seeing several firetrucks and ambulances rush to the scene of the incident.
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08/31/2021
The last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s airport, the Pentagon said Monday, bringing down the curtain on America’s longest war. The head of the U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, said the final liftoff of American military aircraft came one minute before midnight in Kabul — just before the start of Tuesday, the day set by President Biden as the deadline for the departure of U.S. troops.
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08/30/2021
A newborn baby is cared for prior to departing a C-17 Globemaster III, August 23, 2021 at a Middle East staging area. A 315th Airlift Wing aircrew from Joint Base Charleston, S.C. helped deliver the baby while aboard a C-17 Globemaster III carrying Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan moments before landing at a Middle East staging area.
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08/30/2021
U.S. military aircraft are now ferrying food, tarps and other material into southern Haiti amid a shift in the international relief effort to focus on helping people in the areas hardest hit by the recent earthquake to make it through the hurricane season. Aircraft flying out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, arrived throughout the day Saturday in the mostly rural, mountainous southern peninsula that was the epicenter of the Aug. 14 earthquake.
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08/29/2021
The first-ever incursion of Chinese military helicopters into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this week suggests that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be rotating through its arsenal of aircraft to probe the capabilities of the Taiwanese defense system and how it responds, experts said on Friday.
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08/29/2021
The four-blade multi-purpose aircraft was just taxiing on the tarmac, but the exercise sent a message to the world: the Taliban were no longer a group of ragtag soldiers wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles on battered pickup trucks. Elsewhere, since the fall of Kabul on 15 August to the hard-line Islamist group, the Taliban's fighters have been pictured showing off a host of US-made weaponry and vehicles.
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08/27/2021
A joint air combat exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will be held this year, the first of its kind between the two countries. According to The Senkei News, it was revealed on August 22 that the IAF and JASDF will conduct joint training exercises, the novelty of which is that it will be the first time that Japanese pilots will be tested against Russian-designed fighter jets.
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08/27/2021
Projecting unrivaled combat airpower requires a lot of training in and out of the classroom. While both are equally important, some of the most valuable training a pilot can get is by strapping into the cockpit of their aircraft and going head-to-head with another pilot in another fighter. This is where the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company comes into play.
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08/27/2021
Qatar has received its first batch of the new generation F-15 combat aircraft, produced by the United States and Boeing, in partnership with the Gulf state. The rollout took place on Wednesday in a ceremony at Boeing’s headquarters in the US state of Missouri, with the Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah in attendance.
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08/26/2021
During the first '2+2' meeting involving the foreign and defence ministers of India and Japan in late 2019, the two nations agreed to hold a military exercise involving their fighter aircraft. It would have been the first such training venture between the two countries, which have held drills involving warships, land-based forces and transport aircraft of their air forces. The fighter exercise, proposed to be held in mid-2020.
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08/26/2021
A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed today in Rajasthan's Barmer during a training mission. The pilot ejected safely, officials said. The MiG-21 Bison jet set a hut on fire after it crashed into it in the Matasar Bhoortiya village of Barmer this evening. The pilot is safe, officials said.
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08/25/2021
The US Navy’s Boeing MQ-25TM T1 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) refueled a Navy E-2D Hawkeye command and control aircraft in a test flight from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport last week, Boeing announced. During the flight, pilots from the Navy Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-20 did a wake survey behind the MQ-25 to check its stability before making contact with the other aircraft. The E-2D then received fuel from the MQ-25.
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08/25/2021
Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed an agreement with MBDA to assemble, integrate, and test the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) in India. Under the agreement, MBDA will assist the state-owned Indian defense manufacturer in setting up a facility within its existing manufacturing complex in Bhanur, Telangana. The facility will provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul of the missiles, adaptable to assembly, integration, and testing of the MBDA’s CAMM missile.
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08/25/2021
As the philosopher, The Notorious B.I.G., wrote, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”
But what if instead of money, it was a flightline full of fifth-generation fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force? Enter the Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, safety office. “During RED FLAG-Alaska, Eielson’s operations tempo goes from a drizzle to a downpour,” said Master Sgt. Ryan Smith, 354th Fighter Wing flight safety non-commissioned officer.
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