Military Aviation News Archive
06/04/2021
After a year-long competition with several other cities, Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith was chosen to host a multi-national training site for F-16 Falcon and F-35 fighter jets. The competition for the mission comes with an estimated $800 million – $1 billion economic impact on the region, according to the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.
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06/03/2021
According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, the security cooperation between China and the UAE may prompt the US to review its decision to sell what is considered the world’s costliest combat aircraft. China’s growing footprints in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East are being critically looked at by the US. The UAE is one of the closest allies of the US in the region.
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06/03/2021
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have risen sufficiently for The Economist to declare on the cover of its May 1, 2021 edition that Taiwan is now “the most dangerous place on Earth.” According to this narrative, Beijing has invested heavily in military capabilities that it can now bring to bear in a confrontation over Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province.
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06/03/2021
Rooted in a sea of sand, the U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT) mission is, in-part, seamlessly accomplished by both active duty and the Air National Guard—proving the concept of Total Force Integration (TFI). TFI is nothing new. Once called “Future Total Force,” TFI became the standard about 15 years ago—fully integrating the Air Force’s active duty, guard and reserve components in exercises and contingency operations around the world.
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06/03/2021
The US Air Force just started taking delivery on the new F-15EX Eagle II in March of this year, but the jets already found their way into a massive force-on-force war game held in Alaska last month. Thus far, only two F-15EXs have been delivered, and both saw action during the exercises.
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06/02/2021
The Taiwanese air force is building up a force of 206 of the latest F-16 fighters. Now it needs aerial tankers to boost the new fighters’ endurance. That’s the surprising—and likely dead-end—recommendation of an analyst at Taiwan’s military think-tank.
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06/02/2021
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $24.29 million contract from US Naval Air Systems Commandto provide non-recurring engineering and logistics sustainment programme support for F-35A Lightning II combat aircraft on order from Poland The contract was not competitively procured, the DoD announced on 28 May.
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06/02/2021
Around five countries, including those located in Southeast Asia, are considering the purchase of Russia’s new fifth-generation Su-57 fighter, Rosoboronexport Director General Alexander Mikheev said on Tuesday. “We conduct negotiations with several countries, there are requests, and we see interest … [including from] the Southeast Asia … Four or five countries are interested,” Mikheev told reporters.
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06/02/2021
The Air Force is planning to retire most of the A-10 "Warthog" ground-attack jets stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force base by next fall, under a plan unveiled as part of the Biden administration's proposed $715 billon defense budget. But seven members of Arizona's congressional delegation have vowed to fight this latest Air Force plan to start retiring the A-10 Thunderbolt II jets — a mainstay of operations at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
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06/02/2021
Sixteen aircraft from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted a large-scale transport formation exercise over the South China Sea near Borneo on Monday and entered the airspace of Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) said in a statement today.
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06/01/2021
The Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB, Brazilian air force) is reducing its order for the Embraer KC-390 airlifter. The decision, which was revealed in a notification on May 26, is driven by budgetary constraints that have arisen as a result of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Brazil has been one of the hardest-hit nations by the health crisis, and the cost has caused “direct limitations on the strategic projects of the armed forces” according to the notification.
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06/01/2021
A pretty interesting M-346 “Master” sporting a camouflage paint scheme quite close to the one used by the combat aircraft of the Turkmen or the Azerbaijani Air Force was spotted at Venegono airport, in northwestern Italy, after its first flight, by photographer Oscar Bernardi, on May 28, 2021. The aircraft was reportedly involved in the very first flight in the new livery.
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06/01/2021
The largest Checkered Flag exercise held to date wrapped up at Tyndall Air Force Base, May 21. Checkered Flag, one of the Department of Defense’s largest air-to-air exercises, is a two-week long, large-scale aerial exercise designed to integrate fourth and fifth-generation airframes to enhance mobility, deployment, and employment capabilities of aviators and maintainers.
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05/31/2021
As tensions with Russia simmer, thousands of NATO troops, several warships and dozens of aircraft are taking part in military exercises stretching across the Atlantic, through Europe and into the Black Sea region.
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05/31/2021
The Ministry of National Defenses’ Institute of National Defense and Strategic Research (INDSR) said that aerial refueling aircraft for Taiwan’s F-16 fleet would help the nation maintain air superiority in its air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Chen Liang-chi, an associate researcher INDSR, on Thursday (May 27) published a short analysis of the strategic significance of aerial refueling aircraft in Taiwan's air defense.
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05/31/2021
The two Asian neighbors have been locked in a protracted border standoff in the Ladakh region, with reports of the Chinese PLA amassing advanced weapons on the Tibetan plateau emerging on a regular basis. With an uncanny similarity to America’s stealth F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, the FC-31 ‘Gyrfalcon’ is a twin-engine mid-size fifth-generation aircraft being developed by Shenyang, a state-owned aircraft manufacturer.
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05/31/2021
The Chinese Navy is rapidly expanding its aircraft carrier fleet, with two in service and at least one more under construction. And while still new to the game, their experience of operating carriers is growing all the time. Regional rival India has a much longer tradition of carrier aviation, but fewer and smaller carriers. The first indigenous aircraft carrier, Vikrant, could keep India competitive however.
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05/30/2021
On Friday, LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said that the planned parade on a military base of Benin in Benghazi would be the largest military parade in the history of Libya. Later, the crash was confirmed by LNA spokesman Khalifa al-Obeidi who expressed grief over the death of Jamal ibn Amer via Facebook.
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05/30/2021
“The pilots practiced fulfilling tasks in new geographical areas,” the press office said.
The aircraft of this type have been deployed at the Hmeymim airfield for the first time, which has become possible as a result of the upgrade of the second runway with the complete replacement of the runway’s surface and the installation of new lighting navigational and radio equipment.
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05/29/2021
The U.S. Navy is preparing to receive F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets from the Air Force as it moves to rid its inventory of legacy F/A-18 Hornet models used in its Reserve fleets, according to its fiscal 2022 budget request. The Navy will shelve roughly 55 aircraft over the next year, the documents state, in hopes of transitioning to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. But to make sure it has enough fighters available amid the conversion, it expects the Air Force to transfer some F-16s to it.
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05/29/2021
Russia recently deployed military fighter aircraft to Libya to support Russian state-sponsored private military contractors, or PMCs, operating on the ground there, U.S. Africa Command officials said.
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05/29/2021
The deployment of one aircraft carrier is not usually big news. The deployment of the USS Ronald Reagan to support the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan, however, highlights the massive gap between U.S. global commitments and U.S. military power.
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05/29/2021
The US Air Force wants to mothball over 200 aircraft in the coming year to free up funds for new technology and weapons, according to the service's fiscal year 2022 budget request. The Department of the Air Force's latest budget request asks for $173.7 billion, which includes an increase in research, development, test, and evaluation funding but a decrease in funds for procurement.
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05/29/2021
Croatia’s government has selected the Dassault Rafale to fulfill its long-standing requirement for a multi-role fighter to replace its aging MiG-21s. Although local media had reported the selection a few days earlier, the decision was officially confirmed in an announcement made on May 28, the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Croatian National Guard.
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05/28/2021
Another batch of three Rafale fighter jets landed at the Ambala airbase on Thursday, taking the total number of Rafales in the Indian Air Force (IAF) inventory to 23. According to people aware of the development in Dassault, four aircraft were supposed to take off from Merignac-Bordeaux airbase in France on May 20, but only three could because of the unavailability of more mid-air refuellers in the UAE.
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