Military Aviation News Archive

Black Hawk deal could lift Latvian military

08/14/2018

Latvia could advance its armed forces modernisation programme via a four-aircraft purchase of Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters, after the US Department of State gave its approval to a potential deal.

RAAF KC-30A TANKERS OFFLOAD 100 MILLION POUNDS DURING OKRA OPS

08/13/2018

The RAAF’s Airbus KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) deployment to the Middle East under Operation Okra has marked 100 million pounds (over 45,000 metric tonnes) of fuel offloaded during air-to-air refuelling operations. Since September 2014, the RAAF had maintained a single KC-30A from Amberley-based 33SQN in the Persian Gulf region to support an RAAF Air Task Group and coalition aircraft on combat operations up into Iraq and Syria.

F-15Cs Intercept Stolen DASH-8 Airliner out of Seattle Tacoma Airport Before Crash.

08/12/2018

In a bizarre incident originating from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state an Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 twin-engine turboprop commuter airliner was commandeered by a lone male, reported to be an airport maintenance worker, and crashed into the ground on Ketron Island, which is southwest of Tacoma, in south Puget Sound. There were no passengers on board the aircraft. Ketron Island has only about 20 year-round residents according to news outlets.

China’s air force quietly adds new J-16 fighter jets to ‘push the envelope’

08/12/2018

China’s expanding line-up of multirole, all-weather J-16 fighter jets will help the air force to launch strikes deep into enemy territory and destroy key strategic assets like airfields and bridges, military analysts say.

India: The Next Big Aircraft Carrier Power?

08/12/2018

India’s aircraft carrier ambitions just passed a major milestone. On August 2, India’s domestically built Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) conducted an arrested landing for the very first time. The naval variant of the LCA is India’s first indigenous carrier-based aircraft. The Teja didn’t land on a carrier deck. In fact, it didn’t land at all. The aircraft was simply practicing grabbing a tailhook of an arresting wire from the ground.

AIRPOWER DISRUPTION IN THE AGE OF THE F-35

08/11/2018

Australia is building its future air power capabilities around the F-35. What future threats might the fifth-gen fighter face? As tensions rise over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Australia deploys a squadron of F-35A Lightning Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs), to the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth. This is a location very familiar to many Australian defence personnel from decades of deployments, going back to the dark days of World War 2.

China fires SIX WARNINGS to US Navy in South China Sea ‘This is China...LEAVE IMMEDIATELY’

08/11/2018

THE Chinese military told a US Navy plane flying over the highly-disputed island in the South China Sea to “leave immediately”. The US Navy P-8A Poseidon jet was flying at 16,500 feet to get a view of low-lying coral reefs that have been turned into garrisons with five-storey buildings, large radar installations, power plants and runways sturdy enough to carry large military aircraft.

Marine Corps aircraft readiness numbers inaccurate, IG says

08/11/2018

At least nine active duty US Marine Corps Aviation squadrons failed to accurately report the present state of their squadron’s aircraft readiness in late 2017 and early 2018 due to confusion about what data should be recorded.

OPINION: USAF light-attack plans give cause for optimism

08/11/2018

Hard and bitter experience entitles the small but vocal community of advocates for buying cheap turboprop-powered attack aircraft to be sceptical, but their time may have finally come. The US Air Force actually seems serious about buying several squadrons of either Sierra Nevada/Embraer A-29s or Beechcraft AT-6s from Textron Aviation.

Joint military exercise, Northern Strike, continues

08/10/2018

It was another busy day as Northern Strike continued on Wednesday, August 8, with first-responder drills focused on vehicle extrication taking place in Rogers City. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters also practiced sling-loading equipment at Alpena CRTC, along with many other activities in Grayling and on the Lake Huron Water Range.

Defeating modern air defenses is achievable with smart strategies, not only stealth and standoff

08/10/2018

In the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress agreed with the Air Force to cancel the manned JSTARS recap program in favor of a largely space-based system, the Advanced Battle Management System. ABMS is undefined, without an estimate of cost and with an unknown fielding date. In the meantime, against Air Force wishes, Congress has disallowed the retirement of any of the 17 legacy E-8C JSTARS aircraft.

NATO scrambled to INTERCEPT five Russian supersonic fighter jets flying near Europe

08/10/2018

The onslaught of Russian aircraft were shadowed by the NATO Air Policing Mission (APM) team tasked with guarding airspace over the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. NATO aircraft were scrambled to escort Russian planes on eight separate occasions between July 30 and August 5, according to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence. On each occasion the Russian aircraft were flying either to or from Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave situated between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic

USAF analyst suggests ways to avoid cost overruns on 6th-gen fighter

08/10/2018

The Aircraft and Weapons division chief with the US Air Force Cost Analysis Agency has made a series of suggestions in a research paper for keeping the price of a sixth generation fighter down after analysing a myriad of cost-overruns by the B-2, F-22 and F-35 programmes.

Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon Accidentally Fires Live Air-to-Air Missile Over Estonia, 25 miles west of the Russian border

08/09/2018

A Spanish Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft accidently fired an AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) while flying near Otepää in Estonia, less than 50 km west of the Russian border. The missile has not been recovered. The last assumed location of the missile is roughly 40 km to the north of the city of Tartu, and its direction was northbound. The incident took place on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 sometime around 3:45 PM local.

Military exercise in U.P., northern Michigan

08/09/2018

Military units from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are at Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center and across northern Michigan through August 18 for Exercise Northern Strike ‘18. Officials say residents in parts of the U.P. may see military aircraft including fighters, cargo planes and helicopters during the exercise.

The Chinese threat that an aircraft carrier can’t stop

08/09/2018

Will the Pentagon, with its 30-year planning cycle for building ships, still be launching aircraft carriers in 2048 — even though they’re highly vulnerable to attack today? That’s an example of the military-modernization questions that kept nagging participants at last weekend’s gathering of the Aspen Strategy Group, which annually brings together top-level current and former national security officials, along with a few journalists, to discuss defense and foreign policy.

U.S. F-15 fighter jets to take part in largest Ukrainian aviation exercise

08/09/2018

Head of the Press Center of Ukraine’s Air Force, Roman Yurchilo has confirmed the participation U.S. troops in the upcoming Clear Sky 2018 multinational military exercise in Ukraine. Ukraine this year will hold the largest multinational aviation exercise since its independence. The Clear Sky 2018 exercise scheduled to be held in mid-October for two weeks.

Russia’s Aircraft Carrier to be Upgraded to Carry Mig-29K/KUB Fighter Jets

08/08/2018

The flight deck of the flagship of the Russian Navy, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, will undergo a major upgrade to carry MiG-29K/MiG-29KUB fighter jets as part of a general overhaul of the warship slated to begin in the coming weeks, according to Russian defense industry officials.

Lockheed Martin claims both USAF hypersonic programmes

08/08/2018

The US Air Force has selected Lockheed Martin to rapidly develop and field both new hypersonic missiles launched as a response to surprise developments in high-speed weapons by China and Russia, newly-released acquisition documents confirm.

USAF reveals intentions to acquire light attack fighter fleet

08/08/2018

After more than a year of flight demonstrations the US Air Force is formally moving the light attack aircraft experiment into the acquisitions phase, with the intention that it will award a production contract to Sierra Nevada Corporation or Textron Aviation in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019.

Chinese waverider vehicle hits Mach 6

08/08/2018

China has reportedly conducted the maiden flight of a new hypersonic test vehicle, achieving speeds of Mach 5.5 for over six minutes, and reaching Mach 6. The test of the unmanned system, designated Starry Sky 2, took place recently in Northwestern China, reports the official China Daily newspaper.

Who Care About Russia's Stealth Fighter: The Su-35 Is the Plane the Air Force Should Fear

08/06/2018

The Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E is the top Russian air-superiority fighter in service today, and represents the pinnacle of fourth-generation jet fighter design. It will remain so until Russia succeeds in bringing its fifth-generation PAK-FA stealth fighter into production.

Lockheed Martin delivers last upgraded C-5

08/06/2018

Air Mobility Command began a programme to modernize the C-5s in 1998 after a study concluded the decades-old aircraft had 80 percent of their service life remaining. Since, Lockheed Martin upgraded 52 C-5s for the USAF with new engines, avionics and diagnostics systems – upgrades which will extend the service life of the fleet out until the 2040s.

Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets visited Croatia as part of a demonstration tour

08/05/2018

On the eve of the celebration of the 23rd anniversary of Operation Storm which ended Croatia’s 1991-95 war of independence, three Israeli F-16 Barak multi-purpose combat aircraft landed at the 91st air base of the Croatian Air Force in Pleso on 2 August.

China’s new J-16 advanced fighter jet ‘targeting Taiwan’ may soon be combat ready

08/05/2018

The announcement came as the air force said a squadron of J-16s – described as 4.5-generation fighter jets – had conducted a combat training exercise along with J-10, J-11B and Su-30 aircraft. “[The exercise] was a solid step towards comprehensive combat capability,” according to the PLA Air Force statement late on Thursday, which did not specify the date or location of the drill.