Military Aviation News Archive
10/25/2018
The Pentagon's F-35 is conducting attacks, surveillance operations and combat missions with an updated on-board “threat library” of Mission Data Files engineered to identify enemy threats in key regions around the globe. “The AORs (Areas of Responsibility) for current operations where our forces are -- currently have adequate Mission Data Files,” Vice Adm. Mat Winter, Program Executive Officer for the F-35 program, told a group of reporters
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10/25/2018
BAE Systems Australia has successfully inducted the final Hawk Mk 127 lead-in trainer aircraft into its Williamtown maintenance facility ahead of its upgrade, which will make the Royal Australian Air Force’s Hawks among the most advanced of its type in the world.
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10/25/2018
Rival producers of airborne early warning and control/battle management aircraft are stepping up their efforts to halt a non-competitive acquisition of the Boeing/Northrop Grumman E-7 Wedgetail system by the UK.
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10/24/2018
The well-known French company Dassault used this year’s Euronaval 2018 exhibition to display a model of the New Generation Fighter (NGF) that will eventually replace the current generation of Dassault’s Rafales and Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoons aircraft by around 2035-2040.
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10/24/2018
The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) took delivery of its first Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon Viper (V) Block 70 multirole combat aircraft, according to an anonymous ROCAF source quoted by China News Agency. The first of four ROCAF F-16A/B fighter jets currently being upgraded by Taiwan’s state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to the F-16V variant was handed over to the service at an airbase in Chiayi county in southwestern Taiwan on October 20.
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10/24/2018
Embraer's KC-390 transport has received a type certification from the Brazilian aviation authority, Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil. A ceremony was held at Brasília Air Force Base to deliver the civil certificate of airworthiness to Embraer on 23 October. It was attended by Brazilian President Michel Temer, as well as the country’s Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna, and Lt Brig Gen Nivaldo Rossato, its air force commander.
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10/24/2018
Saab has been awarded a $117 million contract covering its portion of the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the US Air Force's T-X trainer project. Announcing its receipt on 18 October, the Swedish company said the sum will cover activities running through 2022, with these to run in parallel with work performed by T-X prime contractor Boeing. "EMD includes testing, US military flight certification and delivery of five jets," says Saab.
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10/22/2018
At 5:00 PM on October 16, a twin-engine Su-27UB1M jet fighter of the Ukrainian Air Force’s 831 st Tactical Aviation Brigade smashed into the ground near the village of Ulaniv in western Ukraine. According to a purported eyewitness account , the fighter entered an uncontrolled spin above the village, but the pilots adjusted its trajectory to crash in an empty field.
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10/22/2018
In the first of a three-part series on the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, Channel NewsAsia’s Aqil Haziq Mahmud visited Lockheed Martin’s production facility for an in-depth look at the fighter jet and how it could be a battlefield game changer.
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10/19/2018
For the first time, Egypt has unveiled about its new unmanned aerial aircraft system, of which it had recently furnished its Airforce. In a move which was described as a “major shift, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense yesterday released a documentary on its official social media pages, introducing the “Wing Loong” armed drones. The video was published on the occasion of the 45th Air Force Day.
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10/19/2018
Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi Al Falacy, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, the United Arab Emirates, visited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru on Wednesday. He was briefed on all the ongoing projects in HAL and taken around the Helicopter Complex, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Division and Hawk Final Assembly hangar.
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10/19/2018
The Association of the United States Army held its annual conference and exposition in the nation’s capital last week. The event was huge and heavily attended, with hundreds of suppliers participating. But it wasn’t hard to figure out who had the biggest exhibit. It was Textron, owner of Bell Helicopter, which brought a full-scale model of a tiltrotor combat aircraft to the event.
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10/19/2018
Two pilots, one American and one Ukrainian, were killed in a crash during joint war games in the Ukraine. A Ukrainian Su-27UB fighter aircraft crashed in an area about 185 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev during the ongoing Clear Sky 2018 exercises, US Air Forces in Europe said in a statement Tuesday. "We have seen reports claiming a U.S. casualty and can confirm a U.S. service member was involved in this incident."
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10/19/2018
The Philippines has identified the Saab Gripen as the best candidate for the nation’s fighter requirement. The government-owned Philippine News Agency recently quoted defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana as saying that the Swedish fighter is the best option in terms of price and capability. He is reported as saying that the inclination to acquire Gripen follows thorough research into the matter.
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10/17/2018
The UK has for the first time tested an experimental shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) technique at sea using a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning. BAE Systems test pilot Peter Wilson performed the manoeuvre while recovering to the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in mid-October, the UK Ministry of Defence confirms.
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10/17/2018
The US Air Force concluded in an accident investigation report that a fatal Lockheed Martin F-16CM Thunderbird crash on 4 April was the result of the pilot suffering loss of consciousness, caused by an 8.56g manoeuvre.
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10/16/2018
The MQ-25A Stingray is evolving out of a now-cancelled carrier-launched ISR and attack drone program called Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system, or UCLASS. The Navy will launch formal flight testing in 2021 for a new, first-of-its kind carrier-launched drone engineered to double the attack range of F-18 fighters, F-35Cs and other carrier aircraft.
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10/16/2018
The U.S. Air Force is assessing what damage more than a dozen F-22 Raptor fighters suffered when Tyndall Air Force Base sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. Up to $2 billion in fighter jets were trapped on the ground because of maintenance issues and forced to ride out the Category 4 hurricane. Photographs show the hangars where F-22s were parked suffered severe damage.
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10/16/2018
After completing inspections, more than 80% of operational Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft flown by US services and international partners have been cleared for flight operations.
The worldwide fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft was grounded for inspections on 11 October after a problem with the aircraft’s engine fuel tube was discovered, which is believed to be related to the first crash of the stealth fighter a few weeks ago.
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10/16/2018
Aero Vodochody rolled out its first L-39NG jet trainer on 12 October, four years after the Prague-based company announced that it was to launch a new-generation version of its single-engined design at the Farnborough air show in July 2014. Manufacturing of parts and sub-assemblies started in 2017, with pre-serial production having commenced in January and the NG's first flight expected before year-end.
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10/16/2018
The export version of AVIC’s Z-19 reconnaissance/attack helicopter is ready to start batch production following various tests. The company says that the Z-19E export variant has undergone various performance and other tests, reports the official China Daily newspaper. It is produced by AVIC unit Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing. While the Z-19 is operated by the Chinese army, it is not clear if AVIC has secured a customer for the Z-19E.
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10/15/2018
Almost all of the U.S. military’s newly developed weapons systems suffer from “mission-critical cyber vulnerabilities,” a review of government security audits conducted from 2012 to 2017 found, suggesting military agencies have rushed to computerize new weapons systems without prioritizing cybersecurity.
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10/15/2018
The Defense Department is scrambling for ways to ensure the U.S. military’s fleet of warplanes is able to fly and fight when called upon, despite a string of accidents over the past several months. Defense Secretary James Mattis recently took the unprecedented step of demanding an 80 percent readiness rate for all military aircraft, just days before the Pentagon ordered a fleetwide grounding of the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
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10/15/2018
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force (PLANAF) has acquired Xian-H-6J anti-ship cruise missile-carrying bombers, according to satellite imagery taken on September 7. An analysis of the satellite images shows that the first four H-6J bombers — assumed to be the naval variant of the upgraded H-6K — were on the ground at the PLANAF air base at Guiping-Mengshu in Guangxi in early September.
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10/14/2018
We have been leading the coverage on the state of aircraft left behind after Hurricane Michael made a direct strike on the highly important Tyndall Air Force Base. We have posted pictures showing QF-16s, Mu-2s, and yes, F-22s, sitting among the rubble inside badly damaged hangars at the base. The USAF has stated that aircraft were left behind, with unofficial figures being reported that range from three to 18 of the precious super fighters riding out the storm on site.
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