Military Aviation News Archive
09/17/2017
The Korean People's Army Air Force is perhaps the least threatening branch of Pyongyang’s military forces. However, while technologically backwards and often lacking the level of proficiency of Western air forces (with pilots often receiving fewer than 20 annual flight hours), the KPAAF does have a few strong points. As with many North Korean facilities, most KPAAF air bases are hardened to withstand air attacks and the country has a large number of aircraft available.
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09/16/2017
Triumph Aerospace Structures will supply the wing, vertical tail and horizontal tail structures for the Boeing T-X trainer aircraft, Boeing announced this week. Triumph Aerostructures, which inherits its composite and metal airframe heritage from the former Vought Aircraft, would build the structures at its Red Oak, Texas facility. Previously, Triumph has teamed up with Boeing as a supplier for the V-22 Osprey and C-17 Globemaster.
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09/16/2017
Israel's latest pair of Lockheed Martin F-35s landed at Nevatim air base on 14 September. The arrivals brought the total number of "Adir" jets operated by the nation's air force to seven.
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09/16/2017
The 3.8 meter long Astra Mark-1 is a single-stage, solid-propellant missile that can hit a target at a range of 75 kilometers with a speed of more than four times the speed of sound at Mach 4.5. Its advanced version is expected to match the caliber of the French Meteor BVRAAM.
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09/15/2017
A RSAF Typhoon combat aircraft involved in a mission against Houthi fighters over Yemen crashed into a mountain in Al Wade’a district on Sept. 13, 2017. The pilot, identified as Mahna al-Biz, died in the incident that follows the one of a UAE pilot, who was also reportedly killed in another crash in Yemen last week, said Yemen’s Saba news agency.
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09/15/2017
Rolls-Royce is pitching the BR725 for the US Air Force’s B-52 bomber re-engine effort, though the service has yet to establish a programme of record or release a request for proposals.
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09/15/2017
One of the UK's key intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) types is to receive a major upgrade, under the terms of a long-term arrangement between the Royal Air Force and prime contractor Raytheon UK.
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09/15/2017
Leonardo has joined forces with Discovery Air Defence Services and Inzpire in pursuit of a major UK aggressor aircraft requirement, making it the latest company to target the air support to defence operational training (ASDOT) opportunity.
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09/15/2017
North Korea has fired a ballistic missile across Japan, its second such provocative move in weeks. South Korea's military said the missile reached an estimated altitude of about 770km (478 miles) and travelled 3,700km before landing in the sea off Hokkaido. Japan's PM Shinzo Abe said his country would "never tolerate" North Korea's dangerous actions.
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09/14/2017
The Russian Air Force has deployed some MiG-29SMT multirole combat aircraft to Hmeymim airbase, near Latakia, in western Syria, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sept. 13, 2017. It’s the first time the modernized version of the baseline Fulcrum jet is deployed to take part in the Syrian Air War.
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09/14/2017
The US Air Force awarded Boeing a $600 million contract to begin preliminary design work to modify two 747-8s to replace the Air Force One fleet, the service announces on 13 September.
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09/14/2017
South Korean warplanes tested the precision and efficacy of German and Swedish made air-launched cruise missiles Wednesday morning as the standoff on the Korean Peninsula continues.
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09/14/2017
India would immensely benefit from military cooperation with Belarus as it would ensure transfer of high-end Belarusian technology for upgrading Soviet-era tanks and military equipment.
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09/14/2017
Amid talk of Beijing and Moscow playing a role to defuse the confrontation with North Korea, actions by China and Russia’s air forces around Japan would seem to be adding pressure on Tokyo to boost military spending. Russian and Chinese military aircraft are probing Japanese air defenses at a rate not seen in over a decade, causing repeated scrambling of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) jets.
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09/13/2017
The US State Department has approved a potential sale of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to Canada, but bad blood between the Canadian government and Boeing may have already spoiled the deal.
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09/13/2017
The US Air Force could scrap its business jet strategy in favor of an alternative platform for its Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalisation, according to a recent letter sent from Congressional members to the US defense secretary.
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09/13/2017
Saab has launched a new derivative of its Gripen C, which it believes is ideally suited to meeting the future adversary training needs of the UK and USA. Unveiled as a full-scale replica at the DSEI exhibition in London on 12 September, the Gripen Aggressor is the Swedish manufacturer's proposed solution for the UK's air support to defence operational training (ASDOT) requirement, and part of the US Air Force's adversary air (ADAIR) opportunity.
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09/13/2017
The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said in a statement that Russia and Turkey had reached an agreement on Russian S-400 missile systems deliveries to Turkey.
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09/12/2017
The US State Department has approved the sale of 19 Lockheed Martin F-16V aircraft to Bahrain, offering a critical lifeline to the Falcon’s production line. The possible $2.78 billion sale would include 19 aircraft equipped with Northrop Grumman APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. Bahrain plans to integrate the new aircraft into their existing fleet of 20 Block 40 F-16s.
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09/12/2017
The UK is considering a fresh acquisition of Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to replace the oldest examples in its current inventory. Rear Adm Jon Pentreath, chief of Joint Helicopter Command, speaking at the Future of Military Rotorcraft conference in London on 11 September, said further "modernisation of the Chinook fleet" is being contemplated.
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09/12/2017
As the US Air Force approaches production on its Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber and eyes full operational capability for its Lockheed Martin F-35A, the service is examining the future of air superiority with its next-generation air dominance (NGAD) concept.
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09/12/2017
On Sunday, Israeli Air Force F-15 fighters zipped over Saida, the third-largest city in Lebanon, while breaking the sound barrier. The sonic boom created by the fast, low-flying Israeli warplanes caused the foundations of buildings to shake and broke windows, Lebanese security officials told Reuters.
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09/08/2017
The Syrian army says Israeli jets have attacked a site in the west of the country where Western powers suspect chemical weapons are being produced. An army statement says rockets fired from Lebanese airspace hit a military post near Masyaf, killing two soldiers. A monitoring group says they struck a scientific research centre and base storing surface-to-surface missiles.
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09/07/2017
India’s army and navy have signed combined orders for 41 Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Dhruv advanced light helicopters (ALH). The deal will see the army take 40 of the helicopters, and the navy a single aircraft, under a contract valued at Rs61 billion ($976 million). This will be executed over a 60 month period.
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09/07/2017
Two Russian strategic bombers carried out planned flights over neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean.
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