Military Aviation News Archive
03/30/2017
In a move that will surely make the volatile Black Sea region even more interesting, NATO will begin basing fighter jets in Romania in May, the United Kingdom announced this week. While it may not seem like much, it means NATO will further expand its reach into Russia’s southern flank, basing jets minutes from the Black Sea and sending one of the clearest messages yet to the increasingly aggressive country.
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03/30/2017
Satellite images published this week confirm that China has almost completed the construction of a variety of military assets in the Philippine and Vietnamese South China Sea, assets that allow it to deploy fighter jets and missile launchers at a moment’s notice and provide it expanded surveillance capabilities.
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03/30/2017
The US Air Force could field its Penetrating Counterair platform on a fast track, according to the service’s head of Air Combat Command. The USAF will likely purchase its next standoff aircraft in batches and add capabilities along the way, rather than wait for years for an exquisite aircraft, Lt Gen Mike Holmes told reporters 29 March.
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03/30/2017
The UK Royal Air Force has received the first of its Boeing CH-47 Chinooks upgraded to the HC5 standard. Delivered to the service’s Odiham base in Hampshire on 22 March, the tandem-rotor helicopter is the first of eight HC3 models to undergo modernisation by Boeing under the Ministry of Defence’s Project Julius initiative.
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03/30/2017
The Saudis’ recent business tour through East and Southeast Asia, intended to increase the kingdom’s revenues, landed a new project for the oil-rich nation: China will set up a drone manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.
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03/30/2017
On Wednesday, South Korean news outlets reported that a sixth nuclear test by North Korea is imminent, and could take place as early as next week. An unnamed source within the South Korean military told Korea Joongang Daily, "We have intelligence that North Korea may conduct its sixth nuclear test in the first week of April and are in the process of confirming this…We have determined that North Korea is expected to finish all preparations for a nuclear test by March 31."
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03/30/2017
Norway struck a deal with the United States on Wednesday to buy five Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the Nordic nation’s Defense Ministry announced.
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03/30/2017
The Finnish Air Force has without unnecessary publicity formed a new US-style special unit called Raven. The newly-formed unit will, in line with their US prototype, handle the protection of aircraft and VIP passengers in hazardous locations.
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03/29/2017
The last three weeks of airstrikes in Mosul have been “the most kinetic three weeks in the campaign in Iraq” against the Islamic State, the top Air Force general in Iraq said Thursday. Brig. Gen. Matthew Isler, deputy commanding general for Air, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, said in an interview that coalition aircraft above Mosul have dropped more than 500 precision-guided munitions a week so far in March even hitting as high as 605 weapons in one week.
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03/29/2017
As President Donald Trump pushes for the Pentagon to buy more of Boeing Co.’s F-18 aircraft, the U.S. Navy is grappling with an escalating problem: Pilots suffering potentially dangerous oxygen deprivation or a loss of cabin pressure in the fighter jets.
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03/29/2017
The Air Force’s stealthy long-range bomber will have the endurance and next-generation stealth capability to elude the most advanced existing air defenses and attack anywhere in the world, if needed, senior service officials said. When the Air Force revealed its first artist rendering of what its new Long Range Strike – Bomber looks like, former Air Force Secretary Deborah James made reference to plans to engineer a bomber able elude detection from even the best, most cutting-edge air defenses.
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03/29/2017
Dozens of aircraft hangars and high-end radar capabilities on China's man-made islands in the South China Sea are almost operational, according to new satellite imagery released by a US-based think tank. The new facilities will further establish China's military dominance over the highly contested region, experts told CNN, and could help China establish a controversial Air Defense Identification Zone in the area.
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03/29/2017
A Lebanese pilot trainee has flown an A-29 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft for the first time, as part of a training programme conducted by the US Air Force (USAF). The first ‘in seat’ training sortie was conducted at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, on 22 March this year. The training programme is being conducted to ensure that the Lebanese Air Force receives the support and training needed to safely and effectively employ the A-29 aircraft, the USAF stated.
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03/29/2017
The 64th Aggressor Squadron, based out of Nellis Air Force Base, is one of only two USAF units that provide dedicated adversary support. The 64th aims to take the whole threat presentation mission to an extreme level. This doesn't just include emulating potential adversaries' tactics and procedures, as well as their weapons and aircraft capabilities, but also presenting front-line pilots with some of the same camouflage paint jobs they could see on enemy planes in battle.
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03/29/2017
A new torpedo upgrade that will fundamentally change the way US Navy airmen hunt submarines is on track to seek approval to begin low-rate initial production later this year, Boeing and Navy officials say on 28 March.
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03/29/2017
The US Air Force’s arming of the fifth-generation F-22 stealth fighter jet with new Air Intercept Missile-9X sidewinder missiles is causing excitement among the war plane’s pilots. Last year the weapon was integrated into the Raptor fleet, but it has been featured on the F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and other aircraft since the early 2000s.
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03/29/2017
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has joined the Iniohos 2017 multinational air drills hosted by Greece and involving pilots from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), local media reported Tuesday.
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03/28/2017
Germany has advanced the program to build its own sixth generation stealth jet fighter from its concept to the initial working stage. A sixth-generation jet fighter is a conceptualized class of fighter aircraft design more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters that are currently in service in the United States and in development in other countries.
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03/28/2017
For the first time, an important United States military base, one where a great deal of highly classified communications, intelligence and operations occur, sits within a few miles of a military competitor. Where? Djibouti, the tiny African state that sits on the Horn of Africa across from Yemen and sits astride the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It is one of the world’s most strategic locations.
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03/28/2017
China appears to have largely completed major construction of military infrastructure on artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea and can now deploy combat planes and other military hardware there at any time, a US think tank said on Monday.
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03/28/2017
Japan and the UK have agreed to explore options for co-developing a future fighter aircraft, but Tokyo will also continue discussions on developing a next-generation combat jet with other countries, the Japanese Ministry of Defense says.
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03/28/2017
Indonesia has received 18 of 24 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 25 fighters that have been refurbished after USAF use. The aircraft were delivered from the USAF’s Ogden Air Logistics Complex, says a statement from the USAF. The four most recent aircraft include three single seat ‘C’ jets and one tandem seat ‘D’ aircraft.
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03/27/2017
When the F-22 Raptor production line ceased in 2011, Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel thought the Pentagon had made a huge mistake. He was driving in his car in 2009 when he found out "the Raptor fleet is done at 187, and I remember thinking, 'This is not great.' I thought it was an error."
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03/27/2017
With the return of spring weather, the Selfridge Military Museum and Air Park will soon once again be open to the general public. The museum and air park will be open from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from April 1 to Oct. 29. It will also be open on Independence Day and Memorial Day. Visitors to the museum and air park will see more than $7 million worth of displays. The site features more than 30 military aircraft, all with a Michigan connection, and thousands of artifacts.
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03/27/2017
Malaysia’s defence minister Hishamuddin Hussain has squashed reports that the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon had been shortlisted for the Malaysian air force’s multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) requirement. Asked if the ministry would settle for Eurofighter Typhoon by BAE Systems or the Rafale by Dassault Aviation, he said the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Saab Gripen “are still in the running”.
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