Military Aviation News Archive
02/18/2017
On Feb. 8, Military Times published an article titled “Is the Afghan Air Force trigger happy? Here's what the numbers say.” The article challenged the competency of the Afghan Air Force and asserted that the young service “is responsible for a troubling pattern of botched airstrikes that have led to a stunning rise in civilian casualties.” The numbers brought forth in the article are an incomplete sample used to imply a problem with Afghan airpower.
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02/18/2017
As US President Donald Trump stood in front of Boeing’s inaugural 787-10 Dreamliner in South Carolina this week, he turned his attention from the company’s commercial crown jewel to tease a possible military aircraft sale.
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02/18/2017
Air Marshal Leo Davies, chief of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), leads one of the most modern – and capable – services in the Asia-Pacific region.His CV includes stints in the 1980s as a navigator and pilot aboard the Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion and later as a pilot on the General Dynamics F-111, a type in which he amassed 2,000h. He later went on to be Canberra’s air attaché in Washington DC, before assuming his current role in 2015.
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02/18/2017
After nearly 40 years in the US Air Force, Gen Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle will hand over the reins of Air Combat Command on 10 March to his successor, Lt Gen Mike Holmes.
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02/18/2017
India is forging ahead with its most challenging fighter programme, the development of its low-observable Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Director of New Delhi’s Aeronautic Development Agency C.D. Balaji says that the great majority of work for the shape of the AMCA has been completed. The biggest challenge involves the development of Radar Absorbent Material (RAM).
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02/18/2017
Russian military equipment exhibits drew significant attention from various delegations at the concluding Aero India 2017 exhibitions, while Russia and India further cemented military technical cooperation by agreeing on joint projects and discussing the supply of Russian equipment to India.
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02/18/2017
The Indian Air Force embraced the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the Advanced Hawk training aircraft, designed and produced by UK-based BAE Systems, at the Aero India conference held in January.
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02/18/2017
The United States has no particular reaction to the news that the Russian military has conducted cruise missile strikes on Daesh near Syria's Raqqa, US Department of Defense spokesperson Jeff Davis said in a briefing on Friday.
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02/18/2017
A Vietnamese online paper recently published an article, whose author tries to justify the need to arm the country’s Russian-made Su-27/30 fighters and Su-22 fighter-bombers with Israeli-made Python-5 air-to-air missiles.
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02/17/2017
The US Air Force has worked long time on developing a sixth generation combat aircraft to replace the F-35 jet once it reaches the end of its service in 2070, US Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Requirements Maj. Gen. Jerry Harris said in a congressional testimony on Thursday.
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02/17/2017
Sixteen more JF-17 Thunder jets were inducted into the No. 14 Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force during a ceremony held at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex on Thursday.
Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif attended the ceremony as the chief guest while Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman was also present.
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02/17/2017
U.S. adversaries are rapidly catching up to America's fifth generation fighter aircraft capabilities—a risk that has exacerbated given ongoing cyber vulnerabilities in the F-35 fighter jet program, according to an Air Force major general.
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02/17/2017
The US Air Force has delayed the release of its final request for proposal to recapitalise its fleet of UH-1N Huey helicopters, after contractors told the service their off-the-shelf solutions would not meet all of the proposed requirements.
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02/17/2017
In August, the USAF and Lockheed were preparing to move the FA-50 into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA). The CRADA allows the air force to assess an aircraft’s airworthiness without a programme of record. With a USAF stamp of approval as a gold standard in assessment, the CRADA can open up aircraft to direct commercial sales customers.
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02/17/2017
The air force is now facing a fleet of 108 F-35As that must be retrofitted from the Block 2B or 3i configuration, Lt Gen Jerry Harris, USAF deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, states in a 16 February testimony to Congress. The USAF and the F-35 Joint Programme Office are working together on a Block 3F upgrade plan.
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02/17/2017
Russia will begin supplying foreign customers with its Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifters after the Russian Aerospace Forces put into service its Il-76MD-90A modification, Rostec state corporation's chief international cooperation official said on Thursday.
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02/16/2017
Swedish aircraft maker Saab and U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin are the runner-ups in a fierce international competition to supply the Indian Air Force (IAF) with up to 250 new Western-made single-engine fighter jets in the 2020s.
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02/16/2017
The US Navy has revived interest in studying a major upgrade of the engine that powers the Boeing F/A-18E/F, EA-18G and two foreign fighters, including the possible addition of new technologies.
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02/16/2017
Initial operational test and evaluation on the Boeing KC-46A tanker will begin in January 2018 at the earliest, US Air Force officials tell FlightGlobal. In a 10 February interview at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, KC-46 programme manager Col. John Newberry told FlightGlobalthat testing will begin pending the results of a US Air Force IOT&E readiness review in the fall of 2017.
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02/16/2017
The Saab Gripen has appeared at the Aero India show for the first time since 2011, signalling the Swedish firm’s determination to win a planned Indian single-engined fighter deal.
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02/16/2017
Boeing, IAI, and Airbus Defence & Space all say recognize the need India has for tanking capability at this year’s show. Airbus’s A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) has twice been selected for New Delhi’s tanker requirement. Unfortunately, both times the deal has fallen through, leaving the Air Force to soldier on with its Ilyushin Il-78 Midas tankers.
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02/16/2017
On Wednesday China responded to rumblings about the US planning fresh naval patrols in the South China Sea by warning Washington not to impose on their sovereignty. The Navy Times reported on Sunday that officials with the Pacific Command and US Navy were considering having the Carl Vinson carrier strike group, based in San Diego, conduct freedom of navigation patrols in the waterway.
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02/16/2017
On Tuesday India’s Air Force received the first three indigenously designed airborne early warning and control platforms (AEW&C) from the country’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
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02/16/2017
Russia is willing to ramp up the licensed production of its Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets in India, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik on Wednesday.
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02/16/2017
To meet the shortage of Fighter Jets in Indian Air Force, Narendra Modi led government has approved $203 million for another production line of its light combat aircraft Tejas. India needs to increase its domestic production capacity to at-least 16 fighters per year which is currently as low as eight fighters per year. India needs 300-400 more fighter jets of different types over the next decade.
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