Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

Warning: China's Airpower Will Equal the U.S. Air Force by 2030

03/03/2016

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be able to match or exceed the United States Air Force in the number of fielded combat aircraft by 2030. Moreover, while American forces will still maintain an edge, the technological gap between the two great power will have closed significantly between now and then.

The U.S. Army's Aircraft Recognition Guide Is Riddled With Errors

03/03/2016

The U.S. Army's manual to help troops identify fast-moving aircraft has at least one major issue: it seems to have trouble itself distinguishing planes. The guide is hobbled with misidentifications and misspellings of aircraft names. The vital training doc has also failed to keep up with changes in the geopolitical environment, listing obsolete aircraft and drones, and virtually ignoring the Asia-Pacific.

Combat unit drops bombs out of F-35 for first time

03/03/2016

In another milestone before the plane reaches operation, airmen from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, dropped bombs from an F-35 Lightning II, the first combat squad to do so, a press release from the Air Force said. “This is significant because we’re building the confidence of our pilots by actually dropping something off the airplane instead of simulating weapon employment,” said Lt. Col. George Watkins, commander of the 34th Fighter Squadron and one of the pilots who dropped the bombs.

Deputy PM: Experience of using Russian combat aviation in Syria inspires optimism

03/03/2016

The experience of using Russia’s combat aircraft in Syria inspires optimism, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a meeting on the development of the country’s combat aviation on Wednesday. "I want to say at once that the experience of the combat use of our aviation in Syria testifies to the high mastership of the design potential and our designers and technologists," Rogozin said, adding that the skills and courage of Russian combat aviation pilots should be added to this.

White Swan: When Will Modernized Russian Tu-160 Bomber Hit the Skies

03/03/2016

“The upgrade of the Tu-160 bomber is being carried out under the presidential decree. I think that by 2019, this modernized aircraft will start its flights,” Bondarev said following the meeting on the development of Russian combat aircraft. Deputy Defense Minister, Yuri Borisov, in February 2016, said that the work on the restoration of this aircraft includes a great amount of teamwork and collaboration.

Hasty Retreat: Syrian Army Destroys Daesh Defenses in Raqqa

03/03/2016

The Syrian Army and allied popular units have inflicted heavy losses on Daesh terrorists in the northern Raqqa province in a series of fierce clashes with the enemy, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

New Il-76 military transport carries out maiden flight

03/02/2016

This variant of the four-engined transport includes modifications to the flight, navigation, radio communication and lighting systems, and has replaced obsolescent parts to keep the aircraft viable for 40 years, United Aircraft Corporation says. The modernisation project was conducted by the company “in accordance with the tactical and technical requirements issued by the military space forces of the Russian Federation”, it says.

Who really invented stealth technology?

03/02/2016

Decades after the U.S. Air Force unveiled one if its first stealth combat planes, the B-2 bomber, lawyers are still arguing over the origins and legal ownership of the technology that allows pilots to fly virtually undetected by enemy radar. On February 19, a federal appeals court ordered a hearing to determine whether the Pentagon infringed on a patent owned by Zoltek, a materials company from St. Louis, when it developed the stealthy coating for the F-22 fighter plane and B-2 bomber.

US Defense Secretary: China's militarization of the South China Sea will have 'consequences'

03/02/2016

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday warned China against what he called "aggressive" actions in the South China Sea region, including the placement of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, and said they would have consequences.

Spate of contract wins shows Boeing is doing just fine despite bomber loss

03/02/2016

For a company that suffered a big loss when the U.S. Air Force awarded rival bidder Northrop Grumman Corp. the $80 billion stealth bomber award — with a subsequent protest going in the Falls Church contractor’s favor— The Boeing Co.’s legacy aircraft business is humming along nicely.

Branch by branch, a look at North Korea's massive military

03/02/2016

With tensions high and the United States and South Korea ready to hold their massive annual war games next week, which North Korea sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion, Pyongyang is warning it will respond to any violations of its territory with “merciless” retaliation, including strikes on Seoul and the U.S. mainland.

Belarus Still Paying For The Cold War

03/01/2016

Belarus, Russia’s western neighbor and only ally in East Europe, is ordering at least a dozen new Su-30SM fighter-bombers to replace 37 elderly (1980s vintage) MiG-29 fighters. Belarus tried upgrading the MiG-29s in 2004 but the 13 aircraft that were refurbished demonstrated that it was not worth the effort. Meanwhile in 2013 Belarus decided to retire its Su-27 fighters.

Swordfish Multi-Role Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), Sweden

03/01/2016

Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab introduced the Swordfish long-range, multi-role maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) mission system on Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier's Global 6000 jet aircraft and Q400 turboprop aircraft platforms in February 2016.

Australia shows its hand to China with the defence white paper

03/01/2016

Kevin Rudd told Hillary Clinton in 2009 that while they needed to integrate China into the world community as much as possible, they also needed to be "preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong". This conversation, leaked by Wikileaks and never denied, exposed the true thinking behind his government's defence white paper delivered that year. Australia and the US had agreed on a strategy of classic hedging, working towards the best outcome on China while preparing for the worst.

An Infantryman’s Defense Of The A-10

03/01/2016

I admit it, as a former infantryman, I’m a partial to the A-10 Thunderbolt II. I don’t mind that it’s ugly. I don’t mind that it entered service all the way back in the mid 1970s, making it older than me. I don’t mind that it’s slow, basically a flying 30 mm cannon sheathed in a 1,200-pound titanium “bathtub.” In fact, these are exactly the things that endear the A-10 to grunts like me. It’s our plane. It was made for us and us alone.

European vote on Saudi arms embargo puts heat on Canada

03/01/2016

A European Parliament vote to impose an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia has increased the pressure on Canada to review its own, multi-billion-dollar weapons deal with the Gulf power. The vote comes as serious questions are being raised in Ottawa over mounting evidence that Canadian-made weapons are being used by parties fighting in the war in Yemen.

China is about to pour even more money into its military

03/01/2016

China is likely to announce a substantial increase in the military’s budget, according to analysts, amid a massive reorganisation of the PLA and increased tensions over territorial claims in the East and South China Seas. The government is expected to reveal its proposed annual budget for the world’s biggest army this Saturday, when the National People’s Congress opens its annual session.

Revealed: Pentagon’s Plan to Defeat Russian and Chinese Radar With A.I.

03/01/2016

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a new generation of electronic warfare systems that are based on artificial intelligence (AI). If the program were to prove a success, the new A.I.-driven systems would provide the United States military a way to counter evermore-capable Russian and Chinese radars.

Meet the SR-10 – Russia’s first privately designed trainer aircraft

03/01/2016

The SR-10 light dual-pilot jet trainer aircraft caused a sensation when it first took to the Russian skies in late December 2015. For the first time in Russian aviation, a private design bureau had created a plane – from scratch, without public financial support – which can edge out aircraft produced by the aviation industry's big guns in the markets.

Russian Jets Bomb Nusra Front Near Aleppo to Stabilize Situation - MoD

03/01/2016

The Russian center on Syrian reconciliation said Monday that Russian combat jets have carried out airstrikes against the Nusra Front militant group, which is forbidden in Russia, north of the Syrian city of Aleppo to stabilize the situation.

Slowly, Relentlessly, China’s Military Expands Its Global Reach

02/29/2016

On the horn of Africa, as you may have read, the tiny nation of Djibouti, home to American, French, German, Italian, and Japanese military bases. Is about to welcome the Chinese as well. Last November, China and Djibouti reached an agreement to set up a naval base in the Obock region in the north of the country, where an American outpost was evicted last August. The U.S. base that remains, called Camp Lemmonier, costs the United States $70 million a year in lease fees and development aid.

Russian warplanes strike six Syrian towns in Aleppo province after fragile ceasefire enters second day

02/29/2016

Despite the first major cease-fire of the Syrian civil war appearing to remain intact on its second day, airstrikes believed to have been conducted by Russian or Syrian aircraft have continued to hit targets in Aleppo, the Hama provinces and the Turkmen-populated region of Bayirbucak yesterday.

Israel reconsidering 2008 purchase of U.S. jets

02/29/2016

A welcome decision made back in 2008 to purchase U.S.-made Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets no longer appears very attractive in 2016 – and Israel is considering backtracking on it. So say Israeli government sources quoted by Middle East Newsline (MENL).

Defence of India

02/29/2016

At the end of the third quarter of the 2015-16 financial year, 40 per cent (Rs.37,000 crore out of Rs.93,675 crore) of the capital budget of the armed forces remained unspent. As it will not be possible to spend all of the remaining funds in the January-March 2016 quarter, approximately Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore (15 to 20 per cent) may be returned unspent.

Funding Fictions: Australia, China and the Defence White Paper

02/29/2016

The Cold War was one such example, a vicious confrontation masquerading as a morally clear conflict. The ones to profit enormously from it were, as ever, those working in defence and beavering away on the next murderous device for the next lethal, preferably bogged down conflict. It produced false enemies in search of a fiction, leading to bloody proxy wars, long-ended engagements with lasting consequences, and trillions of dollars in waste.