Military Aviation News Archive
05/18/2015
The rapid response capabilities of U.S. forces in Japan are now set to be strengthened, which will almost assuredly enhance the deterrence of the Japan-U.S. alliance. The U.S. Defense Department has announced that CV-22 Osprey transport aircraft will be stationed at Yokota Air Base, western Tokyo, starting in 2017. Their number is scheduled to be increased to 10 by 2021, according to the statement.
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05/18/2015
Singapore's quest for a new maritime patrol aircraft, a mid-life upgrade for F-16s and possible purchase of the F-35 are among the expected areas of interest at this year's Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX), experts say. The 10th biennial IMDEX will be held at Singapore's Changi Exhibition Centre from May 19-20.
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05/18/2015
The U.S. Navy’s X-47B UCAS (unmanned combat air system) continues to break or make records. Thus in 2015 this included the world's first fully autonomous aerial refueling in April, performed with a KC-707 tanker. During the last few years this unmanned combat aircraft has successfully carried out numerous operations aboard aircraft carriers. These tests were often firsts for UCAS. Thus an X-47B made its first catapult launch from an aircraft carrier on May 14th 2013.
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05/18/2015
Days after the government auditor questioned the delay in producing the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), a defence ministry official said the first squadron of 18 aircraft will be delivered by 2017-18 — a good 17 years after it first took to the skies. “The initial operational clearance was obtained in December 2013 and the production of Tejas has commenced.
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05/18/2015
The U.S. special-operations force that carried out a first-of-its-kind mission in Syria to capture the Islamic State finance chief and his wife over the weekend came away with a treasure trove of materials that could help in the attempt to pressure the extremist group.
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05/18/2015
The 34-nation Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992 in Finland and currently applies most NATO member states, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Sweden. The treaty establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territory of its participants with the aim of boosting transparency of military activities.
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05/18/2015
A downed aircraft at Bellows Air Force Station in Windward Oahu suffered a “hard landing” to which firefighters and emergency crews were called to respond. An MV-22 Osprey from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit experienced a "hard landing" while conducting training at the Marine Corps Training Area at Bellows, the military announced.
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05/17/2015
Coalition military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq between 8 a.m., May 15, and 8 a.m., May 16, local time. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted six airstrikes using bomber and fighter aircraft. Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 15 airstrikes approved by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL terrorists.
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05/17/2015
After decades of maintaining a minimal nuclear force, China has re-engineered many of its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple warheads, a step that federal officials and policy analysts say appears designed to give pause to the United States as it prepares to deploy more robust missile defenses in the Pacific.
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05/17/2015
Some interesting international intrigue has been playing out in Europe. Russia’s the bad guy; the hero, improbably, is France. Early last year, as you may remember, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and ginned up a separatist movement in Ukraine’s east. Ever since, it has supported those separatists financially, with arms, and, sometimes, in battle.
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05/17/2015
U.S. and Nepalese teams found eight sets of remains as they resumed recovery efforts Saturday of the UH-1Y Huey helicopter that crashed in Nepal on Tuesday, presumably killing the six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers aboard. Eight separate sets of remains have been discovered since the recovery effort began, according to a Joint Task Force 505 statement May 16. They have yet to be positively identified. Additionally, the cause of the mishap has not been determined.
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05/17/2015
When Capt. Lisa Becker deployed to Afghanistan, she didn't expect to fly Mi-17 helicopters alongside Afghan pilots. "It's an opportunity that I didn't know I'd have," said Becker. "It's very fulfilling to be able to have that mentorship role." Becker is believed to be the first American female soldier to be rated to fly the Russian-made helicopter. She also is the first female Aviation Foreign Internal Defense/Special Operations Forces aviator to serve with the Special Mission Wing in Afghanista
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05/17/2015
A committee headed by Air Marshal S.B.P. Sinha is all set to begin government-to-government negotiations with France for procurement of Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force, and the multi-billion dollar deal will be finalised as early as possible, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday.
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05/17/2015
U.S. special operations forces carried out a raid into eastern Syria early Saturday, killing a senior leader of the Islamic State and about a dozen militant fighters, capturing the leader’s wife and freeing an 18-year-old woman apparently being held as a slave, Pentagon officials said. Two dozen Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed the militant leader, known as Abu Sayyaf.
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05/17/2015
Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will discuss Athens' proposal to construct a NATO air base in the Aegean Sea during a meeting next week, the Greek Defense Ministry said.
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05/16/2015
Turkish military jets shot down a Syrian aircraft after it violated Turkey's airspace on Saturday, media reported. It was not immediately clear what kind of aircraft was shot down. Turkey's NTV news channel said it came down in Syrian territory. A Turkish military official confirmed that two F-16 fighters flying out of the Incirlik base in southern Turkey had opened fire, but was unable to give any details about the target.
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05/16/2015
A number of RAF jets have been scrambled to intercept two Russian long-range bombers off northern Scotland, the latest in a series of provocative operations by the country's air force.
As tensions between Nato and Russia have worsened over the Ukraine crisis, Moscow has significantly increased the number of military flights probing Nato airspace. The number of interceptions over the Baltic States trebled last year and Nato members including Britain have stepped up air policing support.
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05/16/2015
Speaking to reporters after a two-day summit of foreign ministers of NATO countries in the southern city of Antalya on Thursday, Stoltenberg said he welcomed Turkey's decision to take part in forming a spearhead unit as part of the high readiness force. Allies decided to enhance the NATO Response Force (NRF) in 2014 by creating a “spearhead force” within it, known as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).
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05/16/2015
Take the new F-22 fighter. It’s the most expensive fighter in the air today, but as a recent story in The National Interest by long-time United States Naval Institute writer Dave Majumdar points out, even its missiles will have a hard time getting past the ability of Russia’s truly fearsome Su-35S Flanker E to jam radars and other sensors.
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05/16/2015
A top military analyst believes Australia and the US may be holding discussions about hosting the supersonic B1 bomber in northern Australia, where it could threaten Chinese ships menacing US allies in the South China Sea. The Pentagon on Friday was forced to contradict one of its own top officials who said the US would be "placing additional Air Force assets in Australia … including B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft".
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05/16/2015
When the U.S. navy sent a littoral combat ship on its first patrol of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea during the past week, it was watching the skies as well. The USS Fort Worth, one of the most modern ships in the U.S. navy, dispatched a reconnaissance drone and a Seahawk helicopter to patrol the airspace, according to a little-noticed statement on the navy's website.
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05/16/2015
The U.S. is "expediting" weapons shipments to Iraq in light of the ISIS advances in Ramadi, Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in a telephone call on Friday. The announcement from the White House comes on the heels of a flurry of new airstrikes against ISIS, also known as ISIL, as Iraqi forces desperately try to hold the key city, the capital of the key Anbar province.
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05/16/2015
The wreckage of a Marine helicopter from Camp Pendleton missing in Nepal since Tuesday has been found and there are no apparent survivors, the U.S. military said Friday. Six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were aboard the UH-1Y Huey when it disappeared while on a relief mission after a pair of earthquakes in the mountainous nation.
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05/16/2015
According to deputy director from the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Russia plans to sign a number of contracts with countries in Latin America this year on the purchases of arms and military equipment.
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05/16/2015
The US-led Coalition comprises some 60 nations that began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq in August 2014, and expanded the air campaign to Syria in September 2014, albeit without the approval of the Syrian government. In Syria, the Coalition struck the militants’ fighting positions, light vehicles, tanks and tactical units.
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