Military Aviation News Archive
10/26/2015
Russian soldiers in Syria live in neat housing units, eat in a clean canteen and wear crisp new uniforms, AP journalists reported after visiting the Hemeimeem Airbase in Latakia.
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10/26/2015
China began testing on a new type of helium stratospheric airship. The Yuanmeng aircraft can reach a height of 100 kilometers and conduct reconnaissance without being seen by other aircraft or rockets.
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10/25/2015
Dassault Aviation Chairman Eric Trappier said Thursday he had written a letter of congratulations to Justin Trudeau, the newly elected Canadian prime minister, and pitched an offer of the Rafale fighter if Ottawa pulled out of the US F-35 program. “We have to wait and see what he decides now he is in office,” Trappier told the association of aerospace journalists. “I wrote a letter to congratulate him and to remind him that if the F-35 were canceled, the Rafale would be potentially proposed."
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10/25/2015
About 500 airmen from Selfridge Air National Guard Base now are home. The majority returned Saturday. Airmen from the 127th Wing have been returning home over the past several weeks, with the largest contingency returning to Michigan this weekend, with ten jets and pilots returning on October 22. Most of the airmen and aircraft spent 6 months in Southwest Asia, supporting Operation Inherent Resolve and other missions.
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10/25/2015
Sleek combat jets loaded with precision bunker-buster bombs roar into the skies as soldiers in desert-style uniforms march past rows of neat housing at this Russian military base at one of Syria's largest airports. The air campaign in Syria, Russia's first military action outside the former Soviet Union since the war in Afghanistan, shows a revamped Russian military, which sharply differs in both capability and mindset from the old, Soviet-style force.
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10/25/2015
The induction of women as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force was cleared on Saturday by the government in a landmark move for the armed forces, which have so far dithered over combat role for women. As per the plan, the first women pilots would be selected from the batch, which is presently undergoing flying training at the Air Force Academy.
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10/25/2015
The Russian Aerospace Forces' precise airstrikes on the Islamic State (ISIL) positions in Syria are conducted simultaneously in various regions in order to contain terrorists, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Maj. Igor Konashenkov told RT TV channel Saturday.
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10/25/2015
According to the federal budget draft for 2016, Russian defense spending will grow 0.8 percent in comparison with 2015, and will total some 3.1 trillion rubles ($50.1 billion at the current exchange rate).
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10/24/2015
For the first time in 25 years, the U.S. Air Force is starting up five squadrons to increase its nuclear monitoring capabilities, and the units are likely to survey North Korea and Iran. The Air Force Technical Applications Center, or AFTAC, which operates under the U.S. Air Combat Command, is the "sole organization in the federal government whose mission is to detect and report technical data from foreign nuclear explosions," the Military Times reported on Thursday.
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10/24/2015
Five Apache helicopters have been removed from Johnstown National Guard hangars and reassigned to active duty Army units. The remaining 11 Apaches stationed at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport facility are scheduled for reassignment by May 31. President Barack Obama vetoed a bill Thursday that included an amendment to delay the May action for at least a month.
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10/24/2015
Presiding over a ceremony mourning the loss of his country’s top commander in Syria, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Deqhan vowed the total extermination of the Sunni Muslim rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. “We are witnessing the start of new developments in Syria (that) will pave the way for the full annihilation of the Takfiri groups,” Deqhan declared at the Oct. 14 memorial for the late Brig. Gen. Hossein Hamadani, according to the semi-official FARS news agency.
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10/24/2015
In a significant breakthrough, India and France reached an understanding on the offsets segment of the $4.5 billion (Rs 30,000-crore) Rafale deal on 21 October under which the French agreed to invest 50 per cent of the 36-aircraft Rafale fighter deal's worth in related sectors. But the development, being cited as oxygen for the Indian Air Force, seems to have overlooked one point.
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10/24/2015
The 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron hosted members of the 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, during Combat Shield, Oct. 19-23. Combat Shield is an annual program aimed to provide operational combat Air Force units in Air Combat Command, a system-specific capability assessment for their aircraft’s radar warning receivers, electronic attack pods and integrated EW systems.
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10/24/2015
The first death in four years of an American service member under enemy fire in Iraq is raising questions about the nature of the U.S. commitment there and whether the administration is correct to claim that it's not engaged in a combat role.
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10/24/2015
An F18 fighter jet pilot has died after ejecting moments before the aircraft crashed near the RAF Lakenheath base in Suffolk. The crash is believed to have happened five miles north west of the airfield at around 10.30am. Cambridgeshire Constabulary confirmed officers at the scene are dealing with one fatality. The US jet was one of six returning from combat operations in the Middle East.
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10/24/2015
Technology creates new capabilities and that affect the role of some forces including that of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). While the IAF has and will have a crucial role in the task of protecting Israel’s security with some missions that it has performed solely, there is a quiet fight in the Israeli defence establishment to re-define some of the combat missions.
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10/24/2015
A recent study release by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) claims that the United States has made a huge strategic mistake in how the Navy has composed its air wings. But what the study does not mention is probably more important than what they say.
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10/23/2015
Pentagon said a number of A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack planes are arriving in Incirlik to replace F-16 jets as part of a "regular rotation that was planned." The AFP news agency put the number of newly arriving aircraft at 12 while Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said he does not have the exact number.
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10/23/2015
The Obama Administration is gearing up to sell eight new Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to Pakistan, the New York Times reports. Those jets will add to Pakistan’s fleet of seventy-six existing “Vipers” as the type is colloquially known. Meanwhile, its arch-nemesis India’s air force shrinks by the day as planes age out and squadron are disbanded.
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10/23/2015
The Abbott government last year said it would spend an additional $12 billion to secure a fleet of 72 of the ultra-advanced ‘flying supercomputers’ — even as doubts continued to grow over its ability to meet already significantly delayed performance deadlines.
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10/23/2015
The United States is preparing to sell eight new F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a media report has said ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's meeting with President Barack Obama today. According to a report in The New York Times, the Congress was notified just days ago about the proposed sale of the additional fighter jets, although it is not clear if the White House plans to announce the sale of the aircraft during Mr Sharif's trip.
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10/23/2015
Poland has signed a contract with Bulgaria for repairing Russian-made Mikoyan MiG-29 aircraft in service with the Bulgarian Air Force. The contract envisages the repair of six engines and temporary use of two Polish-made engines for two years. The repair of each of the engines will cost 1.023 million [$1.13 million], transport expenses will be paid by the Polish side, Tass Defense reported today.
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10/23/2015
China’s government-owned aviation industry has an expansion plan in Africa to promote sales of Chinese-made aircraft that includes an aviation training center, regional marketing offices, maintenance centers, and spare-parts warehouses, TheDiplomat reports. China says at least 80 percent of training aircraft operated by African air forces are Chinese-made and it wants to increase exports of combat aircraft, according to the report.
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10/23/2015
One member of a U.S. special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Sixty-nine hostages were rescued in the action, which targeted an Islamic State prison around 7 kilometers north of the town of Hawija, according to the security council of the Kurdistan region, whose counterterrorism forces took part.
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10/23/2015
The U.S. Navy accepted the first MH-60R helicopter slated for Denmark from Lockheed Martin in a ceremony today at the Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, New York. "We are excited to accept this aircraft bound for Denmark," said Rear Adm. CJ Jaynes, program executive officer for air anti-submarine warfare, assault and special mission programs, which oversees the U.S. Navy's H-60 program office.
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