Military Aviation News Archive
11/01/2014
A second pair of CF-18 Hornet fighter jets returned Friday from a combat mission over Iraq with a full bomb payload because cloud cover had obscured Islamic State positions. For the same reason the first two Canadian combat aircraft – which launched from an airfield in Kuwait on Thursday along with a Canadian Aurora CP-140 spy plane and a CC-150 air-to-air refueling tanker – also did not drop their munitions during a six-hour mission over territory held by Islamic State.
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11/01/2014
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby during a press briefing on Friday stated that Russian Air Force planes pose a risk to civil aviation. “Well, we certainly don't see this - these increased flights and activity as helpful to the security situation in Europe. Clearly, they - they pose the potential risk of escalation.
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11/01/2014
One pilot died and another one was seriously injured in the suborbital spaceplane SpaceShipTwo crash on Friday in Mojave Desert, California, CNN reported. “One person died and another was seriously injured as a result of Friday's incident involving Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo,“ California Highway Patrol Officer Jesse Borne said, as quoted by CNN.
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10/31/2014
In a single 24-hour period this week, Russia dispatched 19 combat aircraft — including “Bear” strategic bombers — to probe North Atlantic Treaty Organization air defenses. It also test-launched a ballistic missile in the Barents Sea, north of Sweden, that hit a target in Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East.
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10/31/2014
The US Air Force's (USAF's) goal to make its new fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter combat aircraft operationally deployable in August 2016 has been imperilled by lawmakers' efforts to halt the service's plan to retire its Cold War-era Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt close air support (CAS) aircraft fleet, the Pentagon's F-35 programme manager said on 30 October.
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10/31/2014
Canadian warplanes have begun flying combat missions over Iraq although no bombs have yet been dropped. CF-18 fighters and Canada’s surveillance spy planes and a refuelling tanker have all flown sorties over Iraq starting Thursday, sources say. The fighters also flew a second combat mission Friday morning. Bad weather thwarted the CF-18s’s ability to launch air strikes Thursday as their laser-guided munitions were frustrated by the clouds.
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10/31/2014
This week, Russian aircraft have probed NATO defenses to a degree unseen since the Cold War. Fighter aircraft from eight NATO members were reportedly scrambled to intercept more than two dozen aircraft just on Tuesday and Wednesday. As the Wall Street Journal report details, the intercepts of Russian aircraft have occurred more than one hundred times this year, which is about three times the number of intercepts conducted last year.
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10/31/2014
UK today said the Europe-backed Eurofighter could hold negotiations with India for the supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) if the talks for the multi-billion dollar deal with French major Dassault Aviation do not make progress. Making it clear that his country respects the "position the Indian government has adopted", visiting UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
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10/31/2014
A US military expert believes North Korea has the ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads for its medium-range missiles, however Pyongyang does not appear to have technical capacity to conduct tests, Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday. “My analysis is that North Korea could probably miniaturize a warhead that should fit for a Rodong missile,” director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Mark Fitzpatrick told Yonhap News.
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10/31/2014
Kabul has not asked for more Russian Mi-17 helicopters, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan Chris Belcher told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) has announced on Thursday that the deal between the United States and Russia for the Mi-17 helicopters was completed on October 29.
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10/30/2014
The “friendly fire” airstrike that killed five American soldiers in Afghanistan on June 9 is the first known case of a battlefield catastrophe that can be linked to automatic defense spending cuts that greatly curtailed prewar training. A review of the worst American fratricide in the long Afghanistan war also shows that the military’s official investigation faults a Green Beret commander.
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10/30/2014
Welcome back to history, mariners of the world! Your post-Cold War holiday from history is drawing to a close—if it hasn’t expired already. Last week’s imbroglio between the Swedish Navy and an apparent Russian submarine in the Stockholm archipelago was only the most recent reminder of certain verities about combat at sea.
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10/30/2014
Most political observers would agree that Barack Obama’s presidential election victory in 2008 was the product of an unprecedented alignment of factors, from his use of technology and social media, to the economy going into free fall under the Republican administration in autumn of that year.
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10/30/2014
Brazil's decision to buy the Swedish JAS-39E/F Gripen (or Gripen NG) has opened a tantalising possibility for India's defence ministry (MoD), which is frustrated after 33 months of negotiations with French company, Dassault on the proposed purchase of 126 Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
On Monday, Swedish defence giant, Saab, which builds the Gripen, announced Brazil had signed a contract for 36 Gripen NG fighters for $5.475 billion.
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10/30/2014
The Air Force says the U.S. bombing campaign against Islamic extremists is exacerbating its shortage of plane-maintenance experts—a gap that is rekindling tensions with Congress about how to manage the nation’s combat aircraft. To keep U.S. planes flying over Syria and Iraq, Air Force officials said they have had to deploy hundreds of midlevel maintenance personnel to the overseas missions.
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10/30/2014
The French government believes that India is about to become the first customer for the Rafale fighter aircraft despite the long and hard bargaining over price and work-share arrangements. In three months from now, it will be three years since the Indian Air Force selected the Rafale from a field of six competitors to fulfil its requirement for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
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10/30/2014
As many as 12 Russian combat aircraft Su-27 and two combat training aircraft Su-27 will be deployed at the airfield in Bobruisk, BelTA learned from Russian Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu on 29 October. “Next year we will deploy 12 combat aircraft Su-27 and two training aircraft Su-27 in addition to a wing of four Mi-8 helicopters at the airfield in Bobruisk,” said Sergei Shoigu.
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10/30/2014
Sweden recognized a state of Palestine on Thursday, describing the decision as a crucial step it hopes will lead the way for others. "In the light of the international law analysis, we see no reason to delay this decision," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said. She said the decision was made based on the fact that the state "met the criteria of international law."
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10/30/2014
Moscow and Beijing are continuing talks on the delivery of Su-35 Flanker multirole fighters to China and the contract is currently being clarified, the deputy general manager of Russia’s arms export company said Wednesday. “Russia and China are continuing negotiations on the Su-35 and the process of agreeing the documents is ongoing.
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10/29/2014
Three and half months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Dutch prosecutors investigating the tragedy now believe the aircraft may have been shot down by another aircraft, according to a senior prosecutor in a German media interview. Since the downing of the aircraft on July 17 this year, Russian officials have repeatedly said that they have radar imagery proving that the Boeing 777 was in fact shot down by Ukrainian military aircraft.
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10/29/2014
New photos that have appeared on Chinese aviation websites suggest that mass production of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) J-15 carrier-based multirole fighter is gathering pace. Two new J-15 aircraft, numbered 104 and 105, are ready for delivery by SAC to the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The new additions take the total of known J-15 aircraft to 11, including prototypes.
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10/29/2014
The soldier commanding CF-18 fighter jets and other aircraft deployed to the Middle East says these forces are "on target" to launch operations against Islamic State jihadists by Saturday.
"That means we have all the support in place, plus the command and control capacity to have the ability to conduct national targeting, to validate targets," said Lt.-Gen. Jon Vance, the decorated Afghan veteran who took over Canadian Joint Operations Command in September.
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10/29/2014
There is a buzz in the air about New Delhi’s intentions of shooting down the 2007 agreement with Moscow for the joint development of fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) or at least put it on the hold to generate the funds for financing the Rafale deal with France. Under the estimated $20-30 billion mother-of-the-deals for the acquisition of 126 medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA).
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10/29/2014
Giving a big push to its defence business, Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) has teamed up with Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, to bid for Indian Air Force's transport aircraft replacement programme. If awarded the contract, the combine will manufacture and supply C295 transport aircraft to replace the IAF's Avro planes, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
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10/29/2014
Navy pilots got their first look Tuesday at the aircraft that only the youngest among them might get to fly within the next decade. The F-35C Joint Strike Fighter made its debut at Naval Air Station Oceana. It was followed here from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida by an F/A-18 Hornet, the jet it is supposed to replace.
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