Military Aviation News Archive
06/15/2015
In the homestretch of a 41-year U.S. Army career shaped by war and the scars of war, Gen. Martin Dempsey sounds unconvinced that Iraq has found its path to lasting victory over the Islamic State group. But neither does the top military adviser to President Barack Obama say the threats to Iraq today justify sending American ground troops back into combat.
He counsels patience, for now.
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06/15/2015
With a little help from the U.S. Congress and the potential for international orders, Boeing is bullish about prospects for its international fighters. A year ago, the fate of the F/A-18 production line in St. Louis was uncertain. Pentagon orders were trailing off, and the Navy again did not formally request money for the platform for fiscal 2016.
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06/15/2015
Italian Air Force Eurofighter pilots will fly training exercises alongside an M-346 jet trainer, which will take on the role of an "aggressor" aircraft, an Italian industrial source has said. The use of the M-346 in air combat training at Italy's Eurofighter base at Grosseto in central Italy is designed to save money which would have otherwise been spent on flying a more expensive Eurofighter in its place, the source said on the eve of the Paris Air Show.
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06/15/2015
The arrival of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will introduce new dimensions in aerial warfare, given the unique attributes of the new 5th Generation (5GEN) fighter. While low-observable techniques are always the most obvious and outspoken about the new fighter, the F-35 has much more to offer than stealth, Lockheed Martin experts say.
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06/15/2015
The U.S military launched weekend airstrikes targeting and likely killing an al-Qaida-linked militant leader in eastern Libya who has been charged with leading the attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013 that killed at least 35 hostages, including three Americans. The Libyan government said warplanes targeted and killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar and several others in eastern Libya. A U.S. official said two F-15 fighter jets launched multiple 500-pound bombs in the attack.
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06/15/2015
Ministry of Defence figures show that 36 of the 91 Typhoon fighters and 39 of 96 Tornados are grounded needing repairs. RAF sources say campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have taken a heavy toll on fighter aircraft. The £10million Tornados, dating back to 1978, have taken a “real battering” attacking Islamic State positions in Iraq almost daily since last summer. As the Iraq crisis worsens, even more planes could be needed
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06/15/2015
A trainer doesn’t have to be the fastest, biggest or stealthiest aircraft ever, just predictable, reliable and economical. Air forces nevertheless have a long history of getting trainer programs wrong. The problem is usually the requirement. The U.S. Air Force’s T-X requirement, seeking a replacement for the Northrop Grumman T-38, has been evolving steadily since the first industry teams formed in 2010-11 – in the direction of a bigger and more expensive aircraft.
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06/15/2015
Western combat-jet makers from Boeing Co. to the Eurofighter consortium are scouring for new export deals that could prove crucial to extending production lines at risk of closing. A string of deals for fighter aircraft is redrawing the global battle lines among the world’s leading military aircraft makers, leaving those left empty-handed scrambling to reverse their fortunes or face a market exit.
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06/14/2015
NATO military aircraft conduct flights with their transponders shut off, the German magazine Spiegel reported. NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly criticized Moscow saying that Russian military aircraft flew with their radio beacons off near the aerial borders of the alliance and posed threats to civil planes, the article reads.
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06/14/2015
In a still publicly unacknowledged incident, a Russian military surveillance aircraft flew close to four NATO warships in the Baltic Sea on Thursday, including the destroyer USS Jason Dunham, which captured video of the incident, a U.S. Defense Department official said Saturday.
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06/14/2015
In the homestretch of a 41-year US Army career shaped by war and the scars of war, Gen. Martin Dempsey sounds unconvinced that Iraq has found its path to lasting victory over the Islamic State group. But neither does the top military adviser to President Barack Obama say the threats to Iraq today justify sending American ground troops back into combat.
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06/14/2015
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s recent remarks on the efficacy of Iraq’s army reflect the fact that, despite years of training by thousands of U.S. and coalition forces, the army has not been able to halt Islamic State aggression. What makes anyone think that a few more months of similar training will yield success?
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06/14/2015
Joint Base Lewis-McChord this week is gaining 24 Apache attack helicopters, doubling the number of those aircraft at the base and restoring a unit the Army cut last year as part of a military downsizing plan. All together, JBLM will net about 400 new soldiers to build up a unit called the 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment. That unit was stationed at JBLM from 2005 until last year, primarily flying Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters.
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06/14/2015
If you're in the market for a fighter jet, passenger plane, satellite, or drone, the biennial show - the 51st since 1909 - is the place to be. There'll be plenty to choose from. As with previous shows, the news flow will be dominated by the big beasts of aerospace, Airbus and Boeing.
Planemakers like, if possible, to time their multi-billion-dollar orders to coincide with air shows. But such stage-management tends to be a decision for the customers, not the suppliers.
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06/14/2015
United States Air Force has successfully tested its fifth generation fighter aircraft way back in 1997 and has inducted the same in December 2005. It has a total strength of around 187 operational F-22 fighters. It is the only air force in the world which currently operates the fifth generation jets; however it definitely fueled the fifth generation fighter jet development programs around the world either solo or in collaboration.
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06/14/2015
Specialists from Hungary and Italy will carry out a joint observation flight over the territory of Russia under the Treaty on Open Skies on June 15-19, Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center has announced.
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06/13/2015
The United States is planning to establish a chain of military bases with the P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft to monitor China's activities in the South China Sea, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet. Countries with the P-3 Orion in their arsenal include Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, with Vietnam expected to join their ranks in the future.
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06/13/2015
In the battle for Yemen, forces opposed to the Houthi rebels appear to have the upper hand, at least for now. Indeed, over the past week, anti-Houthi fighters have made consistent, albeit limited, territorial gains against the rebels and against forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
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06/13/2015
The clearance for the acquisition of 36 Dassault Rafales as part of India’s medium multi-role combat aircraft bid, following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in April, is attracting small and medium companies to enter into partnerships to provide offsets for the $4.24 billion deal. The latest to enter the fray is India’s OIS-AT (Hall 5 D210), which has signed a joint venture with French company Rafaut (Hall 2B C157), a specialist in weapons for aircraft interface devices.
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06/13/2015
The A400m was being eyed as a possible replacement to the aging C130’s but, said SANDF spokesperson Simphiwe Dlamini, rising costs, deadlines not being met, and more rising costs meant the idea of the aircraft had to be shelved. Reuters reported the “troop and cargo carrier crashed outside Seville, Spain, on May 9 after three of its huge turboprop engines froze just minutes into a routine, pre-delivery test flight, killing four of its six crew members.”
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06/13/2015
Ukraine’s air force has struggled to find its role in the military conflict sparked by Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and alleged support for pro-Russian militia occupying eastern Ukraine. The reasons for the inability of Ukraine’s armed forces to make wide-scale use of air power are largely related to the fact that it has suffered from more than two decades of what has been described as “anemic” defense spending since the country gained independence from the former Soviet Union.
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06/13/2015
It could happen in August, or maybe in late July. Depending on who you ask, it could even happen before the end of this month. No one—at least no one who’s talking publicly—seems to know exactly when the U.S. Air Force will award a $55 billion development and procurement contract for the branch’s next-generation long-range bomber.
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06/13/2015
The second intercept was conducted professionally, Warren said. It is routine for military aircraft to intercept others flying near the edge of international airspace and is unremarkable when done safely and professionally, Warren said. But the initial intercept May 30 was troubling because it increased the risk of accident, injury or misunderstanding. "We have diplomatic means to lodge our displeasure with these types of incidents," Warren said.
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06/13/2015
For the first time since the Ukraine crisis drove a wedge between the two countries, officials from the Russian and American navies have met to discuss how to avoid accidental clashes, incidents which could lead - unintentionally - to war.
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06/13/2015
A Saudi Arabian Air Force commander, reported to have died from a heart attack, was actually killed by a Houthi cross-border attack earlier this month, according to an Israeli intelligence and military website.
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