Military Aviation News Archive
06/02/2015
The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) fleet of MiG-29N fighter aircraft will remain an important asset to the country's air defence. RMAF chief General Datuk Seri Roslan Saad said there has been no decision to replace the MIG-29N which had been in service since 1990 and the aircraft will still remain in service.
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06/02/2015
The US State Department has approved a $1.7 billion sale of four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft and associated parts to Japan, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement on Monday. “The proposed sale of E-2D AHE aircraft will improve Japan’s ability to effectively provide homeland defense utilizing an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) capability,” DSCA stated.
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06/01/2015
Following the deadliest day of air strikes and with the death toll approaching 2000, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is only getting worse. Like in all wars it is civilians that are on the receiving end, with the World Health Organisation stressing that 8.6 million are in 'urgent need of medical aid'. Lives, livelihoods and infrastructure are being destroyed, peace talks are failing and aid is failing to reach those in need.
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06/01/2015
A hundred or so years since the enormous potential of aerial warfare first came to be fully appreciated, the question of just how much commanders should rely on air power to achieve their campaign objectives is as vexed as ever.
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06/01/2015
The makers of precision-guided munitions no longer take for granted that simple GPS-guidance systems will always work on their own. Jammers and spoofing equipment threaten to populate future battlefields; manufacturers have taken notice and answered the threat.
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06/01/2015
The A-10 is poised to dodge retirement. Again. After a near-death experience in 2014, the aircraft known among troops as the “Warthog” appears to be cruising toward renewal from Congress. The Air Force has waged a protracted battle to mothball its fleet of A-10s, calling it a necessary cost-saving move that would save roughly $4 billion.
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06/01/2015
The US-India defence relationship needs an engine to drive it, say leaders on both sides. But there are different perceptions on what that engine might be. Americans believe the engine should be the "Defence Trade and Technology Initiative" (DTTI), a high-level committee of officials from both sides that moots projects for working together, and removes bureaucratic roadblocks.
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06/01/2015
As Saudi Arabia carries out the longest air campaign (against Yemen) in its history it was noted that the Saudis were sending up to fifty British made Typhoon and Tornado fighter-bombers a day on combat missions. The Saudis have 80 Tornados and 48 Typhoons with another 72 Typhoons on order. In contrast Britain has 125 Typhoons and 98 Tornados.
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06/01/2015
The CIA’s then-secret weapon missed the Taliban's leader, starting a 14-years-and-counting fight over who controls the U.S. drone program.
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06/01/2015
Russia's decision to conduct unscheduled large-scale maneuvers in response to the Norway-led Arctic Challenge exercises in the High North has added fuel to geo-political tensions in the region. Arctic Challenge participants from within NATO and the non-aligned Nordic countries view the Kremlin's response as a demonstration of Russia's military strength in the region and its unease over the deepening defense partnerships between NATO and neutral Finland and Sweden.
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06/01/2015
Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over the territory of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, under the Treaty on Open Skies, acting head of the Defense Ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center told journalists on Monday.
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05/31/2015
U.S.-led forces targeted Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Iraq with 16 air strikes from Friday morning through Saturday morning and conducted another six strikes against the group in Syria, the U.S. military said on Saturday. The strikes in Iraq were spread throughout the country, hitting targets near Baghdad, Bayji, Fallujah, Hit, Kirkuk, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar and Tal Afar, according to a military statement.
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05/31/2015
The 82nd Aerial Target Squadron, a subordinate unit of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, flew its final QF-4 Phantom mission May 27 marking the end of almost 20 years at Tyndall.Two QF-4 full-scale aerial targets took off around 10:15 a.m. and were successfully destroyed about 30 minutes later by pilots completing their mission exactly as it was supposed to go.
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05/31/2015
Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday, citing an anonymous source in Russia's armed forces in Crimea. The source was quoted as saying that the U.S. destroyer Ross was moving along the edge of Russia's territorial waters and heading in their direction.
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05/31/2015
Rushing through the Welsh valleys at 250 feet and almost 500 miles per hour the ground slides rapidly past the cockpit of the Hawk jet. Military flyers in training quickly become accustomed to the sensations of speed. They also learn about the need to look far ahead of the aircraft for upcoming obstacles and other potential hazards.
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05/31/2015
Times have changed. Russia, China’s exclusive arms supplier for more than twenty years, is now rumored to be interested in Chinese arms. The visitation of a Chinese naval task force to the Black Sea, including a modern Type 054A frigate, has sparked rumors Russia may buy a batch of the frigates to stave off a ship shortfall.
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05/31/2015
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has publicly criticised China for expanding a chain of artificial islands in the South China Sea, and declared that the US wouldn’t shy away from confronting Beijing over its determination to flex its military muscles in the region.
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05/31/2015
The US State Department approved the sale of 1,600 guided bomb units to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as part of a package that is worth more than $100 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced in a press release.
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05/31/2015
The Russian Navy will get an advanced aircraft carrier by 2026-2027, the Navy Ship Building Directorate head, Captain ? Rank Vladimir Tryapichnikov, said on Saturday. "At present, we plan to replace the current Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier with the ship of this class by 2026-2027," Tryapichnikov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station. The official added work on the ship's design is currently underway.
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05/30/2015
The United States has spotted a pair of mobile artillery vehicles on an artificial island that China is building in the South China Sea, a resource-rich stretch of ocean crossed by vital shipping lanes, American officials said. China’s construction program on previously uninhabited atolls and reefs in the Spratly Islands has already raised alarm and drawn protests from other countries in the region, whose claims to parts of the South China Sea overlap with China’s.
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05/30/2015
From June 8 military aircraft will conduct low-level flights outside their usual trianing areas for the first time, a move that is "necessary in order to maintain the qualification of pilots and relevant abilities required for combat," a statement said. "The first low-level flights in Latvian airspace will be performed by US A-10 "Thunderbolt II aircraft which in February this year were sent to Europe under the Operations Atlantic Resolve program," the information adds.
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05/30/2015
Since its standup in 2009, Air Force Global Strike Command has worked to build and maintain a strong relationship with its allies in the French air forces. A regular series of exchange visits between leadership, participation in joint exercises, and attendance at major events, have served to develop mutual understanding and partnering opportunities between the two nations' strategic air forces.
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05/30/2015
It has been 32 years in the making but it will be least another five years before the indigenously-built fighter jet Tejas (Mark -II) can be deployed in a combat role, a top Indian Air Force official told NDTV. This is bad news for India which was hoping to induct the Tejas in large numbers to make-up for its ageing fighter fleet. India will have to decommission about 14 Squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighters by 2022.
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05/30/2015
China has unveiled a new twin-fuselage drone that analysts say will give the People’s Liberation Army long-range surveillance and strike capabilities. The Shen Diao, or Divine Eagle, remotely piloted aircraft is being developed by China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and appears from Chinese Internet photos made public recently to be larger than the U.S Air Force’s Global Hawk long-range surveillance drone.
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05/30/2015
The Marine Corps is finishing up its first round of operational testing for its F-35B short-take-off-and-landing Joint Strike Fighter on board the USS WASP, an amphibious assault ship in the Atlantic Ocean, service officials said. The tests -- seen as a key final step before the aircraft becomes operational later this year -- included night-time take-off and landings as well as a wide range of assessments placing the aircraft is various operational circumstances.
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