Military Aviation News Archive
03/17/2015
The first of three C-295 transports ordered from Airbus Military for the Philippine Air Force is scheduled for delivery later this month. "It will serve as additional transport support for the Armed Forces' requirements (and complement) the three existing C-130s" now in use, the Philippine Star newspaper quoted Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya. "They will be especially helpful in HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster response) operations."
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03/17/2015
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would eliminate its dependency on external suppliers for its defense industry. In a speech at the inauguration ceremony of the Radar and Electronic Warfare Technology Center, launched by Turkey's leading state-owned defense system producer, ASELSAN, in Ankara, Erdogan said: "We plan to eliminate external dependency on defense equipment supply with ongoing projects and investments by 2023.
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03/17/2015
For a $55 billion program that is supposedly shrouded in mystery, we sure do hear a lot about the significance of the Long-Range Strike Bomber competition to the companies vying for the win. So who is the frontrunner? That definitely depends upon who you ask. Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, an Arlington-based think tank that focuses on defense, has made it clear that his money is on The Boeing Co., teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp..
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03/17/2015
Residents in Hawaii noticed an increase in fighter aircraft activity as well diversity of airframes in and around the airspaces of the state in the last couple of weeks as the Hawaii Air National Guard hosted its second large-scale "Sentry Aloha" fighter exercise of 2015.
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03/17/2015
vetlana Alexandrova — Pakistan would like to expand military technical cooperation with Russia by purchasing Russian Mi-35 helicopter gunships, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain told Sputnik. "Pakistan would like to procure a variety of Russian military hardware," Hussain said.
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03/17/2015
ussian fighter jets and ground support aircraft will practice penetration of "enemy's" air defenses during a month-long exercise in Siberia, the Eastern Military District said Friday. "During the drills Su-30SM fighter jets and Su-25 attack aircraft will practice interoperability in penetration of air defenses and joint attacks on communications networks behind enemy lines," the district's press service said in a statement.
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03/17/2015
Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over Germany, as well as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, on March 16-21 under the Treaty on Open Skies, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov announced.
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03/17/2015
The crews of two military planes that collided mid-air near Fort Bragg in December had failed to complete visual scans of their flight paths and were too reliant on automated anti-collision systems, according to an Air Force investigative report obtained by The Fayetteville Observer.
The Army and Air Force planes, which were carrying 13 people on separate training exercises, declared emergencies and landed safely, the report said.
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03/16/2015
Rafale International has re- emphasised its commitment to Malaysia that goes beyond defence technology through its participation in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2015 (LIMA'15). In a statement Monday, it said its two combat-proven Rafale, a single-seater and two-seater fighter aircraft, were already parked on the LIMA tarmac, ready to take to the skies over the five days of the exhibition.
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03/16/2015
The US Navy is aiming to have a forward presence of 120 ships by 2020, up from 97 ships today, putting ships "where it matters, when it matters." That's according to the latest update of the US maritime strategy, a document that guides the concepts and development of the sea services — the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
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03/16/2015
As Defense Secretary Ashton Carter settles into office, a formidable challenge awaits him: eradicating the menace of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria and Iraq. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Carter reiterated that he and the Obama administration hope “with our air power and other kinds of assistance, [to] inflict defeat on ISIS, and then make it a lasting defeat.”
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03/16/2015
They’re big. They’re ugly. And they fly. No, they’re not mosquitoes from Alaska. They’re B-52 Stratofortress bombers from North Dakota. And they’re old, too. Older than the pilots who fly them. The one that 32-year-old Capt. Jeffrey “Shredder” Stock flew in last week’s Red Flag air combat exercises at Nellis Air Force Base.
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03/16/2015
China has overtaken Germany as the world’s third-largest arms exporter and cut its own dependence on imports by producing more-sophisticated weapons, according to a new report. State-owned defense suppliers such as Norinco Group have become prominent at arms fairs, opening new markets beyond established customers in South Asia by, for example, selling armed drones to Nigeria in its battle against Boko Haram rebels.
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03/15/2015
China should allow potential overseas buyers to learn more details of the FC-31 or Shenyang J-31, the nation's second fifth-generation stealth fighter designed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, writes the Kanwa Defense Review, a Chinese-language military magazine based in Canada.
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03/15/2015
In December 2013, Turkish officials warned that because military pilots were leaving service at such an alarming rate, much greater attention must be paid to the training regime. Slightly over a year later, Turkey mourns the loss of six pilots in a span of six days. Two Turkish RF-4E reconnaissance jets crashed into a hill on Feb. 27 near Malatya, eastern Turkey, killing all four pilots aboard.
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03/15/2015
The Rafale fighter jets sold to Egypt will be modified to remove nuclear missile capability and NATO standard communications, a source close to the deal said. "There will be a few modifications," the source said. Once adapted, the fighters will be delivered, with the first three in time for Egyptian pilots to fly the twin-engine fighter in Egyptian colors over the opening of a new waterway on the Suez Canal in August.
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03/15/2015
Nearly 30 years after the first U.S. stealth bomber took flight, the Air Force's aging fleet is primed for a makeover; albeit an expensive one. The Pentagon is looking to upgrade its stealth aircraft for the first time since the 1970s, developing a high-priority, super-classified, next-generation bomber.
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03/14/2015
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not receive the software package required to operate the Pentagon’s top close-air support bomb until 2022, according to military.com. The article also stated that the JSF office already had discovered earlier that the precision-guided air-dropped Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) does not fit onto Joint Strike Fighter Marine Corps variant without modifications to the aircraft’s weapons bay.
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03/14/2015
Restrictions on Pentagon spending and uncertainty over federal government budgets is a key reason the company is considering selling or spinning off Sikorsky Aircraft, United Technology CEO Greg Hayes said. “Defense spending is going to be the governor of growth for them,” Hayes told CNBC. “As much as I like doing business with the DOD, there is huge uncertainty, as well as the margin cap.”
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03/14/2015
Since the end of last year, countries from Sweden to the United States have noted increased activity of Russian long-range bombers above international waters. What is the point of these patrols and is there reason for the EU and the U.S. to be concerned? RBTH presents eight facts about these flights.
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03/14/2015
Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody's subsonic L-159 combat aircraft stand in a hangar in the town of Odolena Voda near Prague, March 11, 2015. REUTERS/David W Cerny
The Czech government has approved a sale of 15 subsonic fighter planes to Iraq, the defense minister said on Monday, following the failure of a previous attempt to offload surplus stock to Baghdad.
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03/14/2015
According to a statement released by the Pakistani army, its military has just tested its own indigenously developed, armed drones. The unmanned aircraft come equipped with laser-guided missiles and will be deployed against terrorists along the country’s northwestern border with Afghanistan.
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03/13/2015
The JF-17 Thunder (also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong), a combined development project between “all-weather” partners China and Pakistan, hasn’t quite been selling like hotcakes on the international budget fighter market. The lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat jet, jointly developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, sells at an attractive price point, with a unit cost of just around $15-25 million.
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03/13/2015
History was achieved today when the first Italian F-35A Lightning II rolled out of the Cameri Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility, marking the first F-35A assembled internationally and the first of eight aircraft currently being assembled. The aircraft, designated as AL-1, will now proceed to additional check-out activities before its anticipated first flight later this year.
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03/13/2015
NATO is moving forward to modernize its Airborne early Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft with new flight deck and avionics systems, US defense contractor Boeing said in a statement on Thursday. “These improvements provide NATO with an AWACS fleet that will save time and fuel, and will also decrease operational costs by allowing a reduction in the flight crew size,” Boeing AWACS Program Manager Jon Hunsberger said.
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