Military Aviation News Archive
12/11/2014
Lockheed Martin Corp's Skunk Works was the driving force behind development of many well-known U.S. military aircraft, including the famed "Blackbird" or SR-71 spy plane that could fly from New York to Los Angeles in just over an hour. Following are some facts about the Lockheed division, whose Skunk Works name is a registered trademark, and some of the weapons it has or is developing.
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12/11/2014
The US Navy successfully deployed and operated, for the first time, a cutting-edge ship-based laser weapon system aboard a naval vessel in the Persian Gulf that will enhance both surface, air and ground capabilities, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced.
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12/11/2014
The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to purchase up to 100 combat planes, over 120 helicopters, up to 30 naval vessels and some 600 armored vehicles annually in the next five years, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Wednesday. "By the end of the state rearmament program in 2021 the share of modern weaponry in the Armed Forces will be within the range of 70-100 percent," Gerasimov said at a meeting with foreign military attaches in Moscow.
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12/11/2014
The United States program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (IS) in Syria will not begin until at least March of next year, the US special ambassador to fight IS told the House Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. “The program is to train 5000 [people] per year and the training, we hope, will start in March,” Brett McGurk said in response to a question, confirming that the soonest the forces could be sent to Syria would be March of 2016.
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12/10/2014
Cost will likely be the biggest design driver for the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft when the service issues its draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for the program—which could be as early as Friday —according to industry sources. ndustry sources told USNI News that there are positive indications that the Navy has finally settled on specifications for the UCLASS.
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12/10/2014
A spending bill agreed by lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate provides $554.2 billion in funding for the U.S. military in fiscal 2015, including $1.46 billion for 15 EA-18G electronic attack jets built by Boeing Co. A summary of the $1.1 trillion "omnibus" bill released late Tuesday said the base appropriation for the Pentagon would be $490.2 billion, with $64 billion in additional war funding.
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12/10/2014
India has spent over Rs 2,263 crore for the repair and maintenance of country's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 since 2011, the government told Rajya Sabha. In a written reply, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said Rs 834.76 crore was spent in 2013-14 while Rs 877.84 crore was spent for the purpose in 2012-13. The government had spent Rs 551.35 crore in 2011-12.
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12/10/2014
“What kind of navy do Americans want?” columnist George F. Will asked in an August Washington Post commentary. “The answer will determine whether U.S. power can, in [Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan] Greenert’s formulation, ‘be where it matters, when it matters.’”
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12/10/2014
Just as China-Japan relations had begun warming up, Japan reported on Dec. 6 that five Chinese military aircraft were observed flying over an area between Okinawa's main island of Okinawa and Miyako island. The five aircraft are believed to have been capable of posing a threat to Guam, according to a military expert.
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12/10/2014
After a more than decade-long involvement in Afghanistan, the air wings of multiple nations had expected some respite from years of combat activity by late 2014, as the NATO-led mission completes its transition of control to the authorities in Kabul. World events do not tend to follow such established military plans, however, and the end of the conflict with the Taliban has instead overlapped with a resurgence of violence and renewed coalition involvement in the Middle East.
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12/10/2014
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command mission in Afghanistan has officially ended, the US Department of Defense has announced. "As the Afghan National Security Forces have become increasingly capable, we shift our focus from combat operations to building [Afghan] systems and processes to ensure long-term sustainability," ISAF commander, Army Gen. John F. Campbell, said Monday as quoted by the US Department of Defense.
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12/10/2014
U.S. Air Force crews ferried two MC-130J Commando II aircraft assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command from the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Aeronautics facility located here, on Dec. 5. These aircraft will be operated by the 352nd Special Operations Group and will be based at Royal Air Force Mildenhall England.
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12/09/2014
The US Air Force’s air power superiority over China is rapidly diminishing in light of rapid Chinese modernization of fighter jets, cargo planes and stealth aircraft, according to a recently released Congressional review. The 2014 US-China Economic and Security Review Commission recommends that Congress appoint an outside panel of experts to assess the US-Chinese military balance and make recommendations regarding U.S. military plans and budgets, among other things.
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12/09/2014
The V-22 Osprey aircraft has been used by U.S. troops in combat situations for years, including the failed effort Saturday to rescue two hostages from militants in Yemen. But the Osprey has always been considered lightly armed compared to most other military helicopters, with a machine gun mounted to its rear door typically its only heavy weapon.
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12/09/2014
Qualifying the five most powerful air forces in the world is certainly a difficult and challenging proposition. There are large, well-trained and well-equipped air forces that are obvious candidates for such a list. Then there are less-obvious candidates—like Russia. The Russian Air Force, while plane-for-plane older than many air forces, has numbers, the ubiquity of the largest country by size on Earth, a modernization plan and nuclear weapons.
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12/08/2014
In this excerpt from The ISIS Solution: How Unconventional Thinking And Special Operations Can Eliminate Radical Islam, Army Ranger Jack Murphy, Navy SEAL Brandon Webb, and Recon Marine Peter Nealen, reveal the effective tactics ISIS exploits in ground warfare. ISIS has kept its field forces light. While it has captured plenty of Syrian and Iraqi armored vehicles in recent months (many of the Iraqi vehicles US-supplied), there have been few if any reports of them actually being used in frontline
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12/08/2014
The Federal Government last night ordered the detention of a Russian cargo plane impounded in Kano for conveying arms and combat helicopters. The cargo aircraft, which was carrying two attack helicopters and consignments of weapons, was seized yesterday morning at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) when it made a technical landing to refuel.
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12/08/2014
In 2008, Russian tanks crossed their southern border, invading and crushing the military forces of the tiny Republic of Georgia. Georgia's U.S. and European allies raised feeble objections to Russia's incursion - but little more. In fact, just two years after Russia's "short, victorious war" in Georgia, French defense contractor DCNS happily announced the signing of a $1.7 billion contract to sell the Russian Navy a pair of 16,500-ton Mistral-class amphibious warfare ships.
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12/08/2014
Libya’s Tobruk parliament is set to officially appoint Gen. Khalifa Haftar as commander-in-chief of Libya’s armed forces, a Libyan minister told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday. Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army group, only recently accepted the authority of premier Abdullah Al-Thani government, and had previously unilaterally announced the dissolution of the former Libyan government and the launch of “Operation Dignity."
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12/08/2014
Russian jets flying over the Baltic Sea dangerously close to the border of NATO ally Latvia were intercepted and run off by NATO fighter planes in three separate incidents reported by Latvia’s military Sunday. The encounters were just the latest in what has been a record number of confrontations in the skies between Russian and NATO aircraft this year.
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12/08/2014
A revamped version of Pakistan’s JF-17 jet fighter took centre stage at a defence exhibition in Karachi this week as the restive nuclear-armed state looks to boost its role as a military exporter on the world stage. Pakistan’s large, well-funded military has long been a major importer of defence equipment, particularly from key ally China.
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12/08/2014
Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over the United States under the Treaty on Open Skies, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center has announced. "Within the framework of the international Treaty on Open Skies a group of Russian inspectors plans to conduct an observation flight on a Russian Tupolev Tu-154M-LK-1 observation aircraft over the territory of the United States," Sergei Ryzhkov said.
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12/08/2014
The Israeli Air Force have conducted several airstrikes on Syria's Damascus International Airport, targeting an arms depot, a source in Syrian army's Joint Staff told Sputnik on Sunday.
"The Israeli Air Force have conducted airstrikes on an arms depot, which caused huge blasts near the [Damascus] International Airport," the source said in a phone conversation.
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12/07/2014
Estonian military has observed a number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea in the international airspace, the general staff of Estonia’s defense forces said Saturday. “Today, a lot of Russian Air Force planes flying to [Russia's] Kaliningrad region have been observed in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea. The group of aircraft comprised of different planes, including strategic bombers,” the statement said.
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12/07/2014
The Navy’s infrared search and track (IRST) system received Milestone C acquisition approval Dec. 2, authorizing low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the sensor pod. Approved by Vice Admiral Paul Grosklags, Principal Military Deputy for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition), LRIP authorization provides the Navy’s IRST program with the six pods needed to achieve future initial operational capability (IOC).
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