Military Aviation News Archive
10/22/2014
U.S. Defense Department leaders have called for a renewed effort to sustain America’s military technological dominance, but to do so they will have to fight an uphill battle against entrenched bureaucratic interests competing over a shrinking budgetary pie. Whether this initiative will be more than simply Pentagon pabulum depends on the future direction of the Navy’s carrier air wing.
Read More...
10/22/2014
Robbin Laird, a member of our Board of Contributors, and Ed Timperlake conducted what looks like it will be the last interview with Gen. Mike Hostage, the head of Air Combat Command, before he retires in early November. Hostage has overseen the Air Force’s transition to fifth generation aircraft with the introduction of the F-22 and preparations for introduction of the F-35 fleet.
Read More...
10/22/2014
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has grounded its entire fleet of Russia-developed Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft to undergo safety checks, an IAF spokesperson said in an official statement Wednesday. "The fleet has been grounded and is undergoing technical checks following the latest accident in Pune. It would be back in air only after a thorough check," Wing Commander Simranpal Singh Birdi said.
Read More...
10/22/2014
NATO scrambled fighter jets - including two Canadian F-18's - twice in two days to intercept Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, it said Tuesday amid reports that Russian military activity in the region is increasing. Lt. Col. Robert Gericke said the Russian aircraft were flying in international airspace and had not violated the territory of alliance members. Two Canadian F-18 Hornet jets were scrambled from the Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania on Monday to intercept a Russian Il-20.
Read More...
10/21/2014
Official Minsk is yielding to the Kremlin’s pressure in terms of allowing a larger Russian military presence in Belarus. The Kremlin does not intend to modernise the Belarusian army or equip it with modern weapons, as this could strengthen Belarus’ political independence. By beefing up her military presence in Belarus, Russia aims to fortify her western borders and exert additional pressure on the Belarusian leadership, as well as on other countries in the region.
Read More...
10/21/2014
Britain will deploy both Reaper and Rivet Joint drones to Syria “very soon” to participate in surveillance missions, to gather intelligence on Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) militants. The drones will be armed, but not permitted to fire on targets.
Read More...
10/21/2014
The Oklahoma Air National Guard has confirmed a fighter jet that crashed in Elk County is from Tulsa, Okla. Colonel Max Moss, Director of Media and Civilian Relations for the Oklahoma National Guard, said two F-16 Fighting Falcons were involved in a mid-air collision during a training exercise southwest of Howard, Kan.
Read More...
10/21/2014
Over the weekend, General Tom Lawson, a Royal Canadian Air Force officer and currently the Chief of Defence Staff — Canada’s top soldier — told CTV’s Question Period that our CF-18s are a world-class fighter capable of getting the job done in Iraq. The General noted, rightly, that although the CF-18s were first ordered in the early 1980s and are thus in their early 30s, they have been repeatedly (and relatively recently) upgraded and modernized.
Read More...
10/21/2014
The family that controls Dassault Aviation SA (AM), the maker of combat aircraft and Falcon luxury jets, may increase its stake when minority shareholder Airbus Group NV (AIR) sells some of its holdings in coming months. Dassault Aviation Chief Executive Officer Eric Trappier held out that possibility yesterday, saying the family led by 89-year-old Serge Dassault would be able to purchase stock. Dassault Aviation won investor approval last month to acquire as much as 10 percent of its stock.
Read More...
10/21/2014
The Syrian opposition has asserted that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant formed an air combat fleet. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL captured fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft from Iraq and Syria in mid-2014. The London-based monitoring group said ISIL acquired at least three Russian-origin fighter-jets as well as an unspecified number of combat helicopters. “The combat aircraft are believed to be the MiG-21,” Syrian Observatory said.
Read More...
10/21/2014
Lockheed Martin is hosting the 26th annual Hercules Operators Council (HOC) here, Oct. 20-23. More than 900 representatives from 32 nations are attending to discuss C-130 Hercules operations, support, upgrades and new fleet acquisition. This year’s theme of “Transforming Partnerships” provides insight into how relationships between Lockheed Martin, Hercules operators, suppliers and support teams have defined the C-130’s first 60 years of flight and how these partnerships will shape the next seve
Read More...
10/20/2014
From the battlefield near Baiji, an Islamic State jihadist fired a heat-seeking missile and blew an Iraqi army Mi-35M attack helicopter out of the sky this month, killing its two crew members. Days later, the Islamic State released a chilling series of images from a video purporting to capture the attack in northern Iraq: a jihadist hiding behind a wall with a Chinese-made missile launcher balanced on his shoulder; the missile blasting from the tube, its contrail swooping upward as it tracked it
Read More...
10/20/2014
South Korea is threatening to break an agreement with BAE Systems to upgrade its fleet of KF-16s, opening a window of opportunity for competitor Lockheed Martin to reclaim its dominance in the lucrative F-16 upgrade market. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) selected BAE Systems’ North American subsidiary in December 2012 as prime integrator to take charge of software and hardware upgrades for 134 KF-16 aircraft.
Read More...
10/20/2014
The military procurement agency signed a 7.3 trillion won ($7 billion) deal to purchase 40 Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters for the Air Force's next-generation fighter (F-X), although it was previously informed of engine faults by the U.S., claimed an opposition lawmaker, Monday. Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy argued that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) tried to cover up the problem involving the project.
Read More...
10/20/2014
Lebanon is buying 18 upgraded UH-1H transport helicopters for about $10 million each (including training, spare parts and maintenanceequipment). Lebanon already has 23 older UH-1s. Lebanon uses its UH-1s for combat as well as transportation. For combat the Lebanese have modified the UH-1s to carry 250 kg (550 pound) and 400 kg (880 pounds) and launch tubes for multiple 68mm unguided rockets.
Read More...
10/20/2014
The Swedish military has made three sightings of foreign undersea activity in its waters during the past few days amid reports a suspected Russian submarine is in the area. Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad said yesterday that the activity the armed forces had registered - two incidents on Friday and one on Sunday - was in the Stockholm archipelago and nearby coastal area. He declined to give any details about any operation to track the vessel. The scenario is reminiscent of the Cold War when Sweden's a
Read More...
10/20/2014
China is building a fleet of a hundred large transport aircraft that will be able to deploy troops all around the world, according to a Russian military expert. In an article published Oct. 16 on the Russian Council website, Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, says that the People's Liberation Army hopes to complete the project by 2020.
Read More...
10/20/2014
Against the backdrop of delays in several of its major projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today told DRDO to speed up and complete its programmes in time as the world will not wait for it. Urging the country’s only defence research agency to give more opportunities to the youth, the Prime Minister suggested that DRDO should take initiatives in projects which would help in easing the lives of the armed forces personnel.
Read More...
10/20/2014
Boeing Co. (BA) is revising its master schedule for developing the new U.S. Air Force aerial tanker, adding to uncertainty about a plane that already has run up an estimated $1 billion in excess costs for the contractor. The Air Force “has been continually monitoring” Boeing’s “progress on their internal schedules, and as we get” the contractor’s proposed revised time line “we will continue to assess the milestones,” Ed Gulick, a spokesman for the service said in an e-mailed statement.
Read More...
10/20/2014
What qualities make a great fighter aircraft? Speed or maneuverability? Armament or ruggedness? How many enemies it shot down, or how often it managed to avoid being shot down? Perhaps it is all of these factors, or none. Maybe greatness is just being the right aircraft in the right place at the right time. Whatever the reason, some fighters go on to become legends, while others are derided as turkeys.
Read More...
10/20/2014
The U.S. military said it has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurds defending the northern Syrian town of Kobani from Islamic State militants. That could strain U.S.-Turkish relations. The “first-of-its-kind” supply mission came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Jakarta trying to enlist Southeast Asian leaders in what one U.S. official called the global "effort to combat violent extremism."
Read More...
10/19/2014
The number of times Japanese fighter jets scrambled to ward off Russian military aircraft more than doubled in the last six months, amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to ease. The increased activity in Japan's north also comes as the armed forces pivot their focus southwards towards China, the assertive Asian giant which is seen in Tokyo as the more immediate challenge.
Read More...
10/19/2014
An unmanned US plane on a top-secret, two-year mission to space has returned to Earth and landed in California. The aircraft, resembling a miniature space shuttle and known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or X-37B, spent 674 days in orbit around the planet.
It was the unmanned plane's third space flight, but its mission has been shrouded in mystery.
Read More...
10/19/2014
Sweden's military continues to investigate reports of "foreign underwater activity" in the Stockholm archipelago using high-tech equipped naval vessels, aircraft and home guard forces. Chief of operations Jonas Wikstrom says the information "from a credible source" that sparked the operation Friday was still considered worth pursuing the intelligence operation.
Read More...
.jpg)
10/19/2014
The Air Force’s mission with the MC-12 Liberty in Afghanistan is over. The 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron flew its last flight Oct. 1 at Bagram Air Field, the last of more than 40,000 combat missions and more than 200,000 hours of surveillance flights since 2009. The Army stood up Joint Task Force Thor at Bagram to take over the MC-12 mission from the Air Force.
Read More...