Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

US Army details combat experience with AH-64E

10/15/2014

The US Army is counting on the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter to remain in service for the foreseeable future, which will require incremental upgrades beyond the most up-to-date E model aircraft that have already seen thousands of hours of combat. All of the army’s AH-64Es should be out of Afghanistan by the end of the current fiscal year, after which time they will be reset for future missions, Col Jeff Hager, the service’s Apache project manager.

A-10s, Apaches proving their worth in combat once again

10/15/2014

The two aircraft based at Gowen Field are once again proving their worth in combat. The Apache helicopter and the A-10 are on the front lines in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This just four months after the A-10 was dubbed obsolete. As Roland Beres shows us it now has a chance to prove the critics wrong.

Special Operations unit on verge of fielding most advanced Chinook helicopter ever

10/15/2014

Members of the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment are known for flying Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and other elite members of the U.S. military into combat at a moment’s notice, even when they might take fire themselves. But they sometimes do so with twin-rotor Chinook helicopters that have been in use for years, and are looking to modernize.

U.S., Partners Continue Airstrikes Against ISIL

10/15/2014

U.S. and partner-nation military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria yesterday and today, using bomber and fighter aircraft to conduct 22 airstrikes, U.S. Central Command officials reported. Separately, Centcom officials said, U.S. military forces used attack aircraft yesterday to conduct an airstrike against ISIL in Iraq.

Russia's Irkut to Deliver 60 Combat Jets to Russian Military in 2015: Company

10/15/2014

Russia's Irkut aircraft maker will deliver 30 Su-family fighter jets and 30 Yak-130 combat trainers to the Russian Armed Forces, the company said Monday. "The year 2015 will be a record-setting year for us as we will deliver 60 aircraft, including 30 of the Su-family and 30 Yaks," head of Irkut, Oleg Demchenko, said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Lockheed Martin Receives $90 Million Contract for Qatar Apache Targeting and Pilotage Systems

10/15/2014

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] received a $90.6 million foreign military sale contract from the U.S. Army to provide Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) systems to the Qatar Emiri Air Force. Qatar marks the 14th international customer for the M-TADS/PNVS system. Fielded in 2005, M-TADS/PNVS provides Apache pilots with long-range, precision engagement and pilotage capabilities for safe flight during day, night and adverse weather missions.

THE 2014 MIRAMAR AIR SHOW: THE END OF THE CH-46 ERA AND THE BEGINNING OF THE F-35B TRANSFORMATION

10/13/2014

Spectators at the Miramar Air Show witnessed the end of an era in Marine aviation and a beginning, when a helicopter that served in the Vietnam War flew its last active duty performance and a stealthy, supersonic F-35B fighter jet flew its San Diego debut. The CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter is being retired from Marine Corps service and replaced by the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, which can fly faster and farther carrying more weight.

Race against time: More people, money needed to keep aging fleets flying

10/13/2014

More than a decade of constant combat and the oldest airframes in the history of the service has degraded the Air Force’s mission capability to the lowest in recent memory, meaning more work for airmen who must keep them safe to fly and less flying time for planes in need of constant work.

'This isn't a video game' - footage of Australian bombs hitting IS targets won't be released

10/13/2014

Footage showing Australian bombs obliterating Islamic State targets won't be publicly released. Defence head Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin says the conflict with Islamic State isn't a video game. He says Australia had not released this imagery in 2003 when RAAF Hornets assisted in Iraq and that practice had not changed.

Turkey Allows US to Use Bases to Fight Islamic State: Reports

10/13/2014

Turkey agreed to allow the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) to use its military bases to fight against the extremist group, Agence France-Presse reported Monday. US crews have long operated out of Incirlik Air Base in the south of Turkey, with some 1,500 airmen stationed there.

Sanctions Boosted Efficiency of Russia’s Drone Production Industry: UAV Manufacturer

10/13/2014

Director of UAV development programs at Russia’s Vega Radio Engineering Corporation Arkady Syroyezhko told RIA Novosti that economic sanctions against Russia had made the manufacturers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) operate more effectively. “The import substitution program could help [Russian defense] industry to apprehend its drawbacks and to use its existing internal reserves.

US forces based in Kuwait could be set to mobilise to Iraq, as ISIS closes in on Baghdad

10/12/2014

US forces based in Kuwait could be set to mobilise to Iraq as 10,000 Islamic State militants to the west of that country prepare for an assault on the capital Baghdad. The militants have battled Iraqi government forces in the Anbar province on the western edge of Baghdad since January but are now amassing for a major push after a series of debilitating attacks including multiple car bomb missions on Sunday.

Aviation Giant Is Nearly Grounded in Ukraine

10/12/2014

The sprawling campus where the Antonov company once designed and built prototypes of the world’s largest transport aircraft — flying whales whose very bulk symbolized Soviet might — lacks buzz these days. A few derelict airplanes sit along the weed-choked apron connecting its huge construction hangars; cats saunter through the muted assembly shops; flight simulators sit empty.

Syria could threaten U.S. warplanes

10/12/2014

Bashar Assad could make Barack Obama’s war against the Islamic State a lot more complicated if he chose. The military commanded by Syria’s president has the air defenses to threaten the American bombers, fighters and drones that Obama has ordered to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

ISIS ‘misleads’ Iraqi jets with smokescreens

10/12/2014

Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have recently adopted a tactic that involves burning dozens of old tires in order to create a smokescreen to “mislead” warplanes targeting their positions, a military official told Al Arabiya News. “Apparently, this idea came to ISIS militants through some former Iraqi army officers, because it resembles one of the ways used by Saddam Hussein,” said Army General Mohamed al-Askary , spokesman for the Iraqi Defense ministry, said Saturday.

Why the F-35 is a sitting duck for the Flankers

10/12/2014

Built to be the deadliest hunter killer aircraft of all time, the F-35 has quite literally become the hunted. In every scenario that the F-35 has been wargamed against Su-30 Flankers, the Russian aircraft have emerged winners. America’s newest stealth aircraft – costing $191 million per unit – is riddled with such critical design flaws that it’s likely to get blown away in a shootout with the super-maneuverable Sukhois.

UK troops training Kurdish forces in Iraq, says MoD

10/12/2014

It said troops from the Yorkshire Regiment were training Iraqi Kurds to use UK-supplied heavy machine guns. The soldiers are expected to spend a week in Irbil, in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Royal Air Force Tornado jets based in Cyprus have been flying combat missions over Iraq since September.

ISIS has infiltrated suburbs just eight miles from Baghdad's international airport... and now wields shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles

10/11/2014

An outer suburb of Baghdad located only eight miles from the city's airport has now been breached by Islamic State (ISIS) forces as the jihadist group inches ominously close to Iraq's capital. The suburb of Abu Ghraib has been infiltrated by ISIS militants who are currently engaging in hit-and-run style attacks on local Iraqi security forces.

Air Force Pilots Say They're Flying Blind Against ISIS

10/11/2014

Obama’s no-boots-on-the-ground pledge is keeping America from fighting an effective air campaign in Iraq and Syria. Within the U.S. Air Force, there’s mounting frustration that the air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is moving far more slowly than expected. Instead of a fast-moving operation with hundreds of sorties flown in a single day—the kind favored by many in the air service—American warplanes are hitting small numbers of targets after a painstaking and cumbersome process.

Defense department report questions amount spent on F-22 spare parts

10/11/2014

The Air Force could not determine if it paid jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney “fair and reasonable” prices for spare parts for engines that power the stealthy F-22 Raptor, a Department of Defense Inspector General’s report has concluded. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, based at Wright-Patterson, also could not determine how much it paid for individual spare parts under a $1.6 billion sustainment contract on the F119 engine on the fifth-generation, supersonic fighter jet.

Boeing's First Test Tanker Won't Fly Before Late November

10/11/2014

Boeing said Wednesday that the first test plane for its KC-46 Air Force aerial-refueling tanker program is expected to fly in late November or early December. That's a delay of two months or more beyond the projection Boeing's leadership gave in July, when Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith predicted on an earnings call with analysts that first flight would be late in the third quarter.

Royal Australian Air Force takes fight to Islamic State jihadists in northern Iraq

10/11/2014

From high in the sky, the most notable feature of this bit of northern Iraq is Mount Sinjar, a weather-eroded ridgeline no one had heard of until Iraq's Yazidi Christian minority sought refuge from Islamic State (IS) forces. Australia has been here before, air-dropping emergency food aid in a pair of mercy flights conducted by C-130 transport aircraft in August.

Canadian fighter jets intercept Russian military plane as it flies over Baltic Sea

10/11/2014

Two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets based out of Lithuania intercepted a Russian military aircraft as it flew over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday morning. Officials say the Canadian fighters identified the aircraft as a Russian AN-26 transport plane, then shadowed it for about 10 minutes as it travelled through international airspace from one Russian port to another.

Russian Aviation Regiment Receives New Su-34 Fighter-Bombers

10/10/2014

Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) aviation regiment has received six new Su-34 fighter-bombers, renewing the regiment's fleet by 75 percent, the SMD press service said Friday. "In accordance with the plan of re-equipping the troops of the SMD, a separate bomber aviation regiment, stationed in the Rostov region [town of Morozovsk], has received another batch of new fighter bombers Su-34 in the amount of six units.

Canada brings '6-pack strategy' to air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq

10/10/2014

Canadian lawmakers have approved sending up to six CF-18 fighter aircraft to participate in airstrikes in Iraq, along with one CC-150 aerial refueling tanker, two CP-14 Aurora surveillance aircraft and one airlift aircraft, according to the Canadian prime minister’s office.