Military Aviation News Archive
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.
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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.
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10/10/2014
The United States has launched nine more airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militants sieging the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani near the Turkish border, razing IS-held buildings and machinery, the US Central Command reported late on Thursday. "US military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria today using bomber aircraft to conduct nine airstrikes," the Command said in a news release.
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10/09/2014
In response to heightened tensions caused by the crisis in Ukraine, the Finnish Air Force has stepped up and strengthened its aerial drills on 6 October, the country's defence forces have announced. Air-to-air combat drills are to take place from Rovaniemi, Oulu, Kuopio-Rissala, and Pudasjärvi air force bases in the north, while surveillance sorties are concentrating in the south.
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10/09/2014
The Norwegian Government has asked for new budget authorizations for a total value of 6.9 billion kroner for the acquisition of six new F-35 fighter aircraft and additional equipment and services for 2015. Including these aircraft, the New Fighter Aircraft program will have been authorized to acquire 22 of the new aircraft, with deliveries to begin by the end of next year.
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10/09/2014
A US military aircraft has crashed in a field near houses and a school in Lincolnshire. Witnesses saw the F-15D come down in a field off Broad Gate, Weston Hills, near Spalding at about 15:30 BST. The pilot ejected from the aircraft and police said he had escaped with very minor injuries.
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10/09/2014
The unmanned aircraft industry rejects the term "drone" claiming it is technically inaccurate, however companies are divided on a new name for the devices, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "We need another name for it, but I'm not sure what that new name should be," venture-capital executive Zack Porter was quoted as saying by WSJ.
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10/09/2014
The Australian Air Force has launched its first airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Iraq, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement early on Thursday. “Overnight the Australian Air Task Group operating in the Middle East attacked its first target in Iraq. Two bombs were dropped from an F/A-18F Super Hornet on to an ISIL facility,” the ministry said.
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10/08/2014
A small change in foreign investment rules-by doing away with minimum 51% holding by a single Indian entity in a defence venture-has helped Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Aerospace and Punj Lloyd bag licences that they had been waiting for. While increasing the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap for defence to 49%, the government did away with the clause that had been in the policy for years, as part of a strategy to attract investment in local manufacturing units.
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10/08/2014
U.S. warplanes have carried out almost 90 percent of airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) while Arab and European countries all together carried out the remaining 10 percent, U.S. defense officials said on Monday. A total of about 2,000 air raids have been launched against the militant group, of which the U.S. Air Force carried out 1,768 (88.4 percent), Agence France-Presse reported citing U.S. defense officials.
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10/08/2014
A U.S.-led air war is turning the tide against Islamic State in the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani, Kurdish forces said Wednesday, a day after Canada’s Parliament voted to approve air strikes of its own. Kobani, under attack by the Sunni militants for three weeks, is vital to Islamic State’s efforts to cement control of Syria’s north. Their advance has driven 180,000 of the area’s mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey.
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10/08/2014
Airbus Group NV (AIR) is preparing to reduce its stake in Dassault Aviation SA (AM) by almost half, selling shares to institutional investors and back to Dassault in a transaction valued at about 2 billion euros ($2.52 billion). The European planemaker is exploring opportunities to sell because the U.S. economy, the largest driver of the business-jet market, is rebounding, suggesting demand for aircraft will pick up, Marwan Lahoud, the head of strategy at Airbus Group, said by phone yesterday.
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10/08/2014
Australia's Super Hornet pilots have pulled out of their first armed airstrikes in the US-led fight against the Islamic State in Iraq, saying that the risk of killing civilians was too high, Australia's News Limited reported Wednesday. "One of our packages on the first night,had an identified target which it was tracking and that target moved into an urban area where the risks of conducting a strike on that target increased to a point where it exceeded our expectations of the collateral damage."
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10/08/2014
The legislative body of Canada approved the participation of the country's military in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq, the BBC reported Wednesday. Canadian military have been authorized to carry out airstrikes against terrorists in Iraq for six months. The deployment of ground troops has been ruled out.
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10/07/2014
When Germany dispatched a naval ship to the Horn of Africa last month for joint anti-piracy operations with other European powers, the vessel arrived without a vital mission component. Its Sea Lynx helicopters – meant to search for seafaring thugs – were back home in Germany, grounded due to maintenance problems.For Germany’s military, hobbled helicopters were only the beginning.
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10/07/2014
The US Navy (USN) plans to base 100 Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter combat aircraft at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore in California, the service's Fleet Forces Command (FFC) announced on 3 October. "The 100 F-35C aircraft will replace 70 ageing [Boeing] F/A-18 Hornet aircraft," the FFC said in a statement.
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10/07/2014
Two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Super Hornets have returned safely to the Australian support base in the United Arab Emirates after missions on Sunday. They joined aircraft from the US, UK, France, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, which have all conducted attacks against Islamic State forces inside Iraq.
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10/07/2014
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha cannot be faulted when he expresses concern over the slow acquisition of aircraft to replace the ageing fleet. While addressing the media a few days before the 82nd anniversary of the IAF, he admitted that the acquisition process was behind schedule. The IAF has already reached a precarious position. It has just enough aircraft to carry on, depriving the IAF personnel scope for better deployment to protect the borders.
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10/07/2014
Thirteen years ago today the Predator drone saw its first armed reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan. Since then, the U.S. military drone fleet has grown by leaps and bounds. The U.S. Air Force has scores of Predators and Reapers stationed around the globe 24/7, high-altitude drones like Global Hawk patrol the stratosphere, and the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have thousands of small hand-launched unmanned aircraft to support ground troops.
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10/07/2014
October 7 (RIA Novosti) - The entire Russian Air Force is taking part in the All-Russian Civil Defense Drill, Emergencies Ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said Tuesday. "The air forces from Sakhalin to Kaliningrad are practicing emergency response," Drobyshevsky said, specifying that the drill includes aerial engineer, nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance.
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10/06/2014
The use of remotely operated drones as intelligence assets is a key part of U.S. military strategy in the Middle East, where information is proving to be as important as artillery in deterring the Islamic State. As a combat devise, the drone has been a key feature of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy since he was sworn in.
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10/06/2014
The Government's decision to launch air strikes against Isil in Iraq has prompted a number of senior officers to vent their frustration that the Coalition is happy to commit our Armed Forces to action while at the same time reducing their ability to do so as a result of its dramatic cuts to the defence budget.
General Sir David Richards, the recently retired head of our Armed Forces, spoke for many officers who are still serving when he demanded that the Government should urgently review its ap
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10/06/2014
One of the military planes that will be dispatched on the mission is a Polaris CC-150T refuelling tanker. Its job will be to keep the six CF-18 fighter jets supplied with fuel as they strike targets. The government says the CC-150T is maintained by private contractors. L-3 MAS Communications and partner firm Avianor Inc. are responsible for providing complete in-service support for the refuelling plane and the rest of the Department of National Defence’s fleet of CC-150 Polaris Airbuses.
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10/06/2014
The U.S. has begun using Apache AH-64 attack helicopters to strike at ISIS targets inside Iraq, the first time the aircraft have been used for offensive strikes since arriving in Baghdad in early July. Their use opens up a new capability in the airstrike campaign against ISIS in Iraq, but one that also comes with risks, as they could be vulnerable to ground fire.
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10/06/2014
Since commissioning its first aircraft carrier, China's navy has conducted more exercises farther away from its shores and flexing its muscle by closely patrolling areas in disputed waters where Chinese companies are drilling for oil, a top US Air Force commander has said. Air Force General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, the head of US Pacific Air Forces, said China's naval and air forces in particular are "very much continuing to push" and becoming more active in international waters and airspace in
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