Military Aviation News Archive
11/28/2014
Russia is ahead of schedule in accomplishing the task to modernize 30 percent of its military hardware by 2016, a senior defense official said Thursday. "We have already surpassed this goal in general, although we still have the entire 2015 at our disposal," Anatoly Gulyaev, head of the Armaments Department at the Russian Defense Ministry, said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.
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11/28/2014
India is not planning to cancel the deal on purchasing French Rafale jets despite earlier media reports that it would do so if France refuses to deliver Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, a high-ranking source in Indian Defense Ministry told Sputnik Thursday. "So far the Rafale deal with France is on, there is no problem in it," the source said.
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11/27/2014
In a concerted effort to avoid combat, U.S. advisers in Iraq are pioneering new techniques for calling in airstrikes against Islamic State militants. The procedures allow U.S. pilots to bomb targets without the need for U.S. advisers on the ground to work alongside Iraqi forces. U.S. military officials say the techniques include low-tech workarounds, such as Iraqi commanders using cellphones to request airstrikes.
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11/27/2014
As India draws closer and buys more military hardware from Israel, questions are raised about what that will mean to traditional key defense suppliers, the US and Russia, as well as New Delhi’s relations with Palestine. Global powers including France, the UK, Japan, the US and Israel have been keenly courting India – the world’s largest arms importer – in their quest to bag some lucrative deals as New Delhi begins an ambitious defense upgrade plan with an estimated budget of $100 billion.
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11/27/2014
With the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project for 126 Rafale fighters stuck in the final stages, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will be holding talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar next week in a bid to resolve the imbroglio. As was first reported by TOI, 90% of the draft contract for the complex MMRCA project has been finalized, under which the first 18 jets are to be delivered to IAF within 36-48 months of the deal being inked.
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11/27/2014
NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft flew their last mission over Afghanistan in September 2014. Since 2001 American AWACS have been available in Afghanistan and still are. NATO AWACS arrived in northern Afghanistan in 2011 to mainly handle the growing number of NATO transports and warplanes operating up there. In three years these AWACs flew 1,273 operational (as opposed to training or administrative) sorties, average about ten hour each.
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11/27/2014
An attack aircraft that the Pentagon is trying to get rid of has been deployed to the Middle East to take on the Islamic State. A squadron-sized element of A-10 Thunderbolts arrived in the region during the week of Nov. 17-21, according to the Air Force. The aircraft were previously being used in Afghanistan.
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11/27/2014
New rules for the 9,800 U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan next year will let commanders order airstrikes or night raids on Taliban forces who pose a significant threat to the Afghan government, defense officials said. The rules came in an order recently signed by President Obama that clarified the authorities U.S. military commanders will have after the official end of the combat mission in December.
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11/27/2014
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency reported that the US State Department had approved the sale to Iraq of a transport aircraft package of total $800 million, which will allow the Iraqi air force to continue conducting humanitarian relief operations beyond 2015.
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11/27/2014
GoPro, an American corporation that develops, manufactures and markets high-definition personal cameras, popular with surfers and other sportsmen, is set to expand its business, Wall Street Journal reports on Wednesday. It will now develop its own line of consumer drones. The multi-rotor helicopters will carry high-definition cameras likely resembling those currently sold by GoPro, such as the GoPro Hero series.
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11/27/2014
14 fighter jets are scheduled to land in Crimea’s Belbek military air base, Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev, a spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, told RIA Novosti. The fighter jets are comprised of ten upgraded Su-27SM's and four Su-30's. All of them are fourth-generation fighter jets. Four of the aircraft deployed in Crimea are newly manufactured, according to Trukhachev.
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11/26/2014
Russia is ready to supply 'standard' versions of the Su-35 combat aircraft to China, Sukhoi first deputy director general Boris Bregman recently told IHS Jane's . "During talks we informed the Chinese side that we can supply a standard version of the Su-35 fighter, which has been fully completed, tested, and received Russian Air Force certification," he said on the sidelines of Airshow China 2014 in Zhuhai.
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11/26/2014
When pictures of Mariam Al Mansouri – the first female fighter pilot in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – traveled around the world in September, it symbolized the changing role of women in the Arab world and the collective fight against the Islamic state. But it also captured a new military phenomenon: after decades of strategic irrelevance, Arab air power is on the rise.
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11/26/2014
The Russian Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA stealth fighter could prove to be a formidable competitor to American fifth-generation combat aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Indeed, in some measures, the new Russian warplane will exceed both U.S.-built jets, but the PAK-FA is not without its flaws.
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11/26/2014
Boeing delivered the sixth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India, on schedule, on Nov. 24, arriving at Naval Air Station Rajali to join five others being used by the Indian Navy. The P-8I is part of a contract of eight awarded in 2009. The final two deliveries are scheduled for 2015.
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11/26/2014
Boeing has made a redesigned photography and video website, www.BoeingImages.com, available for worldwide access. The website, which hosts nearly 15,000 photos and more than 100 videos, provides easier searching and licensing capability for commercial uses. But of these, more than 2,500 photographs are also now available for aviation enthusiasts to purchase as either prints or framed artwork.
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11/25/2014
Navy Vice Adm. Scott H. Swift was nominated Thursday to become the next commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Pentagon announced. Swift has been serving as director of the Navy Staff in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington for the past year. His appointment means that he is in line to receive his fourth star as a full admiral.
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11/25/2014
U.S. President Barack Obama has ousted his defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, in the wake of a growing perception that the fight against Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is teetering and rudderless. Hagel's tenure lasted less than two years and has been defined by a lack of firm vision weakened by statements that often appear to conflict with those of Obama.
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11/25/2014
A total of 74% of the close to 2,000 simulators in the defence sector are made by five manufacturers. L-3 Link Simulation & Training, a division of L-3 Communications, leads the market with a 24% share of active simulators, according to Flightglobal's latest Military Simulator Census.
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11/25/2014
Which phrase do you prefer? Many hands make light work or too many cooks in the kitchen? It's a question that some members of NATO might be asking after the statements made by Domingo Ureña Raso, the executive vice president of military aircraft for European aerospace giant Airbus.
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11/25/2014
Don’t be swayed by exaggerated concerns that budgetary austerity on Capitol Hill will undermine U.S. defense firms. Every fiscal year, when the political Kabuki theater draws to a close, the Pentagon almost always gets its way in the last act. Regardless, torrid emerging market demand for sophisticated jet fighter aircraft made in the U.S. will more than make up for any procurement shortfalls.
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11/25/2014
High over northern Iraq, a crewman in an RAAF Super Hornet was viewing an Islamic State fighter on the aircraft's sophisticated night vision camera when the man suddenly vanished. He had disappeared into a well-concealed cave complex in the side of a hill. And that was the genesis of a major air raid by Australian and coalition aircraft, launched within 24-hours of the initial sighting.
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11/25/2014
Ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit here early next month, India has told Russia to come back with a plan to substantially reduce the delivery timeframe for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) if it wants to seal the futuristic project by next year. The plan till now was that India would begin inducting the stealth fighters only 94 months — at the earliest — after the two countries inked the final design and R&D contract.
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11/25/2014
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed for its first four operational Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft as part of the Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP 8) production lot, it was announced on 21 November. The order marks an initial buy from the MoD's Main Gate 4 acquisition approval process for 14 jets to equip the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) 617 Squadron, which is scheduled to stand-up as the UK's first operational F-35B unit in 2016.
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11/25/2014
Since the CIA first used a drone in a targeted killing in 2002, the United States has conducted 500 targeted drone strikes, killing an estimated 3,674 people, including 473 civilians, the Atlantic reported. Drone attacks have become one of the symbols of post 9/11 counter-terrorist strategies.
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