Military Aviation News Archive
03/12/2014
Ukraine's government appealed for Western help on Tuesday to stop Moscow annexing Crimea but the Black Sea peninsula, overrun by Russian troops, seemed fixed on a course that could formalize rule from Moscow within days. With their own troops in Crimea effectively prisoners in their bases, the new authorities in Kiev painted a sorry picture of the military bequeathed them by the pro-Moscow president overthrown two weeks ago.
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03/12/2014
The Philippines said Friday a deal has been reached to buy 12 fighter jets worth P18.9 billion ($415.7 million) from South Korea as the country struggles to modernize its military.
“We did not only inch closer, we are almost there,” Undersecretary Fernando Manalo, chairman of Bids and Awards Committee, told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo Friday after Manila and Seoul reached a conclusion on the negotiations for the acquisition of 12 FA 50 lead-in fighter jets.
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03/12/2014
The Air Force plans to cut nearly 500 planes from its inventory over the next five years if the Defense Department’s Fiscal 2015 budget request is approved by Congress, the service announced Monday. The reductions — which would affect the active duty, Guard and Reserve — would be implemented in 25 states and the District of Columbia, according to a diagram provided by the Air Force.
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03/12/2014
Women are physically not suited to fly fighter planes, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, the Air Force chief said women are physically not suited for the job and they might face problems while flying fighter planes.
He was responding to questions on why women are not allowed to fly fighter planes of the Indian Air Force when the forces of Pakistan and China had allowed them.
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03/12/2014
Say hello to Top Gun 5.0. Veteran fighter pilots Andrew Jackson and David Bell are the two men at the tip of the spear as the RAAF shifts towards its next-generation combat aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The two Squadron Leaders, based at RAAF base Williamtown near Newcastle, will be the first Australians to fly the multi-billion dollar machine, billed as the most tech-heavy fighter plane on the planet.
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03/12/2014
An airborne division based in central Russia began large-scale exercises Tuesday against the backdrop of an ongoing political and security crisis in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry said units of the 98th Guards Airborne Division, based in Ivanovo, a city east of Moscow, were put on high alert and moved to unspecified locations to “check readiness” in simulated combat conditions.
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03/11/2014
Six US troops in Afghanistan were killed and one wounded in a helicopter crash Tuesday, but it was unclear if Taliban fire caused any of the casualties after the chopper went down. Military officials said insurgents did not shoot down the UH-60 Blackhawk, but they were investigating whether any of the US troops were killed by gunfire from Taliban militants after the crash.
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03/11/2014
Joint Base Charleston could see some job cuts in 2015. According to its public affairs office, the base could lose one of its four flying squadrons. Those cuts would come if Congress approves the Air Force's proposal laid out in President Obama's 2015 budget.
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03/11/2014
The Air Force plans to replace all National Guard A-10 units with new flying missions to make sure their states and bases will not lose positions, according to budget documents obtained by Air Force Times. The Air Force plans to cut the entire A-10 Thunderbolt II fleet, which includes 107 Warthogs assigned to the National Guard at four bases: Gowen Field Air National Guard Base, Idaho; Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich.; Martin State Airport. Md.; and Fort Wayne International Airport, Ind.
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03/11/2014
Your editorial assumes that the A-10 Thunderbolt is headed for retirement — just because that has been proposed. You then take a huge leap, writing: “The proposal to decommission the A-10 could easily lead to a decision to close Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the training site for A-10 pilots.”
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03/11/2014
The 10 C-130J aircraft the Air Force Reserve seems determined to move from Keesler Air Force Base have yet another potential new home. President Barack Obama's 2015 budget request has spurred the Air Force Reserve Command to plan to move the 10 transport planes from Keesler's 815th Tactical Airlift Squadron -- also known as the Flying Jennies - to the newly reactivated 913th Airlift Group at Little Rock Air Force Base.
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03/11/2014
The number of aircraft and personnel at Hurlburt Field should not significantly change because of planned shifts in aircraft inventory, including the elimination of two types of planes based there, according to Air Force Special Operations Command. The U-28 and MC-130P Combat Shadow will be eliminated in the next couple years, but new aircraft will be introduced, according to the Department of Defense’s most recent budget proposal.
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03/11/2014
Decisions made in the next few months on buying additional Joint Strike Fighter aircraft could give the RAAF a huge advantage over any adversary. Air Force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown says that given the long lead times on complex weapons systems like fighter aircraft, the force Australia will field in 2025 and beyond is "pretty much" decided by decisions to be made in the next few months.
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03/11/2014
Polish government officials said Monday that the U.S. military was sending 12 F-16 fighter jets and about 300 servicemembers to their country in response to the situation in Ukraine. Some U.S. aircraft and servicemembers had already arrived in Poland on Monday, with the remainder expected later in the week, a spokeswoman for Poland’s Defense Ministry said.
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03/11/2014
Lockheed Martin received a $14 million contract in 2013 from the U.S. Army to design, integrate and qualify a High Reliability Turret for the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
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03/10/2014
It was the first time the legendary Russian Sukhoi-30 Flankers flew in American airspace, and it kicked up a controversy. In August 2008 India sent its top of the line Su-30MKI fighter to participate in Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Known for its complex war gaming, Red Flag involves simulated air combat and coordination between friendly air forces. In 2008 the participants included the French and South Korean air forces.
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03/10/2014
NASCAR is a sport where a few seconds could mean the difference between celebrating a victory or going home disappointed. The crew works as fast as possible to change the tires and refuel the vehicle to keep it out of the pit, and get it back on the track. Much like NASCAR's need for less time, aircraft depend on time to keep watch over forces on the ground and transport wounded warriors who need immediate care. And like the race engines on the vehicles, aircraft need fuel to keep them going. Bu
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03/10/2014
The carrier is out. The carrier is in. The carrier is in, but only if money goes up. More planes are back in — well, sort of, but we’ll have to see. The new buying plan for littoral combat ships is — not yet decided on. The plan for laying up and modernizing half the fleet’s cruisers is almost ready but — not quite yet. New rules for counting the battle force are — not quite there, either.
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03/10/2014
North Korea has the fourth largest military in the world when it comes to manpower, with as many as 1.2 million people serving on active duty. But in terms of modernization there is — thankfully — much room for improvement. Despite the country’s economic limitations, it remains “one of the United States’ most critical security challenges,” according to the Defense Department’s new report to Congress on the military developments in North Korea.
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03/10/2014
The Russian deputy prime minister in charge of defense said “overt threats” by the United States and NATO demonstrate the necessity of equipping the Russian army with modern weapons. “A hope that after the overt threats by the US and NATO nobody will doubt the necessity of rearming our army and fleet and of reviving our defense industry and military science,” Dmitry Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday.
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03/09/2014
Six F-15C Eagles and more than 60 U.S. airmen from RAF Lakenheath, England, were en route Thursday to Lithuania to bolster NATO’s air policing mission over the Baltics region amid the crisis in nearby Ukraine. The Associated Press later reported that the fighter jets had arrived at Siauliai air base, Lithuania.
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03/09/2014
India imports most of its warplanes. Efforts to develop an Indian capability to develop and manufacture these aircraft has so far failed. Worse, the most numerous type of combat aircraft, the MiG-21, is being retired because of old age and the fact that even when new the MiG-21 was dangerous to fly. India had planned to buy 126 “light fighters” to replace the MiGs but that effort has come undone by several factors.
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03/09/2014
In what looked for all the world like a game of geopolitical chess, with multimillion-dollar pieces of military hardware serving as the pawns, the United States made several military moves to contain the Russian incursion into Crimea this past week. If not necessarily designed to force a military confrontation, these at least seemed to prepare for such an eventuality.
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03/09/2014
Legendary aircraft such as the Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota will be joined by the RAF’s state of the art multi-role combat aircraft, the Typhoon and the basic trainer aircraft, the Tucano on Saturday July 12 and Sunday July 13. The Typhoon and Tucano will also be flying on Friday, July 11, as part of the special Red Arrows Pit Day.
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03/09/2014
Russia’s Defense Ministry is considering a ban on US inspections of Russian nuclear weapons under the New START deal over the standoff in Ukraine, a ministry source told RIA Novosti on Saturday. The ban would be a reaction to the US decision to suspend military cooperation with Russia over Ukraine, said the source, who requested anonymity.
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