Military Aviation News Archive
09/01/2014
Two RAAF E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft have returned to Australia after participating in Exercise Red Flag Alaska last month. The two 2SQN aircraft, supported by 59 personnel from the RAAF’s 49 Wing, took part in a number of ‘large force employment’ air combat exercises involving up to 60 aircraft during Red Flag Alaska 14-3, which ran from August 7 to 22.
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09/01/2014
The Greens this morning have tried to suspend Parliament to debate the threat of “mission creep” for Australia’s forces deployed to the region. Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday announced the RAAF’s involvement in the supply of military equipment to anti-Islamic State fighters, with the first mission to take place “in coming days”. But Mr Abbott played down talk that Australian troops could be sent into the country, saying there was no role “envisaged” for boots on the ground.
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09/01/2014
Israeli military have shot down a drone that flew into Israeli-controlled airspace near the Quneitra border crossing between the Golan Heights and Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday. “The IDF intercepted a UAV that breached Israeli airspace from Syria near Quneitra. The UAV was targeted by a ‘Patriot’ missile,” the IDF statement said.
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08/31/2014
Iraqi forces have reached the besieged town of Amerli in northern Iraq, where thousands have been trapped by jihadists, military officials say. The apparent breakthrough comes after the US carried out air strikes overnight on Islamic State (IS) positions near the town. The UK, France and Australia joined the US in dropping humanitarian aid.
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08/31/2014
Thirty-two Philippine U.N. peacekeepers were rescued on Saturday from Islamists who fired at their post on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and trapped them for two days, U.N. officials said, while militants reinforced their siege of another group of 40.
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08/31/2014
Iraq has launched a major operation to liberate the town of Amerli which has been besieged by Islamic State fighters for more than two months. The operation to retake town started on Saturday with Iraqi troops and Shia militia involved in the fighting. The AFP news agency reported that Kurdish peshmerga were also involved in the operation.
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08/31/2014
The European Union has threatened to launch a fresh round of sanctions against Russia in response to ongoing aggressive military action in eastern Ukraine. The Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine marks a "point of no return" and risks a "state of war" with Europe, said EU leaders. The group of nations is prepared to ramp up sanctions against Russia, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko at a summit in Brussels on Saturday.
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08/31/2014
The U.S. military says fighter aircraft and unmanned drones have struck Islamic State militants near Iraq's Mosul Dam. In a statement issued Saturday, U.S. Central Command says the five latest U.S. airstrikes were in support of operations conducted by Iraqi security forces.
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08/31/2014
Canada is interested in joining a NATO joint expeditionary force of at least 10,000 troops that is being created to bolster the alliance’s eastern flank in an effort to check Russia’s creeping military takeover of eastern Ukraine, according to Britain’s Financial Times newspaper. The British-led division-sized force will include troops from at least six countries. It will be comprised of air, sea and land components as well as special forces.
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08/31/2014
New Delhi is increasingly concerned about the sluggish progress in the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) project, a joint endeavour between India and Russia. Driving India's worries is the fact that the Russians are neither explaining why a prototype aircraft caught fire during a technology demonstration earlier this year nor addressing other technical doubts expressed by India.
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08/31/2014
The government has consistently ruled out the deployment of Australian combat forces on the ground in Iraq. However, special forces such as the SAS are not conventional combat ground forces. Their deployment would not breach the government’s commitment.
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08/31/2014
Two C-130 cargo airplanes lifted off into the summer sky from the New Castle Air National Guard Base early Saturday morning, the 45 airmen aboard bound for Germany and 10 days of hauling Army paratroopers during a large multi-nation training exercise. Taking part in Saber Junction is a big deal for 166th Airlift Wing. The Army-led training, involving 5,800 troops from 16 countries, is the biggest exercise the unit has ever taken part in.
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08/31/2014
Australian military aircraft will fly guns and ammunition into Iraq to help fight Islamic State militants, Australia's prime minister said on Sunday. "The United States government has requested that Australia help to transport stores of military equipment, including arms and munitions, as part of a multi-nation effort," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement.
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08/30/2014
When the leaders of the North Atlantic alliance wrapped up their Chicago summit two years ago and started preparing for their 65th anniversary meeting in 2014, they could have asked John Travolta to provide the soundtrack, “Stayin’ Alive.” At that point the alliance looked like a Cold War organization in search of a mission two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union. And all the while, it expanded its membership to the east, closer to Russia.
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08/30/2014
Following the fatal crash of a 104th Fighter Wing F-15C aircraft in the remote mountains near Deerfield Valley, Va. the family has asked that the unit share with the public the name of the pilot who was fatally injured Wednesday. Lt. Col. Morris Fontenot Jr. served with the 104th Fighter Wing as the full-time Wing Inspector General, responsible for the implementation of the Air Force Inspection System and as an F-15 instructor pilot with more than 2,300 flight hours.
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08/30/2014
Kiev and its Western backers accused Moscow of sending Russian troops and armor to fight alongside rebels in eastern Ukraine, dimming hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and prompting the U.S. and Europe to threaten new sanctions. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened an emergency meeting of his security chiefs Thursday and vowed that "Ukraine can defend itself."
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08/30/2014
How did I get into this? I’m in the cockpit of a fighter jet flying over Sweden and the pilot has apparently handed the aircraft over to me. At Mach 1.2 – that’s 1,500kph. When Saab test pilot Hans Einerth calmly says “Your controls”, I assume he is joking. “You want me to grab the joystick?” Yes, he replies, so casually that he sounds more like a father urging his toddler to let go of the handrail and slip down a playground slide than a man relinquishing control of a $50m Gripen fighter jet.
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08/30/2014
A team of research students and staff from Warsaw University of Technology have successfully demonstrated the first phase of flight test and integration of unmanned aircraft platforms with an autonomous mission control system. The demonstration marks a significant milestone in a partnership between the university and Lockheed Martin that began earlier this year.
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08/30/2014
Seven NATO's member states plan to create new response force of at least 10,000 soldiers in order to strengthen the alliance's defense capabilities in light of the escalating Ukrainian crisis, Financial Times wrote. Britain will lead the forces from Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway and the Netherlands, with Canada potentially joining in. The new NATO Response Force (NRF) will include air and naval units, as well as ground troops, according to FT.
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08/30/2014
Sweden increased the alert of its military forces due to the escalating crisis in Ukraine, Reuters reported citing the country's armed forces. "Given the serious nature of the development in Ukraine, the Swedish military is responding by among other things a higher alert status for the General Staff at headquarters and intensified intelligence gathering," the agency quoted Forsvarsmakten, Sweden’s military authority, as saying in a statement Friday.
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08/30/2014
Norway is sending a tank battalion to the Latvian-Russian border for two-months drills, VG newspaper reported. The drills are Norway's response to NATO's request to support the allies in light of the growing activity in the Baltics and are Oslo's contribution to calm the allies, Norway's Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said in the Friday interview with the paper. He underlined that only excercises were in plan.
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08/30/2014
The second phase of joint Russian-Indian Air Force exercise “Aviaindra-2014” is set to take place in India in November, deputy chief of the Russian Air Force's General Staff, Aleksandr Lyapkin, told reporters Friday. “The second phase of the exercise will take place in India after the end of monsoon season, on November 10-21. The location isn't known yet, this will become clear in October, when planning is finished,” Lyapkin said.
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08/30/2014
India has confirmed its participation in the Aviadarts flight-skills competition hosted by Russia, Deputy Chief of the Main Staff of Russian Air Force Major General Alexander Lyapkin told RIA Novosti. “In 2015, another flight skills competition will take place, and an Indian crew plans to take part in it. As you can remember, this year China and Belarus participated in the contest,” Lyapkin said.
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08/29/2014
China’s efforts to protect its submarine gateway to the South China Sea could broaden from standoffs with U.S. military planes to announcing an air defense identification zone, according to two retired army officers. China could seek to restrict the air space around Hainan Island as the U.S. routinely runs surveillance flights in the area, retired Colonel Yue Gang said. The move would mirror a zone China set up in November over portions of the East China Sea disputed with Japan.
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08/29/2014
Kiev and its Western backers accused Moscow of sending Russian troops and armor to fight alongside rebels in eastern Ukraine, dimming hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and prompting the U.S. and Europe to threaten new sanctions. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened an emergency meeting of his security chiefs Thursday and vowed that "Ukraine can defend itself."
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