Military Aviation News Archive
09/28/2014
The Pentagon said on Saturday that it had conducted its first strikes against Islamic State targets in a besieged Kurdish area of Syria along the Turkish border, destroying two armored vehicles in an area that has been the subject of a weeklong onslaught by the Islamic State. The action around Kobani, where at least 150,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey, appeared to signify the opening of a new front for American airstrikes in Syria.
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09/28/2014
Armed British Tornado jets have completed their first mission over Iraq since MPs authorised air strikes on Islamic State targets. The two Tornados have returned to RAF Akrotiri seven hours after taking off on Saturday morning. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the jets carried out reconnaissance operations, gathering intelligence which would be "invaluable" but did not conduct air strikes.
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09/27/2014
Sukhoi Su-27 military airplane has crashed in Almaty Oblast killing both of its pilots in the evening on Tuesday this week, Tengrinews reports. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, communication with the aircraft was lost on 23 September at about 20:42 local time during training flights. The crew, Leutenant Colonel Yerlan Nauanov and Leutenant Colonel Denis Gorbunov, are now known to be dead.
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09/27/2014
Increasing Turkish divergence from U.S., European Union, and Western strategic objectives has given urgency to Western military planning as to how to compensate for the probable lack of access in the near future to Turkish bases, air space, and surface transit options.
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09/27/2014
Months after staving off a trip to the boneyard, the embattled A-10 Thunderbolt II is headed to the Middle East where it could be used to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. An Indiana Air National Guard unit that flies the Cold War-era gunships, known as Warthogs, is planning to deploy about 300 airmen and an unknown number of its aircraft to the U.S. Central Command region early next month, says a Sept. 17 news release from the unit.
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09/27/2014
The Pentagon's Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II programme office is close to signing a deal with Israel for more stealthy combat aircraft, the programme manager said on 25 September.
"We are in discussion with another one of our partners, Israel, to increase their buy and those discussions are going very, very well," said US Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan.
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09/27/2014
The history of women serving in armed conflicts probably goes back hundreds of years - if not longer. In the United States, during the American Revolution, women served on the battlefield as nurses, water bearers, laundresses and saboteurs. Ever since then, their roles in the military have continued to expand in numbers, skills and responsibilities.
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09/27/2014
Six Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and two mid-air refuelling aircraft of the Britsih Air Force will be here next week on their way to Singapore and Malaysia to take part in an exercise. "Six Royal Air Force Typhoons and two A330 Voyager tanker transport aircraft will be staging through Delhi, between September 30 and October 2, en route to long-planned drills in Singapore and Malaysia called Exercise BERSAMA LIMA 2014," a British High Commission release said.
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09/27/2014
The US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) now counts 62 countries among its members, according to list published by the State Department on Thursday. Twenty of the partners, which include two non-states in the form of the European Union and Arab League, are providing air support or other military equipment. Others, broken down below, are supplying logistical or humanitarian aid.
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09/27/2014
The United States have carried out another series of airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) positions on the Syrian territory, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, citing an anonymous US defense official. "I can confirm US air operations are ongoing in Syria," the official was quoted by the agency as saying.
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09/27/2014
The United Kingdom is prepared to make the case to extend airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) beyond Iraq into Syria, if the circumstances call for it, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Friday. Speaking in the Today program on BBC Radio 4, Hammond said that, if the circumstances are right, and if Britain feels that it can contribute to the goal of defeating the IS and its poisonous ideology, it will make the case for extending airstrikes into Syria.
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09/26/2014
Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri, the first female fighter pilot in the history of the United Arab Emirates, led the the Gulf state's bombing raids over Syria this week. Photos of al-Mansouri, beaming from her cockpit, that were released by the country's state news agency have taken social media by storm.
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09/26/2014
Russia's Eastern Military District troops are on their way home after taking part in massive Vostok-2014 war games in the country's Far East, the Defense Ministry said early Friday.
"Troops with the Eastern Military District, Pacific Fleet, Air Force, Long-Range and Transport Aviation are now on their way to the loading points to then travel by rail, sea and air [to their home bases], while the aircraft are regrouping to head for their air bases, and Pacific Fleet vessels are also regrouping.
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09/26/2014
The cooperation of Russia and NATO in Afghanistan has been halted, including a helicopter project, Russia’s envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti on Thursday. "NATO has walked away from these projects and adheres to this decision," Grushko said, specifying that the helicopter project was also halted.
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09/26/2014
The French Air Force could strike positions of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization in Iraq on Thursday, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio Thursday morning. "At the very time I'm talking to you, French planes are in the sky over Iraq and, if necessary, will strike [IS positions]. If they do not they will continue to identify the goals that become targets tomorrow," the minister said.
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09/25/2014
India is considering powering its second domestically built aircraft carrier with a nuclear propulsion plant, according to a Tuesday report by news agency Press Trust of India. The design of the carrier is ongoing and nuclear power is still an option for the carrier, said Director General of Naval Design Bureau, Rear Admiral Atul Saxena, in response to questions from reporters.
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09/25/2014
Europe’s Panavia Tornado will remain in use as a relevant frontline asset for more than another 10 years, according to its programme partners, even though one of its main operators does not plan to retain the type beyond the end of the decade. The multinational effort that led to the Tornado’s creation began in 1969, and partner nations Germany, Italy and the UK on 16 September formally marked the 40th anniversary of the variable geometry design’s first flight.
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09/25/2014
British Prime Minister David Cameron will hold a parliamentary debate Friday on whether the U.K. should participate in airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Downing Street said, amid gathering domestic support of military intervention to tackle the extremist group in Iraq. Mr. Cameron is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly where he is talking to partners about what more the U.K. and others could do to contribute to the international fight against Islamic State.
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09/25/2014
The Obama administration trumpets a resolute coalition that includes Arab nations, but the majority of the attacks targeting ISIS militants are coming from American warplanes and destroyers. Just what are the U.S. allies in the region bringing to the fight that President Barack Obama said “isn’t America’s fight alone?”
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09/25/2014
The U.S. and two Arab allies took aim Wednesday at a key source of financing for Islamic State militants, bombing 12 of the oil refineries controlled by the terrorist group in Syria, the military said. Black market oil contributes up to $2 million a day to the militant group, and the attacks targeted the small-scale refineries in remote sections of eastern Syria in an effort to choke off its funding.
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09/25/2014
South Korea formally announced on Wednesday that it would buy 40 F-35A fighter jets from the American defense contractor Lockheed Martin in a deal that includes transfers of technology for the development of the country’s own advanced fighter jet. South Korea picked Lockheed Martin’s F-35A as the sole choice for its air force’s new fighter jet in November and has since been negotiating the terms of the deal.
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09/25/2014
The Dutch government has decided to send six F-16 fighter jets to Iraq to help the US-led international coalition in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher said Wednesday. "The Netherlands will make six F-16s available for the first phase of the campaign, for one year," Asscher said as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
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09/25/2014
The use of fifth generation US stealth F-22 Raptor fighters against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization in Syria could be explained by the United States’ fear of Syrian air defense forces, military experts told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
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09/25/2014
Royal Australian Air Force fighter jets and personnel have arrived to the United Arab Emirates to take part in operations against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, Australian Associated Press reported Wednesday. "There are 400 Royal Australian Air Force officers, eight Super Hornets, a Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft, and a Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft in the contingent.
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09/24/2014
Prime Minister David Cameron supports airstrikes targeting Islamic State in Syria by the U.S. and five Middle Eastern allies and will discuss how the U.K. might contribute to efforts against the militant group in the coming days, the British government said Tuesday. "The PM will be holding talks at the United Nations in New York over the next two days on what more the U.K. and others can do to contribute to international efforts to tackle the threat we all face from ISIL [Islamic State]," the st
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