Military Aviation News Archive
06/07/2014
Russia has turned to a familiar source – the Kuznetsov Design Bureau – to develop the engines for a next-generation bomber, according to a report dated 6 June in a state-run newspaper. The Volga Commune, the official newspaper of Russia’s Samara region, quotes Nikolai Jakushin, executive director of Kuznetsov, as confirming that his company will develop the engines for the new bomber called the prospective aviation complex for long-range aviation (PAK-DA).
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06/07/2014
For years, the news about the most expensive conventional weapons system in US history, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has been driven by its soaring costs, technical problems and schedule screw-ups. The government and Congress and the public rarely speak about what the F-35 will do, how effectively it could destroy an enemy’s air defenses, shoot down an enemy plane, or find and strike other high value targets.
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06/07/2014
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley was today briefed by the Air Force on its operational preparedness and its immediate requirements such as 126 Rafale combat aircraft for carrying out its assigned tasks. The presentation was made by the top IAF brass to the Defence Minister at the Air Headquarters and it last for over an hour, IAF officials said. The Defence Minister was also briefed by IAF on the ongoing Indo-French exercise 'Garuda-5' in Jodhpur where France has fielded its frontline Rafale.
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06/06/2014
Allied troops landed on the Normandy coast of France in tremendous strength by cloudy daylight today and stormed several miles inland with tanks and infantry in the grand assault which Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory."
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06/06/2014
Nearly three years after the last US troops left Iraq, F-16s are returning to Balad — this time, they will be the vanguard of the Iraqi air force. Balad was a major US base during the war and one of the busiest airfields in the world at one point. Now the US government is helping the Iraqis make sure the base will be ready for the first batch of F-16s, which are expected to be delivered in September, said Lukman Faily, Iraqi ambassador to the US.
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06/06/2014
RAC MiG is contemplating building a fifth-generation fighter which would use its current MiG-35 platform as a "foundation" for the introduction of new technologies. Sergey Korotkov, general director of the Russian firm, says concepts for a new aircraft have already been worked on by company engineers.
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06/06/2014
Two warplanes with San Diego-area connections have crashed within hours of each other—on land and at sea—prompting investigations Thursday into what caused the non-fatality mishaps. The first crash involved a U.S. Marine Corps. AV-8B Harrier and occurred in the city of Imperial shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday; the second, involving a U.S. Navy FA-18E Hornet, happened around 10 p.m. off the coast of Southern California, according to military officials.
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06/06/2014
The People Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) ongoing modernization is taking place at a rate unprecedented in history, the U.S. Department of Defense said on Thursday. “The PLAAF is pursuing modernization on a scale unprecedented in its history and is rapidly closing the gap with Western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities including aircraft, command and control (C2), jammers, electronic warfare (EW), and data links.”
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06/06/2014
In the Point Mugu Sea Test Range airspace off the Central California coast, an F-35B demonstrated the jet's air-to-air combat capability when it sequentially engaged two aerial targets with two AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles during a Weapon Delivery Accuracy mission.
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06/06/2014
A MiG 29K naval combat aircraft has suffered damage while landing on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya during operations in Arabian Sea off the coast of Goa, a Navy official said today.
The Russian-origin aircraft had taken off from the Naval airbase INS Hansa in Goa yesterday and was landing on the aircraft when it carried out a 'hard-landing' causing damage to the nose-wheel undercarriage, the official said.
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06/06/2014
Ukraine has returned 68 military aircraft to frontline service since the beginning of 2014, in response to the ongoing crisis in east Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) stated on 2 June.
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06/06/2014
Lockheed Martin delivered the first of 36 F-16 Block 52 aircraft to the Iraqi Air Force during a ceremony today at its Fort Worth facility. Lockheed Martin is producing the F-16s under a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense. The F-16s are being built in a configuration tailored to meet the specific requirements of the Iraqi Air Force, and the contract includes mission equipment and a support package provided by Lockheed Martin and other U.S. and international contractors.
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06/06/2014
The 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, received another Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules airlifter today. A Little Rock AFB crew ferried the aircraft from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., facility here.
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06/05/2014
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a Cold War cornerstone of transatlantic security, has significantly recast its role in the past twenty years. Founded in 1949 as a bulwark against Soviet aggression, NATO has evolved to confront global threats ranging from piracy off the Horn of Africa to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
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06/05/2014
Authorities were investigating the crash of a military plane into a neighborhood in Imperial County near the Arizona border on Wednesday afternoon. The crash occurred around 4:20 p.m. at Cross Road and Fonzie Avenue in Imperial (map), California Highway Patrol officials told KSWB. Facebook photos taken by a resident showed at least one home on fire.
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06/05/2014
Dell has supplied its data center solutions to the U.S. Navy’s partner Northrop Grumman to power the X-47BUnmanned Combat Air System. The X-47BUnmanned Combat Air System has recently received the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy for achievement in aeronautics.
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06/05/2014
Bloodstained pavement, a woman's compact, a pair of shattered spectacles, a single shoe covered in dust were among the debris left by a devastating series of explosions that hit the headquarters of the pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk on Monday.
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06/05/2014
Recent incursions of civil and military aircraft into neighboring airspace has highlighted the state of alert maintained by different nations, and raised once again the validity of the huge investments countries are spending in acquiring military capabilities, if they do not provide the means to maintain these capabilities at reasonable state of readiness.
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06/05/2014
Ukrainian security forces have said that none of their aircraft was shot down over the town of Sloviansk of Donetsk region on June 3 morning. "Claims that a helicopter, an airplane or anything else was shot down have not been confirmed," Vladyslav Selezniov, "anti-terrorist operation" spokesman, told Interfax on June morning.
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06/05/2014
The Swedish equivalent of the Royal Air Force has sent a Furness firm soaring with a new lights order for its supersonic fighter jets. Oxley Developments Ltd, with offices in Bard-sea, near Ulverston, and Barrow, will supply its combat aircraft with gunfire-proof landing and taxi lights. The deal also involves partners Saab, the Swedish defence giant which makes the ‘Gripen’ aircraft.
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06/04/2014
India’s ambitious military modernization program to upgrade its Cold War-era vehicles and equipment is viewed as saber rattling by its neighbor and perpetual adversary Pakistan, a scholar of the region said June 3. Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, program coordinator of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said India is modernizing its air force with newer, more-capable jets but not downsizing its ranks, according to its newly purchased capabilities.
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06/04/2014
Slavyansk self-defense activists claim they have shot down a Sukhoi Su-25 combat airplane. “About half an hour ago we managed to bring down the Ukrainian army’s Su-25. One helicopter, several tanks and one armored personnel carrier of the Ukrainian army were destroyed as well,” Slavyansk people’s mayor, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, told Interfax.
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06/04/2014
A source of Beta agency, close to the Air Force command confirmed the report of Serbian daily Politika that the Army of Serbia does not have a single fighter in working condition because batteries for MiG-21 and MiG-29 were not purchased from Russia.
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06/04/2014
Narendra Modi’s election as India’s new prime minister has buoyed hopes for a brighter future across the country, including its beleaguered defense sector. The good news is Modi has pledged more money for defense and reforms to improve how that money is spent. The bad news is that the task ahead will be a monumental challenge.
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06/04/2014
A Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jet intercepted a U.S. surveillance plane off Russia’s east coast near Japan in April, flying unusually close, as tensions rose over the Ukraine crisis.
The U.S. RC-135U Combat Sent electronic intelligence plane made by Boeing Co. was conducting a routine mission over the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan on April 23 when the Russian fighter flew within about 100 feet (30 meters) of its nose, Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said today.
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