Military Aviation News Archive
06/04/2014
The last U.S. personnel are expected to leave the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, by the end of the week, a spokesman for Air Forces Central Command said Tuesday. The Air Force held symbolic ceremonies Tuesday transferring back the facilities to the Krygyz government, said Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis. The transfer and inactivation become official after the expiration of the current lease next month and departure of military personnel in a few days.
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06/04/2014
After several days of setbacks, Ukrainian security forces sought to take the offensive Tuesday from pro-Russian insurgents in the country’s southeast, launching a major assault on a rebel stronghold. The attack on separatist positions in the city of Slovyansk began at dawn and continued throughout the day, with officials and residents reporting fierce clashes.
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06/04/2014
In late 2001, I lifted off the USS Bataan in a CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter toward Afghanistan as part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. I was one of the first pilots to push into Afghanistan after 9/11. The trip to the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar meant an arduous flight through the mountains, pushing the 35-year-old “Battlephrog” close to its operating limits and range. We had to make a fuel stop at a remote base in Pakistan followed by a long flight across open desert.
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06/03/2014
Aero Vodochody Aerospace has been through two revolutions of its own since the political changes that swept eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The mid-1990s saw a Boeing strategic investment in the Czech aerospace champion – one of the first by a Western manufacturer in the former Communist bloc. There was also a joint venture with Taiwan’s AIDC to develop a passenger turboprop. They promised a new era for the then state-run company, but both were ill-fated.
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06/03/2014
The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said earlier that border guards had repelled several attacks on the control post of the Luhansk border squadron in the early hours of Monday morning; some of the border guards were injured. A fighter aircraft was sent to the border guards' rescue, but initially failed to conduct precision firing in the town.
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06/03/2014
Navy’s X-47B autonomous drone will head back to an aircraft carrier in August, this time for testing alongside F/A-18s in a working flight deck environment. The experimental aircraft will perform takeoffs and landings aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, according to the Navy Times. There are plans to practice nighttime taxiing aboard the carrier, and some night flights may be performed.
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06/03/2014
Commercial aircraft deliveries rose by 6% and orders by 10% in April 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to aerospace trade organisation ADS Group. It reported that production rates also grew, with year-to-date deliveries increasing 7%.
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06/03/2014
An international military exercise, code named Adriatic Strike 2014, kicked off in different places in Slovenia, the Slovenian Armed Forces said in a press release on Monday. Around 400 soldiers, with half from Slovenia, and a total of 23 aircraft and 13 unmanned aerial vehicles, are involved in the military drill, which is to train joint terminal attack controllers (JTAC).
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06/03/2014
India is closer to finally sealing the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multirole combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters, which IAF has identified as a top-priority for the Narendra Modi government. Defence ministry sources said the final commercial negotiations for the MMRCA project, which IAF considers "critical" to retain its air combat edge against Pakistan and maintain "dissuasive deterrence" against China, can now "be wrapped up in the next three months".
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06/03/2014
The fifth Indo-French air exercise 'Garuda-V', in which frontline fighter aircraft of both the countries are taking part, started at the Jodhpur airbase here on Monday. "Both the Air Forces during the war game will practice aerial warfare, including manoeuvres, to carry out surgical strikes that will enhance operational cooperation," said defence spokesman Col S D Goswami.
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06/03/2014
The United States is demonstrating its continued commitment to collective security through a series of actions designed to reassure NATO allies and partners of America's dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said. “Increased air, land and sea deployments to eastern Europe are a tangible demonstration of our solid and enduring commitment to collective security and the NATO alliance.
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06/03/2014
"Strike" This word is meant to convey the F-35’s identity as a proper multirole fighter, a machine rigged to conduct both air superiority and strike missions, the latter defined as tactical attacks on a ground or naval target with a particular focus on “initial blow” or “first day of attack” operations. All three variants of the F-35 fighter family hold this capability.
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06/03/2014
Russia’s Air Force is set to receive new aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, as well as to stage large-scale drills by the end of 2014, a Russian Defense Ministry’s Air Force spokesman said. “By the end of the year, the Air Force is to procure planes, helicopters, modern radar stations… It is also being reequipped with high-end S-400 surface-to-air missiles and Pantsir-S short-range air defense systems,” said Colonel Igor Klimov.
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06/02/2014
Turkey scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept an Iranian military plane that briefly crossed into Turkish airspace over the eastern province of Igdir, bordering Iran, the military said on Sunday. The Iranian reconnaissance plane violated Turkey's airspace on Saturday for 20 seconds and left the area after the military dispatched F-16s to intercept it, according to a written statement from the General Staff.
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06/02/2014
The book is not only the story of the Indian Air Force's pivotal role and contribution to Bangladesh's war for independence. It is also a short saga based on actual details of two air forces of the subcontinent, one belonging to India and the other to Pakistan. The 1971 war for the Indians may have ended in about two weeks' time but not without the Indian air force emerging as a formidable fighting force that facilitated the Indian army's rapid progress to Dhaka.
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06/02/2014
Australia’s new defense budget boosts spending by 6 percent over last year and forecasts movement on a number of large acquisition programs, including vehicles and helicopters. The government of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott delivered its budget on May 13, the first since the Liberal-National Party coalition was elected in September.
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06/02/2014
The words “Nellis Air Force Base” and “Las Vegas” are synonymous in aviation circles. At least that’s been the case since May 1, 1950, when the former Army-airfield-turned-Air Force base in the northern Las Vegas Valley was renamed Nellis Air Force Base in honor of 1st Lt. William Harrell Nellis. He was a young officer from Southern Nevada who was killed Dec. 27, 1944, while fighting in the skies over Europe during World War II.
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06/02/2014
As soon as the euphoria subsides and the new government at the Centre settles down to business, it will have to take some expeditious decisions so far as acquisitions for the defence forces are concerned. One decision that has to be taken immediately is on how to replenish fighter aircraft squadrons. According to highly placed sources in the Indian Air Force (IAF), the country is fast running out of fighter aircraft and this is a matter of great concern.
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06/01/2014
“I believe our capabilities are only second to the United States, from both an offensive and defensive standpoint” General Eshel told the audience at the Israel conference of National Security, in April 2014. IAF commander said, referring to a significant leap in capabilities over the past two years. The commander said he has based his assessment on an evaluation of IDF abilities and conversations with officials from foreign militaries.
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06/01/2014
Ukrainian forces resumed bombings today in the outskirts of the administrative city of Donetsk, in the country´s southeastern region, with heavy artillery and harassment of the National Guard squads. Combats were registered from daybreak today near the locality of Joroshevo and the area of the international airport, Rossia 24 channel reported.
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06/01/2014
There is an effort underway to develop a UAV version of the F-16. This would be based on the QF-16, the remotely controlled target version of the F-16. The air force is already in the process of converting 210 retired F-16s to QF-16s and it was noted that with a little extra work the QF-16 could be turned into a combat UAV for dangerous missions like SEAD (suppression of enemy defenses) or attacking ground targets guarded by heavy air defenses.
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06/01/2014
After years of passing more conventional capabilities by, I think it is time for the Marine Corps, and the "Gator Navy" for that matter, to get serious about getting the very most out of their extremely expensive and controversial F-35B force. At $150 million a pop, they need to be more than nicer Harriers.
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06/01/2014
Four French Rafale fighter aircraft and a contingent of about 70 French airforce personnel on Saturday landed at Jodhpur airbase to participate in the 10-day long joint air exercise "Garuda-5". The air exercise, expected to be attended by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, will kick start at the Jodhpur airbase on June 2.
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06/01/2014
Russian industry officials are denying media reports that Beijing and Moscow are finalizing a deal on the sale of advanced Russian fighters and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to China.
Widely reported by other media outlets, Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV announced that the head of Sukhoi, Mikhail Pogosyan, confirmed that a deal with China to procure Su-35S fighters and S-400 SAMs was close to concluding.
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06/01/2014
Today, Boeing's UAV offerings come primarily from the company's subsidiary Insitu, which it acquired outright in 2008 for about $100 million after partnering with the younger company to develop and market the ScanEagle drone.
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