Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

Israel Is Letting Its Guard Down

07/19/2013

If finally compelled to do so, Israel is able to destroy the Iranian nuclear-weapons program, even if at breathtaking risk. Whether or not Israel succeeds on that front, it faces yet another existential military problem, less immediate and on a different register, in regard to which it has made the wrong choice.

RAF Fairford Air Tattoo: Ten of the best aircraft to see

07/19/2013

If you are going to the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford this weekend make sure not to is the top 10 aircraft.

The Impact of a Declining Defense Budget on Combat Readiness

07/19/2013

Combat readiness is defined as “[t]he ability of US military forces to fight and meet the demands of the national military strategy.” This is the most important factor to our war fighters, but as basic as it is to them, it remains a complicated subject for others to understand. Due to its multidimensional and somewhat diffuse nature, it also has few natural supporters.

Russia Delays India’s 5th-Gen. Fighter Program

07/19/2013

According to news reports this week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) might have to wait longer before it can induct its first fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) after Russia, with which it is co-producing the platform, imposed delays and unexpectedly hiked development costs.

Japan and South Korea scramble Russian aircraft from military exercise

07/19/2013

A Russian military exercise involving nuclear bombers caused neighbours Japan and South Korea to scramble as they were found near Hokkaido and the Korean Peninsula on Monday. Japan and Russia reported that both aircrafts were intercepted by three Japanese fighters. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that both bombers were on practice strikes and had been airborne for 7 hours since taking off from Ukrainka Air Base in Amur Oblast.

Pentagon Stands By Russian Arms Deal

07/19/2013

The Pentagon has no plans to halt a $550 million deal with Russia to acquire helicopters for the Afghan Special Mission Wing, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday. In late June the Special US Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction urged the Pentagon to put the deal on hold until the unit was fully recruited and properly trained.

Boeing Maritime Jet Gains Favor in Australia, Paring Drone Need

07/18/2013

Australia plans to buy more Boeing Co. (BA) P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol jets than initially projected to replace planes dating from the 1970s, reducing its requirement for drones built by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) Funding for the purchase will be sought next year, with talks under way about the exact mix of P-8s and MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, the head of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, said in an interview in London.

Dambusters to get new F-35 Lightning II fighter

07/18/2013

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, head of the RAF, will today announce the famous 617 Squadron will become the first to fly the F-35 stealth fighter known as the Lightning II. The decision secures the future of the world-famous squadron when it stops flying its ageing Tornado GR4 jets next year.

Air Force Thunderbirds Resume Practice for 2014 Air Shows

07/18/2013

The Thunderbirds F-16 fighter jet demonstration team will take to the air to train in preparation for the 2014 show season. Nationwide, attendance has "plummeted" 40 to 80 percent at air shows this season without military aircraft on display.

Training for joint, U.K. F-35 programs heat up

07/18/2013

The largest fleet of F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighters ramped up to 28 aircraft June 25, bringing in new capability for the F-35 Integrated Training Center as the team trains to provide combat operations capability in the years ahead. The U.S. Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron-101 received a second F-35C from Lockheed Martin, Fort. Worth, Texas. The Navy's variant is designed to land on the decks of aircraft carriers.

Panama wants help from UN after finding North Korean arms on ship

07/18/2013

Panama says it wants the United Nations to investigate why a rusting North Korean cargo ship was carrying rockets, missile parts and even a couple of Cold War-era fighter jets from Cuba under sacks of brown sugar. The United States has said any shipment of arms or related material aboard the freighter would violate at least three U.N. resolutions.

Lakenheath: Fighter jets are back in the air again - for now

07/18/2013

Two of 48th Fighter Wing’s F-15 Eagle Squadrons are now back in the skies over Suffolk following the announcement in April that the planes would be out of action until September. But base commanders have warned that the resumption of “critical training” could only be for the next two and a half months.

5000 tanks? Russia military exercise deemed a 'response to a hypothetical attack by Japanese and U.S. forces.'

07/18/2013

The bear never sleeps? Why, it seems like old times. Russia President Vladimir Putin has journeyed to witness his nation’s biggest military maneuvers since Soviet times, and some observers say, in modern history. On the march across Siberia: 160,000 troops accompanied by 5,000 tanks and 320 tons of equipment. And in the Pacific, there are 70 ships at sea, and 130 combat aircraft overhead, including nuclear bombers.

Combat drone scrubs carrier landing 2nd time in 4 attempts

07/18/2013

A Navy program that twice landed a combat drone successfully on an aircraft carrier last week aborted its last attempt on Monday, the program’s second scrubbed effort in four tries during a period of testing at sea.

Russia Planning to Buy Aerial Drones in UAE – Source

07/18/2013

The Russian military is planning to purchase aerial drones in the United Arab Emirates, a defense industry source said Wednesday. “We are talking about at least two United 40 Block 5 models developed by the company ADCOM Systems,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told RIA Novosti.

Over 40 Aircraft Start War Games in W. Russia

07/18/2013

Russia’s Air Force has begun a large-scale exercise in the west of the country involving the "biggest-ever deployment of the service's new Sukhoi Su-34 strike aircraft," a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. The exercise, centered on the Voronezh airbase, will involve over 40 aircraft and helicopters from the Western Military District, 10 military airfields and two military testing ranges, military district press service chief Oleg Kochetkov said.

Only privately owned Harrier jet flying in to EAA AirVenture 2013

07/17/2013

Art Nalls may have first gained mass attention after holding the Guinness World Record from 1973 to 1975 for building and riding the world’s smallest bicycle, but today Nalls is best known in the aviation community for entertaining crowds with the world’s only privately owned Harrier jet fighter.

Seized missile radars on N. Korean ship a threat to aircraft

07/17/2013

Missile radar systems discovered aboard a North Korean-flagged ship that had last been in Cuba could be upgraded to make air-defense systems more effective at shooting down modern military aircraft, military analysts said Tuesday.

First B-52 departs to depot for CONECT upgrade

07/17/2013

The first B-52H Stratofortress departed Barksdale July 16 and headed to the depot at Tinker AFB, Okla., for the Combat Network Communications Technology upgrade. The CONECT upgrade will allow B-52 crews to receive and send real-time digital information such as updated intelligence, mapping or targeting information while the aircraft is in flight.

Indian AF Official Removed After Dassault Bribery Charge

07/17/2013

Following complaints from an official of France’s Dassault, which is the preferred vendor in the $11 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, an Indian Air Force official was dismissed from service today.

Global Hawk: The drone the Pentagon couldn’t ground

07/17/2013

With billions of dollars in spending reductions looming, Air Force officials looked around last year for a program they could cut that was underperforming, had busted its budget and wasn’t vital to immediate combat needs. Eventually, they settled on the production line for a $223 million aircraft known as the Global Hawk, with the wingspan of a tanker but no pilot in the cockpit, built to fly over vast terrain for a little more than a day while sending back data to military commanders on the gro

Strategic Posture Review: France

07/17/2013

A rather small country by its size and population—65 million, less than 1 percent of total global population—France is nevertheless one of five to 10 countries that can claim to be major powers in today’s world.

Poland, US unite during two-week aerial training

07/17/2013

Poland continues to build its relationship with the United States as both nations' air forces integrate their capabilities in a joint theater security cooperation event July 15-26, 2013. This marks the third time U.S. aircraft have flown into Poland as part of a partnership-building initiative that began in October 2012. "We are demonstrating the commitment that we've made to Poland," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Matthew Spears, commander of Detachment 1, 52nd Operations Group.

Putin Oversees Massive Far East Military Drills

07/17/2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw military maneuvers in the country’s Far East on Tuesday as part of the largest snap check of combat readiness of the Russian military in the post-Soviet period. Putin, who as president is supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s armed forces, arrived at the Uspenovsky military testing site by helicopter on Tuesday.

Russian Sailors Rescue North Koreans While on Exercise

07/17/2013

A Russian Pacific Fleet supply vessel rescued a North Korean schooner in the Sea of Japan and brought it in to the port of Nakhodka on Tuesday, navy and Defense Ministry officials said. Russian Pacific Fleet sailors were on a mission to resupply ships south of Nakhodka Bay as part of ongoing large-scale naval exercises in the Far East, when they received a distress signal from a North Korean schooner that had drifted off course.