Military Aviation News Archive
11/05/2013
American defence secretary Chuck Hagel said on Thursday that Israel would be the first US ally to receive the American V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor military aircraft. The deal was negotiated between Hagel and Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya'alon during the former's last visit to Israel. According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the estimated cost of one V-22 Osprey is $69 million.
Read More...
11/05/2013
The unmanned SR-72 will use an engine that combines a turbine and a ramjet to reach its top speed of Mach 6 - about 3,600mph (5,800km/h). Like its predecessor, the SR-72 will be designed for high-altitude surveillance but might also be fitted with weapons to strike targets. Lockheed said the aircraft should be operational by 2030.
Read More...
11/05/2013
Japan is considering providing low-interest loans from a state-run bank to support exports of aircraft designed for military use, the first time such sales are being considered since the end of World War Two, according to officials with knowledge of the still-developing policy.
Read More...
11/05/2013
The 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard will open a new hangar Tuesday to house its remotely-piloted drone aircraft at Wheeler Sack Army Airfield at Fort Drum, near Watertown. The $5.1 million hangar will house two MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by pilots at Hancock Field in Mattydale over restricted military air space at Fort Drum.
Read More...
11/05/2013
India on Tuesday will kick off wargames with two military superpowers, the US and China, striking a fine balance amid the geopolitical jostling between the two for supremacy in the crucial Asia-Pacific region. Even as 162 Indian soldiers touched down in an IAF IL-76 at the Chengdu military region in China for the "Hand-in-Hand (HiH)'' exercise on Monday, Indian and American warships and maritime patrol aircraft were simultaneously gathering in the Bay of Bengal to launch the combat manoeuvres.
Read More...
11/05/2013
Britain is to send the Royal Air Force Red Arrows display team to perform Bahrain, just weeks after negotiations opened on the sale of BAE Eurofighter jets to the tiny Gulf Kingdom.
Bahrain’s ruling family has been engaged in brutal repression of protesters since a democratic uprising began i n February 2011. Britain has been repeatedly criticised for selling weapons and other military hardware to the regime while the crackdown continues.
Read More...
11/05/2013
U.S., Greek, Polish and Italian fighter jets are planned to deploy to Ovda Israel Air Force Base this month, to participate in the Israel Air Force’s ‘Blue Flag’ air warfare exercise over the southern Negev Desert. Over 100 aircraft and about a thousand air and ground crews are expected to participate. Israeli sources have not confirmed the specific nations taking part in the exercise but foreign sources have indicated these are likely to include Greece, Poland, Italy, the US and Israel.
Read More...
11/05/2013
Aircraft giant Embraer SA is under investigation by U.S. and Brazilian authorities amid allegations that it made improper payments to a government official in the Dominican Republic. Embraer is being probed over allegations that its executives made bribery payments to officials in the Dominican Republic in exchange for a $90 million contract to furnish the country's armed forces with military planes, according to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Read More...
11/04/2013
The Pentagon has assigned seven C-27J Spartans to Special Operations Command (SOCOM), but has not decided the fate of the Air Force’s remaining air lifters. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made the decision on Oct. 28, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.
Read More...
11/04/2013
In many ways, the Angola of today - with its booming natural-resource-driven economic growth and relative stability - is a far cry from the war-torn and ravaged country of the Cold War era. In that period, it was the subject of a protracted and bloody civil war in which the country also become the site of various geopolitical proxy wars involving the likes of the Soviet Union, US, South Africa and Cuba.
Read More...
11/04/2013
This year Iraq surpassed Iran as the largest exporter of oil to China. This is because of the more severe sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. Even Iran admits that it’s GDP has shrunk this year as a result. China would like to get more oil from Iran as well, but the sanctions make that difficult. China needs a lot more oil because it is desperate to reduce its use of coal, which is causing more and more air pollution in the north and northeast.
Read More...
11/04/2013
Over the last few years the U.S. Air Force has developed a novel way to make the most of the few (180) F-22s it has. This particular solution comes in the form of an F-22 QRF (Quick Reaction Force) that consists of four F-22s and a C-17 full of weapons, maintenance gear, maintainers, specialized pods, weapons, and spare pilots ready to fly to any of hundreds of airports or bases in the world that can handle four F-22s and a C-17.
Read More...
11/04/2013
The Mozambican Air Force has taken delivery of a Hawker 850XP business jet, the latest acquisition for the country’s small air arm and a major boost to its capacity. The aircraft entered service in September, according to Air Forces Daily, after being bought second hand from the United States. It left Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida on its delivery flight on September 9 and had its US registration cancelled on September 18 following its transfer to the Force Aerea de Mocambique.
Read More...
11/04/2013
An Israeli military unmanned drone crashed in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Palestinians saying they shot it down but Israel blaming a technical malfunction. A security source from the Hamas, movement that rules Gaza, said they had “captured an Israeli drone that was flying over east Jabalia this morning.”
Read More...
11/04/2013
Not satisfied with jury-rigged, homemade tanks, an Islamist rebel group fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad has formed its own air force — with real planes. Jaish al-Islam — the Army of Islam — last week published a YouTube video documenting its activities against the Assad regime, in which it showcases its two L-39ZA Albatros fighter aircraft captured earlier this year from a Syrian Air Force base east of Aleppo.
Read More...
11/04/2013
Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets were reportedly scrambled overnight after a Russian IL-20 electronic surveillance aircraft probed its borders along the Black Sea cost. It is the third such incident in the past week. Such incursions, which were common during the Cold War, have not been a feature of international politics for some time.
Read More...
11/04/2013
Turkey scrambled four F-16 fighter jets on Sunday to intercept Russian Il-20 reconnaissance warplanes flying along the country’s Black Sea coast, news agency PzFeed reported. The Russian Defense Ministry declined to comment. The Turkish government has not released any information about the reported incident.
Read More...
11/03/2013
If India and France are able to sign the final contract for the Rafale, then there is a possibility the French fighter-bomber will be armed with Russian claws. According to Boris Obnosov, General Director of Russia’s Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation (TRV), if required the Moscow-based company is ready to adapt Russian missiles for the French aircraft.
Read More...
11/03/2013
Imagine this scenario in the not-too-distant future: Tensions in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have been building for months. After exhausting all diplomatic options, the president orders an airstrike against a highly defended enemy weapons depot. Four U.S. fighter jets launch from an aircraft carrier operating at an undisclosed location at sea.
Read More...
11/03/2013
The suspension of a portion of US military aid to Egypt is an opportunity to shift the army’s focus away from conventional warfare and toward more effective counter-terrorism operations, military analysts say. Last month, the Obama administration announced it was suspending part of its annual US$1.3 billion (Dh4.78bn) in military aid to Egypt, including the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon missiles.
Read More...
11/03/2013
As a leader in the Korean aerospace industry, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is the only domestic aircraft manufacturer and total system integrator that designs and assembles world-class aircraft and satellite systems and provides life cycle support for its products.
Read More...
11/03/2013
Western defense contractors participating in South Korea’s biennial arms exhibition tried to convince their hosts they would offer assistance to help build the country’s indigenous fighter jet, code-named KF-X. The KF-X effort drew keen attention during the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) from Oct. 29-Nov. 3, amid growing calls here for upgrading the country’s fighter fleet more sustainably and coming up with plans to fill a fighter gap over the next decade.
Read More...
11/03/2013
Russia has increased its weapons shipments to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government since last year, military aid that is likely “more significant” than Iranian arms supplies to Damascus, according to senior US diplomats. “It has increased from a year ago. There are more deliveries, and in some cases, they are militarily extremely significant,” Robert Ford, the US ambassador to Syria, told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week.
Read More...
11/03/2013
The United States will next year buy 30 Russian-made helicopters for the Afghan army, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said Friday. The batch of Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters will raise to 63 the quantity of that model supplied under US-Russian deals for the Afghan National Army.
Read More...
11/03/2013
A US surveillance plane carrying US and British military personnel took off from an airport in southern Siberia on Friday after being stranded there for two nights over poor weather conditions and unpaid fees. The US plane, making a routine flight over Russia under the international Open Skies treaty, was forced down in Chita on Wednesday because of heavy fog.
Read More...