Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

Dunsmore: “It’s complicated”

03/18/2013

Asked to sum up his first trip to Afghanistan in his new job, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said, “It’s complicated.” When veteran diplomatic troubleshooter James Dobbins was asked about the problem of deciding which Syrian rebels should receive American support, he noted that the State Department and the CIA had had two years, “and if they don’t know by now we’ve got a pretty hopeless intelligence network.”

China replaces Britain in world's top five arms exporters: report

03/18/2013

China has become the world's fifth-largest arms exporter, a respected Sweden-based think tank said on Monday, its highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient. China's volume of weapons exports between 2008 and 2012 rose 162 percent compared to the previous five year period, with its share of the global arms trade rising from 2 percent to 5 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

Top Turkish Firm Develops First Local Friend-or-Foe Gear

03/18/2013

Turkey’s largest defense company — Aselsan Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret — has successfully developed the country’s first indigenous identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system, and delivered the first prototypes to the Turkish military. Two prototype electronic systems were delivered to the armed forces last month and mark a “first-time achievement” for Turkey’s local industry, officials and analysts here said.

Russian Military Inspectors to Fly Over Germany, Benelux

03/18/2013

Russian military inspectors will make surveillance flights over the territories of Germany and the Benelux countries under the international Open Skies Treaty within a period starting Monday, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russian experts will conduct the inspection flights on board an Antonov An-30B (Clank) aircraft between March 18 and 23, the spokesman said.

F-35B ARRIVES AT EDWARDS FOR MISSIONS SYSTEMS TESTING

03/17/2013

The F-35 Integrated Test Force expanded their aircraft inventory March 5 with the arrival of BF-17, which is the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 Lightning II and is operated by the Marine Corps. The aircraft arrived from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and will remain at Edwards to conduct mission system testing throughout the System Development and Demonstration phase.

IAF kicks off massive combat exercise, activates all airbases

03/17/2013

The IAF on Saturday kicked off a major exercise, 'Live Wire', to hone its war-fighting skills, with hundreds of fighters, helicopters, transport aircraft and drones from all its five operational commands participating to test both offensive and defensive airpower capabilities. The exercise, the biggest in a decade with all the airbases around the country being activated, will be held in phases to validate network-centric operations.

Press Release - Eurofighter Typhoon Joins New Danish Fighter Competition

03/17/2013

Eurofighter Typhoon joins the New Danish Combat Aircraft Competition targeted at safeguarding Denmark’s national air defence. Eurofighter CEO, Enzo Casolini, said: "We welcome the invitation of the Danish Government and we are pleased to enter into this international competition. Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation combat aircraft that can fulfill the specific Danish requirements, including Arctic surveillance.

Aircraft Maker Expects Exports of Y-20 Airlifters

03/17/2013

Commercial derivatives of the Y-20, China's first domestically developed strategic airlifter that is expected to enter service around 2017, will be exported to other countries, according to aviation industry insiders. "We will develop a number of variants of the Y-20 and we are definitely going to export them," said Tang Jun, chairman of Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co, a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the leading maker of the nation's large aircraft.

DoD report: F-35 training is premature (DOCUMENT)

03/17/2013

A recent Defense Department analysis has reported that there is limited use to training students on the F-35 fighter jet because it is still in development and substantially limited in capability. Student pilots officially began training at Eglin Air Force base this year.

Singapore expected to order F-35 fighter jets soon, sources say

03/17/2013

Singapore is in the "final stages of evaluating" the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to upgrade its air force, a process US sources say should turn quickly into orders for more than a dozen of the stealthy warplanes that have been beset with cost overruns and delivery delays.

nsight: Expensive F-35 fighter at risk of budget "death spiral"

03/16/2013

It's called the "death spiral," and America's newest warplane, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is in danger of falling into it before the plane has even gone into service. The term - recently invoked by top brass involved in the F-35 program - refers to a budgeting Catch-22 that plagues the defense industry. To keep the cost per airplane low, you need to build and sell a lot of planes. But in tough economic times, governments cut orders to save money. That pushes up the cost per plane.

U.S. Air Force Sides With Brazil's Embraer In Fighter Plane Dispute

03/16/2013

The U.S. Air Force has sided with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer (ERJ), saying Friday that the company and its lead American partner Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), should continue with its light air support contract after a four day suspension.

Italy Will Further Upgrade Tornados for Weapons

03/16/2013

The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) announced this week that it has awarded a contract to the trinational Panavia consortium to further upgrade the Tornado for the Italian air force. The latest in a series of upgrades will allow Italian Tornados to carry the small-diameter bomb (SDB) and the advanced anti-radiation guided missile (AARGM).

Fear grips North over drone attacks

03/16/2013

There is a growing disquiet in northern Nigeria over the commencement of operations of American drones now stationed just across the border in the Niger Republic. Drones are unmanned, remotely controlled aerial vehicles fitted with guns and missile launchers.

Senators Want Cyber Battle Medal Downgraded

03/16/2013

The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee have joined together in asking the Pentagon to reconsider the purpose of its new military battle medal for drone aircraft pilots and similar "cyberwarriors," who rarely if ever actually set their boots on the battlefield.

Seoul assumes mock NK command from US in war game

03/16/2013

When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his forces to launch a surprise attack on the South Korean island of Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea, North Korean coastal guns, including 76- and 122-millimeter guns, opened fire. Soldiers from the North’s elite military units entered Gangwon Province via AN-2, an aircraft for low-altitude penetration into the South, and started guerrilla warfare.

U.S. drone strikes violate Pakistan's sovereignty - U.N.

03/16/2013

The United States has violated Pakistan's sovereignty and shattered tribal structures with unmanned drone strikes in its counterterrorism operations near the Afghan border, a U.N. human rights investigator said in a statement on Friday. U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, visited Pakistan for three days this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings.

The Need For Speed At Sea

03/16/2013

The U.S. Navy has found that it’s actually cheaper to use a F-18E aircraft for aerial refueling than to have other combat aircraft land and wait in line to refuel on the carrier. This landing and waiting consumes a lot of fuel. If the waiting aircraft turn off their engines (to save fuel) the aircraft has to undergo an hour of safety checks before it can turn on the engines again. Turns out it is easier and cheaper to send another F-18E aloft carrying six tons of fuel and use the usual inflight

Russia to Deliver First 10 Fighter Engines to India by April

03/16/2013

March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Ufa-based engine maker will deliver the first 10 of 920 AL-31FP engines for the Su-30MKI Flanker-H to India before the end of March, the manufacturer said on Friday. The contract with India, the largest one with a foreign client in post-Soviet history, was signed last October, and engine deliveries are to be completed by 2022.

Russia to Open Carrier Pilot Training Site by Fall

03/16/2013

A new Russian carrier-deck pilot training site will be ready for operation by fall, the Federal Agency for Special Construction Work confirmed on Friday, replacing a Soviet-era base in Ukraine which Kiev has said it may lease to other countries. “The construction work there is effectively complete. I believe aircraft will start flying there in August or September,” Grigory Naginsky, head of the Federal Agency for Special Construction Work (Spetsstroi) said.

Michigan Guard Base To Get Drones, Not Cargo Planes

03/15/2013

The Battle Creek Air National Guard base is preparing for drones. The southwestern Michigan base said it learned from the Air Force Thursday that it will fly the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle and won't get C-130 cargo aircraft as it had hoped. Base commander Col. Ronald Wilson said in a release that it's "disappointing" not to get the C-130 but leaders are "excited for the MQ-9 mission."

Giant C-17 Globemaster aircraft to add strategic muscle from June

03/15/2013

From June onwards, India will finally begin to add some real strategic airlift muscle. IAF's capability to swiftly transport combat troops and war-fighting equipment to distant battlefronts will be hugely bolstered with the induction of the gigantic C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft.

‘Tejas’ LCA project likely to be completed in 2015

03/15/2013

The country’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ programme is now expected to be completed only by March 2015 and is one of the major projects undertaken by the Defence Research Development Organisation(DRDO) which is running behind schedule by several years, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Mali: No combat role for Canada, Harper says as France presses for UN force

03/15/2013

Canada’s future role in the international campaign to suppress Al Qaeda-linked extremists in Mali is up in the air, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper is ruling out putting Canadian troops into combat in the West African country. At a joint press conference wrapping up a visit to Ottawa by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Harper was asked about France’s push for a United Nations peacekeeping mission to replace the French-led coalition fighting to keep Mali from becoming a terrorist haven.

Israel prepares to host Blue Flag combat exercise

03/15/2013

Israel is preparing to host its largest ever multinational air exercise towards the end of 2013, with "a great number of air forces" having expressed their intention to take part in the Blue Flag manoeuvres. The activity will be led by the Israeli air force's Flying Dragon adversary squadron.