Military Aviation News Archive
12/31/2013
At the end of November China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, formed a battle group to undertake ocean-based maneuvers in the South China Sea for the first time. Military expert Cao Weidong told the CCTV in an interview that during the training the Liaoning would assess its performance in three combat areas: air and missile defense, anti-ship offense, and anti-submarine offense.
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12/31/2013
The United States Air Force is almost finished testing a top-secret stealth drone at its Area 51 installation in Arizona, according to a report by Aviation Week. The Northrup Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)-built drone, named the RQ-180, will primarily be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and is seen as the direct replacement for the Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) SR-71 “Blackbird,” which was retired in 1998.
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12/31/2013
What’s that strange bird flying overhead? Why, it’s a gray-breasted Dronus Predatorus, and it must be hungry, because it looks like it’s searching for prey. I know this thanks to my handy Drone Survival Guide poster, which describes itself as a 21st Century birdwatching guide. “Our ancestors could spot natural predators from far by their silhouettes,” say the Dutch graphic artist who wrote it. “Are we equally aware of the predators in the present-day?”
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12/31/2013
Air Marshal Arup Raha, an ace fighter pilot, will on Tuesday take over as the Air Force chief succeeding incumbent Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne. Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal RK Sharma will succeed Raha as the Vice Chief of Air Staff. Born on December 26, 1954, 59 year-old Raha is expected to have a tenure of three years as the Chief of Air Staff.
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12/31/2013
A bombing range in the Pinelands in southern New Jersey and airspace over the Atlantic Ocean could be part of a nationwide effort to develop guidelines for using unmanned aerial drones in civilian life. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday picked a proposal using those test sites, developed by Rutgers University, Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, as one of six projects around the country that will oversee “critical research.”
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12/31/2013
The political battles over chronic deficit spending in the United States has led to sharp and often unexpected cuts in the military budget over the last few years. This has forced the U.S. Air force to make major cuts in the hours combat pilots fly for training. The latest cut reduces many pilots to 120 hours a year. That’s about half of what it was a decade ago. There is concern that this will threaten the domination of the air the United States has had since World War II.
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12/30/2013
A year after escaping a round of job cuts, Michigan’s largest military base faces a possible loss of personnel under a U.S. Air Force plan to eliminate an air-to-ground attack fighter. After next year, the Air Force plans to remove the A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the “Warthog,” from its inventory due to budget cuts.
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12/30/2013
Russia grounded all its 122 MiG-31 fighters after one of them crashed (because both of its engines failed) in the Far East (outside Vladivostok) on December 14th. The two man crew managed to glide to an unpopulated area where they ejected and came safely to the ground. The aircraft was a total loss. This incident was doubly disturbing because this was its first flight after a major overhaul.
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12/30/2013
The United States’ planned military pivot to the Pacific was largely clouded by fiscal uncertainty as Congress and the Department of Defense wrestled with budget cuts throughout 2013. Even as aircraft and a new warship moved to the region this year, the department’s top leaders warned a full shift will never be possible if lawmakers allow the defense budget to be slashed by a half-trillion dollars over the coming decade.
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12/30/2013
The Chinese campaign of conquering real, or imagined, nearby “lost territories” by winning many little victories in battles none of the victims is willing to go to war over continues. This campaign is quite active in the South China Sea, North Korea and along the Indian border. China has, in the last few years, taken control of sizable chunks of India and large swaths of the South China Sea one tiny piece at a time.
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12/30/2013
On December 20, the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) was cleared to enter operational service with the Indian Air Force (IAF). Now Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) faces the daunting transition from handcrafting Tejas prototypes into factory-assembling the 200-fighter Tejas fleet that Defence Minister A K Antony has envisioned.
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12/30/2013
France has begun operating one of its new RQ-9 Reaper UAVs in Mali. Earlier in 2013 France decided to buy two RQ-9s and by the middle of the year had upped the order to a dozen. This was apparently with the understanding that one or two would be available for French use in Mali before the end of the year.
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12/29/2013
U.S. Army Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters are widely used transport aircraft for the U.S. Military. first introduced in 1979 they have been used in very major conflict since then. Today they are equipped with advanced avionics and electronics, such as global positioning systems. With that being said the helicopter has had numerous safety problems in the past some attributable to their age.
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12/29/2013
When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden travelled to Asia last week, his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was simple: start talking. While tensions have ratcheted up in the fight over a cluster of islands in the East China Sea, experts worry things could get far worse. In fact, the most optimistic outcome for the year ahead is that the two old foes settle into an uncomfortable Cold War.
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12/29/2013
A joint venture of two companies based in North America has bagged the deal to supply 21 UH-1 combat utility helicopters to the Philippine Air Force. The joint venture of American firm Rice Aircraft Services Inc. and Canadian company Eagle Copters Ltd. won the contract for the supply and delivery of Huey helicopters, the workhorse of the military’s operations.
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12/29/2013
Achieving yet another milestone, India’s indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) completed 500 sorties in a year after attaining initial operational clearance last week. According to a defence ministry release issued on Saturday, 500 sorties by Tejas completed on Friday, are the highest by the aircraft in a calendar year. The highest number of sorties attained earlier in a calendar year was below 300.
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12/29/2013
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Saturday said the government expected the first of the 12 Korean FA-50 lead in fighter jets to be delivered in June 2015. Gazmin made this statement after the defense department recommended that President Benigno Aquino III allow the payment of the 52-percent down payment for the P18.9-billion fighter jets. “We recommended the approval of the DP (down payment) and progress billing,” he said.
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12/29/2013
The Russian armed forces will start getting advanced Buk-M3 air defense missile systems in 2016, the Air Defense Force's chief said on Saturday. “We are now in the midst of planned rearmament to replace Buk-M1 with Buk-M2. We expect to receive Buk-M3s starting from 2016,” Maj. Gen. Alexander Leonov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
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12/29/2013
The armed forces of Nepal have signed a deal with Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport to buy two Mil Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters, the Himalayan Times has reported. The agreement was signed on December 19. The country’s government, which had earlier allocated more than $30 million for purchasing helicopters for the armed forces, approved the deal earlier this week.
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12/29/2013
The US Air Force will patrol the airspace over the Baltic states for four months starting from January, Lithuanian media reported Friday, citing the country’s military. Four US F-15C Eagle fighter jets will replace the current Belgian F-16AM Fighting Falcons on a rotation basis.
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12/28/2013
Democratic and Republican senators are demanding that China rescind its new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea and the sharp tone risks antagonizing Beijing, The Hill newspaper reported.
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12/28/2013
The $552 billion 2014 military defense budget signed by President Barack Obama will continue to fund high-tech cyber and unmanned aircraft operations. The budget, which grants central Cyber Command $68 million in operational costs alongside more money for research and individual unit operations, instructs agencies to work towards controlling the proliferation of "cyber weapons."
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12/28/2013
After China announced an air defense zone in November, the U.S. demonstrated its displeasure by deliberately entering the air space with an unannounced incursion by a pair of B-52 bombers. As with that dramatic gesture, new Chinese figures suggest the air zone did not deter activity by foreign militaries.
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12/28/2013
The Thunderbirds, grounded last spring by sequester-driven budget cuts, will be back in the air in 2014. The Thunderbirds schedule will begin New Year’s Day with a flyover at the Rose Bowl Parade in Los Angeles, followed by a year of airshows and flyovers across the country. In December, the team announced a schedule of 66 demonstrations at 34 locations this year, its 61st season.
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12/28/2013
The governor of Okinawa approved a land reclamation project that will move a U.S. military base out of a crowded city center after 17 years of wrangling, removing a thorn in U.S.-Japan relations.
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