Military Aviation News Archive
03/08/2013
Thales UK and Airbus Military have signed an 18-year contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to supply training services for the A400M Atlas, the Royal Air Force’s next-generation military transport aircraft. The multi-million pound training services programme will be operated by A400M Training Services Ltd, a joint venture between Thales UK and Airbus Military.
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03/08/2013
A commission of the Defense Ministry examining the An-70 aircraft program has completed its work at the Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv), the enterprise's press service reported on Thursday. The enterprise has accomplished the full range of tests, calculations and strength tests that were envisaged by the program, including the static testing of wing devices, control surfaces, an engine installation, landing gear legs and doors, the radar dome and other units, the press service said.
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03/08/2013
It seems U.S. fighter pilots have lost that loving feeling for their new F-35 stealth jets. At least that's the impression given in a scathing Pentagon report leaked this week that identifies a huge number of problems facing the U.S. military's F-35 fleet - including fears it can easily be shot down.
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03/08/2013
At least one F-35 jet landed at Nellis Air Force Base on Wednesday, though later than expected, after the Pentagon grounded the fleet of planes in February when one was found to have cracked engine blade. It is the first of four of the long-awaited stealth jets that Nellis is expected to take delivery on for an arrival ceremony on March 19.
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03/08/2013
The second Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II for the Netherlands rolled out of the F-35 production facility on March 2. This is the latest step in the production process leading to its eventual assignment to Eglin AFB, Fla., later this summer. The Netherlands is planning to use this conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jet, known as AN-2, for training and operational tests for pilots and maintainers.
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03/08/2013
Maria Young for RIA Novosti) The United States vowed to aggressively defend itself and its allies after North Korea furiously threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US in the face of sanctions handed down by the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday.
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03/06/2013
The international arms market has seen a growing number of Chinese competitors that are beginning to challenge U.S. and Russian market dominance, especially in sales to the Middle East. Chinese arms sales include army, navy and air force platforms, and are slowly becoming the market standard.
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03/06/2013
The world's oldest British fighter jet is taking to the skies once again over England, a treat for air enthusiasts around the world. A Gloster Meteor, Britain's oldest fighter jet, and likely the oldest fighter jet still flying, will grace the skies later this month.
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03/06/2013
Sun Cong, chief designer of the J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, accepted a special interview with Xinhua News Agency on March 2. The J-15, nicknamed "lying shark", is China's first generation of carrier-borne fighter jet. When the piloted J-15 fighter landed on the Liaoning aircraft carrier for the first time and successfully took off, Sun was filled with excitement.
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03/06/2013
A Canadian subsidiary of the Esterline Corp., a U.S. specialty manufacturer, is supplying glass cockpits for Korean-made trainer aircraft. The turboprop aircraft - Korea Aerospace Industries' KT-1 - are being supplied to the Peruvian air force and CMC Electronics has been contracted for 20 integrated cockpits.
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03/06/2013
A Nouse investigation has found BAE, York drone research sponsor to be employing private, civilian contractors to fly drones for military operations in Afghanistan. BAE employees stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan operate the Manta and Silver Fox drones on missions for the US military.
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03/06/2013
Civilian air shows across the country could be shut down or reduced in scale because of automatic federal budget cuts that would be triggered later this month. According to an email from Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Air Force in Washington, D.C., “all aerial demonstrations, including flyovers, jump team demonstrations and participation in civilian air shows and military open houses will cease as of 1 April, 2013.”
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03/06/2013
“In February, we moved the aircraft to Zhukovsky where preparations for the test flights are full steam ahead. I hope, if everything goes well, that we will be able to start test flights according to a military program on March 12-14,” Livanov said in a live interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station on Monday.
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03/06/2013
A series of war or terrorism scenarios, including attacks against terrorist cells in other countries and “state on state war fighting,” dominate a series of possible missions the federal government has set out for five fighter jets, including the controversial Lockheed Martin F-35, that are now under consideration as potential replacements for Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 fighters.
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03/06/2013
Lockheed Martin has received a $71 million Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) modification contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to conduct air- and surface-launched flight tests and other risk reduction activities. Under this contract, an additional air-launched LRASM flight test will be conducted from a B-1B in 2013. There are already two air-launched flight tests scheduled for this year as part of the Phase 2 LRASM contract awarded in 2010.
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03/06/2013
Russia will continue military-technical cooperation with Venezuela regardless of who takes over power in the Latin American country after the death of its charismatic socialist leader Hugo Chavez, a Russian arms trade source said on Wednesday. Chavez, 58, died on Tuesday following a two-year tough battle with cancer, leaving the country in a political turmoil.
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03/05/2013
Just before the implementation of billions of dollars in military budget cuts, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) handed out more than $400 million in contracts to Lockheed Martin. The night before “sequestration” went into effect, the DoD awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin totaling $333,786,000. The work is for maintenance of the accessories for the F-35 Lighting jet fighter and other aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, the Marine Corps and Navy.
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03/05/2013
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement after the Pentagon approved the sale of 12 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters and 12 EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets to Australia.
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03/05/2013
National security has never been a high priority item in India. This is being demonstrated yet again by the polemics raging in Parliament around alleged linkages with murky Italian intermediaries said to be involved in the bribery for the acquisition of 12 Italian AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters for the VIP fleet of the Indian Air Force.
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03/05/2013
The government has approved a proposal for the indigenous development of Airborne Warning and Control System (Awacs) aircraft by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the project is slated to be completed by 2020, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lower House (Lok Sabha) yesterday.
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03/05/2013
The Harper government’s plan to buy the oft-maligned F-35 fighter is expected to face another blow with a series of deep spending cuts about to unfold in the United States. The cuts, known as sequestration, could affect “specific military procurements” in this country, MacKay told a event at the Economic Club of Canada.
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03/05/2013
China will boost defense spending 10.7 percent this year as the government modernizes its military arsenal and adopts a more assertive stance in territorial disputes with its neighbors.
Military spending is set to rise this year to 740.6 billion yuan ($119 billion) from 669.1 billion, the Ministry of Finance said in a report. China has the second-biggest military budget in the world after the U.S., which spent nearly six times more on defense than China last year.
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03/05/2013
This year will see the USS Harry Truman docked in Virginia due to another round of budget battles between US President Obama and the Republican opposition. The Telegraph has reported that the vessel, which is one of 10 nuclear aircraft carriers in the US military fleet, will not be patrolling the waters of the Persian Gulf in 2013 over $85-billion spending cuts.
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03/05/2013
In just a few weeks, the French air force will take delivery of the very first operational A400M from Airbus Military’s final assembly line in the Spanish city of Seville. Not only will it mark a key milestone for the €20bn-plus (£17bn) programme, but it will also have major significance for Britain, both for the military and for industry through manufacturing and exports.
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03/05/2013
Ukraine is considering leasing out a carrier-deck pilot training site in Crimea to other countries, Ukrainian First Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Oleinik said on Monday. Under a 1997 bilateral agreement, Russia occasionally uses Ukraine's Nitka Naval Pilot Training Center as the only training facility for its carrier-based fixed-wing pilots, but that could change, Oleinik said.
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