Military Aviation News Archive
03/02/2013
Sudan's government has violated U.N. sanctions on the Darfur region by carrying out air strikes and using aircraft from Belarus and Russia despite pledging not to in the vast arid area in the country's west, U.N. experts say. The U.N. Security Council's independent panel of experts - who monitor sanctions imposed on Darfur in 2005 - also said it was investigating whether Sudanese troops had violated the sanctions by using Iranian armored personnel carriers in Darfur.
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03/02/2013
In the first two months of 2013, Russia sold over $2.5 billion worth of weapons to other countries, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said Friday.
“In the first month of this year, we sold arms worth $1 billion. In the first two months, total weapons sales exceeded $2.5 billion,” Alexander Fomin told Ekho Moskvy radio.
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03/01/2013
An Indonesian senior official said on Thursday that process of cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea in jointly developing advanced fighter jet was postponed due to transition of power in South Korean government.
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03/01/2013
In a dogfight of defence contractors, the hunter can quickly become the hunted. It's happening now to the F-35. The world's largest defence contractor, Lockheed Martin, is trying to convince wavering U.S. allies — including Canada — to stick with its high-tech, high-priced and unproven F-35 stealth fighter. But the F-35 is way behind schedule, way over budget and, now, it's grounded by a mysterious crack in a turbine fan.
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03/01/2013
Cassidian handed over the 100th Eurofighter to the German Air Force today, at the Military Air Systems Centre in Manching. The anniversary aircraft with the identifier 31x00 took off in the afternoon on its delivery flight to Boelke Fighter Bomber Wing 31 in Noervenich. Speaking to invited delegates who included politicians, representatives of the public authorities, the German armed forces and industry.
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03/01/2013
With the defence forces planning to finalise major deals such as the one for 126 Rafale combat aircraft, the government has earmarked more than Rs. 33,000 crore for acquiring aircraft and aero-engines from the Rs. 86,000 crore modernisation Budget for the forces. Of this amount, Rs. 25,000 crore has been given to the IAF which is close to finalising negotiations for deals.
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03/01/2013
Members of Congress today were told by the U.S. military that the impact of President Obama’s sequester plan – scheduled to take effect tomorrow – would be a combination of undone repairs, missing modernization, absent deployments and failed readiness. The testimony came before the House Armed Services Committee from Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.
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03/01/2013
Japan today scrambled fighter jets to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defence ministry said. It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.
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03/01/2013
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., and Boeing will submit a joint proposal to build a demonstrator aircraft - based on Sikorsky’s X2™ Technology rotorcraft design - for the U.S. Army's Joint Multi-Role (JMR) Technology Demonstrator (TD) Phase 1 program. The JMR TD program supports the Army's Future Vertical Lift initiative to deliver the next generation of vertical lift utility and attack aircraft.
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03/01/2013
The Royal Saudi Air Force has formally inducted into service the Airbus Military A330 MRTT new generation tanker/transport aircraft. Deputy Minister of Defence Prince Khaled bin Sultan dedicated the aircraft at a ceremony this week.
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03/01/2013
Sagem is ready to begin delivery of the AASM SBU-54 laser terminal guidance version of the Hammer weapon to the French Air Force pending administrative clearance by the DGA. Clearance is expected within a matter of weeks and will pave the way for the weapon to enter operational service later this year.
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03/01/2013
The Afghan air force is to receive 20 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft following a new deal between the USAF, supplier Sierra Nevada and OEM Embraer. The $425million contract has been battled over by the US-Brazil partnership and American OEM Beechcraft.
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02/28/2013
America's military superiority is founded on training and readiness, and the fiscal crisis facing the country threatens to strip away that edge, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress Feb. 26.
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02/28/2013
The federal government should scrap its involvement in the $US570 billion ($A560 billion) US joint strike fighter (JSF) program, the Australian Greens say. Australia is considering whether to buy up to 100 of the F-35 fighters from the US. It has so far purchased two and deferred the acquisition of the next tranche of 12 for two years.
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02/28/2013
The senior US military officer in charge of the controversial Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program says Australia will receive JSF aircraft on schedule at a cost of about $US90 million ($A88.42 million) each. Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan said Australia's plan was to declare initial operational capability with 12 JSFs in 2020.
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02/28/2013
Japan is confident Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will overcome its development setbacks and expects to accept an initial order of four planes on schedule in 2016, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said. “Problems tend to occur when a plane is in development,” Onodera said today in an interview at his office in Tokyo. “We have heard nothing from the U.S. to say there will be a delay. We think the end result will be a good product.”
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02/28/2013
As other airshows are canceled, preparations continue for Battle Creek’s high flying summer festival. “Its business as normal,” said Barbara Haluszka, executive director of Battle Creek’s Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival. “Even without the (U.S. Air Force) Thunderbirds, we will still have an event.”
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02/28/2013
Asserting that middlemen in defence deals provide "extra potential" for corruption, Russia, one of India's biggest defence partners, has said there should be no role for such people when military contracts are being negotiated and signed. The remarks by Russia came amidst a ranging controversy over alleged kickbacks and role of middlemen in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal with an Italian firm Finmeccanica.
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02/28/2013
European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus, reported on Wednesday a 19 percent increase in net profit for 2012, propelled by sales of commercial jets and helicopters, while its military business continued to struggle as budget pressures squeezed U.S. and European defense spending.
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02/28/2013
Pilot error was the reason two Canadian CF-18 Hornet fighter jets scrambled to intercept a Sunwing Airlines flight near Quebec City, after the Toronto-bound aircraft lost contact with air traffic control for more than an hour, a CTV News investigation has learned. The jets were under the command of NORAD, the military command responsible for the defence of North American airspace.
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02/28/2013
The U.S. Department of Defense has issued a $427 million contract to a Nevada plane manufacturer for construction of military aircraft in Jacksonville. Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., partnered with Brazilian plane maker Embraer to build fighter aircraft for the U.S. Air Force in 2011. A Defense Department contract awarded to Sierra Nevada was voided last year in a dispute over the bidding process with Hawker Beechcraft for the plane contract.
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02/28/2013
Members of Congress will not be allowed to travel by military aircraft once the forced spending cuts set to take effect on Friday kick in, House Speaker John Boehner told Republican members at a meeting Wednesday afternoon.
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02/27/2013
America’s military superiority is founded on training and readiness, and the fiscal crisis facing the country threatens to strip away that edge, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress today.
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02/27/2013
Spending cuts under consideration by the U.K. government threaten an 11 billion-pound ($16.7 billion) hole in the defense budget, a research organization said. “If the 2013 spending review leads to further defense spending cuts, the extent of the prospective gap between planned spending and available resources could be significant,” Malcolm Chalmers, research director at the Royal United Services Institute, said in a report published in London today.
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02/27/2013
The Indian Air Force lost another of its Russian made Su-30MKI jet fighters on February 20th. This is the fourth loss since 2009. Two years ago the commander of the Indian Air Force took an hour-long flight in one of India's Su-30MKI to reassure Indian pilots that the Su-30MKI was safe. Two had crashed in 2009 due to mechanical failures and there were widely publicized reliability problems with the engines and many of the other Russian designed and built components of the aircraft.
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