Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

A Place In The Sun

07/29/2013

Japanese are becoming more alarmed at increasing Chinese military activity in waters and air space around Japan. It’s not just disputed areas, especially the Senkaku Islands, but around distant Okinawa and increasingly east of Japan, in the Pacific. Operating out there is what the Chinese would have to do for a blockade of Japan.

Serbian Army Sufficiently Trained To Defend Serbia’s Territory – Vucic

07/29/2013

The Serbian Armed Forces (VS) are sufficiently trained and equipped to protect Serbia’s territory from any potential aggressor, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday, summing up the work of the Defence Ministry in the first year of the current government’s term, Tanjug reported.

Navy eyes C-2, H-60 replacement programs

07/29/2013

The Sikorsky H-60 Seahawk helicopter and Northrop Grumman C-2 Greyhound carrier-on-board delivery (COD) plane are longtime stalwarts of Navy operations. The 35 Greyhounds constantly shuttle passengers and cargo to and from the fleet’s aircraft carriers, while some 460 H-60s of various models carry out a wide range of missions.

Navy awards contract to Boeing to prepare EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jet to accept Next-Generation Jammer

07/29/2013

U.S. Navy officials are asking combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co. in St. Louis to prepare the company's EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare jet to carry the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), for which Raytheon Co. was selected to build earlier this month.

Indian Air Force at war with Hindustan Aeronautics; wants to import, not build, a trainer

07/29/2013

Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne has assailed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which builds most of the fighter aircraft the IAF flies. Writing directly to Defence Minister A K Antony in the first week of July, Browne has savaged HAL's proposal to design and build a basic trainer aircraft (BTA) for rookie IAF pilots.

Is America's Naval Supremacy Sinking?

07/29/2013

Seth Cropsey, a former assistant secretary of the Navy in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, now a fellow at the Hudson Institute believes so. His recent book, titled Mayday: The Decline of American Naval Superiority, sounds an alarm that as the number of U.S. ships and aircraft continue to decrease, as our defense budgets are dictated by politically correct policies.

US Military Aid to Egypt

07/28/2013

In 1986, Egypt’s Minister of Defense Field Marshall Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala, complained that the 1.3 billion dollars of US military aid were no longer enough, and pledged to ask US officials for a raise of a several more hundred million dollars. Egypt had started to receive this annual amount of security aid seven years earlier, after signing the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and Abu Ghazala explained that global prices of arms increased ever since.

Unmanned aircraft may be future of aviation

07/28/2013

Chris Hetrick, an Air Force major who graduated from Flathead High School, says unmanned aircraft are the future of aviation but integrating them with piloted aircraft will be a challenge. Representing the First Reconnaissance Squadron out of Beale Air Force Base in northern California, Hetrick gave a presentation on the Air Force’s growing use of unmanned aircraft to the Flathead Pachyderm Club on Friday in Kalispell.

$1.2 billion power line proposal raises concerns at White Sands Missile Range

07/28/2013

SunZia, the company proposing a $1.2 billion power transmission system that could create 18,000 construction jobs in New Mexico, says it will scotch the project if its preferred route is rejected by the federal government.

America Needs To Develop A New Bomber Now

07/28/2013

The existing bomber force cannot cope with new challenges indefinitely. As countries like China pursue anti-access strategies and more agile air defenses become available to potential adversaries, the U.S. must recapitalize its aging bomber fleet. Failure to do so could eventually result in major military setbacks, since future enemies will doubtless attack the joint force where it is weakest. Defense analyst Lauren B. Thompson comments in a recent report published by the Lexington Group.

Russia Begins Inspection Flights Over United States

07/28/2013

Russian military inspectors will begin on Sunday a series of monitoring flights over the United States under the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian nuclear security official said. According to Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, Russian experts will carry out two consecutive monitoring missions in a Tupolev Tu-154M/LK-1 aircraft from July 28 through August 12.

Al-Qaeda just surviving in Afghanistan, says senior US commander

07/27/2013

Pockets of Al-Qaeda militants will endure in Afghanistan beyond next year’s departure of most Western combat forces, but they have lost the ability to mount serious attacks of the kind that triggered the Afghan war, a senior US commander said.

'Rafale is as good as any 5th-generation aircraft'

07/27/2013

French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, visiting India at present, spoke to foreign editor Pramit Pal Chaudhuri about the $15 billion (Rs 87990 crore) Rafale fighter deal that is stilling awaiting formal completion and the Indo-French defence relationship.

F-4 Fades Away Very Slowly

07/27/2013

On June 29th Germany retired the last of its 263 F-4 Phantom fighter-bombers after 41 years of use. A third of these were used mainly for reconnaissance, but most were expected to do ground support and air defense. This retirement is part of a growing trend. In 2010, also after 41 years of service, South Korea retired the last of its 222 F-4s. South Korean F-4s (and F-5 fighters) were replaced, over the previous 15 years, by 40 F-15K fighter-bombers and 180 F-16s.

The Flight of 'Drone' From Bees to Planes

07/27/2013

Drone-strike disclosures have prompted headlines like this one from the Atlantic Wire: "How the NSA Is Using Cell Phone Data to Drone Civilians (In Pakistan)." "Drone" has increasingly come into play as a verb, meaning "to target or kill in a drone strike," especially among critics of the Obama administration. But how did "drone" become the label for unmanned aircraft in the first place?

Weapons Developers Prioritize Energy Efficiency

07/27/2013

Senior Pentagon leaders and weapons developers are looking to more fully integrate operational energy considerations into the acquisition process by working with the services to build energy-efficient aircraft, ships, vehicles, solar panels and new high-efficiency engines, among other things.

Monster Machines: The HC-130J Combat King II

07/27/2013

When an American aircraft goes down, be it over a remote training ground or behind enemy lines, the US Air Force’s crack teams of pararescue forces jump into action. The new HC-130J Combat King II is the plane that delivers them when Apaches can’t, even into active combat zones.

India, France discuss military cooperation

07/27/2013

India and France today discussed their ongoing military cooperation including the progress over Rs 50,000-crore 126 multirole combat aircraft deal during the Defence Minister-level talks here. In a joint statement issued after the deliberations between Defence Minister A K Antony and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, the two sides said they have agreed to further strengthen their defence ties as they were mutually beneficial.

Lockheed Martin Delivers Upgraded Orion In 10 Months

07/27/2013

Lockheed Martin achieved an unprecedented milestone by delivering a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) P-3 Orion aircraft in 10 months – and 78 days early -- on July 18. This is the eighth of 14 aircraft in the program to receive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) modifications and phased depot maintenance. It will soon join the CBP P-3 MLU fleet conducting homeland security and drug interdiction missions.

Russian Defense Ministry Signs $100 Mln Deal to Overhaul 3 Tu-160 Bombers

07/27/2013

Russia's Defense Ministry has signed a 3.4 billion ruble ($103 million) contract with the Tupolev design bureau and Kazan Aircraft Plant to upgrade three Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, Tupolev said Friday. The delivery date for the supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber is December 31, 2015, the company said.

Sequestration Will Hollow Our Military

07/26/2013

Over the last several months, there has been much media coverage and analysis of the impact of sequestration on America’s military services. But there has been little attention paid to the potential damage to readiness as a result of the distorted way the spending cuts must be made. Carried over two to three years, this pattern will drive the U.S. military back to the years of “hollow forces” we experienced in the post-Vietnam military.

High-tech blimps to bolster Washington's air defence

07/26/2013

A pair of big, blimp-like craft, moored to the ground and flying as high as 10,000 feet, are to be added to a high-tech shield designed to protect the Washington, DC area from air attack, at least for a while.

Neighbourhood Watches as Azerbaijan Arms Up

07/26/2013

Azerbaijan’s rapid arms build-up is cause for concern in the region, with some defence analysts warning that it heightens the risk of renewed conflict. President Ilham Aliyev frequently boasts of the amount of money his oil-rich state can afford to spend on weaponry. Appearing at a military parade in Baku on June 26.

Boeing gets Navy contract to prepare EA-18G Growler aircraft for Next-Generation Jammer

07/26/2013

U.S. Navy officials are asking combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co. in St. Louis to prepare the company's EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare jet to carry the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), for which Raytheon Co. was selected to build earlier this month.

French defence minister in India to seal mega fighter project

07/26/2013

Even as India and France struggle to finalize the long-awaited $20 billion MMRCA project to supply 126 Rafale fighters to the IAF, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is now on a three-day visit here to bolster the "bilateral strategic and defence cooperation partnership".