Military Aviation News Archive
05/29/2013
Russia and the United States split starkly Tuesday over the EU move to end its ban on arms sales to Syria, with Moscow denouncing it as a violation of international law and Washington applauding the move while repeating its aversion to Russian weapons sales.
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05/29/2013
MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors are going on round-the-clock duty in northern Russia as part of a snap combat readiness check of the nation's aerospace defense capabilities, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The fighters, “in conjunction with A-50 airborne warning and control system aircraft, are performing continuous missions to protect the airspace, including from cruise missile strikes,” the ministry said in a statement. The aircraft are to be refueled while still in the air.
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05/29/2013
Russia’s delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Syria is a restraining factor against possible foreign interference in the Syrian conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday. “We believe such steps are to a great extent restraining some ‘hot heads’ from considering scenarios in which the conflict may assume an international scale with the participation of outside forces,” Ryabkov said.
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05/29/2013
Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company, will provide provide the Praetorian electronic warfare self protection system for an undisclosed Arabian Typhoon customer. The company announced today that it has completed deliveries of the Praetorian system for Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoons. All 236 Tranche 2 Typhoons operated by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain will be equipped with electronic support measures, electronic countermeasures and missile approach warning elements.
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05/28/2013
Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said yesterday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed. During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the two sides are set firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the US-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan’s armed forces.
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05/28/2013
U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman said on Monday they remain fully committed to the development of the Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft system of record, and the critical capabilities the system will provide the German armed forces and its allies, responding to recent media reports that highlighted a series of challenges in the program.
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05/28/2013
John McCain slipped across the Syrian border and met with rebels, according to the Daily Beast. He met with Gen. Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, and with dozens of other leaders, CBS reports. He was in Syria for several hours and brought two security guards with him.
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05/28/2013
On May 11th Israel crashed a Heron UAV with engine trouble into the sea, before it could crash in a populated area. The next day all Heron 1s were grounded until it could be determined what the problem was and if it was common to all Heron 1s. About a hundred Heron 1s are in service or on order. The largest user is India, followed by Israel. The 1.2 ton Heron UAV can stay in the air for 30 hours or more and has a payload of 250 kg (550 pounds).
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05/28/2013
I always think of that scene in Apollo 13: “We need to make this… fit into this… using this.” It’s a frustration that’s central to the whole film: how could we be able to send human beings all the way to the Moon and still be foiled by something as simple as the shape of a valve? More to the point, how could we send a rover all the way to Mars, and still worry about something as banal as a broken wheel or a bent rod?
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05/28/2013
The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating.
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05/28/2013
Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry. Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships.
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05/28/2013
Russia's Defense Minister ordered a snap combat readiness check of the nation's Aerospace Defense and long range and military transport aviation units on Monday, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said. The alert exercise, part of a series of random checks of the Russian Armed Forces which began in February, also involved Air Force and Air Defense Forces units from the Western Military District, Gerasimov said during a teleconference.
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05/28/2013
In last year's National Defense Authorization Act, the US Congress instructed the Pentagon to commission an independent assessment of the overseas basing presence of US military forces. Last month, a team from RAND released the conclusions of that report.
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05/28/2013
When the Air Force grounded 17 combat squadrons in response to the harsh budget mandate known as the sequester, was it expecting an outcry that never came? Did someone on the Air Staff think public outrage would force Congress to act? That’s exactly what happened when the Federal Aviation Administration reacted to the sequester by threatening to shutter control towers at 149 airports — something it never really intended to do.
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05/28/2013
After fighting two wars in nearly 12 years, the United States military is at a turning point. So are the American people. The armed forces must rethink their mission. Though the nation has entered an era of fiscal constraint, and though President Obama last week effectively declared an end to the “global war on terror” that began on Sept. 11, 2001.
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05/28/2013
Defence Minister AK Antony on Monday will inaugurate an airbase here to house squadron of IAFs lethal Su-30 MKI combat aircraft, making it the first fighter squadron in south India that will help maintain vigil over the Indian Ocean region.
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05/28/2013
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are preparing to take part in a large-scale international exercise, Saber Strike, to take place in early June, the Estonian TV reported on Sunday. Saber Strike is a USAREUR-led theater security cooperation exercise to be conducted in the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on June 3-14.
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05/26/2013
Taiwan faces tough choices over future defense decisions as China’s air defense network continues to grow beyond its shores. At present, China’s land-based mobile air defense missile systems, HQ-9 and S-300, can reach only a small sliver of northwestern Taiwan. Though a clear advantage during a war over control of the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, it is not complete air dominance of the island itself.
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05/26/2013
South Korea has ordered another 40 of the locally made FA-50 fighter-bombers for $25.5 million each. Two years ago the South Korean Air Force ordered the first twenty (for $30 million each), and the first of these is to arrive in three months with the last of that first order arriving within three years.
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05/26/2013
Expanding its combat assets by inducting several new platforms including nuclear submarines, fighter planes and aircraft carriers, the Navy has decided to almost double the size of its manpower in next 15 years. The Navy has also decided to give B.Tech degrees to its officers to handle the high end technology being inducted into the force and the first batch of its officers with these degrees will pass out from the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Kerala tomorrow.
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05/26/2013
U.S. President Barack Obama promised on Thursday to end the perpetual war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001. To achieve that will require luck, great statesmanship, a soft touch that has not been a U.S. strength lately and a rejigging of the budget to put more money and effort into diplomacy, foreign aid and the training of foreign armies and less into the combat wings of the military and the CIA.
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05/26/2013
Estonia completed on Saturday large-scale military drills, which began on May 9 and involved some 5,000 military personnel, including from NATO allies, the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces said. The Spring Storm (Kevadtorm) drills have been held annually in different parts of Estonia since 2003. This year they were held in northern and central Estonia and involved for the first time units from the UK, Belgium and Poland as well as the Estonian navy.
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05/25/2013
Two RAF Typhoon fighters were scrambled as the flight from Pakistan, with 297 passengers on board, was diverted to Stansted airport. A British man was arrested today on the tarmac over an alleged bomb threat on a flight bound for Manchester. Two RAF Typhoon fighters were scrambled as the flight from Pakistan, with 297 passengers on board, was diverted to Stansted airport in Essex after two men reportedly tried to enter the pilot’s cabin.
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05/25/2013
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has issued a contract for the modernization of the Navy’s fleet of Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft. The Novella mission system will be installed in an unspecified but “large” number of aircraft serving in the Northern Fleet, making them Il-38Ns. Of the 59 aircraft produced between 1967 and 1972, some 18 are currently in operation.
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05/25/2013
The F-35 Integrated Test Force is wrapping up a series of night flights, which are testing the aircraft's capability when flying in instrument meteorological conditions. It is a necessary step in delivering a core competency to the warfighter - the ability to fly the jet safely when there are no external visibility references for the pilot.
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