Military Aviation News Archive
10/29/2012
Boeing Co., which has boosted its 2012 profit forecast three times as commercial and military aircraft sales rose, said it expects challenges next year that include a tougher defense market and higher pension expense. The projected $3.5 billion in pension expense next year will be about $1 billion more than this year’s, the planemaker said.
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10/29/2012
The fight over who will design the U.S. Air Force’s new combat search-and-rescue helicopter (CSAR) is underway. The Air Force last week issued a request for proposals (RfP) for the project, setting cost and performance parameters that will guide one of the service’s most expensive aircraft acquisitions over in the coming years.
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10/29/2012
Inspectors from the United States and Sweden will conduct inspection flights over Russia and Belarus under the Open Skies Treaty starting on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. “In the period from October 29 to November 2 a joint group of US and Swedish inspectors will conduct surveillance flights on board a SAAB-340B Swedish surveillance aircraft over the territory of the treaty participants, namely the Russian Federation and Belarus,” a ministry spokesman said.
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10/29/2012
A group of Russian military observers begin on Sunday a four-day inspection mission in the skies of France under the Open Skies Treaty, the Defense Ministry’s press office reported.
“Aboard the An-30B aircraft, a group of Russian inspectors will make a surveillance flight over the territory of France on October 28-31 as part of the Open Skies International Treaty,” the press office said.
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10/28/2012
The Navy isn't taking any chances with a weather system nicknamed Frankenstorm. Nearly 25 ships homeported in Hampton Roads, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, are heading to sea in advance of Hurricane Sandy, the Navy announced Friday. The hurricane, which is moving up the East Coast, could combine with a cold front from the west to create an even larger monster storm, forecasters have said.
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10/27/2012
President Juan Manuel Santos, whose administration is having peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorist group, is spending heavily to bolster his country’s military. Santos’ spending aims to acquire better technology, vehicles and equipment but also increase military and police troops, as fighting terrorism, crime and narco-trafficking remains his biggest priority.
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10/27/2012
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and Embraer have reduced contract costs of developing the KC-390 aircraft by about USD 42 million, after a reassessment of the contract held on October 19. This reduction was only possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Coordinating Committee for Combat Aircraft (COPAC) of FAB and Embraer, which, through the Program Executive of the KC-X Project, conducted analyzes and used modern management tools to good effect.
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10/27/2012
The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has successfully conducted its largest and most complex missile defense flight test ever, involving the simultaneous engagement of five ballistic missile and cruise missile targets. The test in the western Pacific this week “stressed the performance of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), THAAD, and PATRIOT weapon systems,” the agency said on Thursday.
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10/27/2012
Boeing today marks 50 years since the company delivered its last B-52 Stratofortress to the U.S. Air Force. H-model bomber 61-040 was assigned to Minot Air Force Base, N.D., where it remains in active service.
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10/26/2012
Ukraine and Russia have started state resource tests of the D-27 turbofan engine for the An-70 military transport aircraft, a source in the defense sector has told Interfax-Ukraine. The source said that the tests of D-27 engine are carried out with the participation of representatives of the defense bodies of the two countries, the state research and test center of Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russia's Baranov Central Institute of Aviation Motor Development.
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10/26/2012
Boeing Super Hornet partner GE Aviation recently signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Brazilian companies to become potential suppliers for the program's global supply chain, strengthening the in-country component of Boeing's F/A-18 offering for the Brazilian F-X2 fighter jet competition. It was stated in the press release issued here today.
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10/26/2012
In 2009 Sikorsky Aircraft built the world’s fastest helicopter, the X2, which clocked in at nearly 287 miles per hour and earned a PM Breakthrough Award to boot. Since then, the company has been incorporating the technology into designs for a new helo—the Raider S-97—which it plans to offer it to the U.S. Army in 2015.
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10/26/2012
A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike force's visit to Manila is the latest show of American military might partly aimed at countering China's grip in Asia. But it also provides hundreds of Filipino American sailors a chance to briefly soak in the warm embrace of a second home.
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10/26/2012
Colombia is in the process of building its own unmanned aircraft and advanced military radar to combat insurgents and drug trafficking organizations, reported local media Thursday. Colombia is set to increase its investment in drone technology over the coming years, Vice Minister for Defense Yaneth Giha revealed Thursday.
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10/26/2012
Russia’s aircraft making corporation MiG is a loss-making enterprise, parliamentary defense committee head Vladimir Komoyedov said on Thursday. “MiG Corporation has been a loss-making enterprise in recent years. The less than optimal distribution of manufacturing infrastructure causes some concern,” he said.
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10/25/2012
The US Army has finished building the first Bell OH-58F Kiowa Warrior helicopter at its prototype integration facility. The aircraft will now start to be instrumented for its first test flight, which is expected in April. "It truly is a great day for army aviation," says Lt Col Mat Hannah, the service's product manager for the OH-58F.
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10/25/2012
Northrop Grumman produced and delivered the system four months ahead of schedule as part of an ongoing BACN development, operations and maintenance contract to support U.S. Central Command missions.
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10/25/2012
Mauritanian Air Force has received its first Brazilian-made Super Tucano jet fighter under a military deal passed last march with the aircraft manufacturer Embraer, without saying how many planes will be delivered to the African nation. However, some foreign diplomatic and intelligence sources say that Mauritania will be supplied at least three EMB-314 Super Tucano light military planes.
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10/25/2012
Sales at Lockheed Martin, the military aircraft maker, will decline next year even if swingeing government spending cuts are avoided, the company said as it announced a 3.9 per cent rise in third-quarter net earnings. Lockheed said sequestration, which could total about 10 per cent of planned military spending, would have a “material effect” on the company’s earnings next year.
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10/25/2012
China is determined to develop its own high tech military gear. While China is eager to develop advanced military technology locally, it recognizes that this takes time and more effort than nations new to this expect. Thus China is trying to avoid the mistakes Russia made in this area, and having competing designs and developing necessary supporting industries is part of that. All this takes a lot of time and involves lots of little (and some major) failures.
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10/25/2012
“The General Staff has information that the militants, who are fighting against Syrian government troops, are armed with the portable air defence systems of various countries, including the Stinger of U.S. production,” he underlined.
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10/25/2012
Internal documents obtained by CBC News call into question the Harper government's claim that Canadian military equipment is clear of counterfeit Chinese parts discovered in American aircraft, missiles and other weapons. Canada buys a majority of its military equipment from the U.S., but the documents indicate the federal government has no way of knowing if unreliable bogus parts have been bought by the Canadian Forces.
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10/25/2012
The last of four unmanned experimental U.S. military aircraft designed to fly at six times the speed of sound is expected to be tested next year, the program manager said on Wednesday, months after its predecessor broke up during a trial. The third test flight of the craft, known as the Waverider or X-51A, broke apart over the Pacific Ocean seconds into a test flight in August. U.S. Air Force officials said at the time they did not know if or when their fourth aircraft would fly.
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10/24/2012
On the night of August 7, 2008, what military experts and historians say is the world’s first two-sided drone war began. Georgia, convinced Russia was about to annex its separatist region of South Ossetia, made the first move by bombarding and then invading the separatist capital, Tskhinvali. What followed was a destructive five-day war that was to a great extent provoked and fought by drones, waking Russia up to the strategic importance of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology.
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10/24/2012
Britain is doubling the number of armed RAF drones flying missions in Afghanistan. And for the first time, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be controlled by airmen at computer screens in the UK. Two ‘pilots’ will operate the robots via satellite from a hi-tech hub at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
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