Military Aviation News Archive
05/24/2012
The signature sound of the tandem-rotored Chinook was multiplied by four as Sortie 2 took to the early morning air over Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. The new helicopters had been flown to the airfield just a couple of weeks earlier in mid-March from the Boeing production facility in Philadelphia. And though new, the helicopters were far from shiny; their mid-toned, flat green paint was well-designed to offer concealment against terrains in theater operations.
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05/24/2012
At least seven people were injured after a Russian military plane caught fire as it was landing at an airport east of Prague on Wednesday, an emergency official said. Earlier reports said 19 people were injured after the Antonov An-30 aircraft with 23 servicemen on board - 14 Russians and nine Czechs - skidded off the runway while landing at the Caslav Military Airport.
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05/24/2012
Sea trials of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier being overhauled for the Indian navy at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia have been postponed until the beginning of June, the shipyard said on Wednesday. The purchase of the Soviet-built Admiral Gorshkov was agreed in 2005 but delivery to India has been long delayed. The cost of refurbishing the aircraft carrier, to be renamed INS Vikramaditya, has since gone up from $947 million to $2.3 billion.
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05/24/2012
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has received a $368 million Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) contract to develop a design that modernizes the flight deck and avionics of the U.S. and NATO E-3 707 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft fleet.
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05/24/2012
BAE Systems has today been awarded a contract for £1.6 billion to support the future aircrew training requirements of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). The agreement was reached between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UK, under the Saudi British Defence Co-operation Programme.
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05/23/2012
A US investigation that found suspect counterfeit electronic parts in military aircraft will have repercussions for India with two programmes that the Air Force contracted coming under the scanner. A year-long investigation by the US Senate has pointed to suspected bogus parts — amounting to over a million — in C 130 J transport aircraft as well as the test aircraft of the P 8 Poseiden series of maritime surveillance planes.
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05/23/2012
Bell Helicopter makes aircraft that are the backbone of flight operations for the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force. One of those aircraft, the V-22 Osprey, looks and flies like no other. The tilt-rotor aircraft flies like a plane, but can take off, land, and hover like a helicopter. The unconventional Osprey is used in military operations around the world. That journey beings at the Advanced Composite Center on Bell’s sprawling plant one complex in Fort Worth.
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05/23/2012
The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) aircrews have started training on full-motion simulators for the MC-130J version of the Lockheed Martin Hercules tactical transport aircraft at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
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05/23/2012
President Barack Obama's administration is inclined to sell armed drones to Turkey but has to convince Congress first, Turkey's president told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. leader. Washington, which is providing technical and intelligence to Ankara in its fight against autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels, deployed four Predator drones from Iraq to Turkey last year.
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05/23/2012
During the round table discussion regarding the current state and the process of re-equipment and the prospects of the Russian Air Force Konstantin Makienko, deputy director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, presented his report on the prospects of producing military aviation equipment for export and the use by the Russian Air Force.
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05/23/2012
The U.S. Army's fleet of 219 UH-72A Lakota helicopters surpassed the 100,000 flight hour milestone during operations on May 10. The 100,000 flight hour aircraft, configured for Opposing Force training missions, was flown by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Lacrosse and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Christopher Ezell of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center's Falcon Observer/Controller-Trainer Team in Hohenfels, Germany, during a multinational training exercise.
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05/23/2012
Poland has warned Moscow against interfering in NATO’s plans concerning the deployment of a missile shield in Europe as Russia is not a member of the military alliance, a high-ranking Polish official said on Tuesday. On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the “first step” in the European missile defense system.
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05/23/2012
The Russian Air Force will take delivery of at least thirty Ansat trainer helicopters by 2020, the service's spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said on Tuesday. "The Sokol aerodrome at the Syzransky Flight Training School will get six Ansat- U helicopters this year, and over 30 by 2020," Drik said.
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05/23/2012
Boeing delivered a fifth C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force and Air Defence earlier this month. The UAE accepted delivery of four C-17s in 2011 and has one more airlifter on order for delivery later this year.
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05/22/2012
The U.S. military is testing high-tech "battle kites" as a method of lifting communications and surveillance equipment above isolated bases in Afghanistan. The battle kites aren't designed to get involved in dog fights. They are built to fly over forward operating bases that are too small to support the large aerostat blimps familiar to troops at larger facilities such as Kandahar Air Field.
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05/22/2012
A new report from the Senate Armed Service Committee estimates that over a million counterfeit electronic parts from China are currently being used in U.S. military aircraft, according to Defense News. The Senate report, released May 21, says the discovery jeopardizes the safety of American servicemembers as well as U.S. national security.
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05/22/2012
When military aviators of the future look back at the beginnings of the F-35 program, they may see the names of two Florida National Guard pilots listed among the first to fly the Air Force’s fifth-generation fighter jet. Lt. Col. Randal Efferson and Maj. Jay Spohn are the only Guard pilots currently assigned to the 33rd Operations Group at Eglin Air Force Base, and they’ll soon be taking to the skies to master the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
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05/22/2012
Russia's air force will acquire a new ground attack aircraft similar in concept to the Sukhoi Su-25, but has dropped plans to field an armed version of the Yakovlev Yak-130 jet/combat trainer. "This new type of ground attack aircraft has been included in the state arms procurement programme," says Col Gen Alexander Zelin, an aide to Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov and until May the commander of its air force. "It will be put in service by 2020."
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05/22/2012
The U.S. Defense Department’s 2012 Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China report details China’s growing military capabilities, and points to areas of cooperation between the United States and China, a senior DOD official said here May 18.
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05/22/2012
Peru is going ahead with a $266 million upgrade of its fast aging combat aircraft while it considers how to keep its air force up to speed with changing technologies and modern warfare requirements. Peru faces no external threat, but President Ollanta Humala is under increasing pressure to be more proactive in the government's crackdown on Shining Path guerrilla groups that caused a Cabinet crisis earlier this month with resignations by Defense Minister and Interior Minister.
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05/22/2012
Ahead of finalising a multi-billion contract with French firm Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale combat planes, the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, left for France Monday on a four-day official visit to explore ways to expand bilateral military relations.
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05/22/2012
Moscow recapitulated its position on European missile defense Monday, saying it will reserve the right to retaliate unless it receives legal guarantees that a NATO missile defense will not be directed at it. “In response to our strong demand to provide the Russian Federation legal guarantees that the system will not be aimed at Russia we have received no guarantees,” said Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council.
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05/22/2012
Boeing delivered the third Peace Eye 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) on May 16. The aircraft was delivered ahead of schedule to ROKAF Base Gimhae, the main operating base for the Peace Eye fleet. Peace Eye No. 3 is the second aircraft in the fleet to be modified into an AEW&C configuration by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) at its facility in Sacheon.
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05/22/2012
The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) today signed a contract with Airbus Military for the acquisition of eight C295 aircraft, five of them configured as tactical transports and three as maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). They will be delivered from next year.
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05/21/2012
For the first time in history, B-1 aircrews from Ellsworth employed laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions against moving targets during a Weapon System Evaluation Program exercise May 14 to 16. Aircrews from the 37th Bomb Squadron "Tigers" and 34th BS "Thunderbirds" employed six GBU-54 laser JDAMs against targets on the Utah Test and Training Range as part of the Air Force's air to ground WSEP known as Combat Hammer.
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