Military Aviation News Archive
05/26/2012
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne has taken an hour-long sortie in a Rafale fighter aircraft which has been selected by India for its multi-billion dollar deal to procure 126 jets. On a four-day visit to France, the IAF chief flew the fighter jet at the St. Dizier Airbase and was accompanied by the Rafale squadron Commander Squadron Leader Kubiak Thierry.
Read More...
05/26/2012
South Korea government, through the military acquisition programme's spokesperson, announced that the choice regarding the suppliers of fighters aircraft and the helicopters for its air force will be communicated in October. The purchase will involve on the whole 60 fighters, 35 attack helicopters and 8 helicopters for the navy.
Read More...
05/26/2012
The cost of fitting out 12 of the RAAF's Super Hornet fighter-bombers with sophisticated electronic warfare equipment appears to have blown out from the original $300 million to $1.73 billion -- slightly more than the Gillard government's budget surplus for the coming year.
Read More...
05/26/2012
Despite dire warnings about U.S. military funding cuts, one prominent Washington think tank says fewer dollars give the Pentagon a chance to make sweeping changes to sustain America's warring dominance. The Defense Department is implementing a $450 billion reduction to planned spending over the next decade, and could be forced to take out close to $500 billion more over the same span if Congress fails to pass a $1.2 trillion debt-paring deal this year.
Read More...
05/26/2012
Introducing me at a meeting of Singapore’s India Club (for Indian citizens only), Prasenjit Basu, its economist president, recalled that more than 10 years ago my book on India’s relations with the United States of America was called Waiting for America. “We are still waiting for America”, he concluded. It was a perceptive comment. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Read More...
05/26/2012
Air dominance is essential to virtually every operation the U.S. military conducts. It is an essential component of the U.S. military’s “DNA.” Budget cuts, shrinking force structure, poor investments in modernization, technological innovation and a growing anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) threat are combining to call into question the Department of Defense’s ability to maintain air dominance in future conflicts. Without air dominance, the U.S. military’s concepts of operations will unravel.
Read More...
05/26/2012
Northrop Grumman's 300-foot long, 70-foot tall, remotely piloted Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) airship is scheduled to fly for the first time in early June at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The maiden flight could take place anytime between June 6 and 10, weather permitting, and will be followed by a trip to Florida where it will be outfitted with surveillance gear.
Read More...
05/25/2012
Bangladesh is asking for the refurbishment, overhaul and modification of four C-130E aircraft through the Foreign Military Sale program. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the contract sought by Bangladesh includes spare parts, equipment and training services and is worth about $180 million.
Read More...
05/25/2012
The effort to preserve Selfridge Air National Guard Base’s A-10 aircraft gained some altitude Thursday when the Senate Armed Services Committee embraced a provision that would block budget cuts to the Air National Guard. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said his committee had unanimously approved an annual defense bill that rejects proposals to eliminate Air National Guard aircraft and personnel across the nation, including proposed cuts at Michigan bases.
Read More...
05/25/2012
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a defense bill that would maintain the production lines of the F-18 in St. Louis, nix a new base-closing round, and block an AF plan to shut down air guard units, including one at Jefferson Barracks. While the Senate defense bill’s $631 billion price tag for fiscal 2013 is about $4 billion less than the House-passed version, the provisions of the two bills with direct impact in Missouri and Illinois appeared to be similar.
Read More...
05/25/2012
The Pilatus aircraft manufacturer has confirmed a deal to export 75 PC-7 MkII military training aircraft to India worth $523 million (SFr500 million) - the biggest-ever contract for the turboprop trainer in the Stans-based firm’s history. The company also confirmed on Thursday that it is in the final stages of a major contract with Saudi Arabia for 55 PC-21 propeller-driven trainers via a deal with the British defence contractor BAE Systems PLC.
Read More...
05/25/2012
First Lt. Zerbin Singleton qualified as the Marine Corps’ last CH-46 Sea Knight pilot with Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 aboard Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Calif., May 23. The MV-22B Osprey is replacing the Sea Knight, making the accomplishment of Singleton particularly noteworthy. Several local news stations came out to record the event.
Read More...
05/25/2012
A U.S. drone strike on suspected Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan killed 10 people on Thursday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, an attack likely to raise tensions in a standoff with Washington over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The pilotless drone aircraft attacked a compound in a village in North Waziristan, a day after a similar attack killed four suspected militants in the same region.
Read More...
05/25/2012
After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up. With Israel offering much-needed technical expertise and China representing a huge new market and influential voice in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program, the two nations have stepped up military cooperation as they patch up a rift caused by a pair of failed arms deals scuttled by the U.S.
Read More...
05/25/2012
The military's reserve components remain ready and capable despite budget cuts and their transition from a strategic to operational force, senior National Guard and Reserve officials told the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee here May 23.
Read More...
05/24/2012
Airbus Military expects to sell 70 light and medium military aircraft to Africa over the next decade, as it shifts it focus to the African continent and other emerging markets. Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon are some of the nations that are in the midst of buying new aircraft or are about to sign, whilst South Africa is a leading potential customer for the C295.
Read More...
05/24/2012
1,800 cases of fake ICs in US military aircraft were discovered last year, says the US Senate Armed Services Committee, and 70% of those could be traced back to China. After China come the UK and Canada as the biggest sources of fake chips. Counterfeit parts were found in SH-60B helicopters used by the Navy, in C-130J and C-27J cargo planes and in the Navy's P-8A Poseidon plane.
Read More...
05/24/2012
An F-35B Lightning II made its first flight at Eglin Air Force Base today, two months after 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing officially introduced the Marine Corps' fifth generation fighter to the world at the 33rd Fighter Wing.
Read More...
05/24/2012
First, it was the NDA regime which was in a hurry to christen it 'Tejas' , with the then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, doing the honours in 2003. Now, it's the UPA II government's turn to declare that the indigenous fighter has already been "inducted'' .
Read More...
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.
Read More...
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.
Read More...
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.
Read More...
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.
Read More...
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.
Read More...
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.
Read More...