Military Aviation News Archive
03/23/2012
The U.S. military is investigating whether an attack helicopter pilot was “showing off” when he made a low pass over a remote Afghan outpost and then slammed violently into the ground, according to a defense official. The dramatic crash was captured on amateur eyewitness video, which recently surfaced online.
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03/23/2012
Proposals for the development of weaponry based on futuristic concepts will be ready by December this year to be included in the next state arms procurement program, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Thursday. “The development of weaponry based on new physics principles; direct-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc..
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03/22/2012
For the third time in the last six months the Israeli Air Force has hosted foreign fighter pilots for tactical training. Israeli fighter pilots are considered the best trained in the world, and Israel maintains a special training program, complete with pilots trained and equipped to operate as likely foes would, to train their own pilots. The latest nation to send fighters and pilots for training is Poland, flying F-16s in for that purpose.
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03/22/2012
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC , a global power systems company, said Thursday it has received recent contracts exceeding $275 million to provide support services for the U.S. Armed Services.
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03/22/2012
India has replaced China as the world’s largest arms buyer, accounting for 10 percent of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said. India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80 percent of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). China’s arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78 percent of which came from Russia.
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03/22/2012
The past few years have made it abundantly clear that the mid-term future of airpower is not what a lot of people planned. Large-scale procurement of the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has slipped into the 2020s. The aircraft types in service today—which made their first flights as much as 40 years ago—will be the world’s frontline fleets through the rest of this decade, and will make up the majority of fighting forces well into the 2020s.
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03/22/2012
The U.S. Pacific Air Forces issued the following news release: Four squadrons of F-18s from the Naval Air Facility at Atsugi Japan, along with approximately 550 military aircrew personnel, are at Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) until April 10 for the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP). The fighter squadrons deploy to the island biannually for air-to-air and air-to-ground training to maintain the proficiency and readiness of the air wing.
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03/22/2012
Here we go again. Another federal budget battle is under way. On Tuesday, the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing based at Mansfield hosted an event for media around the state, along with members of the Ohio Congressional delegation. The purpose was to acquaint the visitors with the U.S. Air Force’s budget-cutting proposal, which includes eliminating the C-27J cargo planes.
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03/22/2012
Since China announced another big rise in its military spending earlier this month, Chinese officials in Beijing and diplomats posted in Asia-Pacific countries have been trying to spread an orchestrated message to the region: Don't be alarmed. China is in a bind. Its declared defense budget, already the second highest in the world after the United States, will increase by 11.2 percent this year to $106.4 billion, after a 12.7 percent hike in 2011.
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03/22/2012
China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force have conducted ground attack training over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the “first operation of its kind”, official media here reported.
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03/22/2012
Russia's Defense Ministry has signed an order with aircraft-maker Irkut for 30 Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft, a military spokesman said on Thursday. "According to the contract, the company will deliver 30 of these aircraft to the Russian Defense Ministry by 2015," he said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
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03/21/2012
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed into a South Korean rice paddy Wednesday, about 150 miles south of Seoul, near Kunsan Air Base.
The fighter jet crashed after the pilot safely ejected, and no injuries were reported, according to a 51st Fighter Wing news release.
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03/21/2012
The Air Force is replacing handles that engage the F-22 Raptor fighter jet's emergency oxygen system after pilots reported feeling lightheaded and the death of a captain whose $143 million aircraft took a nosedive into a mountain range in Alaska. Capt. Jeffrey Haney was killed in November 2010 during a night mission about 100 miles north of Anchorage.
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03/21/2012
The deal for procuring six mid-air refueller aircraft for the Air Force has entered its last phase with the IAF completing the field trials of the planes on offer. Airbus Military, one of the contenders of the deal, on Wednesday said the winter trials of the aircraft were concluded by the end of the last year during which the IAF checked the planes against all its specific requirements.
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03/21/2012
As the British defence sector prepares to submit what could be one of the most significant deals in defence contracting with the UAE Air force, the British government is stepping up efforts to court its Gulf partners.
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03/21/2012
The U.S. Central Command plans to bolster military capabilities against Iran by fielding new laser target-trackers for machine guns, enhanced sensors for underwater vehicles, improved protection against drone attacks and upgrades of U-2 spy planes. The Tampa, Florida-based command, which is responsible for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, also wants to shift $5.5 million in previously approved funds to buy Gatling guns for Navy coastal patrol craft, according to budget documents.
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03/21/2012
Korean Air on Tuesday made its first delivery of a rewired U.S. fighter plane from its Busan Tech Center under a $400 million order it won from the U.S. Air Force last September. Under the deal, Korean Air will work on 60 F-15 fighters stationed in the Pacific region by 2016, replacing their tail wings and re-wiring them in line with the U.S. military’s project to improve its combat strength. Korean Air will also carry out maintenance work.
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03/21/2012
The Philippines is allowing US drones to conduct reconnaissance flights over its territory but strikes from the unmanned planes are banned, President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday. "For reconnaissance," Aquino told AFP in an interview when asked if US drones were operating in the southern Philippines where hundreds of American troops have been helping to contain an Islamic militant threat for a decade.
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03/21/2012
Drone crews protect U.S. ground troops by watching over them 24 hours a day from high above. Sitting before video screens thousands of miles from their remote-controlled aircraft, the crews scan for enemy ambushes and possible roadside bombs, while also monitoring what the military calls "patterns of life." Only rarely do drone crews fire on the enemy. The rest of the time, they sit and watch. For hours on end. Day after day.
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03/21/2012
A new cruise missile has entered service with the Russian Air Force’s strategic long-range arms division, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday. He did not provide any details, only saying it was an air-launched long range missile. AF chief Col Gen Alexander Zelin previously said the new cruise missile was developed by the Taktitcheskoye Raketnoye Vooruzhenie (Tactical Missile) defense corporation and that its specifications were secret.
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03/21/2012
Russia has offered to pay $2 million a year for the use of a training airbase in Ukraine’s Crimea, up from $700,000, the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper reported on Tuesday. Ukraine said last April that India and China were showing interest in the training facility, after which Russia offered to pay more in rent.
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03/21/2012
“The people of Boeing extend our deepest sympathies to the McDonnell family, and join them in mourning Sandy’s passing. Sandy’s commitment to his colleagues and customers, his country, and his community during his 40-year career and throughout his lifetime, was extraordinary,” said Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney.
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03/20/2012
Officials announced a popular name change for the MC130J here March 9 that honors the Air Commando legacy and capitalizes on the versatility of the aircraft. "Air Force Special Operation Command MC-130Js will be equipped to fly various missions and will be called Commando II," said Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, the AFSOC commander, in the memorandum requesting the change. "This name best reflects the multi-mission role of the aircraft and the units that will fly them."
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03/20/2012
A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.
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03/20/2012
Bingen-based Insitu Inc. has signed a contract to supply its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft to the Netherlands to fly surveillance missions for the nation’s Ministry of Defense. The Netherlands’ military has been using a different unmanned system, which will soon be replaced by the ScanEagle, said Jill Vacek, a spokeswoman for Insitu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co. She would not disclose the number of aircraft ordered or the dollar amount of the Netherlands’ contract.
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