Military Aviation News Archive
07/10/2012
The initial ground shelter for a vigilant “Dragon Shield” has been delivered to the Finnish Air Force by Lockheed Martin. The ground system will support a CASA C-295 aircraft that Lockheed Martin is modifying to accommodate an advanced surveillance system for the Finnish Air Command.
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07/10/2012
Oman has selected the General Electric F110-GE-129D for the 12 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 50 fighters it ordered last year. Deliveries are due to begin next year. The order was for ten single seat and a pair of two-seaters. The Oman force already operates F-16s with a further 12 in service.
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07/09/2012
Rise in temperature triggering snow melt in the mountains have revived hopes of locating the wreckage of the plane that reportedly exploded in air during nocturnal combat exercise. Two planes had left Adampur air base in Jalandhar on October 18, last year. While one came back safely, the other plane went missing.
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07/08/2012
Raytheon Company successfully demonstrated a wireless method of integrating its combat-proven Enhanced Paveway™ II precision-guided bomb on the French Navy RAFALE aircraft. Called WiPAK®, the avionics kit enables integration of Paveway on a variety of aircraft without any modifications to aircraft wiring or changes to the flight and stores management software.
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07/08/2012
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has another high-tech project in the works, according to an agency press release. The same agency whose stealth technology in the 1970s and 1980s led to the world’s most advanced radar-evading aircraft will once again flex its muscles to give a strategic national security advantage to the United States. DARPA says that to restore a military advantage to the U.S. it will need invest in hypersonic technologies.
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07/08/2012
South Korea’s primary defense acquisition agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), announced that evaluations would begin next week to select the winning bid in the competition for a $7.3 billion contract for 60 advanced fighter aircraft. Previously submitted bids from three defense contractors were found to be lacking relevant details and were resubmitted, at South Korea’s request, on 5 July.
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07/08/2012
Irkut is pursuing its ambition of capturing a 10-percent share in the world market for narrowbody airliners by funding its new MC-21 twinjet largely from funds earned from fighter sales. The Russian airframer now claims a 15-percent share of Russia’s overall military exports by value.
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07/08/2012
Geopolitical shifts including regime-change in Libya, the stiffening of international sanctions against Iran and violent unrest in Syria, are among the trends compelling Russian military export agency Rosoboronexport to keep looking for new clients worldwide. This is, to a large degree, one of its primary motives for exhibiting at the Farnborough International Airshow.
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07/07/2012
Malaysia is considering five competing bids, including a reported RM12 billion deal with UK-based BAE Systems, to replace its 10 Russian-made MiG fighter jets delivered 17 years ago.
BAE was reported in March to be “bullish” about securing the Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) replacement deal, but Defence Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi today said, “Everyone says they are bullish.”
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07/07/2012
Hirokazu Nakaima, governor of Japan’s Okinawa prefecture, has been making headlines this summer for his persistent calls to cancel the United States' planned deployment of 24 MV-22 Osprey aircraft to its Futenma base due to concerns over the aircraft’s safety record.
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07/07/2012
The Italian Defense Ministry is buying a high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite from Israel as part of an offset package agreed to in exchange for the Israeli Defense Ministry’s purchase of Italian trainer aircraft, according to industry officials.
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07/07/2012
Not long ago, a thick cloud of rumors settled on the new, much-talked-about IDF [Israel Defense Forces] acquisition of 20 F-35's, a fighter plane known as the Stealth produced by the American Lockheed Martin Company. There were rumors regarding production slowdowns and delays of the F-35, known as the “fifth generation fighter plane” (in contrast to the Israeli fourth-generation F-16's). The fear is that they will reach Israel very late — too late to serve the IDF in coping with future challenge
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07/07/2012
Air Combat Command's senior airman completed F-22 Raptor pilot qualification recently, reinforcing his personal stake in the Air Force's efforts to identify the root cause of unexplained physiological incidents involving a small number of Raptor crews.
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07/07/2012
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Friday vowed to meet his agency’s goal to approve the contracts of 138 military modernization projects by the end of the month. Speaking during the 65th anniversary of the Air Force here, Gazmin said the Armed Forces’ upgrade program is “in full swing” and that efforts are underway to equip troops.
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07/07/2012
Poland was in the news in Europe and Asia this week for acquisition of aircraft and delivery of others. Spain-based Airbus Military reported that the Polish air force had signed a contract for five C295 transports. The Ministry of Defense of Brunei Darussalam, meanwhile, reported that PZL Mielec, the Polish subsidiary of Sikorsky, had completed the construction of several S-70i baseline Black Hawk helicopters that the country had ordered.
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07/07/2012
It's America versus Europe again in the latest battle for a giant, multibillion-dollar international order for fighter jets. South Korea is looking to replace some of its older warplanes with more modern machines, and has selected Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lockheed Martin and EADS (Paris: EAD) Eurofighter as finalists, the Korea Times reported.
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07/07/2012
The Canadian arm of the aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney closed a six-year U.S. government probe last week by admitting that it helped China produce its first modern attack helicopter, a serious violation of U.S. export laws that drew a multimillion dollar fine.
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07/07/2012
The titans of the global aerospace industry will converge Monday at the Farnborough International Airshow, ready to talk shop and wow the crowds with impressive flying displays of the latest in civil and military aircraft. But inside the sprawling maze of corporate chalets and exhibition halls in Hampshire, England, the pace of deal making at the show — the world’s biggest aviation bazaar — is likely to be more subdued than in recent years.
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07/06/2012
Taiwan will send back a proposal by the United States to overhaul the country's aging F-16 A/B jet fighters to seal the arms sales deal by the end of next week, Taiwan's military said Thursday. The Ministry of National Defense has recently completed its review of the letter detailing a retrofit package for Taiwan's 145 F-16A/B fighters, and will send back a reply to the U.S. by mid-July, the military told CNA.
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07/06/2012
The Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighter-bomber and the U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft are among the aircraft scheduled to make flight demonstrations during the Farnborough International Airshow from 9 to 13 July in Farnborough, England.
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07/06/2012
Russia's Aviastar aircraft plant has completed the first flying prototype of the Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft and sent it off for test-flights, the plant's general director, Sergei Dementyev, said on Thursday. The plant has built two of the modernized aircraft, he said.
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07/06/2012
The Russian Knights, one of the world’s best aerobatic teams, missed on Thursday the planned deadline for their departure to the British airshow in Farnborough over the lack of Russian bureaucratic paperwork, a source from the team said. The move could be an implicit answer to Britain stalling on visas for Russian participants of the show in punishment for Russia supporting the Syrian government, Russian media reported earlier.
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07/06/2012
Newsagency Reuters has reported that the Airbus A400M has pulled out of the flying display at next week's Farnborough Airshow due to continued engine problems. The move repeats a decision at last year's Paris Airshow, but is not expected to disrupt plans to deliver it to its first customer, France, around the end of the year.
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07/05/2012
The United States is moving ahead with plans to deploy its first Osprey military transport aircraft to Japan, despite strong opposition from residents over safety issues following two recent crashes, officials said Wednesday. The first 12 Ospreys left San Diego on a ship bound for Japan on Sunday. They will be assembled at a Marine base in the city of Iwakuni before being deployed to the southern island of Okinawa, which has a large and often sensitive U.S. military presence.
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07/05/2012
Taiwan's Air Force will formally commission three search-and-rescue helicopters purchased from Europe to beef up its disaster response capabilities at a ceremony July 10, the military said recently. The advanced EC-225 Super Puma helicopters, which Eurocopter delivered to Taiwan's military last November, will be the first Europe-made choppers to be incorporated into the Air Force's rescue squadron.
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