Military Aviation News Archive
06/09/2012
On June 7 and 8 Minister of National Defence Rasa Jukneviciene with the Baltic counterparts Minister of Defence of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu and Defence Minister of Latvia Artis Pabriks will gather in Amari, Estonia, to discuss defence cooperation of the Baltic States as well as fundamental NATO and regional security points.
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06/09/2012
About 150 Michigan Air National Guard personnel are deploying to Estonia for a training exercise. It was announced Wednesday the airmen will be overseas for two weeks in support of Saber Strike 2012.
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06/09/2012
Bell Helicopters has delivered the first OH-58D Kiowa wartime replacement helicopter to the US Army. "We just finished the general maintenance test flight [and] acceptance flight approximately 1h ago," says a maintenance test pilot. "There are a few small issues to be fixed [but] it's very, very smooth flying."
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06/09/2012
Australian Department of Defence issued the following departmental media release:
The Royal Australian Air Force's Wedgetail aircraft is participating in the most advanced international air combat training activity, Exercise Red Flag in Alaska. Red Flag Alaska, led by the United States Pacific Air Forces Command is a large force employment exercise designed to replicate a high-end combat environment. The two week long exercise officially commenced on Thursday June 7.
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06/09/2012
The Ugandan Air Force has taken delivery of another two Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighters from Russia, completing the delivery of six aircraft ordered last year. The first two aircraft were delivered in July last year, followed by another two in October. On May 30 a ‘military diplomatic source’ told Russia’s Interfax news agency that the final two Su-30MKs had been delivered to Uganda.
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06/09/2012
The Indian Navy's Russian-built aircraft carrier Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) began sea trials early on Friday morning in the White Sea - four years after it was originally due to take to sea again. The ship was refitted at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia. It was originally scheduled to begin sea trials, which will last 120 days, on May 25.
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06/09/2012
A long-running dispute between the Russian military and defense industry over procurement of new weaponry may enter a new phase as Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has questioned the need to develop a new strategic bomber, the Izvestia daily said on Wednesday. Russia announced plans in 2009 to develop a fifth-generation strategic bomber, which will feature new airframe and elements of stealth technology, by 2025.
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06/09/2012
The Boeing Company has accepted delivery of the first Aluminum Launch Support Structure (ALSS) produced by Danish Aerotech A/S for ship-based deployment of the Harpoon weapon system. The Karup-based supplier received the contract, valued at nearly US$1.5 million, two years ago.
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06/09/2012
Boeing is being awarded a $66,814,404 military sales contract for the installation of Group A and B radar system improvement kits for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) fleet of five Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.
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06/06/2012
he Air Force is not calling a “ground incident” involving an F-22 Raptor last week a “crash.”
The F-22 was in a “touch-and-go” practice session at about 5 p.m. Thursday when it was put out of commission. The “ground incident” put the plane on the sidelines and benched the pilot, officials said. “Everything around this is in freeze frame right now,” said Herman Bell, chief of Tyndall’s 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs.
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06/06/2012
As Japan seeks to become an exporter of military aircraft, the government is careful to stress that its equipment should be used only for peaceful missions. At the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue here June 1-3, Shu Watanabe, Japan’s senior vice minister of defense, pitched the ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft, which is designed for search-and-rescue (SAR) work. “The US-2 plays an important role in rescue operations in Japan.
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06/06/2012
An air projection for plateau camping training conducted by the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was unveiled at 05:00 on May 29, 2012 at an airport in the hinterland of central China. A total of 5 military and civil airplanes were mobilized for this air projection mission from the hinterland of central China to the snow-covered plateau.
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06/06/2012
The tail markings on the warplanes flying overhead in Fairbanks starting Thursday might be unfamiliar. Military aircraft from South Korea, Japan, Poland, Germany and the states of Washington and South Carolina will be stationed at Eielson Air Force Base with Alaska forces in the first Red Flag-Alaska exercise of the year. The exercise begins Thursday and runs through June 22.
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06/06/2012
Last Saturday U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced in Singapore that by 2020 the U.S. will be deploying “six aircraft carriers, a majority of our cruisers, destroyers, combat ships and submarines” in the Asia-Pacific region. This armada will constitute 60% of U.S. naval power, a “rebalancing ” from the current 50% of naval resources currently committed to the region.
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06/06/2012
Proclaiming its fate to be strongly tied to Asia, the United States unveiled on Saturday detailed plans to build and strengthen its military presence in the region. Time will tell whether the growing US presence becomes a positive force for the peace, development and prosperity of Asia, or simply heightens the tensions in a region already convoluted by an arms race.
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06/06/2012
The military is hunting for seven strategically placed nations willing to host a network of Canadian bases aimed at cutting costs and boosting response times to future wars, disasters and humanitarian crises. Two of those bases — in Germany and Kuwait — have already materialized, but the full extent of the plan to create overseas beachheads for military planes, ships and equipment has not been previously acknowledged.
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06/06/2012
The Indian Air Force (IAF) purchase of 126 Rafale fighters has made global headlines, and the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) could be another jaw-dropper. But Indian military aviation could see an even more prominent growth area in helicopters, where the defence services are poised to induct well over 1,000 rotary wing aircraft in the coming decade, the majority of them developed and built in the country.
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06/05/2012
B-1B Lancers are currently undergoing their most advanced hardware and software upgrades to date as part of the Sustainment-Block 16 program. Sustainment-Block 16 upgrades include a fully integrated data link in the aft station and vertical situation display upgrade in the front station as well as updates to navigation, radar and diagnostic systems.
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06/05/2012
South Korea announced its shortlist of contractors in competition for a multi-billion competition to supply 36 attack helicopters on 29 May. The attack helicopters will be used to strengthen the South’s ability to contend with Pyongyang’s fast gunboats often deployed in the Yellow Sea.
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06/05/2012
Canada’s military focus appears to be turning increasingly westward, as evidenced by Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s attendance at a major Asia-Pacific security forum over the weekend and the announcement 1,400 Canadian military personnel will be participating in a major exercise later this month.
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06/05/2012
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] on May 2 delivered the sixth and final Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
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06/05/2012
Boeing's Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system (UAS) completed its first autonomous flight June 1 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The 28-minute flight began at 6:22 a.m. Pacific time as the liquid-hydrogen powered aircraft lifted off its launch cart. Phantom Eye climbed to an altitude of 4,080 feet and reached a cruising speed of 62 knots. After touching down, the vehicle sustained some damage when the landing gear dug into the lakebed and broke.
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06/04/2012
An email from Air Power Australia earlier today links to a series of You Tubes of China’s Chengdu J-20 fifth generation stealth jet which raises a whole set of questions for defence experts to consider.
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06/04/2012
The Philippines will be looking to non-U.S. sources for combat aircraft, and officials want to equip two squadrons to enhance the nation’s war-fighting capabilities, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. One of the primary concerns is China, which is encroaching in areas of the South China Sea that Philippines officials claim as being their territory.
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06/04/2012
Hawker Beechcraft filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 on May 3, and if activity at the recent European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition is any indication, the Wichita aircraft manufacturer may be down, but it is definitely not out.
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