Military Aviation News Archive
06/04/2012
A U.S. drone strike today killed 10 suspected militants in Pakistan as they 'offered condolences' to the family of a commander who died in an attack 24 hours earlier. Four missiles were fired at the tribal village of Mana Raghzai in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan, intelligence officials reported.
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06/04/2012
The Pentagon will shift more Navy warships to the Asia-Pacific region over the next several years and by 2020, about 60% of the fleet will be assigned there as part of a new strategy to increase U.S. presence in Asia, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Saturday. While noting it may take years to complete the transition, Panetta assured his audience at a security conference in Singapore that U.S. budget problems and cutbacks would not get in the way of changes.
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06/04/2012
The Government of Canada today announced that over 1,400 Canadian sailors, soldiers, and airmen and airwomen will participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 combined and joint exercise taking place near the Hawaiian Islands from June 29 to August 3. RIMPAC is the world's largest multi-national exercise and is designed to prepare military forces from Pacific Rim nations to work together in missions ranging from providing humanitarian aid to full-combat operations.
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06/04/2012
Governments and companies around the world should stop signing new contracts with arms suppliers such as the Russian firm Rosoboronexport that are providing weapons to the Syrian government. In light of compelling evidence that the Syrian army is responsible for crimes against humanity against Syria?s people, the Russian state-owned arms trading company?s continued dealings with Syria place the company at risk of complicity in these crimes.
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06/03/2012
After more than 46 years of heartbreaking uncertainty, the remains of a U.S. Air Force colonel who served in Vietnam are coming home to America. Col. Derrell Jeffords, a Florence native, was 40 when the AC-47D aircraft he commanded and piloted disappeared on Christmas Eve 1965. A mayday signal was sent from the plane, known as “Spooky,” which was carrying six men over southern Laos while on a combat strike mission.
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06/03/2012
AUSTRALIA has thrown its support behind a ''rebalancing'' of American military might in the Pacific region, which promises to deepen strategic rivalries with China. Defence Minister Stephen Smith yesterday spoke of the ''positive impact'' of the United States on regional security, just hours before the US presented its most detailed plan of how it will bulk up military might into the Pacific region while making budget cuts elsewhere.
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06/03/2012
U.S. Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta, seeking to persuade a sceptical audience of Asian officials that the United States is committed to enhancing its military presence in the region despite coming budget constraints, unveiled here on Saturday the most detailed inventory to date of planned new weapons for the region. The Navy, Mr. Panetta said, would reconfigure its forces from a 50-50 split between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific to 60 per cent of the Navy's assets assigned to the Pacific
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06/02/2012
A regional court ordered an expert appraisal in a lawsuit filed by Chelayabinsk residents to stop Su-24 bombers from flying over the city. The residents allege that the noise exceeds permissible levels, the court reports on Friday. Experts will establish the noise level and the health hazards for the local population.
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06/02/2012
Southern Nevada residents may notice increased military aircraft activity as the United States Air Force Weapons School begins its Mission Employment phase. Ninety aircraft from both the Air Force and Navy will participate in the two-week-long event, held on the Nevada Test and Training Range. 90 students from 23 separate combat specialties will take part in the exercise.
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06/01/2012
Kenya has renewed its long-stalled offensive against al-Qaida's affiliate in Somalia, just days after the Kenyan government blamed the Somali Islamists for an apparent terrorist attack in downtown Nairobi.For the second day in a row, Kenyan naval forces on Wednesday bombarded the Somali seaport of Kismayo, a key stronghold of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgents, while ground troops attacked Afmadhow, a major town that Kenya says it must capture before advancing by land against Kismao.
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06/01/2012
Internal federal documents show crashes by unmanned aerial vehicles are increasing the number of accident investigations undertaken by the military's flight-safety branch. The latest annual fleet airworthiness review, obtained by The Canadian Press under the access-to-information law, paints a compelling portrait of how military aviation is being changed by drones.
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06/01/2012
The First Lebanon War might not be known for its helicopters but it was the first time the Israel Air Force used attack helicopters in combat, providing results and helping to establish a doctrine that is still studied as a new conflict looms on the horizon. The Israel Air Force’s history with attack helicopters dates back to before the Yom Kippur War in 1973 when Brig.-Gen. (res.) Nehemia Dagan, a decorated helicopter pilot.
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06/01/2012
Thailand's defence capability has been boosted significantly with the recent purchase of the JAS 39 Gripen military fighter jet from Saab of Sweden. This small, agile aircraft can take off and land on highways, while carrying the latest technologies and weaponry, providing a potent deterrent in times of peace and a highly effective air combat capability in times of conflict.
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06/01/2012
Northrop Grumman Corporation NOC -0.17% recently hosted the U.S. military at its 11th LITENING Users' Conference to share operational experiences with the targeting pod and identify priorities for capability upgrades. The Northrop Grumman LITENING family of targeting pods is a self-contained, multisensor system with built-in connectivity to land forces.
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06/01/2012
Russia's Military Transport Aviation (VTA) is to receive 60 Antonov An-70 propfan tactical transport aircraft by 2020, the service's commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Kachalkin said on Thursday. "From 2014, we will start to get the Ilyushin Il-76-MD90A (Il-476) and also the modernized Il-76MD. We are also counting on getting the new An-70," he said.
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06/01/2012
Lockheed Martin submitted its proposal today to the U.S. Air Force for the KC-46 Aircrew Training System, a program that will prepare pilots, boom operators and other on-board personnel for air refueling, cargo transport and medical evacuation. The KC-46 Aircrew Training System supports the Air Force’s strategy for global mobility. Aircrews will refuel fixed-wing receiver-capable aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and coalition forces.
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05/31/2012
President Barack Obama's administration appears set to notify the U.S. Congress of plans to arm a fleet of Italian MQ-9 Reaper drones, a step that may spur a wider spread of remotely piloted hunter-killer aircraft. The administration could move ahead within two weeks on the proposal to let Italy join Britain in deploying U.S. drones with weapons such as laser-guided bombs and Hellfire missiles, American officials said.
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05/31/2012
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd of India and Russia's United Aircraft Corporation-Transport Aircraft are jointly building a new military transport. The agreement to build the multirole jet aircraft was signed this week by the representatives of HAL, UAC-TC and Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd, their joint venture company with Russia's Rosoboronexport.
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05/31/2012
Northrop Grumman officials conducted a briefing at CANSEC 2012 on Wednesday for journalists on its proposal to offer the Harper government a fleet of Global Hawks. Northrop Grumman has dubbed the aircraft the Polar Hawk and is pushing the angle of the unmanned aircraft as being ideal for surveillance in the North. Murray Brewster of Canadian Press has more details.
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05/31/2012
The Air Force showcased its flight skills in a rehearsal Wednesday in Hsinchu, as a preview for an air show to be held Saturday in the northern city. Highlights of the rehearsal at the Hsinchu air base included a 30-minute performance by the Thunder Tiger Aerobatics Team flying seven AT-3 jet trainers in a series of spectacular aerial stunts.
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05/31/2012
The Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in Mesa, Ariz. will be producing Apache AH-64D attack helicopters for the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program in a $97.3 million dollar contract awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Redstone Arsenal, Ala. on Tuesday. The Boeing AH-64D Longbow Block III is the latest version of the Apache combat helicopter, and is designed with a stronger engine, improved helicopter avionics, better computer-networking capability.
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05/31/2012
Minister of Defense Corneliu Dobritoiu told Agerpres, after a meeting with the reserve military that a team of specialists will go to the Netherlands and Portugal to assess the technical condition of some F-16 type aircraft that Romania might procure for the Army. 'We will assess the jets, to see if they are technically up to our requirements, their upgrading needs, the cost and if we can afford them, or not. The assessments are made in Portugal and the Netherlands', Dobritoiu said.
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05/31/2012
An India-built electronic sub-assembly will be part of the US Navy's combat planes, a statement said Wednesday as Indian companies step up efforts to be part of the global defence supply chain. The sub-assembly provides the cockpit flood lighting compatible with the aircraft's night vision imaging system (NVIS).
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05/31/2012
Selected air units of Russia’s Western military district will start this year preparations to return to abandoned Arctic airfields, the commander of the district’s aviation Maj. Gen. Igor Makushev said on Wednesday. Military airfields in the Arctic were used extensively in the Soviet era, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 they have been generally mothballed.
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05/31/2012
Boeing on May 3 delivered to the U.S. Navy the first EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft with a cockpit subassembly produced by Bangalore-based Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The subassembly provides cockpit floodlighting compatible with the aircraft's Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS).
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