Military Aviation News Archive
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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'' .
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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05/23/2012
Bell Helicopter makes aircraft that are the backbone of flight operations for the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force. One of those aircraft, the V-22 Osprey, looks and flies like no other. The tilt-rotor aircraft flies like a plane, but can take off, land, and hover like a helicopter. The unconventional Osprey is used in military operations around the world. That journey beings at the Advanced Composite Center on Bell’s sprawling plant one complex in Fort Worth.
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05/23/2012
The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) aircrews have started training on full-motion simulators for the MC-130J version of the Lockheed Martin Hercules tactical transport aircraft at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
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05/23/2012
President Barack Obama's administration is inclined to sell armed drones to Turkey but has to convince Congress first, Turkey's president told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. leader. Washington, which is providing technical and intelligence to Ankara in its fight against autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels, deployed four Predator drones from Iraq to Turkey last year.
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05/23/2012
During the round table discussion regarding the current state and the process of re-equipment and the prospects of the Russian Air Force Konstantin Makienko, deputy director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, presented his report on the prospects of producing military aviation equipment for export and the use by the Russian Air Force.
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05/23/2012
The U.S. Army's fleet of 219 UH-72A Lakota helicopters surpassed the 100,000 flight hour milestone during operations on May 10. The 100,000 flight hour aircraft, configured for Opposing Force training missions, was flown by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Lacrosse and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Christopher Ezell of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center's Falcon Observer/Controller-Trainer Team in Hohenfels, Germany, during a multinational training exercise.
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05/23/2012
Poland has warned Moscow against interfering in NATO’s plans concerning the deployment of a missile shield in Europe as Russia is not a member of the military alliance, a high-ranking Polish official said on Tuesday. On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the “first step” in the European missile defense system.
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