Military Aviation News Archive
07/03/2012
The Philippines may ask the United States to deploy spy planes over the South China Sea to help monitor the disputed waters, President Benigno Aquino told Reuters on Monday, a move that could worsen tensions with its giant neighbor China. The two countries only recently stepped back from a months-long standoff at the Scarborough Shoal, a horseshoe shaped reef near the Philippines in waters they both claim - the latest round of naval brinkmanship over the resource-rich sea.
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07/03/2012
Eurocopter continues its U.S. tour of the X3 high-speed hybrid helicopter today in Huntsville, Ala., where the aircraft will perform the first of several flight demonstrations for military leaders and aviators in several locations across the country. The X3 will demonstrate its unique flight characteristics, which include a cruise speed of 200 knots, high rates of climb and executing high-speed maneuvers that are not routine for conventional rotary-wing aircraft.
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07/03/2012
Russia exported over $6.5 billion worth of military equipment in the first half of 2012, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. “Exports of Russian weaponry exceeded $6.5 billion, registering a 14% increase year-on-year,” Putin said at a meeting of the Committee on Military-Industrial Cooperation. Putin said Russian annual arms exports doubled over six years from $6 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011.
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07/03/2012
The Russian Air Force may receive its first PAK DA next generation long-range bomber about 2020 instead of 2025 as initially planned, Russia’s acting deputy Air Force commander, Major General Alexander Chernyayev, has said. “I think the first models of the Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation (PAK DA) will be supplied to the Air Force approximately by 2020,” Chernyayev said in an interview published on the Russian Defense Ministry website late last week.
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07/02/2012
Despite concerns about U.S.-made drones ending up in enemy hands, American military contractors are lobbying the government to loosen export restrictions and open up foreign markets to the unmanned aircraft that have reshaped modern warfare. Companies such as Northrop Grumman Corp.and other arms makers are eager to tap a growing foreign appetite for high-tech — and relatively cheap — drones, already being sold on the world market by countries such as Israel and China.
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07/02/2012
With the threat of a mass protest, the governor of Okinawa on Sunday rejected a US plan to deploy Osprey military aircraft on the sub-tropic Japanese island chain amid safety concerns.
"We have no choice but to reject it if they forcibly bring in something which is questioned over its safety," Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima told Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto, according to Japanese media.
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07/02/2012
Turkey's armed forces command said on Sunday it had scrambled a total of six F-16 fighter jets in three separate incidents responding to Syrian military helicopters approaching the border on Saturday, but there was no violation of Turkish airspace.
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07/02/2012
“This weapon is perfect for close-quarters combat, house to house,” the Russian arms dealer explains, gently passing a silencer-equipped assault rifle, the AK-104, to the official from Syria, who brings the gun’s sight level with his eye and aims it across pavilion C3 of Russia‘s semi-annual arms bazaar.
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07/02/2012
Estonia is worried over defense spending cuts by NATO member states, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Wednesday. “Allied spending, required to maintain NATO’s defense capability, is a matter of trust in the organization,” Ilves told Knud Bartels,chairman of NATO 's Military Committee, on a two day visit in Tallinn.
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07/01/2012
The Indian Air Force will spend over Rs 2,900 crore for acquiring 75 trainer aircraft from the Swiss manufacturer, Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. The move is to replace the ageing Kiran aircraft. Stating this, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne said the deal, finalised two months ago, involves purchase of 75 Pilatus PC-7 aircraft. It will help in imparting better training to the IAF cadets, he told newspersons at the Dundigal Air Force Station today.
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07/01/2012
India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has completed weapons trials in preparation for its operational clearance before the end of this year. The single-seat, single-engine supersonic fighter also underwent flight trials in the western desert state of Rajasthan, a defense ministry official says.
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07/01/2012
For all the buzz about the U.S.’ disappointment after New Delhi ejected Washington from the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender competition, it would appear that 2012 is the year of intensified efforts by the Pentagon to deepen its defence ties with India.
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07/01/2012
With heated talk of foreign military intervention in Syria rising, it makes sense to take time for a calm comparison of the forces arrayed against one another in the Middle East. After all, the process of determining the future of the country is drawing interest from numerous, heavily armed powers, both within the region and without.
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07/01/2012
The U.S. military is preparing for the maiden flight of a football-field-size airship laden with surveillance gear designed to do the work of a dozen drones—and destined for Afghanistan.
The experimental craft, known as the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV, is designed to loiter over combat zones for weeks at a time, outfitted with high-tech sensors that can intercept phone calls, shoot full-motion video or track the movement of insurgents.
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07/01/2012
A new long-range missile for Russia’s formidable S-400 air defense system will soon enter service, chief-of-staff of Russia’s Air and Missile Defense Command Maj. Gen. Andrei Demin said on Thursday. “A long-range missile for S-400 has passed all trials and will soon be delivered to air defense units,” Demin told RIA Novosti without specifying the model.
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06/29/2012
Canadian air force officials are examining options to buy a new jet trainer aircraft to replace its aging fleet of BAE Systems-built CT-155 Hawk aircraft. The official Canadian position on the planned purchase remains unclear but the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is looking at an upgrade with the option to allocate the existing Hawks elsewhere in the Canadian armed forces.
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06/29/2012
"Combat ready" Chinese naval and aerial patrols have been deployed to the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea to protect Beijing's interests, the Chinese Defense Ministry said Thursday. Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said China will "resolutely oppose any militarily provocative behavior" from other countries also claiming ownership of the Spratlys.
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06/29/2012
United Technologies Corp o n T hursday admitted selling China software that helped Beijing develop its first modern military attack helicopter, one of hundreds of export control violations over nearly two decades.
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06/29/2012
A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27UB fighter jet crashed in the Petrozavodsk district of Russia's northeast Karelia Republic on Thursday morning, although the pilots ejected safely according to Russia's Defense Ministry. "The plane went down in the region of the village of Besovets," a local law enforcement source said.
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06/29/2012
The first consignment of three Mil Mi-25 helicopter gunships for Syria has been overhauled and will be delivered to the customer within the contracted time, a senior arms official said on Thursday. The contract for the repair of the helicopters was signed by Russia and Syria in 2008, Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation director Alexander Fomin said.
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06/27/2012
Russia’s main weapons producer has allegedly suspended its contract with Syria to supply S-300 long-range missile systems. Russia’s ‘Vedomosti’ daily published the report, citing unnamed sources within the military-industrial complex. The very fact of the contract’s existence was not known until it was revealed in an annual report made only last week and published online by the makers of the S-300 systems, Almaz-Antey.
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06/27/2012
Recent crashes involving the U.S. military's latest transport aircraft are fueling an uproar in Japan that could threaten plans to deploy them to Okinawa by the end of the year. Following an uproar in Okinawa and in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, another city likely to host the MV-22 Osprey, U.S. officials briefed Japanese government representatives in Washington on Friday, emphasizing the aircraft's safety and capability.
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06/27/2012
From 27 June to 1 July, the Rossiya Transportation & Exhibition Complex in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, will be hosting the 2nd International Forum "Engineering Technologies 2012". The Forum’s program encompasses the OboronExpo International Exhibition of Weapons and Military Equipment.
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06/27/2012
Ten minutes into Lieutenant Colonel Matt J. Martin's first mission as a Predator drone pilot, he marked a target in Baghdad for a "Spooky" gunship. And then it opened fire. "Death from above. Poor bastards down there in the windows never knew what hit them," he wrote in a 2010 book. As he stood up to stretch in a trailer at Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas, he remembered that his wife had asked him to buy some milk on his way home.
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06/27/2012
Despite the total chaos after USSR collapse the military-industrial complex remains an important sector of Ukrainian economy. And for the last years it has been improving its performance. However, there are still problems and the defense industry does its best to solve them.
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