Military Aviation News Archive
05/11/2012
Six Austrian Eurofighter Typhoons are playing a major role in the “Amadeus12” exercise that began on 7th May and runs until May 16th in the region of Allentsteig, Lower Austria. The exercise, which will be the biggest for Austria in 2012, involves around 2,300 soldiers and 51 different types of aircraft.
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05/11/2012
A defense funding bill that would delay efforts to end a program at Oklahoma City's Boeing plant to upgrade the cockpits of U.S. Air Force C-130 transport planes was approved Thursday by the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. The committee voted 56-5 for the National Defense Authorization Act, sending the bill to the full House where it was expected to be considered next week.
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05/11/2012
The Indian government on Thursday cleared the purchase of 75 Swiss Pilatus aircraft to train new air force pilots who had faced a shortage of trainers, an official said. The delivery of the trainer aircraft, costing around $560 million, is expected to begin by mid-2013, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
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05/11/2012
Two European aerospace companies will be busy separately producing aircraft and aircraft structures for military programs for months to come. GKN Aerospace of Britain says it has started production of precision-machined titanium structures for BAE Systems, a principal subcontractor to Lockheed Martin, for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
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05/11/2012
Airbus Military is studying possible new variants of its CN-235 and C-295 medium transports adapted for tasks including combat support and battlefield surveillance, along with performance enhancements for the latter type.
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05/11/2012
In an embarrassing policy change driven by pressure on its defense budget, Britain said Thursday that it was changing the type of fighter jet it intended to buy so it could avoid making expensive alterations to a new aircraft carrier. The decision threatens one stated objective of British defense policy because it could complicate the prospects for military cooperation with allies including France and the United States.
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05/11/2012
Two Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) production aircraft were ferried to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., today, marking the 24th and 25th F-35 deliveries to the Department of Defense. The 5th Generation multirole fighter jets were delivered to the United States Marine Corps and are now assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 501 residing with the host 33d Fighter Wing.
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05/11/2012
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force completed the first manned flight of the QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) on May 4 at Cecil Field in Jacksonville. The QF-16 took off at 3:05 p.m. Eastern time and climbed to an altitude of 41,000 feet during its 66-minute flight. The Air Force awarded a multi-year contract to Boeing in March 2010 that represented Phase I of the initial engineering, manufacturing and development of the QF-16, with options to buy up to 126 FSATs.
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05/10/2012
US Navy combat aircraft could one day be able to swallow the UV rays that highlight their presence on radar screens, if the Pentagon's plans to get such technology developed come to fruition. The Pentagon's called on defence manufacturers to come up with a system that can deal with ultra violet energy in broadly the same way that present-day stealth aircraft scatter radar waves.
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05/10/2012
Sweden's premier defense and security company, Saab, is strengthening its relationship with a Brazilian integrator of aero-structures. Saab, that maker of the Gripen jet fighter that has partnered in the past with the company Akaer, said it is now financially investing in the company. The investment is equivalent to a 15 percent stake in Akaer, whose advisory board will now include the Swedish company.
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05/10/2012
Daytona Beach International Airport could become one of the Federal Aviation Administration's testing sites for unmanned drones. Though the drones are different than the military aircraft that are armed and used overseas, Channel 9’s Bianca Castro talked to an expert about the potential safety risks.
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05/10/2012
The military will beef up its assets with the expected delivery of additional ships and aircraft, including helicopters this year. This was revealed on Wednesday by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who was quick to add that the procurement has nothing to do with the current row with China over the Scarborough Shoal.
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05/10/2012
Senior leaders from the Air Force and Navy affirmed yesterday that the F-35 joint strike fighter remains the centerpiece of the tactical aircraft program and will play a large part in the services' ongoing modernization plans.
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05/10/2012
The Ministry of Defence is to abandon plans to buy the preferred fighter for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, in an embarrassing a U-turn for David Cameron. The prime minister personally endorsed the decision to equip the over-budget carriers with "cats and traps" so they could catapult and recover a version of the F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF) from their decks.
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05/10/2012
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday soundly rejected the Pentagon's call for military base closings to cut costs as lawmakers worked on a defense budget that adds billions to President Barack Obama's spending proposal. The committee fleshed out a blueprint that calls for a base defense budget of $554 billion, including nuclear weapons spending, plus $88 billion for the war in Afghanistan and counterterrorism efforts.
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05/10/2012
Brazil’s Embraer and US rival Hawker Beechcraft are set to rejoin hostilities in their fight over a politically charged contract to provide the US Air Force with light attack aircraft. Embraer, the world’s third largest commercial aircraft builder, said late Tuesday that it was preparing to file a new bid to win back the contract to supply the aircraft for use in Afghanistan, which it won last year only to see it abruptly cancelled earlier this year.
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05/10/2012
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] last week inducted into its facilities here the first C-5B Galaxy from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., to become a C-5M Super Galaxy. This aircraft is the twelfth to enter the Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program production line. Throughout its career, this aircraft has supported the warfighter’s operations across the globe.
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05/10/2012
Two unmanned K-MAX helicopters have delivered more than one million pounds in less than four months in support of the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan and will remain in theater until September on a deployment extension. The aircraft, a joint effort by Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace [NYSE: KAMN], is the first unmanned helicopter to deliver cargo and resupply troops in a combat zone.
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05/09/2012
A defense spending bill proposed Monday in the U.S. House would block the Air Force from eliminating F-16 aircraft at the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines until a cost-benefit analysis can be completed. U.S. Rep. Tom Latham said the legislation would freeze the proposed retirement of Air Force aircraft, including the Iowa Air National Guard’s F-16s.
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05/09/2012
The U.S. Air Force is updating plans for its combat search and rescue (CSAR) needs that will determine whether current fleet-sizing assumptions for the Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk and eventual replacement Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) still reflect operational requirements.
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05/09/2012
The United States does not intend to change the terms of its contract or cancel agreements with Russia on the delivery and maintenance of helicopters for Afghanistan’s armed forces, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday. At Monday’s press briefing, journalists asked Toner to comment on letters human rights organizations sent to Congress and the U.S. Department of the Treasury demanding that deals allegedly worth $1 billion with Russia be canceled because Russia supplies arms to S
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05/09/2012
The Royal Canadian Air Force formally accepted the 17th Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] CC-130J Super Hercules in ceremonies here today, completing the order placed in December 2007. The aircraft will be flown to Canadian Forces Base Trenton later this week.
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05/09/2012
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II flight test program continues to make progress during the first four months of 2012. In March, the program completed 123 test flights totaling 223 flight hours, setting a record for the most System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flights and flight hours for a single month.
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05/09/2012
Lockheed Martin’s Direct Attack Guided Rocket (DAGR) successfully tracked and engaged a moving target in a recent demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. “DAGR hit a moving target from 3.5 kilometers,” said Hady Mourad, DAGR program director in Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business. “Defeating high-value targets on the move is a critical capability, and demonstrating this ability is a significant milestone for the precision-strike DAGR.”
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05/09/2012
The Boeing KC-46 Tanker program has completed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with the U.S. Air Force, a key milestone in the development of the next-generation aerial refueling tanker. The review, which began March 21 and ended April 27, demonstrated that the preliminary design of the KC-46A Tanker meets system requirements and establishes the basis for proceeding with detailed design. Boeing remains on plan to deliver 18 combat-ready KC-46A Tankers by 2017.
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