Military Aviation News Archive
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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05/09/2012
Three Cobham business units are to provide critical components for six MD530F training helicopters bound for Shindand Air Base in Afghanistan, the company said today. Via its partner, EDMO Distributors, Cobham Aerospace Communications will supply four N301A audio controllers; Cobham Antenna Systems will provide VHF communications, VOR/LOC/GS V-Dipole, DME, and Navigation Splitter Antennas.
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05/08/2012
Senior military officers may be considering abandoning a long-stalled bid to procure F-16C/D aircraft from the US because of rising costs and could instead reserve budgets for an eventual F-35B bid, reports said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense maintains that the air force remains committed to acquiring 66 F-16C/Ds, but the rising costs associated with the package — now estimated at US$10 billion, from an initial US$8 billion, according to local reports.
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05/08/2012
Thales has been awarded a contract by Embraer Defence and Security to provide the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and the GPS of the KC-390 military transport aircraft. Thales HPIRS (High Performance Inertial Reference System) is a real breakthrough in inertial navigation, as it combines the advantages of a civil certified product with the performances expected by military aircraft.
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05/08/2012
The European Aviation Safety Agency has given Airbus Military of Spain initial type certification for the A400M airlifted. The certification, officially called the Restricted Type Certification, is critical for the aircraft to later receive full civil certification and military operating clearance.
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05/08/2012
3D Engineering Solutions Used Reverse Engineering, 3D Laser Scanning, Structured Light Scanning, and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Best Practices to Recreate Military Aircraft Components, Including Parts for Britain’s Harrier Jump Jets Sold to U.S.
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05/08/2012
uch is being said about the Chinese military dramatically improving its combat capability to keep United States forces at arm's length. Anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) is the magic slogan, meaning that the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) new shore-based artillery, aircraft and naval assets could deny a rapid deployment by United States forces into the Pacific in the event of a conflict, since the US would face heavy losses. But exactly how concerned is the US?
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05/08/2012
Air Mobility Command is working jointly with other U.S. military services to improve emergency care for service members critically injured in combat by employing newly-developed Tactical Critical Care Evacuation Teams. These are three-member teams, each comprised of a highly-trained emergency medicine physician and two certified registered nurse anesthetists or critical care nurses, now providing point-of-injury care and treatment during tactical evacuation of severely-injured troops in Afghanis
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