Military Aviation News Archive
05/03/2012
At least that’s the word from Air Force Major Dave Blair – himself an MQ-1 Predator instructor pilot – in the latest issue of Air & Space Power Journal. As technology changes warfare, he argues, the military needs to change, too. The Air Force isn’t welcoming its growing workforce of remotely-piloted aircraft – RPA – personnel.
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05/03/2012
As it continues downsizing under tightening Defense Department budgets, the Air Force will give priority to operations and maintenance to make sure that “what remains will be ready and available to act,” its chief of staff said. Gen. Norton Schwartz also told an audience at the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank, that Air Force operations and tactics are clearly better after two major conflicts and counterterrorism efforts.
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05/03/2012
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] leadership delivered today the 195th and last F-22 Raptor to U.S. Air Force leadership in a ceremony at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics site here. With this delivery, the U.S. Air Force now possesses the world’s only 5th generation stealth fighter aircraft fleet in the world.
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05/03/2012
A group of Turkish and U.S. inspectors will make a joint observation flight over Russia in line with the international Open Skies Treaty, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday. The inspection will be carried out on May 2-5 on board a Casa CN-235 transport aircraft. “The aircraft and equipment on its board have undergone the necessary international certification procedure that Russian representatives also took part in,” the ministry said in a statement.
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05/02/2012
Pratt & Whitney has awarded Rolls-Royce a $315 million contract to produce LiftSystem equipment for 17 F135-powered short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B combat aircraft. Announced on 1 May, the propulsion system order covers the delivery of LiftFans, roll posts and three-bearing swivel modules this year for 17 aircraft included in Lockheed Martin's fourth low-rate initial production (LRIP) deal for the Joint Strike Fighter.
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05/02/2012
NATO's ability to conduct multi-national combat training could be transformed if a 24-aircraft system being proposed by a Dutch-based company takes off. The integrated opposing force (IOPFOR) concept now being promoted by ECA Program would see a new fleet of privately-owned and operated lightweight fighters provide an aggressor training service for Alliance nations.
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05/02/2012
Canada’s military is determined to purchase the F-35 fighter jet rather than a cheaper or more reliable alternative despite a recent flood of criticism and controversy surrounding the U.S. aircraft. That was the word from the head of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps, who was testifying Tuesday at a House of Commons committee along with a panel of defiant senior government officials who have come under fire for their handling of the program.
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05/02/2012
President Barack Obama, speaking early Wednesday in Afghanistan at the tail end of a surprise visit there, discussed how the war will end and promised a steady drawdown of U.S. troops. Obama committed to pulling 23,000 troops out of the country by the end of summer and sticking to the 2014 deadline to turn security fully over to the Afghan government. He said that NATO will set a goal this month for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations next year.
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05/02/2012
US military bases continue to form a strategic envelope around Iran, although the American withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011 may have changed the regional balance somewhat towards Iran's favour. While US forces are scaling back in many parts of the globe due to budget cuts - and have begun a gradual depature from Afghanistan to be completed by 2014 - their international presence remains vast.
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05/02/2012
A Colombian Air Force helicopter crashed in the northern region of the country on late Monday afternoon, killing all thirteen people on board, defense officials said on Tuesday. The cause was not immediately known. The accident happened at around 4:30 p.m. local time when the Bell 212 helicopter, which was assigned to Air Combat Command Number 3, crashed into a horse stable at the 'Buenavista' ranch in Sabanagrande, a town in Colombia's Atlantico department.
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05/02/2012
Indian Air Force will chip in with its front-line Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft to provide air support to army troops practising their combat skills during the culmination stage of summer training exercise 'Shoorveer' in the deserts of Rajasthan later this week. "The IAF will fly Su-30 fighter aircraft and Mi-35 attack helicopters as part of 'Exercise With Troops' during the ongoing summer exercise.
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05/02/2012
The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $156 million contract to provide new training devices to accommodate the growing pipeline of C-130J aircrews and maintainers. Lockheed Martin will develop 24 new training devices and provide program management and engineering services under the U.S. Air Force’s C-130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System II, referred to as JMATS II.
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05/02/2012
Lockheed Martin successfully conducted the first launch of a Shadow Hawk precision-guided weapon recently from a Shadow 200 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), achieving a direct hit on the target. Shadow Hawk is an 11-pound class, 2.75-inch diameter, 27-inch long drop-glide weapon. It is terminally guided by a semi-active laser seeker, providing better than one meter precision.
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05/02/2012
Boeing has completed the first delivery of its tactical cross-domain technology, eXMeritus HardwareWall, to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) for integration into the Ground Control Station (GCS) of the Predator/Reaper Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV). The delivery is part of a contract from GA-ASI that includes additional deliveries of HardwareWall and associated information assurance and engineering support.
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05/01/2012
Iran's Defence Minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, has warned that the basing of the US F-22 Raptor strike aircraft in the United Arab Emirates is "detrimental to regional security."
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05/01/2012
Pentagon chief Leon Panetta sought to reassure Italy's defense minister over the troubled F-35 fighter program in talks Monday, pledging to hold down costs of the radar-evading warplane, officials said. During Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola's meeting with Panetta in Washington, the rising price tag for the plane came up "but both leaders expressed a commitment to the program," a US official told AFP.
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05/01/2012
U.S. military operations are winding down in Iraq, which means the Iraqi Army needs new equipment to maintain security in the country. Redstone Arsenal's Foreign Military Sales group is expected to deliver a total of 30 armed reconnaissance helicopters to the Iraqi Army by the end of 2012. They routinely sell equipment to countries all over the world, but officials said this project is different.
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05/01/2012
British military chiefs defended plans on Monday to put missile batteries on top of apartment blocks to help protect London from a 9/11-style attack during this summer's Olympic Games, after appalled residents said it could make them a target. With 88 days to go before the Games start, soldiers will start testing missile defenses this week at six sites around the Olympic park as part of a training exercise in the run-up to Britain's biggest peacetime security operation.
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05/01/2012
AeroVironment, Inc. announced it received a firm fixed-price order valued at $3,653,519 on March 15, 2012 from the United States Marine Corps through an existing U.S. Army contract. The order includes RQ-11B Raven(R) small unmanned aircraft systems and initial spares packages. The systems and spares were scheduled for delivery before April 17, 2012.
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05/01/2012
Predator drones sanitize killing on the cheap compared to manned aircraft and ground troops. Teams of remote warriors work far from, and at times, closer to battlefields. Drone pilots operate computer keyboards and multiple monitors. Sensor staff work with them. They handle TV and infrared cameras, as well as other high-tech drone sensors. Faceless enemies nearby or half a world away are attacked. Virtual war kills like sport.
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05/01/2012
The U.S. campaign of drone strikes to kill militants in other countries is legal under international law, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser insisted on Monday in a rare public admission and justification of the controversial tactic. John Brennan's speech, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan.
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05/01/2012
Lockheed Martin completed delivery of the 79th and final C-5 Galaxy aircraft of the current Avionics Modernization Program at a ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., on April 27. “We are very proud of our AMP team,” said Greg Ulmer, vice president of the C-5 program, “This delivery continues the ever-growing legacy of the C-5 Galaxy and the critical role it plays in supporting the warfighter across the globe for many years to come.”
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04/30/2012
In the backdrop of the menace posed by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, India today said it was determined to work with Seychelles to ensure a secure environment for the benefit of the two countries. President Pratibha Patil, who arrived here to a warm welcome for a two-day state visit, said "India and Seychelles share the waters of the Indian ocean".
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04/30/2012
This is a story of buried treasure, a map with X marking the spot and the race to recover untold riches. The treasure in this case is of the winged variety, some 60 Spitfires fighter aircraft, maybe more, quite possibly in pristine condition, never flown in anger, interred in Burma at the end of the Second World War. There are only three dozen Spits in flying condition around the world, commanding prices of $2 million or more. So this is big money.
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04/30/2012
Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations has defended his country's right to use air strikes against South Sudanese troops who Khartoum says are inside Sudanese territory. Dafallah ElHaj Ali Osman, however, stopped short of saying whether Sudan had carried out the air strikes over the past few weeks that Juba claims Khartoum had launched on its territories.
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