Military Aviation News Archive
11/02/2011
The administration of US President Barack Obama came under new pressure on Thursday to sell advanced F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan. While Obama has refused to sell the fighters as part of an arms package announced last month, the White House has said that a sale is still under consideration. That consideration is likely to be boosted by a new report from Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University in Virginia.
Read More...
11/02/2011
Italian junior defence minister Guido Crosetto leaves for Qatar on Tuesday on a visit during which he is hoping to help sell M346 military trainers built by Finmecanicca's aircraft unit Alenia Aermacchi, the minister told Reuters.
Read More...
11/02/2011
While NATO forces fielded the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon in the UN-mandated war against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, details emerging from briefings by the U.K. and French air forces about the use of their respective fighters tell that the Rafale was the primary attack plane while the Eurofighter Typhoon provided intelligence through its targeting pods.
Read More...
11/02/2011
That the frequency of Indian combat aircraft crashes is galling would be a bit like calling the Taj Mahal a nice hut. The Indian air force (IAF) is now rebuilding its training regime to finally cure the long-running problems that have attrited men and machines.
Read More...
.jpg)
11/02/2011
Military planners are concerned the Harper government is buying too few F-35 fighters with almost no room for any loss of the stealth jets throughout their projected lifetimes, according to internal Defence Department briefings. “Canada is the only country that did not account (for) attrition aircraft” in its proposal, said an undated capability-and-sustainment briefing given to senior officers late last year.
Read More...
11/02/2011
A Boeing 767 with 231 people on board has made an emergency landing, skidding down the runway on its belly at Warsaw Airport after its landing gear failed. Fire and ambulance crews were deployed and all 220 passengers and 11 crew on the plane of national carrier LOT Polish Airlines were able to disembark safely.
Read More...
11/02/2011
NATO has ended its Libyan military campaign after thousands of combat sorties and billions of dollars of alliance and individual participant expenditures. The alliance's no-fly zone and naval blockade, which began in March, were terminated at midnight Monday after the U.N. Security Council closed the book on the mandate authorizing military action to protect Libya's people from the Moammar Gadhafi regime.
Read More...
11/02/2011
The military could be putting pilots’ lives at risk in its hurry to begin training with the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Read More...
11/02/2011
They fly over Africa, Asia and Europe, as well as North and South America. Some are literally thrown into the air by human hands. Others take off like traditional airplanes. Some carry only simple video cameras. Then there are those packing 3,750 pounds worth of bombs and missiles whose operators “fly” the planes from air-conditioned trailers located thousands of miles from the war zone.
Read More...
11/02/2011
Kyrgyzstan’s President-elect Almazbek Atambayev has called for the closure of the United States’ airbase at Manas in the central Asian republic. “I don’t think the base at Manas guarantees the security of our country. I would not want to see another country carry out a retaliatory strike against the base. A civil airport is a civil object, and it should remain so,” he said.
Read More...
.jpg)
11/01/2011
The Defense Department on Monday said it had finished an initial review of what the next batch of F-35 fighter jets should cost, and would brief the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp, shortly.
Read More...
11/01/2011
India has asked the United States for six Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft in a Foreign Military Sales deal worth a total of $1.2 billion.
Read More...
11/01/2011
The United Arab Emirates has reopened negotiations with France regarding the acquisition of a military surveillance satellite that would allow the Gulf Arab nation to monitor Iranian activity. Talks between UAE and France regarding the satellite may be tied to a larger $10 billion defense deal involving the purchase of 60 Rafale combat aircraft from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
Read More...
11/01/2011
The Pentagon is considering investing more of its funding in military platforms for the Asia-Pacific region and less on tools for counterinsurgency, defense sources say. The change in thinking is being spurred by a soup-to-nuts strategy review at the Pentagon that was initiated last spring to help the Defense Department navigate budget cuts.
Read More...
11/01/2011
When you have a mountain to climb, it makes sense to get an early start. With that in mind, South Korea is moving rapidly into the demonstrator phase for a stealthy combat drone that it does not expect to field until late in the next decade.
Read More...
11/01/2011
Explosions that damaged four Yemen military aircraft and temporarily closed Sanaa's airport is under investigation, a military official said yesterday. "I can confirm the blast inside the base did not occur by any shelling. We are still investigating the reasons behind the blast," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.
Read More...
11/01/2011
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has received a follow-on contract from the U.S. Air Force for additional upgrades of the B-1 bomber fleet's avionics software.
Read More...
11/01/2011
A modernized A-50U airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft entered service with the Russian Air Force on Monday, an AF spokesman said. The aircraft has an advanced onboard computer, satellite communication and radar systems, Col. Vladimir Drik said.
Read More...
10/31/2011
One night in November 2003, beneath the moon-washed waters off Somalia’s northern coast, a small, dark shadow slipped away from the attack submarine Dallas and headed toward the shore. The smaller shape was a 21-foot-long submersible called a SEAL delivery vehicle.
Read More...
10/31/2011
The much-awaited bidding for the ambitious Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) will open on November 4 in New Delhi, said Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja.
Read More...
10/31/2011
America's first jet transport—the Boeing 707—will soon roll down the runway. For Boeing, the nation's top producer of bombers, the huge plane marks a new bid for leadership in a field long dominated by Douglas.
Read More...
10/31/2011
Brigadier General Vahidi noted that Iranian Air Force is cooperating in manufacture of the new military aircraft with Defense Ministry experts. “Different jet fighters, their maintenance, upgrading them, designing and manufacture of jet fighters such as Azarakhsh, Saeqeh, as well as other new airplanes is the sign of genius, knowledge and domestic technology, and booming of country’s defense industries in the peak of sanctions unilaterally imposed by US,” he added.
Read More...
10/31/2011
Advocates of US air power are seizing on the outcome of the NATO campaign in Libya as further evidence that high-tech aircraft are the key to maintaining US military might. With its relatively low price tag and short duration, the Libya conflict offers a stark contrast to the protracted and costly ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have left Americans wary of counter-insurgency campaigns.
Read More...
10/30/2011
When the most senior U.S. military officer admits that the largest defence procurement program in history has affordability issues, then you can bet that the situation is dire. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has even put forth the likelihood that at least one variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be cancelled, and total numbers reduced.
Read More...
10/30/2011
The U.S. government deployment of a special task force to Uganda is simply fulfilling a past commitment to help Uganda defeat the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). The deployment is part of the support promised in the 2010 LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. The LRA has displaced some 385,000 people in central Africa and launched over 250 attacks in 2011.
Read More...