Military Aviation News Archive
10/07/2011
Egypt is now the 13th international customer for Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP), which provides precision targeting and non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR) in a single lightweight system. The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) has selected Sniper to equip its F-16 aircraft purchased under the Peace Vector program.
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10/06/2011
Boeing's first P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy completed its initial flight today, taking off from Renton Field at 12:02 p.m. Pacific time and landing two hours and 31 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle. During the flight, Boeing test pilots performed airborne systems checks including engine accelerations and decelerations and autopilot flight modes, and took the P-8I to a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet prior to landing.
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10/06/2011
The Department of Defense awarded a contract worth up to $11.7 billion to Boeing Co. for support and maintenance of its C-17 aircraft to the U.S. military and global allies. The award comes less than a week after the Chicago-based company won a contract modification worth up to half a billion for similar services.
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10/06/2011
Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as saying that “solutions have been found to a number of problem issues of India-Russia defense cooperation”. Mr. Serdyukov also expressed hope that “India is regarding military and technical cooperation as one of the key areas of partnership with Russia”. Mr. Antony in his turn noted that “Russia has always been the unique strategic partner that India relies upon”.
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10/06/2011
A Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft performed the first short takeoff from an amphibious assault ship early Tuesday. Piloted by Marine Lt. Col. Fred Shenk, BF-2 lifted from the deck of the amphib Wasp at 8:45 a.m., Joint Strike Fighter Program Office officials confirmed.
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10/06/2011
U.S. officials are still confused about why Libya’s stockpile of new, advanced SA-24 Grinch man-portable air defense systems (Manpads) were not fired at NATO aircraft during the battle to oust Moammar Gadhafi. The weapons are perhaps the most sophisticated, light, anti-aircraft missiles made by Russia, and they are certainly the most sought after by insurgents shopping the black market.
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10/06/2011
Members of the NATO military alliance parted company Wednesday over how quickly to halt the six-month bombing campaign in Libya, and the dangers of doing so if fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, the country's deposed strongman, are still engaged in armed resistance.
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10/06/2011
The army has grounded its fleet of five CH-47D Chinook helicopters, while it sorts out a problem with the aircraft's flight control system. Brigadier Neil Turton, director-general of aviation, said the temporary suspension of flight operations would ensure safety and was consistent with Army Operational Airworthiness procedures. He said the issues had been identified in the CH-47D's Advanced Flight Control System (AFCS).
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10/06/2011
The Marine Corps will deploy the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and Kaman [NASDAQ-GS: KAMN] unmanned K-MAX® to Afghanistan next month.
The decision follows the successful completion of a five-day Quick Reaction Assessment for the U.S. Navy’s Cargo Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program. A formal report, released last week by Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force, confirmed that the unmanned K-MAX exceeded the Navy and Marines’ requirement to deliver 6,000 pounds of cargo per day.
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10/06/2011
The Ukrainian Air Force will take delivery of three An-70 military transport aircraft, Defense Minister Mikhaylo Yezhel said on Wednesday. The first plane will be delivered "in the very near future," he said. Asked whether Ukraine would be able to make An-70s without Russia, the minister said: "It's already making them."
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10/05/2011
The Air Self-Defense Force has exchanged a memorandum with the U.S. military enabling SDF tanker aircraft to refuel U.S. military airplanes midair during Japan-U.S. joint exercises, it has been learned. Previously, only U.S. tanker aircraft have been able to refuel SDF aircraft during such circumstances, sources said.
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10/05/2011
Among the issues that the two sides will discuss include the joint development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and medium transport aircraft (MTA). Indian Air Force will get 250 FGFAs and 45 MTAs later in this decade.
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10/05/2011
The Navy and Marine Corps Team made naval aviation history today as the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) test aircraft BF-2 landed safely on USS Wasp’s (LHD-1) flight deck, the first at-sea vertical landing for the Marine Corps’ F-35 JSF version. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk landed BF-2 at 3:12 pm. “It was exactly like we predicted,” said Schenk. “But that’s because of all the hard work and extensive preparation done by the Wasp and JSF team.”
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10/05/2011
Kevin Bredenbeck, the pilot who flew the revolutionary X2 Technology demonstrator last year to an unofficial speed record for conventional helicopters, has been recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) with the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for the year's outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing.
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10/05/2011
Indonesian Air Force officers will soon be shopping in the Arizona desert, picking out two squadrons of mothballed F-16C/D fighter jets from America's aircraft "boneyard", to beef up their country's paper- thin air defenses. The 30 aircraft will come free of charge. But six of them will be cannibalized for their parts. The Indonesians are expected to spend US$400 million to US$600 million equipping the rest with advanced avionics and weaponry and buying 28 Pratt and Whitney engines.
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10/05/2011
The largely homegrown Tejas fighter is still to fight its way out of the doldrums. The jet will not become fully-operational anytime before 2013, a full three decades after the LCA (light combat aircraft) project was first sanctioned in 1983. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, responding to questions on Monday, remarked the Tejas LCA's operational clearance had been delayed by almost a year, without elaborating any further.
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10/05/2011
With the current operations in Libya directly impacting the direction of the fighter jet market, military and industry professionals are faced with the challenge of defining immediate upgrade plans and future capability developments.
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10/05/2011
NATO defense ministers meet Wednesday and they are expected to discuss ways of ending the alliance's aerial campaign in Libya and training Afghan security forces to play a larger role in their country's war. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who took over from Robert Gates as Pentagon chief in July, will be making his first visit to Europe in that role to attend the meeting.
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10/05/2011
Oliver VTOL LLC, today announced a “Hexplane Heavy Lift (HHL)” concept that has the potential to meet the military’s need for a new, large vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) transport aircraft.
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10/05/2011
The Boeing Company will serve as corporate host for the MILCOM 2011 conference and exposition, which takes place Nov. 7-10 at the Baltimore Convention Center. This will be the conference’s 30th year of gathering leaders from the military, industry and academia to promote and discuss all aspects of military communications technologies and services.
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10/04/2011
“The process of modernisation [of the IAF] is going on at a fast rate, and I am not aware of any air force doing so in 15 years… We have to be [reaching] wherever the country's strategic interests are,” he said at apress conference, ahead of the Air Force Day that falls on October 8. Its traditional strategic sphere lay between the Gulf of Aden and the Straits of Malacca; but with India's global footprint expanding, the IAF should be ready to serve wherever India's strategic interests rested, he
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10/04/2011
The U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Command has taken delivery of its first MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft from Lockheed Martin. The aircraft, the first of 20 ordered, was flown from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics' facility to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., by Lt. Gen. Eric E. Fiel, commander AFSOC.
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10/04/2011
South Korea’s decision to build a naval base at Sadong Port on Ulleung Island is causing strains in its relationship with Japan. Ulleung is the closest South Korean territory to the disputed islets (known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japan) in the Sea of Japan which is claimed by both countries. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs will provide 217.5 billion Won for the base, while the remainder of the cost will be borne by the Ministry of National Defence.
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10/04/2011
India is gradually building powerful military capabilities in tune with its expanding geopolitical interests, which are no longer limited to the swathe stretching from the Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait, even as the eastern and western fronts are being strengthened to deter the twin Pakistan-China threat.
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10/04/2011
There must be a crazy-haired mad scientist roaming the U.S. military’s research laboratories unsupervised. That’s the most reasonable explanation for the military's latest advancement in drone technology.
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