Military Aviation News Archive
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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10/30/2011
The report is part of the new publication “Strategic Survey for Israel 2011“ Edited by Anat Kurz and Shlomo Brom, this volume includes thirteen analytical essays written by INSS researchers. Focus is on Israel’s strategic environment in the period under review, particularly in the wake of the major changes experienced in the Middle East commonly known as the “Arab spring.” The ongoing Palestinian issue and Iran’s nuclear program remain at the fore of the challenges facing Israel.
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10/29/2011
The US may have been ejected out of the $10.4 billion race to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) to the IAF, but it is going great guns on other fronts. After the $4.1-billion contract for 10 C-17 Globemaster-III giant strategic airlift aircraft, the US seems all set to bag the $1.4-billion deal for supplying 22 heavy-duty attack helicopters or gunships to the IAF.
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10/29/2011
The first problem concerned a fatigue crack in the idler gear that occurred at cruise propeller speed. This led to an in-flight shutdown and also caused the cancellation of the A400M’s appearance in the flying display at Paris as a precautionary measure. With the fault located, EPI instigated a redesign to shift the resonance point out of the running range.
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10/29/2011
India's Defence Ministry has invited the two rivals for a $12 billion jet fighter contract - France's Dassault and the European Eurofighter consortium -- to unveil their bids next week.
The Dassault group is hoping to secure the contract for 126 jets, one of the largest military contracts of recent years, with its Rafale fighter which has yet to find any foreign buyers.
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10/29/2011
India is going to soon ink yet another $1.2-billion deal with the US for six more C-130J " Super Hercules" military transport aircraft, even as the IAF gears up for intensive training on the first six of these aircraft for "special operations".
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10/29/2011
The White House says the United States has drones in Ethiopia and that the unmanned aircraft are there to conduct reconnaissance missions, not airstrikes. Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Friday that the operation is part of the U.S. government's partnership with Ethiopia to promote stability in the Horn of Africa and combat terrorism.
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10/29/2011
he Obama administration may transfer combat helicopters from existing Marine inventory to Turkey, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Friday. The DSCA has formally notified Congress of a possible sale of AH-1W Super Cobra Attack helicopters to Turkey. The notification was required under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act.
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