Special Purpose

Military Aviation News Archive

Not to worry, India ties will survive MiG setback

05/11/2011

The Indian Defence Ministry’s announcement that the Russian Mig-35 failed to make the short list for the Indian tender to purchase 126 warplanes under the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme was bad news for the Russian Aircraft Building Corporation MIG. But it was not exactly a “bolt from the blue”. The result was expected. Why?

Honeywell F-22 Oxygen Systems Probed

05/11/2011

A Honeywell Inc. system for providing oxygen to F-22 pilots is being investigated as a possible source for malfunctions that prompted the Air Force to ground its premier fighter jet after reports of five incidents since late April, according to officials. “The inquiry is not solely focused” on Honeywell’s on- board oxygen generating system, Air Combat Command spokeswoman Captain Jennifer Ferrau said in an e-mail. “However, that is one area investigators will look at.”

Thousandth GKN nacelle on Qatar's C130J

05/11/2011

Lockheed Martin has installed its 1000th GKN Aerospace-manufactured nacelle for its C-130J military airlifter on the second of four aircraft destined for the Qatar Emiri Air Force.

First F-35A Destined for Eglin AFB, Fla., Completes First Flight

05/11/2011

The first F-35A production aircraft that will be delivered to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., later this year takes off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base on Friday, May 6, with Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti at the controls.

Boeing Delivers UAE Air Force and Air Defence's 1st C-17

05/11/2011

Boeing today delivered the first of six C-17 Globemaster III airlifters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force and Air Defence during a ceremony at the company’s final assembly facility in Long Beach.

An Initial Assessment of China's J-20 Stealth Fighter

05/10/2011

The maiden test flight in January 2011 of China's J-20 stealth fighter prototype is an important strategic milestone in several different respects, and is part of an ongoing effort by China to develop advanced military technology. The J-20 is the first combat aircraft developed by China that qualifies as "state of the art" by Western measures. It also shows that China has mastered "stealth shaping" technology—the essential prerequisite for developing stealth aircraft.

Northrop secretly develops spy plane in San Diego

05/10/2011

Northrop Grumman will today unveil a small new spy plane that it secretly developed in San Diego and the Mojave Desert to compete in the fast growing market for aircraft that can do everything from stalk terrorists to patrol borders to provide live video of natural disasters.

US to station F16 jets in Poland

05/10/2011

Mr Obama visits Poland at the end of the month and is expected to confirm the stationing of F16 combat aircraft on Polish soil during meetings with Bronislaw Komorowski, his Polish counterpart, and other central and eastern European leaders. Citing diplomatic sources, the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza claimed that 16 US jets will move from their current home at the Aviano air force base in Italy to Lask in central Poland, and will be stationed on a rotational basis from 2013.

Chinese Stealth Fighter Could Rival US's Best: Report

05/10/2011

Details on the Chinese J-20 fighter are scant as the project has been developed under extreme secrecy, but an analysis conducted by the conservative Washington D.C.-based defense policy think tank The Jamestown Foundation based on the little publicly available information concluded that the fighter "will be a high performance stealth aircraft, arguably capable of competing in most cardinal performance parameters... with the United States F-22A Raptor, and superior in most if not all cardinal per

Jordan's KADDB confirms gunship conversion programme with ATK

05/10/2011

US company Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has formally announced that it had been contracted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) to convert two CASA/Airbus Military CN-235 twin-engine transport aircraft into light gunships for the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

Lockheed Martin Delivers First USAF Production F-35 Lightning II

05/10/2011

The U.S. Air Force has accepted into its fleet the first of a planned 1,763 production-model Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters.

Boeing Delivers Super Hornet Trainers to Royal Australian Air Force

05/10/2011

Boeing today announced it has completed delivery of six F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircrew and maintenance trainers to the Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland.

Special-ops units and drones may increase in future military

05/09/2011

It was a band of 25 brothers, Navy SEALs, who took down Osama bin Laden last week — not a Marine battalion or an Army division. As the United States gradually moves away from its major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, what will its future military force look like — more like that SEAL squad working in secret and in tandem with the Central Intelligence Agency?

Panel would eliminate 6 backup B-1s

05/09/2011

A congressional panel approved a plan Thursday that would cut six backup B-1 bombers but save 200 positions and as much as $40 million in funding at Dyess Air Force Base. Abilene Rep. Randy Neugebauer said he's still pushing for no cuts to B-1s, considering the planes' heavy use in the Middle East, but retiring aircraft that are on reserve status is a better scenario than earlier plans to take away planes in use for combat and training.

Dogfight over the MMRCA

05/08/2011

The second and final bidding stage—commercial negotiations—of the $10.4 billion, 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender floated by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Indian Air Force in 2007 has selected two European products (Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale). This entails the exit of two American (F-16 and FA-18), one European (JAS-39 Gripen) and one Russian (MiG-35) system from the race.

Stealth craft in bin Laden raid has Nevada ties

05/08/2011

Radar-evading technology for the mysterious helicopters that carried out the U.S. special operations raid of Osama bin Laden's walled compound in Pakistan was spawned in the early 1990s at the classified Area 51 installation in Southern Nevada, according to sources close to the black projects facility.

Flight Report: Unmanned Combat Aircraft

05/08/2011

“Boeing conducted what appeared to be a successful 17-minute first flight and recovery,” said an observer at Edwards. “First turn was shortly after takeoff—just over lakebed. The first two turns were surprisingly tight as commented by those observing near inner runway. Rest of flight other than final approach was too far away to see. Gear down for entire flight. The landing was observed to be Air Force style, flared.”

A good military a terrible thing to waste

05/08/2011

The speed with which US military forces were able to begin combat operations in Libya last month, following the president’s order to intervene in the unfolding civil war, is a tribute to the professionalism and combat readiness of the US armed forces. But it also should give the Americans great pause. Unless the United States has been attacked, military intervention should be a very difficult, sobering decision requiring painstaking reflection.

Obama Chooses Navy SEAL Raid Over B52 Bomber: Good Decision?

05/07/2011

The Obama administration had the best information it was going to have on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. The longtime public enemy No. 1 was holed up in a ritzy area of Pakistan, two hours from the capital, Islamabad, and his neighbors were retired military officials. President Barack Obama had two choices for Operation Geronimo : Send in a Navy SEAL team or send in a bomber and flatten the fortified compound. He chose the former. In light of the result, it was the right decision.

U.S. Air Force grounds F-22 fighter jets

05/07/2011

.S. Air Force officials have grounded the F-22 Raptor fighter jet over a possible problems with its oxygen system. The order grounding the jet came in January, but was just becoming public this week, according to a CNN report.

Tinker AFB Airmen complete first repairs on F117 engine

05/07/2011

Airmen from the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group and Pratt & Whitney mechanics recently completed repairs on the first F117 engine of the newly-obtained workload.

A400M engine gets EASA certification

05/07/2011

EPI Europrop International GmbH (EPI) has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the TP400-D6 engine that powers the A400M military transport aircraft. It is the first large turboprop engine to have been certified by EASA and the first military engine to have been certified by EASA to civil standards from the outset.

India looks to other countries for spares of Russian military equipment

05/06/2011

Russia may remain India's biggest defence supplier for the next two decades but its tardy supply of spares and after-sales service is forcing New Delhi to increasingly tap other countries to maintain Russian-origin aircraft, helicopters and other weapon systems.

Russia’s ROKAF Connection

05/06/2011

South Korea is an attractive defense market due to its large economy and justifiable need for military equipment to defend against a North Korean threat. The United States is the main supplier of imported weapons to the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (ROKAF). The ROK bought almost one billion dollars worth of U.S. arms in FY2010.

China Targets UAS As Growth Sector

05/06/2011

The display of dozens of unmanned-aircraft models at last November’s Zhuhai air show made it clear that China, industrially and militarily, is moving rapidly to catch up—and perhaps ultimately overtake—the West in this burgeoning sector of aerospace.