Military Aviation News Archive

Combat aircraft top international arms sales: think tank

11/10/2010

Combat planes account for one third of all global arms transfers, with the United States topping the list of sellers and India, the United Arab Emirates and Israel the biggest buyers, according to the SIPRI think tank.

India may have to pay more for C-17 airlifters: Boeing

11/10/2010

The 10 Boeing C-17 heavy airlifters the Indian Air Force (IAF) wants to buy could cost much more than the $4.1 billion initially tagged, Boeing says, a sure sign that hard bargaining is on the cards.

Kazakhstan teams up with Sagem Defense to build UAVs

11/10/2010

Kazakhstan Engineering and Sagem Defense Security have signed a deal to set up a joint venture to manufacture tactical unmanned aerial vehicles, the Kazakh company said on Tuesday.

First Navy F-35 Arrives At Pax River

11/10/2010

The first F-35C Lightning II carrier variant, the U.S. Navy’s first stealth fighter, arrived at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md., on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 2:37 p.m.

Boeing Receives $106 Million Small Diameter Bomb Contract Extension

11/10/2010

Boeing today announced it has received a $106 million contract extension from the U.S. Air Force for nearly 2,700 Small Diameter Bomb Increment I (SDB I) munitions and approximately 380 BRU-61 carriages.

IAI delivers converted tanker

11/09/2010

Israel Aerospace Industries has delivered a converted B767-200ER Multi-Mission Tanker Transport to the Colombian air force.

Qatar Targets 2012 Fighter Decision

11/09/2010

Evaluation of program candidates has begun, the service’s commander, Brig. Gen. Mubarak Bin Mohammed Al-Khayarin, tells the Shephard Air Power Middle East conference here. The goal is to make a type selection before the end of 2012.

F-35 Delays Speed Up UAV Development

11/09/2010

Unable to buy new aircraft designs (because they are too expensive, or simply take too long to get into service), and facing the prospect of unmanned aircraft (UAVs) displacing more and more manned ones, the American military is spending a growing chunk of its budgets on upgrading and refurbishing the combat aircraft they already have.

Fighter delivers a costly lesson

11/08/2010

Not for the first time, the Joint Strike Fighter is making headlines for all of the wrong reasons - cost and schedule overruns and cancelled orders. This is not good news when the aircraft is the planned future of Australia's air combat force.

UK closes in on $11bn fighter deal

11/07/2010

The multi-role combat aircraft, manufactured by a joint venture between Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Alenia Aeronautica and the German-Spanish giant EADS, has come top in the Indian Air Force's technical assessment of rival bids, beating the American F16 and F18s, the Russian MiG 35 and its closest rival, the French Dassault Rafale.

India-U.S. business deals

11/07/2010

The Obama administration said Saturday that U.S.-India trade deals support 53,670 U.S. jobs and have a total value of $9.5 billion in U.S. export content.

Final deal to build Europe's A400M military plane

11/07/2010

European governments have agreed a final funding deal for the 20bn euro (£17.3bn) programme to build a new military transport aircraft.

Refurbished F-16s On Their Way to Chile

11/06/2010

The first F-16s that the Netherlands have sold to Chile took off from Leeuwarden Air Base this morning on their way to their new home in Antofagasta.

Arab Gulf States on a Puzzling Arms-Buying Spree

11/06/2010

Mystery shrouds high levels of military spending and arms procurement in the Gulf states among which Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stand out, says a new document by the eminent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

New fighter faces new delay, cost hike

11/06/2010

Details of an upcoming report on JSF technical progress, leaked in the United States, point to higher costs and further delays in the program which is already running around four years late.

New life support system for combat aircraft

11/06/2010

The ILSS technology, which was hitherto developed by only a few advanced countries, enables a fighter pilot to venture to the limits of the aircraft capability in terms of flight altitudes and G(gravitational)-forces.

US prods industry for F-22 fighter successor ideas

11/06/2010

The U.S. Air Force has begun peering into the far blue yonder for a futuristic aircraft to replace Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-22 fighter, a move that has cheered the aerospace industry.

Brazil near selection of fighter jets

11/05/2010

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that one of his priorities in the coming weeks will be to decide on a multibillion-dollar fighter jet tender with his successor, Dilma Rousseff.

Lockheed reassures India over F-16 fighter

11/05/2010

Lockheed Martin said it improved its version of the F16IN Super Viper on offer to India under the country's largest ever combat aircraft tender.

General visits Maine's 101st Air Refueling Wing

11/05/2010

The U.S. Air Force is giving assurances that a program that provides aerial refueling of military aircraft going to and from Europe and the Middle East won't be dismantled altogether -- but it will be scaled back, Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday.

Sukhoi training jet crashes during test flight

11/05/2010

A Su-27UB fighter jet has crashed in Russia’s Far East while it was being tested after having just been repaired. Both pilots ejected in time and were not harmed in the incident.

Upgraded Boeing F-15Cs Arrive at US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base

11/05/2010

Boeing and U.S. Air Force officials at Kadena Air Base celebrated the arrival of four F-15Cs upgraded with the APG-63(V)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on Oct. 21. The newly arrived F-15Cs will join the APG-63(V)1 and (V)2 aircraft already in the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons to provide unmatched combat power for the defense of Japan. The upgrades were installed and tested at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Eurofighter keen to open alliance to India

11/04/2010

The Eurofighter consortium – the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy – is considering inviting India as the fifth partner in its defence alliance should it opt for the Typhoon multirole combat aircraft as part of the modernisation of its air force.

Colombian Air Force Rolls Out First Domestic-Built Trainer

11/04/2010

The Colombian air force on Wednesday unveiled the first military training aircraft built in the Andean nation, the T-90 Calima, and said it expects to assemble 25 units before the end of 2011.

Russia's arms exports: Farewell to arms, hello to profits

11/04/2010

Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport accounts for 85% of the country's arms sales worldwide, with the remainder coming from several companies authorized to deal in arms on the global market.