Military Aviation News Archive
05/03/2011
An intelligence-driven U.S. operation in Pakistan killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden yesterday, President Barack Obama announced in a nationally televised address from the White House late last night. "Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan," Prsident Obama said. "A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability.
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05/03/2011
A later Time piece puts the total number of helicopters on the mission at four, with two making the assault and two waiting in reserve nearby. It states that "about two dozen" SEALs and CIA "enablers" participated in the raid and speculates that a winged-gunship like an AC-130 might have provided air cover. The helicopters were "most likely … specially-outfitted CH-47 and UH-60 choppers." The U.S. team destroyed its malfunctioning CH-47 at the site of the raid, Time adds.
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05/03/2011
Ambitious efforts to modernize Russia’s defense and industrial base undertaken during the Putin administration have been paying off—at least, in some cases. The Russian leadership uses arms sales for economic gain, but also as a tool of influence in the recipient countries. The Russian military-industrial complex, one of the few national industries that maintain some competitive advantage in comparison with the West, is a source of the Kremlin’s cash and prestige. Leftover stockpiles from the So
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05/03/2011
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation is a key component supplier for the Bell-Boeing-built V-22 Osprey, which recently surpassed 100,000 flying hours during a U.S. Marine Corps combat mission in Afghanistan. Manufactured under a 50-50 strategic alliance between Bell Helicopter and Boeing, the V-22 Osprey is a multirole combat aircraft using tiltrotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft.
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05/03/2011
The Peruvian Air Force will receive next week three Russian combat helicopters intended for military operations against drugs trafficking and terrorism in the South American country, Peru's defense minister said. Last July, the Peruvian Defense Ministry and Russian state-controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport signed a contract for the sale of six Mi-171Sh Hip transport and two Mi-35P Hind E attack helicopters to the South American country. The deal is estimated at $107.9 million.
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05/03/2011
The second F-35C Lightning II carrier variant takes off on its first flight from Naval Air Station (NAS) Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base Friday, April 29. Lockheed Martin F-35 Test Pilot Bill Gigliotti piloted the jet on its first flight.
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05/03/2011
The first of four C-130J Super Hercules for the Qatar Emiri Air Force has completed production at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta. The picture shows the aircraft leaving the paint hangar. The new Hercules are the longer fuselage or "stretched" variant of the C-130J and deliveries to Qatar will begin later this year.
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05/03/2011
The Boeing Company today announced that it has received contracts totaling $100 million for two types of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on March 17 awarded the company an $8 million contract that represents the first major production order for Laser JDAM kits. The contract is for low-rate initial production of 700 laser sensor kits for the Navy’s direct-attack moving target capability weapons requirement.
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05/02/2011
After the advent of nuclear weapons the security environment has changed. There is no global war like WWI and WWII. No direct confrontation between the two super powers in cold war. Deterrence has become the corner stone of strategy. Nuclear deterrence is the core of strategic stability in South Asia. One of the Requirements of deterrence is communication. Communication or signaling implies of demonstration of political will and resolve to use nuclear weapons to the adversary. Therefore nuclear
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05/02/2011
Australian Air Force multi-role F/A-18F Super Hornets will soar through the sky over Malaysia while Navy guided-missile frigates and a Collins class submarine will patrol the South China Sea in a major military exercise commencing today.
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05/02/2011
The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation based on US intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August. Mr Obama said after "a firefight" US forces took possession of his body. Bin Laden was accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.
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05/02/2011
For network-centric operations to succeed on today’s digital battlefield, efficient, reliable, and real-time communications are crucial to deliver the right information to the right person at the right time. Military antennas are among the most important, if not often overlooked, component of aerospace and defense systems. “The most underappreciated component of a wireless sensor network node is often its antenna,” admits William Y. Chang in Network-Centric Service Oriented Enterprise. The anten
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05/02/2011
A decision by India to eliminate Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin from the highly sought-after $11 billion fighter jet deal competition has cost GE Aviation a much-needed slate of orders for its jet engines. GE Aviation, which has 300 employees at a facility in Vandalia, was expecting a big payday if either U.S. competitors would have been awarded the contract to supply 126 multipurpose fighter planes, according to this article in the Financial Times.
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05/02/2011
Following a raft of technical tests by the IAF, the Manmohan Singh government has shortlisted the Eurofighter consortium's Typhoon and the French-made Dassault Rafale for a multi-billion dollar fourth generation fighter deal. New Delhi will almost certainly come under intense pressure to review its decision.
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05/02/2011
Dutch Special Services have detained an F-16 fighter pilot from the country's Air Force on suspicion of spying for Belarus, Radio Netherlands Worldwide website reported on Friday. The 37-year-old Dutch pilot is accused of passing state secrets to a foreign country.
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04/29/2011
Sometime this year, a Japanese technician will perform the final piece of work on the last F-2 fighter to leave the Nagoya works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. With that, Japan’s 45 years of post-war fighter production will cease and the progressive loss of skills already under way in systems manufacturing will have spread to every stage of building combat aircraft.
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04/29/2011
A trainer jet upgraded to a fighter plane by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashed yesterday afternoon near a beach resort in Bagac, Bataan, instantly killing the pilot and rendering his co-pilot unconscious. Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, commander of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said the S-211 trainer jet took off from the Clark Freeport in Pampanga.
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04/29/2011
American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky is looking to add to the $3.5bn deal to lead the production for 109 Black Hawk helicopters for Turkey's armed forces.
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04/29/2011
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force celebrated 50 years of C-130 operations at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, today.
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04/29/2011
Lockheed Martin has received an Undefinitized Contract Action from the U.S. Government for the Foreign Military Sale of an additional C 130J to Israel, with funding for advanced procurement items for a third aircraft.
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04/28/2011
France's Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon look set to be on the final shortlist for a $10 billion tender for 126 fighter aircraft for the Indian air force, after Sweden's SAAB was dropped, the Times of India said on Thursday. With the Indian military due to disclose final commercial proposals from the manufacturers later today, it appears that the U.S. Lockheed Martin F-16I and Boeing Super Hornet, Sweden's SAAB Gripen and Russia's MiG-35 are also out of the running. The Indian milita
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04/28/2011
Today defence and security company Saab AB has received information from the Indian Ministry of Defence that Gripen has not been shortlisted for the Indian Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme.
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04/28/2011
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, a big fan of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), gave a speech last week at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Washington. He tried to convince the audience that the use of UAVs opens more possibilities, including an assessment of the consequences of an impending strike, compared to manned vehicles.
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04/28/2011
"For the conduct of air operations for the imposition of the "No Fly Zone", until now Italian Country has provided 12 fighter aircraft per day". It reported the Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa in his statement, that followed the one of Minister Franco Frattini, referring to the Joint Foreign and Defence Committees of the Chamber and Senate. He stated that there are "4 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft type and/or F-16 for tasks of air superiority; 4 aircraft Tornado ECR (Electronic Combat and Recon
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04/28/2011
The pilot of a United Arab Emirates plane taking part in air operations over Libya on Wednesday was forced to eject while landing at an airbase in Italy, the official UAE news agency said. NATO had previously said the pilot of an F-16 fighter enforcing the no-fly zone ejected while nearing the outbound runway of Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily.
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