April 2011
An F-16 fighter-bomber from the United Arab Emirates crashed on landing Wednesday at an air base in southern Italy after completing a transfer flight from another base, officials said. He said the pilot ejected safely after landing on the outbound runway at the air base at Sigonella in western Sicily at 11:35 a.m. The official, who could not be named in line with standing regulations, said the warplane had just ...
Category: Military Aviation
A European fighter aircraft is likely to provide the much-needed boost to India’s air power after the defence ministry preferred them over Russian and American aircraft such as the latest in the MIG series, the MIG-35, and the F-16 and the F-18. Rafale, built by France’s Dassault and the Eurofighter Typhoon built by a pan-European consortium, were shortlisted by the defence ministry on Thursday. The two companies, which produces the ...
Category: MiG News
China may have test-flown the J-18 Red Eagle vertical short takeoff and landing (VSTOL) fighter earlier this month, if chatter on Chinese-language military blogs is accurate. China’s defense industry is largely opaque and it is difficult to substantiate Internet chatter. However, Chinese-language military blogs reported the first test flight of the stealthy J-20 Black Eagle fighter in January, much to the surprise of the Western media. Now there are reports ...
Category: Military Aviation
The Northrop Grumman Corporation built MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle marked a new single-day flight record of 18 hours. U.S. Navy operators achieved the record using a single aircraft in a series of endurance flights Feb. 25 from the USS Halyburton (FFG 40). Fire Scout is providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data to support anti-piracy missions while deployed on the ship for the Navy’s ...
Category: Military Aviation
Pilots of the RAF’s top fighter jets are being grounded as a lack of spare parts means they cannot put in the flying hours to keep their skills up to date, MPs warn. Five Typhoon pilots were temporarily grounded last year because of a lack of aircraft availability, the Commons Public Accounts Committee said. The shortages are also affecting the training programme, with only eight of the Royal Air Force’s ...
Category: Military Aviation
A frightening collision between one of the world’s largest airliners and a commuter jet on a dark, wet tarmac at Kennedy Airport is underscoring worries about ground accidents as U.S. airports begin handling a new generation of giant planes. A total of 586 passengers and crew members were aboard the two aircraft Monday night when the left wing of an Airbus A380 operated by Air France clipped a Bombardier CRJ-700 ...
Category: General Aviation
The Marine Corps completed an aviation first, April 8, by flying MV-22B Ospreys on the aircraft’s longest movement to date. Six Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266 returned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit after a trek from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, to Souda Bay, Greece, with the assistance of a pair of KC-130J Hercules from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) who provided transport and aerial refueling support. “As far ...
Category: Military Aviation
Iran takes a unique step forward in the world of military aviation with the announcement of the country’s first jet fighter squadron comprised of all Iranian aircraft. The HESA Saeqeh jet fighter; Iranian built and designed- now has become part of Iran’s Air Force. Saeqeh means ‘Thunderbolt’ in Iran and that name was applied to what was undoubtedly one of the best American WWII fighters, the P-47 Thunderbolt which had a ridiculous ...
Category: Military Aviation
Multipurpose fighter the Sukhoi Su-27 (Flanker) crashed near Vladivostok during a training flight. “According to preliminary data, the Su-27 crashed due to failure of one of the onboard systems”, said a source at the Russian Defense Ministry. The pilot managed to eject and landed successfully. The fighter crashed outside the village. There are no casualties or destruction on the ground there. The military investigative department of the Investigative Committee of ...
Category: Russian Aviation
More than five years and nearly $80 billion after the world’s most expensive fighter jets joined the U.S. military fleet, the high-tech stealth F-22 Raptor has yet to see combat despite the U.S. Air Force’s involvement in three simultaneous major combat operations. When the U.S. led an international effort to secure a no-fly zone over Libya last month, the F-22, the jet the Air Force said “cannot be matched,” was not ...
Category: Military Aviation
SpaceX of California says it plans to launch the most powerful expendable rocket since the Apollo era in 2013. The Falcon 9-Heavy is a beefed up version of the vehicle the company will soon use to send a robotic cargo ship to the International Space Station. The new rocket should be capable of putting more than 53 tonnes (117,000lb) of payload in a low-Earth orbit – more than twice that ...
Category: General Aviation
A British industry team led by British Aerospace Electronic Systems has completed the final tests on the ejection or escape system for all variants of the F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft. The system has been certified as safe for flight after a series of rigorous tests. The escape system, used in emergency situations, ensures pilots can eject safely and will be fitted to all 3000+ F-35 aircraft which will be flown ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
When it comes to Russian aerospace products, conventional wisdom is: The equipment is good, the after-market is awful. Ask the Indian air force and its officials would emphatically agree. Sourcing of spares and consumables for its Russian-built aircraft and weapon systems has sunk to a new low for the IAF, with the government permitting it to issue multiple global tenders for spares across a range of systems. The move marks a ...
Category: Russian Aviation
The Boeing announced that it delivered F-15K 47 and F-15K 48 Slam Eagles to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) at Daegu Air Base on March 15. The two F-15K Slam Eagles departed St. Louis on March 8 and made stops in Palmdale, California, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. “Boeing continues to work closely with its ROKAF customers to ensure we deliver quality aircraft ...
Category: Military Aviation
