June 2013

First Lockheed Martin F-35C reports to the Navy

The first Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Navy carrier variant (CV) aircraft, CF-6, arrived at Strike Fighter Squadron 101 located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on Saturday. The jet is the Navy’s first 5th generation F-35 production aircraft. Strike Fighter Squadron 101 will serve as the F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadron, training both pilots and maintainers. CF-6 will join a fleet of 12 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets ...

Read More

Category: F-35 Lightning II

Joint strike fighter on track, costs coming down

Indications are that the F-35 joint strike fighter program - the most expensive aviation program in Defense Department history - is on track, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics told a Senate panel here June 19. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee's ...

Read More

Category: F-35 Lightning II

Pratt sees deal for F-35 engines

Hess said negotiations were still under way with the U.S. Defense Department but he expected the contract’s final price to reflect a further cost reduction of less than 10 percent, continuing a trend seen in recent years. “We’re making progress there. We’ve gotten an offer from the (Joint Program Office) and I expect we’ll get that closed pretty quickly …certainly within 30 days,” Hess told Reuters in an interview ahead ...

Read More

Category: F-35 Lightning II

MiG awaits MiG-35 order from Russian MoD

Russia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) is expected to be the launch customer for the MiG-35 multi-role fighter. Sergei Korotkov, Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RAC MiG) general director, said the company and the MoD are negotiating an initial order for 24 aircraft, with an option that would increase the number to about 40. “Today, we are at the stage of preparing contract documents,” Korotkov told reporters on May 31, during a 60th-anniversary ceremony ...

Read More

Category: MiG News

F-15 crashes in Pacific, pilot ejects safely

An American F-15 fighter crashed into the sea after its pilot ejected from his plane off Japan’s southernmost Okinawa prefecture on Tuesday, the US Air Force said. “A Kadena-based F-15 aircraft developed a problem that ultimately resulted in the pilot ejecting from the aircraft over the Pacific Ocean approximately 70 miles (110 kilometres) east of Okinawa,” the air force said, referring to the hub of American air power in the ...

Read More

Category: Military Aviation

eXTReMe Tracker