Military Aviation
The new F-15 combat aircraft that Boeing is pitching to the U.S. Air Force would have a single-seat cockpit and a host of new weapons, including anti-ship missiles, Defense One has learned. If the Air Force bites, the so-called F-15X would be the Pentagon’s first new Eagles since a 2002 purchase of the air-to-ground variant known as the F-15E Strike Eagle. But various allies have purchased newer variants of the ...
Category: Military Aviation
China’s J-20 stealth fighter jet have begun their first-ever combat training over the ocean, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. “It will help the air force better fulfill its sacred duty of safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” said Shen Jinke, spokesman for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force. China’s fourth-generation medium and long-range fighter aircraft and was commissioned into air force combat service earlier this year. ...
Category: Military Aviation
Eight times during a two-week war game in Alaska, individual German Typhoons flew against single F-22s in basic fighter maneuvers meant to simulate close-range dogfights. “We were evenly matched,” German Maj. Marc Gruene told Combat Aircraft. Past evidence seems to confirms that a French fighter pilot once “killed” an American F-22 Raptor stealth fighter in mock combat. Although not unprecedented, the simulated shoot-down is still a big deal for a ...
Category: Military Aviation
The state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China, or AVIC, may have given a first look at the long-rumored H-20 stealth bomber in a promotional video that apes Northrop Grumman’s famous Superbowl ad teasing what is now known as the B-21 Raider. The clip, which highlights the consortium’s various civil and military products, as well as those from its subsidiaries, has a number of other significant nods to the country’s strategic ...
Category: Military Aviation
China will continue to improve and upgrade its cutting-edge J-20 stealth fighter jet, giving it more capabilities than merely penetrating an enemy’s air defense networks, according to its chief designer. Yang Wei, a deputy director of science and technology at Aviation Industry Corp of China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily in an exclusive interview that designers will develop variants of the radar-evading J-20 ...
Category: Military Aviation
Congress seems to have come to an agreement on spending for fiscal year 2018, and military aircraft procurement is slated to receive a major bump, funding an additional 143 aircraft above the services’ requests. That’s great news for major defense primes like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, both of which stand to make billions more from the additional sales. A caveat before diving in: Although the omnibus language marks a big ...
Category: Military Aviation
China’s first fifth-generation fighter, the J-20, is finally operational, but the jet already has one known flaw: it uses engines that produce less thrust than originally anticipated. The engine meant for the stealth fighter has experienced serious developmental delays, forcing the use of a less powerful engine. The result is an airplane that can’t quite live up to its potential, for now. The Chengdu J-20 was first seen by the ...
Category: Military Aviation
The civil war in Yemen appears to have claimed an American-made F-15 Eagle fighter. Over the weekend, Houthi rebels released a video in which they claim to have shot down a Panavia Tornado fighter, but later changed their story to an F-15. In response, the Saudi government reported the loss of a “twin seater fighter jet” to a “technical malfunction. The truth of the matter will be hard to get ...
Category: Military Aviation
In the presence of the President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, and his Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatar Armed Forces and Dassault Aviation signed an agreement on future cooperation and the exercise of an option for 12 Rafale. This new order follows on from the contract signed on 4 May 2015 between the State of Qatar and Dassault Aviation for the acquisition of 24 ...
Category: Military Aviation
Germany has asked the US military for classified data on two Boeing fighter jets as it looks to replace its aging Tornado warplanes from 2025. The development is seen as a boost to Boeing which is locked in a trade dispute with Canada and Britain. A classified briefing is expected to take place in mid-November, following a similar presentation by US officials about the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet in ...
Category: Military Aviation
The U.S. Air Force is finalizing technology requirements for a new fighter jet to enter service sometime in the 2030s. Known as “Penetrating Counter Air,” the new fighter will replace the F-22 Raptor and maintain American air superiority in future conflicts. The sixth=generation fighter will incorporate a number of new technologies that for now exist only on the drawing board. Citing the existence of advanced Russian weapons such as the ...
Category: Military Aviation
The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Nigeria of twelve (12) A-29 Super Tucano aircraft and weapons, including all associated training, spare parts, aviation and ground support equipment, and hangar, facilities, and infrastructure required to support the program. The estimated total case value is $593 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible ...
Category: Military Aviation
In 2016 the Indian Navy rejected the domestically built Tejas jet fighter or Light Combat Aircraft after a troubled thirty-three years of development in which the maritime fighting branch had invested significantly. However, the Indian Navy argued that the Tejas weighed too much, and produced insufficient thrust for takeoff from the ski-jump ramp of its forthcoming aircraft carrier. But the Indian Navy hasn’t given up entirely on the Tejas; it ...
Category: Military Aviation
A military refueling aircraft crashed Monday afternoon in a soybean field in Leflore County, killing at least 16 and leaving a debris field five miles in radius, officials said. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Lee Smithson said the plane crashed on the Sunflower-Leflore county line. Leflore County EMA Director Frank Randle confirmed that 16 are dead in the crash. “Most of them are gonna be Marines,” he said. He could ...
Category: Military Aviation
