Military Aviation
May
05
KC-135 crash in Kyrgyzstan
Remains of two bodies have been found in the wreckage of a U.S. military plane that crashed in Kyrgyzstan, and authorities are still looking for a third person who was on board, officials said. The refueling plane exploded in mid air when its cargo of fuel ignited on its way to Afghanistan on Friday, accident investigators said. Experts were still trying to work out what led up to the crash, ...
Category: Military Aviation
To a pilot, a radar is only as useful as the information it provides, and Northrop Grumman’s Synthetic Aperture Radar mapping for the Scalable Agile Beam Radar delivers the largest, sharpest radar images ever available in an F-16. The company’s SABR has successfully demonstrated several advanced radar capabilities for the F-16, including Big SAR maps with automatic target cueing. The SABR Big SAR offers an unprecedented level of situational awareness ...
Category: Military Aviation
The Boeing X-48C research aircraft flew for the 30th and final time April 9, marking the successful completion of an eight-month flight-test program to explore and further validate the aerodynamic characteristics of the Blended Wing Body design concept. All 30 flights were conducted at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. The X-48C typically flew for approximately 30 minutes on most flights, reaching speeds of up to 140 miles per hour and attaining an ...
Category: Military Aviation
An Iranian fighter jet tried to intercept a US Predator drone over the Gulf but backed off after encountering two American military aircraft, the Pentagon said Thursday. No shots were fired in the confrontation Wednesday, officials said, but the United States renewed a vow that it would protect its forces in the region. The Pentagon initially said one of the US aircraft discharged a flare as a warning to the Iranian plane but officials later ...
Category: Military Aviation
As China reaches an agreement with Russia to buy Su-35 fighters, the domestic J-20 fighter program might have developed problems that China cannot solve on its own anytime soon. Prompted by the well publicized Su-35 deal, photos of the second J-20 prototype undergoing flight tests became easily available ... ...
Category: Military Aviation
Iran over the weekend presented what it called a “significant achievement in the field of aerospace technology” – a domestically built fighter jet with stealth capabilities. Some aviation experts, however, believe the tiny, angular fighter jet with stubby wings shown to the world may have been an expensive mock-up and that video footage of the black jet screaming across the sky may actually show a radio-controlled model aircraft instead. Such skepticism may be understandable, ...
Category: Military Aviation
Iran has presented its first domestically designed defense fighter bomber jet with limited stealth capabilities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed that the plane was designed for defense purposes, and will not be used for aggression. Codenamed Qaher-313 ("Conqueror"), the jet is an advanced single-seat single-engine military plane. ...
Category: Military Aviation
China has successfully landed a warplane on its first aircraft carrier. The new J-15 jet fighter touched down on the Liaoning as part of the ship’s operational tests. The Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-made ship, was delivered to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on September 25 in a move that will bolster China’s ability to project military power. A video of the landing, broadcast by China Central Television, showed a J-15 tail ...
Category: Military Aviation
The Air Force is investigating the cause of an F-22 Raptor crash near an air base in Florida, but an official with the service told ABC News it was likely not related to mysterious and potentially deadly oxygen problems that plagued the $420 million-a-pop war planes for years – problems the Air Forcebelieves it has already solved. The Air Force announced Thursday afternoon that an F-22 pilot had managed to ...
Category: Military Aviation
China has test-flown a second model of a prototype stealth fighter, aviation experts said. Photos posted online on Thursday showed the aircraft airborne with its landing gear down near the north-eastern city of Shenyang. Two Chinese-made J-11 fighters accompanied it on the flight, which Chinese military enthusiast websites said took place on Wednesday and lasted about 10 minutes. Ross Babbage, of Australia’s Kokoda Foundation, and Greg Waldron, of Flightglobal magazine in ...
Category: Military Aviation
Sep
24
Leaked pictures of J-21
On September 15-16, images of the cutting-edge Chinese fighter jet appeared on the web. The state-of-the-art aircraft bears strong resemblance to the American F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. It looks like a traditional stealth fighter and will probably be known as J-21, although the Chinese authorities have never commented on the name of their new machine ...
Category: Military Aviation
The 477th Fighter Group here reached a readiness milestone September 9 when Col. Bryan Radliff, Fighter Group commander, announced that the group had achieved fully operational capable status. “Fully operation capable means that we are ready and able to execute our wartime tasking,” said Radliff. ...
Category: Military Aviation
The sale of 22 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden to Switzerland was confirmed on Tuesday for a price of more than 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.1 billion). The first delivery will take place in mid-2018, with all 22 planes to be delivered by 2021 at a cost of 3.126 billion Swiss francs. “The negotiations were tough,” said Christian Catrina, who represented Switzerland in the deal, according to the TT news agency. The ...
Category: Military Aviation
The first batch of F-16 fighter jets bought by Iraq are due to be delivered in two years, US officials said on Tuesday as the top American military officer was on a visit to Baghdad. Washington agreed last year to sell 36 F-16 jets to Baghdad in a multi billion dollar deal aimed at increasing the capabilities of Iraq’s fledgling air force, a weak point in its national defenses. The first batch of those F-16s are ...
Category: Military Aviation
