Defence Aviation News

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has announced plans to hold joint drills of the Ukrainian and Polish air forces. Under the plan, Ukraine’s Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters will participate in the military exercises along with Poland’s F-16s and Mikoyan MiG-29s, the ministry said in a statement. The Safe Sky 2014 drills are scheduled from May to July, the statement said. The drills will be focused on the tactical aspects of intercepting air targets. The latest move comes as Russia-backed troops are concentrating in Ukraine’s Crimea. The pro-Russian forces have taken over a number of Ukrainian military facilities there to tighten their grip on the Black Sea peninsula. Ukraine’s defense minister and former Navy chief, Igor Tenyukh, said in a television interview March 9 that during the past weeks, Russia’s Black Sea fleet has expanded its military presence in Crimea from 12,500 troops to an estimated 18,768 troops.               ...

Russia will face “further consequences” if Moscow attempts to legitimise any attempt by Crimea to break away from Ukraine, David Cameron and Angela Merkel have warned. The Prime Minister and the German Chancellor said the proposed referendum in a week’s time on the occupied peninsula is illegal. The pair discussed the crisis at a dinner on Sunday night during the Prime Minister’s two-day visit to Germany. A Downing Street spokesman said: "They both agreed that the priority is to de-escalate the situation and to get Russia to engage in a contact group as swiftly as possible. "They reiterated their view that the proposed referendum in Crimea would be illegal and that any attempt by Russia to legitimise the result would result in further consequences. "They also agreed that we must keep working to support the Ukraine government, including identifying how the international community can help to stabilise the economic situation." Vladimir Put...

Tensions are mounting as Russian troops step up their presence in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and world leaders push for a diplomatic solution to the escalating crisis. As ideological battle lines are drawn around the world over the situation, leaders are painting vastly different pictures of the realities on the ground. Here are some of the questions at play, with a look at how key players are weighing in: Who's in charge of Ukraine? How far will Putin go in Ukraine? Can bloodshed be prevented in Crimea? Crimea downplays Russian ultimatum Russia's take: Viktor Yanukovych remains Ukraine's elected leader, and Ukraine's new government is illegitimate. Russian United Nations envoy Vitaly Churkin called it an "armed takeover by radical extremists." Ukraine's take: Ukraine has a legitimate government and is set to have new presidential elections on May 25. "Let's give an opportunity for that to work," Ukrainian Ambassador to the ...

Russian troops and military planes were flowing into Crimea on Monday in violation of accords between the two countries, Ukrainian border guards said. Since Sunday, 10 Russian combat helicopters and eight military cargo planes have landed on the flashpoint Black Sea peninsula, the guards said in a statement, while four Russian warships have been in the port of Sevastopol since Saturday. Kiev received no warning regarding the troop movements, even though that is required by the international laws regarding the stationing of Russia's Black Sea navy in Crimea. Under these agreements, Ukraine should receive notice of any troop movements 72 hours in advance. Russian fighter jets twice violated Ukraine's air space over the Black Sea during the night on Sunday, Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Monday. It said Ukraine's air force had scrambled a Sukhoi SU-27 interceptor aircraft and prevented any "provocative action...

Russia showed no signs of backing down Monday even as world leaders threatened sanctions and sternly rebuked the country for sending troops into Ukraine. At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the unfolding crisis, Ukraine's envoy asked for help, saying that Russia had used planes, boats and helicopters to flood the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea with 16,000 troops in the past week. "So far, Ukrainian armed forces have exercised restraint and refrained from active resistance to the aggression, but they are in full operational readiness," Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said. As diplomats at the meeting asked Russia to withdraw its troops and called for mediation to end the crisis, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted his country's aims were preserving democracy, protecting millions of Russians in Ukraine and stopping radical extremists. He said ousted President Viktor Yanukovych remains Ukraine's elected leader and ...

The European Union has condemned "acts of aggression" against Ukraine and threatened Russia with sanctions unless Russian troops are returned to their barracks in Crimea before Thursday. During a tense, emergency meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday East European countries, led by Poland and Lithuania, pushed hard for a strong EU commitment to take action against Russia. In a further development last night, Poland called an emergency meeting of Nato ambassadors for Tuesday on the basis of a clause in the military Alliance allowing members to "request consultations whenever their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened". European divisions over Russia were highlighted when Germany watered down an EU statement condemning the Russian seizure of Crimea as an "invasion" and delayed a decision on kicking Russian out of the G8 or further sanctions until an emergency summit of European lea...

Ukraine mobilized for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate  Russia  economically after President Vladimir Putin  declared he had the right to invade his neighbour in Moscow's biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. "This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in English. Yatseniuk heads a pro-Western government that took power in the former Soviet republic when its Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted last week. Putin secured permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told US President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene. Financial markets reacted to the escalating tensions when trading opened in Asia on Monday, with oil and wheat futures jumping and stock indexes falling. Russian forces ...

Attending a ceremony held at the 3rd Main Jet Base Command in the province of Konya to put into service the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft as part of the project entitled ‘Peace Eagle’, President Gül underscored the fact that these highly developed aircraft, which are owned by very few countries, have made not only the Turkish Air Force and the Turkish Armed Forces but also the Republic of Turkey even stronger, carrying Turkey to a very privileged position among its allies. The President noted that “today is a special day for the Turkish Air Force, which was one of the world’s first aeronautical organizations and which is increasingly getting stronger each day on the basis of what Atatürk once said: ‘the future is in the skies’. We are a nation that was introduced to aircraft 100 years ago, that used them in World War 1 and that made planes before cars. I am very proud at observing that we have augmented our aeronautical defence capability with the c...

Despite incessant technical problems and delays, the US military has no plans to cancel the new  F-35  fighter jet, the costliest weapons program in Pentagon history. The Joint Strike Fighter has been touted as a technological wonder that will dominate the skies but it has suffered one setback after another, putting the project seven years behind schedule and $167 billion over budget. As the Pentagon prepares to unveil its proposed budget for 2015, the program’s survival is not in doubt but it remains unclear how many planes will be built in the end and how many foreign partners will be willing to buy it. Why has the F-35 program reached the point of no return? After more than a decade since it was launched, officials insist there is no going back on the program, as the plane is supposed to form the backbone of the future fighter jet fleet. The US Air Force and the Marine Corps have not invested in an alternative, having put all their eggs in the F-...

Team Apache Sensors, including the U.S. Army Apache Attack Helicopter Project Management Office, the U.S. Army Aviation Flight Test Directorate and Lockheed Martin, conducted a test flight of the Apache AH-64E Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) during an event at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., yesterday. The test flight demonstrated the maturity of M-DSA and the enhanced capabilities it brings to the Modernized Target   Aquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS), the precision targeting and pilotage system for the AH-64D/E Apache helicopter. “We are looking forward to the reliability and maintainability improvements that this laser will bring to the M-TADS system,” said Lt. Col. Steven Van Riper, U.S. Army Apache Sensors Product Manager. “This system will help to further reduce the burden on our aircrews, and they will be able to reap the benefits of the performance improvements.” M-DSA increases M-TADS/PNVS designat...

The Indian Air Force’s backlog of orders for Russia’s Su-30MKI fighters makes up 272. The fighters are assembled by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that has received a license from Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft maker. “Since India received 50 assembled planes from Russia, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had assembled another 134 fighters in India,” a source close to the Indian company told Itar-Tass on Monday. “We hope to form 14 squadrons of Su-30MKI fighters by 2018. By this time we will have 272 such planes in service.” After this India might enlarge its backlog of orders, if the Sukhoi/HAL fifth generation  fighter  project or introduction into service of India’s own light fighter Tejas were delayed, the source said. The Iandian Air Force is expected to get its first squadron of Tejas in 2015 and the second one – in 2017. The project to build India’s Tejas fighters began in 1983. The plane made its maiden flight in January 2011. Read mo...

Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft maker delivered a total of 12 advanced Su-35 multirole fighters to the Russian air force this year, the air force commander said Wednesday. The Russian Defense Ministry ordered 48 Su-35s in 2009. The final deliveries are due in 2015. “We received 12 [Su-35] aircraft this year in addition to 10 delivered earlier,” Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said. Bondarev said that under the contract with Sukhoi, the air force would receive 12 Su-35 fighter jets next year and 14 aircraft in 2015. The Su-35s will be based at the Dzemga airbase in Russia’s Far East, he said. The Su-35 Flanker-E is a heavily upgraded derivative of the Su-27 multirole fighter. It has been touted as "4++ generation using fifth-generation technology." The aircraft, powered by two 117S turbofans with thrust-vectoring, features high maneuverability and the capability to engage several air targets simultaneously.                    ...

The F-2  program is a joint Japan/U.S. development, production, and sustainment program. MHI is the prime contractor and Lockheed Martin is the principal U.S. subcontractor. Production began in 1996, with the first delivery in 2000. Based on the design of the Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D Fighting Falcon, the F-2 was designed to meet the unique requirements of the JASDF. Although capable of both air-to-air and air-to-surface roles, the F-2 emphasizes the air-to-surface role because its primary mission is protection of Japan’s sea lanes. The F-2 has a wing area that is enlarged approximately 25 percent over the F-16 wing area. The larger wing allows more internal fuel storage and two more weapon store stations than the F-16. Japan elected to fabricate the wing substructure using graphite epoxy and by applying state-of-the-art co-cured composite technology to maximize the strength while minimizing the weight. In addition to the larger wing area, the F-2 fuselage is approximately ...

The first prototype of the Mig-29, now on permanent display at the Central Air Force Museum in Manino Airfield 40 Kilometers east of Moscow. The prototypes nose wheels were in front of the nose intakes. It had to be moved back on production models so that it would not throw mud or dust and dirt from the runaways directly into the engines. Unlike it’s direct competitor the F-16, the MIG-29 had two engines instead of one. The soviet air force insisted on two engines as a safety factor because a number of single engined aircraft had crashed during pilot training. On October the 6th 1977, Mig-29 prototype 901 took it’s first flight. The Mikoyan Bureau chose not to install fly by wire on the Mig-29, The MiG-29 has hydraulic controls and a SAU-451 three-axis autopilot but, unlike the Su-27. It is very agile, with excellent instantaneous and sustained turn performance, high-alpha capability, and a general resistance to spins. Some Soviet pilots found the MiG-29’s NATO reporting name, “Fu...