Gulf Typhoon jet orders help UK leapfrog export rivals

Britain has climbed up an arms export ranking to become the fourth biggest defence exporter in the world last year because of huge deliveries of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to the Gulf.

The table, compiled on actual deliveries rather than sales, shows that the UK leapfrogged Germany in 2013 by delivering $3.9bn (£2.3bn) of arms to foreign buyers.

The figure was up from around £2bn the year before and Britain’s rise was driven by deliveries to Saudi Arabia of the BAE Systems-assembled Eurofighter Typhoon.

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J-20 may have better ground attack capability than F-22

The J-20, China's prototype first fifth-generation stealth fighter, may have better ground attack capability than its US counterpart, a report from the Beijing Sina Military Network said after a photo of the newest version of the aircraft was released on the internet.

Judging from the photo of a J-20 with the serial number 2011, Sina Military Network said the electro-optical targeting system seen below the nose indicates that the fighter is designed mainly for ground attack.

This is a similar design to American stealth fighters such as the F-22 and F-35. With stealth capability, the article said that J-20 can be a perfect bomber when used against a ground target.

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DRDO optimistic for induction of Akash SAM into Army soon

As the indigenously developed 'Akash', the surface-to-air missile (SAM) was successfully test fired yesterday from the integrated test range at Chandipur, Odisha, Defence, Research and Development Organization (DRDO) kindled hope of a quick induction of Akash SAM into Army.

With the aid of pilot less target aircraft, Lakshya, Akash missile successfully intercepted a flying target. Senior officials from ministry of defence said that today's test fire was more of a 'pre-induction trial'.

A senior official shared that while the Air Force version of Akash has already been inducted into the Indian Air Force, Army is yet to follow the same. According to senior official sources, Defence Acquisition Council has already given a nod to a combined order of Akash missiles for IAF and Army pegged at Rs 23,000 crore.

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Why is US spending so much on F-35?

Despite incessant technical problems and delays, the US military has no plans to cancel the new F-35 fighter jet, the costliest weapons programme 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 programme’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.

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Will China's New Aircraft Carriers Spark a Multibillion-Dollar Weapons-Buying Bonanza?

China has an aircraft carrier -- but that's not all it's got.

Last month, we outlined for you China's plans to take its first, experimental aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and build upon it a new blue water Navy boasting perhaps as many as four separate, full-sized aircraft carriers. It's what the country intends to do with these ships that's making its neighbors nervous.

This week, The Wall Street Journal reported on recent maneuvers by a Chinese "flotilla" consisting of two guided missile destroyers, an amphibious attack ship, and a presumed escort of unseen submarines.

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New arms threat: Argentina's £3billion boost to military

Buenos Aires will acquire military hardware including fighter aircraft, ­anti-aircraft weapons and specialised radar, as well as beefing up its special forces.

The news comes months before drilling for oil ­begins in earnest off the Falkland Islands, provoking ­Argentina’s struggling President Cristina ­Fernandez de ­Kirchner.

Last month she created a new cabinet post of Secretary for the Malvinas, her country’s name for the Falklands.

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Vietnam joins submarine arms race amid South China Sea tensions

Vietnam finally has a new weapon against the Chinese maritime expansion after receiving its first Kilo-class submarine from Russia on the last day of 2013, according to the Washington-based Strategy Page on Feb. 20.

The submarine is the first of six 2,300-tonne Kilo-class submarines to arrive in Vietnam after the country signed a US$2.1 billion deal with Russia in 2009. The submarines are likely to be based at Cam Ranh Bay, a deep water port located in southern Vietnam, Strategy Page said.

The port was once used by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, and later became a naval facility of the former Soviet Union.

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Britain's RAF lifts flying ban on Voyager fleet

Britain has lifted a flying ban on its fleet of Airbus-made Voyager military aircraft more than a week after it grounded the planes, with the planes to resume flying this afternoon, a spokesman for the AirTanker consortium said.

The Royal Air Force said on Feb. 12 that it had suspended flying of its Voyager fleet after an "inflight issue" on Feb. 9.

A source told Reuters that the plane plummeted between 3,000 and 5,000 feet while flying over Turkey.

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F-35 cracks need redesign, Marines still on track for 2015 combat use

Lockheed Martin Corp must redesign bulkheads on its F-35 fighter jet that developed cracks after extended stress testing, but the issue is not expected to delay the U.S. Marine Corps' plans to start using the plane in combat beginning in 2015, Pentagon and Marine Corps officials said on Friday.

"We consider this significant, but by no means catastrophic," Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, said in a statement.

"Root cause analysis is still ongoing, however based on preliminary analysis a redesign of the affected F-35B structural members will be required."

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Russian Air Force Receives New Stealth Fighter Prototype

A new advanced fighter jet prototype has been delivered to the Russian Air Force for testing, the manufacturer said Friday.

The first T-50 “stealth” fighter had been delivered to a military airfield in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region for test flights, the Sukhoi company said in a statement.

The chief air force commander, Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, said in December that combat squadrons could expect deliveries of the production version, known by its Russian acronym PAK-FA for future tactical fighter aircraft, in 2016 at the latest.

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Turkey signs $3.5 billion deal for Sikorsky helicopters

Turkey signed a deal worth $3.5 billion on Friday to buy helicopters from United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft unit, finalizing an order originally agreed upon in 2011, said the prime minister.

The agreement includes options that analysts say could result in billions of dollars of additional orders over the next three decades.

The 109 helicopters will be assembled in Turkey and a version of Sikorsky's popular Black Hawk. The main contractor is Turkish Aerospace Industries with components to be supplied by Sikorsky, Aselsan and other Turkish companies.

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Sea Dragon helicopter: Troubled past, uncertain future

The Navy started making plans in the late 1990s to retire the most powerful and crash-prone helicopters in its fleet.

By then, several of the service’s MH-53E Sea Dragons – the only U.S. helicopter capable of towing a specialized sled through water to detect and clear mines – were approaching the end of their planned service lives, and Navy leadership needed to make a decision: Invest a significant amount of money to keep the helicopters flying, or develop a replacement.

They chose the latter.

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Prowlers Depart on Last Carrier Deployment

The Feb. 14 departure of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush on its current deployment from Norfolk Naval Station, Va., marks the final scheduled carrier deployment of the EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft.

Unless another carrier with a squadron of Prowlers surges over the next year, the deployment of Electronic Attack Squadron 134 (VAQ-134) on the George H.W. Bush will be the last carrier cruise for the EA-6B.

The EA-6B will be retired from Navy service in 2015, but will continue in Marine Corps service until 2019.

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Deal to buy 12 fighters jets from South Korea reached

The Philippines said Friday a deal has been reached to buy 12 fighter jets worth P18.9 billion ($415.7 million) from South Korea as the country struggles to modernize its military.

“We did not only inch closer, we are almost there,” Undersecretary Fernando Manalo, chairman of Bids and Awards Committee, told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo Friday after Manila and Seoul reached a conclusion on the negotiations for the acquisition of 12 FA 50 lead-in fighter jets.

“We are considering it [FA-50 lead-in fighter jets] as not just an ordinary lead-in fighter because it can deliver short range missile and there is a potential for these to be classified as beyond the short range fighter aircraft,” Manalo said.

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German supply ship gives navy peek at new design

The German navy has pulled into Halifax with its latest warship to give Canadian sailors a sneak peek at what they can expect within a few years.

The Canadian government has bought the blueprints for the Federal German Ship Bonn and the navy is hoping a promise to supply two to three of the joint support ships (JSS) comes through by 2018.

The navy's quest for new supply ships has been a lengthy voyage, subject to dramatic course changes and even sudden reversals.

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Indian Navy has to take call on inducting Brahmos' submarine version

Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russia joint venture and manufacturer of the cruise missile, is awaiting decision from the Indian Navy, to induct its submarine version, a top official said on Friday.

Brahmos has successfully test fired the underwater version in March last and "Indian Navy has to take a decision in this regard (induction)," A Shivathanu Pillai, Brahmos CEO, told reporters here.

Shivathanu Pillai, who was here to address the heads of various department and students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said the company recently test-fired the missile on Salvo mode.

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Chinese frigates back in Ayungin

Beijing sent four coast guard ships to the Ayungin Shoal despite a protest from Manila, a defense official at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City said.

According to the source who declined to be named because a statement will be issued by higher authorities, the vessels belong to the frigate class.

“They were sighted anew near Ayungin Shoal last week,” the source said whose account is yet to be confirmed by the Navy and Coast Guard.

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Russian Sub to Feature Advanced Quiet Propulsion by 2016

Russia’s latest generation attack submarine will be fitted with an advanced ultra-quiet propulsion system within the next three years, the country’s naval commander said Thursday.

Admiral Viktor Chirkov said that the first Lada-class attack submarine will be equipped with the air-independent system by 2016, to increase both its range and stealth.

The only operational Lada-class submarine, the Sankt Peterburg, entered into service four years ago after more than a decade of construction and sea trials.

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Lockheed Martin Demonstrates JAGM Dual-Mode Guidance Section in Recent Flight Test

Lockheed Martin recently demonstrated the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) dual-mode guidance section engaging a laser-designated moving target during an internally funded flight test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

The rail-mounted JAGM guidance section flew six kilometers, engaged its precision-strike, semi-active laser and hit the moving target.

The flight test, which was part of Lockheed Martin’s internal research and development program, is an important risk reduction milestone critical to Lockheed Martin’s performance on the U.S. Army’s 27-month Continued Technology Development (CTD) program.

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Surface-to-air Akash missile successfully test-fired

India today test-fired the indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile from the Integrated Test Range launch complex at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha.

The missile targeted a floating object supported by Pilot Less Target Aircraft (PTA) 'Lakshya', defence officials said.

"Akash was test fired from launch complex-3 at 11.22 am," a defence official said, adding that "some more trials would be conducted within the next couple of days".

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Azerbaijan and Turkey to sign final document on joint missile production in the near future

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense Industry and ROKETSAN company of Turkey will sign a final document on the joint production of missiles at an Azerbaijani facility, Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) told APA.

Technical issues on joint production have already been solved. Necessary measures are being taken to start the production.

SSM has not revealed when the final document will be signed. According to the agreement, 107 and 122 mm caliber missiles will be manufactured at the Azerbaijani facility with the participation of ROKETSAN.

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MiG-31: A fighter ahead of its time

Russian airspace is guarded by a unique aircraft, which can intercept any target, from hidden cruise missiles to satellites – day and night, rain or shine, and at any speed.

Defence analysts believe that no other aircraft of its kind would be able to compete with the Russian MiG-31 in the next 10 to 15 years.

Arctic barrier
The two-seat supersonic fighter-interceptor, referred to as Foxhound by NATO, is the first Soviet combat aircraft of the fourth generation. In the late 1960s, there were two reasons to build this aircraft, internal and external.

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Report: U.S. drone may have killed Yemeni civilians

A U.S. military drone strike in Yemen in December may have killed up to a dozen civilians on their way to a wedding and injured others, including the bride, a human rights group says.

U.S. officials say only members of al-Qaida were killed, but they have refused to make public the details of two U.S. investigations into the incident.

Human Rights Watch released a report on the drone strike Thursday, citing interviews with eight witnesses and relatives of the dead as well as Yemeni officials.

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$500K radar system gives Offutt pilots better data in effort to avoid dangerous bird strikes

Lt. Col. Jeff O'Grady won't ever forget the time he kissed a black bird with his Air Force jet.

Flying an RC-135 near Offutt Air Force Base in 2002, O'Grady flinched as the crow smacked into his windshield.

“The bird's coming at the window,” said O'Grady, who is now chief of safety for the Offutt-based 55th Wing. “You duck because you're human, even though there's two panes of glass. Then, there's a bird stuck under the windshield wiper.”

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U-2 Vs. Global Hawk: Why Drones Aren't The Answer To Every Military Need

Earlier this month, four of Washington’s most respected public-policy “think tanks” offered their views on how the U.S. military posture should be organized.

They differed on many issues, but one place where they all agreed was on the desirability of retiring the venerable U-2 spy plane in favor of an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft called Global Hawk.

The think tanks thus sided with the fashionable consensus that the future of warfare belongs to drones rather than manned aircraft.

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