Russia's Admiral Nakhimov Battle Cruiser to Return to Service by 2018

Earlier reports suggested that Russia may finish the modernization of the warship by the end of 2019.

"You must have heard about our heavy aircraft [guided missile] cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, it is being modernized now… It will be a modern powerful ship in the old hull meeting all present-day requirements, and will be handed over to the Navy in 2017-2018," Capt. 1st Rank Vladimir Tryapichnikov told Ekho Moskvy radio.

The reconstruction works include the upgrade of the life support systems, missile systems and artillery weapons, as well as electronic weapons systems. The life of the battlecruiser will be extended for at least another 35 years following the repairs.

Read more

Missile base plan disclosed in art project document

The planning of a missile base in Kaohsiung has been inadvertently exposed in a military document sent out to invite bidders for a project to install works of public art there, a report said yesterday.

The defense ministry said it would not comment on sensitive and confidential matters such as military deployments and facilities.

The United Evening News said the military is constructing its first Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile base in Southern Taiwan.

Read more

GAO Report: US Anti-Missile Interceptors Have Serious Technical Flaws

Anti-missile interceptors that would be used to defend the United States against a nuclear attack from North Korea have at least one of two serious technical flaws that could leave them susceptible to experiencing "failure modes" that would result in "an interceptor fleet that would not work as intended," a Government Accountability Office report reveals.

The Pentagon was informed of the issues last summer, reports the Los Angeles Times, but postponed corrections, telling federal auditors that acting immediately would slow down an expansion of the national homeland missile defense system and interfere with the production of new interceptors.

And now, all of the 33 interceptors that are deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, and at Ft. Greely, Alaska, have one of the defects.

Read more

Russian aircraft head off U.S. destroyer in Black Sea

Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday, but the Pentagon denied any unusual behavior.

RIA quoted an anonymous source in Russia's armed forces in Crimea as saying that the guided missile destroyer USS Ross was moving along the edge of Russia's territorial waters and heading in their direction.

"The crew of the ship acted provocatively and aggressively, which concerned the operators of monitoring stations and ships of the Black Sea Fleet," RIA quoted the source as saying.

Read more

A-10's backers battling for its survival

For this year — and perhaps longer — the A-10s that fly over Tucson almost daily may escape the budget ax with help from a longtime ally with new power.

The Air Force wants to retire the entire fleet of A-10 “Warthogs,” including three squadrons at D-M, by 2019 to save some $4 billion. But Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former Navy pilot who ascended to the chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, has vowed to halt the A-10’s retirement.

McCain argues that no other plane offers the low-level, sustained close air support the A-10 delivers.

Read more

Undocking of INS Vikrant Postponed

The much-anticipated ‘undocking’ of INS Vikrant, the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at the Cochin Shipyard for the Indian Navy, was postponed on Saturday due to siltation following high-tide.

Undocking means that the work that needs to be carried out in the dry dock has been completed. Now, all the underwater works of the IAC have been completed, and the ship is ready to float out of the dry dock.

The remaining work can be completed while the ship is floating.

Read more

Russia to Take Part in South China Sea Naval Exercises

Russia will take part in South China Sea counter-terrorism exercises as it becomes increasingly concerned with security and stability in the region.

Russia will conduct naval exercises in the South China Sea in 2016, together with its partners in the Asia Pacific Region, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said at a defense summit in Singapore on Saturday.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit of defense ministers, Antonov said that Russia is increasingly concerned for its security, citing US missile shield deployments, terrorism and "color revolutions." Russia will also conduct its first-ever exercises together with Brunei in 2016.

Read more

Australia to Continue Military Patrols in South China Sea

The Australian government has asserted its right to fly military patrols over contested South China Sea islands claimed by Beijing, but said on Sunday it hadn’t had formal talks with the U.S. on naval missions as a direct challenge to Chinese muscle-flexing.

Australia’s Defense Minister Kevin Andrews, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal from Singapore, said Canberra had sent long-range maritime patrol aircraft over the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, and would continue to do so despite the potential for obstruction from China.

“We’ve been doing it for decades, we’re doing it currently…and we’ll continue to do it into the future,” Mr. Andrews said, in one of his first foreign press interviews since assuming responsibility for Australia’s military during a Cabinet shake-up in Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservative government last year.

Read more

Germany Lobbies India To Buy Eurofighters, Submarines

Germany’s defence minister held out the prospect of more talks on a possible sale of Eurofighter jets to India and, on a visit to New Delhi, said Berlin stood ready to back a multi-billion-dollar Indian submarine project.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has just marked his first year in office, cut through an impasse over a troubled tender for high-end combat jets by announcing a deal in France last month to buy 36 Rafales from Dassault.

India has since said the original tender, launched by the last government to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, is all but dead, but rival jet makers are hoping the $14 billion tender will be reopened.

Read more

4th Russian-built submarine set to arrive in Vietnam next month

The fourth of the six Kilo-class submarines that Vietnam has contracted to buy from Russia is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam next month.

The submarine codenamed HQ-185 Da Nang is currently carried by the Dutch-registered cargo ship Rolldock Storm which is on its way to Vietnam.

It is docking at a port in the Canary Islands off the southern coast of Morocco for fuel filling.

Read more

MdCN Naval Cruise Missile 1st Launch from a FREMM

The French Navy (Marine Nationale) has released a video showing the first launch of an MdCN (Missile de Croisière Navale) Naval Cruise Missile from a FREMM Frigate.

On May 19, frigate Aquitaine (head of the class and first unit in the multi-mission frigate program FREMM) successfully fired its first naval cruise missile on the firing ranges of the DGA missile testing centre off Levant Island.

This event marked the first time a European surface ship has fired a cruise missile.

Read more

Indonesia conducts first test firing of Exocet from Bung Tomo corvette

The Indonesian Navy (Tentera Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) has fired an Exocet anti-ship missile from a Bung Tomo-class corvette for the first time.

The test, in which a MM40 Block 2 version of the missile was fired from first-of-class KRI Bung Tomo (357), was conducted on 28 May in the Java Sea and witnessed by senior navy leaders, including TNI-AL chief of staff Vice Admiral Ade Supandi.

A source close to the TNI-AL told IHS Jane's that the missile was fired at the lead Kupang-class 43 m landing craft utility (LCU) ship, KRI Kupang (582), which was decommissioned in May.

Read more

THAAD is 'excellent deterrent' against N. Korean threats: McCain

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said Saturday the possible deployment of the U.S. advanced missile defense system on Korean soil should be considered as threats by North Korea have grown.

"The THAAD system is a very effective and excellent deterrent. I think it is something that has to be considered in light of recent information about the advanced step North Korea has made," McCain said in a press conference in Singapore on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Washington has expressed its willingness to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on the Korean Peninsula to better protect South Korea and the some 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country from North Korea's threats.

Read more

US Navy achieves initial operating capability on Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2

The U.S. Navy has achieved initial operational capability (IOC) with the Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 produced by Raytheon Company. RAM Block 2 is a significant performance upgrade that features enhanced kinematics, an evolved radio frequency receiver, and an improved control system.

"RAM Block 2 provides the accuracy and lethality our sailors need to combat growing regional threats," said Captain Craig Bowden, Major Program Manager for Rolling Airframe Missile, U.S. Navy Integrated Warfare Systems 3B program office. "IOC signals that the U.S. Navy is pacing the threat and ensuring the safety and security of our sailors and ships so they can operate wherever required."

By achieving IOC, the U.S. Navy can employ the RAM Block 2 missile onboard deploying ships, significantly enhancing their self-defense capability against anti-ship missiles. The IOC declaration follows RAM Block 2's delivery to the U.S. Navy last July, continuing more than eight years of on-time deliveries and culminating years of planning and coordinated effort by industry and the U.S. Navy.

Read more

Netherlands sends attrition replacement Apache to Mali

The Royal Netherlands Air Force on 27 May sent a single AH-64D Apache attack helicopter to Mali to replace the one that crashed on 17 March, killing both crewmembers on board.

The Dutch defence ministry said the Apache was loaded aboard a NATO C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft at Gilze-Rijen Air Base. Once the helicopter arrives in Mali, it will bring up the Dutch contingent’s helicopter strength to the required numbers.

The Netherlands has been involved in the U.N. mission in Mali since last year.

Read more

HMS Ocean conducts first-time operations of Wildcat helicopter

The UK Royal Navy's latest helicopter, the Wildcat, has landed on the navy's commando carrier HMS Ocean for the first time during Exercise Joint Warrior in the North Sea.

The attack helicopter was commissioned last year at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, and began its operational deployment at sea this year.

The new helicopters are scheduled to replace the Lynx helicopter. The Wildcat features a variety of upgrades and improvements compared to its predecessor.

Read more

Can China's aircraft radar systems compete?

Recently a photograph of a Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) pod has been circulating online, which gives the fighter-bomber greater long-range reconnaissance capabilities, according to Sina's military news web portal.

Many new generation battlefield and airspace surveillance aircraft are now being equipped with SAR pods, as they give them day and night all-weather air detection capabilities. Some of the more popular SAR pods include the Israeli EL/M-2060P and the French Raphael Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR).

The US Air Force have previously tested the EL/M 2060P on the F-16 Fighting Falcon, as well as installing the SAR pod of the MQ-1 Predator drone on the F-16.

Read more

China Unveils New Long-Range Drone

China has unveiled a new twin-fuselage drone that analysts say will give the People’s Liberation Army long-range surveillance and strike capabilities.

The Shen Diao, or Divine Eagle, remotely piloted aircraft is being developed by China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and appears from Chinese Internet photos made public recently to be larger than the U.S Air Force’s Global Hawk long-range surveillance drone.

Rep. J. Randy Forbes, (R., Va.) a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Chinese support for systems such as the Shen Diao drone is part of a long-range, well-funded military buildup.

Read more

Chinese weaponry said to be on artificial island

China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea is out of step with international rules, and turning underwater land into airfields won’t expand its sovereignty, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told an international security conference Saturday, stepping up America’s condemnation of the communist giant as Beijing officials sat in the audience.

Carter told the room full of Asia-Pacific leaders and experts that the U.S. opposes “any further militarization” of the disputed lands.

His remarks were immediately slammed as “groundless and not constructive” by a Chinese military officer in the audience.

Read more

India to Test Barak 8 Missile Jointly Developed With Israel

About six years after Israel signed a $1.1 billion deal to upgrade the Barak 8 surface-to-air missile system with India, India was gearing up to conduct its own test-fire of the projectile, Indian NDTV reported on Friday.

If successful, the test would pave the way for the Barak 8 system to become a fully operational and incorporated defense system in the Indian navy.

Defense sources in India told NDTV that the country’s navy would test the missile during the upcoming monsoon season so that “operational challenge is created.”

Read more

Report: Maintenance of overseas-ported ships growing problem for Navy

Reports of incidents of degraded or out-of-service equipment on U.S. Navy ships have doubled over the past five years, with the condition of many overseas-homeported ships deteriorating faster than U.S.-based ones.

Maintenance for some overseas ships has been repeatedly delayed, leading to degraded condition, according to a report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office.

The Navy, however, has not come up with a long-term plan to deal with needed maintenance, even as it has come to rely more on homeporting vessels overseas.

Read more

Taiwan military says it fully identified passing French frigates

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said Friday it had been closely monitoring two French military vessels that passed near Taiwan earlier this month, and there was no truth to a local media report that it had failed to identify the ships.

The ministry said one of the vessels was a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship that passed east of Taiwan on May 6, while the other was a La Fayette-class frigate that sailed through the Taiwan Strait the following day.

In a statement, the defense ministry said it was on top of the situation as the two French vessels sailed northward past Taiwan and it had put response measures in place.

Read more

‘Fundamental Change In Direction’ For F-35; Kendall Floats Plan To Buy 450 Planes

As I watched the seemingly endless string of F-35Bs take off from the deck of the USS Wasp earlier this week, I was struck by how routine it all seemed.

During eight days of flying, the F-35Bs flew 108 sorties, racking up 85.5 hours, deputy Marine Commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, told us on the phone this morning, conceding it was “a low number of hours, really, because the jets were light-loaded…” Low hours, maybe, but that’s the first time these planes were put through their paces in anything like regular military circumstances.

Routine is not what we’ve come to associate with the F-35 program over the last decade. Instead, we’ve thought of overweight planes, ballooning costs, design flaws, unresponsive companies (Lockheed Martin), balky software and magic sensors that just didn’t seem that magical.

Read more

North Korea Covers Up Russian Sub’s Fatal Collision in Its Waters

North Korea concealed a collision between a Russian submarine and one of its own patrol ships as well as fishing boats that occurred nearly a year ago in coastal waters off the northeastern port city Cheongjin, resulting in 19 deaths, sources inside the country said.

The accident occurred when a Russian submarine in the East Sea of Korea (Sea of Japan) quickly surfaced to disentangle itself from an abandoned fishing net and collided with and overturned several fishing boats and a North Korean naval vessel, sources from North Hamgyong province where Cheongjin is located recently told RFA.

There were 14 people on the fishing boats eating dinner together and 32 on the naval vessel in the coastal area when the incident occurred at around 11 p.m. in early July 2014, one of the sources said.

Read more

Navy to soon get latest Sonar systems for anti-sub warfare

India will get six low frequency Active Towed Array Sonar (ACTAS) systems, that will be fitted on the Kamorta-class submarines, later this year from Germany.

The system, which can detect enemy submarines, will give a fillip to India's anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

India had late last year signed a contract for the towed array sonar with German firm Atlas Elektronik.

Read more

Nimrod axe 'causes Trident risk'

The UK's lack of submarine-hunting planes following the decision to axe the Nimrod fleet has given opportunities for "intruders" which could "prejudice the security and effectiveness" of Trident, they said.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the five retired senior officers wrote: "The need to reintroduce Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) into the British frontline is now widely recognised.

"With so few naval escorts available, this will be vital if future aircraft carriers are not to be put severely at risk.

Read more

French Defense Minister: 8 FREMM For The Navy Followed by 5 New Generation FTI Frigates

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian detailed the naval part of the update to the French Military Planning Law today on a naval base in Brittany.

The French Navy will receive 8 FREMM Frigates in total (while 11 of them were originally planned) and a new generation of frigates: the FTI (Frégate de Taille Intermédiaire or Midsize Frigate) which will start being delivered in 2023 for a total of 5 hulls.

French Defense Minister explained during his speech today that the delivery of a FREMM Frigate to Egypt (the former Normandie originally intended for the French Navy) will be compensated and six ASW FREMM Frigates will be delivered to the French Navy by the end of 2019 in accordance with the Military Planning Law.

Read more

New Boeing Avionics Facility to Enhance ROKAF Readiness, Affordability

Boeing today formally opened a new avionics maintenance and repair center in the Yeongcheon Industry District of Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone. The 10,000 square-foot facility will test and repair aircraft electrical systems, reducing repair times and yielding significant inventory cost savings for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF).

The new facility underlines both Boeing’s growing role as a global enterprise and its participation in the growth of the domestic Korean aerospace sector.

“This facility will enhance readiness of the ROKAF’s F-15K fleet by allowing rapid, affordable in-country support of the aircraft’s advanced systems,” said Leanne Caret, president for Boeing’s Global Services & Support. “There is also tremendous potential to expand work performed at this facility, by serving other global customers and supporting a variety of weapon systems.”

Read more

Russian MiG-31 Successfully Downs Cruise Missile in Military Drills

A Russian MiG-31 (Foxhound) interceptor successfully downed a cruise missile that was fired by a Tu-95MS (Bear) strategic bomber over the Pemboi Range in Russia’s northwestern region, the Russian Defense Ministry’s Central Military District’s press service said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The aircraft are taking part in snap combat readiness drills in the Republic of Komi.

“The cruise missile was destroyed at an altitude of 300 meters above the ground from a distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the target.”

Source

Northrop Grumman, US Army Achieve Ballistic Missile Intercept in Inaugural Flight Test

The U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman Corporation took a significant step toward the objective for integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) when a ballistic missile was destroyed using the IAMD Battle Command System (IBCS) in its first flight test.

"Working together with the Army, we will deliver with IBCS a fully netted system providing a single, unambiguous view to enable any-sensor, best-shooter capability," said Dan Verwiel, vice president and general manager, integrated air and missile defense division, Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

"Today's successful intercept test demonstrated the power of the IBCS to conduct net-centric engagements with componentized sensors and launchers."

Read more

Russia Stations Iskander Missiles in Kaliningrad: NATO Cries Wolf

The deployment of Iskander-M missile complexes in Kaliningrad will “fundamentally change the balance of security in Europe,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a speech at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday.

Stoltenberg described Moscow’s actions as “unjustified, destabilizing and dangerous” while adding that the alliance did not wish to deepen its confrontation with Russia.

In Moscow President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov dismissed the NATO chief’s words about Moscow allegedly using military drills as a cover for moving troops to Ukrainian territory as “irrelevant.”

Read more

Airbus admits 'assembly quality problem' after A400M crash

Analysis of the flight recorders of the A400M which crashed in Spain on May 9, killing four, indicated there were no structural faults but assembly quality problems, a senior Airbus executive said in a newspaper interview to appear on Friday.

"The black boxes confirm it. There was no structural fault, but we have a serious final assembly quality problem," Airbus group's chief of strategy Marwan Lahoud told the German daily Handelsblatt after receiving the first results of the analyses of the flight recorders.

In a statement released ahead of publication, Handelsblatt wrote that the units which control the engines of the turboprop A400M military cargo and troop transport were poorly installed during final assembly, which could have led to the engines malfunctioning and the plane crashing.

Read more

General Dynamics Delivers Software Update for AV-8B Harrier II Jet Mission System Computers

General Dynamics Mission Systems' Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACETM) team delivered the third software release to the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

The software upgrades are loaded into the mission system computer (MSC) in AV-8B Harrier II aircraft used by the U.S. Marine Corps. The software release, using the FACE Technical Standard, provides improved functionality for faster, less expensive integration of MSC applications.

General Dynamics received the contract to upgrade AV-8B Harrier's MSCs with the next-generation FACE Infrastructure and capability in 2013.

Read more

Slow-moving fighter jet blocks Autobahn traffic

A damaged Eurofighter plane being pulled by a truck along the autobahn was so wide that it blocked three lanes of traffic on its way to being repaired in Bavaria on Thursday, drawing the ire of fellow drivers.

The supersonic fighter jet's wingspan of more than eleven meters was so large that other cars could not overtake it along the A9 autobahn.

And the truck hauling the plane along the autobahn could only travel at between 50 and 60 kilometers per hour due to the heavy load.

Read more

UK and US military test F-35B Lightning II jets at sea

A group of Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel are currently at sea onboard USS WASP, joining American colleagues in the latest F-35B Lightning II fast jet trials.

It's hoped it will give the RAF a true multi-role all weather, day and night capability which is able to operate from well-established land bases, deployed locations or the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers.

The Royal Navy’s vision for tactical integration of the F-35B into their current arsenal is similar to the Marine Corps’ plan to integrate the F-35 with legacy aircraft, such as the AV-8B Harrier and the F/A-18 Hornet, and gradually phase out legacy aircraft over the coming decades.

Read more

PEO Carriers: Advanced Arresting Gear Delays Won’t Stop Ford From Delivering On Time

The program executive officer for aircraft carriers told USNI News he is confident the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) will deliver on time despite delays in the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) program.

Rear Adm. Tom Moore said Thursday that the AAG setbacks created about four to six weeks of schedule pressure to the ship, but he is striving to make up that time.

Moore said in March that the General Atomics-built component had a design flaw, but the solution that has been implemented seems to be working well, he told USNI News.

Read more

Indigenous aircraft carrier to be ready by 2018: Navy chief

Indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant would be ready by 2018, Navy chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan said on Thursday.

"The indigenous aircraft carrier will be ready by 2018," Dhowan told reporters after the conclusion of the Naval Commanders' Conference here.

INS Vikrant, a 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier, is under construction at the Cochin Shipyard.

It is the first aircraft carrier to be designed by the Directorate of Naval Design of the Indian Navy.

Read more

Modernized Cruiser Chancellorsville Leaving for New Homeport in Japan

The guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) departed San Diego today for its new homeport of Yokosuka, Japan, rejoining the Forward Deployed Naval Forces and bringing an improved anti-air warfare capability to the Asia-Pacific region.

Chancellorsville was the first cruiser to receive its Aegis Baseline 9 upgrade, undergoing the modernization work in 2012 and extensive testing in 2013 and 2014.

The upgrade allows better command and control through the Navy Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) system and better fire power through the Standard Missile-6 surface to air missile.

Read more

Sweden And Denmark Build Closer Defense Ties As Russian Threat in Baltic Rises

Denmark and Sweden have announced that they will develop closer defense ties, just as both face increased Russian military activity in the Baltic and Nordic regions.

The cooperation, announced at a joint press conference in Copenhagen on Wednesday, could see the two countries share air and maritime surveillance information during peacetime, even though Denmark is a member of NATO and Sweden is a neutral country.

"We have a long tradition of military cooperation between Denmark and Sweden,” said a joint statement from the Swedish and Danish Defense ministries. “A pragmatic and determined effort will be made to enhance Danish-Swedish military cooperation in order to achieve increased operational effect and added value to mutual benefit for both countries. We underline the political will and intent to move forward.”

Read more

A first for IAF: Anti-ship Harpoon missile fired from fighter jet

The Indian Air Force launched an anti-ship Harpoon missile from a fighter plane for the first time at a pre-designated target in the Arabian Sea last week. The missile, built by US defence giant Boeing, was launched on May 22 from a Jaguar maritime strike fighter that flew 200 nautical miles off the west coast to carry out the mission, a source said.

The fighter belonged to the IAF’s maritime strike squadron based at the Lohegaon airbase outside Pune. The Jaguar was refuelled midair during the mission, the source added.

An official confirmed it was the “first live firing” of the Harpoon from a warplane in India after integration by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. “It was successful,” he added.

Read more

UK says rejects whistleblower's warning over nuclear submarines

The united kingdom Britain has finished an interrogative right into a whistleblower’s charges that is actually its nuclear-armed submarines have huge intrusion problems and is actually glad no retreat cracks have transpire, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Thursday.

Able Seaman William McNeilly unveil an extended file over the internet previously and this month by which he explained Britain’s Trident nuclear defending product was in fact defenseless its foes and possibly disturbing twists of fate due to security breakdowns.

“Neither the working efficacy our uninterrupted put off restriction nor the reliability of your submariners or masses have already been neglected,” Fallon said within the published testimony in to parliament.

Read more

Russian Air Force to Get at Least 50 New Strategic Tu-160 Blackjack Bombers

The Russian Defense Ministry will purchase no less than 50 new Tu-160 (Blackjack) heavy strategic bombers when production is renewed, Russian Air Force Commander Col.Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday.

“No less than 50 aircraft over time will be purchased in order to cover the costs that will go into production,” Col.Gen. Bondarev said without specifying when production would begin.

Earlier Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the need to renew the Tu-160s production.

Read more

Vandenberg AFB test-fires third ballistic missile

Air Force officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base test-fired an unarmed Minuteman-III ballistic missile during the early morning hours of May 20.

Launched toward the Pacific Ocean at around 3:30 a.m., the purpose of the test launch was to “validate and verify the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system,” according to the Air Force.

“The data gained from these launches allows us to maintain a high readiness capability and ensures operation effectiveness of the most powerful weapons in the nation’s arsenal,” said Col. Keith Balts, commander for the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg, who’s also responsible for deciding whether or not a missile gets launched.

Read more

UK Based F-15Es Flew A Secret Long-Range Mission Over Africa On Monday

A pair of RAF Lakenheath based USAF F-15E Strike Eagles that were bristling with live bombs and air-to-air missiles, along five KC-135R tankers, flew on a secretive and grueling 12 hour mission over the Southern Mediterranean on Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day.

Multiple radio interceptors and plane spotters state that four F-15E’s, callsigns ABLE 01 through 04, took off from their home base at RAF Lakenheath laden with yellow banded (live) AIM-9M sidewinders, AIM-120 AMRAAMS and no less than seven 500lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).

These aircraft were accompanied by five KC-135Rs tankers, callsign QUID 91 through 95, that launched out of their base at RAF Mildenhall, just as the Lakenheath based F-15Es were departing.

Read more

Eurofighter Typhoon - Now an even stronger force multiplier

Active on Baltic Patrols in support of NATO, and fresh from Exercise Red Flag in Nevada, the Eurofighter Typhoon Team have confirmed that a new suite of capabilities is delivering 'spectacular results' in 2015 as the 431 aircraft delivered to customers come close to accumulating 300,000 flying hours.

Eurofighter CEO, Alberto Gutierrez, said: "We are getting extremely positive feedback from our customers over the performance and reliability of the Eurofighter Typhoon, both on exercise and on deployment. It is now becoming widely recognised that the platform is a potent force multiplier especially when flying in support of other airborne assets."

Already recognised as the 'backbone of European air power', the Typhoon's credibility has recently been further enhanced with the continued integration of powerful new radar and weapons capability.

Read more

Check Out The $400,000 Helmet That Sees Through Walls

When you spend $400 on a motorcycle helmet, you have certain expectations about quality and safety. But what should you expect when your helmet costs $400,000?

Well, if you expected it to be magically able to see through walls, you’d be right. It won’t actually give you Superman’s X-Ray vision, but it’s pretty close.

This “super-helmet” is actually the F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) and it was created to work in synch with one of the most complex weapons systems ever created: the F-35 Lightning II.

Read more

Russia's fifth-generation smartplane PAK FA T-50: Total eclipse of F-35

Russia's fifth-generation PAK FA T-50 fighter jet is a "flying robot, a smart plane," advisor to Director General of Radio Electronic Technology Concern, Vladimir Mikheyev said.

The pilot does not play a significant role for the new fifth-generation fighter jet. The pilot, the official said, is "an integral part of the aircraft," RIA Novosti reports.

In addition to its advanced design, PAK FA has a number of other advantages over foreign aircraft. For example, PAK FA T-50 fighter remains maneuverable and stable at supercritical attack angles.

Read more

Embattled F-35 fighter jet could soon be ready for combat

It has wound a tortured path to get here. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been derided as a trillion-dollar boondoggle, the "plane that ate the Pentagon," a failed project billions over budget and years behind schedule that should be killed.

And yet here it was Tuesday, the sun glinting off its wings on a beautiful day as it approached this amphibious assault ship for a landing 100 miles off the North Carolina coast. It nestled in undaunted, touching down vertically like a helicopter onto the deck.

Crews rushed around in a well-scripted choreography, getting ready to usher it off the ship again. And with the pilot’s salute from the cockpit, and a thunderous rush toward the horizon, it was off again over the deep blue water.

Read more

Last flight for Prowler will be to Museum of Flight

The last active duty flight for a Navy electronic warfare Grumman EA6-B Prowler jet will be to The Museum of Flight, May 27, where it will be officially decommissioned and taken into the museum’s permanent collection.

Immediately after the plane’s 12:15 p.m. arrival, there will be a brief ceremony with museum officials and Cmdr. Christopher Jason, the commanding officer of the plane’s squadron, Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 134, located at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

“The Prowler will be the first electronic warfare aircraft in the museum’s collection,” said Curator Dan Hagedorn.

Read more

HMS Prince of Wales receives its bow section

The UK Royal Navy's second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has been successfully installed with the bow section, marking the outward completion of its forward section.

The 620t block was raised using a Goliath crane and placed on the front of the ship in the dry dock.

Aircraft Carrier Alliance Prince of Wales in charge Angus Holt said: "Seeing the forward island in position on the flight deck marks a highly-visible achievement in the assembly programme.

Read more

28 AFP modernization projects face delay

Twenty-eight military projects, including base upgrades, various air assets, and ships might be delayed, as Malacañang has still to approve the Armed Forces Modernization Program.

Sources said the modernization program was submitted to Malacañang in February 2013, two months after President Aquino signed the bill into law.

However, the program has yet to be approved, The STAR learned yesterday.

Read more