Free Republic

The world's biggest defence deal is in danger of becom-ing one of the slowest in his-tory. More than two years after India zeroed in on the French Rafale fighter jet-after a tor-tured 11-year selection process-to replace its ageing MiG-21s, the Ger-man-led European consortium which was the runner-up in the race has sought to restart the dogfight by offer-ing a new, cheaper proposal for its Eurofighter Typhoon. The Narendra Modi Government, INDIA TODAY has learnt, is studying the German proposal even as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been nego-tiating with France's Dassault, the maker of the Rafale, to finalise agree-ments to...

The People's Liberation Army has carried out a second, albeit unsuccessful test of a hypersonic vehicle, two sources close to the military said, as China attempts to find a way to deliver nuclear weapons at immense speed to evade defence systems. The test was carried out on August 7 at a missile and satellite launching centre in Shanxi province, about 300km from its capital Taiyuan, said the sources, who asked not be named. It was the second time the system had failed, the two sources said. The vehicle broke up soon after it was launched. It is designed to be...

General Electric Korea on Thursday expressed its willingness to join the South Korean government’s plan to develop a double-engine platform for its next generation of fighter jets. The U.S.-based conglomerate said it could do more good when collaborating with Korean companies in the KFX project, while promoting its rich history and competitiveness in the global aerospace industry. “GE has played a significant role in the development of Korea’s aerospace defense industry by providing jet engines, avionics and integrated systems,” said Khang Sung-wook, president and CEO of GE Korea, at a press conference in Seoul. “Through the KFX program, GE seeks...

Qinetiq has marked the 40th anniversary of the Hawker Siddeley (now BAE Systems) Hawk jet trainer's first flight by commissioning in-flight pictures of pre-production aircraft XX154 – which remains in use with the Empire Test Pilots’ School. Jamie Hunter/Qinetiq First flight of the T1-standard aircraft was conducted from Dunsfold, Surrey on 21 August 1974, with the trainer flown by test pilot Duncan Simpson OBE. Having subsequently served with experimental and research units, XX154 is now owned by Qinetiq and operated from the UK Ministry of Defence's Boscombe Down site in Wiltshire. It continues to be flown as a test pilot...

The Air Force grounded more than half of its F-16D fighter jets after it found structural cracks between the front and rear pilot seats in several aircraft, according to a statement released Tuesday in Washington. The cracks in the canopy longeron sill, a thin strip of material that fastens to the fuselage, were found in 82 of the Air Force’s 157 F-16D aircraft. The Air Force ordered an inspection of all F-16Ds after it began finding cracks on the planes during routine post-flight inspections. The service finished its inspections Aug. 18. The Air Force F-16 Program Office and Lockheed Martin...

The MiG-29 Fulcrum outside the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has a hornet’s nest growing in its nose. Its tires, lifted off the ground by stands, are split and shredded. Bird droppings drool off its radome. The aircraft gives the impression of a war prize displayed like a head on a stake. In a way, it is a war prize, taken in the winning of the cold war. It’s one of 17 MiG-29s the U.S. government purchased from the former Soviet state of Moldova in 1997, a deal that kept the jets from...

Tim Nguyen regards the C-130 “Hercules” as a “good friend.” The 60-year-old military aircraft has been the focus of his professional career, and quite possibly saved his life. During the 1975 Fall of Saigon, Nguyen -- then serving in the South Vietnamese air force -- escaped on the last C-130 out of Vietnam. During a lull in enemy fire, he emerged from a bunker at Tan Son Nhut Air Base to see the last flyable C-130 stopping and going on the taxiway. The aircraft’s rear ramp was still open, apparently weighed down by the crowd of people standing on it.

Engine technology being developed for a British space plane could also find its way into hypersonic aircraft built by the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is studying hypersonic vehicles that would use the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), which the English company Reaction Engines Ltd. is working on to power the Skylon space plane, AFRL officials said. "AFRL is formulating plans to look at advanced vehicle concepts based on Reaction Engine's heat-exchanger technology and SABRE engine concept," officials with AFRL, which is based in Ohio, told Space.com via email last month. ... SABRE burns hydrogen and oxygen....

Denel sees a future for the Rooivalk combat helicopter and is engaging with the Department of Defence and Armscor on the future production of the aircraft, according to Denel Group CEO Riaz Saloojee. Saloojee was speaking during the presentation of Denel’s annual financial results on Friday. “Given the capabilities of this aircraft…there will be a future for this platform,” he said. Denel has acknowledged the “excellent performance of the Rooivalk combat support helicopter during deployment as part of peace support operations in Africa,” where it “made a significant impact on the peace enforcement in the region.” “The successful deployment of...

Four Su-34 Fullback bombers have reached the North Pole. Mig-31 Foxhounds prepare to. In what is another sign of the renewed interest for the Arctic, four Russian Sukhoi Su-34 bombers have reached the North Pole recently. In spite of a range (on paper) of 4,000 km, according to the Interfax news agency, the four bombers refueled twice during the flight, performing air-to-air refueling in pairs. The flight of Fullback planes covered a total distance of more than 50,000 km in three days; each Su-34 spent about 20 hours in flight during the trip. Not only Su-34s have been operating over...

Almost three years after it announced plans to produce a low-cost, multirole aircraft for military and civilian duties, South Africa’s Paramount Group has completed the first public flight of its AHRLAC design. Paramount Group The advanced high-performance reconnaissance light aircraft’s formal debut was performed at Wonderboom airport in Pretoria on 13 August – just over a month after Paramount unveiled the prototype on 10 July. Flight testing of the type has now reached a total of around 5h, the company says. According to its developer, AHRLAC “integrates designs from attack helicopters, surveillance platforms and reconnaissance aircraft with the ability to...

To strengthen the anti-submarine capability of the People's Liberation Army Navy, Z-18F helicopters will likely serve on the Liaoning, the nation's first aircraft carrier and the Type 071 Yuzhao-class amphibious transport docks according to a report by Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening News published Aug. 12. The paper cited a Chinese military website which stated that the Z-18F is likely a modified version of the Z-8F helicopter designed based on the French-built SA 321 Super Frelon. By looking at photos posted online, Li Xiaojian, a Chinese military expert told the paper that the Z-18F is probably equipped with four eight-tube sonobuoy launchers,...

Oman has retired its last four operational Sepecat Jaguars, with the strike aircraft carrying out a disbandment flypast with 8 Sqn at its Thumrait air base on 6 August. The Royal Air Force of Oman received its first Jaguars in 1977, under what was originally a 12-aircraft acquisition from the UK. A second batch of the type was ordered in 1982, and introduced from the following year. Peter Foster Muscat's retirement of the Jaguar leaves the Indian air force as sole operator of the Anglo-French type. Flightglobal's MiliCAS database records the service as having 161 Sepecat- and Hindustan Aeronautics-supplied examples...

Aviadarts is Moscow’s Top Gun Chinese and Russian fighter pilots have been testing their skills in an unprecedented series of maneuvers in southeast Russia. Some observers have billed the Aviadarts exercise as a Russian Top Gun—a reference to the U.S. Navy’s fighter tactics schoolhouse, which the sailing branch established after losing a shocking number of pilots during the Vietnam War. The reality is not as straightforward, but it’s significant that Moscow is inviting foreign fighter jocks—the Chinese, namely—to test their mettle against the best Russia has to offer. Russian air force units long have pursued advanced tactics and combat training,...

The surface-to-air missiles were to be sent to Israel for testing The eponymously named Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM), being co-developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), is already two years late. Now, because of Israel's invasion of Gaza, the delay will get longer. Business Standard has learnt that four LR-SAM rocket motors, built in India and despatched to Tel Aviv for trials, have been lying in Seoul, South Korea, for close to a month. The DRDO confirms that the rockets, filled with highly combustible propellant, were despatched on a commercial...

The Yakovlev Yak-130 is Russia’s newest trainer aircraft, capable of being programmed to recreate a range of different flight conditions for trainee pilots as well as functioning as a ground-attack craft. Russia now hopes to take advantage of the plane’s export potential. Within the next two or three years, Moscow intends to present the Yakovlev Yak-130, its newest trainer aircraft, to a wider world market. In comments made at the recent Farnborough International Airshow outside London, Sergei Kornev, head of the Department for Exports of Aircraft and Special Property at Rosoboronexport, the Russian exporter of armaments and military equipment, described...

NEW DELHI - The new Indian government under Narindra Modi’s leadership is moving the cabinet committee on security (CCS) to buy 262 Barak-I anti-ship missile systems and spares, costing nearly Rs. 1,000 crore, from Israel. The purchase was cleared by defence acquisition council under former defence minister AK Antony last December. Defence Ministry sources said the CCS note was moved this week for the purchase of the Barak missile from Israeli Aircraft Industries and Rafael Advanced Systems of Israel. Both firms were probed by the CBI in 2006 for a Rs. 1,100 crore missile deal in 2000 under the previous...

China has successfully developed it own airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system, with the KJ-2000 and the KJ-200, reported overseas Chinese news outlet Duowei on Aug. 4. After China's initial attempts to develop its own system in the 1970s, the nation looked to Russia but the price was too high and the functionality fell short of China's expectations. An attempt to import the Israeli A-501 in the mid-1990s was blocked by the US and eventually fell through. In 2002, China stopped importing Russian AEW&C systems and developed its own, the KJ-2000 and KJ-200 which served as the lead aircraft...

Faced with a worsening security situation in neighboring Ukraine, Poland has issued a requirement for new attack helicopters that could be worth more than $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, however, the country’s choice of 72 new multirole helicopters worth nearly $2.7 billion is still undecided. Budget problems continue to frustrate the armed forces’ desire for new equipment. Earlier this year, Poland decided to retain one squadron of aging Su-22 strike aircraft for up to 10 more years, since it cannot afford a replacement. Poland currently operates 28 Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters, the remnants of 52 acquired since 1978. The new proposal is...

The design bureau and Russian Helicopters offer to help the Indian Navy meet its shortage of helicopters by supplying Ka-52Ks. Ka-52k is the navalised derivative of the Ka-52 (photo). Source: www.russianhelicopters.aero Russia’s Kamov helicopter design bureau and Russian Helicopters are ready to jointly supply modern seaborne helicopters for the Indian Navy on request, Kamov Chief Designer Sergei Mikheyev said on Tuesday. “Upon request from the Indian Navy, we are ready to supply jointly with Russian Helicopters the necessary number of seaborne helicopters and offer the latest developments to the Indian side, including the Ka-52K helicopters,” Mikheyev said. Helicopters operational in...