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... Easter had a top-secret job offer. If Moseley accepted, he would have to commit for four years, he couldn't tell anyone about the job and he would have to accept the job before knowing what it was. "And he said, 'You've got 30 seconds and if you don't say yes, this conversation never happened.' Well, that was just too intriguing to turn down," Moseley says. "So I said, 'Absolutely.' And he'd given me a telephone number and an intersection." ...

The new Russian armored vehicle platform uses a device similar to a Playstation controller, the manufacturer's vice-president told Russian media. The new Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle uses a "console similar to a Sony Playstation gamepad," Tractor Plants vice-president Albert Bakov told Russian media. "I spent two years on convincing the designers to make the console similar to a Sony Playstation gamepad, to make it easier for a young soldier to familiarize himself with it," Bakov said. According to Bakov, the idea of left-right coordination, as well as the fact that the gamepad form has been perfected for decades made it...

David Cameron and George Osborne will be persuaded to part with the cash to buy a fleet of jets to hunt Vladimir Putin's nuclear submarines, which have regularly been patrolling the coast of Britain in recent months. Often the Russian underwater vessels have only been discovered after colliding with private boats and now Government ministers are eager to plug the gap in defences with aircraft to track them. Around a dozen top of the range planes will be bought for the RAF over the next two years. These are likely to include the US developed Boeing Poseidon P8, designed for...

LATEST: Confirmed information is scarce following the crash of an Airbus A400M outside the perimeter of Seville’s San Pablo airport. Casualty figures remain imprecise. An aircraft, reportedly an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft on a test or trial flight, crashed just outside of Seville’s San Pablo airport at 1 p.m. Spanish time on Saturday, local media reported. Álvaro Martín, editor of Sevilla Web Radio, told The Spain Report that locals know the aircraft type very well as it makes several low test flights around the area each morning: “people knew straight away it was one of the A400M”. The Spain...

Air Recognition learned some of the contract details signed between missiles manufacturer MBDA and the Qatar Emirate. According to an industry source who wished to remain unnamed, this contract includes the full range of Rafale weapons available for export: Exocet AM 39 Block II, SCALP, AASM, MICA IR, MICA EM and Meteor missiles. Air Recognition understands this order would be the largest export contract ever signed by MBDA. An AM39 Exocet Anti-ship missile fitted on a Rafale center fuselage pylon (along with 6x MICA missiles and 2 external fuel tanks) ( Picture: MBDA) In addition to the 24 Rafale fighter...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday it has successfully test-fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in what would be the latest display of the country's advancing military capability. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally attended the test launching of what he described as a "world-level strategic weapon," the official Korean Central News Agency said. The report did not reveal the exact timing and location of the launch. Kim praised the test launch as an "eye-opening success" and declared that the North Korea now has a weapon capable of "striking and wiping out in...

When the F-15 was created, it was created to be a pure air-to-air fighter, with the philosophy of “not a pound for air-to-ground” guiding designers. So how did Israel end up turning their F-15s into deadly long-range multi-role strike aircraft well before the F-15E Strike Eagle became a reality? Here’s how. In Need Of A Game Changing Fighter Israel’s love affair with the F-15 began out of the need to procure a fighter that could trump the increasingly complex fighters that surrounding Arab states were amassing from Russian and French sources. Both the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle were...

At IDEF 2015, the International Defence Industry Fair currently held in Istanbul, Turkey, local shipyard "Sedef Shipbuilding" is showcasing a model of the future Turkish Navy Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) with the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II jets on board. The same model is showcased on the Turkish Navy booth. Turkish Navy future LHD model on display at Sedef Shipyard booth during IDEF 2015 Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) announced in December 2013 that it selected Sedef shipyard as winner of its LPD tender and that final contract negotiations with...

An article in Sina's Chinese-language military news web portal compared the abilities of India's HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the FC-1 Xiaolong/JF-17 Thunder developed jointly by China and Pakistan. Overview of the Aircraft The HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was named by former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The development plan was approved by the Indian government in 1983. The government's requirements for the Tejas were to develop an all-weather supersonic LCA which could replace the MiG-21. Its main mission is to fight for control of airspace and to offer short-range support. The development of the Tejas...

A US F-15E Strike Eagle carrying a GBU-12 and a GBU-28 bomb during a training run in Utah in 2010. (photo credit: US Air Force) Amid American efforts to allay Sunni Arab concerns over the nuclear deal with Iran, officials are reportedly considering selling Saudi Arabia bunker buster bombs, which are currently only offered to Israel. American officials said privately this week that the Obama administration is considering selling GBU-28 bunker buster bombs to the Gulf monarchy, the Washington Times reported this week. Talks for the sale are taking place in secret, since according to a 2008 congressional mandate, the...

WASHINGTON – The United States plans to sell 17 V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor military transport aircraft, associated equipment, parts and logistical support to Japan for an estimated cost of $3 billion, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Tuesday. The agency said it delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale. The associated equipment requested by the Japanese government includes 40 engines and 40 infrared radars, according to the agency. Japan plans to assign 17 Ospreys to the Ground Self-Defense Force by fiscal 2018.

Kuwait is expected to announce in coming weeks an order for 28 Boeing Co (BA.N) F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, a $3 billion-plus (£1.96 billion plus) deal that will keep the jets' St. Louis production line running well into 2019, according to people familiar with the deal. Kuwait, which operates a fleet of earlier F/A-18 models, has signed a formal letter stating its firm plans to buy newer-model Boeing jets, according to one of the people who is familiar with the deal but was not authorized to speak publicly. A second source confirmed that the U.S. government was working with Kuwait to...

An out-of-control Russian Progress capsule, loaded with more than 3 tons of cargo for the International Space Station, may burn up in the atmosphere as early as next week, NASA said on Friday. Ground controllers lost contact with the ship shortly after its launch on Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Engineers tried for more than a day to rescue the craft, to no avail ... An investigation in the botched mission is underway. Preliminary findings indicate a problem with the capsule’s separation from its Soyuz launcher. Among the evidence: debris orbiting near the tumbling Progress capsule, the Air...

IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly is reporting that U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s scheduled visit to India in June may include an offer of Textron’s new Scorpion jet. The Jane’s story said Carter will sign a 10-year India-US Defence Framework Agreement and fast-track the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, which provides for the two countries to jointly develop and produce military equipment in India. The story said under the DTTI, the U.S. could offer Textron AirLand’s Scorpion to the Indian Air Force, which is in need of an intermediate jet trainer. The two-seat Scorpion jet was developed in Wichita, which also...

It has been 50 years since two Avro Lancaster bombers flew side by side. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster, VeRA, flew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her British counterpart, Thumper—the only other surviving flight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world—the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's (BBMF) Lancaster in England. Suddenly SeeMore...Productions Inc's specialty is reality adventure television and the people who make it. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds, through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family—all part of the bombers’ history, including this new chapter as VeRA crosses the...

China has conducted the first test flight of a new, upgraded version of its J-11 fighter jet. According to Russian media outlets, which cited unnamed Chinese reports, on Wednesday the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted the first flight tests of its J-11D fighter aircraft. The plane is an upgraded version of the J-11B fighter jets, which themselves are copies of the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27. According to the reports, the new J-11D incorporates a number of technologies from China’s J-16 fighter jets. Both planes are manufactured by the Chinese company, Shenyang Aircraft Corp, and the J-16 is believed to have...

There is no doubt about it, the French-built Rafale fighter is on a roll. Egypt suddenly sealed a deal for 24 of the multirole fighters in February, India finally consummated a reduced initial order of 36 jets, and now Qatar will purchase 24. After 20 years, the Rafale has gone from an export zero to export hero in a blistering 45 days. Each country that has bought the Rafale has done so for different reasons. India is looking to bridge the gap that will be left by retiring old MiG-21s and MiG-27s, and to offset delays in the country’s indigenous...

On April 7, Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson said that the space company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would be conducting its first unmanned test flights “later this year.” As it turns out, “later this year” meant “three weeks.” The company has announced that it had conducted the first flight of its New Shepard space vehicle yesterday. The propulsion module, powered by Blue Origin’s BE-3 rocket engine, took the New Shepard space capsule up to a speed of over Mach 3. The capsule then separated from the propulsion module and flew to an altitude of 307,000 feet before beginning...

KC-135 Lands Safely After In-Flight Emergency A KC-135 Stratotanker landed safely at RAF Mildenhall, England, at 1:20 a.m. on April 29, about one hour after experiencing an in-flight emergency, according to a base release. No injuries were reported. The tanker, which had taken off from NAS Souda Bay, Greece, en route to Mildenhall, was about three hours into its flight plan when it experienced a "flight control-related malfunction." Despite some reports claiming the aircraft disappeared from radar, the flight crew and aircraft remained under air traffic control authority throughout the mission, states the release. "At no time did the controlling...

PARIS: The French presidency said Thursday Qatar had agreed to purchase 24 Rafale fighter jets, adding that Francois Hollande would travel to Doha on May 4 for the contract signing ceremony. Sources close to the negotiations had earlier told AFP that a deal - which includes a firm order for 24 jets with an option on 12 other planes