Free Republic

The IAF operates various munitions adapted to its different missions and aircraft. It is now permitted to publicize that the force is expected to soon receive a new bomb manufactured by "Rafael" Systems, which is expected to bring new technological and operational tidings Shachar Zorani | Translation: Ohad Zeltzer Zubida "SPICE 1000", a new munition manufactured by "Rafael" is currently in the final stages of development and is expected to enter operational use in the IAF soon. It is expected to be integrated in all of the fighter squadrons in the force and the first to operate it will be...

“If Thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Hashem toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name” I Kings 8:44 (The Israel Bible™) The Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) Battalion 82 recently decided to drop its decades-old Merkava MK 2 tanks and launched into a new world of military technology by adopting the cutting edge Merkava MK 4 tanks in their place, reported The Jerusalem Post. A part of the 7 Armored Brigade, Battalion 82 was formed prior...

The Israeli public has become acutely aware of the cost of living and other socioeconomic issues in recent years. But in some areas, the government and economic interests still dictate the agenda and discourse. The best example is the hoopla around Israel’s purchase of F-35 Stealth fighter jets. The first eight of the 33 fighter jets Israel ordered are expected to enter service with the Israel Air Force in the fall of 2017. The Joint Strike Fighter F-35 is not only the most expensive plane in history. It’s also one of the weirdest and least successful projects ever by the...

The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is getting ready for a voyage to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean. The goal of the deployment is to check the combat capabilities of the ship and its strike group, including Russia's state-of-the-art KA-52K Katran helicopters. The cruiser's deck-based aircraft will join the Syrian campaign from October 2016 to January 2017. The air group's tasks The deployment of the Admiral Kuznetsov amounts to a planned inspection of Russian arms, Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Fatherland) magazine, told RBTH. "Sending the Admiral to Syria is a test of the...

Despite having about 100 Dassault Rafale B/Cs in the Air Force inventory, France sees itself forced to keep its older Mirage 2000D operational to keep the ground attack capabilities of the Armée de l’Air at proper levels. It even wants the Deltas to drop below altitudes they were not meant to do when designed – learning from recent missions in the skies of Southwest Asia. Dassault Aviation received the order – by French defence procurement agency DGA – to renovate 55 Mirage 2000Ds. The modification include weapon system updates, the gun pod and Mica missiles of the aircraft version of...

On the night of July 15, elements of the Turkish military rose up against Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and very nearly succeeded in killing or capturing their controversial leader. A few military units remained steadfastly loyal to the embattled president. Among them — the 1st Main Jet Base in Eskisehir in northwestern Turkey. The base’s F-4E Terminator 2020 fighters flew to Erdogan’s aid during the direst hours of the daylong attempted coup. But the aged fighters were no match for the much newer F-16s that the rebels had commandeered. Turkish air force squadrons led the ultimately failed coup. Apparently following many months of...

After years languishing behind competitors at home and abroad, Russia's iconic MiG aircraft manufacturer has been thrown a lifeline. The company is now building 46 brand-new MiG-29M fighter jets in a contract reported to be worth at least $2 billion dollars. Yet despite the hints which have appeared in the Russian press over the past year, official confirmation remains elusive. The jets are being built for an unspecified buyer. Only a shareholder’s report released by a MiG component supplier has confirmed that the order is real. The document outlines a deal for 92 engines used in the MiG-29. With two...

China’s Chengdu Aircraft Company (CAC) has built more Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) J-20 stealthy jet fighters, with another new aircraft featured in flight on Chinese websites over the past week. This is the second known J-20 LRIP aircraft, after the first example serialed 2101 was shown in late December 2015. They follow two prototypes and six known development aircraft that featured a successive series of refinements. The latest aircraft is painted in shades of gray and carries toned down national insignia, but unlike all previous J-20s has no identifying serial numbers. Reports from China suggest that this latest aircraft...

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded target drone builder Kratos a contract to execute what it calls a Low-Cost Attritable Strike Unmanned Aerial System Demonstration (LCASD). This proof-of-concept initiative is centered on creating a (relatively) cheap unmanned combat aircraft that the USAF can afford to lose in combat, even opting to do so willingly by sending it on a one-way mission if need be. Alternatively, if the vehicle had the range to return to friendly territory, it could be repeatedly recovered and launched again on other missions, even from small bases without runways. The contract’s total value is $40.8...

Could we soon be saying goodbye to long-haul flights? One company has taken an important step in making this dream come true. Oxford's Reaction Engines Ltd (REL) announced it has received a €10,000 development contract with ESA, so it can work on its revolutionary Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE). This technology can work both in the Earth's atmosphere and in space - which is crucial to space planes. ( scroll down for video explanation of technology)

A terminally ill former World War Two Spitfire engineer's 'last wish' to be reunited with the iconic plane was granted after top brass saw him looking forlornly through a fence at one from his wheelchair. Ken Farlow, 95, was an electrical engineer during the war, carrying out vital work to keep Spitfires and Hurricanes in the air in Syria and Palestine. But after being diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, the father-of-three asked daughter Helen if he 'could see a Spitfire - one last time'. Helen, 52, took him to Gloucestershire Airport where the vintage planes were being maintained by the...

India’s Ministry of Defence has sought to buy four strategic Tu-22M3 bombers and other latest high-tech weaponry from Russia, Interfax reported. This was expressed in the official stand of the ‘Make in India’ Programme at the INNOPROM International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg. Interfax reported that, in addition to the bombers, the Indian Air Force is also seeking to purchase 80 Mi-17 helicopters and six Il-76 airplanes, in which the Israeli radar system, the ‘Falcon,’ can be installed. The Indian Defence Ministry is also keen to acquire modern missile systems, and would like to buy twelve S-400 ‘Triumf’ anti-aircraft missile systems....

Development of the Eurofighter Typhoon into a multi-role combat jet has taken a long time. But the aircraft displayed here by BAE Systems test pilot Nat Makepeace shows that this capability is finally nearing. It is carrying six MBDA Brimstone air-to-ground missiles on two three-rail under-wing launchers, plus two Raytheon Paveway IV laser and GPS-guided bombs. In addition, four MBDA Meteor BVRAAMs nestle on under-fuselage stations, and two MBDA ASRAAM shorter-range AAMs occupy the outer pylons. The Paveways are already operational on UK Royal Air Force Typhoons, having been integrated as a ‘Phase 1 Enhancement’ (P1E). The Meteors form part...

The F-35 is sleek and stealthy, thanks to internally-carried weapons, but that limits the operational payload and the jet’s air-to-ground capability, correct? To some extent, that is true, but here’s an alternative view. “It’s a bomb truck, capable of carrying 14,000 pounds–that’s 3,000 pounds more than my F-18s,” said Lt. General Jon Davis, head of aviation for the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). In fact, the F-35 has seven external weapons stations (see diagram). Their use is not part of the initial operating capability (IOC) for either the USMC F-35Bs or the U.S. Air Force F-35As. But a total of nine...

Richard Crandall started his Air Force flying career in the F-111 Aardvark, but found himself in the cockpit of the mighty F-15E Strike Eagle, the service’s newest jet, during Operation Desert Storm. Although F-15C/D Eagles were already a staple in the Royal Saudi Air Force by the time Desert Storm kicked off, the Strike Eagle would eventually find its way into the Kingdom’s aerial arsenal in the form of the F-15S. Today, Saudi Arabia flies around 70 of these jets, and soon they will receive 84 F-15SAs, the most advanced Strike Eagle derivative ever produced. Now Crandall serves as a...

A Swedish Gripen armed with Meteor missiles. Stefan Kalm/Saab photo The technical details of air-to-air missiles are extremely complicated, but the concept is simple — destroy your target before the target destroys you. One way to improve the odds is to add an air-breathing ramjet engine to give the weapon a boost. That’s the design philosophy behind the Meteor, a 419-pound rail-launched MiG killer which entered service for the first time with the Swedish air force on July 11. Stockholm’s agile, delta-wing Gripen fighters carry the missiles. “The Swedish air force is now in its Initial Operational Capability phase with the Meteor,”...

Britain has big plans for its F-35s, but whether they are affordable remains a big question. Minister for defense procurement Philip Dunne claimed last week that, apart from the U.S., the UK “will be the only other nation that can project power.” But to meet that ambition, the defense budget must by the early 2020s cover the cost of buying and operating two new 70,000-ton aircraft carriers, and at least two squadrons of F-35Bs—the most expensive version of the stealth jet to buy and fly. Moreover, those F-35s are priced in dollars, against which the British pound has just sunk...

Russia is the latest country to claim that it has developed a new radar system that can detect stealth warplanes. But the Sunflower low-frequency over-the-horizon radar likely suffers all the same drawbacks that have plagued previous generations of similar sensors. Namely, Sunflower might be able to detect a low-observable airplane. But it probably can’t do so with great fidelity — nor generate a useful targeting track for a missile to follow. Despite Russia’s claim, stealth aircraft are no less difficult to find, target and destroy now than they were before the Sunflower’s introduction. Russian media touted the Sunflower radar in a series...

MOSCOW --- India reports several troubles with the performance and maintenance of its MiG-29K/KUB (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum-F) naval multirole fighters, as well as with Vikramaditya (former "Admiral Gorshkov"/Kiev-class) aircraft carrier. The fighters built by Russia’s RSK-MiG corporation (a subsidiary of the United Aircraft Corporation, Russian acronym: OAK) come short of Indian Navy`s (IN) requirements, a source in India`s Defense Ministry said. "Russian MiG-29K/KUB multirole fighter jets could have been delivered to India in a substandard configuration. Several aircraft have been modified and brought up to the required operational level literally at the runways of IN`s airbases. We have several...

PARIS --- Three years after initial ground trials began in Italy, a Eurofighter Typhoon trials aircraft has carried out its first live firing of a Storm Shadow cruise missile. “Storm Shadow has been fired from Eurofighter Typhoon and the integration programme is on track,” BAE Systems Senior Communications Advisor – Combat Air Matthew Squires said in a July 6 e-mail. “The functional test referred to in our previous statement was a firing of a Storm Shadow weapon from a development aircraft which took place in June 2016.” He added that “This is the position of Eurofighter and the [Eurofighter Partner...