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Syrian Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) fighter jets are performing sorties with medium-range air-to-air missiles of the R-77 (AA-12 Adder) family. Syrian Radio & TV Agency has broadcasted a video showing the attaching of an air-launched weapon of this type to a MiG-29 plane. The video shows a R-77-family missile (most probably, an export version of the missile, i.e. RVV-SD) being carried by an under-wing AKU-170E ejection unit of a MiG-29 plane. The video has confirmed media reports that Russia repaired and upgraded several Syrian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets. According to data of public sources, the...

While India may have signed a deal Friday with French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation SA for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, credit analyst firm Moody’s Investors Service expects U.S. fighter jet makers like The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) to begin more aggressively pursuing India as a sales opportunity. As Moody’s aerospace and defense analyst Russell Solomon told me Wednesday, India likely isn’t done buying fighters. Even if India decides to exercise an option against the Rafale contract for 18 more, in the next five to 10 years Solomon said, “Somewhere between another...

The head of Qatar Airways firmly denied that the company delayed a deal to buy up to 100 jetliners from The Boeing Co. to pressure the U.S. to approve the sale of fighter jets to Qatar. The comments from Akbar Al Baker came Friday during a news conference in D.C. in which state-owned Qatar Airlines and Boeing inked an $18.6 billion deal for 30 Dreamliners and up to 80 other jets. "We don’t relate anything to anything,” Al Baker said when asked by a reporter about possible connection. "Qatar Airways has this independent policy ordering airplanes. So nothing is attached...

American World War Two hero Chuck Yeager has launched an extraordinary attack against Britain, saying its people are ‘nasty’ and ‘arrogant’. The 93-year-old, who was the first man to break the sound barrier when he worked as a US test pilot, has recently taken to social media. And judging from his first attempts he is no mood to let age mellow him.

Then disaster struck. On May 24, an A-12 stalled, went into an unrecoverable spin and crashed during a test flight in Utah. Fortunately, pilot Kenneth Collins ejected and survived. Even in remote Utah, it’s hard to hide a crash. A local deputy witnessed the incident and a vacationing family snapped away with a camera. The CIA promptly seized their photographs and paid $25,000 each to the deputy and the family to keep quiet, according to a 2010 story in the Seattle Times. The Blackbird wouldn’t stay officially secret for much longer. Pres. Lyndon Johnson would run for election in 1964,...

Smoke reported in cabin at gate LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Samsung smartphone exploded Wednesday on a Southwest Airlines plane at Louisville International Airport, forcing dozens to be evacuated. "I looked around to see what that popping noise was and there was just smoke billowing, pouring out of my pocket. I pulled it out of my pocket and threw it on the ground real quick and it continued to smoke for about 4 or 5 seconds heavily, and then that kind of filled up two or three rows in front and behind us in the cabin," the phone's owner Brian Green,...

Over the past few weeks, Samsung has been replacing recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that have faulty exploding batteries with new devices, but an incident today suggests the South Korean company's smartphone woes aren't over. A Southwest flight from Louisville to Baltimore was today evacuated just before it pulled out of the gate because a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone started smoking. While no one was injured, there is a serious problem -- the Galaxy Note 7 in question was a replacement device that had been deemed "safe" by Samsung. According to The Verge, the owner of the Galaxy Note...

After twenty years in service, the Eurofighter aircraft may be temporarily or permanently withdrawn from the German market, German newspaper Die Welt wrote. The final assembly of Eurofighter jets that once were considered a prestige project is likely to be suspended in Germany at least until 2018. The main problem is the lack of contracts and the complexity of the production process. The components of the aircraft are manufactured at four plants in Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, which makes the production very complicated and expensive. "It resembles a huge puzzle: all right wings are produced in Spain, the left...

The United States on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that it has approved $7 billion in long-stalled sales of Boeing Co (BA.N) fighter jets to Kuwait and Qatar, and more than $1 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) jets to Bahrain, sources familiar with the decision said. The sales had been pending for more than two years amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that arms sold to Gulf Arab states could be used against it, and criticism of Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials began notifying lawmakers informally about the sale of 36...

OTTUMWA-Less than 24 hours ago many southeast Iowa residents were excited to learn that Presidential candidate Donald Trump would be making another visit to Ottumwa. Unfortunately, what was sure to be an event attended by hundreds or perhaps thousands, has instead been cancelled. The event was schedule to take place Wednesday, September 28th at 2:30PM at the Ottumwa Regional Airport. The Post has received information that the Trump campaign has been forced to cancel the planned event due to the logistics of landing the plane. Trump has visited Ottumwa before in January 2016 and landed at the Ottumwa Regional Airport...

A Chinese couple who missed the last boarding call for their flight ran onto the tarmac in an attempt to stop the plane from leaving without them. The couple had arrived at their gate at Beijing International Airport after it had closed, and reportedly forced their way onto the runway with their luggage as the plane was taxiing. The flight from Beijing to Shanghai was delayed by 20 minutes as the couple continued to block the runway, with photos showing the woman at one point squatting down underneath the plane. She reportedly attempted to persuade officials to allow her and...

While Russian Su-24M/M2/SVP-24s are usually armed with only four bombs, Assadist Su-24MK2s carry much heftier loads of eight to 10 FAB-250M-62s or FAB-250–270s or five FAB-500M-62s. Photo via Y. A. In 1988, Syria placed an order for 48 Sukhoi Su-24MK fighter-bombers and expressed interest in obtaining additional examples. While 24 of these were delivered in 1990 and 1991, Moscow suspended further arms deliveries because Damascus began refusing to pay some old debts. The Su-24 thus entered service with № 819 Squadron of the Syrian Arab Air Force based at Tiyas Air Base, or T-4, while the planned second unit was...

With at least two launch customers signed up, the South African AHRLAC (Advanced High-performance Reconnaissance Light AirCraft) is scheduled to enter production next year. Unveiled at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) show at Waterkloof in 2014, the prototype AHRLAC (ZU-XDM) returned to the 2016 show last week with more than 250 hours of flight test accomplished. AHRLAC Holdings is producing the aircraft; the Paramount Group is a major shareholder in this company. The PT-6A-powered aircraft has undertaken four deployments to the border and to Botswana to conduct operationally representative trials, including landing on a range of surfaces such as...

Ever since Loretta Lynch met Bill Clinton at the end of June this year, I've been really bothered by something. Compelled to meditate on it and figure it out. I'm having some trouble, and need to ask for Freerepublic input. Loretta Lynch met Bill Clinton on the tarmac, and Bill entered Loretta's FBI-owned Government plane. There are reports of them entering a 3rd plane but nothing seems to support that claim. Now that we're all caught up, I'll let you know that I've been wracking my brain on this one. But one of the more sublime enigmas came more recently....

A World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel ruled Thursday that the European Union has fallen dramatically short of remedying the harm to Boeing from illegal subsidies to Airbus. The decision opens a path for the U.S. to implement trade sanctions against the EU — potentially imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on its goods or services.

One pilot died and another was injured after they ejected from a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane that crashed in Northern California Tuesday, an Air Force spokesman confirmed.

Weeks after Maryland State Police and federal agents seized reporting files from a former Washington Times journalist’s home, a Homeland Security agent checked the materials out of the police evidence room for an hour, according to logs that shine new light on a case that has raised First Amendment concerns. The custody logs don’t state why the reporting materials were removed from evidence Sept. 3, about a month after they were seized from reporter Audrey Hudson’s home during a search in an unrelated investigation of her husband. But they do show that the Homeland Security agent checked out files and...

Russia is to export military Mi-8/17 and Mi-24/35 helicopters to four African countries this year and next, according to Tass news agency. "In 2016-2017, we plan to continue exporting these helicopters to Angola, Mali, Sudan, Nigeria," Tass quoted Rosoboronexport's Yury Demchenko, head of a Russian delegation to the Africa Aerospace & Defense Expo, as saying. "Our position in the African helicopter market is solid, so we are optimistic about the prospects of cultivating it further." In the 2014-2016 period, Russia exported helicopters to Angola, Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda. Demchenko said many African countries prefer to purchase inexpensive equipment, particularly used...

Boeing formally challenged a decision by the Danish government to pick Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet over its own Super Hornet, saying on Thursday the choice was based on a "flawed evaluation process". Boeing said it had submitted a request to the country's ministry of defence that would require it to provide all materials related to the procurement evaluation and decision announced in June. "We believe the ministry's evaluation of the competitors was fundamentally flawed and inaccurately assessed the cost and capability of the F/A-18 Super Hornet," said Boeing vice president Debbie Rub. In May Boeing challenged the Danish government's...

A large piece of aircraft debris found on the island of Pemba off Tanzania in June was from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370, it has been confirmed. The debris, an outboard flap, will be examined further to see if it can provide any clues about the Boeing 777's disappearance. It went missing in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board soon after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.