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(CNN)Almost 2,500 of the world's most advanced warplanes, with a total price tag of $400 billion, and they may not have a "brain" in the bunch? That's the fear of federal watchdogs who say problems with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's complex logistics software system could lead to a grounding of the entire fleet, not to mention future cost increases and schedule delays. Documenting risks to the F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System, which Department of Defense officials have described as the "brains" of the fifth-generation fighter, an April 14 Government Accountability Office report says a failure "could take the entire...

A World War Two seaplane has been left abandoned and stranded for a while on a beach off the north Gulf Coast of the US. It the subsequent “recovery operation” the Catalina broke apart and has been destroyed. The plane is a PBY-6A seaplane that was built and used during the war. The plane was being used in a new Hollywood movie starring Nicholas Cage, but during filming a minor flying complication occurred and the pilot had to do an emergency landing off the Florida shore line. The plane landed close to the shore near the Alabama and Florida state...

One of Mitsubishi's legendary Zero fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday for the first time since World War II. The restored plane made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan. Decorated former U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm flew the aircraft. Zero fighters were considered one of the most capable fighter planes in World War II, rivaling the British Spitfire. Their long range allowed them to play a prominent role in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Only a few are still in operating condition. ...

A number of European countries have shown interest in the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Navy Recognition has learned during the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) National Symposium held last week near Washington DC. Among them are the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Artist impression showing a US Navy V-22 in a COD mission. Image: Bell "We will brief a number of European countries on the V-22 in February. If international partners orders can be added to the US order as part of Multi Year 3, it could drive the V-22 price down" said John R. Parker, Senior Manager, Tiltrotor Global Sales...

Saab is trying to find customers in Asia. A recent report indicated that the Swedish defense firm is trying to find partners in Asia for the Sea Gripen, a carrier-launched version of its much-lauded, relatively inexpensive Generation 4.5 fighter. The problem is that the market for fighter aircraft is tight, because there are several good competitors and not enough aircraft carriers to go around. Thus have culminated a pair of long-standing trends in naval and aviation acquisition: good aircraft are chasing decks that simply don’t exist. To see how we got here, it’s useful to trace a bit of the...

New video has surfaced showing operations aboard China’s only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, complete with the head of the Chinese Navy’s making a visit and J-15 fighters landing and launching. More importantly, it shows how much Chinese aircraft carrier operations have evolved. This includes footage of one of the jets with an air-to-air load-out launching from mid-ship launch position. The video was supposedly shot during recent training in the Bohai Sea. According to a report by Channel News Asia, Chinese media has recently ran stories underscoring the fact that the country’s carrier has transitioned from in development to an operational...

French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M carrier-based multirole fighters may conduct combat missions against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier as soon as January 2017. The information comes from French TV channel TF1 (video in French). According to TF1 this subject was discussed between US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and French Navy Rear Adm. Rene-Jean Crignola, Commander Task Force (CTF) 50. The US Defense Secretary was visiting the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle on Saturday. The reason why the French Navy would deploy its Rafale M aboard a US Navy...

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Sunday 13 December said good bye to the McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk after 48 years of service. A formation flight flew over all IAF bases on Sunday morning. The Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master takes over the A-4’s training duties. The Skyhawks flew for the final time from Hatzerim airbase, witnessed by many active and former IAF-personnel. Virtually every pilot in the IAF flew the A-4 at one time or another, as the type was reponsible for pilot training over the last decades. It was applauded for its reliability during the farewell ceremony. The first...

NEAR REDMERE, UK (RNN) - Authorities said one person died after a military jet crashed in England Wednesday, The Guardian reported. A U.S. Navy F-18 crashed four miles from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, and emergency services were dispatched to the scene in a rural area.

A US Navy pilot has died in an F-18 jet crash in the Fens in Cambridgeshire, close to an RAF base. The Hornet crashed on farm land in Redmere, near Ely, close to the Suffolk border, with the alarm raised at 10:30 BST. Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the pilot, the only crew member, died. The aircraft had taken off from RAF Lakenheath, but was not connected to the base.

While the requirement for a carrier-based long-range strike capability is a frequent subject of discussion around Washington, the U.S. Navy’s need for improved air superiority capabilities is often neglected. The service has not had a dedicated air-to-air combat aircraft since it retired the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006. But even the Tomcat was adapted into a strike aircraft during its last years in service after the Soviet threat evaporated. Now, as new threats to the carrier emerge and adversaries start to field new fighters that can challenge the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, attention...

An F/A-18 fighter jet aircraft has crashed west of Naval Air Station Lemoore. The crash, which happened Monday, was north of Highway 198 in a dirt field just east of the Kings/Fresno county line, about two miles west of NASL, according to Adam Barresi, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The pilot reportedly ejected from the aircraft in mid-air, parachuted to the ground, landed and walked over to emergency responders on scene, according to Kings County Fire Chief Bill Lynch. Lynch said the crash happened around 4 p.m. The pilot's name wasn't immediately available. The parachute was reported as...

WASHINGTON — When the Marine Corps put its version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter through a series of tests aboard an amphibious assault ship in the spring, officials said that the aircraft performed so well that the service soon declared it ready for combat. But the Pentagon's top weapons tester said in a report in July that the exercise was so flawed that it "was not an operational test... in either a formal or informal sense of the term." Furthermore, the test "did not — and could not — demonstrate" that the version of the F-35 that was evaluated...

We’re blasting along through the bumpy mid-day air at a brisk 480 knots, 500 feet above the desert. The ride is rough, and the purposeful rumble of our engines reminds me that it takes a lot of power to push this machine through the dense air at 800 feet per second. Fortunately, we have a lot of power. To my left at about a half mile is another Tomcat, and a mile ahead are two more. We fly in an offset box formation, each of us carrying two Mk 84 2,000-pound bombs. I’m the radar intercept officer (RIO) in an...

The Marine Corp has declared initial operational capability for their first squadron of F-35Bs. The announcement is seen by some as more of PR achievement as the aircraft still has years of testing ahead of it. Others will argue that it represents a major accomplishment for the beleaguered F-35 program. But regardless of who you agree with, the USMC have succeeded at ramming the aircraft through a marker post that has always been a huge point of contention. Commandant of the Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford made the following statement: I am pleased to announce that VMFA-121 has achieved initial...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps' top aviator flew to an Arizona air base this week as part of a final effort to certify the combat-readiness of an initial squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35B fighter jets, their pilots and technicians. Marine Corps officials were due to brief Lieutenant General Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, on a week-long review which included operational and simulator flights in five core mission areas, an inspection of the maintenance department, and academics for both pilots and technicians. If Davis is satisfied, he will brief Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph Dunford, who...

... The electromagnetic system will replace the steam-driven catapults that operate aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

Testing began this month on the U.S. Marine Corp’s new, highly anticipated, aircraft. At $135 million each the F-35B Lightning II fighter jet is the expensive sibling to vertical take off and landing aircraft like its older brother, the venerable Harrier Jump Jet. Since May 18, Marines and sailors have worked together to conduct Operational Testing 1, to test the integration of the F-35B with a U.S. Navy warship, the (LHD-1). Throughout OT-1, the aircraft and staff involved were challenged with a variety of flight and deck operations, allowing the gathering of data which will lay the groundwork for future...

ABOARD THE USS WASP — 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...

A military plane has gone off the runway at Naval Air Station North Island into the San Diego Bay, officials confirmed Friday. A Navy pilot, flying in a T-45C aircraft, overshot the runway while landing during a training exercise at 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) a Navy spokesman said. The pilot was able to eject from the aircraft before it ran into the water. According to Harbor Police, a civilian boater pulled the crew member out of the water. After being evaluated at UC San Diego Medical Center, the pilot was released and is in stable condition, Navy officials said....