Free Republic

While military aircraft boneyards are nothing new, the YouTube display of the hulks of some ex-Navy fighters in an undeveloped area of Temple, Texas, may be causing some concerns at the Pentagon. A video has emerged of the scattered remains of two F-14 Tomcats and an F-4 Phantom. The aircraft have been stripped of just about everything that can be carried away but exactly how they ended up on private property is the subject of much online speculation. According to a Google Earth image, there is a scrap metal dealer nearby but the aircraft parts are not in their yard....

The U.S. Navy will allow nearly 200 T-45C aircraft to resume flights Monday under modified conditions while it determines what is causing a lack of oxygen in some cockpits. Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker said Saturday instructor pilots will conduct warm-up flights and then will report back to the remaining pilots and students in their squadrons about the use of the modified equipment. All instructor pilots will complete warmup flights and student pilots will conduct training flights as the week goes on.

F-35 Continues to Stumble By: Dan Grazier | March 30, 2017 Quick LinksElectronics Used to Justify Cost Not Delivering CapabilitiesIneffective as a FighterIneffective as an Interdiction BomberIneffective as a Close Air Support PlatformNavy’s F-35 Unsuitable for Carrier OperationsPrice Tag Is the Only Thing Stealthy about the F-35Combat Effectiveness at RiskCan the F-35 Be Where It’s Needed, When It’s Needed?F-35 Reliability ProblemsOfficials Hiding Truth about F-35’s Problems and Delays from TaxpayersMoving ForwardConclusion The F-35 still has a long way to go before it will be ready for combat. That was the parting message of Dr. Michael Gilmore, the now-retired Director of Operational...

During his speech before a large Boeing crowd in South Carolina today, President Trump said he is considering a large order for more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets! IMO, the F/A-18 is the all-around greatest fighter jet ever produced. It has proven itself as a reliable and effective all-weather fighter and is a great complement to America's arsenal of F-15's, F-16's, F-22's, and F-35's.

The fate of Brazil’s only aircraft carrier, the French-built Foch, which has carried the name NAe São Paulo since first flying the Brazilian flag in 2000, has been in limbo for over a decade. Now it has finally been announced that the Brazilian Navy has decided to decommission the vessel instead of refitting it for extended service as they had promised on and off over the last decade. The 55-year-old ship is in need of massive repairs—especially to its boilers and catapults—to accommodate Brazil's handful of recently upgraded A-4 (local designation: AF-1) Skyhawks operationally again. You can read all about...

Years of budget cuts have taken a toll on the Navy's fleet of strike fighters. Nearly two-thirds of the Navy's strike fighters are sitting unused because there is not enough money to repair them, according to DefenseNews.com. The Navy has had to deal with declining budgets in recent years even though the demand for military aircrafts carriers remains the same. Congress was unable to produce a budget before the October 1 start of the 2017 fiscal year. Political leaders say Congress' inability to pass the military budget on time is hurting the fleet. In addition to the grounded planes, there...

It gives pilots one hell of a ride down the catapult track. More than a decade after the Lockheed Martin F-35 began flight testing, the Navy’s catapult launch and barrier recovery (CATOBAR) variant, the F-35C, remains mired with teething issues. Now, one problem appears to be more debilitating than previously realized, and it’s rearing its head at a critical phase of flight for any Navy fighter—the catapult launch. The issue occurs when a lightly loaded F-35C’s landing gear nose strut is compressed while the jet throttles up, right before launch. As the catapult fires and the hold back bar is...

NEW DELHI—When top American naval engineers recently inspected India’s first locally made aircraft carrier they expected to find a near battle-ready ship set to help counter China’s growing sway in the Indian Ocean. Instead, they discovered the carrier wouldn’t be operational for up to a decade and other shortcomings: no small missile system to defend itself, a limited ability to launch sorties and no defined strategy for how to use the ship in combat. The findings alarmed U.S. officials ​hoping to enlist India as a bulwark against China, people close to the meeting said. “China’s navy will be the biggest...

A combination of faults on Russia’s carrier and an unexpected total engine shutdown led to a Russian pilot ditching his fighter in the Mediterranean Sea last week, read a translation of a Monday Russian press report. The Mikoyan MiG-29K that crashed on Nov. 13 was part of a trio of fighters sortied from Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov for operations over Syria, USNI News reported last week. Following the mission – armed reconnaissance runs over targets near Aleppo, USNI News understands — the fighters headed back to the carrier to land, read a translation of a report from Gazeta.ru. “Upon completion...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Russia’s navy has become the newest to launch combat strikes from an aircraft carrier, according to press reports, joining the tiny club of navies that have launched carrier aircraft into combat. The Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, launched strikes in Syria against rebel targets on Nov. 15, according to the Associated Press and Sputnik International. The carrier’s air wing includes MiG-29 and Su-33 jet fighters. The ship lost one MiG-29 on Nov. 13 in a mishap; the pilot ejected safely and was rescued. Russia joins the United States and France as...

Boeing scored a $12 million dollar contract to transition the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron to newer jets. The Blue Angels, who have been flying the F/A-18 Hornet since 1986, are moving up to the bigger F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The Blue Angels currently fly a mixed bag of older Hornet fighters. They've got three of the oldest F/A-18A model, 10 of the newer -C models, and three two-seater models. The -A and -C models are all 20 to 30 years old. The Angels typically fly Hornets that are very much still functional, but too old to keep operating...

NEW DELHI: Adding more teeth to the Navy’s surveillance capabilities, India on Wednesday signed a deal worth over $1 billion with American defence and aerospace major Boeing for procuring four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The US has emerged as the biggest supplier of military hardware to India and with Wednesday's agreement, the total value of defence deals signed with the US in the last decade comes to around $15 billion. According to defence sources, the contract is a follow-on order to the eight P-81 planes worth $2.1 billion bought by India in a direct deal...

The most expensive warship ever built has been delayed from hitting the front line because it is reportedly not ready for battle. The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford Navy supercarrier - the first of three in its class with a total cost of $43 billion - could potentially struggle with planes landing and taking off, moving military weapons and being able to successfully defend itself, a memo obtained by Bloomberg News reads. The memo allegedly states 'poor or unknown reliability issues' were identified in a letter dated June 28. 'These four systems affect major areas of flight operations,' Defense...

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The deck aircraft of the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier will participate in delivering strikes against militants in Syria from an eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea in October 2016 - January 2017, a military-diplomatic source in Moscow told TASS on Saturday. "The General Staff has prepared a plan for involvement of the deck aircraft in delivering strikes on terrorist groups in the Syrian Arab Republic, where the crews will practice taking off the carrier to deliver strikes on ground targets." Thus, the source said, in autumn-winter, the strikes will be delivered both by the crews located at...

Until now, there has been little quality video that show the events leading up to the tragic loss of Captain Mike Kuss in Blue Angel #6 on June 2. This new video was posted by what appears to be an onlooker checking out the Blue Angels practice flight from near Smryna Airport’s tower. You can clearly see the solos departure at the beginning of the demo, with #5 executing the dirty roll and #6 executing a low transition and high performance climb, after which it comes falling back to the ground. The camera briefly breaks away to catch the four-ship...

Two of the US Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets have crashed off the coast of North Carolina on Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed. Their crews have been recovered and taken to a hospital.

(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...