Free Republic

Deep into a conflict that has sundered decades-old ties between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine is still selling military gear over the border to its neighbor, Ukrainian defense industry officials say. Kiev’s pleas for an end to trade ties have run into strong resistance from workers at companies like Motor Sich, here in Ukraine’s industrial heartland, where 27,000 employees build engines tailor-made for Russian military helicopters and planes. Most senior executives here grew up as part of the same Soviet military-industrial club as their Russian peers. “We have our own party, the party of Motor Sich,’’ company spokesman Anatoliy Malysh said.

With all the talk about PODs (personally owned drones) that could fly over your fence and peek into your pool or hover above your property, I was wondering if it could be SHOT down?? Is there an expectation of airspace owner ship / privacy immediately over your property? How far AGL (above ground level)is NOT FAA jurisdiction?I believe that this will be the next step into property rights intrusion.

There are lots of entrepreneurs who would love to fly drones — tiny unmanned aircraft — all over the country. They dream of drones delivering packages and taking photos, but there's a battle in the courts right now standing in their way. The battle is about whether it's legal for drones to take to the sky. The question at the core of the battle: Who owns the air? It's a question that goes back to the Middle Ages, to a Latin phrase that translates to "he owns the soil owns up to the heavens." In England, this phrase was the...

Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin was not pleased when Romania refused to let his flight enter their airspace and forced his plane to divert back to Moscow. In response, Rogozin tweeted early Saturday that if he would ever find himself flying over Romania again, he would be on a plane packing a lot more firepower. The translated tweet reads: “Upon U.S. request, Romania has closed its air space for my plane. Ukraine doesn’t allow me to pass through again. Next time I’ll fly on board TU-160.” The TU-160 is the Russian military’s most advanced and largest strategic bomber in...

America’s gazillion-dollar Joint Strike Fighter is supposed to go virtually unseen when flying over enemy turf. But that’s not how things are working out. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—the jet that the Pentagon is counting on to be the stealthy future of its tactical aircraft—is having all sorts of shortcomings. But the most serious may be that the JSF is not, in fact, stealthy in the eyes of a growing number of Russian and Chinese radars. Nor is it particularly good at jamming enemy radar. Which means the Defense Department is committing hundreds of billions of dollars to a fighter...

MOSCOW, December 23 (RAPSI, Ingrid Burke) - A US federal court on Wednesday granted in part and denied in part a motion by American aerospace and defense conglomerate Boeing to dismiss counterclaims filed by Russian space giant Energia in its $355 million lawsuit, according to court documents obtained by RAPSI. In February, plaintiffs The Boeing Company (Boeing) and Boeing Commercial Space Company (BCSC) filed a complaint against Energia and Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye SDO alleging breach of contract in connection with with the 1995 establishment of Sea Launch, a joint venture created to facilitate the sea-based launch of commercial satellites. Boeing...

Oregon Air National Guard is requesting permission to expand their flight airspace for F15's training in Oregon and along the Pacific Ocean Coast. They are requesting "Comments during the 'Environmental Impact Analysis Process' underway for the proposed Oregon Airspace Initiative". Be sure to include "Oregon Airspace Initiative" in the subject line.

The Lebanese army said on Friday that eight Israeli warplanes had flown over Lebanon’s airspace in a span of 14 hours, the Daily Star reported. The report said that Israel sends reconnaissance jets and warplanes over Lebanon on almost a regular basis, but the air traffic in the last 24 hours has been unusually high. “At 7:10 p.m. Thursday, two Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace entering above the sea west of Sidon and flying over all Lebanese areas as they conducted aerial maneuvers,” an announcement from the Lebanese army’s general directorate said, according to the Daily Star. The planes left...

Syria's Foreign Ministry has announced that Turkish aircraft are prohibited from entering the country's airspace, according to Syria's official SANA news agency, the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper reported Sunday morning. The ban was formally enacted at midnight Saturday night. The move came in retaliation for last week's interception of a Syrian plane by Turkey. The Syrian Airbus A320, a commercial passenger plane flying from Moscow to Damascus, was suspected of carrying non-civilian cargo. Turkey scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to escort the aircraft instead to Esenboga Airport in Ankara for inspection after a tip from the U.S. warned there might be...

Fighter jet intercepts small planes during Obama’s visit to Chicago By BNO News CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) -- An F-16 fighter jet intercepted two small planes Saturday after they entered airspace which has been temporarily closed for a visit by President Barack Obama, officials said on Sunday, less than a week after a similar incident in the New York area. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the two separate incidents happened in the Chicago area at approximately 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT), just a few hours after Air Force One landed at O'Hare International...

Northcom says Russian nuclear bombers violated U.S. airspace during arctic war games The U.S. Northern Command and joint U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command said two Russian bombers violated U.S. airspace near Alaska during recent arctic war games.Disclosure by the command in charge of U.S. homeland defense followed a report in the Free Beacon quoting U.S. officials who said the Russian aircraft had threatened U.S. air space but did not cross into it and were met over the Pacific by U.S. F-15 interceptor jets. “There was a single out-of-area patrol by two Russian
long range bombers which entered the Alaska...

Unmanned drones could soon be buzzing in the skies above many U.S. cities, as the federal government green-lights the technology for local law enforcement amid widespread privacy concerns. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday began to explain the rules of the sky for these newly licensed drones at potentially dozens of sites across the country. The agency, on its website, said that government "entities" will have to obtain a special certificate in order to fly the aircraft, adding that the FAA is "streamlining the process for public agencies to safely fly (drones) in the nation's airspace." In doing so, the...

F-16 Jets Intercept Small Plane as Obama Leaves LA The plane was forced to land at El Monte Airport on Friday morning as Air Force One was leaving LAX The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled the two jets that intercepted the Piper 28 aircraft over northeast Los Angeles at approximately 9:45 a.m. PDT, and followed it until it landed about five minutes later and was met by local law enforcement, NORAD said in a statement. The Piper landed at the small airport in El Monte about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, local police Lt. Dan Burlingham said....

TEHRAN (FNA) - If the United States spy drone that was recently downed by the Iranian Armed Forces in the Eastern parts of the country had been a jet fighter, we would have hit all the US military bases throughout the world, a senior Iranian lawmaker warned on Friday. "If this had been a fighter jet, the conditions would have been different now as we would have pounded all the US military bases on the planet," Vice-Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmayeel Kowsari told FNA. "We have repeatedly said and we caution again that...

FLASH: LIBYA CLOSES AIR SPACE TO ALL FLIGHTS -- MEDIA

In the second such incident within 30 days to possibly probe India's air defence network along the J&K border, Pakistani military aircraft virtually violated Indian airspace in the R S Pura sector near Jammu on Wednesday. Sources said BSF ground-based mobile observation posts spotted two Pakistani ''light military aircraft'' cruising along the border on Wednesday, with some reports even holding the planes actually crossed over into Indian airspace for some time to fly over four Indian border posts. Even if the aircraft did not actually enter Indian airspace, the incident clearly violates the two decade-old agreement between India and Pakistan,...

Of the 29 instances Indian air space has been violated in the past three years, Pakistani aircraft have been responsible 23 times. Replying to a query in parliament on Monday, defence minister AK Antony said between 2007 and 2010, Indian air space was violated 29 times — 23 times by Pakistan, once by Bangladesh, thrice by China and twice by the US. Former air chief marshal FH Major, who headed Indian Air Force (IAF) during 2007-2009, told DNA, “Violations take place due to bad weather and technical problems.” Each country has a certain area near the international boundary which is...

Two F-16 fighter jets briefly took to the skies over Washington on Monday after a small passenger aircraft violated the capital's airspace restrictions, according to military officials. A portion of the White House grounds was briefly evacuated during the incident. The passenger plane -- a Cessna 182 -- was intercepted by the F-16s at 2:19 p.m. EST, a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command noted. The plane was escorted to an airport in nearby Manassas, Virginia, where it landed at 2:32 p.m. EST.

In first claim of invasion, military drill spokesman says planes were intercepted by Iranian jets Associated Press Published: 11.17.10, 11:32 / Israel News Iran says that unidentified foreign planes violated its air space six times as the country kicked off an air defense drill, but that they were intercepted and forced back by Iranian jets. The remarks by Gen. Hamid Arjangi, a spokesman for the exercise, are the first Iranian claim of an intrusion. His comments were carried Wednesday by the semi-official Fars news agency. Arjangi says Iran's radar stations and observation posts reported six cases of foreign planes entering...

Turkey has closed its airspace to Israeli military flights following a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, the Turkish prime minister and officials said Monday. Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Toronto that Turkey imposed the ban after the May 31 raid on a Turkish ship that was part of a six-vessel international aid flotilla, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency. The prime minister, who is in Canada to attend a summit of the Group of 20 major industrial and developing nations, did not elaborate. On Sunday, Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported that Turkey had not allowed a...