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STATUS UPDATES | August 02, 2023 Flight 54 Preview – By the Numbers Written by NASA/JPLFlight 54 Expected Flight date: 08/03/2023 Horizontal flight distance: 0 (pop-up flight) Flight time: 24.62 seconds Flight altitude: 16 feet (5 meters) Heading: NA (hovering) Max Flight speed: 0 Goal of flight: 1) Heli localization

An ATGM is fired against a Ka-52. In the box the Stugna-P ATGM. A new video shows a Russian Aerospace Forces Ka-52 Alligator destroyed by a Ukrainian ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile). Not only are Ukrainian MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) a significant threat to the Russian Ka-52 and Mi-28 gunship helicopters operating over Ukraine but also ATGMs. The following clip has started to circulate online on social media on Apr. 5, 2022, and shows a Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) Alligator gunship shot down by a Ukrainian Stugna-P ATGM. The video says it all: you can see the Ka-52 hovering...

The U.S. Marine Corps says it has recovered the remains of nine of the 12 Marines killed when two helicopters crashed during nighttime training off Hawaii. Remains of three Marines were not recovered, the Marine Corps said Thursday in a statement. Sgts. Dillon Semolina and Adam Schoeller and Cpl. Christopher Orlando are still missing. The Marines say they have completed recovery operations.

The AH-64A/D Apache and AH-64E Block III Apache Longbow (renamed Guardian) are four-blade twin-engine attack helicopters manufactured by Boeing. The Apache was originally developed by Hughes Helicopters in the 1970s (first flight on September 30, 1975), however, the company was acquired by McDonnell Douglas in 1984. In 1997, McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing. The latest variant, the AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopter (originally designated AH-64D Block III), is powered by two General Electric T700-GE-701D turboshaft engines with 1,994 shp each. The AH-64D/E models are based on the original AH-64A, which was deployed in 1984 and first used in combat in 1989...

BRITISH troops have been put at risk in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of vital American helicopter rescue teams. US Pave Hawk choppers have been an important ­element of the air medical ­response in Helmand due to their winch capabilities. In the past six years the aircraft, which operate out of ­Camp Bastion, Britain’s main military base in the country, have saved more than 2,400 lives. But they have been pulled out of the war zone a year earlier than expected and a ­senior military source says they have not been adequately replaced. The insider said loss of the Pave Hawks...

There's a laser-guided antiaircraft missile jammer sitting on the table of the conference room in the office of Popular Mechanics. It comes in a medium-size box, weighing in at about 30 pounds, topped with a clear hemisphere housing a prominent mirror mounted on a 360-degree gimbal. Peering inside the dome, a viewer can see a network of other mirrors that bounce light from a laser housed below, directing the beam to the main lens affixed to the gimbal. This prototype is the only one in the world, and this is the first time its inventors, BAE Systems, have brought it...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ – With the advent of the helicopter, airborne military operations became centered on the concept of strategic mobility, or getting the maximum number of Soldiers into an area of operations in the shortest amount of time.After statically unloading from a Black Hawk helicopter, an Iraqi Soldier simulates holding his AK-47 Rifle at the ready, posting security while his team unloads from the aircraft during a recent air mobile training class instructed by U.S. Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division, attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, at Joint Security Station India, near Al Kindi, Iraq. U.S. Army...

CAMP TAJI — One U.S. Airman deployed here advises four Iraqi life support Airmen, making sure they maintain survival vests, body armor, crash helmets and night vision goggles for more than 200 helicopter air crew members. In addition to advising, Tech. Sgt. Kyle Richardson, 721st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron air crew flight equipment advisor, maintains the crucial equipment for Coalition forces. Previously, both life support offices were co-located on the Iraqi side of Camp Taji. Forty-five days into his deployment, the sergeant recognized the Iraqi's skills and decided they needed independence. "I'm here for anything they need," he said. "Their...

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq - Training days: 19. Flying days: zero. That tally changed to 20 and 1 as six Iraqi rotary-wing student pilots moved from the classrooms and briefing rooms to the tarmac and OH-58 helicopters--and the air--Feb. 15. Led by Soldiers, civilians and contractors from the U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization, Iraqi Air Force Squadron 2 is comprised of 12 student pilots, whom began ground academics when the course started in January and is scheduled to graduate here late July. The three-phase flight course will include basic aircraft handling, flight instrument use and tactics application....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army said on Wednesday it might cancel a $6.2 billion Textron Inc (TXT.N) armed helicopter program after finding that projected costs had soared more than 40 percent above initial estimates. One possibility is that the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, or ARH, being built by Textron's Bell Helicopter unit, could be "terminated" after a mandatory review, but the Army has a critical need for its capabilities, said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2007 – As the Army investigates the recent spate of helicopter crashes in Iraq, it’s working to get lessons being learned from them back to air crews in the field as quickly as possible. The service also is stepping up efforts to identify and confront forces behind the attacks, Army officials said. An Army “shootdown assessment team” from Fort Rucker, Ala., is in Iraq investigating the crashes of a UH-60 Black Hawk and two AH-64 Apaches between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2 that left 16 soldiers dead, Army Col. Robert Quackenbush from the Army Aviation Directorate,...

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2006 – A U.S. medical evacuation helicopter carrying an injured Afghan child came under attack with small-arms fire Aug. 1 in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, U.S. military officials said. The incident happened just days after media reports indicated Taliban leaders were urging followers to target U.S. and coalition medical personnel and clergy, officials said. Army Col. Michael Rose, Task Force Falcon and 10th Combat Aviation Brigade commander, called the attack a senseless and cowardly act. “This crew risked their lives to save this little girl, and the Taliban response to that was to try to shoot down an...

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured numerous terrorism suspects yesterday and today, and military officials praised the teamwork involved among responding forces after a coalition helicopter crashed yesterday. Coalition forces captured an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist and two other suspects during a raid today near Baghdad, military officials reported. The targeted individual is reported to be an "Umar Brigade" member and recruiter with control of several terrorist fighting cells, officials said. The Umar Brigade is an al Qaeda-sponsored Iraqi insurgent group known to target Shiite Moslems and specifically intending to incite sectarian...

Defence to spend $2b more on choppers Mark Metherell June 19, 2006 AUSTRALIA will buy almost four times as many military helicopters as previously ordered, at an extra cost of $2 billion. The Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, is expected to announce today that the Australian Defence Force will add 34 of the European MRH-90 multi-role helicopters to the 12 on order. The decision follows protracted problems with helicopters in the Defence Force, highlighted by the Sea King crash in Indonesia last year in which nine Australian military personnel were killed. The crash prompted the disclosure of poor maintenance standards for...

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2006 – A Multinational Division Baghdad helicopter went down at about 5:30 p.m. today southwest of Baghdad, and military officials also reported the results of recent operations in Iraq. Aside from saying the helicopter was conducting a combat air patrol and the crew's status isn't known, officials provided no further details. Additional information on the helicopter and the fate of its crew is being withheld pending investigation and notification of next of kin, according to a Multinational Force Iraq news release. In other news, coalition forces captured three terrorism suspects and killed three others today in...

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. (March 8, 2006) -- During the early 1960’s, when Marines needed transportation to or from combat zones, they didn’t call in MV-22’s. For the Marines on the frontlines in Vietnam, their savior was the UH-34D, ancestor of the CH-46E and the MV-22. At the stand-up ceremony for Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-263, the first operational MV-22 Osprey squadron, Marines from the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron-361 Veterans Association displayed a piece of the squadron’s past, a static display of a fully restored, operational UH-34D. The UH-34D was flown by HMM-361 along with other Marine squadrons...

eDefense Online notes that EADS subsidiary American Eurocopter received an order from the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection for 10 Light Sign Cutter EC120 helicopters. This acquisition is the first order under a DHS contract that could involve as many as 55 helicopters, with a potential total value of up to $75 million. The EADS release explains that their Light Sign Cutter designation refers to the lightweight class of rotary-wing aircraft earmarked for this mission and is a recognition of the expert trackers known as sign cutters. The EC120s have a number of characteristics useful for...

CAMP AL QAIM, Iraq (Nov. 18, 2005) -- The UH-1 Huey helicopter is one of the oldest aircraft in the Marine Corps’ war arsenal. Like its counterpart, the AH-1 Cobra, Hueys have been around since the days of Vietnam, and in Iraq, the helicopters named for utility are living up to their title. At Camp Al Qaim, Iraq, a detachment from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 provides the rotary wing close-air support for the ground forces in the area. They know firsthand the importance of the less glorified cousin of the Cobra. Hueys fly with crews of four, two...

This is just in CNN reported that 17 spanish troops killed in afghanistan will keep you posted

Pilot killed in helicopter crash By Cheryl BurtonJanuary 29, 2003 (West Chicago) — The final pieces of debris from a fatal helicopter crash have been moved inside the DuPage Airport hangar. The pilot-who was killed-had just taken off from the West Chicago airport.Michael Russell, 52, worked for the Air Angels Medivac Service affiliated with Good Samartan Hospital in Downers Grove. He was alone in the Augusta A109C, which can hold a patient, nurse, paramedic and pilot. The debris will be reconstructed to help investigators figure out what caused the crash. A team of investigators were brought to the airport, including...