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Turkey-Greece engage in mock dogfights over Cyprus as Israeli PM arrives GREEK AND Turkish jets tangled in mock dogfights in Cypriot airspace yesterday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving on the island, reports said. According to Sigma, around 11am three Greek Mirage-2000 fighters began shadowing two Turkish F-16 jets after the latter flew between Rhodes and Crete on their way from the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish ships were conducting wargames with live ammunition. The Turkish military exercise, the Foreign Minister said earlier, took place within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, in waters south of the island and close...

India's Mirage upgrade: a prelude to a Rafale MMRCA win? It looks as if India is serious about upgrading its Dassault Mirage 2000Hs to Mirage 2000-9 standard. This is a major upgrade that will affect most systems in the aircraft. The bill, estimated at $2.2 billion, is staggering, working out to about $43 million an aircraft. One wonders if India would be better off buying new aircraft. In his MMRCA report earlier this year Ashley Tellis pegged the flyaway cost of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (with APG-79 AESA radar) at $60 million. Anyway, the timing of the upgrade (first mooted...

Now that's what I call a dive bomber: Greek fighter jet salvaged from the Aegean Sea By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 3:43 PM on 24th June 2011 This Mirage 2000 fighter bomber of the Greek Hellenic airforce was rescued from a watery grave after it crashed into the Aegean sea. The two-seater aircraft went down on June 9 this year after running into trouble while on an exercise with two other jets near the island of Samos. Both pilot and co-pilot were able to eject safely and were rescued before being taken to Athens Military hospital. Embarrassingly for...

French fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan May 24, 2011 AFP KABUL A French fighter jet crashed in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, although the crew escaped without injury and enemy fire was not to blame, a French army spokesman said. "A Mirage 2000-D crashed 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Farah," French army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Eric de Lapresle told AFP. He excluded enemy fire as the cause of the crash, the first of a French plane during the near 10-year conflict in Afghanistan. "The crew are in good health and have been recovered," the spokesman added. The NATO-led International Security Assistance...

Qatar fighter jets land at Greek base - source 12:53pm EDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Two Qatari fighter jets and two C-17 transport aircraft expected to participate in the no-fly zone over Libya landed in Crete on Tuesday, a Greek defense ministry official said. U.S. Admiral Samuel Locklear told reporters in Washington that Qatari aircraft would be "up and flying" by the weekend. European and U.S. forces have sent warplanes against Libyan targets under a U.N. Security Council resolution and Western officials have said that Qatari aircraft would join the operation enforcing a no-fly zone. "Two Mirage fighter jets and two...

A proven fighter for the UAE Ivan Gale Last Updated: Feb 16, 2011 Dassault was the leading supplier of fighter jets to the UAE long before the major US defence companies began selling to the country. Regis Duvignau / Reuters France may be smaller than the US state of Texas but in the world of aerospace and defence it is a giant. It trails only the US in supplying arms to the Gulf, accounting for 35 per cent of purchases between 2005 and 2009 by the UAE, and 21 per cent of all defence sales in the region during the...

Defence Minister authorized to negotiate with Washington to buy F-16 jets December 14, 2010 - 04:26:33 BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq’s Council of Minister on Tuesday autrhorized defence ministter to negotiate with Washington to buy six F-16 combat jets, according to spokesman of the Iraqi government. “The council decided during its 49th session on Tuesday (Dec. 14) to authorize defence minister to negotiate with the American side to buy six F-16 combat jets,” Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The council authorized the minister also to continue negotiations with the French side to buy...

US, French pilots swap, bump elbows on first deployment by Senior Airman Melissa B. White 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 11/12/2010 - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- A U.S. Air Force pilot traded spaces with a French Air Force pilot who moved into a different American flying squadron, but now both are serving simultaneously at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on their first deployments with the new units. "I never thought we'd be here at the same time, especially on our first deployments," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Skyler Hester, an instructor pilot currently assigned to the French 1/3 Fighter Squadron. "We're...

Defense Ministry to review French-built fighter jets 2010/10/18 20:18:36 Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) National Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu said Monday that he will ask for an overall review of the country's French-made Mirage fighter jets after a lawmaker pointed out that the flight hours of the fighters have been reduced due to concern about a possible engine problem. Legislator Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintang told a legislative committee that during maintenance operations in May 2009, the engine rotors were found to have cracks, resulting in reduced flying hours. In May this year, a Mirage fighter jet belonging to the...

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...

French snub costs Taiwan's military By Jens Kastner TAIPEI - After Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, his Kuomintang Party (KMT) government invited reporters to a show of military strength. Journalists were shown the Mirage 2000-5 fighter fleet, demonstrated as the pride of Taiwan's air force, while the navy showed off its Lafayette frigates, the island's most advanced combat ship. There was much awe over the two centerpieces of Taiwan's weaponry, both had one thing in common: their country of origin was France. But now, fears are being raised over combat readiness, since the era of Franco-Taiwanese military...

Six Indian Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, two IL-76 heavy-lift aircraft and a IL-78 mid-air refueller will be leaving for France for a joint air combat exercise with the French Air Force next month. The exercise, Garuda-IV, will be held at the Istres airbase in France from June 14 to 25. "The exercise will help to further enhance interoperability between the Indian and French air forces since pilots as well as the ground crew will get to see each other's operational, technical and administrative practices from close quarters,'' said an officer. The exercise comes at a time when India and France are all...

Taiwan needs as many as 66 more Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 fighter jets to counter China’s growing air defense and attack capability, according to a report by a pro-Taiwan advocacy group. “China’s rapid, sustained military modernization over the last two decades has steadily eroded Taiwan’s relative capabilities in maintaining a viable air defense,” the U.S.- Taiwan Business Council said yesterday in a report released in Washington. Taiwan’s request in 2006 to buy the fighters wasn’t pursued by the administration of President George W. Bush and so far hasn’t been backed by President Barack Obama in the face of opposition from...

The Air Force may file a case with the international commercial arbitration court to seek the return of kickbacks that were allegedly paid during the procurement of French Mirage 2000 jet fighters in 1992. In the wake of a ruling handed down on Monday by an international court of arbitration in Paris ordering French company Thales (formerly known as Thompson-CSF) to repay the Taiwanese government about US$861 million in kickbacks involved in the scandal-plagued Lafayette frigate deal, the Air Force said on Wednesday it was reviewing the Mirage deal. If the Air Force decides that kickbacks were paid during the...

Taiwan mulling action against France over Mirage deal: report TAIPEI (Kyodo) -- Less than two days after being awarded $861 million by an international arbitration court over breach of contract in the sale of French warships, Taiwan is reportedly considering action against France to recover money allegedly misspent in the sale of Mirage fighters. Without naming its source, the United Daily News said Wednesday that Taiwan's air force is thinking of lodging an appeal with the International Chamber of Commerce's court of arbitration along the lines of the military's successful action against French defense contractor Thales Group. The Paris-based International...

India inks Mirage deal, France says no to Pak Manu Pubby Posted online: Monday , Apr 05, 2010 at 0822 hrs New Delhi : India last week finalised a $2.2 billion deal with France to upgrade its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters, even as reports from Paris say the country has suspended the sale of electronics and missiles for Pakistan’s JF 17 fighters, supposedly under “Indian pressure”. While the IAF deal for upgradation of 51 fighters had been hanging fire for the past two years, sources said the Price Negotiation Committee last week finalised the cost. The deal is likely...

Taiwan's air force said Sunday that it had received more than three million dollars' worth of parts and maintenance service because of a flaw in the island's French-made Mirage fighter fleet. A fully armed French-made Mirage fighter jet patrols the sky above Hsinchu, Taiwan. Taiwan's air force said Sunday that it had received more than three million dollars' worth of parts and maintenance service because of a flaw in the island's French-made Mirage fighter fleet. The air force had been effectively compensated in November over cracks in the blades of several Mirage engines which had prompted the air force to...

Only the United States-made F-16 fighter jets were strong enough to help Taiwan repel an attack from China's more sophisticated aircraft, reports said yesterday. The Chinese-language Liberty Times daily said internal Ministry of National Defense reports showed the air force's Indigenous Defense Fighters and French-made Mirage 2000 jets were not up to the standards of China's most recent aircraft. Taiwan has been trying to obtain upgraded F-16 C/D jets from the U.S., but the Obama Administration has so far failed to agree on the deal. One Russian-supplied Sukhoi-30 from China's air force was the equivalent of 2.8 Mirages or 1.7...

India and France are now finally close to inking the around Rs 10,000 crore project to upgrade the Mirage-2000 fighter jets in the IAF combat fleet after protracted negotiations. The first four to six IAF Mirages will be upgraded in France, while the rest 50 will equipped with new avionics, weapon and sensor suites to enhance their combat edge by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in India under transfer of technology in the project. "It (the project finalisation) should happen shortly,'' IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik told TOI on Monday. This will be the second such big programme with...

A report released yesterday by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that assesses the overall effectiveness of Taiwan’s air defenses has reinforced concerns about the state of Taiwan’s aging fighter squadrons. An unclassified version of the report seen by the Taipei Times produces a damning indictment of the poor state of many of the Air Force’s jets, raising serious doubts about the nation’s ability to defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack. “Although Taiwan has nearly 400 combat aircraft in service, far fewer of these are operationally capable,” the report said. The military’s 60 “F-5 fighters have reached the...