Free Republic

A report has emerged that major Russian naval maneuvers were underway in the Pacific when U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor stealth fighters were scrambled from their base in Hawaii over the weekend, an incident you can read more about in The War Zone’s initial reporting. The Raptors were supposedly launched to investigate unspecified Russian long-range aircraft, part of a group of naval vessels and aircraft that were participating in a large-scale exercise around 300 to 500 miles west of the Hawaiian islands. The incident came immediately ahead of today’s summit meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir...

The Royal Norwegian Air Force made half as many scrambles to identify Russian aricraft in 2010 compared to the previous year. In all the arctic F-16s got airborne 36 times and identified 37 Russian planes, according to the Norwegian broadcasting service NRK.no. This follows the trend over the past two years. In 2009, 77 aircraft were identified against 87 in 2008. The lower activty is linked to changes in Russian air operations. The Russians have moved its air base for escorting fighters. Flights and training activity follow more north- and western routes into the Norwegian Sea and North Sea, outside...

Norwegian military intelligence believes that the number of Russian military aircraft operating off the Norwegian coast will decline this year. The reason is logistics. The new Russian defense budget has cut fuel purchases for the air force. No fuel, no flying. The Russians are doing this because, despite lower oil prices (for Russians main export) and the aftereffects of the global recession, Russia has to rebuild its' armed forces. By cutting fuel purchases, more money is available for new equipment. A year ago, former Russian president, and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, announced that, despite the current recession, and low...

For the second time this year, India has grounded its Su-30 fighters because one of the aircraft crashed. This time, the grounding of the 98 Su-30s in service is expected to last only a few days. Earlier this year, in May, its Su-30 fighters were grounded for a month after one of them appeared to develop engine problems and crashed. One of the pilots survived, but the parachute of the other failed to open. Four days before the Indian Su-30 went down, a Russian Su-35 also crashed because of engine problems. The Su-35 is an advanced version of the Su-30,...

More than a year ago, the U.N. dropped the Russian air transport company Vertikal-T from its approved list of vendors after a fatal helicopter crash in Nepal. Yet NATO continued to use helicopters owned by Vertikal-T in Afghanistan. And on July 19, one of those choppers crashed at southern Afghanistan's largest NATO base, killing 16 civilians on board. The crash reflects a little-known reality behind NATO's military push in Afghanistan: It is relying on Russian aviators flying Soviet-design aircraft, who are clocking up lucrative contracts in a country Russian troops left two decades ago. Aviation industry analysts say many of...

British frontline troops in Afghanistan are so short of helicopters and transport planes that they are being bailed out by the Russians. The Mail on Sunday has established that the Ministry of Defence is using civilian Russian-built Mi-8 and Mi-26 transport helicopters to ferry supplies and soldiers in Afghanistan. The pilots are freelance Russians and Ukrainians. Britain is also hiring massive commercial Russian Antonov aircraft to fly vehicles and heavy equipment from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to Afghanistan.