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Su-30s would beat F-15s every time. ButÂ….. We recently explained how, 10 years ago, Exercise Cope India put the Indian Air Force Su-30 against U.S. Air Force F-15C jets with results that are still open to debate: since the drills took place during F-22 budget reviews, some analysts affirm the Air Force intentionally accepted the challenging ROE (Rules Of Engagement) to gain more Raptors. Others claim this version of the story was invented to try to save face after the Indians achieved an impressive 9:1 kill ratio. Even if we might never know the truth, itÂ’s undeniable that, at least...

<p>A North Korean propaganda film has revealed footage of a newly developed cruise missile, according to experts.</p> <p>The missile is believed to be similar to the Russian KH-35 missile, which came into service in 2003.</p> <p>Cruise missiles are short-range weapons guided by on-board computers, used to attack specific targets. The majority of the North's known missiles are much larger, longer-range missiles.</p>

Saab believes co-developing Tejas Mark II would end need for Rafale More than two years after India's ministry of defence (MoD) chose to buy 126 Dassault Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the world's biggest fighter contract swings in the wind. With no deal in sight after 28 months of haggling with Dassault, two of the losing vendors -Eurofighter and Saab - believe they could yet come out tops. Eurofighter GmbH, whose Typhoon fighter narrowly lost out to the Rafale, still retains a senior executive in New Delhi. This is to allow Eurofighter - the official runner-up -...

The government has approved the raising of three squadrons of the iconic American-made Apache attack helicopters for the Indian Army. This marks a big win for the Army in its epic war with the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the control of helicopter gunships. "The Army will get 39 Apache attack helicopters at an estimated cost of over $2.5 billion after the first tranche of 22 of these gunships, currently being negotiated with the US, is delivered to the IAF," disclosed an exultant officer at Army Headquarters. All future acquisitions of attack helicopters will thereafter be for the Army, an...

Tupolev is upgrading Tu-22Ms for ops in Russia’s expanding sphere of influence There’s no bomber quite like a Backfire. In many ways, Russia’s Tu-22M3 is a Cold War throwback. An intermediate-range, variable-geometry machine, the Tupolev design really gave NATO planners headaches in the 1970s and ’80s. If the Cold War had turned hot, Tu-22Ms would have attacked high-profile targets including American aircraft carrier battle groups in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The bombers also would have struck European ports and key airfields, with the aim of severing supply routes to the U.S. Today, the Backfire is the only supersonic bomber in...

The Boeing B-52 - sometimes known as the Stratofortress - is a long-range, jet-powered strategic bomber which is widely expected to prop up the US Air Force well beyond the year 2045 Before our marathon eight-hour flight Captain Thomas Hyde, the commanding officer of one of the B-52 bombers, briefly describes the mission. He says we will be doing a number of simulated bombing runs around what he calls "the island". He makes it sound like a short training flight over a remote abandoned outcrop of rock somewhere in the North Sea. But the island he is referring to is...

IAI's refuel tanker By Jun Ji-hye Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is moving to join the competition to win a contract to supply the nation's Air Force with four in-flight refueling tankers. IAI's participation is creating a three-way battle, along with Boeing and Airbus, who are also bidding to win the 1.4 trillion won ($1.4 billion) acquisition project. The Israeli company held a media briefing session in Seoul Wednesday and stressed that its B767 MMTT (Multi Mission Tanker Transport) is the comprehensive solution to the air ability of the Air Force. "The IAI is proposing the pre-owned B767-300ER to be the...

The U.S. Air Force has sent its most advanced bomber to Europe for the first time, amid the still-festering Ukraine crisis. Two B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, the most sophisticated warplanes ever employed in combat by the U.S., will be based for a "short-term deployment" at Fairford, a Royal Air Force base in England 90 miles (150 km) west of London -- just three hours flight away from the Russian border.

North Korea has a new anti-ship missile with a range of 130 km that poses a big threat to South Korea's elderly patrol corvettes. A recent propaganda film shown on North Korean state TV shows the missile is similar to the U.S.' Harpoon missile, a military source here said Sunday. "It's probably either the Russian-developed Kh-35 Uran or a copy." The missile was shown among the country's closely guarded submarines, which were also featured for the first time. The Kh-35 was developed in Russia in the mid-90s and has been exported to Burma, India and Vietnam. It is hard to...

About 1,300 people were evacuated after a Marine jet carrying ammunitions crashed in a Yuma, Arizona neighborhood Wednesday. The pilot ejected safely. A Marine spokesperson said the jet was trying to land when it crashed in the backyard of a home about a mile from Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma. Authorities say there have been no reports of injuries related to the crash. A Marine spokesperson said the AV-8B Harrier was carrying four 500-pound bombs and 300 rounds of 20-milimeter ammunitions. A one-mile area around the crash site was evacuated so a military explosives disposal team could safely retrieve the ordnance....

NEW DELHI: A MiG 29K naval combat aircraft has suffered damage while landing on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya during operations in Arabian Sea off the coast of Goa, a Navy official said today. The Russian-origin aircraft had taken off from the Naval airbase INS Hansa in Goa yesterday and was landing on the aircraft when it carried out a 'hard-landing' causing damage to the nose-wheel undercarriage, the official said. The pilot of the aircraft is safe and the further details of the damage are being assessed, they said. The Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the...

The Iraqi Air Force can list a fighter aircraft in the inventory for the first time in more than a decade on 5 June with the delivery of the first of 36 Lockheed Martin F-16IQ Block 52 aircraft on order. Iraqi ambassador Lukman Faily formally received the two-seat, Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229-powered F-16IQ during a ceremony at Lockheed’s factory in Fort Worth, Texas, becoming the 28th country to take delivery of a the 40-year-old F-16. As the first of six two-seat F-16Ds on order – along with 30 single-seat F-16Cs – the aircraft was delivered with a full load of...

Lockheed Martin Corp. ( LMT ) is expected to sell 65 of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to Canada in a deal worth more than $8.2 billion, Reuters reported Thursday on its website, citing people familiar with the process. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet still must approve the transaction, although people told Reuters that key members of Harper's cabinet support the purchase from Lockheed following an 18-month review of the country's needs. A spokesman for Harper's office told Reuters the

NEW DELHI: India is closely tracking Russia's move to directly supply Mi-35 attack helicopters to Pakistan by lifting an informal arms embargo. But officials here also say that Russian arms have in any case been surreptitiously finding their way to Pakistan through China for years now. "Yes, there is some concern here. But then, other countries like the US and France also sell their weaponry to both sides of the line of control. If the French sell Agosta-90B submarines to Pakistan, they sell the Scorpene submarines to us," said a senior defence official. This comes in the backdrop of Russian...

NASA is just about ready to test-launch its so-called flying saucer into the edge of space. The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator is literally a flying saucer. The original launch date of June 3 was scrubbed because of weather. The next potential launch date is Thursday, June 5, NASA said. "The agency is moving forward and getting ready for Mars as part of NASA's Evolvable Mars campaign," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters, in a news release. "We fly, we learn, we fly again. We have two more vehicles in the works for next year."

The AC-130 flying gunship fleet is one of the most fabled and feared assets in the entire USAF inventory. Known for its ability to unleash a broadside of cannon fire in the dead of night, the newest of the AC-130 lot is more about smart bombs than raining lead and howitzer shells down on the enemy. Before the turn of the decade it became clear that the aging AC-130 fleet was in low supply and exceedingly high demand. As a result the Air Force Special Operations Command decided that it should augment the existing fleet on AC-130H and AC-130Us in...

The RAAF’s AGM-158A Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-Off Missile (JASSM) has achieved its Final Operational Capability (FOC), Minister for Defence, Senator David Johnston has announced. The weapon – which is built by Lockheed Martin and is also in use by the USAF – was acquired under Project AIR 5418 to give the RAAF’s classic Hornet fleet a 300km+ stand-off precision strike capability. “The Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-Off Missile is now fully in service and is an extremely capable, long range missile that meets the future requirements of Air Force,” Senator Johnston said in a statement. “Successful JASSM integration forms a key piece of...

"On July 23, 1983, in the small town of Gimli, Manitoba, Captain Robert Pearson and Co-Pilot Maurice Quintal expertly glided a 100-ton Boeing 767 carrying 69 people to a safe landing without engines, air brakes or flaps, and minimal control of the aircraft......" .....;

On Friday the 23rd of May 2014 the Norwegian Government presented a bill to Parliament where it proposes to invest nearly NOK 3.7 billion (USD 622 million) in the third and final phase of development of the Joint Strike Missile. The JSM has been in development since 2004 and is one of the most advanced military development programs ever conducted in Norway. Its objective is to equip future Norwegian F-35 combat aircraft with a weapon that allows for successful engagement of highly defended sea- and land targets at very long range. Joint Strike Missile (JSM) in the internal carriage bay...

Move part of budget cuts * More pilotless planes being used in Gaza operations * U.S.-made Apache still in service By Dan Williams TEL AVIV, May 28 (Reuters) - Israel has phased out one of its two types of U.S. attack helicopter in favour of using more drones, military officers have told Reuters, reflecting a need for lighter and cheaper air power to counter Islamist guerrillas on its borders. They said Israel's last squadron of Cobras, built for tank-hunting and eluding surface-to-air missiles, was pulled from service late last year. The decision was previously kept under wraps but disclosed in...