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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...

April 30, military contingents conducting the QRA Baltic Air-policing mission will change during a ceremony at the LAF Siauliai Air Base: Polish Air Contingent with four MiG-29 will replace French soldiers. Polish forces are deploying air assets for the Baltic Air-policing mission for the third time (after service on January-March 2006 and March-June 2008 with MiG-29 fighter-jets). The majority of the present shift come from the 23rd Air Base and the 1st Tactical Squadron of the Polish Air Force based in Minsk Mazowiecki near Warsaw. The third Polish rotation named „Eagle 3" will comprise 100 troops, 8 of them pilots....

-- Russia is increasingly flexing its military muscles by penetrating Western airspace. European defense officials have been worried about an increasing number of Russian bombers entering Western airspace. A pair of Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack bombers -- the largest jet-powered combat aircraft ever built, capable of carrying nuclear missiles -- last month entered British airspace over Northern Scotland, Deutsche Welle reports. Two Tornado fighter jets from the British air force intercepted the supersonic bombers, accompanying them for four hours until they left British airspace. Similar incidents have occurred in recent years; London has said Russian planes have penetrated British airspace more...

Kazakhstan has decided to open its airspace to U.S. military aircraft ferrying supplies to American troops serving in Afghanistan, it was decided on Sunday at a meeting between President Barack Obama and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Washington. The permission granted by Kazakstan means that U.S. planes en route to Afghanistan can now use the polar route instead of flying along the indirect route through Europe, which would save precious time and fuel for moving supplies to forward locations in the war-ravaged country. The meeting, the first between the two leaders, took place on the eve of the Nuclear...

The eight-seat recreational airplane, a single-engine Gippsland Airvan, is cruising peacefully over southern Maryland on a hazy June afternoon, pilot and passengers enjoying the view from 4,000 feet, where the Nanticoke River runs into the swamplands at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Suddenly—whoosh! A trademark shape most of us encounter only in the movies or at airshows darts underneath the 100-knot pleasure craft, then carves a semi-circle in the sky in front of it. A voice crackles in the pilot’s headset: “This is a United States Air Force armed F-16. You are in violation of restricted airspace. Do you...

The prime ministers of Turkey and Lebanon on Monday lashed out at Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace and air strikes in Gaza, warning they were undermining prospects for peace in the region. "Attacks on Lebanon is terrorism itself... We have to stand shoulder by shoulder against the enemy's plans... We have to stop Israel," visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri told a press conference. Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on four Israeli warplanes which were violating its airspace at low altitude on Monday, the military said. Israel argues that the overflights are necessary to monitor what it says is massive...