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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...

Russia will build more than 1,000 stealth fighter jets within four decades, including at least 200 for its traditional weapons buyer India, the head of plane maker Sukhoi said on Friday. Sukhoi test-flew its long-delayed fifth-generation fighter at the end of January, and Moscow said it would be able to compete with its U.S. F-22 Raptor rival built more than a decade ago. Sukhoi said last week it hoped the fighter, codenamed T-50, would be ready for use in 2015. "If you talk about warplanes of this type, there is definitely a market for it if we produce more than...

The Middle East newsline has confirmed that Saudi Arabia has advanced in negotiations to purchase a fighter jet from the United States. The Saudi leadership, in wake of receiving the first Eurofighters, has been examining the U.S.-built F-15 for a procurement contract in 2010. They said Saudi Defense Minister Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz has supported the prospect of an additional purchase of at least two squadrons of F-15s in a deal that could top $5 billion. “The assessment is that the Royal Saudi Air Force requires a platform that it is comfortable with, yet much more advanced than...

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, the Chief of the Air Staff, insisted that air power must not be seen as an “optional luxury” when Britain’s future defence capability is considered. Both Labour and the Conservatives are committed to strategic defence review after the election, and both acknowledge that cuts will need to be made to bring down the Government deficit. This has raised questions about high-price defence procurement projects. One of the most costly is the plan to buy more than 120 new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the RAF and Royal Navy, which will cost at least £10...

THE Joint Strike Fighter program will cost Australia more than originally planned and be delayed by about a year, the US government says. Australia will buy 14 of the jets from the US and may purchase up to 100, but the Pentagon said today the price - as much as $100 million each - would rise. The US government has withheld performance fees to lead contractor Lockheed Martin and sacked General David Heinz, who was in charge of the program. US Deputy Secretary of Defence Bill Lynn said on Monday the steps would strengthen the program. "When we looked at...

The Indian Navy will formally induct the Russian-made MiG-29K naval fighter jets for deployment on Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier on February 19 in the western state of Goa. The first four of the 16 MiG-29Ks that India had bought from Russia in 2004 along with Gorshkov were delivered at the INS Hansa naval base in Goa in a knocked-down condition on December 4 last. Senior Indian Navy officers said the jets have been assembled and the Russian pilots are flying them as a standard procedure before Indian Navy pilots takes over from them. "The formal induction ceremony has been fixed...

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – An unruly passenger aboard a Hawaii-bound airliner on Wednesday prompted the pilot to return the plane to Portland, Oregon, escorted by two military fighter jets, in the latest of several U.S. aviation security scares this week. The Hawaiian Airlines jet en route to Maui's Kahului Airport turned back because of "a suspicious passenger who made threatening remarks and refused to store his carry-on bag," said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The plane, escorted by two F-15 fighters scrambled out of Portland International Airport, landed there without further incident, and the man,...

China has agreed to sell Pakistan at least 36 advanced fighter jets in a deal worth as much as $1.4bn, according to Pakistani and western officials. Beijing will supply two squadrons of the J-10 fighter jet in a preliminary agreement that could lead to more sales, said a Pakistani official. The official said Pakistan might buy “larger numbers” of the multi-role aircraft in the future, but dismissed reports that Islamabad had signed a deal to purchase as many as 150 of the fighter jets. Defence experts described the agreement with China as a landmark event in Pakistan’s defence relationship with...

A U.S. F-15 fighter jet crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the military said in a statement. The condition of the two crew was not known, the statement said, adding the crash was not due to hostile action.

92 photos of the world's coolest fighter jets.

October 9, 2007: Australia, not wanting to delay upgrading its fighter fleet until the F-35 is ready, has ordered 24 U.S. F-18F fighters. The aircraft, with associated equipment and weapons, will cost $55 million each. Associated material includes 50 AGM-154 (JSOW) missiles (with a range of 70 kilometers) and 90 JHMCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems). JHMCS allows a pilot to see displayed on his visor, critical flight and navigation information. Sort of like a see-through computer monitor or Head Up Display. Most importantly, the pilot can turn his head towards a target, get an enemy aircraft into the crosshairs...

Two interceptors were scrambled to identify air traffic in international airspace north of Finnmark, Norway, late friday evening. The two fighter jets from Bodø Air Base took off just before 20:00 local norwegian time, after they were alerted by NATO's Air Operation Centre CAOC 3 on Reitan, Norway. This according to Lt. Col. John Espen Lien at Landsdelskommando Nord-Norge (Land Command North Norway). He states that it was probably russian planes. - It is most likely, because the planes stayed in and outside russian air space, he says. The planes turned around and disapeared before the norwegian jets made a...

Russia showcases fighter jet developed for Indian Navy 21 Aug, 2007, 1815 hrs IST, PTI ZHUKOVSKY: Russia for the first time showcased the MiG-29K deck-based fighter specially developed for the Indian Navy at the 8th international aerospace show 'MAKS-2007', inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. MiG-29K and its fighter-trainer variant MiG-29KUB, showcased here at the local airbase near Moscow, is part of the USD 1.5 billion Gorshkov aircraft carrier deal and India is also expected to deploy them on the indigenous aircraft carriers under Advanced Air Defence Ship (ADS) project currently at an advanced development stage. MiG-29K is equipped...

The reported Russian sale of Su-30 aircraft and aerial refueling tankers to the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very serious development. The Su-30 is an extremely capable aircraft, a potent adversary for aircraft like the F-15, F-16, Mirage 2000 and the F-18. It will be some time before the Iranians are trained up on them--perhaps a long, long time, if ever. But this is a true transformation of Iranian air power. Their current inventory consists of 1970s-era fighters (it is doubtful that any of their F-14s are in shape for sustained combat operations) such as the F-5 and F-4....

Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal. According to reports, in addition to the fighter jets, Teheran also plans to purchase a number of aerial fuel tankers that are compatible with the Sukhoi and capable of extending its range by thousands of kilometers. Defense officials said the Sukhoi sale would grant Iran long-range offensive capabilities. Government officials voiced concern over the reports. They said Russia could be trying to compete with the United States, which announced over the weekend a billion-dollar arms sale to...

Israel Air Force fighter jests were scrambled to a Russian passenger plane as it was nearing Israel, this after the plane’s pilots reported of suspicious behavior on the part of a number of passengers on board. The plane was eventually cleared for landing at Ben Gurion Airport after a security check.

Compiled from unclassified data published by government auditors and parliamentary sources, this report is intended to provide an objective basis for estimating the true costs of combat aircraft at a time when manufacturers, locked in increasingly bitter competition on the export market, routinely inflate the cost of competitors’ aircraft while making demonstrably misleading claims about their own. “Our goal is to provide a sound foundation on which journalists, researchers and members of the public can base their evaluation of the price figures bandied about by manufacturers, and which do not always represent the “best practices” in terms of reliability,” say...

KING CITY, Calif. -- A military spokesman said two Navy fighter jets have collided over a Monterey County military base near King City. It's unclear whether there are casualties. The jets were FA-18 fighter jets based out of Fort Hunter Liggett, located about 100 south of San Jose. The jets were on a training mission.

CARACAS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is ready to buy Russian-built fighter jets, as the United States refuses to supply spare parts for its F-16 jets. At a military ceremony on Monday, Chavez expressed his appreciation for Russia's help, saying Venezuela will buy fighter jets from Russia and "keep them here to protect this land." He also thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for approving the sale of 33 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles to Venezuela. Chavez also blamed Washington for forbidding Brazilian manufacturers from selling training aircraft to his country on...