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Russia’s war with Ukraine is likely to impact the Chinese military, especially its fighters jets, due to its over-dependence on Moscow.On May 17, experts at the China Aerospace Studies Institute conference predicted that Russia wouldn’t service or provide engines and components for up to 40% of China’s fighters. This is likely to impact the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s fleet in the near future, as reported by Air Force Magazine. During a panel discussion on military cooperation between China and Russia, experts highlighted that China has not been able to fully develop engine technology, despite all the claims. With Russia...

Foreign-born researchers working at U.S. agencies secretly joined China’s payroll, sending sensitive U.S.-funded research to the country while U.S. government agencies took almost no defensive measures against a major recruitment operation, a Senate investigation found. Researchers linked to the Chinese government formed a Chinese cell within the Department of Energy, attained access to American genomic data, and recruited other U.S. researchers to join, the bipartisan report stated. China’s Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) aims to get foreign governments to finance the communist power’s military and economy by buying off researchers who are doing work abroad. The experts apply to the program,...

Here’s your proof that sometimes being just a little bit crazy results in something amazing. This is a working fire truck. It is made from a WWII-era Russian T34 tank. Strapped to that tank’s roof are the engines from a MiG-21 fighter jet. They call this Frankenstein creation Big Wind, and it’s a wonder to see it in action. According to MPORA, the fire truck was built by Hungarian engineers and was first used in 1991. That was back when Saddam Hussein’s army was laying waste to Kuwait as they retreated from the country. One of their destructive tactics was...

Four months after an Indian MiG-27 fighter bomber crashed, and all Indian MiG-27s were grounded, the aircraft have been cleared to fly again. The long delay was caused by fears that all the Russian made engines in these aircraft might have a common problem. This is not a new problem. The MiG-27, and Cold War era Russian warplanes in general, do not age well. India only has about a hundred MiG-27s still operational, and all of them were grounded for over a year (2005-6) when serious problems were discovered with the MiG-27s Russian designed engines. Things have since gotten better,...

The Air Force is seeking permission from Congress to shift $215 million out of lower-priority procurement accounts to stock up on spare engines for the F-22A Raptor fleet in the wake of concerns about future availability, according to a Pentagon budget document. This move is one of many fiscal year 2010 budget adjustments to Air Force, Army and Navy modernization accounts detailed in a 25-page reprogramming action that Robert Hale, Pentagon comptroller, sent to Congress on June 11, seeking to shift funds totaling $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2010 funds from lower- to higher-priority needs. “Funds are required to procure...

NATO officials will not fully confirm a report that several F-16s were damaged by the volcanic ash released from Iceland's, Mount Eyjafjallajökull eruption on April 14, which has caused widespread disruption to air travel across most of Europe. A source at NATO would only confirm that the comments had come from a US diplomat, but did not know which of the nations had been affected. However an official with the European Air Traffic Agency was later to have said that an F-16 from the Belgian Air Force had sustained damage. F-16s from several member states are in Europe participating in...

Air traffic in Sweden and Europe is currently paralyzed due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland. How could a local event in the furthest reaches of Northern Europe paralyze an entire continent? The reason is that the ash that fills the air following a volcanic eruption has a much denser content than a normal dust or ash cloud. The ash affects air-traffic safety in a number of ways. The ash comprises minerals, which are extremely small and hard rock particles. They are so hard that they can have a blasting effect on the aircraft’s cockpit windowpanes when an aircraft meets...

In May 1985, a Boeing 767 operated by Trans World Airlines became the first twin-engine airliner allowed to fly directly from St. Louis, Missouri, TWA’s hub, to Frankfurt, Germany, without altering its course to comply with an international requirement that it never be more than an hour’s flying time from an airport where it could land. The rule harkens back to the days of piston engines, which were so unreliable that at least four were considered necessary for a long flight over the ocean or hostile terrain. Even with four engines, airliners sometimes had to ditch—most notably the Boeing 377...

Volcanic ash consists of tiny fragments of glass which melt at the operating temperature of jet engines. Skip related content Related photos / videos Volcanic ash may damage jet engines Enlarge photo .Sucked into the turbines, they clog up the engines and can shut them down, with potentially disastrous consequences. Hard ash particles can also damage an engine's fan blades, and may cause electrical systems to short-circuit. The sudden loss of power can cause a large passenger aircraft to go into freefall. At the same time the pilot is likely to be flying "blind" because of scratches left on the...

The Govern­ment’s investigations into the stolen Royal Malaysian Air Force RMAF F5E jet engines in Uruguay has turned up evidence, in the form of documents and witnesses, necessary for instituting criminal proceedings here. “We visited the military facility where the engines are kept under the custody of the Uruguayan judicial authority and have positively identified them as belonging to the Government of Malaysia,” said Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail. Abdul Gani, who visited Uruguay and Argentina from Feb 15 to Feb 19, said they had drafted two mutual legal assistance requests for the return of the engines as well...

Russia's effort to develop an F-22 class fighter (the PAK FA) is going to require a lot of work. The prototype, that took its first flight recently, was clearly the basic Su-27 airframe modified to be stealthier. This included changing the shape of the aircraft to be less radar reflective, and providing internal bays for bombs and missiles. But there's much more to do in order to achieve anything close to the stealthiness of the F-22. It took fifteen years for the F-22 to go from initial flight, to entering service. The PAK FA could proceed faster, learning from the...

How do two stolen jet fighter engines get from the United States, to Malaysia, then to Argentina, Uruguay and finally to Iran? No one is entirely sure just yet. But the two engines are still in the wind, and no other air force, except Iran's, would touch them (their parts numbers are in the hands of police everywhere). It all began last December, when Malaysia began an investigation into the theft of two General Electric J85-21A jet engines in 2007 and 2008. Each of the six F-5 fighters used by the air force uses a pair of these engines. Packed...

Two missing US-made fighter jet engines, worth 29 million dollars and stolen from a Malaysian military airbase, have been traced to Argentina, police said Thursday. Police chief Musa Hasan said officers were checking with their counterparts in Buenos Aires to confirm if the missing engines are still in the country. "The stolen engines have been taken to Argentina," the police chief told AFP. "We have to check if the engines are still in that country." Musa told the Star newspaper that several top airforce officers, including generals, are expected to be questioned in connection with the theft. Four people, including...

LOS ANGELES — Aviation authorities say a baggage cart was drawn into an engine of a Boeing 747 as it was leaving a terminal gate at Los Angeles International Airport. .. .. a baggage cart was being towed by at the same time and the engine ingested one of the containers. The object was lodged in the outer left-side engine of the four-engine jet.

BURLINGTON, N.C., U.S.A., November 28, 2007–Honda Aero, Inc., officially broke ground on its new corporate headquarters and state-of-the-art jet engine plant in Burlington, North Carolina, on property located adjacent to the Burlington-Alamance County regional airport. Honda Aero also announced that it has successfully run a proof-of-concept version of the advanced and efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan engine, and that the engine has exceeded the company's internal development targets for both thrust performance and specific fuel consumption (SFP) on its first test run. The company is moving toward its goals of engine certification in 2009 followed by the start of mass...