Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $21,133
26%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 26%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Keyword: navair

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • India inks $1-bn deal with Boeing to buy 4 more P-8I aircraft for Navy

    07/27/2016 7:19:37 PM PDT · by cold start · 7 replies
    NEW DELHI: Adding more teeth to the Navy’s surveillance capabilities, India on Wednesday signed a deal worth over $1 billion with American defence and aerospace major Boeing for procuring four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The US has emerged as the biggest supplier of military hardware to India and with Wednesday's agreement, the total value of defence deals signed with the US in the last decade comes to around $15 billion. According to defence sources, the contract is a follow-on order to the eight P-81 planes worth $2.1 billion bought by India in a direct deal...
  • US Navy's newest $12.9bn supercarrier doesn't work

    07/22/2016 12:29:41 AM PDT · by sukhoi-30mki · 111 replies
    DAILYMAIL.COM ^ | July 21, 2016 | LIAM QUINN
    The most expensive warship ever built has been delayed from hitting the front line because it is reportedly not ready for battle. The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford Navy supercarrier - the first of three in its class with a total cost of $43 billion - could potentially struggle with planes landing and taking off, moving military weapons and being able to successfully defend itself, a memo obtained by Bloomberg News reads. The memo allegedly states 'poor or unknown reliability issues' were identified in a letter dated June 28. 'These four systems affect major areas of flight operations,' Defense...
  • Aircraft of Admiral Kuznetsov to be used in Syria Oct-Jan — source

    07/02/2016 9:59:59 AM PDT · by sukhoi-30mki · 19 replies
    TASS ^ | July 02, 2016
    MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The deck aircraft of the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier will participate in delivering strikes against militants in Syria from an eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea in October 2016 - January 2017, a military-diplomatic source in Moscow told TASS on Saturday. "The General Staff has prepared a plan for involvement of the deck aircraft in delivering strikes on terrorist groups in the Syrian Arab Republic, where the crews will practice taking off the carrier to deliver strikes on ground targets." Thus, the source said, in autumn-winter, the strikes will be delivered both by the crews located at...
  • New Video Appears To Show Deadly Blue Angels Crash In Tennessee

    06/08/2016 12:32:58 PM PDT · by Yo-Yo · 22 replies
    The War Zone ^ | 6/8/16 | Tyler Rogoway
    Until now, there has been little quality video that show the events leading up to the tragic loss of Captain Mike Kuss in Blue Angel #6 on June 2. This new video was posted by what appears to be an onlooker checking out the Blue Angels practice flight from near Smryna Airport’s tower. You can clearly see the solos departure at the beginning of the demo, with #5 executing the dirty roll and #6 executing a low transition and high performance climb, after which it comes falling back to the ground. The camera briefly breaks away to catch the four-ship...
  • Two US Navy F-18s crash in the Atlantic off North Carolina’s Outer Banks

    05/26/2016 2:17:54 PM PDT · by Java4Jay · 10 replies
    Two of the US Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets have crashed off the coast of North Carolina on Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed. Their crews have been recovered and taken to a hospital.
  • Is the $400 billion F-35's 'brain' broken?

    04/21/2016 12:21:19 PM PDT · by don-o · 46 replies
    CNN ^ | April 21, 2016 | By Zachary Cohen
    (CNN)Almost 2,500 of the world's most advanced warplanes, with a total price tag of $400 billion, and they may not have a "brain" in the bunch? That's the fear of federal watchdogs who say problems with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's complex logistics software system could lead to a grounding of the entire fleet, not to mention future cost increases and schedule delays. Documenting risks to the F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System, which Department of Defense officials have described as the "brains" of the fifth-generation fighter, an April 14 Government Accountability Office report says a failure "could take the entire...
  • WWII PBY Catalina Seaplane Destroyed Off Florida Coast In Movie Mishap

    04/18/2016 1:06:28 PM PDT · by pabianice · 39 replies
    A World War Two seaplane has been left abandoned and stranded for a while on a beach off the north Gulf Coast of the US. It the subsequent “recovery operation” the Catalina broke apart and has been destroyed. The plane is a PBY-6A seaplane that was built and used during the war. The plane was being used in a new Hollywood movie starring Nicholas Cage, but during filming a minor flying complication occurred and the pilot had to do an emergency landing off the Florida shore line. The plane landed close to the shore near the Alabama and Florida state...
  • Zero fighter flies over Japan for 1st time since WWII

    01/27/2016 6:22:00 AM PST · by Olog-hai · 113 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan. 27, 2016 7:54 AM EST | Miki Toda
    One of Mitsubishi's legendary Zero fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday for the first time since World War II. The restored plane made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan. Decorated former U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm flew the aircraft. Zero fighters were considered one of the most capable fighter planes in World War II, rivaling the British Spitfire. Their long range allowed them to play a prominent role in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Only a few are still in operating condition. ...
  • SNA 2016: UK France Italy and Spain Said to be Interested in Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey

    01/20/2016 3:00:18 AM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 1 replies
    Navy Recognition ^ | 01/20/2016 | Xavier Vavasseur
    A number of European countries have shown interest in the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Navy Recognition has learned during the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) National Symposium held last week near Washington DC. Among them are the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Artist impression showing a US Navy V-22 in a COD mission. Image: Bell "We will brief a number of European countries on the V-22 in February. If international partners orders can be added to the US order as part of Multi Year 3, it could drive the V-22 price down" said John R. Parker, Senior Manager, Tiltrotor Global Sales...
  • So You Think You Can Sell a Fourth Generation Carrier-Launched Fighter?

    01/04/2016 5:15:27 AM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 6 replies
    The Diplomat ^ | 01/04/2016 | Robert Farley
    Saab is trying to find customers in Asia. A recent report indicated that the Swedish defense firm is trying to find partners in Asia for the Sea Gripen, a carrier-launched version of its much-lauded, relatively inexpensive Generation 4.5 fighter. The problem is that the market for fighter aircraft is tight, because there are several good competitors and not enough aircraft carriers to go around. Thus have culminated a pair of long-standing trends in naval and aviation acquisition: good aircraft are chasing decks that simply don’t exist. To see how we got here, it’s useful to trace a bit of the...
  • New Video Reveals Evolving Flight Operations Off China's Carrier Liaoning

    12/28/2015 10:13:50 PM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 11 replies
    Foxtrot Alpha ^ | December 28, 2015 | Tyler Rogoway
    New video has surfaced showing operations aboard China’s only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, complete with the head of the Chinese Navy’s making a visit and J-15 fighters landing and launching. More importantly, it shows how much Chinese aircraft carrier operations have evolved. This includes footage of one of the jets with an air-to-air load-out launching from mid-ship launch position. The video was supposedly shot during recent training in the Bohai Sea. According to a report by Channel News Asia, Chinese media has recently ran stories underscoring the fact that the country’s carrier has transitioned from in development to an operational...
  • French Navy Rafale M Fighters May Conduct Combat Missions From a US Navy CVN in 2017

    12/21/2015 4:06:25 AM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 17 replies
    Navy Recognition ^ | 21 December 2015
    French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M carrier-based multirole fighters may conduct combat missions against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier as soon as January 2017. The information comes from French TV channel TF1 (video in French). According to TF1 this subject was discussed between US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and French Navy Rear Adm. Rene-Jean Crignola, Commander Task Force (CTF) 50. The US Defense Secretary was visiting the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle on Saturday. The reason why the French Navy would deploy its Rafale M aboard a US Navy...
  • THE END FOR A-4 SKYHAWK IN ISRAEL

    12/14/2015 5:21:15 AM PST · by sukhoi-30mki · 8 replies
    AIRheads FLY ^ | 2015/12/13 | Elmer van Hest
    The Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Sunday 13 December said good bye to the McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk after 48 years of service. A formation flight flew over all IAF bases on Sunday morning. The Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master takes over the A-4’s training duties. The Skyhawks flew for the final time from Hatzerim airbase, witnessed by many active and former IAF-personnel. Virtually every pilot in the IAF flew the A-4 at one time or another, as the type was reponsible for pilot training over the last decades. It was applauded for its reliability during the farewell ceremony. The first...
  • One killed in US military jet crash in England

    10/21/2015 5:11:19 AM PDT · by ilovesarah2012 · 10 replies
    wfsb.com ^ | October 21, 2015 | Kimberly Wright
    NEAR REDMERE, UK (RNN) - Authorities said one person died after a military jet crashed in England Wednesday, The Guardian reported. A U.S. Navy F-18 crashed four miles from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, and emergency services were dispatched to the scene in a rural area.
  • US Navy Pilot Killed in F-18 Jet Crash in Cambridgeshire Fens (UK)

    10/21/2015 4:56:14 AM PDT · by kristinn · 8 replies
    The BBC ^ | Wednesday, October 21, 2015
    A US Navy pilot has died in an F-18 jet crash in the Fens in Cambridgeshire, close to an RAF base. The Hornet crashed on farm land in Redmere, near Ely, close to the Suffolk border, with the alarm raised at 10:30 BST. Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the pilot, the only crew member, died. The aircraft had taken off from RAF Lakenheath, but was not connected to the base.
  • Does the U.S. Navy Need a 21st Century F-14 Tomcat?

    10/13/2015 10:57:54 PM PDT · by sukhoi-30mki · 29 replies
    The National Interest ^ | October 13, 2015 | Dave Majumdar
    While the requirement for a carrier-based long-range strike capability is a frequent subject of discussion around Washington, the U.S. Navy’s need for improved air superiority capabilities is often neglected. The service has not had a dedicated air-to-air combat aircraft since it retired the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006. But even the Tomcat was adapted into a strike aircraft during its last years in service after the Soviet threat evaporated. Now, as new threats to the carrier emerge and adversaries start to field new fighters that can challenge the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, attention...
  • F-18 Crashes West of Lemoore

    09/21/2015 6:21:40 PM PDT · by Mat_Helm · 17 replies
    Hanford Sentinal ^ | 09/21/15 | Staff reports
    An F/A-18 fighter jet aircraft has crashed west of Naval Air Station Lemoore. The crash, which happened Monday, was north of Highway 198 in a dirt field just east of the Kings/Fresno county line, about two miles west of NASL, according to Adam Barresi, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The pilot reportedly ejected from the aircraft in mid-air, parachuted to the ground, landed and walked over to emergency responders on scene, according to Kings County Fire Chief Bill Lynch. Lynch said the crash happened around 4 p.m. The pilot's name wasn't immediately available. The parachute was reported as...
  • Pentagon says F-35 operational test aboard USS Wasp did not measure up

    09/17/2015 2:14:46 PM PDT · by pabianice · 59 replies
    Stars andf Stripes ^ | 9/17/15 | Davenport
    WASHINGTON — When the Marine Corps put its version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter through a series of tests aboard an amphibious assault ship in the spring, officials said that the aircraft performed so well that the service soon declared it ready for combat. But the Pentagon's top weapons tester said in a report in July that the exercise was so flawed that it "was not an operational test... in either a formal or informal sense of the term." Furthermore, the test "did not — and could not — demonstrate" that the version of the F-35 that was evaluated...
  • This Topgun Instructor Watched The F-14 Go From Tomcat To 'Bombcat'

    08/21/2015 10:48:17 PM PDT · by sukhoi-30mki · 69 replies
    Foxtrot Alpha ^ | 8/21/15 | Dave “Bio” Baranek
    We’re blasting along through the bumpy mid-day air at a brisk 480 knots, 500 feet above the desert. The ride is rough, and the purposeful rumble of our engines reminds me that it takes a lot of power to push this machine through the dense air at 800 feet per second. Fortunately, we have a lot of power. To my left at about a half mile is another Tomcat, and a mile ahead are two more. We fly in an offset box formation, each of us carrying two Mk 84 2,000-pound bombs. I’m the radar intercept officer (RIO) in an...
  • Marines Declare F-35B Operational, But Is It Really Ready For Combat?

    07/31/2015 8:48:05 PM PDT · by sukhoi-30mki · 10 replies
    Foxtrot Alpha ^ | 7/31/15 | Tyler Rogoway
    The Marine Corp has declared initial operational capability for their first squadron of F-35Bs. The announcement is seen by some as more of PR achievement as the aircraft still has years of testing ahead of it. Others will argue that it represents a major accomplishment for the beleaguered F-35 program. But regardless of who you agree with, the USMC have succeeded at ramming the aircraft through a marker post that has always been a huge point of contention. Commandant of the Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford made the following statement: I am pleased to announce that VMFA-121 has achieved initial...