In a scene that has become common on the evening news, police cars and other emergency vehicles swarmed a residential street Sept. 10 in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Mich. A gunman suspected in the fatal shooting of a police officer had barricaded himself in a house.
Although France's relationship with its last monarchs was not a happy one, the nation's navy is fondly referred to as “La Royale.” This has little to do with the service's history that goes back to France's royal past, but more to do with the fact that naval headquarters are (for another two years at least) in a splendid building on the Rue Royale in Paris. There, Aviation Week Contributing European Editor Christina Mackenzie caught up with Adm.
Iran on Sept. 21 revealed four copies of its Ra'd (Thunder) surface-to-air-missile system, with each transporter carrying three Taer (Bird) missiles. Iranian military officials told the Fars News Agency that the Taer has a range of up to 50 km (31 mi.) and can reach an altitude of 75,000 ft. They said it was in production for the Iranian armed forces. However, Iran likely did not develop this missile indigenously, and while its configuration defies clear determination of its parentage, Western missile experts believe it is likely either Russian or Chinese.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an unmanned aerial vehicle, which flew about 35 mi. into Israel and near a nuclear facility before being shot down Oct. 6, was sent by the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The Governments of the Republic of Iraq and the Czech Republic have today announced that the Iraqi Government has ordered 28 L-159 light attack aircraft.
While the U.S. Marine Corps is drawing down its force levels to reflect the nation’s pullback from overseas military operations, the service also is shifting focus to more covert or cyber-based operations, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says. “As the Marine Corps is getting smaller, there are two areas in which it is bigger,” Mabus said Oct. 9 during a luncheon hosted by the National Aeronautic Association. “One is special operations and the other is cyber.”
CYBER SUMMIT: The U.S. Air Force is planning to conduct a Cyber Summit next month to help the service and industry shape the mission and its requirements for the future, according to Lt. Gen. Mike Basla, the service’s CIO at the Pentagon. The summit will be hosted by Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and Secretary Michael Donley, and attended by senior leaders in the service.
The Obama administration is nearing the final and most contentious phase of its massive export control reform — telling Congress what items it ultimately plans to transfer from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to one controlled by the Commerce Department. By the end of the year, congressional aides are anticipating the administration will detail how it will transfer two key aerospace categories of products from the USML controlled by the State Department to the Commerce list.
TEL AVIV — Armoring light combat vehicles has always been a compromise, as the weight allowed for the armor could never provide adequate protection against all threats. Future combat vehicles need to maintain a good balance between mobility, protection, size and weight — and all that at an affordable cost.
NAGOYA, Japan — Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) forecasts sales of about 100 civil derivatives of its XC-2 aircraft in the next 30 years, should the manufacturer decide to proceed with such a program after completing the development of its military transport. The Japanese manufacturer has started building the first four series-production units of the XC-2, says a program official, and the country’s defense ministry is test flying two prototypes.
The DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer passed a major milestone this month with the delivery of the ship’s composite deckhouse to the U.S. Navy. Weighing in at 900 tons and bigger than half a football field, the deckhouse packs the ship’s bridge, radars, antennas and intake/exhaust systems into a structure designed to provide a significantly smaller radar cross section than any other ship in the service’s current fleet.
NEW DELHI — India is likely to buy an additional 42 Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft and 71 medium-lift helicopters from Russia. The Su-30 MKI order will be in addition to the 230 aircraft of the type already contracted for, as the Indian air force (IAF) plans to raise 13 to 14 squadrons in the near future, according to a defense ministry official. The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, a variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, is jointly developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for the IAF.
A Mitt Romney administration would take an “incremental” approach to U.S. defense weaponry development while fighting cost growth and schedule delays with “strong civilian leadership” that heads off so-called “requirements creep” by program proponents in the military and industry.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) forecasts sales of about 100 civil derivatives of its XC-2 aircraft in the next 30 years, should the manufacturer decide to proceed with such a program after completing the development of its military transport.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki headed an official delegation of Iraqi ministers who visited Aero Vodochody today, primarily to discuss the Iraqi Government's interest in purchasing L-159 aircraft.
Conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) has been a subject of more talk than action in the U.S. defense community for the past decade, but a new study by the hawkish National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) argues that political and technological change favors a new look at the concept.
