BY : Army Times Publishing Company

A Navy EA-18G “Growler” made an emergency landing at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada after its left engine caught on fire on Nov. 17, Navy officials say.

The plane landed safely and nobody was injured. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces.

The aircraft was conducting “routine operational testing” and was one of three assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine based at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California, Brown said.

BY : Haaretz

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

But America's nuclear guarantee to Israel could also be interpreted as a sign the U.S. believes Iran will eventually acquire nuclear arms.
Secretary of state-designate Hillary Clinton had raised the idea of a nuclear guarantee to Israel during her campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. During a debate with Obama in April, Clinton said that Israel and Arab countries must be given "deterrent backing." She added, "Iran must know that an attack on Israel will draw a massive response." Clinton also proposed that the

BY: Air force Times

In the end, 68 percent of eligible pilots signed up for the $125,000 retention bonus in fiscal 2008 — more than the goal of 66 percent — but the final numbers show troublesome trends among fighter pilots.

Fifty-nine percent of the 290 eligible fighter pilots chose to stay another five years beyond the end of their eight-year service commitment. The loss of these pilots, typically new majors on their third or fourth assignment, adds to ongoing concerns about having enough experienced pilots on hand to teach new pilots arriving at operational squadrons.

The fighters with the lowest retention rates were A-10s at 53 percent, F-16s at 51 percent

BY : Reuters

The U.S. Air Force is seeking to retire early more than 300 fighter aircraft next year to save $3.4 billion in the hope of funding advanced Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fighters and other modernization efforts, a published report said on Wednesday, citing internal Pentagon documents.

The plan would retire 137 F-15 and 177 F-16 fighters plus nine A-10 close air support attack aircraft as much as 11 years before the end of their scheduled useful lives, InsideDefense.com, an online news service, reported.

"Without accelerating these retirements, we are left with a larger, less-capable force unable to penetrate anti-access environments," the Air Force was quoted as telling John Young, the Pentagon's top arms buyer, in defense of a fiscal 2010 spending plan it submitted in August.

"Anti-access" is Pentagon jargon for spots defended by advanced surface-to-air missiles and state-of-the-art fighters such as those used or planned by Russia and China.

BY : Agence France-Presse

Russia could include Cuba and Venezuela into a satellite navigation system originally designed for missile targeting by the Soviet military, the head of Russia's space agency said Wednesday.

"We discussed the theme of joint use of the Glonass satellite navigation system," Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying, referring to talks with the authorities in Venezuela.

Perminov said similar negotiations had been held with Cuban authorities and that Moscow and Havana had talked "in a preliminary way about the possibility of building a space centre in Cuba with our assistance," RIA Novosti reported.

BY : Itar-Tass


Russia and Venezuela have signed 4.4 billion dollars of contracts in the past there years, and Venezuela has displayed an interest in the Su-35 fighter whose batch production is scheduled for 2010, director general of the Rostekhnologii corporation Sergei Chemezov said in an interview with Itar-Tass. He summed up the results of the session of a working group in the sphere of military technical cooperation, which took place within the framework of the working visit to this South America republic by a delegation led by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.

The officials discussed supplies of Su-30 multipurpose fighters, Mi-17 transport helicopters, and AK-103 and AK-104 Kalashnikov assault rifles. A contract has been

BY : The Australian

The JSF jets, for which Australia is likely to pay $16 billion, were comprehensively beaten in highly classified simulated dogfights against Russian Sukhoi fighters, it has been reported.

The war games, conducted at Hawaii's Hickam airbase last month, were witnessed by at least four RAAF personnel and a member of Australia's peak military spy agency, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, The West Australian said.

Opposition defence spokesman Nick Minchin said he was taking "with a grain of salt" the validity of the report.

BY : Flight Internationa

The Brazilian air force is "very shortly" expected to narrow the competitive field for its F-X2 fighter requirement from six bidders to only two or three, ahead of a scheduled contract award next year.

The current field is understood to cover the Boeing F/A-18E/F Block II Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16BR, Saab Gripen NG and Sukhoi Su-30.

Lockheed confirms that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not be offered for the Brazilian order, which requires the selec

BY : Boeing PR

The Boeing Company delivered a detailed proposal July 30 offering its advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to the Brazilian Air Force as part of Brazil's F-X2 fighter competition.

"International interest in the combat-proven Super Hornet continues to increase, and Boeing is honored Brazil is considering the Super Hornet to meet its near-term defense requirements," said Bob Gower, F/A-18 and EA-18 Programs vice president, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.

Boeing received a Request for Information from the government of Brazil on June 12. The stated initial requirement is for 36 aircraft, with the potential for up to 120

BY : Boeing PR





Boeing [NYSE: BA] Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) and Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) employees gathered today in Renton, Wash., to celebrate the completion of final assembly on the first P-8A Poseidon for the U.S. Navy and its move to preflight work.

IDS and BCA are building the P-8A, a military derivative of the 737-800, on a third final assembly production line in Renton. The third line takes advantage of the