News Story: US Vows Solid Support to Afghan Air Force

Afghan Air Force A-29 Super Tucano Ground Attack Aircraft

By Sayed Sharif Amiri

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the Commander of US Air Forces Central Command, on Monday said the Afghan Air Force (AAF) will play an increasingly important role in future missions. 

Recently the Pentagon signed a contract worth $1 billion USD to purchase 150 C-130 aircraft for the Afghan army, a move which was warmly welcomed by the Afghan ministry of defense. 

The AAF is considered one of the key pillars of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and it is expected that within the next four years, there will be a significant change in the structure of the air force. 

Although the US has provided $4 billion USD in assistance to the Afghan air force, the AAF still needs more time and help to stand on its own. 

“We increased our number of F-16s in Bagram from 12 to 18. So that's a first step as we do our initial analysis, but we're gonna take a longer term look at this. Importantly though, I think the other piece I'd highlight to you, is that the Afghan Air Force is gonna play a particularly important role here, and that air force is gonna triple its size over the next several years, and I'd highlight that what the Afghans have done with their A-29 and their ability to quickly get themselves into the fight and support their teams on the ground has also been an important part that we're gonna leverage going forward as part of this plan,” said Harrigian. 

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Report: India to Shed More Rules to Bag $5 Billion Foreign Investment in Defense

After failing to get foreign investment despite rejigging rules several times, the Narendra Modi government is mulling easing foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in the defense sector once again with the intention of inviting major global defense firms.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The government is looking for 100% foreign investment and technical know-how in the domestic production of armored vehicles, battle tanks and military transport aircraft under the automatic route. The government wants this because India lacks expertise and technology in these segments.

"Government has already issued the standard operating procedure on June 29 which will apply to FDI proposals that seek more than 49% of the equity in a local defense entity with the transfers of "modern technology" to Indian industry. With these changes, 90% FDI proposals come under the automatic approval route. Based on defense ministry's objective to minimize dependency on imported products, we are going to take it further with more liberal rules," government sources told Sputnik.

USA: Possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India for C-17 transport aircraft

An Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster in flight (File Photo)

WASHINGTON, Jun. 26, 2017 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India for C-17 transport aircraft. The estimated cost is $366.2 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

The Government of India has requested the possible sale of one (1) C-17 transport aircraft with four (4) Turbofan F-117-PW-100 engines. The sale would also include one (1) AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System, one (1) AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispensing System (CMDS), one (1) AN/APX-119 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Transponder, precision navigation equipment, spare and repair parts, maintenance, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, warranty, Quality Assurance, ferry support, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, logistics and technical support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated cost is $366.2 million.

News Story: India, Australia net big FMS offers

An Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster in flight (File Photo)

By: Aaron Mehta

WASHINGTON — As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington, he is walking away with a new offer for a C-17 aircraft. 

Australia, too, got good news today, as the State Department cleared the sale of up to five Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, or ISR, aircraft worth an estimated $1.3 billion. 

The C-17 sale, worth an estimated $366.2 million, adds to India’s existing fleet of transport aircraft. This likely represents the final C-17 sale to India, as Boeing ended production on new aircraft in 2015.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: New Chinese Fighters Tap Russian, U.S. Technology

Chengdu J-20 (File Photo)

by Reuben F. Johnson

When the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) acquired its first tranche of Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27SK fighters in the early 1990s, long-time observers of China’s industrial base asked two questions. The first was how long would it be before Chinese state-controlled aerospace industry was able to reverse-engineer and build unlicensed copies of the Su-27—as they had done with Russia’s Mikoyan MiG-21 decades before.

This was accomplished in slightly more than 10 years, which produced a number of “indigenous” fighter designs produced at Shenyang that are analogues of the Russian design they were copied from. The Chinese J-11B is a near copy of the Su-27, the J-15 a knockoff of the carrier-capable Su-33 and the J-16 is a duplication of the Su-30MKK models sold to the PLAAF.

The second question was how many years after that would it be before Chinese industry started to produce some next-generation, original designs by building on what they had learned from the Russians. This next phase—the emergence of “clean-sheet” fighter designs—is well underway now, and is seen in the form of the two newest Chinese fighter designs. These are the Shenyang FC/J-31 and the Chengdu J-20

Shenyang FC-31/J-31 (File Photo)

The two aircraft appear externally to be stealthy designs, both are twin-engine aircraft and they are both departures from the type of developments that these two aircraft enterprises have been known for in the past.

Russian aerospace researchers and aerodynamicists have told AIN a clear “hierarchy” exists between manufacturers Shenyang and Chengdu—both subsidiaries of the CATIC group (Hall 2a Stand D252). “More recently, much of the more advanced work that has been done with fighter aircraft development has been carried out at Chengdu,” said a senior Russian aerospace scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The two enterprises collaborate back and forth in different areas, but sometimes there is more of a flow of innovation in one direction than there is in the other.”

The reputation that Chengdu has for being the more innovative of the two was enhanced by the fact that its J-20 fighter emerged as a new program and made its first flight well in advance of the FC-31. Additionally, the J-20 was unofficially categorized as a program of record for the PLAAF, whereas the FC-31 was initially presented as a “for export” program in the mold of the JF-17 that was developed at Chengdu for sale and license-production in Pakistan.

Read the full story at AINonline

Industry: CAE supports Royal Australian Air Force Diamond Thunder distributed virtual training exercise

Simulators at bases in Williamtown, Tindal and Richmond networked for training and mission rehearsal

Silverwater, Australia, June 13 2017 - (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE) - CAE recently supported the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) participation in the Diamond Thunder distributed mission training exercise, which saw the RAAF network various simulation assets across the country as part of its inaugural Air Warfare Instructor Course.

The Diamond Thunder Exercise involved the networking of F/A-18 simulators at both RAAF Base Williamtown and Tindal with the E-7A Wedgetail simulator at Williamtown and C-130J simulator at RAAF Base Richmond.  The Air Warfare Centre's Joint Air Warfare Battle Laboratory at Williamtown served as the exercise command centre to manage and coordinate the overall virtual training environment. 

CAE engineering staff at Richmond supported the integration and testing of the C-130J full-flight mission simulator (FFMS) onto the Australian Defence Training and Experimentation Network (DTEN). CAE also provided an exercise planner to assist with creating and executing the virtual training and mission rehearsal scenarios, and had staff within the Australian Defence Simulation and Training Centre to assist with the provision of the networking infrastructure to support this distributed virtual training exercise.

News Story: 81 bodies from crashed Myanmar military plane found - military

YANGON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The search for victims aboard a crashed Myanmar military plane entered the 5th day on Monday when a total of 81 bodies had been recovered, the Office of the Defense Services said.

The latest five bodies were recovered along the Maungmakan beach area off the southern coast of Tanintharyi.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Maute family flown to Manila

By Edith Regalado

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The military has transferred custody of Cayamora Maute and three other family members to Manila, citing security concerns.

Authorities have been bracing for the possibility that the Maute group might try to rescue Cayamora and the three others if they would be kept in custody here.

Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao deputy commander Brig. Gen. Gilbert Gapay said the Mautes were transferred early yesterday morning to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig after they underwent inquest proceedings before the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office and charged with rebellion and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives.

Cayamora, father of the Maute brothers fighting government forces in Marawi City, was apprehended at a checkpoint in Barangay Sirawan by the military-led Task Force Davao last Tuesday.

The elder Maute was with his daughter Norjannah Balawag, son-in-law Benzarali Tingao and Kongan Alfonso Balawag, believed to be his wife, when their vehicle, driven by Aljon Salazar Ismael, was stopped at the checkpoint on the road to Davao City.

Gapay said the police had released Ismael. “The driver was released because there was nothing that would prove that he was linked to the Mautes,” he said. 

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: SDF aircraft deviates from runway during training at Yonago airport

Kawasaki C-2 Cargo AirCraft

TOTTORI, Japan (Kyodo) -- An Air Self-Defense Force plane deviated from its path during takeoff training Friday at Yonago airport in western Japan, stopping in a nearby grass field and prompting brief closure of the runway.

The C-2 transport plane became uncontrollable with its brakes failing to work and went into the grass field after cutting across the runway around 6:40 a.m., according to the ASDF's Miho base in Tottori Prefecture. Its six-strong crew was unhurt.

The runway was reopened about three hours later after the aircraft was removed from near the runway, the base said. The ASDF and police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Bodies, Debris Found in Search For Myanmar Military Plane

A Myanmar Air Force Shaanxi Y-8 (Image: Wiki Commons)

YANGON, MYANMAR — Myanmar's military said Thursday searchers have found 10 bodies and pieces of plane debris believed to be from a military aircraft that went missing Wednesday with 122 people on board.

A statement said the bodies included six adults and four children.There were also pieces of luggage, life jackets and a plane wheel found in the waters about 35 kilometers from the southern city of Launglon.

Nine naval ships and a group of airplanes and helicopters were sent out Thursday to search for the Chinese-made Y-8-200F plane, which Myanmar bought in March of last year and which the military said had 809 flying hours.

The plane, carrying mostly family members of military personnel, was traveling from the city of Myeik, also known as Mergui, in southeastern Myanmar on the Andaman coast. Most of the journey to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, would have been over the Andaman Sea.

“We found debris around Horseshoe Bay,” Tanintharyi Division Border Affairs and Security Minister Colonel Kyaw Zeya told VOA Burmese, saying their team went there as soon as locals tipped them on the location.

“Our rescue team includes police officers, a fire brigade team, and local Samaritans. First aid and paramedics teams also have set up a makeshift hospital at the nearest beach to take care of survivors,” he added.

VOA Burmese contributed to this report.

This story first appeared on Voice of America & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Wreckage of missing Myanmar plane, bodies found at sea

Myanmar Air Force Shaanxi Y-8 (Image: Wiki Commons)

Hanoi (VNA) – The wreckage of a missing Myanmar military plane with 116 people on board was found in the Andaman Sea, the country’s military said on June 8.

A military information team spokesman said the wreckage, along with several bodies, was found at 8:25 am on June 8 (local time).

Earlier, a Myanmar air force source said the naval rescue force had discovered debris from the plane in the Andaman Sea.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Wreckage of missing Myanmar military aircraft found - military sources

YANGON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The wreckage of the missing Myanmar military aircraft has been found on sea off Dawei township in southern Tanintharyi region late on Wednesday, according to military sources.

The military circle said the tragedy might be due to bad weather condition but it is yet to be determined only after the black box is found.

With 104 passengers on board, the aircraft of the Myanmar air force suddenly lost contact with the ground and went missing Wednesday afternoon on its flight from southern Tanintharyi region's Myeik to Yangon.

The 104 passengers include 90 army family members and 14 crew members.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Six KF-16 jets to join Red Flag air combat drills in Alaska

SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- Six KF-16 fighter jets of South Korea headed to the U.S. state of Alaska on Thursday to take part in a multinational air combat training led by Pacific Air Forces.

The KF-16s took off at around 5:30 a.m., originally scheduled to arrive in Alaska about 10 hours later, according to South Korea's Air Force.

The flight distance to the Eielson Air Force Base, the venue for the annual RED FLAG-Alaska training, is some 7,700 kilometers.

It's slated to open on June 11 for a 11-day run.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: India’s Sukhoi Still Untraced, China Says Don’t Disturb Border Region

Indian Air Force Su-30MKI Flanker Fighter (File Photo)

Authorities in India have failed to locate the Sukhoi-30MKI jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) which went missing since Tuesday morning. It is being said that weather conditions are hampering search and rescue operations.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — A C-130 aircraft with electro-optical payload, ALH and Chetak helicopters of the IAF have been tasked for this search and rescue operations. The IAF is also using SU-30 aircraft with recce capability for locating the missing aircraft.

“Apart from the aerial assets, four ground parties of IAF personnel, nine parties of Indian Army and two parties of state administration have been deployed on different axes to search the area. Till now no breakthrough has been made in locating the aircraft and its pilots,” an IAF official said on Wednesday evening.

The Sukhoi jet, with two pilots aged between 25 and 30 on board, went missing after taking off from the Tezpur air force station situated in the north-eastern part of the country. The aircraft was on a routine training sortie.

News Story: All 4 crew members on board crashed Japan GSDF plane confirmed dead

Japanese Super King Air: LR-2 reconnaissance aircraft
(Image: Wiki Commons)

TOKYO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan's defense ministry confirmed Tuesday that all four male crew members on board a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) aircraft that crashed a day earlier in a mountainous region of Hokkaido in northern Japan were dead.

Wreckage of the plane was discovered earlier Tuesday by search and rescue officials and debris from the plane was scattered over a wide area of land about three km from the peak of Mt. Hakamagoshi in the city of Hokuto in Hokkaido.

Bodies of the crew members had been transferred by helicopter to an SDF base in Hakodate before the death was officially announced.

The LR-2 reconnaissance plane took off in poor weather from Okadama Airport in Sapporo City at about 11:25 a.m. on Monday and was heading for Hakodate Airport to pick up a patient, a doctor and other personnel there.

The plane lost communications with air traffic controllers about 20 minutes later and was last seen flying at an altitude of 900 meters, preparing to make an instrument landing due to low visibility, according to the defense ministry.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: US-Phl military exercises on; focus on disaster response

By Jaime Laude

MANILA, Philippines -  It’s all systems go for the official opening of this year’s Balikatan joint military exercises between the Philippine and US armed forces.

Maj. Frank Sayson, Balikatan spokesman on the Philippine side, said the kickoff would be held at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) main headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo tomorrow.

This year’s Balikatan would be the Single Scenario Concept (SSC) with top defense and military officials from both countries attending the ceremonies, he said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Año will be the guests of honor at the opening, with acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and US Ambassador Sung Kim also expected to attend.

Scores of foreign and local journalists, including more than a dozen media from China and Taiwan, would be witnessing this year’s Balikatan as it shifts towards Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) from previous purely military drills.

Sayson said the planners of this year’s Balikatan (Shoulder to Shoulder) agreed that both Filipino and US forces must harness not only their fighting skills but also their disaster response capabilities.

President Duterte has ordered this year’s Balikatan to focus more on HADR activities instead of the usual war games.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: Afghan Envoy Advocates Trilateral Security Dialogue With India, US

During a conference hosted by Brookings India, Dr. Shaida Mohammad Abdali, the Afghanistan Ambassador to India, has said that a trilateral strategic dialogue between India, Afghanistan and the United States will soon be revived to take on regional challenges, especially terrorism.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Experts in India, however, said New Delhi shouldn't ignore the new realities and the great game going on in Afghanistan where other significant players have emerged, including Russia.

The Ambassador said the idea of trilateral strategic dialogue has been long discussed but never operationalized.

"Reactivation of that strategic dialogue, especially in the context of the war on terrorism, is highly desired. The three of us are affected a lot by the phenomenon of terrorism and can decide on a strategy while taking others in the region along with a more effective strategy," Dr. Abdali said at the event in New Delhi.

News Report: Afghanistan Asks India to Help Repair Grounded Planes, Helicopters

Afghan Mi-35 (Image: Wiki Commons)

Following the terror attack on a military base which left 140 people killed, Afghanistan has asked India to step up military assistance including the repair of grounded aircraft and helicopters.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Afghanistan has asked for new parts and repairs to 11 grounded Mi-35 helicopters and seven transport aircraft. A technical team, which visited Afghanistan last year, estimated a cost of $50 million for repair and supply of parts.

The Indian government is considering a proposal where it is ready to pay the cost of repair, spares, and the cost of transporting the aircraft to Russia or the former Soviet states if Russia or other CIS countries agree to provide the spares.

News Report: US Conducts Drills in Okinawa Violating Agreement on Relocation to Ioto

US military forces conducted on Monday paratrooper drills over a military base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture despite the agreement prohibiting parachute drop exercises in this area, local media reported.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — Nearly 30 US paratroopers practiced parachute jumps out of MC-130 special mission aircraft with all of them landed on the Okinawa territory, what violated the agreement of 1996 stipulating relocation of paratrooper exercises to the island of Ioto, Kyodo news agency reported.

The Japanese Defense Ministry informed the authorities of the Okinawa's Kadena city about the drills only late on Sunday, the news agency specified.

News Story: Okinawans call for U.S. military to go home after further provocations

TOKYO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Local residents of Kadena on Okinawa's main island said the United States military conducting parachute training drills over Okinawa's mainland on Monday morning was completely unacceptable with the latest provocation coming amid rising anti-U.S. military sentiment on the island.

Local media reported that residents in the area still remember a tragic incident that occurred in 1965 involving an elementary schoolgirl being crushed to death by a trailer being parachuted down to a village during such a drill.

The area hasn't seen parachute drills by the U.S. military since a drill at the base in 2011, that saw 30 personnel deploy from a MC-130 special mission aircraft, official accounts showed.

The aircraft used to deploy the airmen are designed for infiltration and exfiltration missions and can also be used for resupply of special operation forces.

The large transporter-looking planes can also be configured to be used for air refueling of primarily special operation helicopters and tilt-rotor aircraft like the controversial Osprey, also hosted in Okinawa and mainland Japan, and the cause of great condemnation here for its checkered safety record.

The latest drill saw the local residents notified of the parachute exercise less than a day before it occurred, when notice was sent out on Sunday night by the Japanese Defense Ministry.

Read the full story at Xinhua