Category: Aerospace

WASHINGTON — More than 1 million F-35 spare parts worth at least $85 million have gone missing over at least the last five years, according to a new Government Accountability Office report criticizing the program’s supply tracking. Auditors said that because the government doesn’t have its own system tracking those parts, officials may not truly know how many spare parts are actually in the global spares pool, where they are, or their total value. As a result, “the full quantity…

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a complaint on Monday against British multinational aerospace and defense company Rolls Royce, the company’s former India director – Tim Jones, arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu Choudhrie (who are UK citizens), and British Aerospace Systems (BAE Systems). The allegations include criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption in a 2004 procurement of training jets India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — the country’s premier probe agency — on Monday registered a complaint…

When then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called for heads to roll after the 2016 census was pulled offline – amid fears IBM’s data servers hosting the survey had been infiltrated – the American enterprise technology giant made an important decision. IBM ran most of the big mainframe systems that had powered core government functions for several decades, earning it billions of dollars a year in fees and making the Australian government one of its top global clients. No census data was…

WASHINGTON – The United States on Wednesday announced the approval of a US$285 million (S$385 million) sale of a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (“NASAMS”) air defence system and related equipment to Ukraine as Kyiv seeks to boost protection against Russian strikes. “Ukraine has an urgent need to increase its capabilities to defend against Russian missile strikes and aircraft,” the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. “Acquiring and effectively deploying this capability will enhance Ukraine’s ability to…

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor by revenue, said its products were used in an exercise near Alaska to consistently share military information across services and environments. The testing during Northern Edge, a biennial experiment put on by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, marked the first time “true” synchronization was demonstrated at such scale, the company said, hinting at its implications for the Defense Department’s connect-everything-everywhere campaign known as Joint All-Domain Command and Control. The department is pursuing JADC2…

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, on its first deployment under the aegis of a combatant commander, arrived Wednesday in Oslo. The flattop will remain in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday and then take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces, reportedly in the Arctic. Norwegian military leaders say the training gives them “a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.” Described as the largest…

WASHINGTON — Boeing’s effort to build a new trainer aircraft for the Air Force is plagued by safety problems, schedule and testing delays, and the risk the T-7A Red Hawk could fall even further behind schedule, the Government Accountability Office said in a scathing report. Boeing’s relationship with the Air Force has also been strained by the T-7′s issues, GAO said in the May 18 report, with service officials describing their ties as “tenuous.” As the program proceeds and Boeing…

OSLO – The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, sailed into Oslo on Wednesday, a first for such a US ship. It is a show of Nato force at a time of heightened tension between the regional alliance and Russia over the war in Ukraine. The ship and its crew will be conducting training exercises with the Norwegian armed forces along the country’s coast in the coming days, the Norwegian military said. “This visit is an important…

A wave of uncertainty swept across India’s already unstable aviation sector as Go First, a once thriving private airline owned by the Wadia Group, announced a halt to its operations, making it the 11th airline to cease its services in the last decade. The budget airline opted for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), delivering a significant jolt to the industry. The primary reason for this drastic move lies in the alleged failure of US-based…

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is focused on avoiding the mistakes that plagued past programs like the F-35, as the service officially kicks off its effort to build a sixth-generation fighter, Secretary Frank Kendall said Monday. That includes ensuring the Air Force has access to all the sustainment data it needs from the contractor building the Next Generation Air Dominance platform, Kendall told reporters at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Defense Writers Group. “We’re not going to repeat the,…

Indonesia is launching the flight because “Russia is now looking to the East, so we are also looking towards Russia,” Helmi explained. Also on Friday, the first Russian plane landed in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi after a four-year hiatus. The arrival was met by a small group of anti-Russia protesters at the airport. On Saturday, meanwhile, the first Georgian Airways plane arrived in Moscow, with its pilot saying on social media that “direct flights are profitable and the right thing to…

U.S. President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that Washington will support providing advanced warplanes including F-16s to Ukraine and will back efforts to train Kyiv’s pilots, a senior White House official said Friday. The U.S. move signals a major breakthrough for Kyiv, which has repeatedly — and until recently unsuccessfully — pushed its Western supporters to agree to provide high-tech jets as it fights to fend off Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — who is set to meet Biden…

Thales, a French multinational defence firm, is now facing a bribery probe from French prosecutors over allegations related to a contract to modernise the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Dassault Mirage 2000 planes. Sanjay Bhandari, who claims to have assisted Thales in winning the $2.5 billion contract in 2011, has made the accusations, with the focus of the investigation on whether the payments made to Bhandari were hidden bribes. Thales has denied any wrongdoing and highlighted that prosecutors have not yet…

Jet Airways, once a prominent player in the Indian aviation industry, is mired in prolonged uncertainty as its revival efforts face mounting obstacles. The airline’s air operator’s permit (AOP) or air operator’s certificate (AOC) is on the verge of expiration on May 19, dimming hopes of a successful turnaround this year, according to sources familiar with the matter. Jet Airways has encountered significant setbacks despite securing the AOC on May 20, 2022, courtesy of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, with…

Without approval from Washington, the best that Ukrainian airmen can hope for are lessons on technical language and tactical training on the ground, the outlet said on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been pressing his Western backers for fourth generation F-16 warplanes for months, arguing they are crucial for defending the country’s airspace amid a massive Russian missile campaign targeting military facilities and energy infrastructure. The Ukrainian leader appeared to achieve limited progress during a recent European tour, with…

SYDNEY – Air China has swamped an Australian flight school with a request for commercial pilots, a sudden demand that points to a looming rebound as the vast Chinese market resumes international travel. Air China had stopped sending its trainees to the Australian Airline Pilot Academy campus in regional Victoria state after the pandemic halted overseas travel in early 2020. But talks resumed two months ago and the giant state-run carrier, almost out of nowhere, pushed the school to interview…