Smirnykh, Sakhalinskaya Oblast’, Russia The original airfield was built in the early 20th century for the Imperial Japanese Army and was called Keton. It consisted of a 1200 m long concrete runway, gravel taxiways and about 20 equipped aircraft parking lots. ⠀After the Soviet Union regained control over Sakhalin inRead More →
Twenty two killed when military aircraft crashes and burns next to major road in Eastern Ukraine. Reports and photos coming in show that a military Antonov An-26 with cadets of the Kozhedub Air Force University on-board has crashed in Eastern Ukraine near the eastern city of Chuhuiv, about 400km (250Read More →
The Lockheed Martin CATBird is a highly modified Boeing 737-300. Designed as an avionics flight testbed aircraft, the name is an adaptive acronym, from Cooperative Avionics Test Bed; coincidentally, CATBIRD is Lockheed’s ICAO-designated company call sign. The aircraft was modified in order to provide an economic means of developing and flight testing the avionics suite for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Read More →
The Denel Rooivalk AH-2 is an attack helicopter manufactured by Denel Aviation of South Africa. Rooivalk is Afrikaans for “Red Falcon”. Development of the type began in 1984 by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation (a predecessor of Denel Aviation). The first Rooivalk was officially handed over in April 2011, and are flown by 16 Squadron, AFB Bloemspruit (Bloemfontein). Development The South African Defence Force recognisedRead More →
Boeing once studied turning the 747 into an Airborne Aircraft Carrier (AAC). In the 1970s, Boeing worked on a project that would have turned jumbo jets into flying aircraft carriers. The Airborne Aircraft Carrier project involved converting the Boeing 747, the largest passenger jet flying at the time, into a mothership capable ofRead More →
South Africa’s Paramount defence group is ready to put country’s first home-grown aircraft since the 1980’s into service. South Africa’s first aircraft since the Apartheid era, the AHRLAC is back in production and poised for deliveries, and is marketed as an adaptable reconnaissance and security platform for budget-conscious customers. ProductionRead More →
The Shenyang FC-31, also known as the J-31 or J-35 is a twin-engine, mid-size fifth-generation jet fighter currently under development by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. The official nickname published by SAC is “Gyrfalcon” although it has also been referred to in some media reports as the “Falcon Hawk” by some military enthusiasts. This aircraft was developed independently by a state-ownedRead More →
Late last year, the United States Air Force awarded seven separate companies components of a massive multi-year US$ 6.4 billion contract for the provision of ‘Red Air’ adversary air combat training. There are useful lessons to be learned for Africa. While notable for its size, ‘Red Air’ was an expectedRead More →
Several African air arms have recently been modernising their transport fleets through acquisitions or reactivating idle fleets. Two visitors to South Africa are indicative of this. Lanseria saw two new notable arrivals in military transport aircraft during August: a Chinese manufactured Shaanxi Y-8F-200 of the Jeshi la Anga la WananchiRead More →
Twenty two thousand flying hours. Think for a moment, of how much in terms of training, exercising, and operational flying it would allow for. Now consider this: That’s how many funded hours have been cut from the South African Air Force’s budget compared to a decade ago. Ten years ago,Read More →
