"The human factor will decide the fate of war, of all wars. Not the Mirage, nor any other plane, and not the screwdriver, or the wrench or radar or missiles or all the newest technology and electronic innovations. Men—and not just men of action, but men of thought. Men for whom the expression 'By ruses shall ye make war' is a philosophy of life, not just the object of lip service."
IDF-AF commander Ezer Weizman:On Eagles' Wings
Naval aviation
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PLAN's naval aviation arm has gotten a huge boost since the commissioning
of CV-16. In the past year, this has been especially more pronounced with
more an...
Status Update
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All:
Every once in a while, I get an e-mail about the status of the blog.
Here's an (overdue...) update! Unfortunately, large-scale IMINT blogging
is on...
Crew unpacked the fresh fruit, opens Cygnus hatch
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On Thursday morning 5:02 a.m, Commander Steve Swanson opened the hatch to
Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo vehicle, to begin unloading a half of science
exper...
F-15e strike eagle aircraft pictures
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From top to bottom,armament AIM-120 AMRAAM, a SUU-20 rack with six BDU-76
training rounds (small blue bomblets) and an ACMI pod; the two LANTIRN pods
and ...
Azerbaijan will buy Turna unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for training and target practice from Turkey, the Baku based ARA news agency reported. "Negotiations on a deal are underway with Turkey," Turkish military sources were quoted as saying. They also said a group of Azerbaijani servicemen had been trained in Turkey in how to use, operate and service the aircraft. Turna aircraft are manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI).
The U.S. military is on the verge of activating a partial missile shield over southern Europe, part of an intensifying global effort to build defenses against Iranian missiles amid a deepening impasse over the country's nuclear ambitions.Pentagon officials said they are nearing a deal to establish a key radar ground station, probably in Turkey or Bulgaria. Installation of the high-powered X-band radar would enable the first phase of the shield to become operational next year.
At the same time, the U.S. military is working with Israel and allies in the Persian Gulf to build and upgrade their missile defense capabilities. The United States installed a radar ground station in Israel in 2008 and is looking to place another in an Arab country in the gulf region. The radars would provide a critical early warning of any launches from Iran, improving the odds of shooting down a missile.Obama administration has plans to nearly double its number of Aegis ships with ballistic missile defenses, to 38 by 2015.
The Anka UAV, which has a 17.3-meter wingspan, is eight meters long and has a maximum payload of 200 kilograms, will make its maiden flight in October and reach initial operating capability with the Turkish Air Force in September before reaching full operating capability in December 2012, TAI said at the Farnborough Air Show.
TAI sister company Aselsan is supplying the UAV's EO/IR pod and SAR/GMTI radar, while TAI is providing a ground control station, a mobile set-up for exploiting imagery and remote visual terminals supplying real-time imagery to ground troops.
The Anka will have automatic take-off and landing and autonomous flight capabilities, as well as retractable landing gear, a heavy fuel engine, line-of-sight navigation with a range of 200 kilometers and deicing capability.
"There is a high interest in this UAV from export customers and we are prepared to invite them to join the program at observation or associate level," said TAI CEO Muharrem Dortkasli.
Turkish defence industry company KaleKalip, a Kale Holding company, will produce F135 engines of the F35 Joint Strike Fighters, Turkey's state minister for foreign trade said. F135 engine is being built by U.S. company United Technologies Corp (UTC), a Fortune 500 company, for the world's biggest fighter aircraft program. UTC is also the manufacturer of Sikorsky helicopters. "At first, KaleKalip will manufacture more than 90 percent of F135 engines, and later they will manufacture all of them," Caglayan said.
Turkish Amphibious Assault Bridge SYHK) concept is similar to the German M3 Amphibious Bridging and Ferrying System. SYHK Amphibious Assault Bridge is designed by the FNSS Defence Systems Inc to carry the weights up to 70 tonnes. Project started in 2007 and its serial production is expected to start for Turkish Army in 2012 once trails are completed. Turkish army in first phase will purchase 52 SYHK Turkish Mobile Floating Assault Bridge.
Turkey on Friday unveiled its first drone airplane, a surveillance craft able to fly for 24-hour stretches over the rugged mountains where Kurdish rebels are waging a deadly insurgencay.
Turkey's eagerness to produce its own military technology mirrors its increasingly robust and independent diplomacy in the region. And producing its own drone fleet would allow Turkey to sever an important link with Israel, which has provided Turkey with drones even amid rising tensions over Israeli policy toward the Gaza Strip.
While the success of the Turkish-made drone is far from assured, Turkish engineers said they were confident it would become part of the country's arsenal. Ozcan Ertem, head of the project, said an armed version of the Anka, or Phoenix, was possible but not in the works for now.
A NATO disaster-relief exercise in Armenia may also provide an opportunity for a trial run at opening the long-closed border between Turkey and the former Soviet republic, daily Hürriyet reported Thursday.“We will be taking part in the exercise” to be held in Armenia from Sept. 11 to 17, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France-Presse on Thursday on condition of anonymity. “We are looking into the possibility of whether the border may be opened if such a necessity arises. There has been no decision yet.”
Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Wednesday Turkey hoped to cooperate with Pakistan on unmanned aircraft. "We will now modernize F-16 jets, and we hope to cooperate on unmanned aircraft," Gonul said during his meeting with Pakistan's Minister of Defense Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar in Ankara.Before their tete-a-tete meeting, Gonul said Turkish and Pakistani defense ministries were cooperating not only in defense industry but also in other military issues.
The remaining four Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) out of 10 Turkey ordered from Israel are expected to be delivered to Turkey in August.The first six UAV aircraft ordered from Israel were delivered to Turkey in March following a delay of over two years. The expected arrival of the Heron drones to Turkey comes in the midst of ongoing tension between Turkey and Israel, which came close to a breaking point on May 31 when Israeli commandoes killed eight Turkish citizens and one American aboard a humanitarian aid ship.
To boost its firepower in its fight against Kurdish separatists, Turkey will obtain two AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters from the United States, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said June 30.Gonul said the U.S. Congress has endorsed the sale, and the helicopter gunships will be delivered to the Turkish Army by 2011, at the latest.
Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül has said that, in addition to an earlier decision to buy nine Italian AgustaWestland-made A129 attack helicopters, Turkey has also decided to lease nine A129s to meet the urgent needs of the Turkish military.A Turkish request for the purchase of nine US-made Bell AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters is also on the table, and Turkey has not abandoned its desire to acquire them, Gönül told Today's Zaman.
Russia is ready to participate in a tender to offer Turkey S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, the state-controlled arms exporter said on Wednesday.The advanced version of the S-300 missile system, called S-300PMU1, has a range of over 150 kilometers (over 100 miles) and can intercept ballistic missiles and aircraft at low and high altitudes, making it effective in warding off air strikes.The S-400 (SA-21 Growler) is capable of simultaneously engaging six targets to a range of 400 km (250 miles) and an altitude up to 30 kilometers, including aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
Turkey will launch urgent talks to buy nine A129 Mangusta attack helicopters from the Italian-British manufacturer AgustaWestland to fight separatist Kurds operating in an area near the country's borders with Iraq and Iran, a key Turkish official announced late Tuesday."In an effort to meet the urgent needs of the Turkish Land Forces Command and as part of the ongoing attack helicopter program, negotiations for the procurement of an additional nine attack helicopters will be launched with TUSAS." The T129s are expected to become operational by 2014. The latest announcement for additional gunships represents a stopgap solution until the first deliveries.
Israeli defense industries have recalled employees from Turkey amid growing concerns that they could be targeted in retaliation for the botched naval raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla two weeks ago.According to a report in the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman, in response to the withdrawal of the Israeli teams, the Turkish military has implemented “Plan B” and instead of the Heron drones is now using a Turkish-made drone called IHA, which is manufactured by Bykar.The IHA, the report said, has a range of 15 kilometers and can fly at altitudes of about 12,000 feet. It is inferior to Israel’s Heron, which can fly for up to 50 hours and at altitudes of about 35,000 feet.
Turkish Coast Guard 400- 500 Ton Ship Project is under implementation, in addition to the 1700 ton ships, for the purpose of performing the coast guard missions more effectively in the Exclusive Economic Zone and up to search and rescue borders, under heavy weather conditions. The first one of 8 ships to be constructed under the project is scheduled to be integrated to the inventory in 2014.
Turkish warplanes bombed Monday several Kurdish rebel positions in neighbouring northern Iraq, the NTV news channel reported, amid an upsurge in unrest between troops and the outlawed group.Six combat planes targeted Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in Zap-Khakurk in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish zone, the channel said, citiAng the Internet site of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.The Turkish military did not immediately comment on the air strikes.
The raid, the second in less than three weeks, follows a May 31 rocket assault claimed by the PKK on a naval base in southern Turkey that killed six soldiers and wounded seven in one of the deadliest attacks in months.The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
The appointment of a new head of Turkey's powerful intelligence service is causing concern in Israel because he's a close confidant of Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who's seen these days as one of Israel's main adversaries. Hakan Fidan was named chief of the Milli Istihbarat Teskilati, Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, known as MIT, 10 days ago. That was three days before the Israeli navy stormed the Mavi Maramara, Turkish flagship of a flotilla carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, and killed nine pro-Palestinian activists, all Turks.
srael and the United States simulated war this week in a massive aerial drill that included dozens of F-16 fighter jets from both countries.The exercise, known as Juniper Stallion, came as Turkey was holding its own aerial maneuvers with the US, which Israel was not a part of. The IAF holds about 10 joint exercises with the US Air Force annually, half of them in Israel.While Turkey no longer invites Israel to participate in exercises, the IAF was kicked out of a similar drill last October two days before it was scheduled to begin. Read More
