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Embraer Brazil has delivered the first of 20 A-29 Super Tucanos bult for the US Air Force. The light attack/training turboprop plane is slated to be used by the US Air Force for operations and pilot training in Afghanistan after the proposed NATO withdrawal scheduled late 2014. The Super Tucano is equipped with two integral .50 caliber heavy machineguns and hardpoints that can carry up to 3,000lbs of ordnance which can include a variety of missiles, rockets and bombs.

Washington (AFP) - Two Russian fighters entered a US "air defense identification zone" two days ago and were intercepted by American F-22 jets near Alaska, military officers said.

The incursion on Wednesday was followed by a second incident on Thursday involving two Russian long-range bombers, which flew into Canada's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and were intercepted by two Canadian F-18 jets, officers said.

In both cases the Russian aircraft flew out of the area without incident.

The Russian warplanes "never entered US sovereign air space" or Canadian air space, said Major Jamie Humphries, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

By: David Cenciotti (theaviationist.com)

The image in this post was taken from a U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagle from the 131st Fighter Squadron, 104th Fighter Wing, Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, during a close range aerial combat exercise against a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor from the 154th Wing, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

By: Stratergypage (www.stratergypage.com)

In August 2014 the U.S. Air Force grounded 82 F-16D jets after cracks were discovered in longerons (metal support beams inside the forward fuselage, which hold the cockpit in place). The D version of the F-16 is the two seater used for training. Some 16 percent of the 969 F-16s in the U.S. Air Force are the D model and these are all at least 24 years old with more than 5,500 hours in the air. The longeron design for the D model is different than that for the single seat models because the D model has a longer cockpit canopy. The air force is making repairs and replacements to put the grounded F-16Ds back in service.

By: Dan Parsons (www.flightglobal.com)

The US Air Force and Lockheed Martin have identified a fix for fatigue cracks found in more than 80 of its two-seated F-16D fighter jets.

found exclusively in the F-16D variant, of which 82 were eventually groundedThe air force in August grounded a portion of the 969-aircraft fleet when an immediate time action compliance technical order (TCTO) found structural cracks in the canopy sill longerons between the front and rear pilot seats.

By AARON MEHTA (http://www.defensenews.com)

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force has grounded over half of its F-16D Fighting Falcons, the service’s Air Combat Command (ACC) announced Tuesday.

The initial damage, described in a Pentagon release as “canopy sill longeron cracks found between the front and rear pilot seats,” was discovered after a routine post-flight inspection on one of the jets. The discovery of cracks led to a fleet-wide inspection order.

Of the 157 F-16Ds in the fleet, 82 were found to have cracks and have been ordered to stand down. The remaining 75 have been cleared to resume normal activities. The Air Force is working with Lockheed Martin engineers to discover the cause of the cracks and what repair options there are.

By: Tom Vanden Brook (www.defensenews.com) 

Demand for US Air Force spy planes, fighters and bombers from Eastern Europe to the Far East is spiking, and top generals say they’re scrambling to meet commanders’ needs as they struggle with shrinking budgets and keeping old planes flying.

Juggling those tasks comes as Air Force brass seek to move beyond the ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and establish their service as the Pentagon’s preeminent player. But some analysts believe the military would be better served if the Air Force focused on helping other services fight.

By: Austin Bay (www.austinbay.net)

Sometime during the spring of 1944, Allied commanders concluded that their air forces had secured air superiority over an area stretching from Great Britain to central France as well as parts of Belgium and Holland.

Driving the German Luftwaffe from western European skies was a costly process paid for with the blood of Allied airmen. Though there was no definitive “air superiority” moment, Allied intelligence confirmed pilot reports. Over France, the Luftwaffe had little stomach for a dogfight.

By: Craig Whitlock (www.washingtonpost.com)

In most instances, military officials convened an accident investigation board to determine the cause. In 18 cases, the drone crashes were so sensitive that the military classified the names of the countries where they occurred and details of what happened.

Two hundred and twenty-four drones crashed in Class B accidents that, under current standards, cost between $500,000 and $2 million. Officials withheld basic details about those mishaps, such as the dates and locations, on the grounds that the lesser damage totals did not warrant a public investigation.

The military documents do not include information about drones operated covertly by the CIA. The spy agency has its own fleet of about 30 armed Predator and Reaper drones overseas, all flown remotely by Air Force pilots assigned to the CIA.

The CIA also flies highly advanced RQ-170 Sentinel surveillance drones, including one that U.S. officials have acknowledged went down in Iran in December 2011.

By: Craig Whitlock (www.washingtonpost.com)

More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation.

Since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military drones have malfunctioned in myriad ways, plummeting from the sky because of mechanical breakdowns, human error, bad weather and other reasons, according to more than 50,000 pages of accident investigation reports and other records obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

BY HARIS HUSSAIN AND PRAVIN MENON (www.nst.com.my)

THE Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) base Butterworth is straining under the weight of personnel and materiel being flown in daily as part of the biggest combined military exercise in Southeast Asia.

Dubbed Cope Taufan/Teak Mint 2014, the exercise is to test the capability of the RMAF and the United States Air Force to streamline their common procedures, enhance the interoperatability between the two fighting forces, step up bilateral training and cooperation and provide a realistic training environment.

Oleh: TUDM (www.airforce.mil.my)

Sebanyak enam buah pesawat F-22 dari Tentera Udara Amerika Syarikat (USAF) telah tiba di Pangkalan Udara Butterworth bagi mengikuti latihan udara gabungan yang dinamakan Eksesais Cope Taufan dan Eksesais Teak Mint 2014. Eksesais ini akan berlangsung mulai 6 hingga 20 Jun 14 yang akan melibatkan penggunaan Pangkalan Udara Butterworth, Pangkalan Udara Subang dan Pangkalan Udara Kuantan.

KUALA LUMPUR -- Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) dan Tentera Udara Amerika Syarikat (USAF) akan melaksanakan satu siri  latihan Udara gabungan yang dinamakan  Eksesais Cope Taufan dan Eksesais Teak Mint 2014 mulai 6 hingga 20 Jun 2014 yang akan melibatkan penggunaan Pangkalan Udara Butterworth, Pangkalan Udara Subang dan Pangkalan Udara Kuantan.

Buat pertama kalinya juga, kedua-dua eksesais ini digabungkan bagi mengoptimumkan penggunaan aset serta elemen-elemen udara dari kedua-dua angkatan udara dengan mensasarkan objektif-objektif berikut:

• Untuk meningkatkan pemahaman pelaku dengan prosidur bersama yang telah dipersetujui bagi memastikan pelaksanaan operasi udara gabungan dijalankan dengan selamat, cekap dan berkesan di antara TUDM dan USAF.
• Untuk meningkatkan prosedur yang sedia ada bagi eksesais gabungan untuk kedua-dua angkatan udara.
• Memberi peluang untuk latihan dalam suasana Dissimilar Air Combat Tactic (DACT) dan Combine Air Operations.
• Mengukuhkan persefahaman, setiakawan dan perhubungan antara TUDM dan USAF.

Selain dari itu, eksesais ini adalah merupakan eksesais terbesar TUDM yang dilaksanakan pada tahun ini yang akan menyaksikan penglibatan penggunaan pelbagai aset dan elemen udara dari kedua-kedua angkatan udara seperti penggunaan pesawat-pesawat pejuang, pengangkut dan juga helikopter. Penglibatan pegawai dan anggota dari kedua-dua angkatan udara adalah seramai 1000 orang.

Selain dari itu, penggunaan elemen udara yang lain turut digunakan bagi menguji kemampuan kedua-dua tentera Udara, elemen tersebut seperti Pasukan Khas Udara,

Peperangan Elektronik, Mencari dan Menyelamat dan sebagainya. Selain dari itu, terdapat juga penggunaan elemen Tentera Darat dan juga Tentera laut Diraja Malaysia yang akan turut terlibat dalam latihan ini.

Pada latihan udara kali ini, TUDM akan menghantar pesawat-pesawat pejuang antaranya, Sukhoi Su - 30 MKM, F/A 18D Hornet, Hawk, MiG-29N, helikopter EC 725 dan Nuri serta pesawat pengangkut C130H.  Manakala USAF pula akan turut menghantar pesawat pejuang dan juga pengangkutnya seperti pesawat pejuang F22 Raptor dan F15 C/D serta pesawat pengangkut seperti pesawat C17 Globe Master.  

Bagi pesawat-pesawat dari USAF, Pesawat-pesawat Pengangkut dan juga pejuang akan mula tiba di Pangkalan Udara Butterworth dan juga di Pangkalan Udara Subang mulai 6 Jun 14.

Sepanjang latihan ini berjalan, ianya akan melibatkan penggunaan ruang angkasa Malaysia serta  kawasan Selat Melaka. Orang ramai akan dapat menyaksikan pesawat-pesawat dari kedua-dua negara akan terbang rendah dan juga peningkatan bunyi pesawat terutama di sekitar Pangkalan Udara Butterworth, Lembah Kelang, dan juga di kawasan pantai Timur semenanjung.

Markas Tentera Udara ingin meminta orang ramai agar tidak merasa gusar sekiranya terdapat pergerakan anggota tentera dan juga pesawat udara di kawasan mereka, kerana ianya adalah merupakan latihan udara bersama diantara TUDM dan USAF yang sedang berjalan mulai 6 Jun hingga 20 Jun 14.

By: WGBB(http://www.wggb.com)

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) —  Barnes Air National Guard base has begun deploying crews to Malaysia for a three week multinational exercise called COPE TAUFAN. Senior Master Sgt. Robert Sabonis made the announcement Monday explaining that a number of F-15C/D aircraft along with over 100 members of the 104th Fighter Wing have been deploying to Malaysia since Saturday.