Aviation news

As reported by the RBC news agency in the article "The pandemic has reduced secret exports from Russia. Against the background of a decline in supplies to foreign customers, Algeria became the largest recipient of weapons, " exports from Russia according to closed items of customs statistics, which include weapons and military equipment, fell by 16% in 2020, to $ 11.5 billion. This happened against the backdrop of a pandemic that delayed deliveries to a number of foreign customers.

The National Defense Management Center stressed that no violations of the state border were allowed

Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets escorted a group of French Air Force aircraft, consisting of a KS-135 tanker aircraft and two Mirage 2000 tactical aircraft, over the Black Sea. This was reported to journalists on Wednesday in the National Center for Defense Management of the Russian Federation.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced on February 10, 2021, that the Japanese defense procurement agency Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) has awarded Kawasaki Heavy Industries Corporation (KHI) an initial contract worth 15 billion yen ($143.1 million) to begin implementing a program to create a new electronic warfare aircraft for the Japan Self-Defense Air Force based on the new Japanese medium military transport aircraft Kawasaki C-2.

The Baltic Fleet has launched a competition in which the military personnel of the unmanned aviation units show their skills.

The United States has successfully tested a prototype of a deeply modernized F-15EX fighter. The event for the American defense industry is significant — the last "fifteenth" entered the army almost 20 years ago. The Pentagon is very much counting on the updated machine and assure that this program will not affect the purchase of fifth-generation aircraft. What is known about the F-15EX-in the material of RIA Novosti.

The US Navy has released rare footage of an F/A-18E Super Hornet carrier-based fighter chasing a Tomahawk cruise missile launched from a Ticonderoga-class cruiser. The time and location of the shooting, as well as the name of the shooting ship, are not reported.

The Bulgarian Air Force received all 8 Su-25 attack aircraft that underwent major repairs at the 558th Aviation Repair Plant (Baranovichi, Republic of Belarus).

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited the Vrh Koplja 2021 exercise on February 7, after which he said that the Serbian authorities intend to allocate additional funds for the development of the country's Armed Forces.

Russian Su-27 naval aviation fighters of the Baltic Fleet (BF) will conduct exercises in the Kaliningrad region to destroy strategic bombers of a simulated enemy, RIA Novosti reports, adding that in February it is planned to transfer American B-1B Lancer to Norway.

Novosibirsk Aircraft Factory. Chkalova (NAZ) is building three more prototypes of the S-70 Hunter heavy strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a source in the military-industrial complex told RIA Novosti.

The total flight time of the Mi-8AMTSh-VA helicopters produced by the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant of the Russian Helicopters Holding (part of the Rostec State Corporation) exceeded 2,500 hours.

Russia will build three more samples of the S-70 Hunter heavy strike and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), considered to be the wingmen of the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the military-industrial complex.

Russia has resumed air patrols in the Arctic and deployed MiG-31 long-range interceptors in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago above the Arctic Circle. This caused concern in the foreign media.

Man has less and less space on the battlefield. On February 11, the TASS news agency reported that the Russian robotic complex "Udar", developed on the basis of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, passed joint tests with light robots.

In the airspace of the Crimea, the Russian air defense forces can shoot down any military aircraft without warning. This is reported by Аvia.pro. 

In Yemen, the Houthis shot down another unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to Saudi Arabia. In a video report, they demonstrated how this happened.

Initially, the target was detected and taken for tracking with the help of a sighting thermal imaging system. Then a guided missile was fired at it. The footage shows how the solid-fuel accelerator worked, and then the main engine turned on.

The fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter program is facing a new problem — a shortage of Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, Defense News reports, citing the Pentagon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the changing mood in foreign countries on the issue of new types of weapons in Russia.

Two experimental zones should appear in May

Russia will start testing joint flights of planes and drones. In Tomsk and in the Tver Region, two experimental territories should appear in May, where different types of aircraft will be able to move. They will be bred in the space of a special system.

The Russian Federation and China should not participate in any supply chains for the British defense sector or invest in it, The Independent reported on Sunday, citing the defense committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament.