News Archive

September 2011


30 September 2011 Iraq makes first payment for 18 F-16s
The Iraqi government has transferred its first payment for 18 F-16C Fighting Falcons, bringing Iraq closer to independently securing its airspace, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said Sept 27....
28 September 2011 Lockheed delivers all four C-130Js to Qatar
At ceremony today at the Lockheed facility Marietta, Georgia, company officials formally delivered all four C-130J's on September 28, 2011 to the State of Qatar....
28 September 2011 Lockheed delivers first HC-130J
Lockheed today delivered the first HC-130J Combat King II to the USAF’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC)....
27 September 2011 Q&A: High-time pilot talks F-16 evolution
I recently sat down with Lt. Col. Michael Brill, the world's high-time F-16 pilot, to talk about the evolution of the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the pilots who fly it. ...
22 September 2011 US offers $5.85B upgrades to Taiwan, no new F-16s for now
The US announced a $5.85 billion arms package to upgrade Taiwan's F-16 fighter jets. This faced an immediate backlash from Republicans who accused him of selling a U.S. friend short and caving in to Chinese pressure. ...
22 September 2011 Air Force returns 170 grounded F-22s to service
The U.S. Air Force ended the stand-down of all 170 jets after 12 incidents of pilots' experiencing hypoxia. With a mystery still swirling around why some pilots became light-headed while flying F-22 Raptors, the jets returned to the skies Wednesday nearly five months after the nation's fleet was grounded. ...
21 September 2011 Tyndall's F-22 fleet soars
Since the four-month safety stand-down order was issued on the F-22 Raptor, the first of Tyndall's F-22s launched over the skies of the Emerald Coast to kick off the return to official flying operations. ...
20 September 2011 F-35 flight test progress report
The F-35 flight test program moves closer to reaching year-end milestones since the last update issued July 26. Since then, the F-35 Lightning II conducted 124 test flights, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 642....
20 September 2011 L-3 Link awarded contract option to build fifth F-16 MTC
L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) announced that it has received a contract option from the U.S. Air Force to build a fifth F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC)....
15 September 2011 New titanium machining process supports F-35 affordability
Lockheed Martin has obtained government approval to use a groundbreaking cryogenic titanium machining process in production of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter....
15 September 2011 Possible F-16 buy highlights Iraq's progress
Iraq's potential purchase of 18 U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcons is an encouraging development that benefits both nations, the senior U.S. Air Force component commander in Iraq said September 14....
15 September 2011 148th FW pilots recall eerie days after 9/11
Soon after airplanes-turned-missiles slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2011, a Minnesota Air National Guard unit launched into action. ...
12 September 2011 Time for MacKay to stop misleading the public
Canadian Defence Minister Mr. MacKay is either incredibly ill-advised or is misleading the public about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)....
09 September 2011 77th EFS provide full-spectrum support for Unified Protector
This is the motto and creed by which the Airmen with the Gambler Aircraft Maintenance Unit and 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron -- collectively called the Gamblers -- live. They deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, and have been supporting Operation Unified Protector for more than five months....
09 September 2011 Saving lives one seat at a time
A group of Airmen here have saved 25 lives in the past 16 years by taking care of a critical F-16 Fighting Falcon component. ...
08 September 2011 Sunshade collapse‏ at Nellis damaging F-16s
At about 17.00h local time on Thursday, September 8th a micro burst during a wind storm caused the collapse of a sun shelter at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Eight airman were injured and several types of aircraft were damaged including F-16s....
07 September 2011 F-35 defeated in air combat simulation
An unnamed source stated that earlier this year a presentation was given by an industry air combat threat assessment expert to defense officials of a NATO country which showed that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would not survive air combat against threats it is likely to see in its alleged service lifetime....
01 September 2011 RDAF F-16s take over NATO Air-policing mission
Four Royal Danish Air Force F-16 landed at the Lithuanian, Siauliai Air Base on August 31 for their Air Policing mission over the Baltic states after departing from Skrydstrupe Air Base....