News Archive

Changi Air Base East was officially inaugurated by Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, this afternoon. The 145 Squadron which will be based there, oprates the F-16D Block 52+ jets. These Vipers are state-of-the-art, and so is the airbase they operate from. ...

In response to a request from NATO, Norway is offering four F-16 fighter aircraft as a contribution to NATO's policing of the airspace in the Baltic area....

The United States has approved a proposal to provide Oman with electronic warfare (EW) systems for the sultanate's F-16 fleet. Oman has purchased 12 F-16 C/D block 50 aircraft from Lockheed Martin in 2001....

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plans to sell Jordan 50 U.S.-made AMRAAM anti-aircraft missiles in a deal valued up to $39 million. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress last Friday about the proposed sale, giving lawmakers 30 days to block the agreement....

He said he was in trouble when a loud bang blew his feet off the rudder pedals and bright lights flashed in his night vision goggles; he had lost the engine on his F-16. Capt. Michael Matesick, a former 421st Fighter Squadron pilot, recalls......

With the Kunsan Air Base runway to reopen Wednesday, about 500 Kunsan airmen have begun re-packing their tools and other equipment and making their way back from Osan....

Greece has decided to finally scrap their 4.8 billion euro ($6.2 billion) agreement with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) to buy 60 Eurofighter jets (plus a further 30 options)....

Sophisticated antenna testing is under way on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Newport antenna research and measurement facility....

The Netherlands is delaying its planned introduction of the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft by two years to 2014. The measure will release money needed to pay for newly emerging acquisitions, which for a major part have become necessary because of Norway's controversial decision, last September, to cancel a major equipment swap with the Netherlands. ...

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) held an award ceremony on Tuesday for the top finishers at this year's Boramae competition. Major Huh Geun-ho from the 155th Sqn/19th TFW, which flies F-16 block 52s, won the "Top Gun" award this year. ...

The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) has exercised its option to purchase additional Lockheed Martin PANTERA advanced targeting pods (ATPs) with accompanying spares and support. ...

Multi-phase Mission Systems aperture testing is under way on a full-scale model of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the Air Force Research Laboratories' Newport, N.Y., test facility....

Members of the 180th ANG Fighter Wing recently participated in the "Red Flag" 05-1.2 exercise held at Nellis AFB, Nevada from October 24th through November 5th. ...

L-3 Communications has recently been awarded contracts by Goodrich to provide key sub-systems for the Poland Peace Sky F16 Reconnaissance program. The value of these sub-contracts is in excess of $10 million. ...

The Pentagon has cleared the next stage in the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a procurement project valued at more than $240 billion, the biggest ever, the Defense Department said last week....

Pratt & Whitney awarded the production of a crucial part of the F135 engine, which will equip the F-35 JSF, to Piaggio Aero. The agreement is part of the System Development and Demonstration programme....

Lockheed Martin is confident about the progress of the Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), with first flight targeted for March 2009....

For the third time in less than two weeks an F16 Fighting Falcon was forced to make an emergency landing at Syracuse Hancock International Airport....

Today, Brig. Gen. Ronald Shoopman retired as the commander of the 162nd Fighter Wing of the Tucson ANG. The 162nd, the Air National Guard's largest unit, is now in the hands of Colonel Rick Moisio....

It seems that the Turkish provocation in the Aegean might be escalating again. This morning, two Turkish F-16 reportedly harassed an Olympic Airlines passenger plane en route from the island of Karpathos to the island of Rhodes in southeastern Aegean....

An ANG F-16 Viper from the 121st FS/113th FW at Andrews AFB, on a nighttime training mission in New Jersey, accidentally fired 25 rounds of ammunition that tore through an elementary school last night. Luckily, no one got injured....

A Dutch F-16 (J-637) damaged part of its undercarriage when it landed in Kyrgyzstan today, forcing the authorities to close its main civilian airport. The accident happened in the afternoon when the jet's nose wheel suddenly collapsed seconds after it landed at Manas civilian airport. ...

USAF Air Combat Command plans to begin using the new 500-pound GBU-38 JDAM, a lightweight satellite-guided bomb at Balad Air Base, Iraq, giving F-16 crews a new option to strike Iraqi insurgents and reduce unwanted destruction....

Pratt & Whitney's San Antonio facility has been awarded a contract valued at $52 million to remanufacture engine combustion chambers for the F-15 and F-16 aircraft...

An F-16 Fighting Falcon belonging to the Air National Guard's 174th Fighter Wing made an emergency landing yesterday at Syracuse International Airport. The jet blew two tires while landing but nobody got hurt....