December 1, 2007 addendum

At an advanced high-speed test in the New Mexico desert November 26, 2007 Boeing Phantom Works and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory began attempting to solve the problem of safely releasing ordnance from inside an airframe traveling at high supersonic speeds. The test is a small but potentially significant step in the Pentagon's development of a capability to strike anywhere in the world on short notice. Here's the challenge: ordnance released from an internal weapons bay at sufficiently high speeds will be forced back up into the bay by the airflow beneath the aircraft. The engineers are trying to develop a way to manipulate airflow actively to release munitions safely at higher supersonic speeds. The recent test, done on the ground, was successful, a good start.

2 F-15Cs collide near Florida coast

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Two U.S. Air Force F-15C fighter jets collided in midair over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but the two fliers ejected and were rescued, media reported.

    The crash happened Wednesday afternoon about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. Both pilots were alive, but Eglin Air Force Base spokeswoman Lois Walsh said she was unable to comment about their conditions.

    The planes were from the Air Force's 33rd Fighter Wing based at Eglin Air Force Base, near Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

    The cause of the collision was not immediately known, but the Air Force will investigate, said Col. Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing.

    The Air Force grounded all of its F-15s -- nearly 700 -- after the catastrophic failure of an F-15C during a routine training flight in Missouri in November. The pilot safely ejected.

    Most were back in service by January, but others were grounded indefinitely after defects were found.

Gripen jet

Stockholm  - Brazil has been presented a tender for 36 Swedish Gripen jet fighters, Swedish defence group Saab said Monday.

The offer comprises the next generation (NG) of the Saab Gripen, a multi-role fighter, and includes an "industrial cooperation package" with Brazilian participation in developing and producing the plane, the company said.

Last year the Brazilian Air Force listed the Swedish-made jet fighter as a candidate to consider when it modernizes its fleet.

Likely rivals include the French-made Dassault Rafale and the F-18 Super Hornet made by US manufacturer Boeing.

In addition to Sweden, Jas Gripen jets have been bought or leased by South Africa, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Thailand has ordered six planes and Gripen International presented an offer to India for 126 jet fighters in April 2008.

Norway in December rejected the Swedish-made fighter, opting for the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). dpa

Joint Strike Fighter

The US Government auditor has found plans to build a fighter jet which will be Australia's main combat aircraft are massively over-budget and face long delays.

The Government Accountability Office says the Joint Strike Fighter project could come in more than $40 billion over budget.

Problems in its development could also delay the completion of the planes by more than two years.

The F35 Joint Strike Fighter is planned to become Australia's main fighter jet from 2014.

Australia has ordered 100 of the planes at a cost of at least $14 billion.

The Joint Strike Fighters are also being sold to Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Fighter

Elaboration of working construction documentation (WCD) for the G5 fighter jet of Russia has been completed, reported with reference to Air Forces Commander-in-Chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin. The drawings have been passed to a manufacturer that will make a development prototype. 

Most likely, the G5 aircraft developed by Design Bureau will be produced in series at facilities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. A maker of engines will be determined via a tender. 

Sukhoi Design Bureau has been developing a front aviation G5 fighter jet of PAK FA Project since late 1990s. The promising aircraft is also known under the names of I-21, T-50, Izdelije 701. According to the chiefs of Russia’s Air Forces, this jet will be tested in summer of 2009 and launched into mass production early in the next decade.

Pakistan Air Force today.......

Pakistan Air Force today conducted vigilance exercises throughout the central Punjab and North-Eastern parts of the country including Azad Kashmir. We all saw as fighter jets swooped the skies over Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, boosting the public morale and the feeling of patriotism and pride among the citizens. People climbed up the roofs and at some places shouted slogans in favour of the armed forces as all Civil Aviation activity was stopped for at least 25 minutes all across Pakistan.

Only yesterday, Indian political leadership including Congress Leader Sonia Gandhi and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee went more aggressive in declaring that India has not ruled out an option of offensive strikes within Pakistan fueling the tensions between two nuclear-armed neighbours to new heights. This comes after repeated claims of the Pakistani Government that India has not yet shared any information or evidence relating to involvement of any Pakistan-based group or individuals. Accusations of a Pakistani hand behind Mumbai attacks did not surprise us as Pakistan has become used to the Indian rhetoric and many times, false allegations ignoring the basic fact that Pakistan is itself at war with extremist elements and terrorists on its Western front and inside its own cities and towns.

Pakistan Air Force’s flights over three major cities and Azad Kashmir this afternoon are both symbolic and extremely important a response to reports that India has started moving its forces to bases near the Pakistani border areas and that it might conduct offensives as deep as in the vicinity of Lahore; our home town; Pakistan’s heart and the country’s second largest city.

Finally, we have made it clear that we love peace but our forces won’t sit idle if any Indian adventure in our country’s territory is undertaken.

PAF

According to a statement from PAF Public Relations The first Saab 2000 Erieye aircraft for the PAF was rolled out in Sweden and prepared for flight trials by the year end after being equipped with a full suite of mission systems, including radars and avionics. ‘The Pakistan Air Force achieved a major landmark in its Airborne Early Warning Program with the roll out of its first SaaB2000 AEW & C in a simple but impressive ceremony at the Saab facility in Sweden,’ the PAF statement said.

The aircraft will be put through trials before being delivered to the PAF in 2009, according to officials. The PAF plans to have a fleet of five SaaB 2000 Erieye aircraft. Pakistan signed a contract with Saab for the AWACS in June 2006and the aircraft have been specially developed to the PAF’s requirements.

The aircraft will also be equipped with electronic surveillance support systems for intelligence gathering and a full set of defensive aids. The project merges Saab’s 2000 turboprop aircraft with Ericsson’s Erieye radar system. Pakistan’s Air Chief, Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said, ‘The acquisition of airborne early warning capability by the PAF would greatly enhance PAF’s defensive capability and was an essential part of its modernization efforts.’

‘The achievement of AEW & C capability will provide a much needed boost to Pakistan’s security needs,’ he added. ‘This ceremony is considered an important milestone which ensures timely procurement of state-of-the-art technology of Erieye radar onboard Saab 2000 aircraft to PAF,’ the statement said.

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Air-force inducted Swedish SAAB 2000 five air and land surveillance aircraft in its fleet. The deal with SAAB of Sweden was initiated in 1996 when this aircraft was available at 650 million US dollars. When in 1998 Pakistan tested its nuclear capability Sweden clamped sanctions against Pakistan.

Due to rapid political changes in Pakistan finally the deal was struck at 1.2 billion US dollars per aircraft. Well informed sources told though an old technology former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz delayed the deal for numerous purposes and finally when Pakistan lifted these aircraft it had to pay much higher prices.

Support elements

Support elements in the PAF fulfil a variety of roles. Some make a definite contribution to tactical readiness while others are engaged on tasks of a secondary nature.Quite clearly falling into the first category are the brace of Falcon 20Fs that are flown by No 24 Sqn at Sargodha, for these have been heavily modified in order to provide electronic warfare training support. Also in this category are a small number of Lockheed T-33As which undertake target-towing for units detached to Masroor for gunnery training as well as for the Pakistan Army and Navy. Unusually, though, these are actually assigned to No 2 Sqn which also operates the F-7P, necessitating the creation of separate Flights for each type. As a result, 'A' Flight has the F-7Ps while 'B' Flight looks after the 'T-Birds', its modest complement including a couple of RT-33As which are mostly employed on civil-orientated duties such as mapping and aerial survey.

Airlift resources are consolidated within No 35 (Composite Air Transport) Wing at Chaklala, conveniently close to the Air Headquarters where the Director Air Transport looks after tasking matters. As it has done for many years, the Lockheed Hercules serves as the PAF's work-horse, No 6 (Air Transport Support) Sqn operating a mixed fleet of C-130Bs, C-130Es and former PIA L-382B-4Cs, some of which have been in service for the best part of three decades.

As its title implies, No 12 (VVIP Communications) Sqn is concerned mostly with moving high-ranking officials and dignitaries and its assets include the Presidential F27 Friendship and Falcon 20 as well as a solitary King Air 200 and a pair of Boeing 707s. The latter were also obtained from the national airline, one having a VIP interior while the other is mainly used on long-haul cargo trips.

Transport elements are completed by No 41 (Light Communications) Sqn which operates single examples of the Beech Baron and Piper Seneca as well as a trio of Cessna 172s, but mention should also be made of the Transport Conversion School which provides qualified aircrew for the Hercules as and which required using aircraft 'borrowed' from No 6 Sqn.

Finally half-a-dozen squadrons (No 81 to 86) provide local search and rescue cover at the air bases at Peshawar, Sargodha, Rafiqui-Shorkot, Masroor, Samungli-Quetta and Mianwali. In each case, two Alouette IIIs are operated, these being the only helicopters flown by the PAF.

Pakistan Air Force

Over the past decade, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has undergone a quite significant transformation with regard to the equipment that it operates. Gone are many of the Shenyang F-6s that once constituted the backbone of its air arm, their place having been taken by a mix of 'high tech' western warplanes like the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and less sophisticated hardware such as the Nanchang A-5-III Fantan and the Chengdu F-7P ‘Skybolt’. Valuable though this infusion of new equipment is, Pakistani air power is still in the unhappy position of being quantitatively inferior to neighbouring India, which is still perceived as posing the biggest threat to the nation's well-being.

Looking at the qualitative situation, the picture is hardly any brighter, especially now that the USA has opted to suspend Foreign Military Sales (FMS) assistance as an expression of its displeasure over Pakistan's nuclear power programme. That decision probably didn't come as too great a surprise to Pakistan but it is certainly a serious blow to PAF plans, for the service had anticipated taking delivery of a further 71 F-16s with effect from 1992. Now, unless there is a major change of American policy, these will not materialise and it is hardly surprising that there are some in the PAF who perceive the USA as being purely 'fair-weather friends'.

Pakistan's difficulties are compounded by the fact that it is far from being a wealthy country and is therefore not in a position to simply throw money at a problem until it goes away. Cash that is spent on defence could be employed equally well on a score of other projects so it is clearly a case of ensuring that whatever money is available is spent as wisely as possible and in a way that offers the best 'dividend'. That naturally exerts influence on procurement policy and the PAF is now well versed in steering a careful course between the super-sophisticated and highly desirable but inordinately expensive and the considerably less costly but much more numerous 'kits'.

After landing at Bagram

After landing at Bagram, L/C Pocjitalkin told that his group had been attacked by a pair of Paistan Air Force F-16s and one F-16 was shot down. Later this report was confirmed by Had, Afghanistan intelligence, an offshoot of the Soviet KGB (and a very effective servvice). It reported that the F-16 pilot ejected safely, landing in a rebel controlled region - he was transferred to Pakistan that night. Later, wreckage from the Falcon was also transferred.

Throughout the analysis of the incident, one major question remained unanswered - how was the F-16 was shot down, when the Griffons were not armed with missles. Three possiblities were considered by the committee.

The first, and the most likely, was that the F-16 met the rain of bomb mines on its rising trajectory and blew up. The Falcons probably took off from Kamra Air Base, near Miranshah. Kamra is situated so close to the Afghan border that the F-16 could launch their Sidewinders immediately after getting airborne. PAF pilots intended to intercept Soviet fighters at high altitudes, assuming that they would be dive bombing, but on that day the Griffons'worked' on the climb, and steeply descended before the attack. At that moment, the F-16 could have slipped forward and become caught up in the 'cloud' of bombs.

The second version suggested that during pursuit, the F-16 came upon the climbing MiGs, and trying to avoid them, the Pakistan pilot jerked the plane into a sharp bank and exceeded the maximum g-load.

The final thoery was that the Falcon could have been shot down by his wingman. Intercepting th MiGs from the aft hemisphere, the F-16s tracked them on their radar up to the point where they released their bombs. But when the close formation Griffons carried out drastic flak evasion manoeuvers, the F-16s had to carry out the turn and the wingman may have hurriedly fired his Sidewinders accidently hitting his leader.

McGuire Air Expo 2008

F-16 Fighting Falcons with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., fly during the McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., Air Expo June 1, 2008. The Air Expo was the final event for Air Force Week in Philadelphia and more than 170,000 people attended.

US Air Force

The Us Air Force is also in need of batteries, as it assists them with their power source for their technical communications. In a recent order that was placed by the Us Air Force, there has been a need for over 2 million dollars worth of batteries from the Ultralife Battery Company. This is a large order for the company, and one that is well received. Ultralife creates various types of batteries, and will begin shipping out the batteries during this season, with the remaining batteries expected to be received at the beginning of next year.

This is a large step for both the Ultralife Battery Company, as well as the US Air Force, as it brings in large sales for the battery company, and well-needed batteries for the US Air Force. The batteries will be used in such items as walkie-talkies, radio interceptors, and other methods of communications. With several hundred thousand troops that are deployed in the US Air Force alone, there is a great need for all of the batteries. This order that has been requested is expected to fulfill the needs of the Air Force for the immediate time, with possible contracts for additional sales to follow in the future. Thanks to the batteries that are available, the US Air Force can use them for their various tactical maneuvers.