Brazil said Wednesday it hopes to develop state-of-the-art combat aircraft with Russia, and buy surface-to-air missile batteries from Moscow. Brasilia is already in talks with other countries to modernize its air force by purchasing 36 fighter jets worth as much as $5 billion. US firm Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet is competing against the Rafale made by France’s Dassault and Saab of Sweden’s Gripen NG for the lucrative fourth-generation aircraft contract. “We are very considering discussing projects in the case of fifth generation (combat) aircraft with new partners,” Defense Minister Celso Amorim told reporters after talks here along with his Russian... Read More »

Unmanned robots have already got proven their worth at the battlefield, neutralizing improvised explosive devices, and more capable ones are coming someday, consistent with the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. While robots and unmanned platforms will continue to offer valuable assistance to Soldiers at the battlefield, there will even come an afternoon once they can begin replacing Soldiers, Gen. Robert W. Cone told reporters at Association of the us Army’s Aviation Symposium, held earlier this month. Cone’s remarks sparked further discussion at a Jan. 22 media roundtable, co-hosted by the varsity of William & Mary and U.S.... Read More »

Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of Oboronprom, a part of Rostec State Corporation, has delivered a Mi-171E built on the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant to the Kazakhstan Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry uses Mi-8/17s for routine patrolling and search-and-rescue missions, and for transporting personnel and load. The Mi-171E has various features that give it an edge in Kazakhstan’s extremes of climate – temperatures can range from plus 50 to minus 58 degrees Celsius – and geography, marked by extensive steppe and tall mountain ranges. The helicopter can operate across localities from steppe to foothills to mountains, and may withstand temperatures from... Read More »

In his own words, the G-8 reiterated what the secretary of the military and chief of staff have both said about downsizing Soldier levels to under 450,000 — “even at 450, it’s a high risk for the mission sets and mission tasks which were given to us.” Presently, the military has about 564,000 Soldiers on active duty, but that number have been mandated to come back all the way down to 490,000 by 2015. “We’re on a glide path, and the monies are laid out to present us a 420,000 Army by 2019,” said Lt. Gen. James O. Barclay III,... Read More »