India Flies Indigenous Fighter at the Bahrain Air Show, 2016: First Flight Outside Indian Airspace

01/26/2016
2016-01-26  The Indians have developed and are building their own fighter aircraft in the form of the Tejas aircraft. According to the Indian Aeronautical Development Agency: India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) together with its variants, is the smallest and lightest Multi-Role Supersonic Fighter Aircraft of its class. This single engine,…

The Rolling Air Frame Missile: A Very Successful International Program

01/23/2016
2016-01-23 When the US Navy declared IOC on the Rolling Air Frame Missile Block 2 in 2014, you would barely know of its origins. The Navy declared initial operational capability (IOC) on Raytheon’s Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Block 2, which brings greater accuracy and maneuverability to the self-defense system, the company…

Enhancing Their Arctic Capabilities: The Russians Add a Rotarywing Capability

01/12/2016
2016-01-12  The Russians are building an Arctic capable rotorcraft fleet for commercial and military purposes. Late last year, the Russian Defense Ministry took delivery of its first Mi-8 ANTSh-V for Arctic missions. This version of the Mi-8 was developed for operations below -40C. “The wealth of expertise we built up…

Three Historic Firsts for Italy in the F-35 Program During 2015

12/12/2015
2015-12-06 By Robbin Laird At the beginning of the 20th Century, Italy was a pioneer in combat aviation. Although different at the beginning of the 21st century, Italy has again emerged as an important player in military aviation. They are key players in the two key 21st century multinational military…

Successful SM-3 Test by the US and Japan Completed

12/12/2015
12/12/2015: The Japan Ministry of Defense (MOD) Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, announced the successful completion of a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA flight test from the Point Mugu Sea Range, San Nicolas Island, California. This…

Nuclear Propulsion for Indian Carriers?

12/12/2015
2015-12-12 By Gulshan Luthra The Indian Navy’s Design Bureau is considering nuclear propulsion for future Indian aircraft carriers. Although the final decision is yet to be taken, reliable sources told India Strategic that the Navy and the country’s nuclear scientists have drawn sufficient experience from their success in installing nuclear propulsion…