KANSAS, USA - Cessna announced the new SkyCatcher is to be made in China under Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

Cessna had tied partnership with the China Aviation Industry Corp and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) while the American company, Cessna, had emphasized that the SkyCatcher will be designed, tested, constructed, and serviced to the same Cessna quality standards.

“The benefit is it enables us to provide the SkyCatcher at a lower price,” Cessna spokeswoman Pia Bergqvist. “We looked at several different facilities in several different countries. This was the one that seemed to make the most sense.”

Cessna officials believes that producing the SkyCatcher in China will save on costs which will keep competitors in the growing light sport aircraft market and aims at pilot training and light recreation flyers.

The company unveiled the single-engine two-seat plane in July saying it expects to begin testing in the first half of 2008 and begin delivering these aircrafts in the second half of 2009. Cessna said that it already has 900 SkyCatchers ordered.

The MQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude; long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and entered service with United States Air Force in 1995. The MQ-1’s primary mission is conducting armed reconnaissance against targets and interdiction.

The MQ-1 Predator is a fully operational system that consists of four aircraft with censors, a ground control station, and a Predator Primary Satellite Link (PPSL). This UAV can carry two AGM-114 Hellfire missile targeting capability and integrates electro-optical, infrared, laser designator and laser illuminator into a single sensor package. The aircraft can employ two laser-guided Hellfire anti-tank missiles with the MTS ball. Powered by a 115-horsepower Rotax 914F piston engine, the Predator can operate from 5,000-by-75-foot hard-surface runways. It needs line-of-sight communications for takeoff and landing, though the PPSL provides over-the-horizon control and communications.

The MQ-1 Predator had been in successful combat since 1995 over Afghanistan, Serbia, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and is known as the Top 1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for its advance technology performance and advantageous operations.

YOKOTA AIR BASE, JAPAN, December 17, 2007 – U.S. Force Japan and 5th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright will retire in February after a 35-year career, according to a press release Sunday.

A career fighter pilot with the call sign “Orville,” Wright’s effective retirement date will be April 1.

Lt. Gen. Edward A. Rice, Pacific Air Forces vice commander at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, has been confirmed by the Senate to take command of USFJ and 5th Air Force as Wright’s successor.

Wright assumed the dual-hat command in February 2005. During his tenure he has focused on strengthening the U.S.–Japan Security Alliance and cross-training of the two militaries. He also oversees execution of the U.S. Defense and State departments plus Japanese Defense and Foreign ministries to establish common strategic objectives for the bilateral military alliance.

Among those tasks has been to improve ballistic missile defense capability for Japan.

Beginning with his first tour of duty in Japan in 1978 as an F-4C “Wild Weasel” instructor pilot at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa through his current command, Wright has more than eight years collective military service over four assignments in Japan.

“It has been an honor to serve, primarily in overseas units and combat wings,” Wright said in the release.

Rice’s Air Force flying experience has been mainly in B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers. He was awarded the Air Combat Command 2002 Moller Trophy for outstanding wing commander after a two-year assignment as commander of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

A date for the change of command and Wright’s retirement ceremony, expected to be held at Yokota, has yet to be announced.

Turkish warplanes as seen bombarding Iraqi villages

Istanbul, Turkey, December 16, 2007 – “Turkish warplanes and long-range missiles attacked Kurdish rebel positions in the mountains of northern Iraq near the Turkish border early Sunday”, according to Turkish military officials.

It was said that, “the air attack began at around 1 a.m. and lasted for more than three hours, targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) outposts in the Qandil mountain. It was also said that, Turkish ground troops launched long-range missiles at the PKK positions after the air attack.”

The military stated that, “all warplanes returned safely to their bases in Turkey.”

“The targets of the attack appeared to be PKK fighters in the border area, but there are reports of civilian casualties in nearby villages” explains Jamal Abdullah, spokesman for Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish regional Government.

A top Iraqi official said Turkish warplanes bombarded 10 Kurdish villages, killing one woman and injuring two others.

Tensions have been high along the Iraqi-Turkish border, with Turkey threatening to launch a full-scale cross-border offensive against separatist guerillas from the PKK.

Those militants have launched actions against Turkish troops from northern Iraq and have been fighting the Turkish government forces in southeastern Turkey, where violence has been steady.

The Turkish military government received approval from the parliament in October to take military action “at any time.” There are tens of thousands of Turkish troops near the border area.

The United States, the Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional government had pursued diplomatic efforts over the past two months to keep Turkey from launching an offensive against the PKK.

Though it’s not clearly stated what specific type of aircraft was used, the aircrafts that were shown resembled somewhat to an aircraft of the Fighting Falcons.