Sep 23
Jobelle AV-8B, av-8b harrier, AV-8B Harrier jump jet, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, F-16 C/D, F-16 C/D jets, F-16 deal, F-16 jets, F-16 purchase, F-16C/D, F-35B, F-35B JSF, F-35B STOVL, F-35B vertical-takeoff version, f16 falcon, George Little, Obama administration, Pentagon spokesman, Robert M. Gates, Taiwan F-16 sale, Taiwan-China
The White House turned down the sale of F-16 C/D jets because of concerns that the sale would upset relations with China more than a sale to upgrade older jets, the officials said.
The Obama administration is expected to announce as early as Wednesday the sale of a package of equipment and weapons worth $5.8 billion to upgrade Taiwan’s fleet of 145 F-16 jets. In agreeing to the upgrades, President Obama and White House officials rejected a proposal sought by some in the administration to offer Taiwan66 new and more advanced F-16 C/D jets.
Administration officials briefed Congress on the deal Friday and are defending the decision not to sell new jets by asserting that the upgrades will give modernized Taiwanese F-16s a “near C/D” capability.
A congressional military specialist, however, said the expected arms package will be insufficient in bolstering Taiwan’s air power. In addition to announcing the Taiwanese military upgrade, the Pentagonthis week will release a congressional mandated study on Taiwan’s air power.
The study concludes that Taiwan’s military should buy short-takeoff and vertical-landing jets such as the British-design AV-8B Harrier jump jet or the new F-35B vertical-takeoff version, according to the officials familiar with the aircraft.That conclusion was based on anticipated Chinese missile strikes against Taiwanese airfields with cratering munitions that would thwart takeoffs by F-16s and other jets.
A defense official said that conclusion appears skewed to support the administration’s decision not to sell new F-16s by highlighting airstrip vulnerability.
The Obama administration has been seeking closer military ties to China. In January, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates proposed holding talks on nuclear weapons, missile defenses, cyberwarfare and space. A Chinese general promised to study the proposal.
Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to comment on the pending arms sale. He said U.S. arms-sale policy is based on the three joint communiques with China and the Taiwan Relations Act.
On military ties, Mr. Little said: “From our perspective, we have made progress in our dialogue as we work toward a healthy, stable and reliable and continuous military-to-military relationship.”
Source: The Washington Times
Jul 15
JobelleAir Force, News Custom Model Airplanes, custom models, custom plane model, EADS, EADS Eurofighter, Eurofighter, f-16, F-16 aircraft, F-18, F-35, F-35 fighter plane, F/A-18 plane, f16 falcon, Gripen, model airplane, model plane, new stealth aircraft F-35, RAF Eurofighter, Saab Gripen, U.S. McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing (F/A-18 plane), wooden airplane model
Lockheed Martin will try and sell the F-16 aircraft to the Czech Republic when the current lease for Gripen fighters expire in 2015.
The Defence Ministry asked France, the United States, Sweden and the Eurofighter consortium in December for a preliminary bid of supersonic fighters for the Czech military. Lockheed is the second arms maker to publicly announce its interest in the tender, after the Swedish Saab that would like the Czech Republic to keep Gripens, Ekonom.cz writes.
The server wrote that the concern would probably again offer F-16s that are used, for instance, in the neighbouring Poland, in Belgium and Denmark. However, they would probably not succeed in the tender.
“If we sought a new quality, we would definitely not speak about F-16,” the server quotes Czech fighter wing commander Jaroslav Mika as saying recently.
Lockheed might also offer its new stealth aircraft F-35.But they are still being developed and on top of that, they would be too expensive for the Czech Republic, the server writes.
Five companies bid for the order in 1999 preliminarily: U.S. McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing (F/A-18 plane) and Lockheed Martin (F-16), French Dassault Aviation (Mirage 2000-5), EADS (Eurofighter) consortium and the British-Swedish BAE Systems/Saab consortium (Jas-39 Gripen).
Source: praguemonitor.com
Mar 17
JobelleAir Force, News Denmark, f-16, F-16 Fighter, f16 falcon, Libya
Foreign Minister Lene Espersen told parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that the Air Force is preparing four F-16 fighter jets to take part in an internationally-backed no-fly zone over Libya,should Nato high command decide to act.
The government is trying to build support in parliament and internationally for a United Nations-backed no-fly zone over Libya to block Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi from making further advances against rebel forces and attacking Libyan civilians.
“The Arab world has made it very clear that the UN Security Council must make the decision. That’s why we all need to work right now to ensure that the UNSecurity Council has the backing it needs to make that decision,” Espersen said.
She added that a UN-backed no-fly zone was “a very important and correct step,” towards showing Qaddafi that the international community does not accept his attacks against civilians.
The UN Security Council was scheduled to meet again on Wednesday morning to discuss the feasibility of a no-fly zone.
The F-16 has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and allied nations.
In an air combat role, the F-16′s maneuverability and combat radius (distance it can fly to enter air combat, stay, fight and return) exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. It can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point. An all-weather capability allows it to accurately deliver ordnance during non-visual bombing conditions
- the Copenhagen post Online
- GlobalSecurity.org
Jan 25
JobelleAir Force, News f-16, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-35, f16 falcon, F35 fighter, Turkey F-16
Turkey is seriously reconsidering the myriad agreements it has signed with the US, as well as its participation in an international consortium for the procurement of new generation fighter jets, due to rising costs and persisting problems originating from the American side.
Turkey is now seeking new ways to sidestep difficulties in the procurement of F-16 fighter planes, which it has been jointly producing with the US since 1987, due to the delayed delivery by the US authorities of some of the plane’s parts and accessories. There have been serious doubts as to whether Turkey’s plan to purchase 100 F-35 fighter planes would ever materialize, as the country is thinking about withdrawing from the consortium following the hike in costs that resulted from other countries leaving from the consortium.
With 240 F-16s, Turkey has the third largest fleet of these fighter jets after the US and Israel, Turkey chose the F-16 to use in its air force in the early 1980s, and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAİ) was established soon after the decision. Between 1987 and 1995, TAİ assembled 152 planes in the first phase of the F-16 project. The second phase took place between 1995 and 1999, and 80 planes were assembled.
In total TAİ has assembled 278 F-16s since it first began operations in 1987. During production, 29 planes were produced with no mistakes and three of them were considered “perfect.” Considering that only nine F-16 planes are produced as perfect out of 4,000 fighter jets in the world, Turkey’s success is conspicuous.
As the agreement between the US and Turkey expired in 2000, Turkey has continued to work with Israel in modernizing the F-16s. Turkey has attempted to compensate for several mistakes that occurred while working with the US through several deals with Israel. The fundamental problem was that the US did not hand the F-16s directly to the Turkish Air Forces and it required TAİ-made planes be tested in the US before the eventual delivery to the Turkish Air Forces.
The US had also refused to provide source codes for the software of F-16s to Turkey since the inception of the joint production.
Tensions in the relations between the US and Turkey have recently spawned a series of crises in this particular sphere, a possibility which Turkey has overlooked for years
Turkey has made a radical shift recently, deciding to produce its first fleet of national fighter jets following crises in F-16 and F-35 projects with the US and Israel.
- Today’s Zaman
Sep 21
JobelleBlog Articles, Promos ah-64d apache, F-15 Strike Eagle, f16 falcon
“Blog, Grab and Brag”
Warplanes.com’s Win a Model Airplane Contest
Calling all collectors, veterans, historians and aviation aficionado! Warplanes is throwing away an early Christmas gift just for you! Three lucky bloggers will have the chance to own one of our awesome model planes. The contest is pretty simple: just write (or blog) about: why you should be given a beautifully hand-crafted model plane?
So go write that blog entry and post that article now! The contest starts September 23 and ends on October 22, 2010. For your entry to count, you need to post a link to your article on Warplane’s Fan Page.
Here are the contest mechanics in detail:
- To join, you have to write a blog entry or an article telling us why you should win. If you don’t have your own website or blog site, no worries! You can ask a friend, a relative or a co-worker to post your blog on their site. Each entry must have a link to the Warplane’s website and the Warplanes Facebook Fan Page.
- Let us know about your entry by posting a link on Warplanes’ wall. The link should direct us to your write-up. Once acknowledged, you entry is counted and your in!
- Warplanes’ panel of judges will read all the entries and the person whose entry we find most compelling owns a model airplane of his/her choice.
- One winner will be selected by fans, based on the number of “likes” to the link. The entry that gets the most “likes” on our page automatically gets one awesome model airplane! (tip: once posted, spread the news and tell all your friends to like your wall post!
- One lucky customer will be chosen at random by the organizers and gets his/her desired model plane just like that!
- Warplanes administrator will notify the winners as soon as they are determined.
Warplanes is giving you this rare opportunity of owning one of our best products for free! An advance Christmas gift it is, and our way of saying how much we appreciate your continued support.
F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon or an Apache Longbow AH-64D model plane – whether you are planning to give it to your dad, grandpa or just for yourself, you know you just can’t resist masterpieces like these!
This could be yours!
Good luck everyone!
Aug 26
TynibelleAir Force, Blog Articles, News f-16, f-16 falcon, F-16 Fighting Falcon, f16, f16 falcon, QF-16, QF-4
Last August 19, An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter plane was intentionally blown apart as part of an aerial-target flight termination system test.
Conducted by the 780th Test Squadron, and overseen by the QF-16 special programs office, the purpose of the test was to demonstrate that the FTS design will be sufficient to immediately terminate the flight of a QF-16, a supersonic reusable full-scale aerial target drone modified from an F-16. Each drone contains an FTS, which is needed to satisfy range safety requirements for use in unmanned missions.
The QF-16 will provide a fourth generation full-scale aerial target for air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons systems evaluation, which will be conducted by the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
Kevin Diggs, the QF-16 test and evaluation lead, said “We’re taking these non-operational aircraft and reusing them, recycling if you will,” followed by “We find a better purpose for them in making them flight worthy, which gives our weapons designers the opportunity to test our advanced weapons against a modern aircraft. Additionally, our warfighters get an opportunity to train against a quality fourth generation fighter.”
According to Diggs, another purpose of the test was to determine a range safety debris footprint. “This test was one step toward satisfying range safety requirements,” he said.
At approximately 11:15 a.m., with an audience looking on, the range officials exploded the aircraft. A small ball of flames burst from the middle of the aircraft, followed by thick black smoke, but no sound. The sound followed soon after with a deep reverberating boom. The extent of the damage went undetected at first, due to the amount of smoke billowing from the wreck. Once it cleared, it revealed the F-16 had been split in half between the cockpit and the wings.
“It’s sad to see an F-16 destroyed like this,” said Maj. Wayne Chitmon, of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, the squadron that will eventually own and operate the QF-16s. “At the same time, however, it’s exciting to know the fourth generation ability of the F-16 will enhance the warfighters’ capabilities.”
In the coming weeks, test reports will explain the outcome of the test. The next step for the program office is to evaluate those reports from the 780th TS and Boeing, the QF-16′s prime contractor. The project will then move forward to certifying the QF-16 with Air Armament Center range safety for unmanned flights in the future.
The first QF-16 is scheduled to be delivered in 2014. The QF-16 will replace the QF-4, the third generation full-scale aerial target drone.
-planenews.com
Jul 04
TynibelleAir Force, Army, Blog Articles, Trivia F/A-18F Super Hornet, f16, f16 falcon, F16 fighter, F18 Hornet, super hornet, t38, t38 talon
Independence Day movie poster
Today is the day to commemorate the Independence Day of the United States. And 14 years ago, the same day was when aliens attacked in 20th Century Fox and Centropolis Entertainment’s movie Independence Day starring Will Smith, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, and Margaret Colin.
Will Smith as Capt. Steven Hiller
The story is about a massive alien mothership arriving and attacking several major cities around the world like Washington and Los Angeles on July 2, and a counterattack was conducted by the US on July 3. But the aliens had the upper hand with their spacecrafts equipped with force fields so on July 4, a satellite technician (Jeff Goldblum) along with a US Marine Corps pilot (Will Smith) infiltrates the mothership and plants a computer virus to disrupt the force fields. A nuclear bomb was also planted; thus, destroying the alien mothership.
The White House attacked by alien force
With this kind of plot, the 1996 film starred a lot of fighter aircraft like the F/A-18 Hornet, T-38 Talon jet fighter, and F-16 Fighting Falcon. Will Smith performed as Capt. Steven Hiller, a US Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot. However, not authentic Hornets and other aircraft were used for the film. Model planes, special effects and such were used instead because originally, the aircraft, costumes, and personnel were supposed to be provided by the US military. But they backed out when producers refused to remove the Area 51 references from the script, so a lot of special effects were used for the movie instead.
F/A-18 Hornet in flight
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet was introduced in January 1983 and made its first flight in November 1978. It is a multirole fighter with a height of 15 ft 4 in, length of 56 ft and wingspan of 40 ft. Powered by 2 General Electric F404-GE-402 turbofans, it can reach a maximum speed of 1190 mph.
T-38 Talon
The T-38 Talon is an advanced trainer introduced in March 1961 and made its first flight in March 1959. This aircraft has a height of 12 ft 10.5 in, length of 46 ft 4.5 in and wingspan of 25 ft 3 in. Powered by 2 General Electric J85-5A engines, it can reach a maximum speed of 858 mph.
F-16 Fighting Falcon
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the F-16 Fighting Falcon was introduced in August 1978 and made its first flight in February 1974. This multirole fighter has a height of 16 ft, length of 49 ft 5 in and wingspan of 32 ft 8 in. Powered by a F110-GE-100 turbofan, it can reach a maximum speed of 915 mph at sea level and 1500 mph at altitude.
-wikipedia.org
-youtube.com
-producersairforce.com
-sciflicks.com
Jun 24
TynibelleBlog Articles, Trivia a10 thunderbolt, ac-130, c-130, c-130 hercules, c-130h, c17, c17 globemaster, cv 22, cv-22 osprey, f117, f117 nighthawk, f14, f15, f15 eagles, f16, f16 falcon, F16 fighter, f22, f22 raptor, hh-53, hh-53 super jolly green giant, mh-53, mh-53 pave low, mq-1, mq-1 predator, raptor, sr-71, sr-71 blackbird, su-27, Sukhoi, super jolly green giant, super valkyrie, tomcat, USS john c. stennis, uss stennis, vf-1s
Transformers movie poster (2007)
Aside from helicopters, other aircraft have been featured and continue to be featured in Hollywood films. Usually, warplanes star in action films to bring more oomph to the films. But these bad boys don’t come cheap because they cost thousands of dollars to “act.” Some go for solely CGI instead. Still, these thousand-dollar aircraft bring in more audiences so no loss but more gain for the producers.
Director Michael Bay on set of Transformers at Holloman Air Force Base
One movie that incorporated both real aircraft and CGI is the blockbuster film Transformers. Other than land vehicles, this film used aircraft like an F-22 Raptor for the character Starscream. Starscream is one of the enemy Decepticons which originally transforms into an F-15 Eagle based on the cartoon movie The Transformers: The Movie which was released on August 8, 1986.
Real airmen as extras on the set of Transformers at Holloman Air Force Base
Other aircraft used were F-117 Nighthawks, CV-22 Osprey, A-10 Thunderbolt II, C-17 Globemaster III, MH-53 Pave Low, HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant, AC-130 Gunship, C-130 Hercules, MQ-1 Predator, and Air Force One. Looks like these bad boys aren’t just cutout for war but also for “acting”, too, so move aside Herbie.
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie poster (2009)
Most of us thought that prominent fighter aircraft used in first Transformers film were mind-blowing but our whole heads got blown off when we saw the sequel Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Starring again was the C-17 Globemaster III, and new planes like the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 Blackbird was used for the character Jetfire. This character was depicted as a VF-1S Super Valkyrie, as an F-14 Tomcat, and as a Sukhoi SU-27 In earlier toy models.
On set of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen at Smithsonian Air and Space museum
Part of the SR-71 Blackbird on set of the sequel
Autobots logo on the tail fin of Michael Bay's private jet
Though not an aircraft, another bad boy… girl rather, was featured in the sequel. The USS John C. Stennis aircraft also starred in the film making it bigger and better.
The USS John C. Stennis carrier
On board the USS John C. Stennis carrier for Revenge of the Fallen
Actor Josh Duhamel as Capt. William Lenox
Aside from blowing our minds and/or heads off, Hollywood blockbusters keep us asking for more and with Transformers 3 being released on the 1st of July next year, will it finally blow every bit of us away?
-af.mil - transformerslive.blogspot.com
-youtube.com -transformers.moviechronicles.com
-wikipedia.org
Jul 14
admin, Promos f15 eagles, f16 falcon, F18c hornet model plane, f22 raptor model giveaway, model planes contest, twitter contest
Warplanes.com is giving away a wide selection of handcrafted model planes to our friends on Twittersphere to showcase one of the major reasons why we’re still the number one in the model plane industry – and that’s having modelers with the highest level of craftsmanship.
This contest is open to all twittizens especially aviation enthusiasts, model plane collectors or simply anyone who just wants to own one of these eye candies. If you win, you can pick any model plane you want included in this list.
How to enter:
Simple! Just insert the hashtag #warplanes into your tweet(s) as often you want without being obliged to talk about us, Warplanes, at all. That’s just a way to track the tweets of our participants.
We will announce the winners on Twitter so follow Daniel (@warplanes_rock) to keep yourself in the loop!
This contest will only run for 7 days from the starting date, that’s July 15th through 21st. All entries/tweets coming in after July 21, 2009 shall not be credited.
Selection of Winners:
7 winners of model planes and 10 consolation prize winners of discount coupons ($50 off on custom model‘s sale price) will be randomly selected at the end of the contest period and will then be contacted the following day. The lucky ones must supply Warplanes with his/her name, mailing address and telephone numbers. Prizes will be shipped upon receiving the said information.
Note:
Prizes such as model planes and discount coupons are not convertible to cash. We are doing this just for fun and to give everyone a chance to own a model airplane from Warplanes, but if less than 100 people joined the contest, we have the right to change the rules and give away a smaller prize or extend the time limit. So please help spread the word by retweeting! Thanks so much and good luck!:)
Nov 13
NinaBlog Articles f-16 falcon, f16, f16 falcon, usaf f-16 falcon, usaf f-16 falcon destroyed
An F-16 fighter jet was destroyed after it caught fire during takeoff in a runway, U.S military reported. They added that the pilot pulled out of the planned takeoff early Wednesday morning and the fire was extinguished next to the runway at Joint Base Balad Air Base north of Baghdad, Iraq.
The pilot had no apparent injuries but was taken to the Air Force Theater Hospital for evaluation. The F-16 Falcon was assigned to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing.
The military gave no cause for the fire and a safety board will be convened to investigate about the said incident.
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