LC-130 takes off for Operation Deep Freeze

Posté le 30 octobre 2010 de Toni G.

Master Sgt. Joseph Sinatra checks the air spring pressure on an LC-130 Hercules during a stop Oct. 18, 2010, at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. The springs are used to absorb the shock of landing the ski-equipped aircraft on the Antarctic ice. Sergeant Sinatra and the rest of his LC-130 aircrew stopped at Hickam while en route to Antarctica to support Operation Deep Freeze, the Defense Department’s logistical support to U.S. research activities at the southernmost continent. Sergeant Sinatra is an LC-130 crew chief assigned to the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing at Stratton Air National Guard Base, N.Y. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Kerry Jackson).
US Air Force Link (www.af.mil) courtesy

LC-130 taking off with JATO from Greenland – Photo © Søren Wedel Nielsen (Copyright 2005)

X3 concept – experimental compound helicopter

Posté le 30 septembre 2010 de Toni G.

The Eurocopter X3 concept is a High-speed long-range Hybrid Helicopter (H3 concept) which flies up to 220 knots or 410 km/h. Special thanks to Xavier – http://passiondesavions.blogspot.com webmaster – who stumbled upon this French-subtitled video:

Last Magyar MiG-29 flight as Hungarian Air Force celebrated its 70th anniversary this month

Posté le 30 août 2010 de Toni G.

News – Iranian bomber drone KARRAR unveiled

Posté le 22 août 2010 de Toni G.

Iran has unveiled its home-made drone, the Karrar which is capable of carrying a military payload of rockets to carry out air-to-ground strikes. It reportedly is a fast long-range UAV.

Iran has also inaugurated two domestically-built drones: The Ra’d (Thunder) and the Nazir (Harbinger) which will carry out long-range surveillance, and assault, and bombing missions (as far as the Ra’d is concerned).

RAFALE or EUROFIGHTER to become next Indian Air Force fighter jet according to Indian media – Russian and US media deny

Posté le 12 août 2010 de Toni G.

Amazing rumours have spread for a couple of days regarding the MMRCA (Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) or the MRCA Tender which is an ongoing competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft maybe up to 189 fighter jets.

The Indians have considered 6 bidders so far:

Typhoon (European Eurofighter Consortium)
Rafale (French Dassault)
MiG-35 Fulcrum-F (Russian UAC subsidiary RSK-MiG)
Gripen NG/IN or JAS 39 (Swedish Saab)
Super Hornet F/A-18 E/F (US Boeing)
F-16IN Fighting Falcon (US Lockheed Martin)

As you can watch the video below, two fighter aircraft have been quoted as finalists for the last stage: The EUROFIGHTER-Typhoon and the RAFALE.

However, American and Russian media deem that such statement cannot be true. Official results should be announced soon. Well, wait and see…