Defense

An Iraqi Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 'frogfoot' attack plane returning from a bombing mission against ISIS targets on Monday July 7th 2015 accidentally dropped a bomb while overflying Baghdad.  The bomb fell on inhabited properties causing the death of 12 residents among which at least three were children and two women. Another 25 people were also wounded. An Iraqi official General Saad Maan Ibrahim speaking to the Associated Press evoked the possibility of a technical malfunction as the cause of the accidental ordnance release.   The Iraqi Air Force first received a batch of ex-Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 on June 28th 2014. By July 1st another 7 Su-25 had been transferred from Iran to help Iraq's defense against the Islamic State. The 7 aircraft sent from Iran were reportedly from dozens

The Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130B aircraft that crashed into a neighborhood on Tuesday June 30th 2015 and was carrying near maximum payload had been built in 1951. While no one from amongst the 122 passengers nor 12 crew members survived the air disaster, another 7 people on the ground had also reportedly been killed. The Lockheed C-130B carried the registration number A-1310 with construction number 3616 and had just taken off from Soewondo Air Force Base bound for a set of remote Indonesian islands at a 7 hours flight distance. The aircraft did not stay airborne more than 2 minutes following its take-off. Onlookers observed that one of the aircraft propeller was not rotating properly when the airplane started veering to its right, plunging towards a neighborhood in the town of M...

by Karim Toure The crash of a lone F-16 flying a night training mission over the Arizona desert  Wednesday June 24th 2015 did not initially hint of a setback for a major security program between the US and Iraq. The following day, a Iraq Defence Ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Tahseen Ibrahim revealed that Iraqi Air Force Brigadier General Rafid Mohammed Hassan was at the control of an Iraqi Air Force-owned F-16 Fighting Falcon that had crashed the previous evening a few miles from the town of Douglas, Arizona. Confirmation of the death of Brigadier general Rafid Mohammed Hassan came on June 26th when after battling an intense fire ignited following the accident, rescue teams recovered his body from the crash site. Iraq Air Force general demise over the Arizona desert The trag

In a surprise move, the Egyptian government has announced it had agreed with French aircraft maker Dassault on the purchase of 24 sleek Rafale fighter jets. The announcement on February 13th 2015 triggered acclamations from French quarters over the aircraft long awaited first foreign sale. The deal worth Euros 5.2 billion consists of 24 aircraft part of weapons package also including a frigate along with “associated related equipment”. The deal which is rumored to have taken less than 3 months to close will be executed in a similarly remarkably short amount of time with 3 aircraft being delivered before the end of the year and another 3 next year 2016. Credit financing on at least half of the purchase contract has been enacted via Coface, France main credit-risk assessment house, and will

A Lockheed C-130J-30 belonging to the Indian Air Force crashed Friday morning about 72 miles from Gwalior Airbase while on a routine flight, causing the death of the 5 IAF personnel on board. The Air Force it seems had no initial explanation regarding the cause crash of the aircraft whose flight to Gwalior had originated at Agra Airbase. A Court of Inquiry has been set up to help determine what may have caused the brand new 'Super Hercules' C-130J-30, one of six aircraft delivered brand new throughout 2011, to crash. Following its induction into Indian Air Force service on February 5th 2011, the Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 has earned notoriety by being involved in events of national significance, cementing both an endearing and enduring presence in the nation's service, to a point where ea...