Contents tagged with Aircraft

  • US air force aircraft conducted reconnaissance near Russia's Kaliningrad region

    A strategic U.S. Air Force RC-135W reconnaissance aircraft approached Russian borders in the southern Baltic on Monday afternoon to carry out operative tasks, Interfax reported, citing western aviation websites that monitor the movement of military aviation

    According to their information, the aircraft took off from the Mildenhall airbase in Great Britain, and carried out reconnaissance for an extended period of time along the border of the Kaliningrad region, circling in an elongated ellipse …

  • Russia deploys four Su-25 ground attack aircraft to Syria

    Russia has deployed four Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft to Syria despite President Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement that Russia’s military presence in the country would be decreased, Fox News reported, citing two U.S. officials.

    “[The Russians] say they are pulling out, but we have seen no evidence to support that. On the contrary, we have seen new things coming in,” one official said.

    Approximately 36 Russian military aircraft are still in Syria, roughly the same number as last …

  • Media report that a NATO aircraft flew extremely close to a Russian airliner near the Kuril Islands

    A military aircraft, presumably from a NATO country, approached a Russian passenger airliner which was flying from Sakhalin to the Kuril Islands. This was reported to Interfax by a source in law enforcement agencies.

    "The night before last, the Russian Bombardier airliner departed from Sakhalin and, having ascended about six thousand meters, headed for the Kurils. However, the dispatchers detected an unidentified aircraft approaching the liner at the same altitude, which did not respond to …

  • Dutch fighters began patrolling the skies over the Baltic as part of NATO mission

    As of the 5th of January, F-16 fighter Falcons from the Netherlands Air Force began patrolling the air space of the NATO member Baltic States, as reported on the website of the Defense Ministry of Lithuania.

    As reported in the statement, four aircraft from the air forces of the Netherlands, based at the airbase in Šiauliai, will replace French aircraft which patrolled the skies over the Baltic during the last four months. It is also reported that it is the third rotation of aircraft of the …

  • NATO fighters made 110 flights from the Baltic states to escort Russian Air Force aircraft in 2016

    Last year, NATO fighter jets stationed in Baltic countries scrambled 110 times to escort Russian military aircraft flying near the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as reported by postimees.ee, citing information from the Ministry of Defence of Lithuania. The activity of Russian aircraft still remains higher than before 2014.

    According to data provided by the Ministry of Defense to the Baltic News Service, in 2013 NATO fighters scrambled 47 times, in 2014, 140 times, in 2015, about 160 …

  • Four Dutch fighters arrived in Lithuania as part of NATO mission

    On the 2nd of January 2017, four F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets of the Dutch Air Force landed at the Lithuanian airbase in Šiauliai. As delfi.lt reported, the contingent of the Royal Netherlands Air Force will take over the NATO air policing mission in the Baltics from the 5th of January. It will consist of approximately 120 people.

    The Dutch servicemen will replace their French colleagues, who have been on duty with four Mirage 2000 fighter jets for four months. The contingent of the …

  • Tu-154 air crash: Investigators don’t exclude terrorist attack

    The Head of the Flight Aviation Security Service of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Sergei Bainetov, stated that the crash of Russian Tu-154 wasn’t caused by an explosion, but investigators continue to consider possibility that the crash was a result of a terrorist attack.

    “After receiving and interpreting the information from the flight recorder (black box), we have reached the conclusion that there was no explosion aboard the aircraft. I can say that for sure. It wasn’t just an …

  • Iran warned US aircraft against crossing into Iranian airspace

    According to the Tasnim agency, which cited a statement by the representative of the Iranian army, Iran issued several warnings to an American reconnaissance aircraft that tried to approach the Iranian forces during exercises in the southern part of the country.

    "More than 12 warnings to the aircraft were issued over the past three days to prevent them from approaching the Iranian airspace," the agency reports with reference to General Abbas Farajpour.

    The agency reports that warnings were …

  • Former SBU chief has not ruled out an explosion aboard the Tu-154

    The former Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Marchuk suggested that there was an explosion aboard the Tu-154 that crashed near Sochi. Marchuk posted this conclusion on Facebook.

    “If contact with crew was lost simultaneously with the disappearance of the aircraft from radar, it could mean that the entire crew was instantly and simultaneously killed. And this could mean that an explosion took place in or near the nose of the aircraft and the entire crew was suddenly killed or that …

  • The United States will sell five maritime surveillance aircrafts to Norway

    The U.S. State Department has authorized the sale of five P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft to Norway, Defense News reported. The potential sale, with an estimated cost of USD 1.75 billion is still awaiting approval by Congress.

    It is expected that Congressmen will approve the agreement, taking into consideration the growing role of Norway as a partner to the United States and the United Kingdom in monitoring Russia’s activity in the North Atlantic.

    Norway also plans to purchase …