Combat Aircraft Monthly - June 2013, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny

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NORTH KOREA
DANGER Z
O
NE
DANGER Z
DANGER Z
DANGER ZO
O
NE
The World’s FavouriTe MiliTary aviaTion Magazine
European Edition Vol 14, No 6 | www.combataircraft.net
EXCLUSIVE
A SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY
•
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
DAMBUSTERS
AT 70
SUKHOI
PAK-FA
LATEST
US BUDGET
CUTS HIT HA
RD
C-130J SUPER HERCULES
PART 2: OPERATORS OF THE WORLD
US NAVY AIR POWER REVIEW
2013
KURSK’S MODERNISED M
i
G-29
S
US NAVY AIR POWER REVIEW
   Vol 14, No 6 June 2013
What’s inside
news
34
RUSSIA’S UPGRADED
MiG-29s
The rejection by Algeria of Mikoyan’s advanced
MiG-29SMT fighters may have been an
embarrassment for the Russian aerospace
industry, but, as Sergey Aleksandrov reports, it
provided a useful windfall for the Russian Air
Force
52
AIR POWER REvIEW:
US NAvY 2013
Celebrating its 102nd anniversary in May,
the US Navy continues to maintain the
world’s largest fleet of carriers. Tom Kaminski
provides his comprehensive overview
HEADLINE NEWS
6
RAF shakes up operational test
squadrons, first new Chinook for UK
makes maiden flight
70
CHILE’S WINGS OF THE
ARMADA
Cristobal Soto Pino, Neil Dunridge and Kevin
Jackson recount how Chilean Naval Aviation
celebrated its 90th anniversary in March and
report on its current capabilities
36
INDUSTRY REPORT:
MOROCCO’S BIRDS OF PREY
Morocco’s Block 52 F-16s are arguably the most
sophisticated and capable fighters operational
in Africa. Paul Giannico discovers how the Royal
Moroccan Air Force is among an elite group of
air arms that operate the type
US NEWS
12
More details on how ‘sequestration’
is hitting the US military, Boeing
updates F/A-XX concept and latest
F-35 news
Uk NEWS
78
C-130J SUPER HERCULES
Part 2: Marine Corps, Coast
Guard and international
service
Following coverage of the C-130J in US Air
Force service in our May issue, Tom Kaminski
details variants serving with the US Marine
Corps and Coast Guard, as well as the
steadily increasing number of international
air arms that have adopted this latest
incarnation of the legendary airlifter
18
22
42
T-50 TESTING GATHERS PACE
With four prototypes now at Zhukovsky and
a fifth under construction at Komsomolsk-on-
Amur, Piotr Butowski brings us up-to-date on
the Sukhoi T-50
Marham chosen as F-35 base, No 6
Squadron goes multi-role, and first
UK squadron pilots fly F-35
EUROPE NEWS
Gripen engages in Swiss trials, first
Belgian Navy NH90 and Netherlands
grounds F-35s
44
‘DAMBUSTERS’ AT 70
This May one of the world’s most famous flying
squadrons celebrates the 70th anniversary of
the operation that led to its existence. That unit
is the Royal Air Force’s No 617 Squadron — the
‘Dambusters. Jamie Hunter travels to RAF
Lossiemouth to see the unit in action
WORLD NEWS
90
FAREWELL TO THE
‘PANTHERS’
May 2013 marked the end of 35 years of
A-10 operations within United States Air
Forces in Europe (USAFE). Neil Dunridge joins
the ‘Panthers’ of the 81st Fighter Squadron
for their final fling
26
PLUS:
Special report on North Korean air power
and an analysis of its capability, plus Robert
F. Dorr’s Front Line column and all the latest
military Losses
Malaysian fighter contest hots up,
J-20 weapon testing under way and
all the latest world fighter news
96
CUTTING EDGE
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column reporting
from the front line of aerospace technology,
by David Axe
SUBSCRIBE AND SAvE
Subscribe to
Combat Aircraft Monthly
and make great
savings on cover price. See pages 88 and 89 for details.
39 A Falcon follows
the Dragon
Shenyang Aircraft Corporation landed another major
coup for the Chinese aviation industry with the successful
maiden flight of the country’s second ‘fifth-generation’
fighter in October 2012. Andreas Rupprecht examines
the ‘J-31’ in detail.
via Chinese Internet
‘Dambusters’ at 70. In this issue we look at the
Royal Air Force’s famous No 617 Squadron as
it marks 70 years since the Ruhr dams raid,
Operation ‘Chastise, in 1943.
Jamie Hunter
‘Dambusters’ at 70. In this issue we look at the
  Combat Edge
Play the long game!
W
HO WOulD EvER have
money has run out. However, long-term the
implications for capability could be felt for some
time — closure of the uSAF Weapons School,
the end of exercises such as ‘Red Flag’. This
surely cannot be allowed to happen.
The stand-off must end soon and common
sense allowed to prevail. That means
agreement of a carefully-constructed long-
term plan to contain spending. The uS clearly
needs to hack away at its swollen defence
budget, but it must do so by way of smart
thinking, rather than forcing Generals into
measures that will probably result in more
costs in the long term.
thought that the uS
military would be in such
a dire situation?
Nearly a third of the uS
Air Force’s combat air
leet is grounded, while two carrier air wings
are being stood down — politicians have failed
to agree funding for the remainder of the iscal
year. usually the envy of the world, the uS Air
Force is crippled by political inighting.
Senior uS military leaders are having to take
unprecedented steps as they simply have no
money at their disposal in order to pay for
squadrons to operate. Some units not deploying
for combat operations in the near future face
being grounded until 30 September!
Operational readiness is going to suffer and
there will be little contingency capability, to
say nothing of maximum discomfort within
the ranks. Many will also be looking at the
uncomfortable situation in Korea.
This is no knee-jerk reaction — there is no
other choice given the circumstances. The
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
CONTRIBUTOR
PROFILE
NEIL DUNRIDGE
N
eil Dunridge is an aviation
the 81st Fighter Squadron to cover
its last ever exercise in Portugal
during ‘Real Thaw’. Even though the
A-10 community has been hit hard
in the sequestration events, Neil
says it was great to see the A-10
being put to good use in a NATO
exercise and that the
professionalism of the ‘Panthers’
reigned right through to the unit’s
deactivation.
photographer and writer
living near Brize Norton in
Oxfordshire. Having spent three
years chasing A-10s around the
world for his A-10 Thunderbolt II
book published by Reid Air
Publishing, he still enjoys nothing
more than photographing and
writing about the mighty ‘Warthog’.
Neil was honoured to be invited by
4 • www.combataircraft.net
  This
MOnth
‘Zapper’ Growlers — in this issue we bring you our popular
US Navy air power review, at a time of uncertainty for this
impressive air arm.
US Navy/VAQ-130
US Navy
2013
www.combataircraft.net • 5
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Combat Aircraft Monthly - June 2013, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny

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