2014 Will Be A Critical Year In Asia

China and Japan may not be on a collision course, but it's not possible to ignore the rhetoric or provocative actions from both sides. The situation is ripe for miscalculation.

It's tempting, in 2014, for historians to replay the debate over the causes of World War 1, with China in the role of expanding Germany and the U.S. as the overstretched British Empire. Had we been thinking more about this last year, we might have looked back at more recent history, to 1983 and a NATO command-and-control exercise called Able Archer.

IAF widens probe into secret info stored on pilot cellphones

The Israel Air Force has widened a probe into the use of cellphones by airmen containing classified information and convicted 14 pilots from a squadron with security breaches.

Investigators, led by the IAF’s Cyber Defense Unit, took the devices of several pilots and navigators for analysis, days after two pilots were sentenced to five days in military prison for improperly using their cellphones and using them to store sensitive data in violation of data security rules.

If we don’t keep F-22 Raptor viable, the F-35 fleet will be irrelevant

In an interesting, open and somehow surprising interview given to Air Force Times, Chief of U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command Gen. Michael Hostage, explained the hard choices made by the Air Force as a consequence of the budget cuts and highlighted the position of the service for what concerns the F-35.

Raytheon continues developing 'persistent close air support' technology

Raytheon is beginning work on the third phase of a multi-year project to develop a persistent close air support (PCAS) system to give ground troops faster, more accurate air support.

The company announced in a 4 February media release that the US government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has "exercised" an option allowing Raytheon to begin the work, which is worth $25.5 million over 18 months.

PLA's J-10C may be able to match US and EU counterparts

The J-10C — the upgrade version of China's J-10 fighter designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group — may be able to catch up with the American F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and surpass most of its European counterparts, according to the Beijing-based Sina Military Network.

USAF to request F-16 upgrades funds moved to SLEP in FY 2015

The funding request will go to Congress with the Pentagon's FY 2015 budget proposal on 4 March. USAF officials are more eager for a service-life extension of their entire fleet than they are for the avionics upgrade. 

The US Air Force (USAF) plans to defund a major avionics upgrade for the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, according to the USAF and other government officials with knowledge of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2015 (FY 2015) funding request.

India Slows Action On Procurement Deals

With general elections expected before May, corruption scandals over high-profile defense deals, and a deflated rupee, Defense Minister A.K. Antony, who has cultivated an image of integrity, has taken a go-slow approach on vitally needed equipment projects.

The slowdown has taken hold as India is expected to spend approximately $100 billion on military modernization in the next 10 years, to boost its military capability as a hedge against neighboring rivals China and Pakistan (see pages 73-76). Defense officials are grumbling about the pace of upgrades given the gap between the country's security goals and its force strength.

Northrop to ‘position’ for future bomber work as LRS-B progresses

Northrop Grumman says it has interest in continuing to provide the US Air Force with bomber aircraft, an indication that the company remains a potential bidder to build the service’s next-generation long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) fleet.

“Clearly we have a strong legacy in the business of providing bombers to the United States Air Force,” Northrop’s chief executive Wesley Bush said during the company’s fourth quarter 2013 earnings call on 30 January. “And I think our shareholders should count on us to do the things that we think are appropriate to continue to position our company for the long term there.”

The question of a million dollars

Gen. Michael Hostage, head of Air Combat Command

After a tense budget battle last year, the Air Force is gearing up to defend what service officials have called a series of hard choices about what to keep and what to dump. With finances tight, the biggest fight is over whether to modernize older platforms or risk a capabilities gap while pushing that funding toward recapitalization programs.

IAF pilots get life support from DRDO

Tejas MRCA’s Integrated Life-Support System, built by Larsen & Toubro

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an integrated life support system (ILSS) for fighter aircraft pilots, joining a select band of advanced nations having this technology.

Developed by the DRDO’s Defence Bio-engineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL) and other labs including ADA, the technology will first go into the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Tejas aircraft.

“An ILSS is a state-of-the-art technology enabling a fighter pilot to venture into the limits of the aircraft capability in terms of flight altitudes and G-forces,” DRDO said in a statement here on Wednesday.