Work on the contract is expected to be completed in November 2011. The F-35 is being developed by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as for eight international partners — Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.

The Indian Defence Ministry asked for commercial proposals from five foreign companies in May 2008. Claimants to the contract initially included Boeing with Apach Longbow, Bell with AN-1 Super Cobra, Eurocopter with Tiger, Augusta-Westland with AW-129 Mangusta and Russian Ka-50 Black Shark. Prior to entering the final stage of the contest, however, two U.S. companies withdrew from it and informed the organisers of the tender of their decision.

Along with the cancellation of the tender, started last year, it was announced that another attempt would be made to appeal to potential exporters. The Indian defence ministry has changed its intentions on purchasing arms and munitions abroad several times of late. The cancellation of a tender for the purchase of 400 155-millimetre towed artillery pieces and of 197 light helicopters for the ground troops is one of the recent examples.

According to The Hindustan Times, the Indian defence ministry does not use to the full the enormous financial resources, allocated for the modernisation and re-equipment of the armed forces, because of bureaucratic procrastinations and the making of the purchasing procedure more complicated. Last year alone it “saved” 70 billion rupees out of 480 billion rupees (some ten billion dollars), allocated for that purpose.

The pilot, whose condition is unknown, was the only person on board, the Air Force said in an e-mailed statement sent by spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Karen Platt. The plane was from Edwards Air Force Base in California and crashed about 35 miles northeast of the base at 10 a.m. local time.

An F-22 Raptor last crashed in December 2004 during testing, and the pilot ejected safely while the aircraft was destroyed, Platt said. The F-22 began initial operations in 2005 and achieved full operational capability in 2007. The U.S. is slated to buy 183 Raptors, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., and U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to decide by next month whether to purchase more.

“The timing isn’t great for the aircraft’s advocates, but I can’t imagine one crash being an effective argument against additional procurement,” Richard Aboulafia, analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia, said in an interview. “I can’t think of a modern-generation fighter that hasn’t crashed either in operational use or in testing.”

Jeff Adams, spokesman for Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Maryland, referred questions to the Air Force.

Lockheed rose 39 cents to $68.48 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and has lost 33 percent in the past 12 months.

Test Mission

Air Force spokesman Vince King said it wasn’t immediately known what type of “test” mission the jet was on.

“Aircraft that fly at Edwards Air Force Base fly test missions to evaluate everything from airframe structures to propulsion and avionics and electronic warfare, all with aim of ensuring weapons systems are suitable for their intended combat missions,” King said.

The F-22 is the most expensive aircraft in U.S. history at $354 million each in inflation-adjusted dollars that amortize 20 years of research and development. Conceived in the early 1980s as a radar-evading, advanced dogfighter to take on the Soviet Air Force, the F-22 was recast in the early 1990s to engage ground targets as well.

For the first time ever in a large-scale IDF operation, there was not a single instance of ‘friendly fire’ by the IAF against ground troops. This degree of accuracy was achieved despite the fact that more than 2000 warheads were fired within range of ground troops and dense urban population. 

Several IDF soldiers were killed in ‘friendly fire’ accidents by ground forces.

Eighty percent of the bombs and missiles that the IAF used in the operation are of types considered accurate, which meaningfully reduce collateral damage and danger to civilians. This is more than twice the proportion of such munitions in the Second Lebanon War. In that war, only 36 percent of the ordnance dropped by the IAF was defined as accurate.

The IAF is also pleased with what it says was its success in decreasing the rocket fire and shelling of Israel during the operation, by destroying rocket launch pods and weapons stores. Terrorists fired a total of 650 rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the operation – a much smaller number than pre-war estimates had predicted.

Another factor making Cast Lead unique was the tight cooperation between the IAF and ground forces during the operation. This was especially true as regards unmanned aircraft (UAVs). Every regiment had its own UAVs readily available at all times, and these accompanied its movements at altitudes that were often lower than those of a combat helicopter.

The UAVs assisted in obtaining intelligence, directing ground forces and directing attack aircraft to targets that had been identified by the ground forces. UAV sorties made up a significant proportion of the IAF’s flight hours during the operation.

According to the company, successful flight tests involving two prototypes have confirmed the earlier-announced timeframe for deliveries of the aircraft to Russian and foreign customers in 2011.

Sukhoi is planning to add a third prototype to the testing program in the second half of 2009, and to boost the current number of test flights to 150-160.

The Su-35 fighter, powered by two 117S engines with thrust vectoring, combines high maneuverability and the capability to effectively engage several air targets simultaneously using both guided and unguided missiles and weapon systems.

The aircraft also features the new Irbis-E radar with a phased antenna array, which allows the pilot to detect and track up to 30 air targets, while simultaneously engaging up to eight targets.

It is equipped with a 30-mm cannon with 150 rounds and can carry up to eight tons of combat payload on 12 external mounts.

The company earlier said it planned to produce the new aircraft, billed as “4++ generation using fifth-generation technology,” over a period of 10 years up to 2020.

Sukhoi is expecting to export at least 160 Su-35 fighters to a number of countries, including India, Malaysia and Algeria.

Liang Guanglie made the remarks to visiting Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Friday, the Oriental Morning Post said, in discussions that took place after a recent spike in tension in the South China Sea.

“Among the big nations only China does not have an aircraft carrier. China cannot be without an aircraft carrier forever,” the paper quoted Liang as saying, citing Japanese official sources.

“China’s navy is currently rather weak, we need to develop an aircraft carrier.”

Liang’s comment is the highest-level recent confirmation that China aims to acquire an aircraft carrier, a sophisticated piece of military hardware that can be used to project power far beyond a nation’s shores.

It comes after several similar calls in recent months by senior members of the People’s Liberation Army.

“Building aircraft carriers is a symbol of an important nation. It is very necessary,” the China Daily quoted Admiral Hu Yanlin as saying earlier this month.

“China has the capability to build aircraft carriers and should do so.”

In December, defence ministry spokesman Huang Xueping told reporters that China would “seriously” consider getting an aircraft carrier.

Defence Minister Liang was speaking after Chinese vessels confronted and nearly collided with a US naval surveillance ship in what Washington says are international waters off south China earlier this month.

The confrontation was described by US intelligence director Dennis Blair as the most serious military incident involving the two powers since a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in April 2001.

China said the US naval ship Impeccable was carrying out illegal activities in its exclusive economic zone.

Beijing has also reacted angrily to a Philippine law passed earlier this month that laid claim to parts of the Spratlys Islands in the South China Sea which are claimed by China and other nations in the region.

China called the law “illegal and invalid,” and dispatched a civilian patrol boat to the region

While the U.S. has very advanced UAV’s in its arsenal, Russia is laboring with UAV technology that is years behind the United States. Defense Technology International (DTI) reports that most of the Russian UAVs in service were designed in the Soviet era and are obsolete.

The UAVs in the Russian military are so obsolete that they are rarely used. Last summer, Russians used an old Tu-22 bomber to perform a recon mission, and the bomber was subsequently shot down while on the mission. DTI reported that using the ancient Tu-22 bomber for a manned recon mission was the equivalent to the 21st century version of a cavalry charge.

The Russian military are testing several more modern UAVs for integration into its arsenal. Among the designs being considered are the Tipchak from the Luch design bureau of Rybinsk. The aircraft is a 110-pound BLA-05 drone that is catapult launched and powered by a 12 HP piston engine. The 2.4-meter long aircraft has a 3.4-meter wingspan and carries TV/infrared cameras for up to 43 miles and has a three-hour flight time — top speed is pegged at 124 MPH.

The Transas company is also demonstrating its UAV to the Russian military called the Dozor-4. Dozor-4 has a ceiling of 3,000 meters and has a 12.5kg payload that includes a digital camera and thermal imager. The aircraft is capable of beaming imagery in real-time for up to 100km from its base station. Images taken are automatically plotted onto a digital map using TopoAxis software from the company after returning from its mission.

The Dozer-4 was reportedly used in a search-and-rescue mission during its demonstration to assist in finding a competitors downed UAV. Dozor-4 flew at 1500 meters altitude for over 75 KM searching for the downed UAV. The Dozor-4 was ultimately recommended for Russia’s UAV platform.

WASHINGTON (CNN)

On Monday, two Russian Ilyushin IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft, known as “Mays,” overflew the U.S. aircraft carrier Stennis while it was in international waters in the Sea of Japan.

The Russian aircraft flew about 500 feet over the ship, lower than other flights the Russians have made over U.S. ships in the past year.

The USS Stennis was about 80 miles east of Pohang, South Korea, participating in the joint military exercise when the flyover occurred.

On Tuesday, the USS Blue Ridge, a lead command and control ship, and the Stennis were overflown by two Russian “Bear” long-range bombers multiple times, according to U.S. military officials.

The Bears overflew the ships at about 2,000 feet, officials said.

U.S. military officials said that in both cases, U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighters met up with the Russian aircraft about 70 nautical miles from the U.S. ships and flew alongside them until they left the area.

On both days, U.S. aircraft tried contacting the Russian planes on international air frequency radio channels, but the Russian pilots did not respond, officials said.

The last time Russian planes flew over a U.S. Navy ship was February 2008, when two Bears flew 2,000 feet over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz south of Japan.

Russian long-range flights skirting U.S. or other nations’ boundaries have also been common over the last year.

Although the Pentagon does not often talk about the overflights, there is nothing illegal about the actions, and they are generally seen by the United States as nothing more than muscle-flexing by the Russian

    “The IAF will conduct ultra sound examination of certain components of the MiG-29 at an air base in northern India as erosion is seen on some parts of the fighter aircraft,” Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Maintenance, Air Marshal Gautam Nayyar, told the media.

    He also said the IAF will acquire 80 new fully assembled medium helicopters MI 17 V5 from Russia in June 2010.

    “The repair, maintenance and overhauling of the medium helicopter will also be undertaken,” he said.

    India signed a huge 964-million-U.S. dollar contract with Russia in March 2008 for an extensive mid-life upgrade program of its MiG-29 fighters.

    Six Indian MiG-29 aircrafts are now in Russia for a refit, while the rest will progressively undergo refitting at IAF base repair depot at Nasik, Maharashtra state in western India, under transfer of technology.

    The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a 4th generation jet fighter aircraft designed in the former Soviet Union for an air superiority role.

    India was the first international customer of the MiG-29 and the Indian Air Force placed an order for more than 50 MiG-29s in 1980 when the aircraft was still in its initial development phase.

    Since its induction into the IAF in 1985, the aircraft has undergone a series of modifications with the addition of new avionics, sub-systems, turbofan engines and radars.

    The upgraded Indian version is known as Baaz (Hindi for Hawk) and forms a crucial component of the second-line offensive aircraft-fleet of the IAF after the Sukhoi Su-30MKI

“India will get the first consignment of the three Israeli Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) in two months, a year-and-a-half behind schedule. The remaining two consignments will be delivered to India by 2010,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

He said the Phalcon radars would be mounted on Russian-made Ilyushin-76 aircraft to facilitate the Indian Air Force in gathering intelligence to improve strike capabilities and conduct tactical surveillance deep into neighboring countries without violating their airspace.

It is an all weather system capable of logging 60 targets simultaneously and has a range of 400 kilometers.