Air superiority - Meta-Defense.fr

While the US Air Force wants to retire 33 F-22 Raptors unfit for combat, Congress wants to modernize them

June 22, 2022June 22, 2022

It is common for the United States Congress, which, let us remember, has the last word in matters of military planning across the Atlantic, to play the role of moderator when faced with the demands of the American armies, which are often quick to make radical decisions in terms of format. Thus, in recent years, Congress has consistently rejected requests from the US Air Force to withdraw its fleet of A-10s, the latter deeming them unsuitable for modern high-intensity combat. For the American parliamentarians, on the other hand, there is no question of reducing the size of the forces without being able to put a coherent recapitalization in the face. This is how…

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German Diehl presents a stealth version of its IRIS-T short and medium range air-to-air missile

June 15, 2022

The German group Diehl Défense presented, at the Eurosatory 2022 exhibition, a new version of its short and medium range air-to-air missile IRIS-T. Designated Iris-T FCAAM for Futur Combat Air to Air Missile, the new missile is designed for the future SCAF, bringing several major innovations, including a stealth form. Developed as an alternative to the British ASRAAM and American AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, the IRIS-T air-to-air missile was designed by the German group Diehl Defense in cooperation with Canada, Greece, Italy, Norway and Sweden from 1995. The missile entered service in 2005, and…

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US Air Force 65th Aggressor Squadron acquires F-35s to simulate new Chinese planes

June 10, 2022June 10, 2022

One of the two US Air Force Agressor squadrons, specializing in training combat pilots against aircraft reproducing the performance and tactics of Chinese combat aircraft, has just begun its conversion to the stealth fighter F -35A to simulate the performance of new People's Liberation Army aircraft, such as the J-20 and the future J-35. Like the US Navy, the US Air Force operates two fighter squadrons specially designed and equipped to replicate the capabilities, performance and tactics of combat aircraft of potential adversary air forces. The purpose of these squads is to enable…

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Can we save the European SCAF next-generation fighter program?

June 9, 2022

Announced in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, the SCAF program for Future Air Combat System aims to develop, by 2040, a new generation combat aircraft (the 6th at the last count), the Next Generation Fighter, as well as a a set of systems designed to provide the aircraft with unparalleled operational capabilities. Since its launch, the program has found itself on several occasions faced with major difficulties, whether related to political arbitration and in particular to the requirements of the German Bundestag, to the difficult industrial sharing between the 3 participating countries (Germany, France and Spain) and the conceptual and doctrinal differences between the armed forces…

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Japan launches the development of its own “Loyal Wingman” drone

June 9, 2022June 9, 2022

The Japanese authorities have announced the launch of a program aimed at designing and producing by 2026 a combat drone capable of accompanying its combat aircraft to extend their detection and ammunition carrying capabilities, in line with of the "Loyal Wingman" concept, in order to compensate for its numerical weakness against China. After the United States, Russia, Great Britain and Australia, Japan has announced that it is undertaking the design of a combat drone intended to evolve around its combat aircraft to extend their detection capabilities, while considering the possibility of being able to arm such drones in a…

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To meet the Chinese challenge, the US Air Force wants to bet massively on combat drones

June 2, 2022June 3, 2022

Important Information: A technical problem prevented subscribers from renewing their subscription with the same email address. The problem is now fixed. During the Cold War, the armies of NATO, in particular the American armies, undertook to contain the land numerical superiority of the Soviet forces and the Warsaw Pact, by equipping themselves with unparalleled air power, capable of seizing air superiority over the battlefield, and to compensate for the deficiencies of Western ground forces. This is how the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and other A-10 Warthog evolved alongside the Tornado, Jaguar, Harrier and…

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Iraq announces it has ordered Rafale planes and artillery systems from France

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022

As the country still faces an intense rebellion by the Islamic State, as Shia militias under Iranian control continue to grow in its territory, and as Turkish ambitions in the north of the country threaten the Kurdish regions, Iraq is trying to modernize its armed forces, by negotiating defense programs with its historical partners, the United States, Russia and France. However, as is very often the case with Baghdad, it is very difficult to see clearly in the announcements of the Iraqi authorities, which are not lacking in contradictions or even very improbable information, such as that mentioned at the start of this year wearing…

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New Chinese show of force around Taiwan following the visit of a US senator

May 31thJune 1, 2022

While media attention is focused on the war in Ukraine, tensions between Beijing and Washington over the island of Taiwan continue to grow, with strong demonstrations of force by the Chinese and American armies near the independent island. Thus, this weekend, the naval groups of the aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Abraham Lincoln participated in an important joint exercise between the Japanese island of Okinawa and Taiwan, after the Chinese naval group of the aircraft carrier Liaoning returned from an exercise in the Western Pacific passing through the Miyako Strait a few days earlier. Today, it was 30 planes of…

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Taiwan is also developing a new fighter inspired by the American F-35

May 17thMay 17th

Whether you like Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lighting II stealth fighter or not, it is clear that the American aircraft has inspired many programs around the world since it entered service. We already knew the South Korean K-FX program with the KF-21 Boramae presented last year, the Turkish TF-X program which today is encountering major difficulties following Western sanctions, or even the Japanese FX, which today seems to be getting closer to the British Tempest. Beyond the Western sphere, there is little doubt that the Lighting II inspired the future Chinese J-35 which will equip the aircraft carriers of Beijing, while the program…

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The future fighter of the US Air Force NGAD will cost "several hundred million dollars" the unit

April 29thApril 29th

Launched in the early 2010s as the last F-22 rolled off the production lines, the Next Generation Air Dominance program aimed to design and produce the replacement for Lockheed Martin's air superiority fighter by 2030. From 2018, under At the instigation of the very dynamic Will Roper, then Director of Acquisitions for the USAF, the program evolved to become the pillar of a new industrial approach to the design and production of combat aircraft, represented by the famous Digital Century Series, which promised to design specialized devices, inexpensive, in short series and with a relatively short operational life, taking the…

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