Aircraft

Bulgaria's efforts to achieve full interoperability with NATO partners pose an obstacle to a proposition likely to be made by Pakistan under which Sofia could acquire JF-17 fighters, according to IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.

Pakistan is to make its own proposal to Bulgaria concerning the overhaul of its aircraft fleet, media reports suggest.

Currently the US, Italy and Sweden have been bidding to answer Bulgaria's need to have a squadron of 16 fighter jets replacing the existing one which is made up of Russian-made outdated MiGs.

Israel is to purchase 14 F-35 stealth fighters from US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin at a cost of around $110 million each, the defence ministry said Feb. 22.        

The U.S. government on Feb. 17 established a policy for exports of military and commercial drones, including armed ones, and said it plans to work with other countries to shape global standards for the use of the controversial weapons systems.

Poland is ready to provide servicing for Bulgaria's Russian-made MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has said.

Greek authorities have so far rescued 18 crew members of a Cypriot-flagged freighter which ran aground off the Aegean island of Andros early on Wednesday, according to reports.

Greece's coast guard has mounted a search-and-rescue operation after a boat carrying irregular migrants overturned near the Turkish coast during the night.

According to Air Force General Staff Officer to protothema.gr on the deadly crash occurred Monday, January 26 in Spain, where eleven Greek and French pilots died, the crush was not caused from engine failure, as was originally indicated, but from damage to the control system of the F-16.

Spanish "El Pais" also reports that the Greek fighter aircraft had damage to the control system.

 Taiwan rescuers scoured a river for 12 people still missing from a TransAsia plane crash on Feb. 5, as the pilot, who died in the crash, was hailed a hero for apparently battling to avoid hitting built-up areas.
 

The armed forces? internal affairs department has found evidence of wrongdoing in two military procurement cases and the government will forward this to the judiciary, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said Tuesday after meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.