Aircraft

Truly touching moments of humanity, ethics and morals are rather rare in warfare. The Christmas Truce of WWI was an excellent example of such humanity, as were the heroic actions of German Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz Stigler on December 20th, 1943. His actions got nine men home for Christmas.

In June 2016, The War Zone’s own Tyler Rogoway wrote an extensive and thought-provoking analysis of why the U.S. Air Force either had yet to show off a fleet of advanced, combat-capable unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV), or didn’t have any at all.

Serbian MiG-29 with pair of R-60 (AA-8 Aphid) missiles - Photo: Krasimir Grozev

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry has denied that it prevented the six MiG-29 warplanes that Russia has donated to Serbia from using its airspace.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry has denied that it prevented the six MiG-29 warplanes that Russia has donated to Serbia from using its airspace.

According to the Bulgarian website pan.bg, the ministry also denied that either it or the civil aviation authorities received a request to allow the planes to fly over Bulgaria on their way from Russia to Serbia.

Security concerns have been raised about plans to carry out major servicing work on the UK’s new F-35 fighter jets in Turkey.

SNP MP George Kerevan is to call for an inquiry into the policy in the light of last year’s attempted coup in Turkey and tensions with its Nato partners.

Major repairs to RAF combat jets have previously been carried out in the UK.

Five jets flew over Athens at around 12:30′ local time. The jets were taking part in the Greek exercise INIOHOS 2017 which end today and they were one Greek F-16 Block 50, one Israeli F-16 Block 30, one Italian AMX and one Greek F-4E.

They made two low flybys over the Acropolis and then they flew over the Euripus Strait and the Rio-Antirio bridge before returning to their base.

Eight Turkish planes violated Greek airspace when they flew over central, north and south eastern parts of the Aegean Sea, Monday. The Turkish airforce entered into Greek airspace for a total of 33 times and infringed the Athens FIR 5 times.

Czech airline SmartWings announced it would include an additional two flights to the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini for the summer season of 2017. The two new routes will be Prague – Mykonos, starting from June 9 till October 3 every 10-11 days; and, Prague – Santorini from June 2 till October 6 every 10-11 days. The planes used will be either the Boeing 737-800 or the Airbus A320.

Boeing and Turkish Aerospace Industries have announced a contract extension to produce the Elevator for the 787 Dreamliner. 

The agreement between Boeing and TAI extends TAI production of a crucial flight control component of 787, according to a statement issued on March 30. 

Apart from relying on the delivery of Russian jets, Serbia has a few of its own aircraft that need to be modernized.

The light attack and training aircraft Galeb and the twin-engine, subsonic ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft Soko J-22 Orao, known for being the first in the history of Yugoslav aviation to overcome the sound barrier, are set for some upgrades soon.