Military aviation

The United States said on Wednesday that it was removing Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program, a move that had been long threatened and expected after Ankara began accepting delivery of an advanced Russian missile defense system last week.

Turkey is discussing with the United States setting up a working group to assess the impact of its purchase of Russian missile defences systems, but will not delay their delivery, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, sources familiar with the situation said, marking the first concrete US step to block delivery of the jet to the NATO ally in light of Ankara's planned purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

The entry into the National Air Police Service under national command of the first squadron equipped with the F-16 aircraft represents a significant moment in the 15-year history of Romania's membership of the North Atlantic Alliance, the Minister of National Defense, Gabriel Les, said on Thursday, adding through the missions to be carried out from now on by the 53rd Fighter Squadron, our count

Turkish fighter aircraft violated Greek airspace five times on Monday, a week after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's official visit to Turkey.

Six Turkish F-16 fighter jets and two F-4s flying in three formations, along with three CN-235 surveillance aircraft and two helicopters entered Greek airspace in the northeastern, central and southeastern Aegean.

The United States is pulling some of its anti-aircraft and missile batteries out of the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 26, citing U.S. military officials.

SputnikNews - Regular air patrols by Russian planes over neutral waters in seas and oceans around the world are carried out in strict accordance with international regulations on the use of airspace.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that US F-22 fighter jets had been escorting Russian long-range aircraft for 40 minutes without approaching them closer than 100 meters.

The Chinese and Russian militaries will next month hold anti-missile drills in Beijing, China's Defence Ministry said on Friday, amid concern in both countries about the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea.

Twenty-four upgraded Apache helicopters arrived in Germany as a part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a rotational mission to deter "Russian aggression" against Europe.

The Japanese defense ministry has asked for a record high budget for 2018 to improve Japan's defense against the growing threat from North Korea, the Associated Press and the France press reported.

The request is for 5,255 billion yen (about USD 48 billion or EUR 40 billion), which means an increase of 2.54 percent. The budget for the past year was 5,125 billion yen.