Military Heat

Here are two episodes from the History Channel’s Dogfights series: “Dogfights of the Middle East” and “Desert Aces” . Interviews with the pilots are mixed with excellent graphics and analysis that take you closer than ever before to the great air battles of the modern jet age.

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The Tiger/Tigre is a new attack helicopter manufactured by the Eurocopter Group, the global manufacturing and support company formed in 1992 from the merger of Aerospatiale of France and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG or DASA of Germany. The advanced multi-role battlefield helicopter is known as Tiger in Germany and Tigre in France and Spain but it is also designated EC 665 or PAH-2.
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The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a larger and more advanced variant of the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The Super Hornet is 20% larger, 7,000 lb heavier empty and 15,000 lb heavier at maximum weight than the Hornet. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has replaced the F-14 Tomcat in the United States Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter role and is 11,000 lb lighter than the Tomcat at empty weight.
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Another dogfight between Turkish Air Force and Hellenic Air Force this time from the TUAF pilot’s perspective. A TUAF F-16 Falcon engages a HAF Mirage over the Aegean Sea. HUD footage is combined with a few outside views. Videos like this are quite common, since both sides often engage in aerial combat over the Aegean.

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HUD image from a Hellenic Air Force (HAF) Mirage 2000 fighter engaged in a dogfight with a Turkish Air Force (TUAF) F-16 Falcon fighter. This happened probably over the Aegean Sea, where pilots from both HAF and TUAF engage in simulated aerial combat. This is an excellent video, because it gives us an idea of what the pilot of the aircraft sees during combat.

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In November 1963 the C-130 Hercules made history by setting a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a Navy aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier was the USS Forrestal, a US Navy supercarrier named after former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. The Forrestal was launched on December 11th, 1954, and was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers.
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On April 17, 2002, the Swiss Air Force invited the German Luftwaffe MiG-29 Fulcrums to a two week exercise, where pilots from both sides were to engage in DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training). It was not the first time German MiGs were called upon to confront western pilots with the much feared Russian myth, it was however the first time MiGs were deployed over the Alps. This is an edited video of the action that took place over the mountains. (Read more…)

On August 17 2007 two Eurofighter Typhoons from the Royal Air Force Number XI Squadron intercepted a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bear-H that approached British airspace. On March 29, 2007, Number XI Squadron of the Royal Air Force stood up as a Typhoon Squadron. The two Typhoons were delivered just eight days before the incident, on August 9, 2007.
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This is the dogfight scene between an F-16 and an F-15 taken from the IMAX movie Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag. Red Flag is the international training exercise for air forces of allied countries where many of the world’s best pilots meet for the most challenging flying of their careers. Red Flag is the final training for pilots and their aircrews before being sent into actual combat.
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In 1996 a new advanced jet trainer flew for the first time over the Russian skies. Designed to replace the Let L-29 and L-39, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG AT is part of a new generation of aircraft that will enter service with the Russian Air Force. Mikoyan hopes to receive orders for about 1,200 aircraft but up until now only 20 have been built.

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The Mil Mi-28A/N attack helicopter is the Russian equivalent of the American Apache helicopter. Developed as a successor of the famous Mi-24 Hind, the Mi-28, known to NATO as Havoc, is a tandem two-seat helicopter optimized for the anti-tank role. This is Russia’s latest gunship.

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The Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50/52/60 represents a further step in the evolution of the F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole jet fighter. There are many new modifications, most of them internally, but the biggest change visible to the eye is the pair of removable conformal fuel tanks and a dorsal avionics compartment that make the new Falcon one of the ugliest jets ever.

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There is a saying: “If it’s ugly, it’s British; if it’s weird, it’s French; and if it’s ugly and weird, it’s Russian.” On October 18, 1966, the KM Ekranoplan, Russian for Wing-In-Ground effect vehicle ( WIG) flew for the first time. Larger than any other flying craft at the time, the Ekranoplan was nicknamed the Caspian Sea Monster. (Read more…)

On October 18, 2002, Boeing declassified its secret Bird of Prey during a rollout ceremony at the company’s facility in St. Louis. Named for a spaceship in the science fiction television series Star Trek, this technology demonstrator pioneered revolutionary advances in low-observable (stealth) features, tailless aircraft design, and rapid prototyping techniques.
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In the late 1960′s a secret program was undertaken by the US Air Force and Navy to evaluate flight characteristics of soviet built aircraft. The US acquired aircraft, radar systems, missiles as well as other hardware from friendly nations (Israel,Egypt,etc.) or aircraft used by their pilots to defect. The program continued until the early 1990′s, when the fall of the Soviet Union led to the end of the Cold War. (Read more…)