Military Heat

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 January 4, 1989, two US F-14 Tomcats downed two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger Es in an engagement that has come to be known as the Gulf of Sidra incident. This was the second Gulf of Sidra incident following the downing of two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitters in August 19, 1981.

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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…)

60 years ago, history recorded the first time when a man exceeded the speed of sound in controlled and level flight.

On October 14, 1947, US Air Force Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeager smashed the sound barrier aided by the Bell X-1, the first of many X-planes to come.

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The American F-16 Falcon and the Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum are two amazing planes that have sparked an endless debate as to which one is better. In 1997 USAF’s 457th F-16 squadron trained at Forth Worth alongside German MiG-29s and pilots from both sides engaged in simulated dogfights. This is HUD footage taken from an F-16 combined with a few famous quotes.

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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…)

First developed by the Russians, plasma stealth technology is also known as “Active Stealth Technology”. Plasma stealth is a proposed process that uses ionized gas (plasma) to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of an aircraft. A plasma stream is injected in front of the aircraft covering the entire body of the aircraft and absorbing most of the electromagnetic energy of the radar waves, thus making the aircraft difficult to detect. (Read more…)

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defence shields.Operated exclusively by the US Air Force, the B-2 Spirit is a second generation stealth aircraft, following the F-117A Nighthawk.

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