World Millitary Power

To the casual observer of carrier flight operations, the Navy’s E-2C Hawkeye aircraft may seem like the ugly ducklings of carrier air wings. But to those who’ve made careers of flying and fighting these early warning aircraft, they’re swans. Those who fly them call them “Hummers,” a nickname derived from the distinctive sound of their turboprop engines. ...continue reading

The monster budget is coming, the one which, in a single blow, will make all the political debate since the federal election seem like an episode of Seinfeld, the show about nothing. The strange thing is, as the government prepares its first budget and has set up the National Commission of Audit to prepare the way, one of...continue reading

Bloomberg said that Switzerland will hold a national referendum on May 18 to determine whether the country should buy 22 Gripen combat jets as Swedish weapons-maker Saab AB and the Swiss government seek to convince voters. ...continue reading

Britain's Ministry of Defence is close to placing its first major tranche of orders for the F-35 fighter jet, with an award for about 14 of the “stealth” warplanes due in the next few weeks. The orders for the new plane, being built in an international project led by US defence giant Lockheed Martin, will signal the increasing...continue reading

A Devonport based warship has been named the Royal Navy’s most effective ship for the second year in a row. Fleet flagship, HMS Bulwark, has been presented with the 2013 Royal Navy Capital Ship Efficiency. The pennant is presented annually to the larger class of ship that has made a consistent and outstanding contribution in the execution of...continue reading

Jakarta has demanded an immediate halt to the Abbott government's asylum-seeker turnbacks policy and announced it will send a frigate to bolster its southern defences after Australian ships repeatedly breached Indonesian territorial waters. In a dramatic escalation of the diplomatic tensions over border protection, Indonesia drew a line in the sand, saying it would step up its own...continue reading

For the Indian Navy's submarine arm, already reeling under a crisis of numbers, Friday evening got a very rude jolt. A Kilo-class submarine, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sindhughosh, while returning into the harbour, inside the naval dockyard, hit the ground and remained there. At the time of the incident, it was fully armed, carrying its entire compliment of...continue reading

Some people are calling it the "pickup truck of the sea." The Navy's joint high-speed vessel Spearhead can haul troops or supplies in a hurry, and it can do it on the cheap. The 338-foot twin-hull catamaran, the first in its class, departs Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek today on its maiden deployment. The Spearhead's civilian skipper Douglas...continue reading

A Pakistan Air Force fighter jet crashed in the most populous province of Punjab on Thursday, killing both pilots. The PAF plane crashed in fields in Mandi Bahauddin district, 200 km from provincial capital Lahore, police officer Hanif Butt said. ...continue reading

WASHINGTON — The office of the secretary of defense (OSD) has directed the US Navy to limit its overall buy of littoral combat ships to a total of 32 ships, foregoing 20 more of the small, fast and controversial warships, Pentagon sources have confirmed. The decision, in a Jan. 6 memo from Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox,...continue reading