Pakistan wants to buy 12 MI-35 Helicopters from Russia

According to Jung News, Russian Media reports that Pakistan wants to buy 12 MI-35 Helicopters from Russia and Russian FM confirms that the deal of four MI-35 Helicopters is expendable. According to the news Pakistan told Russia that we have the capacity to buy 10 to 12 MI-35 Helicopters.

MI-35 Helicopters from Russia

Malaysia wants to buy the Mistral Aicraft Carrier

The Sevastopol (left) and the Vladivostok warships, two Mistral-class landing helicopter dock amphibious vessels ordered by Russia from STX France before the order was canceled, are seen in Saint-Nazaire, France, Dec. 20, 2014. Malaysia has emerged as a potential buyer of one of the warships. Jean-Sebastien Evrard/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The French defense minister is in talks with Malaysia to sell the Southeast Asian nation one of the Mistral warship aircraft carriers that was initially intended for Russia, a source close to the talkstold Reuters Tuesday. Several countries, especially in emerging nations in Southeast Asia and South America, have been interested in the purchase of the ships, with reports confirming that one of the ships would be sold to Malaysia.

Defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was set to travel Sunday to Malaysia, reportedly to discuss the sale of one of the warships. Le Drian would also travel to India on the same trip to discuss selling rafale fighter jets to the country.

Mistral-class landing helicopter dock

The two Mistrals were originally built for Russia in a deal made by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011. Set to be delivered in 2014 and 2016, the ships would have marked the first arms deal between a Western nation and Russia. President Francois Hollande canceled the deal in 2014, following Russia's continuing involvement in Ukraine, annexing the Crimean peninsula and reportedly arming pro-Russian separatists.

The Pentagon's research and development agency wants to design a fleet of drones that could self-launch from a larger plane before swarming enemy aircraft and returning to their mothership after a mission.

These "gremlins," as the researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have dubbed them, would be cheaper than standard drones and have a lifespan of about 20 flights.

DARPA envisions the gremlins as a middle ground between missile-like weapons, which can be used just once, and platforms like piloted aircraft, which are expensive, complex and long-lasting.

DARPA's Next Generation Drone

"We wouldn't be discarding the entire airframe, engine, avionics and payload with every mission, as is done with missiles, but we also wouldn't have to carry the maintainability and operational cost burdens of today's reusable systems, which are meant to stay in service for decades," the agency said in a statement.
To launch these gremlins, the military wants to turn large C-130 cargo planes into makeshift aircraft carriers.

Israel and Russia are building 2 AWECS aircraft for India

Israel and Russia have started creating two aircraft for Airborne Early Warning and Control for India. Work has already started in Taganrog, where they are installing Israeli radar on an IL-76.

The Military Gazette wrote that Israel and Russia have started creating two aircraft for Airborne Early Warning and Control for India. This is the joint project called Falcon – an airborne early warning radar system created by Elta, installed on the IL-76 aircraft manufactured by the Ilyushin Company.

Indian Il-76 AWACS

Back in 2004, India signed a contract for the delivery of three of these aircraft, which were delivered in 2009-2011. Work on the creation of another two new aircraft is being carried out under an option provided for in this contract. As the publication noted, Israel purchased two IL-76 airframes from Uzbekistan. Russia, for its part, acquired two mostly completed IL-76 platforms from the Chkalov Aviation Production Association (now the Tashkent Mechanical Plant) in Tashkent. The aircraft frames were brought from Tashkent to the Beriev Aviation Scientific-Technical Complex in Taganrog, where they will be custom finished by the Israeli side, and where Israeli radar will be installed.

Boeing Jet Engine Powered By Lasers and Nuclear Explosions

Future aircraft could be powered by lasers and nuclear explosions if Boeing has its way. The aerospace firm claims a new-type of engine could produce energy-efficient thrust by firing lasers at radioactive material, such as deuterium and tritium. The technology could mean that planes and spaceships will require only a fraction of the power to operate, according to a recent patent filed by the company.

The engine outlined in the patent would work by using high-powered lasers to vaporize the radioactive material producing a fusion reaction.
'At least one laser is positioned to vaporizer the propellant with at least one laser-beam into a thrust producing flow,' the company wrote in the document.

The by-products of the process would be hydrogen or helium, which would leave the back-end of the plane creating thrust.

Meanwhile, the inside wall of the engine's thrust-er chamber will react with the neutrons created by the nuclear reaction.

Boeing Nuclear Laser Engine

The resulting heat can then be harnessed by placing a coolant on the sides of the combustion chamber.
The idea is to use this heat to produce electricity that can then drive the engine’s lasers.
Other than the radioactive material, the engine requires very little in terms of external energy.

Boeing’s Dreamliner is currently driven by turbofan engines that compress air and ignite fuel to create thrust.
But it's expensive. The 787-8 Dreamliner. for instance, uses roughly $24.53 (£15.97) worth of fuel per nautical mile flown
The latest application, approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office last week, was filed by Boeing's Robert Budica, James Herzberg, and Frank Chandler.
It is unclear when, if ever, Boeing plans to create a prototype of the engine.

Pakistan Could Be Eyeing Russian Yak-130 Trainers

Pakistan could be showing an interest in the Yak-130 trainer of Russia after concluding a deal to purchase four Mi-35 Hind helicopters.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) does not have a modern combat trainer though it operates advanced aircraft such as the American F-16, and the Pakistani-Chinese JF-17.

Pakistan Air Force officials have been talking to executives from Rosoboronexport and Irkut, the maker of the Yak-130 in various arms trade shows, though no definite intention to buy has been received.

The PAF does not have an advanced jet trainer to train its fighter pilots. It has a basic trainer, the propeller-driven Super Mushshak, which is a product of a Pakistani-Chinese partnership. For intermediate jet training it has the K-8 Karakorum and the Cessna T-17. Together with its Chinese partners, it manufactures the Super Mushak which is used as a basic trainer.

Yak-130

The sources said that the PAF was interested in the Yak-120 for it unique feature of mimicking the flying characteristics of a number of fighter aircraft such as the F-16 and JF-17 which will make the task of transiting from a trainer to a fighter a lot easy for pilots.

All these years, Rosoboronexport may have been cold to the idea of selling Pakistan advanced aircraft; firstly due to Russia's position of being India's dominant military equipment supplier and secondly for fear of its aircraft being falling into the hands of Chinese copycats.

Russia agrees to sell Pakistan four MI-35 attack helicopters

An agreement was signed between Pakistan and Russian authorities in Rawalpindi for the purchase of four MI-35 helicopters,” said a senior military official on Wednesday.

The official, however, did not provide any further details about the deal, or shed any light on the configuration of the helicopters which Pakistan will receive. No timeline for delivery of the helicopters was revealed.

The agreement is believed to have been finalised during Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif’s visit to Russia in June earlier this year.

Russia’s move is a major shift in it’s policy in the wake of strategic partnership between US and India.

Moscow has for long ignored Islamabad in a bit to please its long term ally New Delhi. But as a result of India’s growing tilt towards the US, Russia has now begun to expand its cooperation with Pakistan.

For its part, Islamabad is eager to improve its ties with Moscow to diversify its options in the event of any stalemate in ties with Washington.

Last year, Russia had sent a draft contract to Pakistan for the dispatch of four Mil Mi-35M combat helicopters.

Mig-35 Helicopters

Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, said that talks pertaining to the delivery of helicopters were under way with the Pakistani side. However, it declined to disclose the details of these consultations.

“Following the results of the talks held earlier on helicopters, which Pakistan would like to get from Russia, a draft contract on the delivery of four Mi-35M gunships has been sent to the Pakistani side. Pakistan is now studying the document,” the source said.