News Archive 2005
| Headlines and summaries of
available news stories from 2005. Click the title to view the full story with image if available. |
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| 21 Dec | Saudi Arabia Commits to Eurofighter  On Monday 21 December 2005, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom government signed an agreement for the acquisition at least 24 Eurofighter Typhoons to replace the Royal Saudi Air Force's current fleet of Panavia Tornado ADV air defence fighters. |
| 14 Dec | FAB Mirage III Retirement On December 14, 2005, the Brazilian Air Force officially retired its Dassault Mirage III (F-103) from operational service. In a ceremony overflowing with emotions, four F-103s performed a series of flypasts over the Anápolis AB runway and one aircraft broke the sound barrier over the Air Base.  |
| 08 Dec | First A109 LOH delivered to Malaysia In a ceremony that took place on December the 8th at Lima 2005, the first A109 LOH was handed over to the Malaysian Army Aviation. |
| 01 Dec | Fourth LCA Tejas Flies On Thursday 1 December 2005, a new prototype of India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully completed its first test flight. |
| 25 Nov | RNLAF Buys ex-USN C-130s On Tuesday 22 November 2005, the contract was signed for the acquisition of two C-130 Hercules aircraft. The Royal Netherlands Air Force will expand its Hercules fleet with two additional medium-heavy tactical transport aircraft. |
| 21 Nov | Jordan Buys Ex-RNLAF F-16s Prince Feisal Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and the Dutch Ministry of Defence signed a Declaration of Intent regarding the sale of three Dutch F-16s. |
| 11 Nov | Maiden Flight First South African Gripen The first dual seat Gripen made its maiden flight on Friday 11 November 2005. The aircraft painted in South African Air Force (SAAF) grey livery was flown by South African test pilot Charl Coetzee and Saab test pilot Magnus Olsson. |
| 03 Nov | USAF gets second CV-22 Osprey The U.S. Air Force received its second CV-22 Osprey on October 27th, 2005. The aircraft was delivered at Edwards AFB two months ahead of the contract due date. |
| 29 Oct | First South African Gripen Roll-out Yesterday, the first completed Gripen destined for South Africa was unveiled in a roll-out ceremony at Saab's production facility at Linköping, Sweden. |
| 28 Oct | First Flight Dual Seat Hungarian Gripen On October 27th, 2007, the maiden flight of the first Hungarian dual seat Gripen aircraft took place at Saab in Linköping, Sweden. |
| 24 Oct | South Africa receives first A109LUH Today the South African Air Force (SAAF) took delivery of the first four Agusta Westland A109 Light Utility Helicopters. The official hand over took place at the SAAF Bloemfontein Base. |
| 18 Oct | Colombia wants two UH-60L Helicopters On 14 October 2005, a possible U.S. Foreign Military Sale to Colombia of two Sikorsky UH-60L MEDEVAC Black Hawk helicopters as well as associated equipment and services was announced. |
| 06 Oct | CH-47F Production Started Recently Boeing has started production of the CH-47F heavy transport helicopter. |
| 23 Sep | First F-5EM Delivered On September 21, 2005 the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) received its first upgraded Northrop F-5EM from Embraer. |
| 21 Sep | First Production CV-22 Osprey Delivered On September 19th, the U.S. Air Force took delivery of the first production CV-22 Osprey at the Bell Helicopter production facility in Amarillo, Texas. |
| 21 Sep | Italy Plans Mixed JSF Fleet Italy decided to operate a mixed fleet of conventional and short take-off and landing (CTOL/STOVL) Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters |
| 14 Sep | MRA.4 Development Gathers Pace Development of the Nimrod MRA4 by BAE Systems continues to gather pace. On 29 August 2005, a third development aircraft (PA03, serial ZJ517, ex-XV242) successfully completed its first flight. |
| 08 Sep | China Orders 38 Il-76TD Transports Russia and China have reached an agreement for the delivery of 38 new-build Il-76TD military transport aircraft. |
| 08 Sep | Northrop Grumman Flies JSF Radar Northrop Grumman Corporation has begun initial flight testing of the advanced fire-control radar being developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. |
| 05 Sep | Singapore Selects Boeing F-15 Singapore has selected Boeing's proposal as the winner of the RSAF Next Fighter Replacement Programme and is currently in the final stages of negotiations. |
| 31 Aug | Final Czech Gripens Delivered On 31 August 2005, two JAS 39D two-seat Gripen multi-role fighters arrived at Cáslav Air Base in the Czech Republic after their one hour delivery flight from the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) facility near Linköping. |
| 23 Aug | RAC MiG Offers MiG-35 to India Russia plans to offer the MiG-35 fighter in India's tender for the acquisition of about 125 new multi-role fighter aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force MiG-21 fleet. |
| 19 Aug | First AH-64D Apache Longbow for Kuwait Delivered On August 17th, Boeing delivered the first AH-64D Apache Longbow to the U.S. government for its Foreign Military Sales contract with Kuwait for the purchase of 16 AH-64D attack helicopters. |
| 17 Aug | India Receives Legacy Jets On August 16th, Embraer announced the delivery of three specially configured Legacy Executive Jets to the Indian government |
| 17 Aug | Korea To Sell Retired F-5A/Bs For $100 Each South Korea is to sell its F-5A/B fleet at a symbolic price of $100 per unit. |
| 06 Aug | First F-16 delivered to Oman On August 4th, Lockheed Martin formally delivered the first F-16 Block 50 to the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) at a ceremony at Forth Worth, Texas. |
| 06 Aug | First flight production MH-60R On 28 July 2005, the first production MH-60R completed its maiden flight at the Sikorsky Aircraft facility. |
| 30 Jul | U.S. to deliver two F-16s to Pakistan The Bush administration has approved an initial shipment to Pakistan of two older but refurbished F-16s |
| 29 Jul | U.S. Army orders Bell ARH The United States Army has awarded Textron's Bell Helicopter a $2.2 billion contract for the delivery of 368 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH). |
| 24 Jul | Chile second A400M export customer On 15 July 2005, the Fuerza Aerea de Chile (Chilean Air Force) signed a Declaration of Intent (DOI) with Airbus Military under which it indicates its intention to purchase up to three A400M military transport aircraft. |
| 24 Jul | Lockheed Martin receives Turkish F-16 upgrade contract Lockheed Martin has formally received the contract to start the development of the systems upgrade for Turkish Air Force F-16 fighters. |
| 16 Jul | NH90 Update The NH90 serial production is rapidly progressing today with more than 40 NH90 on assembly lines in France, Germany, Italy and Finland. Currently a total of 357 helicopters have been ordered plus options for 86 and order for 45 more are expected. |
| 30 Jun | Mexican Navy Panther helicopters handed over On 30 June 2005, Eurocopter officially handed over two Panther helicopters to Mexican Navy officials. |
| 29 Jun | 50th anniversary for the B-52 Fifty years ago on June 29, 1955, the first B-52 was delivered to the 4017th Combat Crew Training Squadron of the 93rd Bomb Wing at Caste AFB, Calif. |
| 13 Jun | RNLAF orders KDC-10 cockpit upgrade On 13 June 2005, the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) placed the order for the avionics upgrade of three aircraft, two KDC-10 transport/tankers and one DC-10 transport. |
| 11 Jun | Turkey orders 12 additional S-70B helicopters On 10 June 2005, Sikorsky Aircraft signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Turkey for 12 new S-70B SEAHAWK helicopters plus an option for five additional helicopters |
| 08 Jun | Australia signed MRH90 contract On 2 June 2005, Australian Defence Force signed the contract with Australian Aerospace, a Eurocopter subsidiary, for 12 MRH90 multi-role helicopters. |
| 31 May | Japan looking for F-4 Replacement The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has recently launched the F-X fighter programme to find a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II. |
| 25 May | Spain orders NH90 helicopter Last week the Spanish government announced the selection of the NH90 multi-role helicopter to modernise its armed forces. |
| 16 May | Three new Mi-35 entered Czech service On 13 May 2005, three new Mi-35 Hind combat helicopters were officially handed over by the Czech minister of defense to the Czech military. |
| 04 May | UAE celebrates arrival of F-16E/Fs On 3 May 2005, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) celebrated arrival of its first batch of 10 F-16E/F 'Desert Falcon' fighters. |
| 29 Apr | Brazil contracts EADS CASA for C-295 and P-3 upgrade The Brazilian government and EADS CASA have signed two important contracts: one where EADS CASA will supply Brazil with C-295 military transport aircraft, and in the second contract EADS CASA will modernize Brazil’s fleet of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. |
| 26 Apr | Turkey to upgrade F-16 fleet US and Turkish government officials signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for the systems upgrade of Turkish F-16 aircraft at an estimated value of $1.1 billion. |
| 25 Apr | Marines to get new-build UH-1Y Hueys On 15 April 2005, the US Department of Defense approved the acquisition of new-build UH-1Y light utility helicopters for the US Marine Corps, rather than rebuilding the UH-1Ns currently in service. |
| 21 Apr | First Flight Czech Two-seat Gripen On 21 April 2005, the first of two JAS39D Gripen dual-seat aircraft destined for the Czech Air Force made its maiden flight from Saab's facilities at Linköping, Sweden. |
| 18 Apr | First Six Gripen Arrive in Czech Republic On April 18th, 2005, the first six Gripen fighters were flown to the Czech Republic. |
| 16 Apr | Celebration First F-16 Produced for Chile On 14 April 20005, Chile’s Minister of National Defense, Mr. Jaime Ravinet, joined other Chilean and U.S. officials at Fort Worth, Texas, in celebrating completion of the first F-16 produced for the Chilean Air Force, or Fuerza Aérea de Chile (FACH). |
| 11 Apr | Israel Accepts First AH-64D Apache Longbows The government of Israel accepted its first three AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters yesterday from the United States Department of Defense in a ceremony held in Israel. |
| 08 Apr | First UH-Tiger delivered to German Army On 6 April, Eurocopter delivered the first series produced UH-Tiger support helicopter to the German Army Aviation (Heeresflieger). |
| 07 Apr | Bulgaria will get eight C-27J Spartans On Wednesday, 6 April 2005, Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Svinarov confirmed the purchase of eight C-27J Spartan transports. |
| 04 Apr | Mirage 2000-9 crashes in test flight On 4 April, a Mirage 2000-9 crashed after take-off from Istres AB in southern France during a test flight before its delivery to Adu Dhabi. |
| 31 Mar | MQ-1 Predator crashed in Iraq On 30 March 2005, an USAF MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) crashed in Rawah, Iraq. |
| 25 Mar | FAV EMB-312 Tucano crash Yesterday, 22 March 2005, EMB-312 Tucano serial 8090 of the Venezuelan Air Force (FAV) crashed during a routine training flight, at the east bank of Maracaibo Lake, 500 Km west of Caracas. |
| 25 Mar | RNLAF F-16 Deployments On next Tuesday, 29 March 2005, a detachment of four RNLAF F-16s from Leeuwarden AB will be deployed to Siauliai AB in Lithuania to defend the air space of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. |
| 21 Mar | Maiden Flight High-Cabin NH-90 for Swedish Armed Forces On 18 March 2005, the first production NH90 helicopter in the high cabin version for the Swedish Armed Forces made its first flight from Eurocopter's plant in Marignane, France. |
| 16 Mar | First Boeing F-15K Revealed On 16 March 2005 the official roll-out of the first F-15K Strike Eagle for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) took place at the Boeing site in St. Louis, Mo. |
| 07 Mar | Venezuelan VF-5A special tail art This photo taken on 1 March 2005 shows one of the VF-5A Freedom Fighter in service with the Fuerza Aérea Venezolana (FAV) at El Libertador AB. |
| 05 Mar | Boeing F-15K First Flight The Republic of Korea destined F-15K made its first flight on 3 March 2005 in St. Louis. |
| 28 Feb | AirTanker preferred bidder for RAF tanker The AirTanker consortium has been selected as Preferred Bidder for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme. |
| 20 Feb | Hungarian Saab Gripen First Flight On February 16th, 2005, the first Hungary destined Saab Gripen made its first flight at Saab’s facility in Linköping. |
| 12 Feb | First Portuguese EH101s arrive in Portugal On 11 February 2005, two new Portuguese EH101 Merlin helicopters landed in Portugal for the first time, since the official hand-over of the first aircraft of the type last December. The two helicopters wearing serials 19602 and 19603 were flown to Montjio Air Base, where the Portuguese EH101 fleet will be based. |
| 08 Feb | US Air Force orders three Boeing C-40C The U.S. Air Force has placed an order for three Boeing C-40C aircraft, a 737-700 aircraft based on the Boeing Business Jet. The C-40C will provide transportation for government officials replacing the C-9A. |
| 31 Jan | Mexican Mi-17 helicopter collision On Tuesday 25 January 2005, two Russian-built Mil Mi-17 (Mi-8MTV-1) Hip helicopters of the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (FAM) collided in flight near Mexico city. Five crew members were killed and three wounded. |
| 28 Jan | US101 Selected as Presendential Helicopter The U.S. Navy today selected the US101 for a new fleet of "Marine One" helicopters for the President of the United States. Lockheed Martin, which leads Team US101 as prime contractor, will receive a $1.7 billion contract from the Navy for the Marine One program's systems development and demonstration phase. The team will build and equip the US101 medium-lift helicopter to provide a safe and secure "Oval Office in the Sky" for the President. |
| 25 Jan | First Hungarian Gripen Ready At the Saab Aerospace factory in Linköping, Sweden a ceremony was held to celebrate the first Hungarian Gripen fighter to roll off the production line. |
| 20 Jan | Romania buys ex-RNLAF HAWK The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) will sell eight complete HAWK air defense systems including 78 vehicles to Romania. |
| 14 Jan | Norwegian F-16s protect Baltic States On last Wednesday 12 January 2005, the Norwegian Air Force took over the air defence of the Baltic States from the British Royal Air Force. Arriving in pairs on Monday and Wednesday, four Norwegian F-16 fighters took over from four Tornado F.3 fighters. |
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