For years, top U.S. Defense Department officials have tried to cancel the F136 engine being developed by GE and Britain's Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.L) as an alternative to the F135 engine built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N). Then each year, Congress has defied veto threats and White House pressure to keep the program alive.   The struggle has taken on new significance this year, amid a major Pentagon cost-cutting push and growing concern among lawmakers abo

Emerging technology can ease the problem of wind farms causing interference with air-traffic control systems. But deployment of that technology in the U.S. has been slowed by questions over authority and cost.   Since 2006, radar maker Raytheon and National Air Traffic Services, which provides air traffic control in the U.K., have been working on a project to upgrade air traffic radar so it can distinguish between aircraft and wind turbines' spinning blades. Concerns over the disturbances turb

Yahoo News   By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 3, 5:08 pm ET   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A UPS cargo plane with two crew members on board crashed shortly after takeoff Friday outside Dubai, officials said.   The state news agency WAM, quoting the General Civil Aviation Authority, reported that the "bodies of two pilots" had been found at the scene, but UPS did not confirm that.   The plane went down inside an Emirati air base near a busy highway intersection about 1

Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer Offers Strong Bilateral Economic Benefits Defence Professionals -- 16:14 GMT, September 1, 2010   WARSAW, Poland | Poland’s plans to procure a new advanced jet training system can act as a catalyst for Polish industry in a number of industrial sectors, not just in aerospace and defence, according to Alan Garwood, group business development director at BAE Systems - the world’s second largest defence, security and aerospace company.   Speaking ahead of his comp

F-22 Raptor fleet consolidated   Examiner -- By Pierre A. Kandorfer   The US Air Force is in the process of redistributing the F-22 flight squadrons. The Secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force determined the most effective basing for the F-22.   This requires redistributing aircraft from one F-22 squadron to units at four F-22 bases. A second squadron will be relocated to an existing F-22 base.   The affected Air Force bases are:   • Holloman Ai

Lased and Confused: Off-the-Shelf Infrared Lasers Could Ward Off Missile Attacks on Military Helicopters   Scientific American -- By Charles Choi   A newly developed broad-spectrum laser mounted on choppers could effectively dazzle shoulder-launched antiaircraft weapons in flight, and prevent them from finding and destroying their targets.   Helicopter-mounted lasers that can dazzle and defend against heat-seeking missiles are now under development, researchers reveal.   The military o

Saab Courts Asia, Eastern Europe to Save Gripen Warplane   Bloomberg -- By Howard Mustoe and Ola Kinnander   Saab AB is stepping up a campaign to sell its Gripen warplane in Asia and eastern Europe as Switzerland’s decision to delay a $1 billion fighter purchase threatens to curtail production of the 1,320 mile-per-hour jet.   Orders from Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia and a follow-on contract from Thailand are “major near-term opportunities” for the Gripen, which competes with models fr