Asia-Pacific Military Aviation News roundup: 16 Sept 2013

It has been a busy past couple of days for military aviation news in the Asia-Pacific:

The Philippines Air Force has conducted two airstrikes in the past few days again Moro National Liberation Front rebels which have attacked a town in the southern Philippines. The strikes were carried out by McDonnell Douglas MG-520 Defender helicopters.

A photo of the Chinese WZ-10 attack helicopter carrying the TY-90 AAM is making the rounds of the Internet.

In a speech to Parliament, Singapore's Defence Minister has announced that the island nation is acquiring the Aster 30 ground based Surface to Air Missile and upgrading its F-16s.

An interesting video (in Mandarin) of the Guizhou JL-9 trainer in Chinese Navy service.

The South Korean president has reportedly been briefed that the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle is the sole eligible bid for the RoKAF's F-X III program

Asia-Pacific Military Aviation News roundup: 28 Aug 2013

Wreckage of this afternoon's tragic RoKAF T-50 crash

Republic of Singapore Air Force pilots are flying the Arizona ANG's F-16s training with the RSAF's F-15SG detachment at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. It's pretty well known that the RSAF has aircraft based in CONUS for pilot training, but much less well known is the agreement for RSAF pilots to train on ANG F-16s.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has announced that United States will sell 8 AH-64E Apaches to Indonesia. An interesting decision by the Indonesian military, to say the least.

Chinese State media has announced that Changhe WZ-10 attack helicopter has launched an air-to-air missile for the first time during exercises over the waters off China's Guangzhou Province last week.

Apparently, the South Korean Air Force is not happy with the F-15SE selection as carried out by the government procurement agency. Unsuprisingly, the RoKAF wants the F-35A. Some of the comments in the link are worth reading, too (which is the real surprise).

Still on South Korea, an RoKAF T-50 trainer has crashed this afternoon near the southwestern city of Gwangju while on a training flight, killing both pilots.