J-20 allegedly training in Tibet

“The J-20 is also practising beyond-visual-range air combat, and other aircraft, including the Y-20 and J-10C, are training at unspecified airports on a ‘plateau region’ in order to improve their capability in long-range military transport and air combat”, the PLA Daily reported on Thursday.

Source:
Asianage.com

engine spinning out of control (what they say). Crazy tha way this airport is build. I mean that cliff! :apologetic:

UAE says Qatari fighter jets intercepted two commercial flights

One of the aircraft was an Emirates airline plane, according to a statement issued by the Bahraini Foreign Ministry.
According to flight tracking websites Flight Radar 24 and Flight Aware, the flight, Emirates 837, landed in Bahrain Monday morning around an hour after its scheduled arrival time. The sites also show the flight took off an hour late. CNN has reached out to Emirates for comment.
It is unclear which airline the second aircraft belonged to or whether it landed in Bahrain as planned.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the “hostile behavior by Qatar against civil aircrafts has become frequent in recent times” and “poses a threat to the lives of civilians.”

EDIT (180117):

hraini radar had determined the fighter jets originated and returned from Doha, and pilots of the UAE commercial planes had identified the aircraft as Mirage war planes, which are used by several Arab air forces, including Qatar’s.

Suwaidi declined to say which airlines had been intercepted. Bahrain’s state news agency BNA earlier reported that they were Emirates and Etihad flights, though gave a flight number for Etihad flight that does not exist. Emirates and Etihad declined to comment.

Sources:
CNN.com
The Jerusalem Post

This is the news thread. We don’t offer lollipops. But If the taste doesn’t suit you, don’t read it.

Reuters made it a news that enough to me. Direct your diatribe to them or to Tapei.

Airbus ordered to pay 104 million euros to settle Taiwan missile dispute

The scandal around French arms sales to the island in the early 1990s was one of a series of cases that underpinned accusations of widespread corruption during the final years of late French president Francois Mitterrand. […] Matra Defense, was “reviewing the award before evaluating the next steps to take”.

The arbitration fine comes three months after Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA), radar supplier Thales (TCFP.PA) and engine maker Safran (SAF.PA) said they had been fined a combined 227 million euros ($276.80 million) in Taiwan to settle the 25-year-old dispute over the wrongful use of commissions in the sale of 60 Mirage fighters to the island.

For the record

the air-to-air missiles in question were the MBDA MICA medium-range and R.550 Magic short-range missiles that the military bought for the French-made Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter jets for which it had signed a separate deal in November 1992.

The government’s claims that Matra took kickbacks over the missile sale were indirectly substantiated by the arbitration’s results, the defense official said on condition of anonymity.

France was a major source of arms to Taiwan in the 1990s, including six La Fayette-class frigates, 60 Mirage 2000 jets and weapons used by those platforms, but many of those deals later became scandals amid allegations that French officials, corporate executives and others had demanded commissions in connection with the sales.

Dassault Aviation and two other French aerospace companies on Oct. 25 last year announced that they had been fined by Taiwan’s government combined 227 million euros to settle disputes linked those arms sales.

Dassault said it had been fined 134 million euros, while radar supplier Thales (previously known as Thomson-CSF) said its fine was 64 million euros and enginemaker Safran said its was 29 million euros.

A French court in 2011 fined the French government and Thales a record 630 million euros over the use of commissions to sell the La Fayettes in 1991.

Source:
Reuters.com
Tapei Times

Boeing and Embraer have much to gain from tie-up

By deepening the relationship between the three companies, Boeing would command a formidable alliance of top engineering talent and low-cost manufacturing.

A perfect example of what integrated industry could be…

Source:
FlightGlobal.com