ANN REALTIME UPDATE 01.10.08 1700 EST: In one
of the most intense air strikes to date in the nearly five-year
Iraq war, on Thursday US aircraft unleashed a massive barrage of
firepower against suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq safe areas south of
Baghdad.
Back in September, the Philippine government requested bids to
provide six new attack helicopters to aid in the fight against
communist rebels and Islamic militants. Boeing partner Asian
Aerospace Corporation won the bid... but now, the government is
investigating irregularities in that process.
Days after submitting its final proposal revision for the US Air
Force combat search and rescue helicopter contract, Boeing
announced Wednesday it delivered 36 Chinook helicopters to US Army
and international customers in 2007, meeting scheduled commitments
and matching the program's performance during the Army's model
upgrade program in the early 1990s.
Air Combat Command officials cleared a portion of the F-15 Eagle
A through D model aircraft January 9 for flying status, and
recommended a limited return to flight for Air Force units
worldwide following engineering risk assessments and data received
from multiple fleet-wide inspections.
A possible structural defect in the F-15C Eagle, which led to a
November accident -- and, subsequently, the grounding of much of
the F-15 fleet -- will likely mean the end of the line for close to
200 of those fighters, anonymous USAF sources told The Los Angeles
Times this week.
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