Defense Ministry: Crashed Tu-154 plane flown by experienced pilot

The Tu-154 plane that crashed off the Black Sea coast near Sochi on Sunday was manufactured more than 30 years ago and was last time repaired in December 2014, and was flown by an experienced pilot, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

China urges Japan not to distort facts about Diaoyu Islands

China's defense ministry on Friday urged Japan not to distort the facts about the Diaoyu Islands issue.

France deploys police, soldiers: 15,000 security personnel protect ‘sensitive’ sites

France is deploying 15,000 police and security forces to bolster security around "sensitive" sites and Jewish schools in the country, in the wake of Islamist attacks that left 17 dead, authorities said Monday.

Su-24 crews hold bombing exercise in Kaliningrad region

Bombing and providing air cover for a ground grouping of troops were practiced by pilots from the Baltic Fleet (BF) bombing aviation crews, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"As part of routine drills the crews of Sukhoi Su-24 frontline bombers of the Fleet's aviation group carried out precision bombing strikes and destroyed the manpower and military hardware of an adversary at an aviation site in the Kaliningrad region," the BF said in a press release obtained by Interfax-AVN on Thursday.

The crews carried out precision bombing against full-size targets simulating engineering structures, manpower and hardware of an adversary.

U.S. warns Russia on Ukraine ultimatum / Russian Defense Ministry dismisses Ukraine ultimatum reports as ‘total nonsense’

Any Russian ultimatum to Ukraine threatening a possible attack would be a “dangerous escalation” of the tensions in Crimea, a U.S. official said Monday after source in the Ukrainian defense ministry said Moscow did give his country a warning.
Washington was working to find out if Moscow has demanded Ukrainian leaders surrender or face an all-out assault.
“If true” it would be “a dangerous escalation of the situation and we would hold Russia directly responsible,” Agence France-Presse quoted a State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki as saying.

Russia Activates Aerospace Defense Radar Aimed at Europe.

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has begun testing a new radar designed to detect highly maneuverable aerial targets – including cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles – at a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (over 1,800 miles), allowing it to cover most of Europe.

The new-generation over-the-horizon radar, dubbed Container, was put on trial duty near the town of Kovylkino in Russia’s republic of Mordovia on December 2.

Peking begleitet „feindliche“ Flugzeuge im Luftraum./Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone.-

Während das Außenministerium in Peking versucht, die internationalen Sorgen um eine Eskalation im Inselstreit mit Japan zu zerstreuen, haben chinesische Kampfjets „feindliche“ Flugzeuge „begleitet“.

Die chinesische Regierung gibt weiterhin widersprüchliche Hinweise darauf, wie sie ihre neue „Luftverteidigungszone“ durchsetzen will. Angesichts internationaler Kritik an der vor einer Woche erklärten Zone zeigte sich das Außenministerium am Freitag bemüht, Sorgen über eine Eskalation der Lage zu zerstreuen.

China Expands Defense Zone to Include Islands Claimed by Japan...

China's defense ministry has released an air defense zone map for the East China Sea that includes islands controlled by Japan, but claimed by China.

In a statement on its website Saturday, the ministry said that under a new set of rules, all aircraft entering the zone must notify Chinese authorities and are subject to emergency military measures if they do not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing. The statement said the rules went into effect on Saturday.

There was no immediate response from Japan, but earlier this month, Japan scrambled fighter jets in the East China Sea after it spotted what it said was an unmanned aircraft flying toward Japan.