The Russian Defense Ministry said a Mi-8 helicopter was shot down during a mission on Monday in Syria, killing all five on board. Video released online by Syrian rebels shows the flaming wreckage of the aircraft, reportedly near Aleppo. The defense ministry said the armed helicopter was on a humanitarian mission delivering supplies to Aleppo. The crew “died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Associated Press. Russia has lost multiple aircraft during its campaign in Syria, with another helicopter shot down last month.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…