June 19, 2009

EADS UCAV Development Continues in Secret

By Chris Pocock

EADS hopes to persuade France, Germany and Spain to launch development of its Advanced UAV, now named Talarion, a medium/high-altitude surveillance drone. But evidence of any progress by EADS in the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) sector was entirely missing at this month’s Paris Air Show. Indeed, at a media briefing there, Stefan Zoller, CEO of EADS Defence and Security, said that the group ha more

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KC-45 Conundrum for Airbus

By Chris Pocock

Airbus and Northrop Grumman are reluctant to discuss the status of the two KC-45s (A330s) built for the KC-X USAF tanker competition in advance of the award of the contract to Northrop Grumman by the Pentagon last year. Northrop Grumm more

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USAF KC-135s To Test Northrop Grumman Missile Protection

By Chris Pocock

Northrop Grumman has now equipped more than 400 aircraft of 42 types with its AAQ-24(V) Nemesis directed infrared countermeasures system, which is designed to protect aircraft against shoulder-launched missiles, or Manpads. The original plasma lamp-based turret gave way to more

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Elbit and General Dynamics Offer Hermes 90 UAV

By Chris Pocock

Israel’s Elbit showed the latest member of its UAV family for the first time at the Paris Air Show in June. The Hermes 90 has an 85-kilogram mtow, of which 25 kilograms can be sensor payload. It can be operated by a crew of two, who can turn it round between missions in about 15 minutes. En more

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UAE Rafale Order on Final

By Chris Pocock

Technical negotiations with the United Arab Emirates for what will be the first export sale of the Dassault Aviation Rafale combat jet, are almost complete. But commercial and government talks continue, so a formal announcement is probably stil more

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