European governments have reached a crossroad in the potential development of next-generation unmanned aerial systems that could challenge current Israeli and U.S. leadership in this field. The British and French defense ministers will meet in London on Tuesday, July 24, to assess the Anglo-French Defence Agreement.
AIN Defense Perspective » July 20, 2012
July 20, 2012 - 3:40pm
The Russian aerospace industry made a strong showing at the Farnborough airshow last week, with 55 entities represented. Eighteen full-scale exhibits were on display, including a Yak-130 combat trainer, an Aeroflot SSJ100 jetliner, and SaM146 and PD14 turbofan engines. The Ka-62 helicopter–a civil version of the military multirole Ka-62–made its international debut in the form of a full-scale mockup.
July 20, 2012 - 3:37pm
Lockheed Martin executives contend that a new Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) that will provide long-term maintenance support for the F-35 Lightning II is evolving in line with the fighter. The ALIS was cited among F-35 program risks in a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
July 20, 2012 - 3:33pm
EADS Cassidian redelivered to the German air force (GAF) the first two Tornado fighter-bombers to be upgraded to the ASSTA (Avionic System Software Tornado Ada) 3.0 standard. After several months of retrofitting, certification and acceptance flight tests, they were returned to the GAF’s 33rd Wing at Buechel at the end of June.
July 20, 2012 - 3:30pm
AAI Textron Systems is upgrading more than half of the U.S. Army’s RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to incorporate a tactical common datalink (TCDL) supporting interoperability with other manned and unmanned aircraft. The company has a contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to arm the Shadow using the larger wing added through the Army modifications.
