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VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Loses Critical Support
November 05, 2009
Not unlike the way the Philadelphia Phillies’ chances of winning this year’s World Series decreased substantially on Sunday when they lost game four to the New York Yankees, the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland VH-71 presidential helicopter’s chances of receiving funding in this year’s defense appropriations bill diminished considerably yesterday when...
moreAirbus A400M Makes Progress as Negotiations Continue
October 26, 2009
Airbus Military is increasingly confident about the technical progress of the A400M airlifter, but has refused to comment on the difficult, ongoing negotiations with the European launch nations over cost and timescale. The flight-test program of the A400M’s Europrop TP400 turboprops, mounted on a Lockheed Martin C-130 testbed aircraft, has been completed at...
moreEuro Hawk Is Unveiled, But Latest Global Hawks Face Problems
October 26, 2009
The first Euro Hawk UAV for the German Air Force (GAF) was unveiled last month at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif. facility. It was apparent that the wing pods that house the SIGINT sensors, provided by EADS Defence and Security, have again grown in size, since AIN provided a description of this program at the Paris Air Show last June. The Euro Hawk is a...
moreBAE Systems Tells UK Fraud Office: See You in Court, if Necessary
October 26, 2009
After years of investigation, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it would seek to prosecute BAE Systems “for offenses related to overseas corruption.” The alleged offenses have been widely reported to involve the sales of Gripen fighter aircraft to South Africa and their lease to the Czech Republic (BAE is a partner with Saab in the Gripen...
moreVH-71 Presidential helicopter teeters on the edge
September 28, 2009
The future of the VH-71 presidential helicopter program neared the wire last month as Congress worked to pass a final 2010 defense appropriations bill that the President would sign before the start of the fiscal year on October 1. If the bill is not signed into law by then, Congress would need to pass a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the...
moreFrench Bid To Outmanuever Opposing Fighters in Brazil
September 15, 2009
A top-level handshake in Brazil earlier this month does not necessarily mean the end of that country’s long quest to select a new fighter. Presidents Lula and Sarkozy proclaimed a strategic aerospace partnership after the French leader made a two-day state visit to Brazil. They discussed the sale of 36 Rafale combat jets to the Forca Aerea Brasiliera (FAB),...
moreAirbus Claims Technical Progress with A400M
September 15, 2009
Anxious to demonstrate progress toward a first flight, Airbus Military will hold another technical press briefing on the troubled A400M airlifter in Spain next week. Ahead of the meeting, the company told AIN that Europrop had delivered Fadec software for the TP400 engines, so that system integration tests could proceed on the so-called “iron bird” test rig...
moreBAE 146 Airliners To Meet Airlift Shortfall, Budget Crunch?
September 15, 2009
With the delay to the A400M in mind, as well as tight defense budgets, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft is marketing surplus BAe 146 airliners to military customers as low-cost tactical transports. BAE owns 47 of the four-engine, high-wing jets, many of which are now coming off lease as carriers replace them with new regional airliners. Although the 146 does...
moreNew Chinooks for Canada, and Upgrades for UK
September 15, 2009
Boeing took a long-expected order from Canada for 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters worth $1.15 billion. These will be new-build helicopters, to enter service in 2013 and 2014. Boeing said it would offset the entire contract value with contracts and partnerships in Canada. Canada already operates six CH-47Ds that it acquired urgently last year from the U.S....
moreBoeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson Announces Retirement in Major Realignment
August 31, 2009
Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Scott Carson announced today that he will retire from the company at the end of the year. Boeing chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney has named Jim Albaugh, 59, to Carson’s leadership role at Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), and Dennis Muilenburg, 45, to succeed Albaugh as president and CEO of Boeing...
moreMore Eurofighters Ordered, but Cost Ceiling Now Reached
August 20, 2009
Eurofighter and Eurojet finally secured the long-delayed contract on 31 July for Tranche 3A, comprising a further 112 Typhoon aircraft and 241 EJ200 engines worth some €9 billion ($12.7 billion). Eurofighter CEO Enzo Casolini said the deal would help secure 100,000 highly skilled jobs at 400 large, medium and small companies throughout Europe. Partner...
more$2.5 Billion Order Launches Su-35 Production
August 20, 2009
The Russian government has finally committed to production of the Sukhoi Su-35 combat aircraft, which features thrust-vectoring and e-scan radar. At the MAKS 2009 airshow at Zhukovsky airbase near Moscow this month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a contract worth $2.5 billion for 48 Su-35S models. They will be delivered to the Russian Air Force by...
moreUK Yet To Confirm Nimrod SIGINT Replacement
August 20, 2009
More than a year after U.S. defense officials offered three RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft as a replacement for the same number of Royal Air Force BAE Nimrod R1 signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft, the UK Ministry of Defence has not made a decision. Senior RAF officers have said that the Nimrods perform a vital task, and they last month promised the UK...
moreEADS Confirms Barracuda UAV Flight Tests in Canada
August 20, 2009
A second copy of the Barracuda combat UAV demonstrator made four successful flights from Goose Bay, Labrador, according to EADS. The first Barracuda crashed on an early test flight in Spain in 2006. The demonstrator flew autonomously with monitoring from the ground station for safety purposes only, EADS said. The tests form part of the “Agile UAV in Network...
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