June 05, 2013 Military Aviation News
06/05/2013
AgustaWestland is making its expectations for success in the North American market very clear. With opportunities in the U.S. government markets expected to top $20 billion over the next 15 years, according to AgustaWestland North America Chairman and CEO R. Scott Rettig, the company seems bullish in the face of sequestration issues and its own internal problems.
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06/05/2013
The Harper Cabinet has until mid-2014 to make a decision on the F-35 fighter jets, either to sign an initial contract for the first batch of four of the stealth fighters for delivery to Canada in 2017, or to delay it, or drop the plan entirely.
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06/05/2013
The United States is sending 200 military planners from the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss to Jordan to assist in long-term planning with Jordanian forces in case a chemical weapons crisis erupts, or if a wide scale humanitarian relief mission is ordered.
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06/05/2013
The storied “Nightmares” are set to deactivate this summer after 69 years of service during which the unit’s Marines saw combat in the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Formally designated Marine Attack Squadron 513, the unit which flies AV-8B Harriers out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., will be deactivated July 13, 2013 after their most recent deployment to Asia which concluded with their participation in Exercise Foal Eagle.
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06/05/2013
The U.S. Marine Corps is now preparing to upgrade many of their 140 AV-8B Harrier jet fighters to keep them in service, at least until 2030 (instead of 2027). This is because the replacement for the AV-8B, the F-35B, was supposed to begin replacing AV-8Bs this year, but that has been delayed at least two years. Extending the useful life of the AV-8Bs is possible largely because two years ago Britain sold all its Harrier jet fighters, spare parts, and ancillary gear to the marines.
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06/05/2013
Footage apparently recorded by a German drone shows what looks like a terrifying near-collision between the unmanned craft and an Afghan passenger plane. The video, which is nine years old and was recently rediscovered on YouTube, appears to show an Ariana Afghan Airline's Airbus A300 passenger plane carrying approximately 100 people, approaching the drone, writes English-language German news outlet The Local.
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06/05/2013
Dassault and Thales announced delivery of the first production Rafale to carry the Thales RBE2 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The companies noted that the aircraft, production number C137 for the French Air Force, is the first AESA-equipped European combat aircraft to enter service. The development was completed on time and budget, they added. Dassault has now delivered 111 Rafales to the French Air Force and Navy.
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06/05/2013
Squadron Leader Jim Schofield became the first Royal Air Force pilot to complete a vertical landing of a Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) Lightning II on May 28. Following the flight, Schofield commented on the F-35B’s handling capabilities.
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06/05/2013
Unmanned air vehicles (UAV), ground-based robotic systems and unmanned submersibles which Russian industry is developing for the Defense Ministry, are inferior to foreign analogs, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday. Military robotic systems are under development as part of the state weapons program for 2011-2020, Shoigu said at a ministry conference call on Monday.
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