May 25, 2019 Military Aviation News

Finland Works Its Fighter Replacement Program

05/25/2019

At the beginning of the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland established a stance of enhanced independence when it purchased Hornets from the United States and began a process of working with Western allied airpower.

Gripen E testing ahead of schedule, vendor claims

05/25/2019

Flight-testing of Saab’s Gripen E combat aircraft is moving faster than anticipated, according to Eddy de la Motte, vice president and head of the Gripen E/F business unit at Swedish manufacturer Saab. De la Motte told a media briefing that tests to fire MBDA’s Meteor missile had been carried out by test aircraft 39-8 and 39-9 in northern Sweden. “We’d planned two weeks for the testing and were able to get everything done in one,” the executive remarked.

Pompeo pushes $8.1bn in arms sales citing unnamed Iranian threats

05/25/2019

In a controversial move, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing unnamed threats from Iran, bypassed approval from the US Congress and pushed through the sale of $8.1 billion of arms to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

USAF claims 100 years cut from weapons development cycles

05/25/2019

The US Air Force claims to have cut 100.5 years of what it deems “unnecessary schedule” from its weapons development programmes since May 2018. As part of its “Century Challenge” goal, the service is trying to streamline and accelerate development programmes to keep pace with adversaries such as Russia and China who are rapidly innovating in areas such as hypersonic missiles and anti-aircraft defences.

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