June 2019 news

Air Forces - Aerospace and Aviation Defense Industry


US partners in Asia-Pacific to receive ScanEagle drones

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designers at Insitu Inc. will build 34 ScanEagle small UAVs for the governments of Malaysia; Indonesia; the Philippines; and Vietnam under terms of a $47.9 million U.S. Navy order.

Qatar takes delivery of first Rafale jets

Five Rafales for the Qatari Amiri Air Force arrived home at Dukhan Air Base on June 5. Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was on hand to welcome the pilots and the jets home.

UAE plans to buy three KC-46 tanker aircraft from Boeing

The United Arab Emirates has issued a request to the United States to buy three tankers "Pegasus" KC-46A produced by Boeing rather than continue their European supplier Airbus.

Russian inspectors make observation flight over Croatia

Russian inspectors are making an observation flight onboard of an An-30B surveillance aircraft over the territory of Croatia in compliance with the International Treaty on Open Skies, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian VKS test fire new anti-ballistic missile at Sary-Shagan range in Kazakhstan

Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have test fired a new anti-ballistic missile at Sary-Shagan range in Kazakhstan, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Morocco will acquire US-made Apache helicopters within the next two years

Morocco will acquire AH-64 Apache military helicopters from the US within the next two years.

F-35 enterprise delivers 400th F-35 and fleet surpasses 200,000 flight hours

The F-35 fleet has achieved 200,000 flight hours across global operations, a significant milestone demonstrating the program’s progress and growing maturity. Within the same week, the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) also delivered the 400th production F-35.

Quantum-Systems and ESG present Vector and Scorpion UAS

Within the framework of the forum “Unmanned Systems” of the Studiengesellschaft DWT, Quantum-Systems GmbH and ESG present with Vector and Scorpion real world novelties in the field of electrically operated, unmanned systems for tactical deployment scenarios.

Drone Aviation selected by prime contractor for additional $1.7 million award

Drone Aviation Holding Corp., a manufacturer of tethered drones and lighter-than-air aerostats, announced on June 4 that it has been selected by a prime contractor for an additional award valued at approximately $1.7 million. This award is a follow-on to the $3.8 million contract awarded to Drone Aviation by this same prime contractor in January 2019, bringing the total award value to approximately $5.5 million.

Northrop Grumman awarded $65M MQ-4C Triton contract

Northrop Grumman is awarded a not-to-exceed $65,173,723 advance acquisition contract for long-lead components for the manufacture and delivery of three low-rate initial production Lot 5 M-4C Triton unmanned aircraft for the US Navy and the government of Australia..

Russian Arctic troops to access high-speed transmission channels

The whole Russian force in the Arctic will access high-speed information transmission channels by the end of 2019. They will become operational after Meridian-M satellites are orbited. They will increase the carrying capacity of the satellite communication system and expand its zone of coverage to the whole Northern Sea Route. Arctic communications are a difficult technical problem, experts said. Most modern satellites do not cover territory to the north of the 70th latitude where most of the Northern Sea Route goes, the Izvestia daily writes.

UAV battalion formed at 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan

A new battalion of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has been formed at the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan, the press service of the Central Military District (TsVO) said.

Indra simulator and iAltitude train Spanish fighter pilots to fly in low oxygen conditions

Indra, a company that specializes in high-altitude sports training with the iAltitude system, has successfully completed the development of a novel Hypoxia flight trainer that is already installed in the Aviation Medicine Training Center of the Spanish Air Force in Madrid and is currently being used to train and provide greater endurance capacity in extreme scenarios to Spanish military pilots.

BAE Systems gets $39M MQ-9 sensor contract for France

BAE Systems, Nashua, New Hampshire, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $39,459,120 undefinitized contract action for the France MQ-9 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Sensor Pod effort.

US Navy orders Reaper ISR services for the Marine Corps

The US Navy has recently awarded a contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services through the use of Group 5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

US approves sale of 8 F-16 fighter jets to Bulgaria

The US State Department has approved the sale to Bulgaria of eight F-16 Viper fighter jets and associated equipment, weapons and training for an estimated $1.673 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced on June 3.

General Dynamics awarded contract for AH-1Z Viper gun turrets for US Navy and Bahrain

General Dynamics was awarded a $7.5 million contract modification for helicopter-mounted gun turrets, the US Defense Department announced.

Russia upgrades air command posts

Russia has completed the upgrade of air command posts on Il-80 and Il-82 aircraft. They will become operational in the Aerospace Forces. The airplanes are also dubbed as Doomsday aircraft as they can operate in conditions of adversary engagement of nuclear weapons. So far, only Russia and the United States operate such aircraft. Russia also wants to create air command posts on Mi-38 helicopters, Gazeta.ru writes.

Indonesia wants Su-35 supplies to begin this year

Indonesia expects the supplies of Russian Su-35 fighter jets to start by the end of 2019, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told TASS.

Malaysia to replace its S-61 helicopters

Royal Malaysian Air Force chief General, Affendi Buang said that the service is looking at a range of helicopters including the EC725.

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