FEBRUARY 2021 news

Defense Aviation and Aerospace Industry


 

Mountain Horse Solutions teams with Tpgroup and Digital Concepts Engineering to win US Air Force autonomous target contract

Mountain Horse Solutions, a U.S. Defense and Mission Critical Equipment Supplier, and two groups from the United Kingdom, tpgroup and Digital Concepts Engineering Ltd (DCE), together have been awarded a nine-month contract to develop and demonstrate fully autonomous targets to the United States Air Force (USAF). The targets are ultimately intended to simulate convoys of multiple vehicle types moving at speed to provide a high level of realism for pilots during targeting and strike training and munition capability assessment missions.

Russia: Northern Fleet MiG-31BM fighters complete month-long experimental combat duty in Arctic

The first replacement of flight personnel and Mikoyan MiG-31BM (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) fighters of a separate composite air regiment took place at the Northern Fleet’s Rogachyovo airfield on Yuzhny island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the Defense Ministry’s press office said.

Finnish Air Force Hornets to train with US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker

The Finnish Air Force Hornets will be training with the U.S. Air Force's KC-135 Stratotanker 9-10. February 2021.

Aero India 2021: Russia unveils Ka-226T rotorcraft for India

The Russian aerospace industry has unveiled a variant of Kamov Ka-226T rotorcraft for India at the Aero India 2021 aerospace show being held in Bengaluru between February 3-5.

US B-1B Lancer debuts at Aero India 2021

The government-sponsored Aero India 2021, Asia's largest trade show opened its doors at Yelahanka Air Force Station Feb. 3, ushering in foreign delegates and representatives from more than 60 countries and 500 defense industry companies.

Aero India 2021: RAC MiG modernizes human-machine interfaces

The Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC) MiG (a subsidiary of Rostec’s United Aircraft Corporation) is improving the human-machine interface of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-35 and MiG-29M/M2 fighter jets, according to the press department of the corporation.

RUAG International to modernize Royal Thai Navy Dornier 228

RUAG MRO International is comprehensively modernizing Dornier 228 aircraft for the Royal Thai Navy. The upgrade includes the installation of glass cockpits and new mission equipment as well as the modernization of avionics systems.

DARPA initiates design of LongShot UAV

DARPA's LongShot program, which is developing an air-launched unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with the ability to employ multiple air-to-air weapons, has awarded contracts to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for preliminary Phase I design work. The objective is to develop a novel UAV that can significantly extend engagement ranges, increase mission effectiveness, and reduce the risk to manned aircraft.

Bell announces sale of six Bell 505s to Jamaica Defence Force

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced on February 8 a signed purchase agreement for six Bell 505 aircraft to the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). The newly acquired Bell 505s will be configured to support Public Safety missions in country and be used by the Force’s Caribbean Military Aviation School (CMAS) to train international rotorcraft pilots.

Russia: Su-57 fifth-generation fighter gets maximally automated cockpit

Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation multirole fighter received the cockpit with the maximum degree of automated processes, the United Aircraft Corporation (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) said in its New Horizons corporate magazine on February 8.

First F-35A welcomed into BAE Systems Australia’s maintenance depot

The first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter arrived at BAE Systems Australia’s Williamtown facility recently and was officially welcomed at an event on February 8.

Aero India 2021: HAL receives RFP for basic trainer HTT40 from Indian Air Force

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has received a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the Indian Air Force for their Basic Trainers requirement at the on-going Aero India 2021. The documents were handed over to Mr. R. Madhavan, CMD, HAL by Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, DCAS and Mr. V. L. Kantha Rao, DG (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence.

IAI unveils WASP, an aerial surveillance system for persistent wide-area monitoring

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) unveils WASP, a new generation surveillance system that provides a high-resolution situational awareness picture of moving targets day and night in a wide-area of interest. Utilizing state-of-the-art EO and IR sensors, AI algorithms and adaptive rule engines, the system captures large areas in high revisit rate, to track, identify and alert the system operator of moving targets that correlate with mission requirements and objectives. Compact, light-weight and requiring low power consumption, WASP complies with a wide range of aerial platforms such as tactical UAVs, drones, fixed and rotary-wing aircraft or tethered surveillance balloons.

US MQ-9s execute new mission in Romania

The U.S. Air Force recently deployed MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and approximately 90 Airmen at the 71st Air Base in Campia Turzii, Romania, to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in support of NATO operations.

Kazakhstan: Shagala UAV is undergoing field trials

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, test flights of the new reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle "Shagala" took place.

Duke Robotics enters collaboration agreement with Elbit Systems for global marketing and distribution of TIKAD armed quadcopter

UAS Drone Corp., a leader in robotics technology and drone solutions, announced that its wholly owned Israeli subsidiary, Duke Airborne Systems Ltd. ("Duke"), and Elbit Systems Land Ltd. signed a Collaboration Agreement for global marketing and sales, and the production and further development of Duke's developed advanced robotic system mounted on an Unmanned Aerial Solution (UAS), armed with lightweight firearms, or TIKAD.

Scientific Research Corp wins potential $95M US Air Force intelligence support contract

Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, has been awarded a $95,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Full Spectrum Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operational Non-Appropriated Funds Support (FUSIONS).

Indian Air Force takes delivery of its first Cheetal helicopter

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first Cheetal helicopter to the IAF during at Aero India 2021 as part of the 10 contracted. 

Citadel Defense wins US contract for AI counter-drone system

Citadel Defense has received a multi-million-dollar government contract for their Titan, an AI-powered, radiofrequency (RF) based counter drone system. Citadel’s technology was selected following a competitive evaluation of two dozen competitive counter small unmanned aircraft systems (C-sUAS). Titan proved highly effective in complex urban environments and was preferred by operators as it exhibited technical superiority across many unpredictable threat scenarios including drone swarms.

Leonardo new airborne HF radio to equip US Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeye fleet

Leonardo has been awarded a contract by Northrop Grumman to provide its new high frequency (HF) radio system, the SRT-400, for the U.S. Navy’s fleet of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft.

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