Archive: News & Articles

Pensacola-based Paradigm Parachute & Defense announced its successful acquisition of ASR-Pioneer assets on 3 April 2024. The USD 2.25 million (EUR 2.08 million) acquisition includes all assets from Airlift Technologies International, Strong Enterprises, and ASR-Pioneer’s Mississippi-based operation. The acquisition totalled three quarters of all assets of ASR-Pioneer. “This is an exciting time of innovation and […]

Ukraine has used bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack a factory in Russia’s Tatarstan region more than 1,200 km from unoccupied Ukrainian territory in what appears to be the Ukrainian military’s deepest strike of the war so far. The factory, located in the town of Yelabuga, is believed to be a site where Shahed […]

The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) is working with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) to upgrade its growing fleet of MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), GA-ASI announced on 26 March 2024. After receiving four MQ-9A Block 5 Reapers in 2022, the RNLAF ordered another four in August 2023 and is now making upgrades to […]

Denmark has agreed in principle to sell Argentina 24 F-16 fighters. A letter of intent (LoI) regarding the sale was signed in Buenos Aires on 26 March 2024 by Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Argentine Defence Minister Luis Alfonso Petri. “I have had a good and extremely fruitful meeting with my Argentinian defence […]

Twelve NATO allies – Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom – agreed on 25 March 2024 to further expand military aviation training across the alliance through the NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) initiative. This will include the first ever placement of around 50 student pilots […]

Israel’s Bird AeroSystems announced on 27 March 2024 that it has successfully installed its advanced Self Protection Radar Electro-Optic System (SPREOS) directed infra-red countermeasures (DIRCM) system and Aeroshield Missile Protection System (AMPS) “on multiple Airbus A319 aircraft for an undisclosed European customer”, which ESD believes to be the Hungarian Air Force (HAF). Publicity photographs published […]

Israel’s UVision and US company Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) announced on 27 March 2024 that they are collaborating to manufacture UVision’s Hero 120 loitering munition system. Under the agreement the Hero 120 system will be produced in Charleston, South Carolina, significantly enhancing rapid-response capabilities for all UVision USA clients in the United States. “The […]

Saab has received an order from Airbus Defence and Space for its Arexis electronic warfare (EW) sensor suite, the Swedish company announced on 26 March 2024. The system was selected by the German defence procurement office in June 2023 to equip the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter Elektronischer Kampf (EK) aircraft, of which 15 examples are being acquired […]

A flight of four British Army Air Corps (AAC) AgustaWestland/Boeing WAH-64D Apache AH1 attack helicopters conducted a farewell tour across the United Kingdom on 25 March 2024 to mark the type’s exit from service. The farewell flight, which involved 15 locations relevant to Apache operations, was conducted by the 4 Regiment AAC’s No 656 Squadron, […]

Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) regarding conceptual studies for future fighter systems, the company announced on 22 March 2024. The contract, to be enacted from 2024 to 2025, covers conceptual studies of manned and unmanned solutions from a system-of-systems perspective, technology development and demonstrations. In performing the contract […]

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) finally issued an invitation to negotiate for its New Medium Helicopter requirement in February, but the history of the programme suggests that the fruits of this procurement initiative could still be years away. On 27 February 2024 the starting gun was fired on the next phase of the UK’s […]

The US Air Force (USAF) conducted what might be the last test launch of a hypersonic AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) on 17 March 2024. The all-up-round AGM-183A, which is made by Lockheed Martin, was launched over the Reagan Test Site, located near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, from a B-52H strategic bomber […]

The first Ukrainian pilots to have undergone intensive training under the guidance of UK Royal Air Force (RAF) instructors have graduated from flight school, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 22 March 2024. The 10 pilots received basic flying, ground school and language training in the UK, training on Grob Tutor basic trainers […]

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), in co-operation with US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), has conducted a series of tests with its Sonobuoy Dispensing System (SDS) using the MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV), GA-ASI announced on 20 March 2024. The tests, conducted on 27 February 2024 on the US Navy’s W-291 test range […]

The US Navy awarded Boeing a USD 1.3 billion contract on 19 March 2024 for the purchase of 17 F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet fighters and delivery of a technical data package vital to the sustainment of the aircraft, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced the same day. “The technical data package was a crucial […]

QinetiQ, in partnership with the US Department of Defense (DoD) and White Sands Missile Range High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), has conducted successful flights of the first two Rattler Supersonic Target (ST) MkIs, the company announced on 20 March 2024. Powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor, the Rattler ST can achieve air launch […]

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 18 March 2024 that, for the first time since 2021, an activity under the Treaty on Open Skies had occurred over the UK. The event, which occurred in February, involved NATO partners France and Romania conducting three flights over two days using a Romanian Air Force Open-Skies-configured […]

The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Italy of AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles (AAMs) and related equipment, the US Defense Co-operation Agency (DSCA) announced on 15 March 2024. The proposed sale, which is worth USD 90.6 million (EUR 83.4 million), has been passed to the US Congress for final […]

The US State Department has approved possible Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Poland covering AGM-158B-2 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles – Extended Range (JASSM-ER), AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles, the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) reported on 12 March 2024 The JASS-ER sale is worth USD […]

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is to receive 14 new Boeing H-47 Chinook Extended Range (ER) heavylift helicopters under a deal agreed with the US government, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) officially announced on 14 March 2024. Deliveries of the new aircraft are scheduled to commence in 2027. While the MoD declined to […]

The Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has been certified for the use of the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb, news portal Breaking Defense reported on 8 March 2024, citing a spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), Russ Goemaere. The nuclear certification of the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) JSF variant was achieved […]