The USMC has made the first operational deployment of its new Insitu RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned system. The deployment is being made by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 which is based at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina to the Middle East area of operations for ISR ground support missions. The RQ-21A is a development
The Sikorsky S-92 has been named as the US Navy’s Presidential Helicopters Replacement Program (VXX) winner. Sikorsky was the sole bidder for the program, and has been awarded a US$1.24bn (A$1.32bn) engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract to deliver two VH-92 development aircraft in 2018, and four operational evaluation aircraft. The contract announcement says it
Turkey has become the latest JSF program partner nation to commit to buying the F-35 Lightning II, with approval by the Turkish government on May 6 for an initial order for two aircraft. A statement from the Turkish government read: “After the evaluation of the current situation in the JSF Program, which Turkey joined as
The first Sikorsky CH-53K has been rolled out at a ceremony at the company’s Long Beach facility in Florida. Named King Stallion as a tribute to its CH-53E Sea Stallion lineage, the new CH-53K is a larger and almost completely new machine with far greater capabilities, despite sharing a similar mould line. “The rollout of the CH-53K
The RAAF’s force element group (FEG) tasked with the movement of ADF personnel, materiel and forces by air changed its name from Air lift Group (ALG) to Air Mobility Group (AMG) on April 1. The group is headquartered at RAAF Richmond near Sydney and comprises 84 and 86WGs which operate 33SQN (KC-30A) and 36SQN (C-17A)
The US Navy has taken delivery of its 100th Boeing EA-18G Growler at a ceremony in St Louis. The aircraft will be based at NAS Whidbey Island near Seattle in Washington State, home of all the US Navy’s Growlers. The US Navy currently has a program of record for 114 EA-18Gs, production of which is
