The Dutch government is to cut 12,000 military and defence civilian jobs, as it looks to balance its budget by 2015 with extensive spending cuts. Among the cuts include plans to sell 19 Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 fighters, leaving 68 in service, and 17 AS352U2 Cougar helicopters, with a third DC-10 being converted to
Boeing has announced its commercial and defence aircraft deliveries for the first quarter of 2011. It delivered a total of 84 737s in the quarter, as well as 13 777s and four 767s. On the military side, the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G led the way with 13 deliveries, while seven new build Chinook helicopters, four F-15s,
The seven European partner nations in the Airbus Military A400M airlifter program have formally signed a contract amendment with EADS which implements funding changes agreed to in principle in a framework agreement signed in March last year. The agreement sees program funding increase by €3.5 billion in total, including a €1.5 billion ‘export levy facility’,
New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has announced that nine of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s (RNZAF’s) 17 mothballed A-4K Skyhawks will be earmarked for museums (including one for Australia), after a long running attempt to sell the aircraft failed. “The government has made every effort to sell the Skyhawk fleet but no acceptable
The F-35C carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter completed functional checks and a test catapult hookup on March 22, ahead of ship compatibility testing planned later this year. Test aircraft CF-1 conducted the trials at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, with test teams investigating an issue discovered during a preliminary fit check on the launch
Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare have announced that Australia’s bid to acquire a surplus Bay Class Landing Ship Dock (LSD), the RFA Largs Bay, from the UK has been successful. The 16,000 tonne displacement, 176m long Largs Bay will be acquired for £65 million (A$102 million), pending successful completion of
