EADS North America has confirmed that it will not protest the USAF’s selection of Boeing’s KC767AT in the KC-X competition to begin replacing the service’s ageing fleet of KC-135 aerial refuelling tankers. While EADS “expressed appreciation to the Air Force for running a competition consistent with the rules set out in its Request for Proposal”,
The second F-35 Lightning II production aircraft, AF-7, has taken off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, making its first flight last Friday (March 4). The F-35A CTOL variant flew for 1.3 hours. AF-7 is the second and final aircraft from Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lot 1, with the first aircraft,
Quickstep is to become a partner in Sikorsky’s Australian Industry Participation Program, should the MH-60R Romeo naval helicopter be chosen for the Air 9000 Phase 8 requirement to replace Navy Seahawk and cancelled Seasprite helicopters. Under the terms of a MOU announced at the Avalon Airshow, Quickstep and Sikorsky will work together to conduct joint
BAE Systems and Marand signed a $790 million long term agreement for the supply of vertical tails for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the Avalon Airshow on Friday, the largest and highest value Australian F-35 work package announced to date. Victorian based Marand has worked closely with BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and the Victorian
Northrop Grumman will provide its Expeditionary Tactical Automated Security System (or ExTASS) for RAAF C-17s under a contract awarded by the Defence Materiel Organisation. ExTASS is an open architecture command and control platform for the integration of force protection sensors. The RAAF will use ExTASS to protects its C-17s during expeditionary operations at home in
Flight testing of the F-35 JSF has got off to a promising start in 2011, with all three variants exceeding their planned schedule in January and February. Lockheed Martin’s vice president of JSF program Tom Burbage told a briefing at the Avalon Airshow on Thursday that the program had completed 114 flights so far this
