The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) signed an FMS – Foreign Military Sale – contract with the US Army Security Assistance Command to procure seven new build Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters, two simulators and spares during a ceremony at the Australian Embassy in Washington on March 19. Defence Minister John Faulkner approved the purchase of the
Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has been granted accreditation by the Commonwealth as an Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO) for the RAAF’s F/A-18F Super Hornet fleet. The accreditation authorises BDA to provide engineering support to the RAAF’s 24 F/A-18Fs through a combination of local and US based engineering services and capabilities. “AEO certification is a significant achievement,
The US DoD has nominated Vice Admiral David Venlet to replace Maj Gen David Heinz as the head of the JSF Program Office (JPO). A former F-14 radar intercept officer (RIO) and pilot, A-4 adversary pilot and test pilot, Venlet is a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient after shooting down a Libyan Su-22 in the 1980s.
Airbus Military has been granted a civil supplemental type certificate (STC) from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft. This certification covers the comprehensive military specific modifications made to the A330 aircraft, and is the first civil certification ever extended by EASA to a tanker transport aircraft
F-35B development aircraft BF-1 performed the JSF’s first vertical landing on March 18 at NAS Patuxent River near Washington. Pilot Graham Tomlinson (a former RAF Harrier pilot) put the aircraft down on a Pax River ramp smoothly after slowing to a hover, as can be viewed here. The vertical landing came just one day after the aircraft’s
Reports out of JSF partner nation Denmark this week suggest that country may be wavering in its support of the F-35 program and is perhaps leaning towards ordering the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet instead. Danish broadcaster DR has reported that cost increases and program delays meant the Danish Defence Command was longer considering the F-35
