The BAE Systems Mantis UAV completed its first flight at the Woomera range in South Australia recently, BAE announced on November 13. The Mantis is a large medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV with twin pusher turboprop engines mounted on rear fuselage sponsons, and was displayed in mockup form at the 2009 Avalon Airshow. BAE
The first production optimised F-35A JSF, vehicle AF-1, took to the air for the first time on November 13 for a 96 minute flight after a delay of about eight months. The aircraft is an instrumented test aircraft and is the first F-35A CTOL jet to be built on the Fort Worth moving production line
Pakistan has agreed to a deal with China for 36 Chengdu J-10B fighters worth up to US$1.4bn (A$1.5bn). The J-10, roughly the equivalent in performance and capabilities to late model F-16s, is entering service in large numbers in China, and Pakistan is known to have shown some interest in the aircraft for some time. The
Airbus Military has successfully conducted the first series of wet contacts from the wingtip hose and drogue refuelling pods on the RAAF’s first KC-30A MRTT tanker. The tests were conducted from the tanker’s Cobham 905E pods with a Spanish air force F/A-18 Hornet, and six contacts were made during which 4000kg of fuel was transferred.
Boeing has been awarded a US$72m (A$78m) contract by the USAF to deliver more than 2900 JDAM tail kits. The Lot 14 production run will see the deliveries made in 2011 and 2012, and is the second one-year option of a six-year contract Boeing received in January 2008. The JDAM kit comprises a GPS guidance
Boeing has announced two advanced developments of its Insitu ScanEagle UAV. The first is an air launched MagEagle Compressed Carriage (MECC) variant which Boeing hopes to integrate with its P-8A Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft next decade. MECC would carry a passive magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) for the detection of distortions in the earth’s magnetic field
