Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull has been appointed Deputy Chief of Air Force (DCAF) following Air Vice-Marshal Warren McDonald’s posting to the newly-created position of Chief of Joint Capabilities. AVM McDonald served as DCAF for two years, while AVM Turnbull comes into the role – his appointment took effect from May 1 – after two years
Northrop Grumman has announced it is investing $50 million in the development of an electronic systems maintenance and sustainment centre in Western Sydney. The Electronics Sustainment Centre of Excellence initially will begin operations at RAAF Base Richmond before ultimately being located at the forthcoming Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek, where Northrop Grumman will be
Airbus Defence and Space has demonstrated automatic air-to-air refuelling contacts from a tanker’s refuelling boom without the input of the aircraft’s boom operator. An A310 Multi Role Tanker Transport company development aircraft performed six automatic contacts with a Portuguese air force F-16 during a flight off the Portuguese coast in March, Airbus announced on May 9. The
Defence will spend $6.6 billion on its Top 30 major acquisitions programs in 2017-18, budget papers show. Of that total some $1.1 billion (over 17 per cent) will be spent on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as acquisition of the RAAF’s next fighter begins to ramp up considerably. The acquisition of 72 F-35As under Project
We don’t actually have any F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft based in Australia yet and won’t until the end of next year. But already our two aircraft in the US, part of the international training unit, are accruing substantial flying hours, 500 in 2016-17 and 752 scheduled for 2017-18, the Budget Papers for 2017-18 show.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) has eased flying restrictions on its fleet of eight NH90s three weeks after an engine failure resulted in one of the medium utility helicopters making an emergency landing. A NH90 had just departed Woodburne Air Force base with nine people on board en route back to its base at
