The Royal New Zealand Air Force’s fleet of eight NH90s have been flying under restricted conditions since mid-month after an engine failure forced one of the medium utility helicopters to make a precautionary landing. On April 16, a NH90 with nine people on board had just departed Woodburne Air Force Base, near Blenheim en route back to its
Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne has joined Rockwell Collins Australia at its facility in Sydney to witness the production of its 100th optical assembly for the electro-optical AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35 Lightning II. Rockwell Collins Australia expects to produce more than 7,000 of these assemblies across the life of the
The Navy’s two amphibious assault ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide remain tied alongside at Fleet Base East, Sydney while Defence investigates issues with the LHDs’ azimuth propulsion systems. The issue first came to public attention almost a month ago on March 29 when ABC defence reporter Andrew Green reported that both vessels were out of
Damen Shipyards Group has announced the completion of sea trials of the Multirole Aviation Training Vessel (MATV) MV Sycamore, which is being acquired to support a range of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) training activities, including initial helicopter deck landing qualifications. The trials included testing of all onboard military systems, Damen said in a statement. In
The Department of Defence has released images of load trials of an Army M777 Howitzer artillery piece on a RAAF C-17 airlifter. The trials, held on April 20 at RAAF Base Amberley, marked the first time an Australian Army M777 had been loaded on a RAAF C-17. “The trials will help inform future practice with loading and
A Royal Australian Navy S-70B-2 Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter known as Skeletor has flown its last operational flight, ending a career logging 6,200 airframe hours and spanning more than 28 years of service. The RAN retired N24-011 during a maintenance period for Anzac class frigate HMAS Arunta in Bahrain, while deployed on Operation Manitou in late March.
