The World of Aviation

USAF acquisitions head David Van Buren has described as “unhappy” his feelings towards the management of his service’s Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAS program, adding that the pace at which the system was maturing and proposals were being submitted was “excruciating.” “Testing and delivery has been slower than expected,” Van Buren told journalists when describing

Lockheed Martin has confirmed it expects to sign a fixed price contract for the fourth batch of low rate initial production (LRIP) F-35 jets in the next few weeks. Speaking to media in Canberra on June 17, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president for F-35 program integration, Tom Burbage, said company CEO Bob Stevens had undertaken

BAE Systems Australia and Lockheed Martin have signed an MoU which may lead to BAE being selected to conduct in-service support for the RAAF’s fleet of up to 100 F-35A JSFs when they enter service later this decade. The MoU was signed by the director of aerospace for BAE Systems Australia, John Monaghan, and by

Brisbane based Ferra Engineering has signed a memorandum of agreement with Lockheed Martin to establish a “world’s first” facility to manufacture titanium spars for F-35 JSF vertical tails. The agreement covers the transfer of Lockheed Martin developed technology for direct manufacturing of titanium components which offers savings through less wastage of titanium and reduced machining

Skywest has released its May operating figures, showing that it had a 7.21 per cent increase in passengers on its RPT services for the month. The increase in passenger numbers helped to push up revenue passenger kilometres by 9.53 per cent, while capacity increased by 1.13 per cent. Load factor increased by four percentage points

Tiger Airways recommenced services to Darwin on June 18, with the carrier starting daily services from Melbourne for the peak tourist season. “The return of Darwin to our network is something we have been working on closely with Darwin Airport and Tourism NT,” said Tiger’s managing director Crawford Rix. “With six weekly flights commencing from