The first two aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) aerobatic display team have arrived in Australia. The pair of Pilatus PC-21s, with registration HB-HWS and HB-HWT, landed in Darwin on Saturday July 21 from Kupang in Indonesia, as these photographs from Sid Mitchell showed. On Sunday, the PC-21s flew from Darwin to Adelaide
The first automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) contact between two large aircraft was successfully completed on June 20 by an Airbus A310 MRTT test aircraft and an RAAF KC-30A MRTT off the coast of Spain. Seven successful contacts were made between the two aircraft. The successful development follows a successful test earlier in 2018 where the
This article first appeared in the June 2018 edition of Australian Aviation. The Royal Australian Air Force’s EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack (AEA) capability is rapidly maturing, with an initial operational capability (IOC) expected in the coming months. The RAAF is only the second operator of arguably the world’s most advanced AEA capability, after the
This week’s Throwback Thursday article is from the April 2013 edition of Australian Aviation, where Tony Moclair looked at 100 years of the Australian Defence Force’s Central Flying School at RAAF East Sale. On March 8 2013 the Central Flying School (CFS) at RAAF East Sale hosted a unit reunion and flying display in the
The United States government has posthumously awarded a US Air Medal to Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer Phillip Zupp. Zupp’s son and Australian Aviation Flying Editor Owen Zupp accepted the award from the United States Charge D’Affaires to Australia James Caruso at an official presentation attended by Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Mark
Australia is to acquire six Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime unmanned aerial systems (MUAS), Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Tuesday. The first RAAF Triton is scheduled to be delivered in mid-2023, initial operating capability (IOC) is planned to follow 12 months later, and a full operational capability (FOC) of all six systems is scheduled for
