JANUARY 2020 news

Air Forces - Aerospace and Defense Industry


 

Finland’s HX fighter programme to replace the Finnish Air Force’s F/A-18 C/D Hornet has entered its evaluation phase with the country set to evaluate entrants from Eurofighter, Boeing, Dassault, Lockheed Martin and Saab ahead of awarding a contract in late 2021.

Vietnam has signed a $ 350 million deal to purchase a dozen combat training aircraft from Russia. The Russian aircraft manufacturer Yakovlev won the contract for the new training jet for the Vietnamese air force with its Yak-130. The deal was finalized late last year, but has just been formalized.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s news channel has shown video of its Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jet in flight on January 29. According to Zvezda news channel, it was the western military district’s first batch of Su-35S jets, which it received in the fall of 2019. Russia’s Aerospace Forces field more than 60 Su-35S multipurpose fighters.

As reported by The Nation, the Egyptian armed forces have redeployed an extensive array of various types of aircraft since January 13 in order to provide cover for Egyptian military personnel engaged in mustering 'show of power' since the Turkish activity in Libya has left Egyptian Government concerned with stability and security in the North African region and the Mediterranean sea.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has placed an order for three H135 helicopters, marking the first-ever partnership between the U.S. space program and Airbus Helicopters. The order was announced today at the Airbus booth at the Heli Expo Trade show in Anaheim, California.

Rosoboronexport has signed the first foreign contract for the supply of a Mi-38T medium-range multi-purpose helicopter manufactured by the Kazan Helicopter Plant. The international customer is not mentioned.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system deployed for the first time Jan. 26, to provide military commanders in the Pacific greater maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data to inform critical decision-making in one of the most strategically important regions in the world.

The latest multirole Ka-62 helicopter began certification trials in the National Center of the Russian Helicopters Holding. They are to end in 2020 and provide a possibility to supply the helicopter to customers, the holding said.

Robotic Research LLC introduced the Pegasus Mini, at CES 2020 (Las Vegas).  The Mini is a smaller version of the original Pegasus, introduced in August, which established a new category of transformable unmanned autonomous vehicles (hybrid unmanned aircraft system/unmanned ground vehicle) that both drive on land and fly. This patented combination of features provides a new range of capabilities to support commercial industry, first responders, law enforcement and military customers that previously had not been possible with autonomous drones or land vehicles.

Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation, announced on January 21 that it has successfully demonstrated its MOSAIC Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system aboard a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, accumulating over 10 hours of operational time during a two-week period in November. The flight demonstrations, which took place over the Mid-Atlantic region, showcased for the first time the system’s discriminating capabilities including Autonomous Anti-Surface Warfare radar operations and true dual beam technology.

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