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JUNE 2021 news
Defense Aviation and Aerospace Industry |
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According to information released by the United States Department of Defense on June 24, 2021, the U.S. State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of the Philippines of F-16 Block 70/72 fighter aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $2.43 billion.
Tactical Air Support Inc., Reno, Nevada, is awarded a $14,800,000 firm-fixed-price contract. This contract provides for the procurement of six-block upgrade system kits, consisting of four F-5N+ kits and two F-5F+ kits, in support of the F-5N+/F+ avionics reconfiguration and tactical enhancement/modernization for the inventory standardization program.
On the heels of the successful first flight of Japan’s RQ-4B Global Hawk in early April 2021, Northrop Grumman recently completed additional successful flights for the second unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for Japan. Global Hawk is the only high-altitude, long-endurance UAV to deliver near-real-time on-demand data around the clock.
According to a tweet published by the French Minister of Defence, Florence Parly, on June 23, 2021, the Bundestag (German Parliament) has just approved a crucial step for the construction of the FCAS and the future European fighter aircraft. It will be operational in 2040.
The most powerful battlefield helicopter in Britain’s arsenal has completed two weeks’ intensive training on the nation’s newest aircraft carrier, the British MoD reports. Three AH-64E Apache gunships joined HMS Prince of Wales to allow the Army Air Corps’ fliers get their sea legs back – and give the Portsmouth-based warship a taste of the helicopter’s striking power.
According to i24News, Israel successfully completed its first-ever testing of an airborne, high-power laser defense system that intercepted several Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at various ranges and flight altitudes, the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement on 21 June.
The Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer has begun phase 2 flight testing. This series of flights will evaluate the jet’s fighter-like performance and digital capabilities for future U.S. Air Force fighter and bomber pilots. Three flights will be performed in one day.
According to ot information published by the U.S. Department of Defense on June 22, 2021, the Boeing Co., Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, received a delivery order in the amount of $580,598,636 on a previously negotiated option under a basic ordering agreement W91215-16-G-0001 for 14 H-47 extended range rotary-wing aircraft that satisfy the United Kingdom’s requirement for heavy assault, rotary-wing aircraft.
According to information published by China Mil on June 22, 2021, a batch of J-20s, new-generation stealth fighter jets independently developed by China, has been recently commissioned to an aviation group of the PLA Air Force.
According to a press release published by Turkish Aerospace on June 18, the firm is building Turkey's biggest and Europe's second-largest subsonic wind tunnel facility. The facility is underway for the purpose of carrying out wind tunnel tests of Turkish Fighter. The wind tunnel is intended to be used in the development of indigenous, rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, especially the Turkish Fighter.
According to a tweet from Mahmoud Gamal, Egypt will receive Su-35 fighter jets. 12 Su-35s are currently in Russia, being prepared for delivery to Egypt soon, while five Su-35s were already delivered last year to the Egyptian Air Force. Russia is also expected to manufacture up to 10 Su-35s for Egypt this year.
The flight crew of the Azerbaijan Air Force that will take part in the "Anatolian Eagle 2021" International Flight-Tactical Exercises, has completed preliminary training. The military pilots carried out flights to study airspace flight zones, flight landing strips on the ground, and the air navigation state along the route and to familiarize themselves with the conditions at the departure and landing airfields, as well as alternate airfields.
At the military exhibition Arms and Security-2021 Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and private companies presented many new products planned for adoption by the Ukrainian army. One of the "ambitious projects" is an Ukrainian multipurpose attack drone, Novosti reports. Volodymyr Usov, a former Chairman of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, who previously developed Kwambio and Gutenbergz startups, introduced a new project — the ACE One combat drone.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force has equipped a second ace force with the country's most advanced fighter jet, the J-20, as the unit made its debut with the new warplanes in Northeast China on June 18, Liu Xuanzun reports in Global Times.
According to a press release published by the Government of Canada on June 17, 2021, Public Services and Procurement Canada has awarded two contracts, valued at a total of $186 million (taxes included), to Thales Canada Inc. for the purchase and in-service support of three new tactical control radars.
EHang Holdings, a Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) technology platform company based in Guangzhou, announced on June 4 that its flagship passenger-grade AAV EHang 216 successfully performed its maiden Japan unmanned and autonomous trial flight to showcase safe, autonomous, eco-friendly urban air mobility (“UAM”) solutions.
The Rynki Vooruzheniy (Arms Markets) Russian analytical monthly journal published an article about the global market of helicopter gunships in June. It said Russia retained the second place.
According to Asian Defence, the KF-21 prototype has to go through a year or so of ground testing. KAI opened up the KF-21 assembly line to the Hankyoreh, the first South Korean newspaper to gain access to the site.
Elbit Systems announced on June 17 that its U.S. subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, recently was awarded two orders with an aggregate value of approximately $29 million by the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier under an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract issued in 2020. The orders will be executed from the Elbit Systems of America facility in Roanoke, Virginia with deliveries through September 2021.
To implement the plans, the enterprise has launched an automatic flow line, which decreases the labor intensity of docking Il-76MD-90A glider 40 percent and the final assembly four times. The projected capacity of the flow line is 18 aircraft a year. The new technology allows the enterprise to rapidly increase the pace of batch production of Il-76MD-90A.
