November 2018 news

Air Forces - Aerospace and Defense Industry


Iran launches mass-production of Kowsar "fourth-generation" fighter jet

Iran started mass-producing locally designed Kowsar fighter jet, Iranian newspapers announced on November 3, 2018. The F-5-derived Kowsar aircraft was unveiled on August 28 in a ceremony  attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Equatorial Guinea takes delivery of two Mi-172 choppers

As part of the contract with the government of Equatorial Guinea, Russian Helicopters holding company (part of Rostec State Corporation) produced and transferred to the customer two Mi-172 helicopters manufactured at Kazan Helicopters (KVZ). The vehicles have already been sent to Central Africa.

Russian aerospace industry developing new Su-34 ISR/EW variants

The Russian aerospace industry is developing two new variants of the Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name: Fullback) frontline bomber, namely, an electronic warfare (EW) plane and an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology (AW&ST) magazine.

Sikorsky lands $717M order for M/CH-53E helicopters support

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, was awarded a performance-based logistics contract with a value of $717 million. The contract will provide supply and logistics support to the entire fleet of in-service CH-53E Super Stallions and MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters. The H-53E is a battle proven heavy-lift helicopter continuing to support the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy in missions at home and around the world.

AVIC AV500W UAV completes FT-8D missile live-fire test

According to news from the Office of the Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development of China's Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee on November 1st, the AV500W light unmanned autonomous helicopter, independently developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has successfully completed the FT-8D air-to-surface missile target shooting test at a shooting range, with the missile accurately hitting a target 4.5 km away.

Sierra Nevada wins new $23M contrat for Saudi King Air 350 program

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) as been awarded a $23.8 million order for the Saudi King Air 350 program, the US Department of Defense stated on October 31, 2018.

South Korea partially resumes KUH-1 Surion flights

The Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) has allowed several Surion helicopters to resume maintenance and training flights after grounding all aircraft of the same model following the crash of a Marine Corps chopper in July, officials said Sunday, November 4.

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