With the F-16 providing the US Air Force with its affordable mass, the service will shortly begin considering what follows the aircraft type in the future. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  The US Air Force (USAF) is to shortly begin assessing its longer-term requirement for an “affordable” aircraft that it can operate in the post-Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon timeframe.  Speaking under the Chatham House Rule, an official said the work will begin in the coming few years to field a combat aircraft type with a cost per flight hour that is sustain...

Artist's concept of the Kratos Thanatos UAV. (Kratos)  Kratos Defense and Space has unveiled an image of its Thanatos unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) but declined to provide further information about the concept or its potential uses.  “Among the new opportunities we are pursuing, we are in discussions with a customer and hope to be under contract next year related to certain other Kratos tactical drone systems, including Thanatos,” said Kratos president and CEO Eric DeMarco on a 2 November call with investors.  An artist's concept of the vehic...

Under current fielding and procurement plans, the Spanish Air and Space Force will have 96 Eurofighters that may be fitted with LTE enhancements. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  Spain may retrofit Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhancements for the Eurofighter combat aircraft (C.16 in national service) to its wider fleet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told   Janes  on 6 November.   Timed to coincide with the IQPC International Fighter Conference 2023 (IFC 2023) in Madrid, the MoD response to a   Janes  question on Spanish Air and Space Forc...

A model of a Halcon II Eurofighter displayed at IFC 2023. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  The Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft to be delivered to the Spanish Air and Space Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio: EdAE) under the Halcon II procurement programme will be at the Tranche 4+ standard, Airbus confirmed on 6 November.  Speaking at the IQPC International Fighter Conference (IFC) in Madrid, Marco Gumbrecht, head of Combat Air Systems, Airbus Defence and Space, said that with 20 Halcon I aircraft to be built at the Tranche 4 standard, the 25...

The Royal Thai Air Force has recently completed an exercise using its newly inducted Korean GPS-Guided Bomb (KGGB), a model of which is pictured above at the Defense & Security 2023 exhibition in Bangkok. (Janes/Jon Grevatt)    The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has taken delivery of an initial batch of Korean GPS-Guided Bomb (KGGB) kits, an official from manufacturer LIG Nex1 told   Janes  at the Defense & Security exhibition in Bangkok on 6 November.   The official also confirmed that the RTAF has held its first exercise us...

The HMCS   Ottawa  's CH-148 helicopter lowers supplies onto the flight deck of the USS   Ralph Johnson  (DDG 114) in the South China Sea on 10 September. HMCS   Ottawa  is currently on deployment in South East Asia as part of Canada's commitment to increase the number of Canadian warships annually deployed to the Indo-Pacific region from two to three, starting from 2023.  (US Navy)  Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) has said that Chinese combat jets aggressively intercept...

The DP18A UCAV – developed by Thai firm ATIL – has a top speed of 200 km/h, an endurance of 12 hours, and an operation radius of 200 km. (Janes/Jon Grevatt)  Thai firm Aero Technology Industry Company Limited (ATIL) has unveiled a new X-tail unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) at the Defense & Security 2023 exhibition in Bangkok.  The company said the DP18A UCAV is a “tactical attack UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] for reconnaissance, surveillance, [and] intelligence gathering” that can also provide “real-time strikes against enemy targets”....

At-sea trials of the VSR700/SDAM were undertaken from the frigate   Provence   between 2 and 9 October.   (Naval Group)  Airbus Helicopters, Naval Group, and France's Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) procurement agency have completed a first trial of the Airbus VSR700 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) from a French Navy multimission frigate (Frégate multimission: FREMM).    Conducted from the Aquitaine-class ship   Provence  in early October, the week-long te...

Netline's C-Guard Modular ManPack RF jammer counters both UASs and IEDs and is based on the C-Guard series of C-IED systems. (Netline Communications Technologies Ltd)  Israel-based Netline Communication Technologies launched its new manportable counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) called C-Guard Modular ManPack on 31 October.    The radio frequency (RF)-based jammer provides on-the-move, omnidirectional, tactical protection to counter UASs as well as protect forces from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a company spokesperson told...

The Chilean Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16AM Fighting Falcon fighter. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  Chile has awarded Lockheed Martin USD177 million to perform M6.6 tape upgrades on its F-16 fleet. The 31 October award was conducted via the US Department of Defense (DoD) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.  The upgrades, which include identification friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders and Link-16 datalinks, are to be installed on Chile's full fleet of F-16s, Lockheed Martin told Janes on 1 November.  “The M6.6 programme will modernise the entire...

MBDA Deutschland is offering more applications for the Enforcer missile system, including anti-tank, air-launched, and V/SHORAD versions. (MBDA)  MBDA Deutschland presented international journalists visiting the company on 27 October with more applications for the Enforcer missile system being procured by the Bundeswehr for its Leichtes Wirkmittel 1800+ requirement for a lightweight, day/night, precision-guided, shoulder-launched 89 mm weapon with a range of more than 1,800 m. The new applications are anti-tank, air-launched, and very short-...

The Indian Air Force is seeking to withdraw all Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Bison aircraft from service in 2025. (Indian Air Force)  The Indian Air Force (IAF) is transferring Sukhoi Su-30MKIs from other operational squadrons to ensure that a former Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 squadron remains in active service.  On 31 October the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that the IAF's No 4 Squadron (Oorials) was converting from MiG-21s to Su-30MKIs.  A senior officer in the IAF told Janes that the Su-30MKIs re-equipping No 4 Squadron are not newly...

A scale model of the ADE Archer (SRUAV-W) pictured at ADMS 2023. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)  India's Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) – an agency under the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – has disclosed new details about the development and testing of its new Short-Range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Weaponised (SRUAV-W) – also known as ‘Archer'.    An ADE official told   Janes   at the eighth Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Show (ADMS), which was held in Bangalore from 26 to 27 October...

Footage released on 2 November by the Israeli Air Force showing the moments before an F-35I shoots down a Houthi cruise missile. (Israeli Air Force)  An Israeli Air Force (IAF) Lockheed Martin F-35I Adir combat aircraft shot down a cruise missile fired from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Ansar Allah group, known as Houthis.  The IAF announced the event on 2 November, releasing F-35I electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) footage of the engagement.  “In recent days, the IAF's control and detection systems identified a cruise missile launched fro...

The first training sortie for the reformed 42 Squadron was flown on 26 September. (Crown Copyright)  The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has reformed 42 Squadron as a joint operational conversion unit (OCU) for its Boeing 737-based aircraft, it announced on 1 November.  Most latterly the former OCU for the BAC Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol aircraft before its disbandment in 2010, 42 Sqn was stood up at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland on 21 September. This is the station from where both the Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA1 maritime multimission aircraft (MMA) and...

A scale model of the ADE Abhyas at ADMS 2023. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)  Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) – an agency under the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – revealed an updated configuration of the Abhyas High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) at the eighth Aerospace & Defence Manufacturing Show (ADMS) 2023 held in Bangalore on 26 and 27 October.  The original configuration of Abhyas was launched in 2013 and featured twin underslung boosters. However, the new configuration features a single...

MBDA Deutschland is offering more applications for the Enforcer missile system, including anti-tank, air-launched, and V/SHORAD versions. (MBDA)  MBDA Deutschland presented international journalists visiting the company on 27 October with more applications for the Enforcer missile system being procured by the Bundeswehr for its Leichtes Wirkmittel 1800+ requirement for a lightweight, day/night, precision-guided, shoulder-launched 89 mm weapon with a range of more than 1,800 m. The new applications are anti-tank, air-launched, and very short-...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 loaded with a Tranche 0 payload variant for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) sits on the launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. (Space Development Agency)  The US Department of Defense (DoD) has closed the second of two prototype development contracts for the next phase of the Space Development Agency's (SDA's) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) development, bringing the total cost of both contracts to USD1.3 billion, according to a 30 October age...

A Teal 2 unmanned aerial vehicle in flight. (Teal Drones)  Red Cat announced a USD2.6 million purchase order to supply 172 Teal 2s to the US Defense Logistics Agency on 23 August. The company had announced an initial order for the same number of systems on 8 August. The small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) are to be operated by the US Air Force (USAF).    Red Cat is one of three companies shortlisted for the US Army's Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) programme intended to procure inexpensive, rucksack-portable sUASs. An award is expec...

The Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile during integration tests with a Spanish Air Force EF-18. (Spanish Air Force)    Integration of the Taurus KEPD 350 air-launched cruise missile into a Ukrainian Su-24 combat aircraft would take a couple of months and training crews for its use would take three or four months, Joachim Knopf, CEO of MBDA Deutschland-Saab Dynamics 67:33 joint venture Taurus Systems, told international journalists, including   Janes,  visiting MBDA Deutschland on 27 October. Integration of Taurus into F-16 combat...