NH90 retrofits being carried out at Airbus' Marignane facility in southern France. The NHI consortium intends to learn the lessons of the IOC to FOC upgrade process to ensure that adverse effects on availability do not happen with future efforts. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  Airbus accepts that it must learn the lessons of the previous retrofit efforts that adversely affected the NHIndustries (NHI) NH90 helicopter programme, as it prepares to roll out further block enhancements in the coming years.  Speaking at the handover of the 500th NH90 to t...

Bayraktar TB2 UAVs and L-39 jets lined up for a handover ceremony at Bamako's international airport on 16 March. (Presidence Mali)  The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) held another reception ceremony for new aircraft on 16 March, lining up four L-39 trainer/light attack jets and three Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the event at Bamako's international airport.  The FAMa was already operating Turkish-made TB2s, having displayed two at Air Base 200 (previously Air Base 102) at Mopti-Sévaré airport in December 2022. At least two of...

Four non-airworthy North Macedonia Air Force Su-25 aircraft have been transferred to Ukraine. (Igor Bozinovski)  North Macedonia has donated Sukhoi Su-25 ‘Frogfoot' ground attack aircraft to Ukraine, Minister of Defence of North Macedonia, Slavjanka Petrovska said on 14 March. The announcement confirms Janes reports in July 2022 that four non-airworthy Su-25s (three single-seat Su-25s and one twin-seat Su-25UB) were transferred.  Petrovska said that equipment delivered to Ukraine so far consists of “infantry weapons and ammunition, artillery...

Industrial arrangements and funding agreements on the Global Combat Aircraft Programme are expected to be finalised before the start of full development in 2025. (Janes/Jon Grevatt)  Industrial partners on the Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP) are ramping up co-operation on the project to support the start of full development from 2025.  The schedule coincides with a new financing model planned for the programme, under which partner governments will agree to share funding responsibilities.  Companies from the three GCAP partner countrie...

A computer rendering of the HACM. (Raytheon)  The US Air Force (USAF) requested USD500 million for hypersonic weapons research and development in fiscal year (FY) 2024, the same amount as the previous year.  Roughly USD150 million would be used to further develop the Lockheed MartinAGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), a boost-glide system that in December 2022 saw its first successful launch following three failed tests. The USAF plans to conduct four additional ‘all-up round' test shots of the completed missile during FY 2024....

A developmental Stork test vehicle going through flight trials. (Animal Dynamics)  Oxford-based Animal Dynamics' Stork STM parafoil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been selected by the UK Royal Navy (RN) to participate in the second phase of its Unmanned Aerial Systems Heavy Lift Challenge (UASHLC).  The Stork STM was selected following a pre-selection flying competition in late 2022, in which it demonstrated the ability to conduct beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations and carry a 135 kg payload over a distance of 400 km – meeting...

Poland is set to transfer an initial four MiG-29 combat aircraft to Ukraine ‘in the coming days', the Polish president has said. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  Poland is to transfer four MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum' combat aircraft to Ukraine “in the coming days”, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on 16 March.  Speaking after a meeting with his Czech counterpart in Warsaw, Duda told Polish media that an initial four aircraft are being prepared for handover, with the remainder of the fleet likely to follow later.    Although Duda reportedly did not say how...

The Kongsberg air-launched Joint Strike Missile is fired from a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in this artist's impression. (Norwegian MoD)  Japan is set to take delivery of an initial batch of Joint Strike Missiles (JSMs), manufacturer Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has confirmed to Janes.  Speaking at the DSEI Japan 2023 show in Chiba on 16 March, a representative from Kongsberg said the country's first JSMs will be supplied “very soon” to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) for integration into its growing fleet...

The US Coast Guard's fiscal year 2024 proposed budget requests sustainment funding for ships such as the icebreaker USCGC   Healy  .  (Michael Fabey)  The US Coast Guard (USCG) is requesting about USD13.5 billion in its fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget proposal, compared with the USD13.9 billion enacted in FY 2023, according to USCG budget documents.  The FY 2024 budget requests USD10.2 billion for Operations and Support (O&S) and USD1.6 billion for procurement, construction, and improvements (PC&I).  Funding requeste...

The ACURL is used to develop, verify, and validate mission data files and allows Australia, the UK (jet pictured) and Canada the capability to reprogramme F-35 mission data to quickly execute sovereign missions,   Janes  has been told.  (Janes/Patrick Allen)  The US Department of Defense (DoD) has contracted Lockheed Martin to establish full operating capability (FOC) of the Australia Canada United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory (ACURL) for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).    A company off...

The FN Minimi Mk 3 is a belt-fed, fully automatic, gas-operated, air-cooled LMG. The barrel of Mk 3 is chambered for 5.56×45 mm, and it is available in two lengths – 349 mm and 465 mm. (FN Herstal)  The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) has selected Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN) Herstal's Minimi Mk 3 light machine guns (LMGs) and German handgun manufacturer Heckler & Koch's (H&K's) G28 E2 anti-personnel sniper guns for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).    A spokesperson for the MoD told   Janes...

Toshiba displayed its C-UAS, incorporating a long-range radar, at the DSEI Japan 2023 show in Chiba. (Janes/Sunil)  Japanese firm Toshiba revealed a radio frequency (RF) detection sensor and a long-range detection radar as part of a counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) solution at the DSEI Japan 2023 show in Chiba.  The C-UAS solution, which the company has not named, includes an RF sensor; a short-, medium-, and long-range radar; two cameras; and a net gun-based autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) countermeasure.  Toshiba said its R...

A Shahed-129 UAV with a previously unseen payload at the IRGC Qeshm island airbase. (IRNA)  At least one of the Shahed-129 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has been fitted with a previously unseen sensor, prompting speculation that it is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that could significantly improve the force's situational awareness.  The UAV was seen with a new dome mounted midway along the underside of its fuselage in photographs published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)...

A model of the GCAP fighter displayed at DSEI Japan 2023. (Janes/Jon Grevatt)  Japan's IHI Corporation and the UK's Rolls-Royce have initiated development of the engine that will power the proposed future fighter aircraft under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).  Atsushi Sato, vice-president of IHI's aero-engine, space, and defence businesses, told Janes at the DSEI Japan 2023 exhibition in Chiba that the two companies are starting to exchange personnel and technologies following the signing of a joint development agreement in December 2...

An RAF and Luftwaffe Eurofighter scramble out of Ämari Air Base in Estonia under the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission. (Crown Copyright)  Eurofighter combat aircraft from the UK and Germany intercepted and shadowed the first Russian aircraft of a joint NATO Baltic Air Policing mission on 14 March.  The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that one Royal Air Force (RAF) and one Luftwaffe Eurofighter operating out of Ämari Air Base in Estonia conducted the intercept of a Russian Aerospace Forces (VKA) Ilyushin Il-78 ‘Midas' tanker.  Having interc...

USAF MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan. The Reaper is equipped with what is believed to be the ‘Gorgon Stare' wide-area airborne surveillance system (WAASS). The MQ-9 downed in the Black Sea may have been equipped with a similar system. (United States Air Force)  A US Air Force (USAF) General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed into the Black Sea on 14 March, following what the Pentagon said was an aerial collision with a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter.  The collision occurred at 07:03 Central Europe...

Seen in Afghan Air Force service before the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, the MD 530F Cayuse Warrior will be the basis of MD Helicopters' future sales campaign for new military customers. (US Air Force)  MD Helicopters (MDH) is to consolidate the different platforms it had previously marketed to military customers, focusing instead on upgraded MD 500 and new-build MD 530 airframes only.  During an interview with Janes on 2 March, company CEO Brad Pedersen said that the consolidation would see MDH cease to develop and market military v...

Boeing NGAD conceptual art. The USAF's NGAD programme is run in parallel to its CCA programme. (Boeing)  The US Air Force (USAF) is planning for a fleet of 1,000 Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) and 200 Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighters, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a speech on 7 March at the Air Forces Association's Air Warfare conference.  “I have recently given our planners a nominal quantity of Collaborative Combat Aircraft to assume for planning purposes. That planning assumption is 1,000 CCAs,” said K...

In what is likely a precursor to RQ-4 operations from Singapore, the US Air Force flew a Global Hawk from the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, to Singapore Changi Airport for the 2022 Singapore Airshow. This photo was taken on 18 February 2022. (US Marine Corps/Cpl Bryant Rodriquez)  The United States has deployed a Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Singapore.  In a statement on 14 March, the Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said that the RQ-4 was part of a short-term deployment...

Seen in Spanish colours but Swiss delivery markings, the first of an initial 24 PC-21s for the EdAE was delivered in September 2021. A further 16 have been ordered. (EdAE)  The Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire Español: EdAE) has ordered additional Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainer aircraft, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) announced on 10 March.  The procurement of 16 further PC-21s adds to the 24 that were acquired in early 2020, the last of which was delivered to Spain in mid-2022. Besides the aircraft, the deal includes simulato...