Chad's new Aksungur is seen warming up for take-off in a still from a video released by the AAT. (Armée de l'Air Tchadienne)

The Chadian Air Force (AAT) has revealed it has received at least one Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ) Aksungur unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

It released a video on 21 April that included footage of an Aksungur with AAT markings and the Turkish-format serial 23013 taking off from Adji Kosseï Air Base at N'Djamena International Airport armed with eight MAM-L small laser-guided bombs. The video also featured AAT personnel being trained by TUSAŞ in Türkiye.

The AAT operates at least two TUSAŞ Anka UAVs and three TUSAŞ Hürkuş-C turboprop light-attack aircraft, which were unveiled when President General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno visited Adji Kosseï Air Base in July 2023.

The first of two Textron T-54s delivered to the US Navy, intended to replace the T-44s. The deliveries were announced on 22 April. (US Navy)

US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) accepted delivery of the first two Textron T-54 Multi-Engine Training System (METS) aircraft at Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Texas, the service announced on 22 April. The aircraft are set to begin training students at NAS Corpus Christi's Training Air Wing Four in boreal spring 2025, the US Navy (USN) told Janes .

The USN intends to operate 64 of the Textron King Air 200-based aircraft, which will replace the Textron T-44 as the service's main twin-engine pilot training aircraft. Deliveries are set to run through 2026, and the aircraft is meant to operate until 2055.

“This aircraft brings modernised training to student naval aviators and prepares them for the advanced aircraft they will fly in the fleet,” said Captain Duane Whitmer, USN programme manager.

A computer-generated image of the Hypersonix Launch Systems scramjet-powered DART hypersonic testbed. (Hypersonix Launch Systems)

Hypersonix Launch Systems, headquartered in Brisbane, is building a hypersonic test vehicle for the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU's) hypersonic and high-cadence testing capabilities (HyCAT) programme. DIU issued a solicitation for the project in September 2022. Hypersonix Launch Systems was awarded a contract for scoping the work in March 2023, and a launch contract in September 2023, Matt Hill, Hypersonix Launch Systems CEO, told Janes on 9 April at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2024 global maritime exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.

The programme calls for an airborne test vehicle “that can maintain speeds above Mach 5 with a manoeuvrable/non-ballistic flight profile and at least a three-minute flight duration with near-constant flight conditions”, according to a DIU statement in April 2023.

Construction of the first DART air vehicle is under way, and Hypersonix Launch Systems recently completed the component-level preliminary design review, Hill said. Rocket Lab will provide the launch capabilities for the system for the initial test flight.