19 July 2022
by Lale Sariibrahimoglu
Aselsan's Şahin counter-UAV system has entered the inventory of the Turkish land forces. (Aselsan)
Aselsan's Şahin counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system has entered the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces, İsmail Demir, head of Turkey's Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), tweeted on 17 July.
The Şahin 40 mm ‘physical destruction system' was developed to destroy mini and micro UAVs, according to Demir, who said it is easy to deploy and install and can be used for missions such as protecting critical infrastructure, border security, and air defence.
An SSB video showed the turreted Şahin mounted on a trailer destroying rotary- and fixed-wing mini and micro UAVs with Atom 40 mm ammunition. The system can carry 64 Atom 40 mm high velocity rounds.
Şahin performs automatic target detection and tracking using electro-optical cameras on its stabilised turret. It can be connected to radar or command-and-control systems.
The remote-controlled Şahin has an effective range of 700 m against mini and micro UAVs, according to Aselsan.
23 April 2024
by Zach Rosenberg
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.
17 April 2024
by Jeremiah Cushman
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.
17 April 2024
by Gareth Jennings
A file photo of a Triton UAV. The US Navy HALE UAV has joined the US Air Force Global Hawk and NATO Phoenix UAVs now operating out of Sigonella in Italy. (US Navy)
The US Navy (USN) has commenced operations of its Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton Broad Area Maritime System (BAMS) in the European theatre, with the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) departing Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella in Sicily for its first sortie on 17 April.
The milestone was logged by online flight tracking services about two weeks after the USN announced in late March that the first of an undisclosed number of UAVs had arrived in its Sixth Fleet area of operations.
Derived from the Block 30 RQ-4N naval variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV, the Triton has been developed to provide the USN with a persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability in support of a full range of military operations that includes signals intelligence, communications relay, and search and rescue.
Aselsan's Şahin counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system has entered the inventory of the Turk...
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