The chiefs of the RAF and RAAF reconstituting their respective 80 Squadrons during a joint ceremony at Eglin AFB in the US. (Crown Copyright)

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) stood up their respective 80 Squadrons on 17 April to serve as US-based data units for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Announced by the RAF, the two separate but linked squadrons were reconstituted during a joint ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in Florida.

“At the event, the [UK] Chief of the Air Staff, [Air Chief Marshal] Sir Richard Knighton, and [Australian] Chief of the Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman, formally awarded the dormant 80 Squadron number plates for each service to their respective teams within the Australia, Canada, and United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory [ACURL],” the RAF said.

With France having an approaching requirement to replace its Alpha Jets, the country has touted the possibility of a joint modular solution with Spain and the UK. (Janes/Patrick Allen)

France has raised the possibility of developing or acquiring a new modular advanced jet trainer aircraft with Spain and the United Kingdom.

Responding to a question in the National Assembly on 16 April, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu said that, with France's Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets nearing the end of their service lives, the country is considering a replacement tied to the future training requirements of its two European neighbours.

“Beyond 2032 … all solutions are conceivable and being studied, particularly with the United Kingdom and Spain,” the minister said, adding, “These solutions consist of developing or acquiring a modular aircraft that meets the needs of both [the Patrouille de France national aerobatic display team] and ‘Red Air', but also [other] aircraft, in the light of the [training requirement for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS)/Système de Combat Aérien du Futur (SCAF)] and its manned [aircraft component], the NGF [New Generation Fighter].”

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.