An Aerovel Flexrotor unmanned aerial vehicle takes off from the flight deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) in the Gulf in March 2023. Airbus has now acquired the manufacturer as it looks to expand its portfolio in the tactical vertical take-off and landing unmanned aircraft sector. (US Navy)

Airbus has completed the purchase of US company Aerovel, which manufactures the Flexrotor unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The European company announced the milestone on 7 May, saying it will strengthen its portfolio of tactical unmanned solutions.

An infographic of Aselsan's Marlin USV, which is on display at DSA 2024. (Janes)

Turkey's Aselsan has for the first time displayed its Marlin unmanned surface vessel (USV) in its full anti-submarine warfare (ASW) configuration.

In this configuration – on show at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2024 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 9 May – the USV is integrated with the Mini-Düfas low-frequency active towed array and passive towed sonar system. Aselsan aims to operationalise the mini version of its Düfas towed active sonar for USVs, called Düfas-M, in 2024.

The first upgraded Hercules was delivered back to the Portuguese Air Force on 2 May. (Victor Barreira)

After several delays, the Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa: FAP) took delivery of the first modernised Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules transport aircraft on 2 May.

A ‘stretched' C-130H-30 Hercules was formally received by the Squadron 501 ‘Bisontes', the FAP said.

OGMA – Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal was awarded a contract in November 2018 worth EUR15.5 million (USD16.7 million) to modernise two C-130Hs and two C-130H-30s.