13 February 2024
by Jeremy Binnie
The Baykar Bayraktar Akıncı UAV that was unveiled on 9 February. (President of the Republic of Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan unveiled its Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 9 February when President Ilham Aliyev visited what was described as the Azerbaijani Air Forces' (HHQ's) UAV academy.
The Ministry of Defence reported that Aliyev was briefed on the facilities that have been created at the academy for training personnel and viewed an Akıncı taking off and landing.
Photographs released by the president's office showed an Akıncı with Azerbaijani markings and the manufacturer serial S46, indicating it was produced after the ones displayed by Ethiopia in January, which had the serial S40, and in Kyrgyzstan in October 2023, which was S38. The Pakistan Air Force has also confirmed it has received Akıncıs.
Aliyev also inspected a range of air-launched weapons that included a Roketsan SOM cruise missile, a MAM-T laser-guided bomb, and a general-purpose bomb fitted with a glide kit. Azerbaijani TV coverage of the visit showed at least 10 other weapons were displayed, most of which could not be seen clearly but included Roketsan's Çakır cruise missile.
02 May 2024
by Olivia Savage
The Ariane 6 launcher will launch the first batch of G2G satellites in 2026 and 2027. Pictured is a successful long-duration hot-fire test of the rocket on its launch pad at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana in September 2023. The rocket is in its final stages of testing before its inaugural flight in June 2024. (Arianegroup)
The new Ariane 6 rocket will launch the initial batch of Galileo Second Generation (G2G) navigation satellites into orbit in 2026 and 2027, Arianespace announced on 29 April.
A total of four G2G satellites will be sent into orbit on Ariane 6 over two separate launches in 2026 and 2027. Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space are each building six satellites, which together form the first fleet of G2G satellites, the company detailed.
The G2G satellites will use electric propulsion and host a more powerful navigation antenna as well as improved atomic clocks and fully digital payloads compared with the first-generation Galileo satellites. Each spacecraft will weigh 2,000 kg, orbiting at an altitude of 23,222 km (medium Earth orbit).
01 May 2024
by Zach Rosenberg
The first Kaman Kargo in flight-testing at an undisclosed Pennsylvania site. (Kaman)
Kaman's Kargo medium-lift unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been in flight-testing since December 2023, the company's general manager, Romin Dasmalchi, told Janes in advance of Modern Day Marine on 24 April.
The UAV first flew while tethered to the ground for safety reasons. The tether has since been removed, Dasmalchi said, and the first Kargo is free-flying at an undisclosed UAV testing site in Pennsylvania.
Following a flight, Dasmalchi said, “You would make an adjustment – call it a tuning adjustment – and then you fly it for a short period. You give it some inputs manually to see how it handles, then you land and you make adjustments. We probably did hundreds of those evolutions.” The Kargo might undergo 20 to 30 flights per day.
As of 26 April the first Kargo craft had accrued around 50 hours of flight time, Dasmalchi said, and hundreds of ignitions of its Rolls-Royce RR300 engine. Aside from changes to antenna placement, Dasmalchi anticipated no major changes to Kargos in production based on the results of flight-testing to date.
30 April 2024
by Zach Rosenberg
One of four Boeing E-4Bs, which SAOC is intended to replace. (US Air Force)
The US Air Force (USAF) awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) a USD13 billion contract to build the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC), intended to replace the Boeing E-4B Nightwatch as the service's airborne nuclear command-and-control aircraft and primary transport for the secretary of defence. The contract was announced on 26 April, and is set to run through July 2036.
The contract covers ground support systems, including mission trainers, maintenance trainers, and system integration laboratories, among other necessary equipment.
“To satisfy operational requirements, the weapon system will be comprised of a commercial derivative aircraft that will be hardened and modified to meet military requirements,” said the USAF in the contract announcement. “Additionally, the mission system will integrate secure communications and planning capabilities on modern information technology, infrastructure, based on a Modular Open System Approach (MOSA).”
The number and type of aircraft included in the contract are publicly undisclosed, but the USAF currently operates four E-4Bs, which entered service in 1980 according to Janes C4ISR & Mission Systems: Air and are approaching the end of their service lives.
Azerbaijan unveiled its Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 9 February when President ...
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