The Boeing Company delivered the 79th — and final — upgraded CF-18 Hornet aircraft to the Canadian Department of National Defence during a ceremony in Mirabel, Quebec, hosted by industry partner L-3 Communications MAS, who performed final upgrade installations. The delivery brings the nine-year, two-phased CF-18 Modernization Project to a close.
Thales has awarded RUAG Aviation an order worth 5.5 million Swiss francs to produce a subassembly for the RBE2 radar for France’s Rafale fighter jet. The radar is the most powerful currently used in European fighter jets. The first deliveries are planned for the second half of 2011 and will initially be integrated into the
The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has successfully hit full afterburner on its third new production-configuration engine, continuing a year of major progress and milestones for the F136 program. The afterburner tests were conducted in an advanced testing facility at GE. All major objectives have been reached during this phase of testing, which included an
The second Airbus Military A400M, known as MSN2, has run all four of its Europrop International (EPI) TP400 turboprop engines in a series of trials after being handed over for flight test. The aircraft is expected to taxi for the first time shortly and to make its maiden flight from Seville, Spain in a few
A supersonic Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter rode more than 41,000 pounds of thrust to a vertical landing for the first time, confirming its required ability to land in confined areas both ashore and afloat. Pilot Graham Tomlinson performed an 80-knot (93 miles per hour) short takeoff from Naval Air Station Patuxent River,
Boeing Defence Australia has received accreditation from the Commonwealth of Australia as an Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO) for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18F Super Hornet Weapon System. Boeing Defence Australia now is authorized to provide engineering services to support the RAAF
Sikorsky Aircraft and PZL Mielec, its company in Poland, announced the completion of final assembly on the first S-70i BLACK HAWK helicopter, an international variant of the BLACK HAWK helicopter. This new international variant is the first BLACK HAWK helicopter assembled in Europe using a global supply chain.
Spirit AeroSystems has been named to the Boeing NewGen Tanker Supplier Team. Boeing, Spirit’s largest customer, is bidding on the KC-X program, the U.S. Air Force’s next line of tanker aircraft. Upon a contract award from the United States government to Boeing, Spirit will build the Boeing tanker’s forward fuselage section in Wichita, Kan. After
Manufacturing work has started on the first F-35 Lightning II aircraft that will be delivered to the UK Ministry of Defence. Quentin Davies, UK Minister of Defence Equipment and Support, marked the occasion by signing the F-35 frame before it was loaded into the assembly jig at the BAE Systems site in Samlesbury, Lancashire. The
The Kingdom of Bahrain has selected the Rockwell Collins Transportable Blackhawk Operations Simulator (T-BOS) to train their UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter pilots. The T-BOS will be delivered to the government of Bahrain under a Foreign Military Sale contract administered by the U.S. Army’s Utility Helicopter Project Office (UHPO). The Bahrain T-BOS is the second foreign sale
