Archive for March, 2008
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
NHIndustries announced the delivery of the first NH90 TTT (Tactical Troop Transport) helicopter to the Finnish Army Aviation. The delivery took place at Eurocopter in Marignane (France) where the helicopter was assembled. Finland is replacing its ageing fleet of MI-8 helicopters with 20 tactical transport NH90. “We are particularly proud to deliver to Finland this advanced helicopter and are fully confident that Finland took the right decision regarding this choice, being sure that the NH90 will meet the stringent requirements of the Finnish armed forces, both in terms of mission capability as well as for its suitability for the management of international operations” said Gala Gonçalves, General Manager of NHIndustries.
These helicopters are equipped with the most up to date technology (Fly-by-wire, composite materials, system integration) and equipment in terms of navigation, communications, flight aids and self protection. Of the 20 Finnish NH90 helicopters, 19 are to be assembled by Patria in Finland. The first Finnish NH90 assembled by Patria is to be delivered this April to the Finnish Army Aviation.
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
SIMBEX is an acronym that stands for ‘Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercises’ and is an institutionalised and regular series of annual exercises conducted between the Indian Navy and the navy of the Republic of Singapore (RSN). The Indian Navy’s operational interaction with the RSN, which commenced with modesty – pitched anti-submarine training exercises in 1994, has grown steadily and impressively over the past 14 years. ‘SIMBEX 2008′, currently being conducted on India’s Eastern seaboard between the 16th and 30th of this month.
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Posted in Indian Navy News, Military News - Asia | No Comments »
Friday, March 28th, 2008
A fleet of new Air Transport and Refuelling Airbus A330-200s will replace the RAF’s TriStar and VC-10 aircraft under a £13 billion Private Finance Initiative deal signed today, Thursday 27 March 2008. The aircraft – which will be owned by AirTanker under the terms of the deal, but fly in RAF ‘colours’ – will undertake air-to-air refuelling and passenger air transport tasks. The aircraft are expected to enter service around 2011, to serve for three decades. The Airbus A330-200 has now won each of the last five military tanker contracts internationally. AirTanker aircraft will be more than 50 per cent British by value
AirTanker, the EADS-led consortium,which signed the contract with the UK Ministry of Defence for the provision of air transport and air refuelling capability to the Royal Air Force. The AirTanker consortium has also completed its financing for the programme, raising approx £2.5 billion (€3.2 billion) for investment in the fleet, a new state-of-the-art operational base and associated infrastructure.
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
BAE Systems delivered 10,000th T700 digital engine control for for U.S. Army AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The T700 control, which governs the operation of the engine, has been in production since 1989.
Lowell Bidwell, logistics and sustainment director for the Army’s Black Hawk project management office, joined BAE to mark the milestone with the BAE Systems employees involved in manufacturing and servicing the T700 engine control.
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Thursday, March 27th, 2008
A AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile successfully destroyed its target Feb. 13 in a test engagement of the newest variant of the combat-proven missile. The AIM-120D AMRAAM was fired by a U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft from the Navy’s VX-31 squadron against a QF-4 target drone. The missile guided to a direct hit, destroying the drone and meeting all primary test objectives.
The AIM- 120D is currently in the system design and development phase. The AMRAAM missile has been developed through the combined efforts of the U.S. Air Force’s Air Armament Center, the U.S. Navy, and Raytheon.
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Thursday, March 27th, 2008
The second C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) aircraft, H2.5, has returned to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for continued testing and software upgrades. A joint Boeing and U.S. Air Force crew from Louisville, Ky., flew the aircraft to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards on March 22. The aircraft, assigned to the 123rd Airlift Wing, 165th Airlift Squadron, Kentucky Air National Guard, was in Kentucky for a comprehensive inspection and its first defensive systems check.
With the return of H2.5, there are currently two Boeing C-130 AMP aircraft at Edwards. A third aircraft, H3, is undergoing modifications and upgrades at Boeing Support Systems’ San Antonio facility.
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Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
RQ-4 Global Hawk set an endurance record for a full-scale, operational unmanned aircraft on Saturday, March 22, 2008, when it completed a flight of 33.1 hours at altitudes up to 60,000 feet over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Designated AF-8, the first Global Hawk Block 20, tail no. 04-2015, surpassed both the official and unofficial world un-refueled endurance records for operational unmanned airplanes previously held by the Block 10 variant.
To date, three Global Hawks are currently deployed in support of the global war on terrorism (GWOT), logging more than 15,700 combat hours with more than 21,000 total program flight hours and 95 percent mission effectiveness.
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Posted in Defence Research and Development | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
Raytheon Company has been awarded a $17.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy and the NATO SEASPARROW Project Office for the company’s MK57, MK29 and MK73 NATO SEASPARROW missile systems.
Under the contract, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will assemble, test, and deliver components and support for the systems, which enable critical self-defense capabilities for U.S. and allied navy surface ships.
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Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
Discussion of the situation in Tibet was stifled at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. Following repeated Chinese protests, the President told NGOs that they could not limit their remarks under the agenda item before the Council to the situation in only one country.
Amnesty International had prepared an oral statement focussing on serious shortcomings in China’s commitment in the Vienna Declaration to ensure that persons belonging to the Tibetan minority can exercise fully and effectively all human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination.
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Posted in Proliferation and Human Rights | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
The Report on Sexual Assault, prepared by the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), provides an overview of the SAPR program and data on alleged sexual assaults reported during fiscal 2007. In fiscal 2007, 2,688 reports of sexual assault involving service members as subject and/or victim were filed.
Restricted reporting, which provides a victim with support services without initiating the criminal investigation process and preserves the victim’s anonymity, continues to be a crucial option for service members. Some research had found that victims may choose to forego services rather than participate in the investigative process. Of the 2,688 reports made, 705 were under the restricted program. In 102 of these cases, victims later decided to pursue legal charges and switched their report to unrestricted.
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Posted in Military News - America | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
The Agni-1 test by the army this month sends a signal more to the Chinese than to Pakistan. While Indian missile development follows its own schedules, it is a welcome change that the Agni-1 was tested during the unrest in Tibet, rather than pander to Chinese security concerns.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has successfully completed a high-altitude afterburner testing program at the US Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee, including common exhaust hardware for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The F136 engine is a 40,000+ lb. thrust, combat engine that will be available to power all variants of the F-35 for the US military and eight partner nations.
All test objectives were reached as planned using an engine configured with Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) and Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) common exhaust systems. The engine configuration included a production-size fan and functional augmentor allowing several run periods to full afterburner operation.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
With the handover of GT015, a German Twin-Seater aircraft, the final aircraft out of Tranche 1 destined for the four partner Air Forces of Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom in the core programme has been delivered on March 20, 2008.
Aloysius Rauen, Chief Executive Officer Eurofighter GmbH, comments: “This delivery represents a major milestone in the core programme. With 144 series production delivered (including five to Austria), the Air Forces are rapidly accumulating flying hours and gathering experience with the system. The nations already operate Eurofighter Typhoon in the air defence role. The Royal Air Force is preparing for the first multi-role task of Eurofighter Typhoon, deploying the system over long distances and training the air and ground crews for combat. And Austria, the first export customer, is planning to start operational air surveillance tasks with the upcoming European Soccer Championship. This is outstanding proof for the maturity of the system.”
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