Dawn Aerospace rocket-powered aircraft successfully completes supersonic flight

On the same subject

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  July 4, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  UK must compete future surveillance aircraft procurement, parliament states

  Gareth Jennings The United Kingdom must hold a fair and open competition before selecting any new surveillance aircraft to replace its current Boeing E-3D Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS), the country's parliament has said. The intervention by the Defence Committee followed earlier media reports that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had already decided to procure the Boeing E-737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to replace the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) increasingly unserviceable and expensive E-3Ds. “The chairman of the Defence Committee has written to the Minister of Defence Procurement to request that any requirement for replacing the UK's AWACS aircraft be put out to a competitive tender, rather than bought ‘off-the-shelf' with no competition taking place,” the committee declared on 3 July, adding: “On the possibility of Sentry being replaced with a new system, the [committee] notes the advantages of a competitive tender in terms of maximising value for money and allowing proper consideration of a range of alternatives. The committee also considers that a competition is particularly appropriate in this case, as there are viable alternatives available, which deserve to be given fair consideration.” The RAF currently has six E-3Ds in its operational fleet, with the type having entered service in 1991. While other operators of the type have benefited from regular upgrades, the RAF's fleet has fallen behind in terms of capabilities due to a lack of investment. In January 2017, the fleet was temporarily grounded due to an electrical fault, and despite an announcement in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of 2015 that the fleet would be upgraded and extended from 2025 to 2035, the legacy Boeing 707 host airframe is becoming too expensive to sustain and an alternative is understood to be being sought. http://www.janes.com/article/81497/uk-must-compete-future-surveillance-aircraft-procurement-parliament-states

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  August 3, 2018 | International, Land

  These Baltic nations could build Europe’s next ground drone

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — As European Union nations look to step up their defense-industrial projects, a trio of states on the Baltic Sea are looking to make a breakthrough in unmanned ground systems. Estonia, Latvia and Finland are pushing to develop land-based drones under the EU's Permanent Structure Cooperation framework, or PESCO, the nations announced Thursday. Between €30-40 million (U.S. $35-47 million) has been earmarked for use from the European Defence Fund to work on the project, while each of the three countries will contribute additional funds. The start date for the planned project is the first half of 2019. Launched in late 2017, PESCO seeks to help develop European-wide defense industries. Groups of nations can pitch the EU on different developments in order to secure initial funding from pooled resources. Although in its early stages, PESCO has been the topic of American concernover the potential of protectionist actions taken by the European defense market that could lock out American firms. EU nations are now looking to carve out market areas that could benefit their domestic defense-industrial bases, something acknowledged directly by Kusti Salm, director of the Estonian Defense Ministry's Defence Investments Department. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/08/02/these-baltic-nations-could-build-europes-next-ground-drone

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  November 14, 2023 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  RCAF's LGen Eric Kenny on the challenging transition to gain operational advantage - Skies Mag

  The RCAF is striving to gain operational advantage against peer adversaries by modernizing its capabilities and leveraging technology.