October 29, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
July 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace
India’s first batch of Rafale fighters is on its way from France
PARIS – The first five of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft bought by India from France's Dassault Aviation are being flown from the manufacturing plant by Indian Air Force pilots to India between July 27-29.
The three single-seater and two twin-seater aircraft are slated to make the trip in two stages, with air-to-air refueling during the first leg provided by a French Air Force A330 Phenix MRTT tanker.
Also accompanying the Rafales is a second MRTT carrying 70 respirators, 100,000 test kits and 10 military health professionals to help India with its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pilots took off from the Dassault Aviation Mérignac facility near Bordeaux in western France and will land at Ambala Air Force Station in northern India, some 125 miles north of Delhi, on July 29, according to the Indian Air Force official Twitter account.
The first leg is to the Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates where the aircraft landed on Monday afternoon.
They were sent off in the presence of Shri Jawed Ashraf, the Indian ambassador to France, and Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, who saluted the “amazing efficiency and determination of the Indian Air Force and Indian Ministry of Defense, despite this unprecedented world health crisis” to ensure that the program remained on track.
The Indian Air Force team flying the aircraft have been training in France for almost three years. The aircraft will integrate into the country's No 17 Squadron, dubbed “Golden Arrows.”
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February 13, 2024 | International, Land
Aurora Engineering Partnership awarded £13m contract by Defence Equipment and Support to provide specialist maritime combat systems
This new four-year contract award will provide the combat systems teams in DE&S Ship Acquisition NSDG with essential engineering outputs. QinetiQ will lead this work, which includes expertise from BMT and...
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November 24, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Airbus keen to play key role in ‘European answer’ to new NATO rotorcraft program
BY OLIVER JOHNSON | NOVEMBER 23, 2020 Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even says the OEM “should play a key role” in a recently-announced program to develop Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities signed by five NATO member countries. France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom announced the launch of the program on Nov. 19. One of NATO's “high visibility projects,” it seeks to develop a replacement for medium multirole helicopters currently in operation that are expected to reach the end of their lifecycle around 2035 to 2040. “I'm convinced that there should be a European answer,” Even told journalists during a recent conference call. “I'm convinced that we have the competencies, the capability in Europe, to answer to the requirement and the need of our European customers.” The program echoes the origin of the NHIndustries NH90, which was developed collaboratively by Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo Helicopters, and Fokker Aerostructures in response to a NATO requirement for a medium multi-role helicopter. “We like to come at open level, which means that as we did with NH90, Airbus Helicopters should play a key role, but should also be ready to partner, and to cooperate for such a future European program,” said Even. “I think it's fair to consider that there should be a European answer, not only because we have the competence and the capability . . . but it's also a question of [the] strategic autonomy of Europe.” Over 420 NH90s have been delivered to 18 customers in 13 countries — including France, Germany, Greece and Italy. However, Even said he did not see the newly-announced program necessarily providing a replacement to the NH90 itself. “The need could be also to complement some of the [customer fleets'] existing capability — the NH90, Tiger and so on — which will continue to fly through 2040/2050,” he said. “The need could be to complement these platforms/programs with a new type of architecture in order to bring a new capability, either in terms of autonomy, connectivity, speed, [or] range.” Experts from the five participant nations are to meet to define a statements of requirements and a multi-phase cooperation plan, beginning a multi-year program of work. “I think it's good to see that reflection not only for short- or medium-, but also for long-term requirements,” said Even. “As an industry, you need this long-term view on the evolution of the requirement in order to have time not only to mature technologies, but also to mature [the] architecture, and to be in position to launch the program when the need will be there.” https://verticalmag.com/news/airbus-keen-to-play-key-role-in-european-answer-to-new-nato-rotorcraft-program/