December 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Mesa, Ariz., December 3, 2020 - MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI) announces an agreement with the U.S. Army worth about $34 million to provide logistics support for the Afghanistan Air Force MD 530F Cayuse Warrior light attack and reconnaissance helicopter fleet.
The deal is a continuation of MDHI's contractor logistics support (CLS) with the U.S. Army and Multi-National Aviation Special Project Office (MASPO) for the fleet.
Under the terms of the contract, MDHI will provide maintenance, repairs, updates, and overhauls of the aircraft in Mesa, Arizona, and Kabul, Afghanistan. The estimated completion date for all work is May 31, 2021.
“This contract illustrates the Army's and MASPO's continued confidence in MD Helicopters' ability to successfully manage our CLS contract,” says Nick Nenadovic, Vice President of Aftermarket and Customer Support for MD Helicopters, Inc. “We have delivered 60 aircraft to the Afghan Air Force and we maintain a vested interest in ensuring the highest level of support to keep the entire fleet mission ready.”
The enhanced MD 530F Cayuse Warrior is a light armed attack helicopter revered for its power, safety, speed, agility, and unparalleled confined area capabilities. The aircraft supports a wide range of training and operational missions, providing safe, efficient multi-mission support with an increased performance profile.
View source version on MD Helicopters, Inc. : https://www.mdhelicopters.com/md-helicopters-secures-$34-million-army-contract.html
June 9, 2021 | International, Aerospace
The United Kingdom has selected the Lockheed Martin AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) for its Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian fleet. The Ministry of Defence has opted to equip its AH-64E Apache fleet with the US-built JAGM missile rat...
July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace
by Pat Host General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) in March and April 2020 demonstrated three expanded automatic take-off and landing capability (ATLC) enhancements for its MQ-9A Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). One improvement enables the aircraft to land at an alternate, or divert, airfield in which no ground control station (GCS) is present while also under satellite communication (satcom) control, GA-ASI announced on 25 June. With the divert landing enhancement, the remote pilot can enter the new landing area co-ordinates to automatically land at the selected location. The pilot can also overfly and self-survey the divert airfield's runway using the Reaper's multispectral electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor to obtain co-ordinates for an automatic landing. Once uploaded to the MQ-9A's mission profile, the Reaper's aircrew enables the ATLC system, which allows the aircraft to automatically manoeuvre itself into a landing pattern and make the automatic landing. This enhancement will enable operational Reapers to land at alternate airfields on their own because of poor weather, changing mission requirements, or damaged runways, GA-ASI president David Alexander said in a 25 June statement. GA-ASI demonstrated this aerial runway survey capability on 23-24 April at GA-ASI's Gray Butte flight operations facility near Palmdale, California, a company spokesman said on 29 June. The second enhancement expands the cross-wind limits of the MQ-9A. The third improvement increases the maximum landing weight for normal and emergency landings. The heavyweight landings were demonstrated throughout March and April at the Southern California Logistics Airfield in Victorville, California. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/general-atomics-develops-mq-9-reaper-automatic-take-off-and-landing-enhancements
March 3, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval
The Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office received a$309.5 million Navy contract to deliver four CMV-22B Osprey helicopters, the Defense Department said last week.