27 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial
US State Department clears Australia to buy MQ-9B drones
The deal would allow Australia to buy up to 12 MQ-9B SkyGuardians.
30 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Saab delivers first Global Eye early-warning plane to UAE
By: Sebastian Sprenger
COLOGNE, Germany — Saab has delivered its first GlobalEye early-warning plane to the United Arab Emirates, the company announced Wednesday.
The aircraft arrived in Dubai during the late morning of April 29 following a brief stopover in Bulgaria on its way from Sweden, Saab CEO Micael Johansson said during a call with reporters.
The delivery caps four and a half years of work since the UAE and Saab signed a contract for three of the planes — modified Bombardier 6000 business jets equipped with Saab's Erieye long-range radar and other surveillance sensors.
Saab is advertising GlobalEye as able to provide ground, air and maritime surveillance in a single package.
“The delivery of the first GlobalEye is a major milestone for Saab, but also an important step in the history of airborne early warning and control,” Johansson said. “We have set a new standard for the market, and I am proud to say that we have delivered the most advanced airborne surveillance solution in the world to the United Arab Emirates.”
The company, which has been spared from work stoppages in Sweden caused elsewhere by the coronavirus pandemic, had to take “a number of mitigating actions” to prevent the virus from spreading during the actual handover and during the weeks leading up to it, Johansson said.
The measures included testing workers for the virus, quarantining them if warranted and retesting them afterward, according to Johansson.
Saab is still working to produce the additional two aircraft owed under the 2015 contract. Those would be delivered “rather shortly,” the executive told reporters, declining to be more specific.
The company is eyeing the potential sale of yet two more GlobalEye aircraft to the UAE. Such an option is included in the original deal, though details have yet to be finalized.
Johansson cited Finland and South Korea as countries also interested in the GlobalEye technology.
If Saab manages to drum up additional customers, future offerings are slated to include the Global 6500 jet as carriers, he said.
Sur le même sujet
-
-
11 juin 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Yokota airmen improve gas mask with 3D printer, potentially saving Air Force $8 million or more
By SETH ROBSON YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Tokyo-based airmen used a 3D printer and American ingenuity to modify a standard-issue gas mask into an aircraft oxygen system, potentially saving millions of dollars and improving aircrew safety. The idea of hooking up the M-50 joint-service, general-purpose mask to an aircraft was hatched during brainstorming sessions by airmen from Yokota's 374th Maintenance Squadron and 374th Operations Support Squadron. “We took the mask and added some off-the-shelf parts and some 3D-printed parts and converted it into a piece of equipment that can work in an aircraft,” said Senior Master Sgt. David Siemiet, an aircrew flight equipment superintendent. Gear used now — the Aircrew Eye/Respiratory Protection System, or AERPS — is expensive, heavy and fault prone with long waits for replacement parts, said C-130 Hercules pilot Capt. Matthew Kohl. When the ubiquitous, light and cheap M-50 is connected to an oxygen system, air flows through its chemical filters to the user, whose eyes are protected by goggles, Siemiet said. To build their prototype, the airmen looked at an Army system that hooks soldiers' masks to air blowers to overcome the stifling environment inside a battle tank. The airmen came up with a cap that blocks airflow into one side of the mask and an adaptor that allows it to attach to a hose that can be plugged into an oxygen system. The modification, which the airman call “AERPS Ultra,” uses a few standard parts and two components made on a 3D printer that aircraft materials technology craftsman Sen. Airman David Petrich bought for a few hundred dollars of his own money. It costs only about 75 cents to modify one mask, and the project has the potential to save the Air Force at least $8 million and countless man hours, according to Tech. Sgt. Eric Lundeen, another aircraft materials technology craftsman involved in the project. The M-50 weighs less than a pound, a lot less than the 40 pounds of chemical-protection gear now used by aircrew. Unlike the current system, the lighter masks don't need a power supply that must be hooked to on-board electricity and uses expensive batteries, Petrich said. “You can wear the mask onto the plane and latch in and you are good to go,” he said. The mask modifications can be done on base without the need to pay a contractor, Siemiet added. https://www.stripes.com/news/yokota-airmen-improve-gas-mask-with-3d-printer-potentially-saving-air-force-8-million-or-more-1.531504
-
29 août 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Pentagon’s Shyu to discuss missile defense partnerships with Australia
Heidi Shyu said a visit to Australia this summer started a conversation about how the two countries might partner on air and missile defense projects.