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12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

Croatia should buy some of those Macron's offer 4M$ Mirage F-1 and use everything they had on the 159 to pimp the venerable Mach2 wonder.

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12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

RAF Nato row after 'totally unacceptable' engine problems keep £2.6bn [A400M] fleet on the ground


[...]MoD’s Minister for Procurement, said that after an “extremely robust meeting” the problems with the A400M aircraft should be fixed by next year.

Concerns have been raised over the new aircraft since its inception in 2003. A recent Defence Select Committee was told that engineering staff at RAF Brize Norton called the aircraft “a dog” and that on occasion only two out of the fleet of 20 aircraft were serviceable.

In 2015 one A400M aircraft crashed in Spain during a test flight, killing four crew members. A software fault, since rectified, was found to be the cause of the crash.
[...]
n Parliament this week Mark Francois, a former Defence Minister, said: “We have paid £2.6 billion for an aircraft with appalling reliability, bad engines, a virtually broken gearbox, problem propellers, massive vibration problems and an inability to deliver paratroops.”

The former Minister of Defence asked what could be done about the “emerging procurement disaster”.

Mr Andrew replied: “The performance has been totally unacceptable. We are now expecting EuroProp International, the engine manufacturer, to be more empowered to negotiate the support solutions that we need.

Source:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ as sourced from the https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/

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18 years 3 months

Posts: 5,267

Croatia kicks off MRCA procurement process

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/204303/croatia-kicks-off-fighter-procurement-process.html

I hope their budget will only only cover something Russian or a light single-engine fighter eg F-16, Gripen, F/A-50. I find it tedious when everyone under the sun is involved in a selection process where the customer cannot possibly afford a medium western twin or F-35.

Well I think you are going to be disappointed, Croatia wants to align its armed forces with the West and NATO. There is no way they are going to buy a Russian type, they have already expressed strong interest in the F-16 which is a very sensible choice.

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12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

Luftwaffe deploys A400M tanker for first time (in Jordan):

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12 years 3 months

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Nearly All F-15Es Photographed Arriving In Middle East Carried Dragon's Eye Radar Pods:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28924/nearly-all-f-15es-photographed-arriving-in-middle-east-carried-dragons-eye-radar-pods

The pod is self-contained and carries a stabilized AESA radar that rotates around the pod's center axis as well as geo-positioning and cooling systems. As such, it can work as a side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), taking high detailed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) maps of an area the Strike Eagle flies parallel too or even over, with near photo-like fidelity. In fact, it is supposedly so sensitive that it can detect roadside and semi-buried IEDs and possibly even groups of people on foot. It is also rumored to be able to generate ground-moving target indicator (GMTI) geolocation data on vehicles, such as trucks and armor, or vessels at sea.

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5 years 10 months

Posts: 333

I was going to post these in the Indian AF thread but it is still closed for review...

First run of 25kN turbofan engine
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/boost-for-make-in-india-hals-25-kn-aero-engine-completes-inaugural-run-can-be-used-for-trainer-aircraft/articleshow/50173767.cms

France is pushing India to jointly finish Kaveri (and they are saying ~30% of the work still needs to be done! Ouch!)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/france-offers-eur-1-billion-to-revive-indias-combat-jet-engine-project/articleshow/53036894.cms?from=mdr

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13 years 3 months

Posts: 3,337

I was going to post these in the Indian AF thread but it is still closed for review...

First run of 25kN turbofan engine
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/50173767.cms

France is pushing India to jointly finish Kaveri (and they are saying ~30% of the work still needs to be done! Ouch!)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...4.cms?from=mdr

The news items are from July 2018.

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5 years 10 months

Posts: 333

[USER="30740"]BlackArcher[/USER] - Well egg on my face. I only follow flightglobal and a few other sites regularly. Mostly, I've tried to keep this thread alive with quick searches. I'll be more carefull.

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12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

I am looking for someone to say its news at the pace of Indian procurement... :rolleyes:

Member for

5 years 10 months

Posts: 333

USAF and UK MOD start work to prepare for F-35 at Lakenheath
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-starts-construction-of-permanent-f-35-base-in-e-459697/

F-22 and F-35 to miss 80% mission capability rate
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/lockheed-martin-f-35-and-f-22-to-miss-80-mission-ca-459725/

B-2 Spirit 30th anniversary
https://defence-blog.com/news/u-s-air-force-commemorates-the-30th-anniversary-of-b-2-test-flight.html

AC-130U completes its final combat deployment (I never understood why they jumped from 'H' to 'U')
https://defence-blog.com/news/u-s-air-forces-spooky-gunship-completed-its-final-combat-deployment.html