2018-01-10 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach facility on October 26, 2017, I had a chance to visit what seems at first blush a rather odd sight for a helicopter testing program, namely, a fully operational CH-53K, except for one thing. It does not fly,…
2018-01-06 By Todd Miller In an encounter that could be described, “AgilePod meets AgilePlatform” the USAF AgilePod was recently fitted to a Textron Aviation Defense LLC Scorpion jet. The test fitment took place December 21, 2017 at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB. The event showcased both the…
2018-01-06 The Sea Ceptor is a sea-based supersonic missile defence system developed by MBDA for the UK’s Royal Navy. The Sea Ceptor is based on MBDA’s common anti-air modular missile (CAMM). CAMM is being developed in three versions – CAMM (M) for maritime, CAMM (L) for land and CAMM (A)…
2017-12-082017-11-20 The new Queen Elizabeth class carrier is the largest warship ever built in the United Kingdom. While most of the focus of the press coverage has been on the process of building the carrier and now its sea trials, the carrier is coming at a very interesting point in…
2017-11-14 UK Minister for Defence Procurement, Harriett Baldwin is visiting her counterparts in Australia. According to a UK Ministry of Defence story published on November 13, 2017, the UK and Australia are stepping up their defense relationship. Amongst the discussions was a meeting with her Australian counterpart, Minister Christopher Pyne,…
2017-11-10 By Robbin Laird The F-35 undergoes final assembly and checkout at three plants around the world – in Italy, in Japan and in Fort Worth, Texas. The Italian and Japanese lines are low rate production lines whereas the Fort Worth line is the high rate production facility. The Fort Worth…
2017-11-10 By Robbin Laird The transformation of Marine Corps aviation and with innovations in terms of the ability of the Marines to operate at greater distance, speed and more effectively in distributed operations began with the Osprey. The F-35B is now being added to the force and it provides, sensing,…
2017-11-12 An important aspect of the F-35 final assembly facility in Fort Worth is the capability to produce three variants of the aircraft on the same assembly line. Now that capability has been demonstrated off of the Italian line as the first F-35B built outside of the United States came…