12 February - LTC Ballinger- EATC

This week around 80 subject matter experts from the 11 nations participating in EATT 15 met at the EATC in Eindhoven to define the training objectives for the largest Air Transport exercise in Europe.

From 14 - 26 June 2015, the Air Transport community will meet in Beja (Portugal) to run its yearly European Air Transport Training.

Based on the training requirements and training objectives fixed by the participants, the experts from the EATC will build an exercise scenario including Intel, Air- and Ground threats, Aeromedical Evacuation, Personnel- and Material drop as well as Combined Air Terminal Operations.

The training will start with academics and basic Familiarization Flights but will rapidly evolve to more complex Multiship Missions and Combined Air Operations (COMAO).

Participation:

In total, aircraft and crews from 12 countries will take part in the training.

Participating nations are:

    Belgium (1x C-130H)

    Germany (1x C-160D)

    Finland (1x C-295)

    France (1x C-130H, 1x CN-235)

    Italy (1x C-130J)

    Lituania (1x C-27J)

    the Netherlands (1x C-130H)

    Portugal (1x C-130H, 1x C-295)

    Romania (1x C-27J)

    Sweden (2x C-130H)

    the United Kingdom (1x C-130J)

Organization:

EATT is an EDA initiative under the umbrella of the EATF and supported by the Host Nation, by EATC, AATTC, EAG and JAPCC

March 05, 2015 defense-aerospace.com

The A400M Atlas, the Royal Air Force’s newest airlift aircraft, delivered a cargo of vital freight into Cyprus this week on its first operational mission as it prepares for initial operational capability later this year.

The aircraft, ‘City of Bristol’, flew into RAF Akrotiri delivering operational freight, making this training flight also Atlas’ first operational tasking. In the Captain’s seat on this historic flight was 24 Squadron pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jamie “JJ” Jackson. He said:

“This flight was incredibly significant for the RAF demonstrating the capability of the aircraft and that we are able to use it to support operations even before we are declared operational. Once we were airborne the aircraft performed well throughout all phases of flight and was great to fly.”

Destined to replace the C130 Hercules, the Atlas is a significantly larger aircraft that has been designed to project tactical air mobility capabilities at range, direct to the point of need. Wing Commander Simon Boyle, Officer Commanding 70 Squadron, said:

“This task illustrates how we are developing the use of the aircraft in this early period. We have been able to support defence operations whilst continuing to grow the experience of our Force’s aircrew instructors, before they begin to train the crews destined for 70 Squadron later this year.”

The aircraft’s load consisted of a variety of freight. Speaking at the Atlas’ UK base at RAF Brize Norton, Simon added:

“The delivery of operational freight is central to the mission of the Atlas Force. This is an important step towards the declaration of an initial strategic Air Transport capability on Atlas in RAF service, and bodes well for 70 Squadron becoming operational as the front-line Atlas squadron later this year.”

Also taking part in the aircraft’s first operational flight was 70 Squadron’s Senior Loadmaster, Master Aircrewman Ian Price. He said:

“Given Akrotiri’s pivotal role as a staging post for the RAF, this trip has provided a fantastic opportunity for us to work alongside the movements team here as we continue to develop our understanding of the impressive payload capabilities of our new aircraft.”

source Strategy Page

A P-38 Lightning, two F-86 Sabres and an F-22 Raptor fly in formation together during the 2015 Heritage Flight Training and Certification Course at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Feb. 28, 2015. During the course, aircrews practiced ground and flight training to enable civilian pilots of historic military aircraft and U.S. Air Force pilots of current fighter aircraft to fly safely in formations together. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Courtney Richardson)

03/04/2015  by Joseph Carpenter - DefenceIQ

An RFP is being prepared by the Royal Netherlands Army for a replacement system to its 25-strong AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven UAV fleet with an expected issue date of early 2015.

The Raven support contract is coming to an end and the senior UAS adviser to the commander of the army has identified three user groups that would benefit from a small UAV capability, as revealed in December at Defence IQ’s UAS Training and Simulation conference in London. These groups are the country’s Special Forces (including the marines) with up to a one-hour endurance; reconnaissance units with a mid-range operating requirement; and national security forces with up to a three-hour endurance need. The military police are also anticipating an unmanned rotary-wing capability. It is therefore believed that any new system, which is likely to enter service at the end of 2015, would need to offer modular options to support a variety of payloads.

Among the requirements for the new fleet is the need for new flight simulators (both fixed and mobile), alongside maintenance, lifecycle support and potentially instructorship. The Army is also currently undertaking concept work on a flapping-wing micro-UAV for infantry to deploy on short reconnaissance missions.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Air Force currently operates the larger medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) MQ-9 Reaper by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The Navy is also likely to seek a ship-based surveillance UAV capability within the next two years.

05.03.2015 David Greenwald - Eden Sharon -IAF

An advanced GPS system, which allows accurate navigation of airdrop equipment to ground forces, will soon enter IAF service

The system consists of a parachute, GPS device and the airdrop equipment, can navigate supply in the weight of up to one 1 ton to a pre-set destination. The mission is pre-planned by a computer and the system can also be controlled by a remote control which allows piloting and tracking of the cargo.

With the system it will be possible to track the exact location of the cargo while in air, perform location adjustments or even set up a new destination point. The engineers of the IAF Flight Test Center are now conducting final inspections prior to the system's operational activation.

The testers examine the factors that can affect the ability of the cargo to reach the pre-determined destination: preferable altitudes for airdrop, weight limits and the effect of strong winds on performances.

"This system has an utmost operational value. It will allow airdropping equipment and food from much higher altitudes, an ability which will improve the stealth capabilities of the cargo plane and the accuracy of the parachuting", says Lieutenant Y, an engineer from the IAF Flight Test Center, in charge of the tests. "We expect a correlation between the defined waypoint and the results in the field without any particular difficulties".

5 mars 2015 Quelle: Redaktion der Bundeswehr 15E10508 03/2015

February 27, 2015: Strategy Page

In late 2014 Britain certified (configured and tested) their Paveway IV smart bomb to operate from their new Typhoon fighter bombers. The Paveway IV was developed in Britain and is not used by the U.S. Air Force or Navy. Introduced in 2008, over a thousand 500 pound (228 kg) Paveway IVs have been dropped in combat so far. These were dropped by the older Tornado fighter-bomber. Saudi Arabia, the one export customer for Paveway IV has used them on their Typhoons recently against targets in Syria.

In the U.S. JDAM and other GPS-only weapons are much more popular, although some Paveway I, II, III type bombs are still used. The original Paveway laser guided smart bombs were developed in the United States but a British manufacturer obtained a license to develop a variant (Paveway IV) that met standards the Royal Air Force wanted (like GPS and inertial guidance in addition to the original laser guidance). The JDAM is a later and cheaper guided bomb design that uses GPS rather than laser. Paveway was developed in the 1960s, when there were no GPS satellites but lasers were new and it was now possible to use laser guidance in a bomb. GPS did not become available until two decades after the first Paveway entered service.

The U.S. and Britain jointly develop more upgrades for the Paveway IV. These include a low explosive model (to limit collateral damage), another model has a penetrator cap (to hit underground bunkers) which is a novel feature for a 228 kg bomb. There are also improvements in the American anti-jamming technology as well as the laser seeker technology.

The Paveway system is actually a kit that is attached to an unguided bomb. The 50.5 kg (111 pound) Paveway kit contains guidance electronics, computers, and battery powered winglets. But to work the carrying aircraft must have a fire control system that enables the pilot to get the GPS data (received from troops on the ground) into the Paveway IV equipped bomb.

Once attached to a one ton, half ton, or quarter ton bomb, the Paveway IV can achieve precise (within a meter or less) accuracy using a laser designator. Now there is also GPS guidance to land within ten meters (31 feet) of the aiming point. The U.S. firm that manufactures the Paveway bombs, Raytheon, has produced over 250,000 kits so far, of which about twenty percent have been used in combat with great success.

Earlier versions of Paveway did not have GPS. Most just only had laser guidance. Britain has since added GPS to Paveway IV. While more accurate, laser guidance requires that someone on the ground or in the air be shining a laser on the target. The Paveway then homes in on the reflected laser light (of a particular frequency). GPS guided bombs can hit the target under bad weather conditions and only have to worry about jamming of the GPS satellite signal.

04/03/2015 Pascal Rabiller – LaTribune.fr

François Hollande est venu à Mérignac visiter l’atelier d’assemblage du Rafale dont il est le premier président de la République à avoir accompagné une signature de contrat à l’export. Au pied des Rafale en cours d’assemblage, le président a prononcé un discours pendant lequel il a fait part de son espoir de voir l’industrie et l’économie française décoller.

C'était une première.

Pour la première fois depuis sa création, le site Dassault de Mérignac a reçu un président de la République française. C'était à 14h pile, une arrivée en Falcon présidentiel, saluée par un passage au ralenti d'un Rafale suivi d'une remise des gaz aussi spectaculaire que tonitruante, quelques centaines de mètre au-dessus des têtes de la délégation. Pas un de ceux qui prendront prochainement la direction de l'Égypte dans le cadre du tout premier contrat export signé il y a quelques semaines. Non, les trois premiers exemplaires qui seront livrés à l'Égypte, sans vraiment le savoir, c'est dans l'atelier d'assemblage des Rafale, le Hall A, que le président de la République les a croisés.

En effet, les trois premiers exemplaires de la commande signée pour 24 exemplaires seront livrés dès cet été. Il s'agit de trois Rafale qui sont actuellement en cours d'assemblage, qui étaient initialement prévus pour l'armée française, mais qui prendront la direction du Caire.

Suite de l’article

04/03/2015 Cne Karim Djemaï - Armée de l'Air

L’avion de transport tactique avait pourtant décollé le 3 mars de la base aérienne 186 de Tontouta en Nouvelle-Calédonie… Ce décalage horaire inhabituel s’explique par le franchissement de la ligne de changement de date. Cette ligne imaginaire, tirée à la surface de la Terre, longe approximativement le 180^e méridien, situé légérement à l’est des îles Tonga et Samoa. Une fois traversée vers l’Est, il convient de changer de date et de retrancher un jour.

Au cours de son vol entre la Nouvelle-Calédonie et la Polynésie française, l’équipage de l’Atlas s’est également posé sur l’aéroport de Wallis, avant de redécoller aussitôt vers Tahiti. Le but de ce poser consistait à valider le terrain de Wallis et tester la compatibilité de la piste avec les caractéristiques de l’appareil. 

Curiosité locale pour le « petit » nouveau de l’armée de l’air

Une fois arrivée en terre polynésienne, l’Atlas a, comme à chacune des étapes de son tour du monde, remporté un très large succès.

Emmenées par le contre-amiral Bernard-Antoine Morio de l’Isle, commandant supérieur des forces armées de la Polynésie française (FAPF), les troupes militaires de l’île se sont pressées pour apercevoir l’« imposant petit dernier » arrivé dans l’armée de l’air. Certaines des plus hautes autorités civiles étaient également présentes, comme M. Lionel Beffre, haut commissaire de la République en Polynésie française.

Zoom sur les FAPF

En raison de l’éloignement géographique et de la dispersion des cinq archipels polynésiens (Marquises, Tuamotu, la Société, Gambier et Australes), les forces armées de Polynésie française (FAPF) constituent un dispositif aéromaritime de premier plan sur le théâtre Pacifique, en coordination avec les forces armées de Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC). Sur le détachement air 190 de Tahiti Faa’a, l’armée de l’air met en œuvre deux avions de transport tactique Casa CN235, au sein de l’escadron de transport 82 « Maine ».

Plus d’informations sur le site de l’état-major des armées.

02/03/2015  par Guillaume Belan – Air & Cosmos

Alors que le salon International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) vient de fermer ses portes aux Emirats Arabes Unis, Abu Dhabi annonce avoir signé un contrat avec Boeing de 618 millions de dollars pour l'achat de deux avions de transport militaire C-17.

Suite de l'article

02 March 2015 ptvnews.ph

Come December this year, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will be flying and using two South Korean-made F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" to defend the country's airspace.

The fighter jets would be part of the 12 F/A-50 bought for Php 18.9 billion by the Philippines under a purchase deal with Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI), signed in March 2013.

The two jet fighters are expected to be delivered by December while the rest of the 10 F/A-50s by 2016.

"We are looking at the early delivery of two F/A-50s. They will be combat and mission ready upon their arrival this December," Department of National Defense (DND) undersecretary for finance, modernization and materiel Fernando Manalo said on Monday in an interview with the PNA.

Mission ready means that the aircraft can fly immediately and do patrol and interception missions if needed.

Earlier, Philippine Air Force spokesperson Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya said that the soon-to-be commissioned F/A-50s, with relatively updated radar systems onboard, would do autonomous air patrols without relying too much on ground based surveillance systems.

"(The F/A-50s) has its own onboard radar systems so it can detect (any hostile air threats) while on patrol," he said.

Canaya declined to give the specifics of the F/A-50's radar systems for security reasons but stressed that it is quite adequate for air patrol work.

This feature of the South Korean made jet fighter has greatly boosted the air defense capabilities of the PAF which was greatly reduced with the decommissioning of its Northrop F-5 "Tiger" jet fighter squadrons and Vought F-8 "Crusader" fleet, in 2005 and 1988, respectively.

This was done due to air frame aging and lack of spare parts to keep the two planes on operational status.

WIth the deactivation of its two premier supersonic jet fighters, the PAF was forced to convert the SIAI-Marchetti S-211 jet trainers for an air defense role.

However, the S-211s are ill-suited for air defense work due to their slow speeds.

The DND earlier said that the radar systems onboard the F/A-50s was one of the many pluses why the Philippines opted to acquire 12 units of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) made jet fighter over its many competitors.

The F/A-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and a half times the speed of sound and is capable of being fitted air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles aside from light automatic cannons.

The F/A-50 will act as the country's interim fighter until the Philippines get enough experience of operating fast jet assets and money to fund the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.

The F/A-50 design is largely derived from the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", and they have many similarities: use of a single engine, speed, size, cost, and the range of weapons.

KAI's previous engineering experience in license-producing the KF-16 was a starting point for the development of the F/A-50.

The aircraft can carry two pilots in tandem seating. The high-mounted canopy developed by Hankuk Fiber is applied with stretched acrylic, providing the pilots with good visibility, and has been tested to offer the canopy with ballistic protection against four-pound objects impacting at 400 knots.

The altitude limit is 14,600 meters (48,000 feet), and airframe is designed to last 8,000 hours of service.

There are seven internal fuel tanks with capacity of 2,655 liters (701 US gallons), five in the fuselage and two in the wings.

An additional 1,710 liters (452 US gallons) of fuel can be carried in the three external fuel tanks.

Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.

The F/A-50 uses a single General Electric F404-102 turbofan engine license-produced by Samsung Techwin, upgraded with a full authority digital engine control system jointly developed by General Electric and Korean Aerospace Industries.

The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage arrangement, and an afterburner.

Its engine produces a maximum of 78.7 kilonewton (17,700 pound force) of thrust with afterburner.

02/03/2015 Cne Karim Djemaï - Armée de l'air

Dans la soirée de samedi 28 février 2015, l’A400M Atlas s’est posé en terre néo-calédonienne, pour la première fois de son histoire. À l’échelle de ce petit pays et de ses 270 000 habitants, c’est un événement considérable !

Le nouvel avion tactique à allonge stratégique de l’armée de l’air a atterri sur la base aérienne 186 de Tontouta, après avoir parcouru les 19 000 kilomètres de distance et la dizaine de fuseaux horaires séparant la Nouvelle-Calédonie de sa base d’attache, à Orléans-Bricy. Durant quelques jours, le plus jeune avion de l’armée de l’air, dans les forces depuis août 2013, fait donc escale sur la plus jeune base aérienne française, créée en 2011.

Trois tonnes de fret acheminées

À son arrivée à Nouméa, peu avant minuit, le personnel de l’Atlas a déchargé trois tonnes de fret destinées aux forces armées de Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC). Malgré l’heure tardive, le colonel Antoine Sadoux, commandant la base aérienne 186, était présent pour accueillir en personne les équipages de l’armée de l’air. « C’est une page supplémentaire de l’histoire du terrain de Tontouta qui s’écrit, confie le colonel. L’Atlas est en train de changer nos modes de ravitaillement depuis la métropole, et en cas de besoin opérationnel, il pourra désormais appuyer considérablement les missions qui nous sont confiées : assistance humanitaire lors d’une catastrophe naturelle, évacuation de ressortissants… »

Un flot continu de visiteurs

Jusqu’à son départ programmé mercredi 3 mars 2015, l’Atlas est une attraction majeure du « Caillou ». Plusieurs centaines de personnes se succèdent sur la base aérienne : militaires accompagnés de leurs familles, personnalités et élus locaux dont Vincent Bouvier, haut commissaire de la République et Cynthia Ligeard, présidente du gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Chacun espère pouvoir approcher de près le nouvel avion de transport militaire français ! Après cette escale néo-calédonienne, qui fait suite à la participation au salon aéronautique d’Avalon (Australie), l’Atlas poursuivra ensuite sa « route vers l’Est », lancé désormais à travers l’Océan Pacifique.

La base aérienne 186 de Tontuta : la plus jeune base aérienne de l’armée de l’air

Tout au long de l’année, la base aérienne 186 de Nouméa abrite deux avions de transport Casa CN-295, ainsi que trois hélicoptères Puma regroupés au sein de l’escadron de transport 52 « Tontouta ». Au total, environ 180 personnes opèrent sur ce site de l’armée de l’air.

Opérant en coordination avec les forces armées de Polynésie Française (FAPF) (orientées vers les interventions maritimes), les forces armées de Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC) représentent le principal point d’appui aéroterrestre du « théâtre Pacifique ». Elles ont pour mission d’assurer la souveraineté de la France dans sa zone de responsabilité, d’animer la coopération régionale et d’entretenir des relations privilégiées avec l’ensemble des pays riverains de la zone Pacifique.

Pour plus d’informations sur les FANC, consultez le site de l’état-major des armées ou la page des forces armées de Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC) et sur Facebook.