For Brazil being a BRIC doesn't seem to mean that you will have your own flag carrier airline. First Varig went leaving TAM which has now been taken over by Chile’s LAN Airlines to form Latam, now apparently the Wold’s second largest carrier.
Imagine if that happened in the UK it might be BAD
Brazil and Chile airlines merge
Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:25:57 GMT
Having staged a drag race between a Veyron and a Typhoon which the Veyron lost comprehensibly they have staged another between an Aventador and and a Viper (F-16). One less engine than a Typhoon so it should be pretty close. Maybe the car might win….
Porker One-six you are clear for take off.
Nah no way! Why do they keep doing this. Do they really think a car is going to be faster? Poor demented fools!
It’s been a long time coming but at last we know what the incomparable Caribou replacement will be.
And I heartily approve, believing from the word go that the Spartan would be the right choice.
But it still can’t do what the ‘bou ‘bou would do as the first aircrew to try and land it on an unprepared rising strip in the3 New Guinea Highlands will discover!
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) chose the Alenia C-27J Spartan to replace a fleet of 14 DHC-4 Caribou STOL airlifters that have already been retired. The 10-aircraft deal will be conducted via the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system, with L-3 acting as the prime contractor. Alenia and L-3 formed a partnership to sell the C-27J to the U.S. armed forces. The RAAF also evaluated the EADS CN-295 for the Air 8000 requirement.
The contract is worth about $1 billion, including support equipment and several years of training and logistics support. According to the Pentagon’s notice of potential sale, the aircraft will be equipped with a full U.S.-made electronic warfare suite. The notice added that the C-27Js will also help replace 12 C-130H airlifters that the RAAF plans to retire. The first C-27J will be delivered in 2015, with initial operating capability to follow by the end of 2016.
Alenia said that the aircraft will be new-build, thereby safeguarding the workforce in Italy. There had been speculation that the RAAF would be offered C-27Js being built for, or already flying with, the U.S. Air Force. That service decided last January to withdraw its fleet of C-27Js as a budget-cutting measure, having already received 13 of a planned total of 38. The decision has been challenged in Congress, and might be overturned.
May 11, 2012, 2:03 PM
Alenia C-27J Wins Australian Airlift Contest
Chris Pocock
Fri, 11 May 2012 15:10:00 GMT
The JSF woes continue. The good news (for the RAAF, the RAF and the RN) is that the US is not abandoning the most important fighter programme of the day. The bad news for the US is that they are not abandoning the most important fighter programme of the day.(probably)
Here’s your latest update on the unsinkable F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program’s flight testing from Lockheed Martin — who just yesterday received a $237 million contract from the Pentagon to fix design problems with the jet that were discovered during testing. Among the highlights of this announcement is the fact that the plane just passed [...] Here’s your latest update on the unsinkable F-35 Joint Strike
John Reed
Tue, 08 May 2012 17:51:39 GMT
Maybe we haven’t seen the last of Global Hawk quite yet
The US Air Force is paying Northrop Grumman $47 million to equip two more Block 20 RQ-4 Global Hawks with BACN. You know, the communications link that allows different types of datalinks to communicate with one another; allowing troops on the ground to easily share data with pilots in jets overhead even if they’re out of [...]
Get Ready for the EQ-4 Global Hawk
John Reed
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:01:34 GMT
The bi-annual Paris Air show is one of the premiere aerospace events ……in the World (as Jezzer would say). Here are its highlights in a minute courtesy of Defense News.
And here’s an F-16 beat up:
How’s this? Like having your own mini MV-22 Osprey without having to tilt the wings. Is that cool or is that cool?
This why you need to keep your seatbelt fastened on the ground in a passenger aircraft. How often have you undone your seatbelt before the captain “switches off the fasten seatbelt sign” Well don’t!
Watch the video.
BBC News - Air France jet clips small plane at New York airport
I have previously blogged about the need to replace the now withdrawn Harrier in the close air support role in Afghanistan and suggested that the AT-6 Texan would fit the bill.
Now Aviation Week has an extended video telling more about the idea.
The Russian SU-30 is famous for its “Cobra” manoeuvre but can it do a Flip?
Raptors rule OK.
The recent F-15E Strike Eagle crash in Libya highlights every aircrew person's fear that they will crash behind enemy lines, whether due to enemy action or mechanical failure.
In this case the latter seems to apply. By all accounts the crew were quickly rescued by US Marines in a complex operation that may have included exfiltration using a USMC MV-22 Osprey in one of its prime roles of combat search and rescue.
Whilst the Pentagon are heralding the rescue they are thin on the particulars as this video shows:
I have blogged before about the long drawn-out saga of KC-X, the USAF program [sic] to replace the ageing fleet of KC-135 aerial refuelling tankers (see USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract and Aussies Steal a March on the USAF ).
Now the evergreen and delightful Popular Mechanics provides a chronology of the tortured process U.S. Air Force Tanker - Boeing Governent Contract - Popular Mechanics
Well worth reading to find out how not to do it, how Boeing eventually won and how one person can be a national hero or a right pain in the butt depending on where you stand.
Flight International posts the result: [UPDATED]: USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract
Those of you with good memories will recall that in my post Aussies Steal a March on the USAF I bemoaned the fact that the USAF couldn’t seem to make up its mind on who should get the KC-X contract.
Well now it has and, surprise surprise, its Boeing with a modified B767 to enter service as the KC-46A, mostly because it was cheaper than the EADS A330 offering and has a lower T/O weight (see the main article for details).
The contract is worth $USD 35 billion and General Norton Schwartz the USAF Chief of Staff says “I’m pleased at how this produced an outcome … that we will get about delivering a capability that’s long overdue and we’ll stop talking about it.”
Meanwhile the RAAF is expecting delivery of its first Airbus A330 MRTT very soon.
Check out the World’s biggest fire extinguisher from Evergreen
Now isn’t that quite something. Need a couple permanently based in Melbourne during the fire season.
It seems that former Life Guard and international crooner James Blunt had a bad experience trying to get to a morale boosting concert in Afghanistan.
On the face of it everything that could go wrong at the hands of the RAF did and the concert had to be cancelled.
As former air force officer (in my case the RAAF) it really hurts to hear these tales of woe. Being a fighter jock is great and glamorous but the real projection of strategic power in the sorts of conflicts we chose to fight these days can only be achieved by the so called “trash haulers”. But it appears that they aren’t very good at it. A big size 12 boot up the arse is definitely required here.
At last the coalition seem to have taken a sensible procurement decision to forgo “Made in Britain” kit and acquire three US RC-135 W Rivet Joint aircraft for the joint electronic intelligence role. These will replace the ageing Nimrod R1s.
This will provide four advantages over the Nimrod:
Lets hope that the Government and its recently appointed new head of MoD procurement will will take lots more sensible defence procurement decisions rather than buying only British kit (because it keeps British jobs) like the previous and utterly incompetent government.
