Seen here in US Army service, the UH-60M Black Hawk will soon be flown by the Hellenic Army also, following the signing of an LOA for 35 helicopters. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  Greece has joined the international UH-60M Black Hawk programme, with the announcement on 5 April that it signed a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) for 35 of the medium-lift helicopters.  Lockheed Martin disclosed the milestone some four months after the US government approved the approximately USD1.95 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) in December 2023. This figure...

Australia has ended the deployment of its E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft that had been operating over Europe since July 2023. (Commonwealth of Australia)  The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has withdrawn its Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft that had been deployed to Europe to help oversee military and humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.  The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) announced on 2 April that the aircraft had completed its planned six-month deployment out of Ramstein Air Base in Germ...

A US Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeye demonstrating its aerial refuelling capability. (Northrop Grumman)    The E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft has been the eyes of US Navy carrier strike groups for more than 60 years. The newest variant, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, brings the latest technology into the platform that can confront threats anywhere in the world, Janice Zilch, Northrop Grumman's vice-president for multi-domain command and control, told   Janes  on 5 April, ahead of the Navy League Sea-Air...

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket (pictured) launched South Korea's second reconnaissance satellite on 7 April. The satellite is equipped with a SAR payload that can capture high resolution images of strategic areas of interests. (SpaceX)  South Korea has launched a second reconnaissance satellite to strengthen military preparedness against possible threats from North Korea.  South Korea's Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced on 8 April that this synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite was carried into space using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, wh...

An MQ-4C maritime unmanned aerial vehicle in flight. (Northrop Grumman)  Northrop Grumman's MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft achieved initial operational capability (IOC) with the latest multi-intelligence (multi-INT) Integrated Functional Capability–4 (IFC-4) in August 2023. The first orbit of four air vehicles is operating with 7th Fleet out of Guam.    Since reaching IOC, the MQ-4C is meeting the fleet's mission capability rate requirement and has become an integral ISR capab...

The earthquake in Taiwan affected infrastructure at Hualien city and also damaged Lockheed Martin F-16V aircraft (pictured) at the airport. This representative photo from August 2022 shows two F-16Vs at the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) base in the airport. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)  The Taiwanese government has said the 3 April earthquake in the country damaged eight combat aircraft of the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF).  In a statement on 4 April, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the earthquake resulted...

The GM400α radar from Thales is replacing the MPR (pictured) in Nieuw Milligen while the new Herwijnen radar station is fitted with the long-range SMART-L Multi-Mission/Fixed system. (Netherlands Ministry of Defence )  The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) has retired its 52-year-old Medium Power Radar (MPR) based in Nieuw Milligen, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 2 April.  The MPR in Nieuw Milligen has been in service since 1971, supporting the RNLAF Nieuw Milligen air operations control station (AOCS) with air surve...

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Starlink payload launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 17 December 2022. (US Space Force)  The US Department of Defense (DoD), for the first time, has issued guidance on how the Pentagon will continue to and possibly accelerate integration of commercial, space-based technologies into the department's national security space architecture.  The 2024 Commercial Space Integration Strategy, released on 2 March, establishes the “foundational principles, priorities, and approaches” that the DoD will leverage a...

South Korea seeks to acquire the KAI KF-21 (pictured) to replace its ageing Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) F-4 Phantom and Northrop F-5 Tiger fleet. (KAI)  A South Korean announcement of an estimated KRW7.92 trillion (USD5.85 billion) production plan for the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 Boramae covers 40 aircraft, weapons, and associated costs, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.    A DAPA spokesperson told   Janes   on 2 April that the estimated budget “is for the planning” of the KF-21 production...

In a recent demonstration to the ADF, Fleet Space Technologies applied the Beagle waveform technology to deliver push-to-talk capabilities using its Centauri 4 LEO satellite (pictured). (Fleet Space Technologies)  South Australia-based Fleet Space Technologies has used communications waveform technology Beagle to demonstrate satellite-enabled push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities to the Australian Defence Force (ADF).  Janes  understands Beagle is a design framework developed by Australian company Safety from Space to generate efficient radio...

The Japan MoD has disclosed two airborne ELINT flights by Chinese PLA aircraft near Japanese airspace on 26 and 27 March 2024. (Japan Ministry of Defense/Janes)  A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Guizhou WZ-7 Xianglong (Soaring Dragon) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was observed near Japanese airspace over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) for the first time.  This high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV appeared from the direction of the “continental area” on “the morning of 26 March 2024”, the Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.  A map is...

The first production Tejas Mk 1A takes off from the HAL airport in Bangalore on 28 March 2024. (HAL)    Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has test-flown its first production Tejas Mk 1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). However, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is unlikely to get the aircraft until mid-2024, an industry source told   Janes  .     According to HAL, the first production aircraft, serial no LA-5033, conducted an 18-minute successful sortie from the HAL airport in Bengaluru on 28 March. HAL intended to deliver at l...

Oron arriving at Nevatim Air Base in April 2023. (Israeli Air Force)  The Oron intelligence-gathering aircraft is carrying out missions in support of Operation ‘Iron Swords' against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on 26 March.  “The aircraft became operational quickly for use in Operation ‘Iron Swords' and has already recorded hundreds of operational flight hours and close to 100 sorties,” the MoD said in a statement.  Developed by the MoD's Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), Israe...

Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle taking off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on 21 March. The rocket carried a US satellite, which includes an experimental communications payload developed by the NZDF. (Rocket Lab)  The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has launched an experimental communications payload into orbit with the help of a research satellite developed by the US Navy's (USN's) Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).  This communications payload, named ‘Korimako', will “allow defence scientists to conduct space communicati...

This concept image of China's new attack helicopter, tentatively designated as Z-21, is based on photographs of the prototype aircraft in flight. (Janes)  China is developing a new attack helicopter that appears to be in the same weight class as the US Boeing AH-64 Apache and the Russian Mil Mi-28 Havoc.  Images of the new helicopter, which emerged on Chinese social media in March 2024, show an aircraft that is larger than the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) in-service AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) Changhe Aircraft Industr...

A screenshot from an Aselsan video showing its new AESA radar in an anechoic chamber prior to flight trials aboard an F-16. (Aselsan)  Aselsan revealed on 16 March that its domestically developed active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar made its maiden flight onboard a Turkish Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft.  The test was performed on 15 February aboard a test aircraft that also featured a mission computer developed by Aselsan.  The radar was designed with gallium nitride (GaN)-based chip technology, an...

Seen here in Italian service, the AW169M will soon be fielded by North Macedonia alongside the AW149 under a deal finalised on 26 March. (Bundesheer Fotos)  North Macedonia finalised its agreement to acquire eight new battlefield lift helicopters from Leonardo on 26 March, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on the same day.  The deal to buy four AW149 and four AW169M helicopters was signed between the North Macedonian Minister of Defence, Slavjanka Petrovska, and the vice-president of Leonardo, Cesare Cacha, in Skopje.  The milestone cam...

With many older aircraft coming to the end of their service lives, such as the F-4E Phantom II pictured, the Hellenic Air Force is to consolidate its combat types under plans announced by the country's defence minister. (Janes/Jamie Hunter)  Greece is to retire and sell off many of its older combat aircraft types under a “radical overhaul” of the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) announced by the government on 25 March.  Speaking on national media to mark Greece's Independence Day, Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said that the number of combat aircraft...

One of four Reaper UAVs now operated by the RNLAF. As well as doubling its fleet to eight, the Netherlands plans to upgrade its Reapers with a raft of enhanced capabilities. (Royal Netherlands Air Force)  The Netherlands is to equip its General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a raft of enhancements over the next three years, the manufacturer said on 27 March.  Following previously disclosed plans by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) to double its fleet size from four to eight...

The Bird AeroSystems defensive aids installation fitted to an A319 airliner (pictured here) of an undisclosed European operator. (Bird AeroSystems)  Bird AeroSystems has fitted its aircraft defensive aids system (DAS) for an undisclosed European A319 operator, likely the Hungarian Air Force (HuAF).  The Israeli company said on 27 March that its Self Protection Radar Electro-Optic System (SPREOS) directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) and Aeroshield Missile Protection System (AMPS) had been fitted to multiple A319 aircraft for an undisclosed...