Military Aviation News and Discussion

Only the ones supporting ground forces. They're keeping the maritime ones.

swerve said:

Only the ones supporting ground forces. They're keeping the maritime ones.

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Are they using the ground forces NH90s for spares (assume some commonality with the maritime units) or are they getting rid of them?

I guess they'll see, they could very well sell them for spares to the manufacturer, keep them for themselves or even send to other customers if needed (particularly Fr, De or NL).
Any of these would be an intra-eu operation so really not sensitive (no need for particular authorizations or things like that).

Some amazing photos of a bird strike incident involving a Spanish Euro fighter. The pilot was able to land safely.

Eurofighter Typhoon Canopy-Shattering Bird Strike Captured In Amazing Images

A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu F-7BGI has crashed on a school in Dhaka, more than 50 persons are taken to the hospital and at least 19 didn't survive the accident.
The Bangladesh Airforce received 16 F-7BGI between 2012 and 2013, and with the last delivery of these F-7s, production ended for the J-7.
Minstens negentien doden door crash militair vliegtuig op school in Bangladesh




And the Kuwait Air Force has received the first Bayraktar TB2 on 17 Juli.
Kuwait announces arrival of Bayraktar TB2 UAVs

Turkey could sign preliminary deal with Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH within the week for 40 EF-2000s.

SolarisKenzo said:

Turkey could sign preliminary deal with Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH within the week for 40 EF-2000s.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1947318201714384897

Türkiye wants to finalize Eurofighter deal as soon as possible

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Britain and Germany showed a 'positive' stance on Türkiye's potential purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter...

www.dailysabah.com

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For a couple of years Turkiye was seriously interested in the EF2000, but i didn't expect Germany will finally agree to sell them to Turkiye. On the other hand it will be strange if Germany allowed the sales to Qatar and Saudi-Arabia, but refuses to sell it to Turkey because of human rights violations.
Anyway, it is good news for Eurofighter, besides Turkiye there are only 5 export customers.

Sandhi Yudha said:

For a couple of years Turkiye was seriously interested in the EF2000, but i didn't expect Germany will finally agree to sell them to Turkiye. On the other hand it will be strange if Germany allowed the sales to Qatar and Saudi-Arabia, but refuses to sell it to Turkey because of human rights violations.
Anyway, it is good news for Eurofighter, besides Turkiye there are only 5 export customers.

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Yes, very important deal, especially for the UK.
Eurofighter has a good backlog of orders but the british assembly line is currently empty since no export orders are being delivered (the aircrafts for Kuwait are assembled in Italy) and the UK didnt order new aircrafts (while Berlin, Rome and Madrid ordered more than 100 new planes).

As anticipated, this morning Turkey signed a preliminary deal with the Eurofighter Consortium for 40 Eurofighters.
Final assembly in Warton.

A Memorandum of Understanding, which is basically a joint statement of intent to carry out a common aim, in this case a purchase of Typhoon by Turkey, to be supplied by the UK. It does not commit either party to anything.

A bit irritating that they say "İngiltere". I doubt the Scots, Welsh & Northern Irish will like that.

swerve said:

A Memorandum of Understanding, which is basically a joint statement of intent to carry out a common aim, in this case a purchase of Typhoon by Turkey, to be supplied by the UK. It does not commit either party to anything.

A bit irritating that they say "İngiltere". I doubt the Scots, Welsh & Northern Irish will like that.

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A lot of languages use "England" as a synonym of "Great Britain" or "UK".
In Italian, 99% of the time you will hear "Inghilterra" used instead of "Gran Bretagna", it Is widely accepted and you will hear it almost always.
Its always been like that.

Thai cabinet put agreement for a Squadron of Gripen E/F with first batch of 4 schedule in 2029. Also the Cabinet put agreement for Navy to continue their Chinese S-26 Submarine procurement with Chinese engine instead German ones.

If this goes through means Gripen going to be use as F-16 replacement. Problem now is with Sweden themselves as they are now question Gripen usage toward latest skirmish with Cambodia.

SAAB officialy receive order for four Gripen E/F from Thailand. This is first batch order from expected 12 requirement.

SolarisKenzo said:

A lot of languages use "England" as a synonym of "Great Britain" or "UK".
In Italian, 99% of the time you will hear "Inghilterra" used instead of "Gran Bretagna", it Is widely accepted and you will hear it almost always.
Its always been like that.

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Then I think I should start calling Italy Sardegna, based on what happened 165 years ago.

A TWZ article on the NGAL for the USAF. Replacing the C-5 and C-17 with a single aircraft, difficult if both capacity and tactical performance are required. IMO a restart of the C-17 (enhanced) and a NGAL would be better, especially if a modified C-17 could offer better tactical performance eliminating the need for faster C130 replacement.

John Fedup said:

A TWZ article on the NGAL for the USAF. Replacing the C-5 and C-17 with a single aircraft, difficult if both capacity and tactical performance are required. IMO a restart of the C-17 (enhanced) and a NGAL would be better, especially if a modified C-17 could offer better tactical performance eliminating the need for faster C130 replacement.

C-17 and C-5 Cargo Planes Will Be Replaced With One Aircraft: USAF

Plans for a Next Generation Airlift platform, or NGAL, targeted for entry into service in the 2040s, are starting to coalesce.

www.twz.com

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Problem no.1

starting in the mid-2040s

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So the timeline doesn’t work for that.
Problem no.2
Like with the F47 program the Raison d'être, boils down to the amount of resources invested in a C17R would be equivalent to that of a brand new aircraft. The C17 is a 30 year old design. The engines it uses the F117 (PW2000) series are 40 years old they were designed for the 757 have been out of production since about 2016. All the components are by now obsolete or out of production. The original factory is long gone. The documentation would likely have to be redone. The whole thing would have to be reworked from scratch. Additionally the aircraft would need a massive overhaul in mission systems and well at it might as well bring in 3 decades of new materials and aviation design.

C17 still have decades of service life it could potentially be reengined. Those are a lot easier than restarting a line. It’s the same thing that happened with the F22 Raptor the cost to restart and the cost to buy new are just so close might as well start over.
As to C130… C130 is fine for many special missions it’s still in production and new variants are emerging however. Its intended role for rapid deployment forces is no longer viable. Airborne forces can still use it but medium weight forces like the Stryker and Marines infantry are generally out. The latest Stryker and Marine ACV are pushing 34 tons and the size difference between older generation of vehicles like the M113 and modern ones is striking. It’s why the Japanese moved up to the Kawasaki C2 and the Europeans have the A400M.
C130J can move some armored vehicles but those are things like the JLTV and it’s a tight squeeze. The KC390 is interesting and has been offered to the USAF but it’s too close in payload to the C130J30 so procurement makes no sense.
C17 is a wonderful platform but when you move up that much the burden to do the jobs of the C130 would be destructive. There needs to be a medium. It’s long overdue for one. The thing that has kept the C130J alive was that it was in production. The British stepped in at the C130H was closing and asked for more C130s well the A400M was in the distant future. So LM gave them what they wanted and the USAF joined in. Similar situation to the E7A.

WRT NGAL, what should be the ratio of C-17 features versus C-5 features be? A C-17 lifts 80 tons versus C-5’s 135 tons. Can a NGAL with a 100-120 ton cargo capacity have similar performance to a C-17?

Its ofen volume rather than weight, the problem...

SolarisKenzo said:

Its ofen volume rather than weight, the problem...

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Armoured vehicles aren’t getting any lighter. Assuming future MBT lightens down to 60 tons, a NGAL being able to transport two would be useful.