DefenceTalkDARPA, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, completed a free flight test of its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) last week. The missile, built by Raytheon Technologies, was released from an aircraft seconds before its Northrop Grumman scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine kicked on. The engine compressed incoming air mixed with its hydrocarbon fuel […]

DefenceTalkChina on Tuesday showed off its increasingly sophisticated air power including surveillance drones, with an eye on disputed territories from Taiwan to the South China Sea and its rivalry with the United States. The country’s biggest airshow, in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai, comes as Beijing pushes to meet a 2035 deadline to retool […]

DefenceTalkThe Government of Argentina has officially decided to purchase 12 PAC JF-17 Block III fighters from Pakistan, as a draft bill for the next budget has been presented in Argentina’s Parliament. An Open-Source Intelligence account on Twitter AEROSINT Division PSF reported on Friday that the South American nation will be buying Pakistan’s fighter jets for […]

DefenceTalkItaly has joined the UK’s development of the new European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk2) radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The first stage of collaboration, to take place this Autumn, will see a team of engineers from Leonardo’s Nerviano, Milan-based radar site join the Mk2 development team at Leonardo’s Edinburgh site. The move […]

DefenceTalkThe U.S. Navy and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have used the MQ-25TM T1 test asset to refuel a U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II fighter jet for the first time, once again demonstrating the aircraft’s ability to achieve its primary aerial refueling mission. This was the third refueling mission for the Boeing-owned test asset in just over […]

DefenceTalkFighter jets practiced landing on a highway in southern Taiwan on Wednesday as part of an annual live-fire military exercise that simulates defending the island against an invasion by China. Democratic Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day […]

DefenceTalkNorthrop Grumman Australia has successfully delivered the Triton Network Integration Test Environment (NITE) to the Commonwealth of Australia ahead of schedule, marking another milestone in the Australian MQ-4C Triton program. Developed by Northrop Grumman and based at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Edinburgh, NITE will support Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG) to configure and […]

DefenceTalkThe US military disabled scores of aircraft and armored vehicles as well as a high-tech rocket defense system at the Kabul airport before it left Monday, a US general said. Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie said 73 aircraft that were already at Hamid Karzai International Airport were “demilitarized,” or rendered useless, by US troops […]

DefenceTalkThe US Air Force is set to reopen a bidding war between Boeing and arch-rival Airbus over the replacement of its ageing fleet of refueling aircraft essential to Washington’s ability to project power beyond its borders. In a tortuous and scandal-riven procurement process, during which two contracts were scrapped, Boeing finally snagged a $35-billion (30-billion-euro) […]

DefenceTalkHermeus has signed a $60 million U.S. Air Force partnership for flight testing its first Marc 5 aircraft – Quarterhorse. Quarterhorse will validate the company’s proprietary turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine, based around the GE J85 turbojet engine, and is the first in a line of autonomous high-speed aircraft. By the end of the flight […]