The Euro Hawk remains making waves in Germany, even after the defense ministry pulled the plug at the surveillance drone project last week. The issues were obvious long before the debacle. The German representatives all in favour of the Euro Hawk project still sounded confident back in December of 2012. “The project has reached a degree of maturity that enables the Euro Hawk conditional entry into European airspace,” the German delegation said on the International Aerospace Conference in Montreal on the time. Three months later, the German defense ministry’s undersecretary of state didn’t sound as convinced when questioned in Germany’s... Read More »

The first in a batch of Su-34 production frontline bombers to be delivered in 2013 to the Russian Air Force under the State Defense Order for the year was delivered by the Sukhoi Company. Following the handover ceremony on the airfield of the Novosibirsk-based V.P. Chkalov aviation plant of Sukhoi, the aircraft departed for its assigned home base. Several more Su-34 bombers can be dropped at the Russian Air Force shortly. The work to meet the 2013 State Defense Order is in full swing on the Novosibirsk aviation plant. The plant management confirms a high level of production readiness of... Read More »

Pulling the plug on Germany’s Euro Hawk project won’t have consequences for NATO’s surveillance program using “Global Hawk” models. But critics argue a joint European drone project would was better. The canceled German Euro Hawk drone project will usually not have consequences on the same project by NATO. The alliance plans to make use of five drones of the worldwide Hawk Block 40 type for its “Alliance Ground Surveillance” (AGS) system. According to NATO, plans is not suffering from the German decision. The worldwide Hawk drone built by US company Northrop Grumman is essentially the version the system’s in accordance... Read More »

Unmanned aerial vehicle pilots maintain an “eye-in-the-sky” view providing real-time surveillance high above the battlefield in order to keep Soldiers safe from unexpected “enemy” attacks, at the U.S. Army National Training Center, here. Before putting Soldiers in harm’s way, military unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs, perform aerial reconnaissance, be it night or day. At night the UAV uses night-vision to find the point of origin of any attack. Some even carry out attack missions. UAVs have many uses, including safely scanning a large area and providing accurate information on potential enemies. The ground data terminal antenna receives intelligence between... Read More »

Eurocopter Japan recently signed contracts with Japan’s National Police Agency for a complete of 4 helicopters. Comprising two medium-class and two twin-engine light helicopters, the brand new acquisitions could be deployed to Hyogo Prefectural Police (EC155 B1), Hiroshima Prefectural Police (AS365 N3+), Osaka Prefectural Police (EC135 P2e) and Fukuoka Prefectural Police (EC135 P2e), as replacements for ageing aircraft inside the respective fleets. The modern-day EC155 B1 from Eurocopter’s Dauphin family often is the National Police Agency’s (NPA) first acquisition of this helicopter type. Incidentally, it’s also the primary Eurocopter rotary-wing aircraft to be operated by Hyogo Prefectural Police, with delivery... Read More »