DRAKENS GO GREEN
The Austrian air force's last eight J35 Draken fighters have been returned to Saab to be "dismantled environmentally", the manufacturer says. Recently transported by truck from Austria's Zeltweg airbase to Ljungbyhed in Sweden via Germany, the retired airframes will have their avionics and precious metals reclaimed by Saab Aerotech before being scrapped by Stena Metall in Halmstad. Austria bought a total of 24 refurbished ex-Swedish air force J35Ds in 1972 and was the last nation to retire the type.
SHADOW SPREADS
AAI's Shadow 200B has become the first unmanned air vehicle to receive a US Federal Aviation Administration experimental airworthiness certificate authorising operations at a public-use airport for flight testing, crew training and marketing demonstrations. The tactical UAV is now being operated from Benson Municipal, a general-aviation airport in south-eastern Arizona following the receipt of the FAA approval.
A-67 CORRECTION
Flight International mistakenly used performance data for the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano in its story on US Aircraft's A-67 Dragon last week. The A-67 will in fact be powered by a 1,250shp (930kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turboprop, have a 4,620kg (10,200lb) gross-weight and an estimated maximum cruise speed of 381kt (706km/h) at 20,000ft (6,100m). Endurance will be 10h and external payload 1,620kg, US Aircraft says.
Source: Flight International
