USAF seeks Iraqi counter-insurgency fleet
Turboprops The US Air Force has issued a solicitation on behalf of the Iraqi air force to buy at least eight counter-insurgency aircraft that can serve a dual role as a intermediate or advanced single-engined turboprop trainer. A solicitation issued last week by the US Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) narrows potential bidders to a handful of obvious candidates including the Beechcraft T-6, the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, the Pilatus PC-9M and the Korea Aerospace KO-1 Wong Bee. The ASC document specifies that the aircraft must be in "wide use" today and powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-based turboprop engine.
Australia signs Super Hornet deal
Contract Australia has signed contracts worth roughly A$2.9 billion ($2.4 billion) for its acquisition of 24 Boeing F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet fighters. The Australian Department of Defence says additional foreign military sales deals will be signed later this year for separate weapons and support packages, with the total project expected to cost A$6 billion over the next 10 years. The Royal Australian Air Force's Super Hornets will enter service from 2010 as replacements for its General Dynamics F-111s.
Trimble flies again
Appointment Stephen Trimble has returned to Flight as senior editor after 14-months as Americas bureau chief and navy/marine corps reporter for Jane's Defence Weekly. Trimble previously worked on the Flight International staff from 2003-6. In his new role he will cover military aviation as well as Boeing commercial aircraft and aeroengine manufacturing.
Astronaut Walter Schirra dies
Obituary NASA Apollo 7 commander Walter "Wally" Schirra died last week aged 84. Selected in 1959 as one of the original Mercury seven astronaut candidates, Schirra is the only man to fly in all three of NASA's first human space projects, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. He first flew on the fifth Mercury flight in 1962, orbiting the Earth six times. Born in 1923, Schirra served as a naval aviator from 1947 and during the Korean War flew North American F-86 Sabres under an exchange programme with the US Air Force before becoming an astronaut.
Source: Flight International
