Latest Defence Helicopters news – Page 2
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News
Next-generation Bell tiltrotor advances in DARPA X-plane competition
Bell’s proposal for the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies project involves a tiltrotor-like aircraft, with the addition of a third, jet-powered flight mode in addition to the rotor-driven vertical and horizontal flight modes found in existing designs.
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News
Canada to integrate Smith Myers mobile phone tracking system into search and rescue fleet
UK technology firm Smith Myers will integrate its Artemis mobile phone detection package into Ottawa’s fleet of CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue helicopters as part of a Leonardo-led mid-life upgrade programme.
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News
Brazil eyes $950m UH-60M Black Hawk purchase
Brazil plans to acquire 12 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters via a potentially $950 million Foreign Military Sales deal with the USA.
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In depth
Six bidders face off for NATO next-generation rotorcraft concept contracts
Half-a-dozen companies – including traditional airframers, start-ups, and even an international consultancy – are vying for a trio of contracts to produce designs for a next-generation rotorcraft that could eventually replace thousands of helicopters currently operated by NATO members.
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News
Romania picks Marte ER missiles for new H215M fleet
Romania is to integrate the MBDA Marte ER anti-surface warfare missile onto a pair of Airbus Helicopters H215Ms it is procuring.
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Analysis
Why Berlin is ‘growing up fast’ thanks to defence spending boost
After years of under-spending on its armed forces, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven Germany to boost investment and re-equip its armed forces for an uncertain future.
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News
Airbus to demonstrate unmanned UH-72 helicopter for US Marines
The demonstration project comes as the USA’s maritime combat force is exploring methods for resupplying shore-based troops in contested environments from ships at sea.
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News
Manila receives final pair of T129 ATAKs
The Philippines has taken delivery of its last two of six Turkish Aerospace T129 ATAK attack helicopters.
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News
Iran searches for missing presidential helicopter
Searchers are reportedly scouring mountainous terrain in northwest Iran for a Bell 212 that was carrying president Ebrahim Raisi and other officials.
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News
Airbus Helicopters looks to build future Europeran military rotorcraft on Racer ‘foundation’
Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters chief executive, maintains that European industry must collaborate on an indigenous future rotorcraft for its domestic customers, despite counterpart Leonardo’s decision to partner with Bell for a key NATO-led initiative.
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News
Army special mission aviators will field V-280: SOCOM
Although no formal decision has been disclosed, procurement officials with the US Special Operations Command now confirm the army’s special operations aviation regiment will field Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor in the mid-2030s, shortly after the US Army’s conventional aviators do so.
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News
SOCOM to extend AH-6 service life following cancellation of new scout aircraft
Special Operations Command had hoped to replace its multi-role A/MH-6 helicopter with the US Army’s next-generation Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, whose development has since been cancelled.
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Analysis
Strong backlog but lack of new design work paints mixed picture at Sikorsky
The company that pioneered rotary-wing aviation boasts a years-long backlog for its existing aircraft, particularly variants of the H-60, but has not yet secured a customer for a clean-sheet aircraft using Sikorsky’s proprietary X2 compound coaxial technology.
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News
Airbus Helicopters adds to H145M backlog with six-unit Brunei deal
Brunei has ordered six Airbus Helicopters H145M light-twins for operation by the Asian nation’s air force.
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News
Aurora advances in DARPA competition to build high-speed VTOL X-plane
The Boeing subsidiary received an additional $25 million for its fan-in-wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft being designed for the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies X-plane competition.
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In depth
Minimum quantity sought through New Medium Helicopter tender falls further, sources indicate
The UK could buy as few as 23 aircraft through its New Medium Helicopter (NMH) contest, FlightGlobal can reveal – a dramatic reduction on the up to 44 units originally envisaged for the programme and a total that exactly matches the size of one of the four fleets the platform was meant to replace.
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Analysis
US Army still sees need for long-range airborne troop carrier in future conflict
Although battlefield observations from the Ukraine War led the army to cancel its next-generation armed scout helicopter, the service’s senior aviation leaders say they still see a need for Bell’s V-280 Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft in future conflicts.
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News
Sikorsky VH-92As still not carrying the US president, 21 years after replacement effort began
Last June during a business event in Connecticut, Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo said the company’s VH-92A Patriot helicopter would take over presidential transport missions flown by VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters “completely” by this spring. That still has not happened.
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Analysis
Sikorsky powers up Raider X prototype but has no plans to fly
The Raider X prototype, built for the US Army’s now-cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft programme, features the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine that will eventually be fitted into the army’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.
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Analysis
Boeing eyes secondary market for older CH-47s
Following the US Army’s decision to modernise its fleet of heavy-lift rotorcraft with Boeing’s latest Block II Chinook, the company sees an opportunity to develop a secondary market for older Block I CH-47Fs, particularly among international operators.