Production of the Sukhoi Su-27UB/UBKoperational trainer has ended at the Irkutsk APO (IAPO)aircraft factory where it had been built since the mid-1980s. The last aircraft built were for China, with the final delivery due in November. IAPO is now manufacturing only the Su-30MKI twin-seat fighter for India. The other Sukhoi Su-27 factory, KnAAPO at Komsomolsk-na-Amur, did not build two-seaters until it began producing Su-30MKKs for China.
Source: Flight International
MBDA is to assemble Brimstone air-to-surface missiles in Germany for the first time, following its receipt of a contract to equip the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter combat aircraft.
The US government has blacklisted more private companies over alleged connections to the training of Chinese military aviators, including two firms operated by former test pilots in the UK Royal Air Force and South African Air Force.
The troubled aerostructures manufacturer has become an important supplier of several key US defence programmes, including the air force’s new stealth bomber and the army’s next-generation tiltrotor.
