US Navy and Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor pilots last week completed the first air-to-air refuelling flight tests since the programme was restructured in 2000, logging 10 "dry plugs" with a Lockheed Martin KC-130F Hercules tanker-transport's wing-mounted refuelling drogue. The flights, using Osprey No 22's 3.35m (11ft) fixed probe receptacle, will be followed in early April by trials on Osprey No 21's 2.75m retractable probe.
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.
Austria has signed for a dozen new Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks to replace its ageing Bell 212 transports.
