All UK Royal Air Force articles
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NewsNorway, UK and USA test F-35 data-sharing during live-fire bombing drills
The drills over Norway and the North Sea involved fighters and bombers teaming with surveillance jets, reconnaissance aircraft, tankers and ground-based fire-control personnel to strike targets in Norway with live ordnance.
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NewsGCAP partners to sign JV by year-end as programme enters ‘hot phase’, says Leonardo chief
Leonardo expects the joint venture that will lead the development of the tri-national Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) to be signed off by year-end.
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NewsRAF’s first Wedgetail receives service markings
The UK’s first Boeing E-7 Wedgetail has received its service markings, ahead of the surveillance aircraft’s delivery to the Royal Air Force (RAF) next year.
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NewsGermany’s first H145M LKH takes flight, as delivery nears for UK’s initial Jupiter HC2
Airbus Helicopters has carried out the maiden sortie of the first of 62 H145Ms being assembled for its German armed forces customer under the LKH programme.
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NewsAirbus defends decision to withdraw from UK NMH and says Pumas could fly until 2035
Airbus Helicopters has defended its decision to pull out of the UK’s New Medium Helicopter contest without submitting a bid, with one executive hitting out at the size of the budget and a perceived failure on social value commitments.
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NewsUK F-35Bs perform short take-off operations during Iceland air policing debut
UK Lockheed Martin F-35Bs have practised short take-off operations during their debut NATO Enhanced Air Policing deployment to Keflavik, Iceland.
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In depthD-Day at 80: a legacy of air power
When Allied troops stormed ashore at Normandy 80 years ago, the success of their campaign to retake Western Europe would cement the role of air power as a critical dimension in modern warfare – a legacy that endures today.
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In depthMinimum 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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NewsUK commits to six H145 helicopters for Brunei and Cyprus missions
Airbus Helicopters has been awarded a £122 million ($152 million) contract to supply six H145 light-twin helicopters to the UK for troop transport duties in Brunei and Cyprus.
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NewsUK advances RAF P-8 drone inspection trials
The UK is continuing to trial the use of autonomous drones to inspect the Royal Air Force’s fleet of Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft for external damage.
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NewsUSA, UK strike Houthi targets in Yemen following drone and missile attack
Fighter aircraft and cruise missiles launched from American warships struck more than a dozen sites in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the first time in the escalating conflict that Western forces have directly targeted the Iran-backed proxy force on the Arabian Peninsula.
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NewsFresh schedule blow for UK’s New Medium Helicopter programme
Shortlisted bidders for the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement will have to wait until the New Year for the next stage of the tender process after yet another schedule slip to the long-running procurement.
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AnalysisUK MoD to buy six H145s in fresh blow to NMH plans
Fresh uncertainty has emerged over the scope of the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme after it emerged that defence officials intend to buy a fleet of six Airbus Helicopters H145s to be operated in Brunei and Cyprus.
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NewsRAF begins MQ-9B flight trials
The first of 16 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9B long-endurance UAVs arrived at RAF Waddington for flight testing, ahead of an expected entry into service in 2024.
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NewsStandardAero to build Black Hawks for the UK under Lockheed NMH bid
Lockheed Martin has selected StandardAero to assemble Sikorsky S-70M Black Hawk helicopters in Gosport on the south coast of England if it emerges as the winner of UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) competition. Revealing the industrial plan supporting its NMH bid at the DSEI trade show on 12 September, Paul ...
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NewsRAF capability gaps leave UK ‘dangerously exposed’, MPs warn
Defence chiefs have left the UK “dangerously exposed” through a series of misguided equipment decisions – in one case branded “irrational” and “perverse” – which have created “unacceptable” capability gaps for the Royal Air Force (RAF), a cross-party group of MPs has warned.
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NewsUK Puma support now likely to run until 2028 as delays to NMH force extension
The Royal Air Force’s fleet of Puma HC2 helicopters looks increasingly likely to stay in service until at least 2028 after defence chiefs extended a maintenance contract for up to three years, a reflection of the slow pace in procuring a successor aircraft.
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NewsUK watchdog warns on delivery of three key defence acquisitions
A government watchdog has warned over the performance of several UK defence acquisitions, with a trio of programmes – including the Tempest future fighter effort – moved to a list of projects whose delivery or cost targets appear unachievable.
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NewsLawmakers brand UK’s reduced E-7 Wedgetail buy as ‘absolute folly’
A committee of lawmakers has slammed the UK government’s decision to reduce its purchase of Boeing E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft as “an absolute folly” that offered minimal financial savings.
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NewsUK MoD denies scaling back New Medium Helicopter buy despite Airbus claims
Confusion surrounds the number of aircraft the UK plans to buy under its New Medium Helicopter programme, after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied it had slashed the quantity under consideration.