Defence
Royal Bahraini Air Force receives First F-16 Block 70 Aircraft
Bahraini, American and Lockheed Martin officials celebrated the first F-16 Block 70 for the Royal Bahraini Air Force at Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina. The Kingdom of Bahrain has a unique history with the F-16: It was the first F-16 operator in the Gulf Cooperation Council beginning in the early 1990s, and now is receiving the first F-16 Block 70.
This F-16 Block 70 jet is the first of 16 jets for Bahrain, and took its first flight on Jan. 24, 2023. From here, it will begin additional flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base before arriving in Bahrain in 2024.
Six countries have selected Block 70/72 aircraft. In addition to the current official backlog of 127 jets to-date to be built in Greenville, Jordan has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for 12 jets and Lockheed Martin has received a contract to begin its long-lead activities. Bulgaria has also signed an LOA for an additional eight jets for its fleet. Once these are finalized, the backlog will increase to 147.
“The F-16 celebrated today was built by our talented, committed workforce in Greenville,” said Danya Trent, vice president, F-16 Programs and Greenville site leader. “We are proud to call Greenville the global home of the F-16 and look forward to continuing to produce jets serving missions around the world.”
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The first Royal Bahraini Air Force F-16 Block 70 was celebrated at Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina on March 10. Lockheed Martin photo
From the most technologically advanced helicopter, engineering for the future of human spaceflight and expanding the F-35 Fleet, check out what we’ve been up to. “Lockheed Martin’s stronger than expected finish to the year demonstrated the company’s reliability and resiliency to meet commitments in challenging environments, while leading the industry’s critical security advancements for our nation and allies,” said Chairman, President and CEO James Taiclet. “Our ongoing expansion of 21st Century capabilities and commercial partnerships are delivering deterrence solutions and value enhancing growth opportunities across our businesses. As we track toward our objective of growth resumption in 2024, we will continue to execute our dynamic and disciplined capital allocation program, by reinvesting in and pursuing growth opportunities, and returning capital to shareholders. We remain confident in our plans to enable our customers to stay ahead of ready and to deliver sustainable economic value.”
With the delivery of the first aircraft modified to the F4.1 standard to the French Air Force, the Dassault Rafale, the primary fighter jet of France, achieved a new milestone. The Military Aviation Expertise Center at Air Base 118 in Mont-de-Marsan received the first Rafale to the F4.1 standard on Thursday, March 2.
The Rafale F4.1 standard is the latest version of the Rafale fighter jet developed by the French company Dassault Aviation. This upgrade is a step ahead of the previous F3R standard and includes several improvements in terms of capability, versatility, and connectivity.
One of the key upgrades in the Rafale F4.1 is the integration of the new Meteor air-to-air missile, which has a longer range and improved performance compared to its predecessors. The Rafale F4.1 also features improved connectivity with other aircraft, ground stations, and satellites, which allows for better coordination and situational awareness in the battlefield.
Another major improvement is the integration of the Talios targeting pod, which provides high-resolution imagery and laser designation for precision strikes. The Rafale F4.1 also includes enhancements to the aircraft’s electronic warfare system, which increases its ability to detect and respond to threats. Other upgrades in the Rafale F4.1 include improvements to the cockpit displays and controls, upgrades to the engines and avionics, and improvements to the aircraft’s airframe and maintenance systems.
The first steps in the development of the F4 standard were taken in 2019, when Dassault and then-Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly agreed to a €2 billion ($2.12 billion) deal. Pilots will be supported by a significant technical advance in the future’s high-intensity wars. Based on the arrival of a second Rafale F4.1 by next week, the device will go undergo a number of trial stages in the upcoming months.
Defence
Boeing Receives U.S. Air Force E-7 Airborne & Proposes T-7 Advanced Trainer for Australia
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Boeing will begin the development of two new U.S. variants of the E-7 Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft through a $1.2 billion Undefinitized Contract Action.
The E-7 provides a fully integrated, combat-proven, flexible command and control node that delivers multi-domain awareness in the most challenging operational environments. The E-7’s open systems architecture and agile software design enable the aircraft’s capabilities to evolve and remain ahead of future threats.
The E-7 tracks multiple airborne and maritime threats simultaneously with 360-degree coverage via the Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) sensor. MESA provides the warfighter with critical domain awareness to detect and identify adversarial targets at long range and dynamically adjusts to emerging tactical situations. Other E-7 operators include the Royal Australian Air Force, the Republic of Korea Air Force, Turkish Air Force and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.
The E-7 uses a well-established supply chain which significantly reduces maintenance and logistics costs and increases mission readiness on day one. Converted from the Next-Generation 737-700, the E-7 capitalizes on existing commercial derivative aircraft design, certification and modification processes, allowing E-7s to be fielded to meet Air Force needs.
And also Boeing is ready to offer its T-7 advanced trainer to Australia to help ensure the mission-readiness of the country’s future defense pilots. The T-7 is a new cost-effective system combining a trainer aircraft with a ground-based simulator to replace older trainers.
The T-7 could be used to train future Australian pilots of F/A-18F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, F-35s and other defense aircraft using live and ‘as real-as-it-gets’ virtual simulation. The announcement was made during the Avalon 2023 Australian International Airshow, where Boeing brought a T-7 simulator for customer demonstrations.
The T-7’s digital open architecture and reconfigurable cockpit means the trainer/simulator can be updated rapidly for decades to come.
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Jawn Staff
July 7, 2017 at 2:50 pm
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