combat aircraft

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EXERCISE


‘FALCON AUTUMN’


T

HE ‘FALCON AUTUMN’
exercise hosted by the
Royal Netherlands Air
Force (RNLAF) and the
Royal Dutch Army was
staged at the air force’s
‘sleeping’ base of Deelen in the
center of the Netherlands. The
maneuvers took place between
September 17 and October 12
and involved the debut of the
German Army’s NH90 helicopter on
Dutch soil.

On September 24 seven
Heeres ieger (German Army
Aviation) NH90 Tactical Transport
Helicopters (TTHs) arrived at
Deelen. Their operating unit is
Transporthubschrauberregiment 30
(THR 30, 30th Transport Helicopter
Regiment) based at Niederstetten.
Alongside the German NH90s, the
RNLAF was present with six AH-64D
Apaches and four CH-47 Chinooks
from the Netherlands’ Defence
Helicopter Command. Fixed-wing

participants included two RNLAF
F-16s and two Luftwa e Tornados.
Meanwhile, German C-160 Transall
and Dutch C-130H Hercules
airlifters conducted cargo-dropping
missions. The RNLAF Hercules
dropped around 10 tons of cargo
using a parachute delivery system
borrowed from the Belgian Air
Component.
The exercise is speci cally
designed to train military personnel
operating in civilian territory.

TORNADO CLEARED


TO FIELD AARGM
THE US NAVY and the Italian Air
Force recently completed operational
testing of the AGM-88E Advanced
Anti-Radiation Guided Missile
(AARGM) on the Tornado ECR
(Electronic Combat Reconnaissance)
aircraft at Naval Air Warfare Center
China Lake, California. Assessing the
missile’s operational e ectiveness
and suitability in combination with
the Tornado included a series of
 ight tests that culminated with two
direct hits on simulated air defense
threat targets.
Italy signed a memorandum of
understanding to co-operatively
develop the AGM-88E with the US
in 2005. The Tornado is the  fth
operational platform to  eld the
AARGM, following the F/A-18C/D,
F/A-18E/F and EA-18G. Tom Kaminski

A Tornado ECR at China Lake
with the AGM-88E missile.
Italian Air Force

SAUDI SEAHAWK DELIVERED
THE FIRST OF 10 MH-60R
helicopters purchased for the Royal
Saudi Naval Forces arrived at Naval
Station Mayport, Florida, on October


  1. It had formally been handed over
    at Lockheed Martin’s Owego, New


York, facility on September 13. Five
Seahawks will support a training
program for 250 Saudi  ight crews
and maintenance personnel that
is expected to last for three years
and will be carried out by the US

Navy’s Helicopter Maritime Strike
Squadron (HSM) 40. The Seahawks,
which were purchased via a Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) contract at a
cost of $1.9 billion, will be operated
by a new squadron. Tom Kaminski

The fi rst MH-60R for the Royal Saudi
Naval Forces arrives at Naval Station
Mayport, at Florida’s Admiral David L.
McDonald Field, on October 2. US Navy

NETHERLANDS
PLANS APACHE
UPGRADE
THE NETHERLANDS FORMALLY
signed a letter of o er and
acceptance (LOA) with the US
Defense Security Co-operation
Agency (DSCA) to upgrade
its 28 AH-64D Block II attack
helicopters to the latest AH-64E
con guration on September 14.
The total cost of the upgrades,
which will allow the helicopters
to remain in service through
2050, is estimated to be $1.
billion. The Netherlands
purchased 30 AH-64Ds in
1995 and the survivors had
previously been upgraded
from Block I con guration from
2013-15. Two Apaches were
written o during operations
in Afghanistan and Mali. The
 rst aircraft are due to enter the
modi cation line in 2021 and
will be returned to service by
mid-2022. The  nal delivery will
occur in 2025. Tom Kaminski

CANADA SEEKS ISR KING AIRS
THE US STATE Department has
approved the possible Foreign Military
Sale (FMS) of three King Air 350ERs
to Canada. The King Airs will receive
customer-unique post-production
intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance (ISR) modi cations.
The aircraft will feature Wescam
MX-15D electro-optical and
infra-red (EO/IR) sensors, the AN/
AAR-47B(V)2 missile and laser

warning system (MWS), AN/ALE-
countermeasure dispenser systems
(CMDS), VORTEX dual RF/Ku-band
line-of-sight transceivers and other
communications and mission systems.
The project has an estimated value
of $300 million. Canada launched
the acquisition earlier this year under
its manned airborne intelligence
surveillance and reconnaissance
(MAISR) project. Tom Kaminski

SPANISH CHINOOK
UPGRADES APPROVED
SPAIN’S COUNCIL OF Ministers
has given its approval to a
$963.5-million program that
will upgrade the Spanish Army’s
17 CH-47D helicopters to the
latest CH-47F con guration. The
project received the approval of
the US Department of State in
April 2018. Tom Kaminski

[NEWS] WORLD


18 December 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

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