HERCULES TRANSFERRED TO ETHIOPIA
THE US AMBASSADOR to Ethiopia
presided over the delivery of a
C-130E to the Ethiopian Air Force
on June 6. Another C-130E was
transferred to Ethiopia in June 2014.
The air force’s 15 Squadron has ownC-130s since 1998 when it received
two former US Air Force C-130Bs.
It later accepted two commercial
L-100-30 variants that had previously
been operated by the Ethiopian
government. Tom Kaminski
US Ambassador Michael Raynor participates in a ceremony to deliver the
C-130E on behalf of the US government to the head of the Ethiopian Air
Force Head, Gen Adem Mohammed. USAFINDIA ADDS APACHES
US DEPARTMENT OF State
approved the potential sale of six
AH-64E attack helicopters to India.
The project also includes four
Northrop Grumman AN/APG-
re control radars and associated
systems, 180 Lockheed Martin
AGM-114L-3 Hell re missiles, and
200 Raytheon AIM-92H Block I
Stinger missiles and other weapons
and sub-systems. Deliveries to the
Indian Army Air Corps (AAC) will
occur by 2020. The $932-million
deal will be a direct commercial sale
between Boeing and the IndianGovernment. India’s Ministry of
Defense placed an initial order for
22 AH-64Es in 2015 that included
options for 11 additional Apaches.
Deliveries from that batch will begin
in 2019. Ultimately the AAC plans to
acquire to acquire 39 AH-64Es that
will be assigned to three squadrons.
Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited,
which is a joint venture between
Boeing and India’s Tata Sons, opened
an Apache fuselage production
facility in Hyderabad, India in March
2018 and delivered the rst airframe
on June 1. Tom KaminskiMORE LIGHTNING IIS ARRIVE IN NORWAY
SIX F-35AS NOW AT ØRLAND OPERATING BASE
CANADIAN HORNET UPDATE
THE CANADIAN DEPARTMENT
of National Defence’s assistant
deputy minister of materiel has
revealed that delivery of the rst
two used Royal Australian Air
Force (RAAF) F/A-18A Hornets
is expected in summer 2019.
Although the government
had originally budgeted $
million for the purchase of 18
used Hornets it is unclear what
the actual cost will be for the
acquisition and modi cations.
The government had originally
planned for the rst aircraft toarrive in January 2019. The Royal
Canadian Air Force recently added
seven additional F/A-18s to the
plan, increasing its requirement
to 25 aircraft. The additional
aircraft will be used as a source
of spare parts. The entire sale
requires the approval of the US
State Department. Canada has
now completely abandoned
previous plans to acquire Super
Hornets from Boeing over a trade
dispute and will seek a longer
term solution in a formal ghter
competition. Tom KaminskiRAAF HORNETS AT ‘MAPLE FLAG’
THE RAAF PARTICIPATED in Exercise
‘Maple Flag 51’ at 4 Wing, Cold Lake,
Alberta, held from June 12-23.
Six Hornets (photo above) were
involved and were supported on
their transit by an RAAF KC-30A
and a C-17A carrying equipment
and personnel. The RAAF F/A-18s
ew with the JDAM Captive AircrewTraining System (JCATS) that allows
the ‘classic’ F/A-18s to simulate the
carriage of JDAM weapons. During
the Australians’ visit to Canada a
contingent from Ottawa visited Cold
Lake to hold meetings with their
RAAF counterparts to further discuss
the purchase of Australian Hornets.
Sean BrattonSean Bratton[NEWS] WORLD
20 August 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
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