Combat aircraft

F-15SG MARKS 50 YEARS OF THE RSAF

THE REPUBLIC OF Singapore Air

Force (RSAF) has painted two

of its Paya Lebar-based F-15SG

Eagles in a unique scheme as part

of celebrations to commemorate

RSAF50, the air arm’s year-long

celebrations to mark its golden

jubilee in 2018.

The fuselage, wings and tails of

the F-15SGs sport a unique blue,

the tone of which was derived

from that of the RSAF state colour.

The topside and outer tails of

the Eagles feature the RSAF50

logo — the numerical ‘50’ over

the Singapore city skyline. Also

detailed on the inner tails are the

three RSAF roundels that have

been used at one time or other

over the  ve decades.

The President of Singapore,

Halimah Yacob, unveiled the

scheme during February’s

Singapore Airshow, where one

of the jets participated in an

integrated aerial display with

two F-16Cs. The F-15SGs will

take part in various RSAF events

and celebrations throughout the

year. Roy Choo

ITALIAN F-35B ARRIVES AT PAX

A FIRSTITALIAN BUILT Italian F-35B

short take-o and vertical landing

(STOVL) jet arrived at Naval Air

Station Patuxent River, Maryland on

January 31 after completing a trans-

Atlantic  ight from Cameri air base in

northern Italy.

The aircraft, serial MM7451 (BL-01),

was delivered to the Marina Militare

(Italian Navy). It is now undergoing

electromagnetic environmental

e ects certi cation for the next three

months at the integrated battlespace

simulation and test facility at NAS

Patuxent River.

The  rst Italian-built F-35B was

rolled out at the factory on May 5 last

year and made its maiden  ight on

October 24. The aircraft was entirely

built in the  nal assembly and

check-out (FACO) plant in Cameri. The

transfer to the US follows acceptance

of the aircraft by the Italian Ministry

of Defence at Cameri on January 25.

ZAMBIA CONFIRMS C-27J PURCHASE

THE ZAMBIAN AIR Force (ZAF)

is set to receive two Leonardo

C-27J Spartan transports in

the  rst quarter of this year.

Local media reported that ZAF

deputy commander Maj Gen

David Muma con rmed the

purchase during an annual ball

at Livingstone Air Base. Leonardo

announced in September 2015

that it had received an order

for two C-27Js from an African

country that had requested

anonymity.

FOUR ISR GULFSTREAM

G550S FOR MOROCCO

RECENT REPORTS INDICATE that

Morocco is close to placing an order

for four Gulfstream G550s, equipped

as intelligence, surveillance and

reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft. The

aircraft will apparently be acquired as

part of the country’s air surveillance

program, using funding from Saudi

Arabia. They will likely be out tted by

Raytheon with Israeli  rm Elta serving

as a sub-contractor.

FIRST UK AB INITIO PILOTS FLY F-35B

UK FIGHTER PILOTS have  own

the F-35B Lightning II direct from

training for the  rst time. The

two pilots are Flt Lt Liam and Lt

Chris (the surnames are withheld

on security grounds) from the

Royal Air Force and Royal Navy

respectively. They proceeded to

the Joint Strike Fighter straight

from  ying training in the Hawk T2.

UK Lightning pilots are now

training within a detachment at

Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort,

South Carolina. Pilot numbers

are being built up to form the

 rst operational UK squadron,

No 617 Squadron ‘Dambusters’,

which will return to the UK later

this year. The  rst UK F-35 training

squadron, No 207 Squadron, will

be established in 2019.

Roy Choo

Italian F-35B, BL-01, arrives at NAS

Patuxent River. Dane Wiedmann/US Navy

Flt Lt Liam taxies out ahead of his fi rst fl ight in an F-35B at Beaufort.

LCpl Erin R. Ramsay/USMC

SINGAPOREAN

SEAHAWKS

DELIVERED

THE REPUBLIC OF Singapore

Navy (RSN) recently took

delivery of two Sikorsky S-70B

Block 2 helicopters, which

increased the size of its  eet to

eight Seahawks. They are built

to the same basic con guration

as the six examples delivered in

2010. The aircraft do, however,
      feature updated avionics
      software and the tactical co-
      ordination o cer position in
      the rear cabin has controls for
      the nose-mounted AN/AAS-44
      electro-optical/infra-red sensor.
      The aircraft are assigned to the
      Republic of Singapore Air Force’s
      123 Squadron at Sembawang
      Air Base but are under the
      operational control of the Navy
      and typically operate from the
      latter’s six ‘Formidable’-class
      frigates. They are  own by RSAF
      pilots and crewed by Navy
      tactical co-ordination o cers
      and sensor operators. The initial
      six Seahawks entered service in


2011. Tom Kaminski

[NEWS] WORLD

22 April 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

18-23 World C.indd 22 16/02/2018 15:28