aviation - the past, present and future of flight

Embraer ERJ 135 CE-02 of the Belgian Air

Component has received a special paint

scheme to celebrate the 70th anniversary

of its 15 Air Transport Wing. The new livery

was completed on June 20. The wing is

based at Melsbroek, near Brussels, and

operates a  eet of ten Lockheed C-130Hs

which will be progressively retired upon

the arrival of the Airbus A400Ms on order

and the current Dassault Falcon 900 VIP

aircraft, two ERJ 135LRs, a ERJ 145LR,

and an Airbus A321.

Belgian Air Component ERJ 135 CE-02 at Melsbroek on June 21. Tom Houquet

Anniversary Markings Unveiled

MILITARY NEWS

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 15

Third Superjet Delivered to Thailand

The Royal Thai Air Force has received its

third and last Sukhoi SSJ100-95SBJ. The

jet transport was delivered from Zhukovsky,

near Moscow, with an intermediate landing

in Islamabad, Pakistan and arrived at

Bangkok Airport on June 19. The Superjet,

Royal Thai Air Force serial L18-3/61, had

made its  rst  ight at Komsomolsk-on-

Amur on May 22 last year and was then

customised at the Superjet International

(SJI) facility in Venice, Italy. The  rst two

aircraft were handed over at the SJI facility

in Venice on July 15, 2016. All three Thai

SSJs are operated by 603 Squadron based

at Don Mueang. Piotr Butowski

After more than a year of delays, the

USAF is to receive its  rst Boeing KC-46A

Pegasus tanker ready for operational duty

in October this year. The remaining 17

aircraft under the initial contract will be

delivered by next April. All 18 aircraft were

originally expected by August 2017, but the

development work and sign-off has taken

longer than planned.

“While the KC-46A  ight test programme

is nearly complete, signi cant work remains,”

said Undersecretary of the Air Force, Matthew

Donovan. “The air force is looking forward to

KC-46A  rst delivery and will continue to work

with Boeing on opportunities to expedite the

programme.” Boeing is to deliver 179 tankers

in total to the USAF by the end of 2028, at

around 15 per year.

A Pegasus, devoid of a military serial number at Edwards AFB, California, on May 23.

It will be used for trials work by Boeing and the resident 418th Flight Test Squadron.

USAF/Christopher Okula

Pegasus Set to Enter Service

B-1B Temporary

Grounding

The USAF grounded its Rockwell B-1B

Lancer bomber  eet on June 7, following

the discovery of problems with an

ejection seat component. The fault was

uncovered after a 7th Bomb Wing B-1B

made an emergency landing at Midland

International Air and Space Port, Texas,

on May 1. The grounding was short-

lived, however, as the type was  ying

again by the end of June. “We have high

con dence that the  eet’s egress systems

are capable and the  eet is ready to

return to normal  ight operations”, said

Maj Gen Thomas Bussiere, the Eighth Air

Force commander.

Upgrades for USAF Reapers

General Atomics is to retro t 122 MQ-9A

unmanned aerial vehicles to the latest

Block 5 con guration for the USAF in a

deal said to be worth $206m. The Block 5

version made its combat debut in support

of Operation Inherent Resolve in Syria

and Iraq on June 23 last year. It features

enhanced electrical and communications

systems that are operated in conjunction

with the improved Block 30 Ground Control

Station (GCS).

The USAF has Reapers stationed in

at least two bases in mainland Europe. It

has begun operating MQ-9A intelligence,

surveillance and reconnaissance  ights

from Mirosławiec Air Base in western

Poland. Although it is unclear how many

Reapers are stationed at the Polish facility,

the USAF has con rmed the aircraft are

providing “a visible expression of US efforts

to enhance regional stability”. The USAF

has also recently stationed Reapers at

Larissa in Greece in support of military

action in North Africa.

Bahrain F-

Contract for

Lockheed Martin

An order for 70 new Lockheed Martin

F-16 Block 70  ghters for Bahrain was

announced on June 25. The $1.12bn

contract marks the start of F-

production in Greenville, South Carolina

and is expected to be completed by

September 2023. It is the  rst sale of

the latest F-16 Block 70 variant, which

is also referred to as the F-16V. It

features advanced avionics, including a

Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 active

electronically scanned array (AESA)

radar, a modernised cockpit, advanced

weapons, conformal fuel tanks, an

automatic ground collision avoidance

system, an advanced engine and an

extended structural service life of

12,000 hours.

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