UK’S FINAL MILITARY
SEA KINGS RETIRED
THE ROYAL NAVY retired its last
Sea King ASaC7 (SKASaC) airborne
surveillance and control helicopters
on September 25, bringing an
end to the Sea King’s near-50-year
career with the UK military.
The last three airworthy ASaC7s
with 849 Naval Air Squadron (NAS)
ew from Royal Naval Air Station
Culdrose, Cornwall to HMS Sultan
near Portsmouth on September 26
for disposal. A fourth airframe was
transported to Sultan by road.
Two of these aircraft had
previously undertaken a farewell
ypast around south-west England
on September 19 in company
with a Merlin HM2 helicopter. The
Merlin HM2, equipped with the
Crowsnest mission package, is to
take on the airborne surveillance
and control role for the Royal
Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth-class
aircraft carriers.
Known as the ‘bag’ on account of
the large in atable radar radome
deployed from its starboard side,
the SKASaC traces its history back
to 1982 and a ‘crash’ program
following the loss of the Type
42 destroyer HMS She eld to an
AM39 Exocet attack during the
Falklands War.
A total of 13 Sea Kings were
eventually converted to AEW2
standard. The de nitive ASaC7
variant entered operational service
with 849 NAS in 2002.The last three
airworthy Sea King
ASaC7s leave RNAS Culdrose for
HMS Sultan near Portsmouth on
September 26. Ian Simpson
FIRST PRODUCTION KC-390 FLIES
EMBRAER ACHIEVED AN
important milestone in its KC-390
program with the maiden ight
of the rst series production
example at Gavião Peixoto, Brazil,
on October 9. As agreed with the
Brazilian Air Force, the aircraft will
now join the ight test campaign,
during which more than 1,900
ight hours have already been
logged. Civil certi cation of the
basic aircraft will be granted by
the Brazilian aviation authority,
the ANAC (Agência Nacional de
Aviação Civil), and is expected to
be achieved soon.EmbraerCANADIAN HORNET
PURCHASED APPROVED
THE US GOVERNMENT has given
its approval to Canada’s purchase
of 25 F/A-18A/Bs from Australia.
Negotiations with the Australian
government are ongoing but the
deal should be completed by the
end of this year. The project is
currently on track and the rst two
Hornets should arrive in Canada
next summer.
The Canadian government
originally planned to acquire 18
used Hornets from Australia to
augment the Royal Canadian Air
Force’s CF-188s, but later added
seven additional aircraft that will
serve as a source of spares.Although the sales price has
not yet been determined, the
government has set aside up to
$500 million for the project. The
sale required US governmental
approval under the International
Tra c in Arms Regulations (ITAR)
legislation that restricts the export
of defense and military related
technologies to safeguard US
national security.
Once upgraded the Australian
F/A-18s will be operated alongside
Canada’s existing eet of CF-188s
at two units, namely 3 Wing/CFB
Bagotville, Québec and 4 Wing/
Cold Lake, Alberta. Tom KaminskiA Royal Australian Air Force No 3 Squadron F/A-18A Hornet fl ies beside
a No 33 Squadron KC-30A tanker in the skies above Darwin during
Exercise ‘Pitch Black’ earlier this year. Commonwealth of AustraliaA Typhoon FGR4 wearing No 6 Squadron markings
at Thumrait air base in Oman. Crown CopyrightEXERCISE ‘SAIF SAREEA III’
ROYAL AIR FORCE Typhoon FGR4s
from No II (Army Co-operation)
Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth,
Scotland, deployed to Thumrait
air base in southern Oman to
take part in Exercise ‘Saif Sareea’
(Swift Sword) III, as part of No 140
Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW).
The rst four Typhoons arrived
in Oman on October 1 after an
overnight stop in Athens and were
followed by four more jets the next
day. An E-3D Sentry AEW1 from No8 Squadron at RAF Waddington,
Lincolnshire, also took part in the
maneuvers.
The Typhoons ew alongside the
Royal Air Force of Oman’s F-16s in
what the UK Ministry of Defence
described as ‘the largest tri-
service, bilateral, interoperability
exercise in the region for almost
two decades’.
Exercise ‘Saif Sareea’ was rst
staged in 1987. This year marked
its third iteration.WORLD [NEWS]
http://www.combataircraft.net // December 2018 21