12 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
NEWS
// JUNE 2018 #Continental Europe
German
Triton buy
approved
THE US State Department
has approved a possible
$2.5bn deal to sell four
MQ-4C Triton unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS) to
Germany. The Defense
Security Co-operation
Agency notified Congress
of the potential Foreign
Military Sale on April 4.
“The proposed sale of
the MQ-4C Triton will close
a crucial capability gap
and will enhance bilateral
and NATO interoperability
and will help ensure that
Germany is able to continue
to monitor and deter
regional threats,” the DSCA
said in the statement.
The proposed package
includes four flight vehicles- modified versions of
the US Navy’s MQ-4C - and one mission
control station with a
main operating base and
forward operating base.
Chinook celebrates 20 years with 4 TEAS
Dino van Doorn
S PEC I A L LY MARKED
Elliniki Aeroporia Stratou
(Hellenic Army Aviation)
CH-47D Chinook ES
took part in the military
parade held over Athenson March 25 to celebrate
Greek Independence Day.
The livery was applied to
the aircraft to celebrate
20 years of the 4th Army
Aviation HelicopterBattalion (4 TEAS) at
Megara. Serial ES
is one of the recently
delivered ex-US Army
CH-47Ds, having arrived in
Greece on November 22last year (see Three more
Hellenic Army CH-47Ds
delivered, Januar y, p10).
All ten are being delivered
to the 1st and 2nd
Companies of the 4 TEAS.Italian Tornado tests AARGM
AERONAUTICA MILITARE
(AM, Italian Air Force)
Tornado ECRs have
conducted their initial test
launches of the Orbital ATK
AGM-88E Advanced Anti-
Radiation Guided Missile
(AARGM). On April 2, one
of the jets launched an
AARGM during an exercise
on the range at Naval
Air Weapons Station
(NAWS) China Lake,
California. The weapon
launch was the first of two
planned for the BlazingShield 2018 exercise, one
of the most important
events in the operational
test and evaluation
(OT&E) campaign for the
AARGM and Tornado
ECR combination. The
AARGM is the result of a
co-operative programme
between the Italian Air
Force and the US Nav y.
The same exercise
included validation
of the self-protection
systems for the AM
Eurofighter and C -27J.
GERMANY’S TRANCHE
3A Eurofighters recently
began to enter service
with the tactical air wings
at Laage, Neuburg and
Wittmund. More than half
of the 31 of these variants
ordered for the Luftwaffe
have now been delivered.
Initial deliveries of
Tranche 3A aircraft were
all made to Taktisches
Luftwaffengeschwader 31
( Tak tLwG) 31 ‘Boelcke’
at Nörvenich, which
received 13 Tranche 3A
single-seaters between
September 2015 and
last October. Tak tLwG
71 ‘Richthofen’ became
the next wing to take
delivery of a Tranche 3A
single-seater on January
11, when aircraft 31+
(c/n GS0104) arrived at
Wittmund. Tak tLwG 71
started flying operational
missions with the new jet inMarch. Serial 31+44 was
also the first Eurofighter
delivered straight from
the Airbus factory in
Manching to Wittmund –
previously, ‘Richthofen’
flew a mix of Tranche 1
and Tranche 2 jets that had
originally been delivered
to the other three wings.
Meanwhile, three Tranche
3A two-seaters have also
joined operational units:
31+25 (c/n GT0028) went to
Tak tLwG 74 at Neuburg on
August 10 last year, while
Tak tLwG 73 ‘Steinhoff’
at Laage took delivery of
31+24 (c/n GT0027) last
November 13 and 31+
(c/n GT0029) on April 3.
The first Tranche 3A two-
seater, aircraft 98+08 (IPA
08, c/n GT0026, serial
31+23 not taken up),
remains with Airbus at
Manching for test work.
Kees van der MarkTornado ECR MM7053 ‘6-101’, one of the aircraft to have
undergone the defi nitive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) RET
8 modernisation, taxies out at China Lake with a single
AGM-88E on an under-fuselage station. AMFirst Tranche 3A Eurofi ghter
for TaktLwG 71
Luftwaffe Tranche 3A Eurofi ghter 31+44 from Wittmund-based TaktLwG 71 after one of its
fi rst operational missions in early March. Kees van der Mark