The signing of two Defence Innovation Hub contracts to further develop unmanned aerial system (UAS) capabilities have been announced.

TAE Aerospace will develop a turbine engine maintenance facility in Bundamba, south-east Queensland, which will support in-country sustainment of Australia’s fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets.

Defence has confirmed that three of its C-27J Spartan battlefield airlift aircraft were affected by fuel contamination during the recent Pitch Black exercise, held in the NT in July and August.

Airbus’ Perlan Mission II, the world’s first initiative to pilot an engineless aircraft to the edge of space, has risen in the stratosphere to a pressure altitude of over 62,000 feet.

The thunder of fighter jet afterburners over the Top End was silenced on August 16, with the conclusion of the last of around 1120 Pitch Black air combat missions.

The P-8A Poseidon simulator and training systems at RAAF Base Edinburgh, the largest outside the US, have been officially handed over to the RAAF.

The UK’s plans to acquire the Boeing E-7 aircraft came a step closer to reality in mid-July, with the arrival of the first three RAF personnel at Williamtown for training.

The RAAF has deployed its new C-27J Spartan battlefield airlifter to the Top End for the first time.

CAE has been awarded a contract to provide the Royal NZ Air Force (RNZAF) with a CAE 700MR Series NH90 flight training device.

The RAAF KC-30A tanker transport aircraft has delivered 100,000,000 pounds of fuel during air-to-air refuel missions on Operation OKRA in the Middle East.

The Indian Air Force is participating in Exercise Pitch Black, the RAAF’s premier air combat exercise, with aircraft for the very first time.

Chemring Australia and Quickstep Holdings Ltd have secured funding for product development and cost reduction initiatives for F-35 Lightning II countermeasure flares.

The Indian Air Force is participating in Exercise Pitch Black for the first time.

Airways, NZ’s air navigation service provider, has selected the VCS-4G IP-based voice communications system from Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) for air traffic control (ATC) communications in NZ airspace.

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon have informally agreed a price for the next batch of US F-35s. Yet even as costs lower, the program is still grappling with availability issues.

General Atomics has been selected to provide Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper medium altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAS to the Dutch military following news that the platform will be capable of using GPS and Europe’s Galileo satnav system.