Aviation News Mega-Thread

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https://www.flightglobal.com/business-a ... 32.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/helicopter ... 33.article

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Final assembly of new Russian strategic stealth bomber commenced

On 26 May 2020, the military-industrial complex announced to the Russian press that they have started construction of the first strategic stealth bomber within the Perspective Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA) programme. Airframe elements, including the cockpit section of "Product 80" as the bomber is known, will be handled by one of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC)’s for further construction and development. The final assembly of the initial machine should be complete in 2021.

A public known secret is that the Tupolev Design Bureau is the UAC's main constructor of the PAK DA. They received approval for the design in December 2019. The stealth PAK DA will become a flying wing like the US Air Force B-2A Spirit. The aircraft will be subsonic and is designed to be able to employ all current Russian made cruise missiles, precision bombs and of course the much discussed hypersonic weapons.

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Embraer today announced that Congo Airways has decided to convert their order for two E175s into an order for two E190-E2s.

Congo Airways ordered the E175s in December 2019 and also took options on two more. The new order for the E190-E2s also includes options for two planes.

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The first De Havilland DHC-8-400 for Luanda -based TAAG - Linhas Aéreas de Angola is near completion of its flight test program and was captured at Toronto-Donsview by Andrew H. Cline.

DHC-8-400 c/n 4616, Canadian test registration C-GKXM, which will become D2-TFA, named ‘Kwanza’, made its first flight on May 20 2020. It will be the first non-jet aircraft in the current TAAG fleet. It was initially registered on February 28th, but it’s test program was delayed due to the Factory shutdown due to CoVID-19.

The aircraft sports a brand new livery featuring enlarged grey TAAG titles in a new font on the forward fuselage and engine nacelles, an enlarged truncated logo on the tail and reduced Angola Airlines titles on the right side and Linhas Aereas de Angola on the left. The tail colour extends to the bottom of the fuselage, and sweeping red and orange lines extend forward on the lower fuselage.

TAAG ordered six DHC-8-400s, announced by Bombardier on March 29 2019, as an unidentified customer. The order was confirmed at the 2019 Paris Air Show, in conjunction with DeHavilland Aircraft of Canada officially taking over the type certificates of the entire DHC-8 / Q Series family from Bombardier, and officially taking over the DHC-8-400 production line at Downsview Airport in Toronto. The TAAG deliveries were originally scheduled for four to be delivered in 2019, and the balance in 2020. They were to be operated by a new joint venture regional carrier; Angola Expresso, which was shelved, so TAAG mainline took over the new fleet.

"TAAG is looking to the future of our fleet and the market opportunities where the DHC-8-400 aircraft will be an important part of our growth strategy. The acquisition of these new aircraft is important to support a stronger domestic network and support our regional and international network," Rui Carreira, Chairman, TAAG Angola Airlines, said in a statement. "The Dash 8-400 aircraft offers unmatched performance and outstanding economics that will allow us to better serve smaller communities and increase frequencies in Angola."

The Angolan government owned TAAG currently has an all-Boeing fleet of five Boeing 737-700s, three Boeing 777-200ERs and five 777-300ERs. It previously operated Boeing 747-300s, a Douglas DC-8 and a Lockheed L1011 Tristar. TAAG formerly operated Fokker F27 and F50 turboprops for its regional network a number of years ago. The DHC-8s are the first regional airliners that TAAG has operated in recent years. Assorted commuter jets are operated by various small companies in Angola. The Angolan Government also owns two VIP configured Q400s acquired in 2011. It operated two DHC-8-300s before that.

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https://www.flightglobal.com/senegal-re ... 41.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-canada ... 40.article

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The Luftforsvaret (RNoAF, Royal Norwegian Air Force) is accepted three new F-35As at Norwegian soil.

Serials 5384, 5385 and 5386 with resp. construction numbers AM-23, AM-24 and AM-25 departed Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth (TX) for Ørland flystasjon and arrived late in the evening on 26 May 2020. The trio is added to the fleet of 22 Norwegian Lightnings, of which seven are based at Luke AFB, and fifteen are assigned to 332 skv at Orland.

In a few years, in 2025, the F-35A Lightning IIs will reach full operational capability within the Luftforsvaret.

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UKDJ reports that the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence claim that the Royal Air Force (RAF) fleet of Sentinel R1s is “now increasingly obsolescent and will face increasing reliability issues as time progresses”.

The Sentinels, since 2008 assigned to 5(AC)sq at RAF Waddington (UK) will still leave service in March 2021, as originally planned. The five modified Bombardier BD-700 (Global XRS) Sentinel R1s (serials ZJ690-ZJ694) has been operationally deployed in support of a number of operations. Some operations are considered to be
both conventional and counter-insurgency; for example operations in Afghanistan (Operation Herrick) and Iraq (Operation Shader). It has also been deployed on operations in Libya (Operation Ellamy), Nigeria (Operation Turus) and Mali (Operation Newcombe), and currently over
Syria and Iraq (Operation Shader) in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. These are all considered conventional operations.

An radar and mission system upgrade of the aircraft was expected in the mid-2010s, but this upgrade was cancelled, now resulting in the likely out of service date of the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft.

It is rumoured that the UK government will purchase additional P-8A Poseidons to replace the Sentinels.

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https://www.flightglobal.com/military-u ... 49.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/c ... 48.article

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https://www.key.aero/article/bae-system ... s-kc-130js

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In September Delta Air Lines announced they acquired 20% of LATAM Airlines. Part of the deal was that Delta would take over four Airbus A350-900s from LATAM as well as an order for ten undelivered A350s.

The order for the ten was switched in March, but yesterday Delta announced they would back out of the plan to acquire the four A350-900s. Due to this they are going to pay 62 million USD for breaching the contract.

If the move by Delta is the result of the filing of Chapter 11 protection by LATAM is unclear. Both companies, however, state that their joint-venture will continue as planned.