Aviation News Mega-Thread

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NATO countries sign Letter of Intent to create a network of pilot training facilities in Europe

On 19 June 2020, eleven NATO Defence Ministers launched an initiative to create a network of training facilities for pilots across the European continent. The Ministers of Defence of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey signed a Letter of Intent confirming the establishment of the NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) initiative, in order ot join forces for the training of fighter jet, helicopter, fixed wing and drone pilots.

The signature of the corresponding Letter of Intent (LoI) was added virtually from the capitals of participating nations, just after the conclusion of the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers this week. Under this agreement, the eleven Allies will investigate options for setting up a European network of training facilities for air-crews, benefiting as much as possible from already existing training structures.

The initiative will provide for cost savings and increased interoperability among participating Allies and will benefit the overall readiness of NATO air forces.

In the past several initiatives were started for training future pilots on the European continent, but so far none were materialised. This might change with the start of this letter of intent.

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India will purchase 33 fighter aircraft under emergency order

Amid the ongoing row with China in eastern Ladakh, the Bharatiya Vayu Sena (IAF, Indian Air Force) has pushed a proposal to the government for acquiring 33 new fighter aircraft. The IAF has been working on this plan for some time but they have now fast-tracked the process and the proposals expected to be worth over USD 800 million would be placed before the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its final approval at a high-level meeting late June 2020. The proposal contains the acquisition of 21 MiG-29s and 12 Su-30MKIs from Russia.

India and Russia have been negotiating the purchase of MiG-29 and Su-30MKI fighter aircraft since 2019. A top-level IAF team visited a Russian facility to check the MiG-29 fighters that Russia offered to India to help the IAF to meet its requirement of new fighters. The IAF also carried out a study to check if the airframes of the MiG-29s are good enough for it to operate for a long time and they were reported to be in almost new condition. The MiG-29 is familiar with the IAF pilots, but the ones offered by the Russians are different from the ones in the Indian inventory. So a possible acquisition of the aircraft might raise questions with the MoD. Scramble Magazine assesses this acquisition, if ever realised, will take a long discussion. Scramble Facebook News reported on the additional MiG-29s in February 2019 *)

The Su-30MKI fighter aircraft will be built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Nasik. The additional Sukhois are required to replace the number of aircraft lost in different accidents. India had placed orders for 272 Su-30 fighter jets over a period of 10 to 15 years in different batches. The number of Sukhois acquired would be enough for the service's heavy-weight aircraft requirement.

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Spanish Navy eyes the Pilatus PC-24

The Arma Aeréa de la Armada (Armada, Spanish Navy) is looking for a replacement for their four Cessna Citations, three Cessna Ce550 Citation II and one Cessna 650 Citation VI. The aircraft are operated by the Cuarta Escuadrilla (Eslla 004) at Rota in the south of Spain. The first two Ce550s, serials U.20-1/01-405 and U.20-2/01-406, already accumulated 37 years of service. A third one, serial U.20-3/01-407, has 31 years of active service and the Ce650, serial U.21-01/01-408, completed 23 years of service.

A recent article in the Revista General de Marina (General Magazine of the Navy) mentions the plans for replacement of the Citations and also the possibility of adding the Pilatus PC-24 to the squadron.

The main mission of the squadron is urgent logistical support (material and personnel) to the units deployed in the area of operations. They are also used for other missions as transport of VIP personnel, collaboration in training units with attack profile flights to ships or the transfer of material with a high degree of safety classification. Because of the age of the aircraft it becomes difficult and more costly to integrate new technologies for air transport security required by the authorities. The airframes also have limitations in the transport of material, only the Citation II has a larger cabin door for this type of mission.

The Pilatus PC-24 can be converted from passenger aircraft to cargo aircraft in a few minutes by having a large additional cargo door. The aircraft can be operated by a single pilot and land and take of from unpaved tracks. It has a capacity for ten passengers and has a cargo hold of 2.5 cubic metres. The article also mentions the Citation CJ-4 as a possible successor, but this aircraft still has limitations for transporting bulky materials because of the dimension of the access door.

Eslla 004 was the Armada's first fixed-wing unit, being formed in 1966 with two Piper PA-24 Comanche and two Piper PA-30 Twin Comance aircraft.

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China’s Classified Hypersonic Strike Weapon Scramjet Engine Set New Record During Testing - See Details: https://bit.ly/2ALD5Ff

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Unusual Activity By PLAAF Detected Along With The LAC: IAF Chief - See Details: https://bit.ly/313Hzlc

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The Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU)
is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first of eight A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft.

There is no arrival date known at its homebase Eindhoven (The Netherlands) but it should happen one of these weeks as on 17 June an acceptance flight was noticed.

The aircraft is ordered by a consortium of European countries: Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Luxembourgh, the Netherlands, and Norway.

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Hürkuş crash

A Turkish Aerspace Industries (TAI) Hürkuş propeller trainer crashed, both pilots ejected to safety.

On 22 June 2020, a Hürkuş C (“Free Bird”) has crashed in the Beypazarı district of Ankara Province at around 12.30hrs (local time). The Hürkuş is being developed by the TAI and was on a test flight when the accident occurred. The two crew were able to successfully eject and were picked up in good condition.

The Hürkuş is a tandem two-seat, low-wing, single-engine, turboprop aircraft being developed by TAI – Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii A.Ş. (TUSAS) and is destined as the primary/ basic trainer and light ground attack aircraft for the TAF. The Hurkus is being developed from the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-1 trainer. The first aircraft was rolled out in June 2012. Its maiden flight, was held in August 2013 .

The Scramble database shows one Hürkuş B (registration TC-VCI), one Hürkuş C (TC-VCH) and five TAF aircraft (serials 17-101 - 17-104 and 18-105). The TAF has fifteen aircraft on order (plus an option on forty), while the Turkish Army ordered twelve or eighteen Hürkuş' and the Jandarma twelve. TC-VCH is known flying in a red/white colour scheme, but it is unconfirmed if this aircraft is involved as TAF aircraft were also reported in a likewise colourscheme.

#aviation #avgeek #avaddict #avgeeks #aircraft #aviationenthusiast #planes #crash #Hurkus #aviationincident #aircrash
#militaryaviation #jetfighter #fighteraircraft #militaryaviationnews #aviationnews TAI - Hürkuş Avgeekery.com Avgeek's TURKISH AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES,INC Turkish Aerospace Industries #Turkey Türk

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Mysterious U.S. Stealth Plane Model 401 Seen Covered In Mirrors During Test Flights - See Details: https://bit.ly/3hMQ2z8

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